The docks of the Grain Transport Gang in Fukou teemed with people.
Under normal circumstances, there were people hauling cargo at the docks at night, but not many.
Besides, it was now the Chou Hour. The night air was murky, and yin energy rose. Even the docks had plenty of taboos at this hour.
But tonight was different.
A large ship lay moored off the docks, unloading cargo.
Strangely, not a single light had been lit aboard it.
The entire ship lay shrouded in darkness. Tonight's Fuzzy Moon failed to illuminate it, and anyone who approached felt a sinister, bone-piercing chill.
Aboard the ship.
Pitch darkness.
Almost all the laborers suffered from night blindness. They could not see anything in the dark.
Yet even so, no lights were lit aboard the ship.
As the Grain Transport Gang members put it, "Laozi will feel his fucking way aboard if he has to. Once he's up there, someone will tell him what to carry."
The docks, by contrast, blazed with light. Countless torches illuminated the entire wharf.
The Water Transport enforcers and several junior labor contractors had erected a shelter, from which the rich smell of Chinese medicine drifted.
They were brewing medicinal tea.
Anyone who could not keep going tonight...
Could come over and drink a bowl of tea here.
Free of charge.
Everyone unloading cargo tonight was a veteran laborer.
No young men, newcomers, or anyone without an established background was accepted.
More importantly, anyone aged twenty-nine or forty-nine was excluded.
Anyone not born in the year of the rooster or dog was excluded.
Every hauler also had to have his birth chart examined beforehand. Anyone whose chart was unsuitable was excluded.
So many requirements made it clear that this was no ordinary undertaking.
The overseers were also members of