"Stop blocking us from paying! If we're late, this spot will be gone. There are only thirty slots left for today."
Song Yubai froze.
He looked at the fat man incredulously. "You... what are you saying? He's extorting you! He's exploiting you!"
"Exploit what!" The fat man grew frantic, stamping his foot. "I'm doing this voluntarily!
Old Zhao Laosi entered the city yesterday and snagged a stall inside this morning. They say he made his money back in half a day! My five hundred coppers are nothing! Please, do us a favor and stop blocking everyone's path to fortune, will you?"
"That's right!" The crowd behind him erupted. "Where did this bookworm come from? Putting on airs here!"
"Get out of the way! My goods are about to spoil!"
"Scram! Don't pretend to be something you're not if you're broke!"
Spittle sprayed onto Song Yubai's face.
He stood there, utterly bewildered and stunned.
This... this wasn't the script.
Didn't Su Bingzhang say they were refugees?
Didn't he say they were desperate and had no means to survive?
Why did they all seem more eager than him to hand over their money?
Su Bingzhang stood behind, his face ashen. He had calculated everything, but never expected these merchants to be so base—actually enjoying being charged?
Pockmarked Liu sneered, his gaze as if looking at an imbecile.
He slung his watchman's club over his shoulder and pulled out a rag from his robe, specifically for polishing the bronze plaque on the city wall.
"Hear that?" Pockmarked Liu gestured with his chin toward Song Yubai. "The masses have sharp eyes. Young master, if you want to play the hero, go back to your Qinghe County. Don't block everyone's fortune here in Taoyuan County. We don't go for that hollow virtue here."
He then pointed at the red line on the ground. "Also, your boot crossed the line. Fine of ten coppers. Pay up."
Ten coppers.
Not much.
In the capital, it was the amount Song Yubai would casually toss to a roadside beggar, and even then, he'd hesitate because his hands might get dirty.
But now, these ten coppers felt like a mountain, crushing down on the head of this top-tier aristocrat of the Great Qian Dynasty.
Song Yubai stiffly looked down at his priceless, snow-white silk boots. The toe indeed had crossed that freshly painted, pungent-smelling red line.
Even if just by a hair's breadth.
"Is this... also a rule?" Song Yubai's voice sounded faint, as if his soul had left his body.
Pockmarked Liu planted his club on the ground, took out a palm-sized notebook from his waist pouch, and licked a charcoal pencil with his tongue, his movements practiced to a heartbreaking degree.
"Article 18 of the 'Taoyuan County Traffic and Public Order Management Law': Crossing lines, cutting in line, or loitering without cause, thereby hindering public order, incurs a fine of ten coppers."
Pockmarked Liu tore off a slip and casually stuck it onto Song Yubai's pristine, spotless white robe. "You have ten breaths to pay up, or we'll tow the cart—oh, wait, tow the person."
Before Song Yubai could react, the fat man behind him grew frantic.
"Oh dear, my young master! Hurry up, will you!"
Sweating profusely, the fat man pulled out a large handful of copper coins from his robe and, without counting, shoved them into Pockmarked Liu's hand. "Officer! I'll pay his ten coppers! And here's an extra twenty for your tea! Please, I beg you, get him out of the way. Don't let him block my spot!"
Pockmarked Liu's face instantly turned cold. "What do you mean? Trying to get me in trouble? Miss Xu's orders strictly forbid us from taking your money. Scram, scram, take it back!"
Only then did the fat man realize his mistake and slapped his own face. "Oh! Officer! Taoyuan County is truly a paradise on earth. I've been to too many other places and got used to their ways! I didn't mean it!"
Pockmarked Liu's expression softened. "It's fine. I've seen plenty of your type! Just make sure you remember next time!"
At the same time, he gave a shove, pushing Song Yubai—nephew of the Deputy Minister of Revenue—right next to the roadside drainage ditch.
"Next!"
Song Yubai staggered two steps, nearly stepping into the ditch.
Leaning against a strange wooden barrel engraved with "Waste Sorting is Everyone's Responsibility," he felt the world spinning.
What kind of world was this?
He was fined, shoved, and ultimately "saved" by a fat man who looked like a butcher? And the reason for saving him wasn't out of respect for his status, but because he was... in the way?
"This... this is outrageous!"
Su Bingzhang and Li Wencheng finally squeezed their way forward. Seeing this scene, cold sweat broke out on their brows.
"Young master! Young master, are you alright?" Li Wencheng hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe the still-wet ink from the fine slip on Song Yubai's robe.
Song Yubai pushed him away, his face livid, pointing at the frenzied crowd. "Headmaster Su, Magistrate Li, are these the refugees you spoke of? Is this the scene of widespread misery you described?"
Su Bingzhang's eyelids twitched as he forced an explanation. "Young master, these... these people have been driven mad! Listen to those cries of despair, that's hopelessness!"
Just then, a heart-wrenching roar erupted from the front of the crowd.
"Fifty taels! I can't take it anymore! I'll pay fifty taels!"
Song Yubai whipped his head around, his eyes full of pity. "See! Who is crying out in agony? They must have been forced into bankruptcy by the Xu family..."
Before he could finish, the roaring man suddenly jumped up, waving a red-stamped paper slip in his hand, laughing maniacally, his grin stretching ear to ear.
"Hahahaha! One hundred taels! I got it! The A-grade stall! It's mine!"
Several others nearby who failed to get one beat their chests and stamped their feet, letting out genuine "wails of despair."
"Damn it! A step too slow! That was a prime golden location!"
"Old Zhao, you damned scoundrel, would lending me fifty taels kill you? Now I can only try for a B-grade stall!"
Song Yubai: "..."
The wind suddenly felt rather noisy.
He looked at the man who spent a hundred taels and laughed like a fool, then at Su Bingzhang beside him, wearing an expression of "I am deeply grieved."
"Headmaster Su," Song Yubai's voice was as cold as if just fished from an ice cellar. "Is this what you call... an unparalleled tragedy?"
Su Bingzhang's old face flushed red as he desperately tried to save face. "This... this might be a final flicker of life? Or perhaps... a special form of punishment? Yes! Forcing people to spend money, isn't that worse than killing them?"
"Worse your ass!"
A passing peddler nearby couldn't take it anymore and rolled his eyes dramatically.
The peddler pointed at the goods in his carrying pole. "Know what this is? Local cloth from Qinghe County!
In your parts, it's worthless junk. But here in Taoyuan County, once you get it inside the city, you can sell it for double the price! Paying for a stall? That's an investment! Don't you get it, you country bumpkin!"
Country bumpkin.
