Fragrant Sea, the Walled City, Wu Jun Hair Salon.
"A Wen." The fat man held a cigarette between his lips and a wad of crumpled bills in his hand, counting out a few.
"You worked twenty-six days this month. Five dollars a day makes a hundred and thirty."
Li Xiuwen took the money, counted it, and pulled out two ten-dollar bills. "Brother Jun, there's twenty extra."
"Your aunt-in-law told me you wanted to learn martial arts. Keep it. We're from the same hometown-we should look out for each other out here." The fat man took a couple of drags and smiled.
"Thanks, Brother Jun. Can I come back after New Year?" Li Xiuwen asked.
"Sure. But when are you ever going to save enough for tuition doing odd jobs?"
"I don't know either..."
"I've got a lead. Interested?"
"What kind of lead?"
"I have a friend in United Heroes. We grew up together and came over from the Prosperous State together..."
"Brother Jun, I'm a coward. I don't dare join a gang..."
"A coward, and you want to learn martial arts? Isn't fighting the whole point?"
"I'm different. I want to learn so I won't have to fight."
"Fuck me, that actually makes some sense..."
"Thanks for the offer, Brother Jun. Wishing you good fortune and riches in the new year."
Li Xiuwen pushed open the hair salon's yellowed glass door and stepped onto the narrow, gloomy street.
Joining a gang would pay a little better, sure. But without the Martial Way to protect me or a boss backing me, I'd just end up another dead loser by the roadside.
With bad luck, I'd become cannon fodder in a gang street brawl, or a scapegoat for something a boss did... and that would be the end of this life.
Besides, I've never even heard of United Heroes. They must be some third-rate gang. Even getting to the top wouldn't give me much of a future.
It wasn't that Li Xiuwen didn't want to join a gang.
These days, gangs were about the only place ordinary people had a chance to get ahead.
But he needed something to stand on first, lest his first day on the job become his first day in the ground.
The sky-blotting iron wings of a jet airliner swept over the Walled City's skyline, its roar echoing overhead.
Neon lights flickered along streets awash with filthy runoff after the rain.
Even the aroma from Chao's Fish Ball Noodles beside the hair salon couldn't mask the damp stench that perpetually hung in the Walled City's air.
A raindrop landed between his brows.
"It's raining."
Li Xiuwen wiped it away, tucked his money safely away, and jogged off.
As he passed through Guangwang Street, his steps grew faster and faster.
The "dragon-chasing dukes" puffing smoke and swaying their heads along the street made him feel physically sick.
Dragon-chasing duke was the elegant title the addicts gave themselves.
Compared with the bustling world outside, the Walled City wasn't large.
Yet this tiny patch of land might have held over a million people.
Nobody knew the exact number.
Drifters, people from every walk of life, lawless outlaws, mainland gangsters...
The Walled City was a beast, forever devouring people like Li Xiuwen who came to Fragrant Sea chasing their dreams.
On Longjin Road, a moldy sign reading "Chen's Rice Noodle Factory" hung over a small ground-floor dwelling with no street number.
Li Xiuwen crossed through the rain, took off his shirt at the doorway, wrung it dry, and entered.
A wave of hot steam rolled over him, making the already humid, stifling air even harder to breathe.
Inside the room, which measured less than thirty square meters, several teenage boys and girls worked away, some bare-chested and others wearing undershirts.
Someone sat on a thick bamboo pole, pressing down on a lump of dough.
Someone else used an old machine to roll dough into sheets, then cut them into strands and piled them to one side.
This was Li Xiuwen's home, a family workshop in the Enclave that made bamboo-pressed noodles.
No license was required, no taxes were paid to the Colonial Government, and all the workers hired were children. Costs were extremely low.
The conditions were worrying, but the price was unbeatable.
And so these bamboo-pressed noodles ended up in the stomachs of diners at many restaurants outside the Enclave.
Beyond the little workshop lay a living space of less than ten square meters.
A woman in her early thirties poked her head out of the curtained-off bathroom and smiled. "You're back pretty early today."
She was Li Ying, the rice noodle factory's landlady and his aunt-in-law.
"New Year's coming. Brother Jun let me leave early."
"There's leftover claypot rice in the kitchen."
"All right, I'll eat in a bit."
Li Xiuwen went into his bedroom, a cubbyhole of less than three square meters, and took out the money hidden beneath his bed.
Two thousand... almost enough for the initiation fee.
Li Xiuwen pulled out a yellowed calendar. Every page was covered with recruitment ads for the Walled City's martial arts schools that he had clipped from newspapers.
Tiger-Crane, Buddha Salute, White Ape, Iron Wire... I can't even dream of those famous schools. Gift money with the application, annual tuition, monthly meal fees, gifts for the three festivals and the master's two birthdays...
Learning martial arts would cost at least ten thousand a year.
These days, even a relatively respectable job in the Enclave only pays three hundred a month...
That's not teaching martial arts. That's robbery.
There are cheaper ones, though...
Iron Fist Society, Mountain-Crushing Boxing Academy, and places like that don't charge an initiation fee. Just a hundred a month in tuition.
But from what I've seen while staking them out, their masters don't seem to have any real skills. The head of Iron Fist Society actually lost to seven or eight punks.
If you can't even take on ten men, what business do you have opening a martial arts school!
Lying on his bed, Li Xiuwen went back and forth through dozens of recruitment ads before finally narrowing his choices to two schools.
Night Heron Martial Arts School inherits the Night Heron style. This branch specializes in endless variations and unpredictable moves, and traces its roots to the renowned White Crane style.
Four Seas Martial Arts School teaches the Sea Sand style. Broad, sweeping movements and fierce techniques... never heard of any distinguished lineage behind it.
Night Heron's Hall Challenge costs three thousand three hundred to join and seven hundred a month. Four Seas' Hall Challenge costs three thousand to join and five hundred a month.
Judging by reputation and word of mouth, Night Heron is better. Its master, Ye, has reached the ninth platform of the third tier in the Nine Dragons Grand Arena. He's almost at the fourth tier.
Huang Sihai is also a third-tier fighter. It's just that the Sea Sand style has a poorer reputation on the streets, and he's an old money-grubber.
Once I've saved enough, I'll try Night Heron first.
Li Xiuwen put down the calendar. With a thought, his consciousness entered an ancient temple in the mountains, where a shrine stood.
Inside the shrine sat an incense burner coated in green patina. Its inner walls were thick with ash, but no incense burned.
Three lines of small, archaic gold lettering adorned its outer wall.
[Li Xiuwen] [Martial arts: none] [Stage: none]
Yes, Li Xiuwen was a transmigrator.
A month ago, the original owner of his body had been knocked unconscious by a punch from Brother Ji, one of Longjin Road's Thirteen Enforcers.
After waking, he had realized, Only today do I know who I truly am. Memories from his past life awakened, and an "incense burner" appeared in his mind.
Its function was simple: for every martial art he learned, he could light one stick of incense.
Through diligent practice, he could keep the incense burning.
When the incense burned out, the martial art would be mastered.
Now everything was ready. The only difficulty was finding a master to get him started.
Li Xiuwen casually opened the copy of Ming Pao he had bought on the way.
This newspaper focused on the culture and ecosystem of the Martial Way. It was published by Mr. Ming, the man who called the shots in the Walled City.
[The sequel to "Dragon and Tiger Stories" begins filming! Fragrant Sea's number-one Dragon-Tiger martial artist, "Mr. Dragon," reaches new heights of mastery, leaping unprotected from the tenth floor without a scratch!]
[A fight to the death at Yi Lok Building! Inspector Lei braves a hail of bullets and guns down five mainland gangsters armed with AKs!]
[The annual "River-Crossing Meet" draws to a close! A hundred Walled City schools compete, and Su Cha, the top disciple of Tiger-Crane Martial Arts School, becomes the new martial champion!]
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