Phonograph

Duan Escort Chief carefully sized up the youth before him.

The other was about eighteen or nineteen, with thick brows and bright, spirited eyes. Perhaps because he had distant relatives from a prominent family, he did not resemble the downtrodden laborers from the lower classes. He did not avoid Duan Escort Chief's scrutinizing gaze, merely meeting his eyes with calm composure.

Such bearing.

Was anything but ordinary.

He must have come from some great local household as well. His ancestors had once flourished, but military disasters and man-made calamities had brought the family low, so he had come to Peace City to flee disaster and make a living.

Over the past decade, on this devastated land of Chen State, who knew how many once-prominent households had vanished or fallen into decline? Even century-old great clans had been wiped out by warlords overnight.

Duan Escort Chief had seen plenty of such things.

Among his relatives back home, many had suffered through the ravages of war in recent years. Some of the less fortunate had lost entire families.

"Times are truly chaotic now! The world changes too quickly!"

"Twenty years ago, a martial arts Miao with talent for an Iron Body Skill like this would never have fallen to an escort agency like ours to recruit."

Duan Escort Chief paced several rounds around the hall. Thinking of the steady stream of refugees who had fled from other places to Peace City in recent years, he sighed repeatedly before abruptly stopping.

Turning to Jiang Jingnian, who had been waiting nearby, he said, "Brother Jiang, since you are a Quasi-Martial Master, if you join our escort agency, you can directly serve as an escort master."

At that moment, he had developed an appreciation for talent and even entertained the thought of taking him as a disciple.

However, they had known each other for far too short a time.

Their escort agency was not a martial arts school or sect. They could not take in disciples on a large scale, only a few True Disciples to serve as future successors.

So...

He still needed to observe him further and assess his character and breadth of spirit.

"Alright."

Jiang Jingnian nodded, then asked with an eager-to-learn expression, "May I ask, Duan Escort Chief, what exactly does an escort master do? Is it just transporting and guarding shipments?"

In his understanding, an escort agency's shipment delivery.

Was like a logistics company from his previous life. Only, instead of transporting ordinary cheap goods, it carried certain valuable items.

"We take both cargo escorts and personal escorts. The environment is not too favorable now. Those foreign transportation companies and freight companies have dealt a blow to our entire escort agency trade. Tongda Escort Agency's income has also declined greatly."

"We did not accept personal escorts before, since the risks were rather high. But if the escort agency wants to continue operating now, we can only expand our business. Besides that, we also take on some jobs guarding venues or backing people up in a fight."

Duan Escort Chief sat back down in his chair, took a sip of tea, and continued, "As for the specific matters, you can familiarize yourself with them gradually. I'll have a veteran escort master guide you for a while."

The emergence of Qian houses and banks had already severely impacted the escort agencies' market. Coupled with foreign logistics companies as competitors, many of the escort agencies' businesses had now been snatched away. They could only take on work the foreigners disdained, or business with relatively greater danger.

For a time-honored name like Tongda Escort Agency to have reached the point of needing to advertise in newspapers for recruits, how much longer it could hold on was also unknown.

However, before a new escort master like Jiang Jingnian, Duan Escort Chief would not speak too pessimistically about the agency's future.

"I understand."

Jiang Jingnian nodded and said nothing more.

Afterward, Duan Escort Chief called over a handyman and had him take Jiang Jingnian to the side rooms. There, he found the agency's steward, signed a formal employment contract with the escort agency, and completed all the procedures for starting work.

The escort agency would later submit these documents to the foreigners' Public Works Bureau. Then, after three to seven working days and various reviews, they would issue him escort master certification and a martial artist permit, replacing the old work permit.

With that.

Jiang Jingnian became a legally registered martial artist in the concession.

He became part of a class with certain privileges.

Even if a homicide case occurred, so long as it did not involve mass deaths, the foreign Patrol Bureau would not directly issue a wanted notice or make an arrest. They would need to send someone over for questioning and an interview first.

As for Chen State's local military police unit, they would not bother with it at all. For that meager monthly pay, going all out against martial artists? Dream on!

Even if the sky over the concession collapsed, those foreigners would be there to hold it up.

Two more days passed after Jiang Jingnian joined the escort agency.

During that time, he returned the rickshaw to the rental company. He also sought out the several customers who had hired his rickshaw by the month and returned their silver dollars.

Besides that, he asked Duan Escort Chief for an advance on half a month's salary.

106 silver dollars.

Escort masters were all legally registered martial artists, so their income counted as upper-middle level within the concession.

With monthly allowances and escort runs included, they could earn around 230 silver dollars a month. Once they gained experience, that income would rise further.

In other words, after becoming an escort master, Jiang Jingnian's monthly income was much higher even than that of a schoolteacher like his Fifth Uncle.

Compared with ordinary dock laborers and most rickshaw pullers, it was more than seven or eight times greater.

And Qian was secondary. The escort master community could also gain access to certain resources that some ordinary civilians could never touch.

Of course, corresponding to that.

Was the occupational risk faced by escort masters.

Jiang Jingnian had barely had time to warm the hundred-odd silver dollars in his hands before hurriedly seeking out the bookstore owner, trying to buy that phonograph with special properties.

"Shopkeeper, could you sell this box phonograph a little cheaper?"

"Little Brother Jiang, this isn't a matter of Qian. Besides, you're an escort master now—what do you need a phonograph for?"

"I just like collecting these ingenious little contraptions."

"Then what do you think of this electric lamp? An imported product from the Aofei Duchy. Press this switch, and it lights up."

"That electric lamp of yours is too old. We can talk about it later. Right now, I've got my eye on this phonograph."

At the entrance of the bookstore, Jiang Jingnian haggled with the bookstore owner for nearly half the day.

The bookstore owner had previously been one of Jiang Jingnian's monthly rickshaw customers, so they were acquaintances.

He had watched the other transform in the blink of an eye, from a rickshaw puller who struggled daily to make his rounds into an escort master now dressed in a black traditional jacket.

The words "Tongda Escort Agency" were embroidered on the chest of his clothes.

Sure enough, clothes made the man, and saddles made the horse.

Little Brother Jiang used to wear a perpetually bitter expression. Now, in such well-fitting new clothes, he had shed his former air of poverty and instead gave off a sense of steadiness and sharp efficiency.

Though he did not know how a rickshaw puller from the bottom rung.

Had suddenly become an escort master.

Still, everyone had their own fortunes. He was somewhat curious, but he did not ask further.

"Fine, fine! One fixed price—sixty silver dollars. I'll part with it through gritted teeth."

After hesitating for a long while, the shopkeeper was ultimately unable to withstand Jiang Jingnian's persistent pleading.

If the other were still merely a rickshaw puller.

No matter what he said, he would never have sold this beloved phonograph.

Yet, at this very moment.

The other's status had changed.

That made the shopkeeper want to befriend him as well.

One more friend.

One more road.

Besides, the other was a martial artist!