Trade Guilds

The Old Bright Lantern Shop opened for business the next morning. The workers and apprentices went about their tasks as usual, but Master Wang was nowhere to be seen.

The master craftsman could not watch over the workshop every day, so the workers thought nothing of it. Only Yang Laoliang was on tenterhooks, glancing now and then at Wang Tiaodeng's room, then at Zhang Laifu's.

Xiao Chu, a shop assistant, came over. "Shopkeeper, Master Wang doesn't seem to be here."

Yang Laoliang snapped, "So he's not here. What's all the fuss? Doesn't Old Wang have a home of his own? Why should he spend every day at the shop?"

Did the shopkeeper sleep badly? Why is he so angry?

Xiao Chu had no idea what he had said wrong. He stood to one side, not daring to speak.

Yang Laoliang really had slept badly. After standing in the courtyard for a while, he was about to go back and catch up on sleep when he saw Zhang Laifu come out.

The moment he saw Zhang Laifu, Old Liang's weariness vanished. He wanted to shut his door and hide, but that did not sit right with him. He wanted to say something to Zhang Laifu, but did not know what.

After turning it over in his mind, Yang Laoliang stepped forward and greeted him. "Laifu, where are you off to?"

"I wasn't going out." Zhang Laifu was carrying a towel and heading to wash up.

"Go out and have a look around, Laifu. The street's especially lively today. I'll give you some money, and you can pick up a few things for me while you're there." Yang Laoliang went back and fetched a box of Silver Dollars.

He desperately hoped Zhang Laifu would take the Silver Dollars, leave the Old Bright Lantern Shop, and never come back.

But Zhang Laifu did not take them.

"Shopkeeper, I have something else to do this morning. Let's talk this afternoon."

Yang Laoliang watched the old grandfather clock and waited. Click-clack, click-clack went the pendulum, swinging from side to side. That morning passed more slowly than a year.

When two in the afternoon finally came, Yang Laoliang sent Xiao Chu to fetch Zhang Laifu. "Tell him I need him to run an errand."

Before long, Xiao Chu returned.

"Shopkeeper, Zhang Laifu isn't in his room."

He's gone?

Has he really gone?

Yang Laoliang paced the room, rubbing his hands together without stopping.

Zhang Laifu arrived at Pearl Street. Li Yunsheng's stall was still there, but Li Yunsheng was not.

The young man selling flatbreads looked at Zhang Laifu. Zhang Laifu gave him ten copper coins and took a flatbread.

"You don't need to pay me. Doctor Li already did. He said someone from the Trade Guild wanted to see him about something, and he asked you to wait here for him."

The young man tried to return the money, but Zhang Laifu would not take it. "What does the Trade Guild want with Doctor Li?"

"Doctor Li didn't tell me. But the people who came for him were very polite. It might not be anything bad."

Zhang Laifu sat down beside the stall and waited for Li Yunsheng to return.

Since arriving in Wansheng Province, Zhang Laifu had heard countless things about the Trade Guild, yet he still had no clear idea what it was.

Now the Paper Lantern Guild was likely to come after him, and the Zhu You Guild had already come after Li Yunsheng. Why were people from the Trade Guild so hard to deal with?

The flatbread seller spoke up. "Someone from the Trade Guild is here."

Zhang Laifu's heart tightened. "Which guild?"

The young man pointed at the stall selling pig's head meat. "That man came yesterday, but the stallholder wasn't here. A friend told me he's probably from the Trade Guild."

So he's from the pig's head meat guild. Zhang Laifu relaxed.

A middle-aged man walked up to the pig's head meat stall and casually picked through the cuts. "Good meat today."

"Then buy plenty." The stallholder was a little nervous. He had never seen the man before, but could sense that he was someone important.

After looking for a while, the middle-aged man suddenly said, "You've been getting plenty of fat lately!" (You've made quite a bit of money lately.)

The stallholder recognized the Spring Code of the Trade Guild and hurried to answer, "Only because the ladle-holders look after us does my chopping block stay busy." (Business is good only because the guild looks after me.)

"One cut, one piece of meat. Don't chop up another family's bones. Do you understand?"

"When we chop bones and cut meat, we follow every rule."

With that, the stallholder grabbed a few copper coins from a box. This was Merit Money for the Trade Guild.

Merit Money was the contribution paid to the Trade Guild in exchange for its care and protection.

But the man did not take the money. Still looking at the meat on the chopping block, he asked, "Who gets the meat you have left at the end of each day?"

"Business has been good lately, so there hasn't been much left. If there is any, I take it home and eat it with a drink."

The middle-aged man smiled. "Fair enough. You work hard out here in the wind and sun. You deserve to treat yourself. But I reckon this meat would taste good chopped up as filling, too."

"Would it? I'd never thought of that." Sweat broke out on the stallholder's brow.

"Pig's head meat in buns, kept overnight and sold the next day. That must be good business, too, eh?"

Zhang Laifu nodded vigorously. "He thinks just like me. I said before that pig's head meat could go in buns, but that seller didn't know what was good for him. He even pulled a knife on me..."

The flatbread seller hurriedly stopped Zhang Laifu. "Sir, you mustn't say that carelessly. It breaks the rules!"

"What rules?"

Zhang Laifu still did not understand what was going on. Then he saw the Trade Guild man pick up the meat cleaver and ask the stallholder, "Tell me about the buns. If you can't explain yourself, I'll tear down your stall and chop off one of your hands."

The stallholder wiped his sweat and gave two dry laughs. "I don't sell buns, so I wouldn't know..."

"You know you don't sell buns? Then why are you making meat filling? Who gave you leave to step into someone else's trade?"

"I didn't..."

"Say that again!"

The stallholder trembled. In a small voice, he asked, "Sir, I don't recognize your face. Which side of the chopping block are you on?" (What's your position in the guild hall?)

"A big new cleaver on the block. My edge still needs sharpening."

The flatbread seller translated for Zhang Laifu. "He's a newly appointed hall master. He doesn't know the trade all that well yet."

Tears sprang to the stallholder's eyes. "Hall Master, it was my first offense. Truly, just this once."

"The Bun Guild has already come to the hall to make its case, and you dare say it was your first time? You know how long you've been doing this."

"Something happened at home. My older sister fell ill."

The hall master laughed. "What older sister? You mean that brothel girl, don't you? You think I don't know your background?"

The people around them no longer dared watch. The nearby stallholders moved away as well, afraid of being splashed with blood.

Zhang Laifu still could not understand. "What exactly did he do wrong?"

The flatbread seller lowered his voice. "He made buns with the pig's head meat he couldn't sell, then sold them the next day.

Pig's head meat left overnight can't be fresh. That damages the trade's reputation. Worse, he's stolen business from the bun sellers. That makes it a serious matter."

"How serious?"

The flatbread seller looked grave. "Each trade sticks to its own livelihood. That's the biggest rule. I once thought about making steamed cakes myself. I can make flatbreads, so steamed cakes couldn't be that hard.

But my master told me never to meddle in someone else's Trade Circles. It would bring down serious trouble.

This pig's head meat seller has been selling buns for quite a while. Now that the Trade Guild has come for him, his rice bowl is sure to be smashed."

As they spoke, the hall master gave the stallholder his orders. "Pack up your stall at once. Starting today, find another line of work. You're not allowed to sell pig's head meat anymore. If I see you set up a stall again, I'll chop off your hand and put it straight in the pot. Do you understand?"

The hall master was letting him off lightly, but the stallholder was unwilling to accept it. "Hall Master, I really..."

The hall master raised an eyebrow. "You're not one of us. Don't call me Hall Master. Now get lost!"

The stallholder did not dare say another word. He hurried to pack up.

Zhang Laifu was still watching the pig's head meat seller when Li Yunsheng returned to his stall and planted three sticks of incense. "Today he sells buns. Tomorrow he could sell dumplings. A few days after that, lamb skewers. People like him would steal every other trade's business.

Ten thousand livelihoods, ten thousand ways: leave others a meal. The Trade Guild must protect the Trade Circles. Even a fight within one trade calls for finding a scapegoat. If a fight breaks out between trades, it becomes a far greater matter. Don't ever forget that rule."

Zhang Laifu asked Li Yunsheng, "Brother Li, the Trade Guild didn't make things difficult for you, did they?"

"A little, but I managed to handle it. Brother Laifu, I found out what we needed. Marshal Qiao really is coming. Hunlong Stronghold definitely won't dare make any rash moves. These next two days are a good chance to leave Heishakou."

Zhang Laifu nodded slightly. "Then tonight."