Qin Geng did not linger. He wheeled his rickshaw out of the concession.
He did not know what Li Zhizhen had said, but the Book of a Hundred Trades had revealed the man's undisguised malice.
It put Qin Geng on the highest alert against that group of foreigners.
Along the way, he passed quite a few rickshaw pullers from Jinmen City's inner districts.
They were noticeably different from their counterparts in the county town.
Their rickshaws were brighter and better kept, and the rickshaw firms followed the rules more closely. They did not set their cut as high as fifty or sixty percent, leaving the pullers no way to make a living.
So the pullers carried less of the bitterness and hardship he had seen in the county town, and put a little more ease into their hard work.
They were still poor men scraping by at the bottom, though.
With a glance, Qin Geng spotted two pullers who had reached a higher level on that short stretch of road alone.
Their legs moved with unbelievable speed. Even pulling passengers, they ran as though their feet had been greased, light and steady, their breathing long and even.
They had clearly reached the first level of the Carriage Driver trade and gained the Wind-Fire Wheel ability. They might even have the second level's Ever-Burning Lamp ability.
Qin Geng could not tell precisely what level they had reached, but it was enough to startle him.
In Ping'an County Town, apart from the four former bosses and Guan Ershun, he had never seen a puller who had reached a higher level.
They say that sincerity brings results. As long as you're sincere, you can reach a higher level. But what counts as sincere?
Could it be talent?
*Jinmen City's inner districts are a