Xu Chun and Jin He led the way, with Ma Laifu and Li Gou behind them, followed by the brothers from Ma Village Shack.
What caught the eye most was what they were pushing.
Twenty brand-new rickshaws stood in two neat rows.
Their bodies were painted glossy black. Under the sun, they gleamed so brightly they could dazzle a man.
The handles were made of fine hardwood, polished smooth to the touch. The brass lamp housings shone like mirrors, and the wheels were fitted with fashionable rubber tires, every steel spoke perfectly straight.
To these hard-pressed carriage drivers, they were more than rickshaws. They were their lifeblood, hens that laid golden eggs.
"Fifth Master, we've brought back the twenty new rickshaws Abacus Song promised you!"
Jin He had the loudest voice. His words arrived before he did.
Beaming, he cupped his fists toward Qin Geng. "Fifth Master" came out loud and natural.
The title stirred something in Qin Geng, leaving him momentarily dazed.
He was still Qin Geng in his coarse-cloth jacket, yet the elders who had called him "Xiao Wu" now called him "Fifth Master."
Qin Geng glanced over the crowd and immediately understood what Jin He meant.
At Xu Jin's Shanty, there were six men in all, Xu Chun included. Every one of them was an elder who had watched him grow up.
But over at Ma Village Shack, aside from Ma Laifu and Li Gou, whom he counted as his own people, the dozen or so others were acquaintances at best.
Now that more than three hundred carriage drivers in South City recognized him as their Boss, he could not let his own people be the first to break the rules.
If these twenty-odd brothers kept calling him "Xiao Wu," what authority would "Fifth Master" have once