Blackwater City Was a Very Chaotic Place (Please Keep Reading)

Far from the inn's courtyard.

The sun had just risen. It was another brand-new day.

Leaving Top Scholar Street, turning through Fish Market Lane and Firewood Market Lane, then crossing Parrot Bridge, Lu Li arrived at North Gate Avenue in Blackwater City.

This was the busiest main street in Blackwater City's outer district, lined with merchant guilds and serving as the main venue for temple fairs.

As he passed a mobile vendor, Lu Li ordered as usual:

"Madam, two vegetable buns and one tea egg."

"Coming right up!"

Being a sedan bearer was grueling work. Breakfast was indispensable.

Back when he made straw sandals, he never ate breakfast. Saving even a single copper coin was worth it.

The proprietress twisted her slender waist, her voice crisp and bright. The great thunderballs bulging before her chest looked ready to burst free at any moment.

One word: spectacular.

Lu Li was in a fine mood. As for the buns, they could not compare with those made by the old granny at the end of the street, but one had to queue here just to buy them.

Meanwhile, the old granny's business in the distance looked rather deserted.

Sure enough, every era has people who understand business.

The Great Yong Dynasty was plagued by internal troubles and foreign threats. The imperial order had collapsed, martial artists ruled the day, the world was growing ever more chaotic, and money was becoming harder and harder to earn.

When survival was at stake, dignity and propriety naturally took a back seat. There would always be the bold ones who, with vision beyond their era, broke convention ahead of everyone else and earned their first bucket of gold.

In the end, those people would claim they had somehow stumbled onto the so-called windfall, leaving others green with envy.

As a transmigrator, he naturally knew and understood more than others. He had many ideas that could let him live a little better than he did now.

Soap, glass, and cement did not exist in this world. Any one of them could make him fabulously wealthy.

But some money, even if he earned it, he could not keep. Without absolute strength, he did not dare to do such things.

Blackwater City was a very chaotic place.

Gangs stood thick as trees, and martial artists were the true masters of this city. Before becoming a martial artist, keeping oneself alive was the most important thing.

Lu Li walked and ate his buns, savoring them as he went. By the time he finished, he had reached Shunhe Sedan Service.

At the entrance, the sedan leader Zhou Tie was tearing into a flatbread, a smile in his eyes.

"A-Li, wait until I'm done eating. We've got a long-distance run today."

"Got it, Boss Zhou."

A long-distance job meant leaving Blackwater City, and there was room to work the angles there. They could make two trips' worth of money while reporting only one trip to the sedan service.

The money from the return trip would be split evenly between the two of them.

Lu Li still remembered what Zhou Tie had told him during his first long-distance run:

"A-Li, some things can be said but cannot be done. Some things can be done but cannot be said."

The original owner had pondered those words for a long time before understanding them. Later, he summed it up: city folk simply had too many tricks up their sleeves.

They both understood without saying it aloud.

Of course Lu Li understood.

Aside from that, all trip fees had to be shared with the sedan service. The only benefit of being a sedan bearer was that they were paid per trip.

A thirty-seventy split.

Lu Li received thirty percent.

Unlike Lu Li, who was a temporary worker, Zhou Tie was an official sedan bearer of the service. He had paid his placement fee, and his share for each trip was also thirty-seventy—but he got seventy percent.

Lu Li handed seventy percent of every trip's earnings to the sedan service, but the service could not keep all of it. Thirty percent had to be paid to the authorities as tax.

Official taxes had to be paid at all times. Refusing was not an option.

Just imagine: you were walking down the road, singing a song, when yamen runners suddenly stopped you...

At best, you would face a beating. At worst, a fine and forced labor.

"Renhe Lane, Li Residence. A female family member is returning to her parents' home. Two-person sedan. Arrive by the hour of the dragon."

In Blackwater City, naturally only wealthy people could afford to ride in sedans.

The sedan service's accountant handed over a bamboo tally. Zhou Tie casually took it and tucked it into his waistband.

"Lift the sedan."

With that said, Zhou Tie took the umbrella banner in his right hand and led the way ahead.

Lu Li wore the standard issue cap and balanced the sedan from behind.

Being a sedan bearer was simple work, but it had its demands. Not just anyone could do it. One had to endure hardship, keep one's mouth shut, walk steadily, know the roads, and, most importantly, obey the sedan leader's commands.

"Heh."

Lu Li answered, meaning he was ready.

"Set off."

Night had fallen.

Auspicious Street, outside Shunhe Sedan Service.

Lu Li and the sedan leader set down the empty sedan. It was a four-person sedan carried by two people. After a whole day of this, he was so exhausted that he slumped straight to the ground.

Letting out a long breath, Lu Li was filled with emotion.

This damn job really wasn't fit for humans.

He tried to move his shoulders, barely lifting his right one.

"Hiss—!"

The corner of Lu Li's mouth twitched.

His shoulder had not moved, but the muscles from his neck to his shoulder blade suddenly spasmed, as though someone had gouged out a chunk of flesh from his shoulder with a dull knife.

The pain made him suck in a sharp breath.

Just then, the accountant finished tallying the accounts and came out to pay him. Altogether, it was thirty-six copper coins.

The coins were tossed over.

Lu Li reached out to catch them, but his five fingers froze in midair, trembling faintly. He could not even clench his fist properly.

He missed them.

The copper coins clattered across the ground, and two fell into the cracks between the bluestones.

When he bent down to pick them up, his knees went weak, and he nearly dropped to them.

The accountant gave a snort of laughter and left.

At that moment, the bitterness of a wage slave took tangible form.

"Don't take it to heart."

Zhou Tie came out of the sedan service just in time to see the scene and comforted him.

Lu Li nodded. It was nothing. At the very least, the accountant never docked his wages.

That was enough.

What more could he ask for?

Lu Li sprawled on the ground. He could not get up, nor did he want to. He only wanted to sit there forever...

Two more blisters had formed on his feet. The moment they touched the ground, the pain drilled straight into his heart.

After a while, the aching swelling in his hands eased somewhat, and only then did he gently massage his uneven shoulders.

Zhou Tie beside him had come prepared. Holding a bottle of bruise medicine, he calmly rubbed it on himself.

Lu Li could not bear to use medicine. That tiny bottle Zhou Tie held cost thirty-six copper coins and could last for over half a month.

How many copper coins could he earn in a day?

That morning's long-distance trip had earned eighty copper coins, of which Lu Li got forty. That was extra money, not something they needed to report, and it was not available every day.

Adding the thirty-six coins left after the share was deducted.

All together.

After a hard day's work, he had earned seventy-six copper coins.

Only after tucking those coins into his clothes did his exhausted soul receive a little comfort.

He looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he divided them into six portions and hid them in different places on his body.

Lu Li was very pleased with his own caution.

He believed that before gaining the ability to protect himself, one could never be too cautious.

And.

He hoped this steadiness would seep into his very bones and become instinct...

There was work at night as well, and sedan fares increased by fifty percent. Naturally, jobs like that would not fall to temporary workers like Lu Li; they were handled by the sedan service's own official bearers.

Only the hard labor during the day would make the sedan service hire temporary workers like Lu Li when they were short-handed.

After sitting on the ground for the time it took half an incense stick to burn, Lu Li finally struggled to his feet and limped along slowly on his sprained foot.

Just after leaving Auspicious Street, as he passed Stone Bridge Lane, Zhang Biao of the Bridgehead Gang blocked his path.

The extortionist had arrived.

"Kid, today's extortion fee has gone up by thirty percent. Eighteen copper coins. Hand it over."

The extortion fee was protection money.

"Master Biao, look, this is all money I earned through hard labor. Could you give me some leeway?"

In times like these, pretending to be poor was a required course.

"Leeway? Making a living on this street is harder for me than it is for you! One coin short, and you won't set foot on this street again!"

Lu Li put on a miserable expression and took fifteen copper coins from his body.

Then he pretended to search himself from top to bottom before finally finding three more coins and handing them to Zhang Biao.

Zhang Biao took the money and looked Lu Li over several times before letting him go.

After leaving Stone Bridge Lane.

Before he had taken two steps, another group blocked Lu Li.

His luck was a little too rotten today.

"Kid, we're from the Dingzhuang Gang. The regulation fee is twenty copper coins. Your money or your life?"

"Gentlemen, I just paid the Bridgehead Gang eighteen copper coins in extortion fees. I really have no money left."

Lu Li continued crying poverty, acting pitiful with all his might.

"Do you think my eyes are blind and can't see the copper coins hidden on you, or do you think the blade in my hand is merciful enough to spare you?"

Without power or influence, one's life lay in other people's hands. If they wanted to crush it, they could crush it.

Lu Li had no choice. He searched himself from top to bottom again and scraped together twenty coins to offer them up.

Normally, Lu Li would have let them search him.

But not today. Today he had extra earnings, so he could only abandon the cart to save the commander.

As he left, Limping Seven, the Dingzhuang Gang's leader, even patted Lu Li on the shoulder.

"Tomorrow, same place. If I don't see you here, you know the consequences."

Lu Li smiled and said he understood. He watched the group leave. Just as they were about to exit the alley, Limping Seven turned back and shot him a vicious glare.

Waves churned in Lu Li's eyes, but they quickly returned to calm.

These gangs are becoming more and more lawless. This can't go on.