The Broker at the Door, Fifth Master's Ghost Marriage

The days slipped by like flowing water, without a sound.

In the blink of an eye, it was the first day of the eleventh month.

Late autumn had passed, and early winter was near.

The wind in Tianjin already carried a knife-like chill.

The old crooked tree outside Xu Jin's Shanty had long since lost its leaves. Its bare branches shivered in the wind.

It was noon.

Qin Geng finished his morning's work and returned to the shanty to rest.

The passenger boats at Xun River Wharf ran on a schedule. None docked around noon, and there were few walk-up fares, so everyone used the lull to rest their feet and eat a hot meal.

For the past half month, Qin Geng's days had followed a routine as strict as an ascetic's.

He rose before dawn every day and ran all the way to Hundred Herb Hall.

Beside the small stove in its back courtyard, he practiced his stance in the steam rising from the medicine, then drank a bowl of bitter Bone-Strengthening Powder while it was hot.

After taking his medicine and finishing his training, he went to pull his rickshaw.

Half a month of that had brought results as immediate as a pole casting its shadow.

[Profession: Martial Artist (Level 7)]

He had not yet reached the threshold of transformation at level ten, but each level brought a real strengthening of his body.

Even in a coarse-cloth shirt, Qin Geng's muscles stood out beneath the fabric like ridges of rock.

His arms in particular could pull his sleeves taut with the slightest flex, as though the seams might burst at any moment.

He had shot up to a full 1.75 meters. His back was straight, and nothing remained of the sallow, scrawny, timid wretch he had once been.

His eyes were startlingly bright, alive with a fierce vitality.

But while he had built up his strength, he had also spent nearly all his money.

Those fourteen doses of Bone-Strengthening Powder were a beast that devoured gold.

Add to that his enormous appetite, and despite earning plenty over the past half month, he had only one silver dollar left.

"If no more money comes in, I'll have to stop taking the medicine tomorrow."

Qin Geng sat on a stone block and counted up his finances.

"At least I've kept up with my Carriage Driver profession."

He glanced at the panel.

[Profession: Carriage Driver (Level 29)]

"Just one last step."

"At this rate, a few more fares this afternoon will definitely get me to level thirty."

"Once I hit thirty, I'll find Shopkeeper Lu and take that job up in the mountains."

"Thirty silver dollars will keep me supplied with medicine for another month."

With a plan in mind, Qin Geng stopped worrying.

He was about to lie down on his straw mat for a short nap.

Just then, a jumble of footsteps and voices came from outside the shanty.

"Xiao Wu?"

"Oh, careful. The ground's uneven here."

Qin Geng frowned slightly at the voice.

It was Boss Lin.

The old bastard had not shown his face since the incident at Xun River Wharf half a month ago, though he had not openly caused trouble either.

Why had he suddenly come to this miserable shanty today?

And why was he calling out so warmly?

Qin Geng signaled to Xu Chun and Uncle Jin. They and the others rose from their straw mats.

"I'm here."

Qin Geng answered, remaining seated on the stone block in the open yard with his legs spread wide.

The door curtain lifted.

Boss Lin strode in, his face beaming.

As usual, he was dressed respectably. He wore a brand-new gray squirrel-fur jacket and carried two boxes of pastries.

Behind him came a middle-aged man in a dark brown robe and a skullcap.

The man was thin, with high cheekbones and two wisps of a mustache. He held a long tobacco pipe, and his small eyes darted about with a shrewd, calculating gleam.

At the sight, Xu Chun, Uncle Jin, and the others stood behind Qin Geng, lending him their support.

"Well now, Xiao Wu, enjoying yourself in the sun?"

Boss Lin set the pastries on the stone table with a hearty laugh.

He acted as if he and Qin Geng were old friends.

"What a rare visitor."

Qin Geng pulled his mouth into a smile that never reached his eyes. "What wind blew you here? I hope this poor backwater hasn't dirtied your shoes."

"Listen to you. We're all brothers. What's a little dirt between us?"

Boss Lin laughed it off, then stepped aside to present the man behind him.

"Xiao Wu, I'll get straight to it. I've come to introduce you to an opportunity beyond your wildest dreams."

Gesturing to the middle-aged man, Boss Lin said, "This is Master Jiang, from the Ten Thousand Treasures Brokerage in South City."

"A brokerage? Master Jiang?"

Qin Geng's expression darkened at once.

Behind him, Uncle Xu, Uncle Jin, and the others frowned, wariness and disgust entering their eyes.

Tianjin had an old saying: "Ricks, boats, inns, porters, and brokers—guilty or not, they ought to be killed."

Those five trades were notorious for their dirty dealings.

Rickshaw pullers and boatmen worked in Qin Geng's own line of business. He knew better than anyone how deep those waters ran.

In remote places, colluding with bandits to rob travelers—or swindle and murder merchants—was all too common.

Crooked inns and human-flesh buns were staples of storytelling, but they were hardly unheard of in real life.

Porter outfits controlled cargo handling at the docks. Stealing goods in their care and switching shipments were everyday business.

The "brokers" were the middlemen: agents, fixers, busybodies, and matchmakers.

They never moved without a sure profit in sight. They took a cut from both sides and had the blackest hearts of all.

Their work ranged from finding someone a job or arranging a marriage to brokering houses, farmland, and major cargo deals.

Of course, much of their business was the sort that could not bear the light of day.

Human trafficking, for instance.

They sold respectable women into brothels, poor children into wealthy households as servants, and even people to the South Seas as indentured laborers.

There were two kinds of people Qin Geng hated most in this life.

The first were rotten gamblers like his father.

The second were brokers.

Back then, his gambling-addicted father had lost all reason after a run of losses. A broker at the gambling den talked him into selling Qin Geng's aunt, Qin Xiu, to the Su Family as a maid.

She had been a young woman in the flower of her youth. One signed indenture contract was worth twenty silver dollars.

The black-hearted broker took his cut and gave Qin Geng's father only five silver dollars.

The remaining fifteen went straight into the broker's pocket.

And those five silver dollars had done nothing to save the family. His father had promptly gambled every last one away.

At the memory, Qin Geng's gaze toward "Master Jiang" turned cold.

"The Ten Thousand Treasures Brokerage?"

Qin Geng gave a cold snort. "Boss Lin, I'm just a poor rickshaw puller. I can't afford a house or land, and I'm in no hurry to find a wife. Bringing such an exalted guest here—haven't you come to the wrong door?"

Master Jiang, who had said nothing so far, showed no irritation at Qin Geng's hostile tone.

He drew on his pipe and blew a smoke ring before speaking at his leisure.

"Fifth Master, you've misunderstood."

Master Jiang's voice was thin and high, with a eunuch-like softness. "We haven't come today for some paltry profit."

"We've come to bring you a fortune that could blot out the sky."

"A fortune that could blot out the sky?"

Qin Geng scoffed.

"That's right."

Master Jiang narrowed his small eyes and looked Qin Geng up and down as though appraising merchandise for sale.

"You may have established yourself in South City, Fifth Master, but at the end of the day, you still pull a rickshaw."

"You go out in wind and rain to earn every hard-won coin."

"But if this deal goes through, you can hold your ground at Xun River Wharf for ten years without anyone daring to touch you! You might even be a shoo-in for the next Dragon Head!"

"Oh?"

Qin Geng raised an eyebrow, signaling Master Jiang to continue. "I'd like to hear what sort of deal warrants a claim that grand."

Master Jiang stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"Fifth Master, you know Xun River Wharf belongs to the Dragon King Society, don't you?"

"I do."

Qin Geng nodded.

Xun River Wharf was a major crossing and a major dock by Ping'an City's standards, though it amounted to little in Tianjin.

Tianjin Caobang had no interest in it and could not spare the men to manage it anyway. So it let smaller gangs take control in exchange for an annual tribute.

The Dragon King Society controlled Xun River Wharf.

It might be a small gang to the Grain Transport Gang, but to the people from every walk of life in Ping'an County, it was unquestionably a major power. The thousands of dockworkers and countless fishing boats nearby were all under its control.

The dock's fees and the Dragon King Temple's incense offerings alone brought in an astronomical sum each year.

"Jiang Hailong, the Dragon Head of the Dragon King Society, suffered a family tragedy not long ago."

Master Jiang spoke in a mysterious tone. "His only daughter, Miss Jiang, had the misfortune to encounter a water ghost and drowned in the Xun River."

"I heard about that too."

Xu Chun put in a word from the side.

It had caused quite a stir. Word was that Jiang Hailong had frantically searched for people to recover her body and had even invited a ritual master to perform rites.

"Master Jiang loved his daughter dearly. He's afraid she'll be lonely down below, with no one to look after her."

Master Jiang went on, "So he wants to arrange a ghost marriage for her."

"Master Jiang consulted an expert about the groom."

"He has to be a young, strong rickshaw puller, full of yang energy and firmly rooted on his feet. His birth details also have to match. Only then can he balance a bride who died by drowning."

At this, Master Jiang fixed his small eyes on Qin Geng.

"I've spent the better part of half a month going around South City, checking the birth details of every rickshaw puller."

"Fifth Master, you and Miss Jiang are a match made in heaven!"

"And with your build and bearing, you're one in ten thousand!"

"Just say yes to this ghost marriage, and you'll be Master Jiang Hailong's adopted son—and the Jiang Family's son-in-law!"

Master Jiang raised a finger and waved it before Qin Geng.

"Master Jiang has said that once it's done, you'll receive one thousand silver dollars in cash!"

"After that, you'll be the young master of the Dragon King Society. You'll rise straight to the clouds, with the whole wide world before you!"

One thousand silver dollars!

Everyone present drew a sharp breath at that number.

Xu Chun, Uncle Jin, and Ma Laifu stared wide-eyed.

They could pull rickshaws their entire lives and never earn a thousand silver dollars!

With that money, they could buy a house and land and marry several concubines with plenty left over. A poor wretch could become a rich man overnight.

Yet once the shock passed, everyone's face turned grim.

Qin Geng was no different. An uncontrollable fury surged from the bottom of his heart to the crown of his head.

A ghost marriage?

What did they take Qin Geng for?

Breeding stock?

An object to be buried with the dead?

He had never witnessed a ghost marriage himself, but Master Zhu Xin and other seasoned men had told him how it worked.

This was no marriage. They meant to drive a living man to his death!

The first step of a ghost marriage was called "consummation."

It was not as simple as bowing before a memorial tablet.

To let the dead woman "rest in peace" and keep her spirit from wandering, the so-called groom had to perform the acts of husband and wife with a corpse that had soaked in the river and might already be rotting...

Just imagining the corpse's stench and its maggot-covered face made Qin Geng's stomach churn like a river overturning the sea.

And that was not the end of it.

After the consummation but before the burial, the family would hire a Paper Effigy Maker to craft a life-sized paper figure in the dead woman's likeness.

A ritual master would perform rites to draw the dead woman's soul into the figure.

From then on, the "son-in-law" would have to live with that eerie paper figure for the rest of his life.

He would have to set out a bowl and chopsticks for her at meals and place her beside his bed when he slept.

He would even have to burn incense for her and speak to her every day.

If he failed to serve her properly, the family would punish him. Worse, her spirit might cling to him until he went mad and his family was ruined.

This was a tomb for the living dead!

They were using the years and dignity of a living man to fill a dead person's grave!

"Master Jiang, that abacus of yours is clicking away nicely."

Qin Geng smiled. "A thousand silver dollars to buy the rest of my life? And I have to sleep with a dead woman? Spend my days with a paper effigy?"

Master Jiang was still pleading, spittle flying:

"Oh, Fifth Master, don't put it like that."

"She's Jiang Hailong's daughter! She may be gone, but her standing hasn't changed."

"Besides, it's a ghost marriage. No one's asking you to go down and be buried with her."

"You'd just go through the motions. Bear it for a bit, and it'll be over."

"With those thousand silver dollars and a connection to Master Jiang, what living bride couldn't you find in Tianjin?"

"Endure a moment, and the wind dies down and the waves grow calm. Take one step back, and the sea and sky open wide!"

"Step back my ass!"

Qin Geng suddenly roared.

Smack!

His right palm slammed onto the Bluestone Table in front of him.

Fury drove that strike. He held nothing back.

Boom!

A dull crash rang out.

The Bluestone Table's surface was three inches thick, yet cracks spread across it like a spiderweb beneath his palm.

Then came a sharp crack.

The whole table broke into pieces, and stone fragments clattered across the ground.

"Ah!"

Master Jiang let out a strange cry. His smoking pipe fell from his hand as he stumbled backward and landed on his backside, his face deathly pale.

Boss Lin shuddered from head to toe and nearly dropped to his knees.

He knew Qin Geng was strong, but he had never imagined he was this strong.

If that palm had struck a person, wouldn't it have turned them to pulp?

"Get out!"

"I may pull a rickshaw, but I'm still a man who pisses standing up!"

"If you want someone for a ghost marriage, go do it yourself!"

"Don't you fucking set your sights on me!"

"And you, Boss Lin."

Qin Geng turned. His icy gaze made Boss Lin's scalp prickle.

"Bring filth like this to my place again, and I'll smash your head just like that table!"

"Get out!"

"Yes, yes! I'm going! I'm going right now!"

Boss Lin didn't dare say another word. He hauled the terrified Master Jiang to his feet, and the two scrambled out of the shack.

They fled faster than rabbits.

Only after they had gone did the tension in the shack ease.

Xu Chun, Uncle Jin, and the others stared at the shattered table. They clicked their tongues, satisfied but shaken.

"Xiao Wu, you've offended the Dragon King Society, Boss Lin, and the Ten Thousand Treasures Brokerage..."

Uncle Jin sounded worried.

"Then I've offended them."

Qin Geng dusted off his hands. "If I agreed to something this disgusting, my spine would be broken for the rest of my life. What would be the point of practicing martial arts?"

"But..."

Qin Geng cut Uncle Jin off, his gaze firm. "When soldiers come, generals meet them; when floods come, earth holds them back. If Jiang Hailong really tries force, I've got nothing to lose! Besides, I'm not the only carriage driver in Tianjin whose birth signs match. Jiang Hailong can keep looking."

"If I really became some dead woman's son-in-law, my life would be over."

Everyone nodded at that.

It was true.

If Qin Geng went through with the ghost marriage, he would become the Jiang family's dog and hear people talk about it for the rest of his life.

"Let's sleep. We've still got fares to catch this afternoon."

Qin Geng waved a hand.

He had resisted the temptation of a thousand silver dollars, but he truly was short of money.

Still, he was about to reach level 30.

That task worth thirty silver dollars was the proper way forward!

He would earn money through his own abilities!

Qin Geng would rather go without than earn money that way!

Qin Geng stood up, his spine straight as a great spear thrusting through the heavens.