Carriage House Rules and the Endless Breath Talent

Boss Lin did not linger. He patted the seat of the brand-new rickshaw, then gave Qin Geng's shoulder two heavy squeezes.

He wore his usual public smile. "Got your carriage back for you. Work hard from now on, and don't disgrace our South City Carriage House. You handled this properly. You've got what it takes."

Without waiting for Qin Geng to answer, Boss Lin clasped his hands behind his back and swaggered away with his followers.

Qin Geng stood where he was, one hand resting on the carriage he had lost and regained. The brass handlebar was cold and hard, but a tangle of feelings burned inside him.

He said nothing, merely lowered his eyes so no one could read them.

Only after Boss Lin disappeared around the corner did the carriage drivers watching outside Nine Harmony Restaurant dare to gather around.

"Whoa, a new carriage really is different. Look at that shine!"

"Xiao Wu, you turned a disaster into a blessing this time."

Everyone talked at once.

Then the driver who led the line, who had scarcely said a word until now, came over.

His name was Ma Laifu. In his forties and an old hand at the ways of the world, he commanded considerable respect around here.

He held a dry tobacco pipe, tapped its ashes against the sole of his shoe, packed a fresh bowl, and lit it with a match. After a long drag, he breathed out a cloud of blue-gray smoke.

"Xiao Wu."

Ma Laifu savored the taste of tobacco and narrowed his eyes. "When you take fares for the next while, stay on the same routes as us. Don't go wandering off alone. Those bastards from Yi He Shantytown will probably lie in wait for you."

Qin Geng looked up at Ma Laifu but had not yet spoken when Li Gou, beside him, burst out.

"Why should they?"

Li Gou stuck out his neck, his face full of indignation. "Xiao Wu didn't do it! Lai Tou, that animal, offended a manager from the Grain Transport Gang over a courtesan at the House of Exquisite Red. Those river rats must have done him in. If Xiao Wu could've beaten Lai Tou to death, would they have managed to steal his carriage?"

Ma Laifu did not take offense. He merely chuckled, showing a row of large teeth yellowed by years of smoking.

Several older drivers nearby laughed too, their smiles tinged with the helplessness of men who knew how the world worked.

"Li Gou, you're still too green."

Ma Laifu pointed his pipe toward the corner where Boss Lin had vanished and lowered his voice. "You think Boss Lin dares announce that the Grain Transport Gang killed one of his men?"

Li Gou froze. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Because it's the Grain Transport Gang!"

Ma Laifu snorted. "If Boss Lin said they did it, the rules of the underworld would demand he stand up for Lai Tou and demand an explanation from the gang. Would he dare? If he went, those killers who don't blink at murder could toss him into the Tianjin River to feed the turtles. But if he didn't go, his men would think he was a spineless waste. Who'd follow him after that?"

Li Gou opened his mouth but had nothing to say.

Ma Laifu sighed and glanced at Qin Geng. "That's the rotten rule of this Tianjin territory."

"If you've got strength and powerful backing, even if you really did kill someone, they'll find somebody to carry the blame rather than offend you. They've got their reputation and interests to protect."

"But if you've got neither power nor connections, who else is going to carry that blame?"

He paused, looking at Qin Geng's young face. "Xiao Wu happened to have a grudge against Lai Tou, and his carriage was stolen. There's your ready-made basket for the blame. If Xiao Wu's involved, it becomes our South City Carriage House's own business. Xiao Wu 'crossed the line' to take revenge, Lai Tou broke the rules by stealing his carriage, and now Boss Lin's returned it. That's called 'settling the matter.' He doesn't have to provoke the Grain Transport Gang, and he earns a reputation for fair rewards and punishments and keeping the rules. Boss Lin's shrewd enough to kill two birds with one stone."

Dead silence fell around them.

Qin Geng slowly nodded. "Thank you for explaining, Uncle Fu. I understand."

His fists clenched involuntarily inside his sleeves.

He understood the reasoning, but hearing someone lay it out so nakedly still left him feeling deeply powerless.

In the end, it was because he was a nobody whose words carried no weight!

If Qin Geng had already made a name for himself in Tianjin Guard, if people respectfully called him "Fifth Master," would Boss Lin dare scheme against him like this?

Give the man ten times the courage, and he would still have to think twice!

At that moment, Qin Geng's desire to climb higher and make something of himself burned fiercer than ever.

Night had fallen completely by the time Qin Geng pulled his recovered rickshaw back to Xu Jin's Shanty.

The battered flatbed cart that had served him for the past few days was tied behind it, rattling along the whole way.

Inside the shanty, Xu Chun, Uncle Jin, and a few other veterans were roasting sweet potatoes around a fire. When they saw Qin Geng return with his new carriage, their eyes went wide.

After they heard what had happened that day, Xu Chun threw down the twig in his hand and swore.

"That bastard Lin is no good!"

Uncle Jin was calmer. He waved a hand. "Enough. Getting the carriage back is a good thing."

"Xiao Wu, you don't need to worry too much."

"With Lai Tou dead, Yi He Shantytown will scatter like monkeys when the tree falls. Those thugs never listened to one another to begin with. Now that their leader's gone, they're busy fighting over his seat. They can barely hold on to their own turf, so where would they find time to make trouble for you? And if they dare come, these old bones of ours can still put up a fight."

Warmth spread through Qin Geng's chest, and he nodded.

Late that night, everyone lay asleep, snores rising and falling around the shanty.

Qin Geng drew Uncle Xu into a corner outside.

"Uncle Xu, I need to tell you the truth about this."

Keeping his voice low, Qin Geng recounted exactly how he had encountered Lai Tou in the alley that night.

"...I didn't save him. I even kicked him."

Qin Geng took a silver dollar, still warm from his body, out of his coat and offered it to Uncle Xu. "I took this from him. Uncle, please take it. It'll repay what you covered for my carriage rental."

Uncle Xu stared, stunned, at the silver dollar in Qin Geng's hand under the moonlight.

He picked it up with rough fingers, brought it to his lips, and blew sharply across it before quickly holding it beside Qin Geng's ear.

"Hummm—"

A long, clear ringing vibrated beside Qin Geng's ear.

"It's real?"

Uncle Xu asked.

"It's real."

Qin Geng nodded.

"Keep it yourself."

Uncle Xu smiled and pressed the dollar back into Qin Geng's hand.

"Uncle, what are you doing?"

Qin Geng grew anxious.

"You keep that money."

Uncle Xu took a puff of his pipe, his tone firm. "The few coins for the rental are nothing. Besides, you've got your new carriage back, haven't you? Return that battered flatbed cart to the carriage house tomorrow, and we're square. You still owe a debt on your aunt's account. Save this and pay off what you owe sooner. A man without debt walks light."

"But..."

"No buts! Why stand on ceremony with me?"

Uncle Xu glared at him. "If you truly want to repay me, work hard and make something of yourself. When you do, just don't forget us poor old men."

Qin Geng gripped the silver dollar, hot in his palm, and looked at Uncle Xu's deeply lined face. His eyes stung.

He stopped arguing and gave a firm nod.

On the third, he had to go to Heaven-Reaching Gate on Bell Mountain. It was a long job, and he would have to rise early.

To conserve his strength, Qin Geng kept a strict routine over the next two days.

Every day he rose before dawn and went to sleep at dark. Apart from pulling fares to build experience, he ate to help his body grow.

Xu Chun, Uncle Jin, and the others were not idle either. They huddled together, muttering about when to join forces with the brothers from Ma Village Shack. With Yi He Shantytown in turmoil, they could give its men a proper beating and take back the stand they had lost.

With a new carriage and the Divine Stride talent behind him, Qin Geng found pulling fares easier than ever.

His experience bar shot upward like a skyrocket.

On the evening of the second.

Qin Geng finished his last fare, taking a drunken customer from Nine Harmony Restaurant to a house in the west of the city.

The customer got out. Just as Qin Geng brought his carriage to a stop, the familiar, majestic chime of bell and stone sounded in his mind once more.

[Profession: Carriage Driver (level nine)]

Experience bar [100/100] full.

The glowing panel flickered, and the words shifted.

[Profession level increased to ten]

[Please choose:]

[1. Unlock talent: Endless Breath (level one)—greatly increases stamina recovery speed and extends physical endurance.]

[2. Upgrade talent: Divine Stride (level two)—further increases movement speed and explosive power.]

Qin Geng stood on the empty street, studying the choices before him.

Divine Stride level two was tempting, but he thought of tomorrow's job.

He had to make a round trip of more than a hundred li to Heaven-Reaching Gate on Bell Mountain, and the customer wanted him to "run like his life depended on it."

Speed alone would not help if he ran out of strength halfway there and stranded the customer on the road. That would ruin his reputation, never mind the five silver dollars.

I choose [Endless Breath].

He spoke the words silently in his mind.

The next instant, a warm current rose from his lower abdomen. Unlike Divine Stride's fierce, scorching heat, it was a gentle, unbroken stream that nourished his organs.

Qin Geng drew a deep breath. His chest felt as though it had expanded; he could keep inhaling for ages.

He flexed his hands and feet, took hold of the rickshaw, and decided to test what his new talent could do.

"Go!"

He drove his feet against the ground. Divine Stride took hold, and he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

This time, he held nothing back. He sprinted at full speed toward the familiar braised-offal stall in the south of the city.

Wind roared past his ears, and the scenery on both sides of the street flew backward.

Before, a sprint this intense would have left him gasping before he had cleared three streets. His throat would taste of blood, and his lungs would feel ready to burst.

Now he ran across more than half the county town in one stretch, all the way to the braised-offal stall.

When he stopped the carriage, he was only slightly winded. A fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead, and though his heart beat fast, its rhythm was strong and steady.

The suffocating exhaustion never came. Instead, strength continued to well up inside him, as though he could run another ten round trips.

"This Endless Breath is incredible!"

Qin Geng clenched his fist, unable to stop the grin spreading across his face.

With this ability, tomorrow's five silver dollars were as good as his!

Better days lay just ahead!

He sat down at the stall and called out, "Boss, a big bowl of braised offal and five baked flatbreads!"

Turning his head, he spotted Master Zhu Xin sitting there too.

"Oh, Master Zhu Xin, you're here as well."

Qin Geng waved a hand. "Boss, bring Master Zhu Xin another plate of fennel beans and a bowl of clear wine. My treat!"

Master Zhu Xin accepted without protest and clasped his hands with a smile. "Xiao Wu, looks like you did well today. Yi He Shantytown hasn't troubled you, has it?"

Clearly, Master Zhu Xin also knew how Boss Lin had made things difficult for Qin Geng.

"Nothing gets past you, Master Zhu Xin."

Qin Geng chuckled, lifted his freshly served bowl of braised offal, and took a long drink of broth. "Master Zhu Xin, could I ask you something? What sort of place is Bell Mountain outside the city? Anything I ought to know about it?"

He figured the place could not be too dangerous if the customer had chosen it, but he had grown more wary of the world. Asking could do no harm.

Master Zhu Xin picked up a fennel bean and chewed it slowly. "You've asked the right person. They say Tianjin sits on a Dragon Vein. Since ancient times, princes, generals, ministers, and leading figures of every trade have liked to be buried around Tianjin, hoping their descendants would benefit. And Bell Mountain holds a special place on that Dragon Vein. It's right around the tip of the dragon's tail."

"A Dragon Vein?"

Qin Geng chewed his flatbread, curious.

"That's right."

Master Zhu Xin sipped his clear wine and said mysteriously, "You pull a carriage and travel these streets every day. Haven't you noticed there isn't a single proper T-junction anywhere in Tianjin?"

Qin Geng frowned and pictured a map of Tianjin.

Now that he thought about it, that was true!

Tianjin's roads met in crossroads or crooked junctions, or ended in blind alleys. But there was not one straight T-junction where a road ran head-on into another.

"They call it 'not butting against the dragon.' It means a smooth road ahead."

Master Zhu Xin rocked his head proudly.

Qin Geng swallowed his flatbread and asked what mattered most to him. "Then... if there's a Dragon Vein around Tianjin, are there any... demons or ghosts?"

"Those?"

Master Zhu Xin laughed and waved a hand. "Of course not! This part of Tianjin lies on the Dragon Vein, with dragon energy keeping watch. The mountains and rivers are beautiful, the landscape grand and splendid. How could anything evil find a place here?

"That's exactly why the area around Tianjin is a favorite haunt of Tomb Raiders.

"Break into a tomb somewhere else, and you never know if you'll run into some hulking revenant or red-haired monster. But around Tianjin? Hah! You won't meet a single demon or ghost. All you have to do is take the gold."

Qin Geng nodded thoughtfully.

Master Zhu Xin's meaning was clear: Tianjin was free of such things. There were no zombies or ghosts here.

But that also confirmed something else—outside Tianjin, those foul creatures really did exist.

A memory of the corpse herder he had encountered as a child surfaced in his mind.

Even now, recalling that eerie bell made his scalp prickle.

The world looked prosperous, but what lay hidden beneath it was far too dangerous.

He needed the strength to protect himself!

Money was the foundation on which he could build a life.

Martial skill was the root of staying alive.

After this trip to Bell Mountain, once he had the five silver dollars and had repaid his aunt, he would have to swallow his pride and ask her to help him meet the Su Family's House Guard.

Whatever the cost, he had to learn martial arts!

Qin Geng drained the broth in a few gulps and wiped his mouth.

"Thanks, Master Zhu Xin! Enjoy your meal. I'd better go!"

"Right you are. Take care!"

Qin Geng took hold of his carriage and strode back to the shanty.

That night, he went to sleep especially early.

Tomorrow was the day he would pick up that "big money god" for the trip to Heaven-Reaching Gate on Bell Mountain.