Chapter 176: The Assembly (Part 3)

“Newspaper?”

“Oh, this is it.” Ma Peng took a large sheet of paper from the cooperative’s newspaper rack, which was covered with words.

“What’s written on it?”

“It’s all sorts of news: from Bairen City, East Gate Market, and the whole county. Recently, there’s also been trade news from Guangzhou Prefecture,” he turned it over. “These few pages are all about novels, songs, and things like that. They’re very interesting to read.”

Fu Buer couldn’t read, so naturally he couldn’t understand the benefits. He thought he would bring it back for the literate people in the village to see—it was a novelty. To be on the safe side, he added a question:

“Are there any forbidden words on it?”

“No, a few copies of this newspaper are sent to the county yamen every day. If you want one, you can take it. It’s a free gift for the conference representatives,” the female clerk said.

Only then did Fu Buer feel relieved. He took a copy, folded it carefully, and hid it on his person. He then wandered around the shop and saw a lot of fine silk and foreign cloth, so he thought of buying some to take back. The welfare cooperative accepted copper coins, silver fragments, and coupons. Fu Buer bought a few bolts of foreign cloth and had his houseboy carry them. He saw that the patterns the female clerk was drawing in her ledger while using the abacus were similar to the patterns on his own card, and the so-called towel also had such patterns. He remembered Ma Peng saying that this was called Arabic numerals, and that it was much better for bookkeeping than Suzhou numerals. He became interested and watched for a long time, and even talked to the clerk for a while—it turned out that this woman had only learned to read and do arithmetic in the last few months. Now she could not only use an abacus but also keep accounts.

“The lady boss is truly a kind person!” The female clerk was obviously very satisfied with her treatment. “She provides food and clothing, and even teaches us skills. I can also get a commission of over a hundred yuan a month from selling goods.”

Fu Buer saw that this shop was grand, the clerks were well-behaved, and they all seemed to be literate and able to write and do arithmetic. He couldn’t help but be moved—he still had a few teenage houseboys and maids at home who were not of much use except for cutting pigweed and herding cattle. It would be better to send them here as apprentices. After learning a skill, they would be of great help to him. He then asked Ma Peng if they accepted apprentices here. He was willing to send a few children over as apprentices and even pay for their food.

“I don’t know about that,” Ma Peng said. “You can ask the chiefs yourself after the meeting. If you want to send people here to study, it’s probably a sure thing.”

After leaving the cooperative, Fu Buer followed Ma Peng for a few more laps around East Gate Market. The streets were clean and tidy, and there wasn’t a single beggar or ruffian-like figure. Even the prostitutes who solicited customers on the street stood obediently under special yellow wooden signs. Although they kept making provocative remarks, they didn’t force themselves on passersby.

Policemen dressed like Ma Peng could be seen on the street from time to time. It seemed they were always patrolling the streets. No wonder it was so peaceful here.

“No such people are allowed here,” Ma Peng told him. “If they’re caught, they’re all sent to the quarry to quarry stones or to the river to sift sand. It’s hard to say if they’ll ever get out.” He smiled triumphantly, very satisfied with his authority. The yellow signs were the designated street-walking spots for prostitutes. There were a total of eight signs in East Gate Market. Prostitutes who wanted to solicit customers had to line up under those signs. After one got a customer, the next one could then solicit. No cutting in line was allowed.

“The chief masters are quite compassionate to the old and poor. They don’t even collect a flower tax from these local prostitutes. As long as you get a license, you can do business here.”

Fu Buer looked closely and saw that each prostitute had a card hanging on her chest, similar to the one on his own, but it was yellow.

Seeing Fu Buer looking at her, the prostitute immediately put on a charming smile. “Come and play, sir. We accept copper coins, silver, and tickets.”

Ma Peng scolded, “Go, go, don’t solicit customers randomly. This is a conference representative.”

The prostitute seemed to be quite afraid of the policeman, pouted, and said nothing.

Fu Buer asked Ma Peng, “What are these tickets? The cooperative shop also asked me if I had any.”

“They are money tickets. They are also called coupons here. All the merchants in East Gate Market use them,” he said, taking out a few colorful pieces of paper from his pocket.

“You can buy things with these pieces of paper?” Fu Buer was very skeptical.

“This is what we get paid with. Can it be fake?”

Fu Buer examined the few pieces of paper for a long time, muttering to himself. He remembered hearing from the elders in his clan that many, many years ago, the imperial court had also issued such paper money. At that time, the government forced the common people to accept this kind of money when buying things, but they refused to accept it when collecting taxes. No matter how many wen was written on the paper, you couldn’t buy much with it in the market. The common people treated it as waste paper. He remembered, it seemed to be called Baochao or something.

“Brother Ma, can this thing be used? The government also did this before. It was worthless waste paper,” Fu Buer said in a low voice.

“Of course it can be used. One yuan can buy a jin of rice. You can buy it anytime,” Ma Peng seemed very unhappy with his questioning. “Are all the merchants in this East Gate Market fools? Don’t you think this is the Great Ming Baochao issued by the government. This is issued by the chiefs.”

From his tone, it seemed that the short-hairs were much more credible than the Ming government. However, Fu Buer didn’t think the government had any credibility to speak of. He was just surprised that Ma Peng would so devotedly believe in this group of “Kun people” of unknown origin.

“This is the Delong Grain Company. The coupons are issued by them,” Ma Peng said, pointing to a large shop in front. This shop was even more magnificent than the cooperative just now. It was a two-story brick building on a three-tiered platform. The wide windows were luxuriously fitted with beautiful cast iron grilles. The door was very large, and there were two stone-carved lions on the left and right in front of the door. Even the county yamen couldn’t compare to this style.

“Brother Ma, why don’t I see any grain being sold in this grain company?” Fu Buer was seriously suspicious.

“This is the counter. The goods are delivered through that door next to it. Inside is a large courtyard, very large.”

Fu Buer was a little intimidated by the grain company’s setup. If it weren’t for Ma Peng being there, he probably wouldn’t have dared to go in. Inside was a very tall hall with a row of wooden counters like those in a pawnshop, but not as high. The windows were wide and large, and the light coming in was so bright that he was not used to it. All he could hear was the sound of abacuses. Good heavens, the setup of this grain company was quite intimidating.

On the leftmost wooden counter, there was a wooden sign. Ma Peng told him that this was the exchange office. When the shops received coupons and didn’t want them, they would bring them here to exchange for grain chits, and then they could go to the courtyard to exchange for rice directly.

“One yuan can be exchanged for a large jin,” Ma Peng took out a green ticket. The so-called large jin was heavier than the jin of this era, which was 500 grams, so it was called a large jin.

Fu Buer knew a little about the large jin, because when he sent his long-term laborers to sell grain, the laborers came back and said that the short-hairs did not use sheng or dou, but weighed directly with a scale. At that time, to help the natives understand how much a large jin was, every large household that came to sell grain received a standard one-large-jin stone weight. Fu Buer still had that stone thing at home, ready to be used again when he sold grain next year.

After looking at Ma Peng’s few tickets over and over again, Fu Buer was still a little confused. He didn’t know how this colored paper could be used. He vaguely realized that the key was that this paper could be exchanged for grain here, which was why the merchants were willing to accept it.

“I’ve really opened my eyes,” Fu Buer became even more determined to send a few of his houseboys here as apprentices. If nothing else, this group of short-hairs had more tricks up their sleeves than others. But then he thought, if all the houseboys became smart, what about his son? Could he still compete with them? If something happened to him, wouldn’t his family property be in danger? The people in his clan were not necessarily reliable either. But he was really reluctant to send his own son here as an apprentice.

After leaving the grain company, he toured East Gate Market for a long time, finding everything new and interesting. He secretly felt that he had made the right decision to come to this meeting. Just this experience alone was enough to brag about for three or five years back home.

Seeing the red clouds in the sky, he knew it was getting late and wanted to go back to the inn. But Ma Peng invited him to dinner.

“Master Fu, I’ve eaten a lot of your food in the past. This time, it’s on me.”

Fu Buer thought that this poor boy had made a little progress now and must want to show off in front of his former master, so he went along with him. Besides, he had some things to say that were more convenient to say at the dinner table. He agreed and sent his houseboy back to the inn first.

The far end of the cross street of East Gate Street was a little far from the city center and was close to the outer edge of East Gate Market. There were not many pedestrians, and it was very quiet. The shops here were all small, catering to the commune members and laborers in Bairen City. There were several small restaurants and taverns, all lit up at this time. Ma Peng usually came here to drink and chat with a few colleagues after work. Sometimes, Director Dugu would also join them. He had become acquainted with the owner and waiters of this restaurant.

This was a small restaurant with only six tables. On the wooden counter at the entrance, there were plates of cold dishes, mostly local seafood, covered with bamboo cages. There was also a jar of salted boiled peanuts—these were all appetizers for drinking.

Ma Peng entered the restaurant and asked the waiter to find them a seat inside. He ordered four dishes, a pot of wine, and two bowls of fish porridge. After a few rounds of drinks, Fu Buer cut to the chase.

“Now that you are an official of the short-hairs, you must be living a good life, right?”

“Of course, it’s much better than being a laborer,” Ma Peng said. “We just had a currency reform recently. A constable like me can get 200 yuan a month, which can buy 200 large jin of rice. My mother and I have enough to eat, and we can even add a new piece of clothing or something.” He took a sip of wine. “I, Ma Peng, have been a laborer since I was twelve. I thought I would be a poor man selling my strength for the rest of my life. I never expected to have a day like this! This life is like a dream!”

“Of course, of course,” Fu Buer wanted to find out the details of this meeting, so he kept pouring wine and serving food, and said many flattering words. Seeing that the atmosphere had warmed up, he finally asked:

“Brother Ma, why do you think the short-hair chiefs want all of us from the four townships and eight villages to come to a meeting?”

Ma Peng shook his head. “How would I know! The chiefs have deep thoughts. We don’t understand.”

Fu Buer was slightly disappointed and deliberately provoked him. “Don’t the short-hairs usually reveal anything when they talk? You can be considered their confidant.”

“What confidant am I,” Ma Peng laughed. “Far from it. Take our director, for example. He’s not a big shot among the short-hairs. I heard that he doesn’t even get to participate when the leaders discuss matters.” He took a sip of wine. “But this time, the chiefs are taking the matter to be discussed very seriously. They even specially built a large grandstand. They also instructed us to take good care of the representatives from each village—anyway, they want to make you satisfied.”

Fu Buer saw that there was a chance and quickly struck while the iron was hot. “You can guess a little, right?”

Ma Peng thought for a moment before saying, “It’s probably about ‘cooperation.’ I don’t understand what cooperation is. But from what the chiefs said, it seems that they want the villages to jointly organize militias and train together. There are also other ‘benefits’ to be given to each village. As for what the benefits are, I don’t know.”

“They didn’t say anything about levying grain or labor, did they?” Fu Buer didn’t care about the so-called benefits—it would be a blessing from heaven if the short-hairs didn’t oppress them too much.

“I haven’t heard anything about that. But they are very short of manpower here, and they also need people to organize the militia. They will probably ask the villages to send labor during the discussion. As for grain, I don’t think they need it. They have plenty of it here.”

That was easy to handle. Fu Buer thought, if it was sending labor, he could just send a few of the down-and-out families with different surnames from the village. It wouldn’t hurt the village much.

Fu Buer took out a silver ingot and secretly stuffed it to Ma Peng from under the table.

“Brother Ma, this is a small token. Please take care of our village in the future. We are all from the same village—”

This silver ingot weighed one tael. Although it was not a huge amount, it was not a small sum for an ordinary person. This time, the village had publicly decided to take out twenty taels of silver for him to use for connections in Bairen City.

Ma Peng quickly refused. “I can’t accept this, I can’t accept this. Master Fu, you are trying to harm me! Take it back quickly.”

Fu Buer thought he was just being polite and refusing, but seeing Ma Peng’s panicked face, it was obviously not an act. He had to take the silver back.

Ma Peng quickly looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, continued in a low voice, “Master Fu, the short-hairs hate this the most. If I take your silver, I’ll lose my job. Take it back quickly.”

Fu Buer said, “What are you afraid of? Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know—”

“The problem is that the chiefs know everything,” Ma Peng said with trepidation. He told a story about a policeman in the station who had accepted silver from a few shopkeepers. Unexpectedly, Director Dugu found out about it the next day. Then the person disappeared—he heard that he was now a coolie in the quarry.

“The strange thing is that there was no one else present at the time except for them—they all say the chiefs have supernatural powers. I dare not commit this crime.”

Fu Buer also felt a chill down his spine. Thinking of the many strange things about the short-hairs, he felt a little scared.

At this time, the waiter brought the fish porridge and a plate of thin crisps to go with the porridge. Since Ma Peng had to be on duty for half a shift after dinner, he didn’t persuade him to drink much. He wolfed down the porridge. Fu Buer said he was full after drinking the porridge. After dinner, Ma Peng paid the bill, and Fu Buer thanked him repeatedly. They went out together and disappeared into the lights and crowd of the evening.

The waiter cleaned the table. Gou Buli stood up from behind the counter and went into the back room. He took out a piece of paper, a bottle of ink, and a quill pen from a locked cabinet and wrote a line of crooked simplified characters under the candlelight:

“Surveillance report on the meeting between Ma Peng, a constable of the East Gate Market police station, and Fu Buer, a representative of Meizhi Village, in the shop.”