Chapter 1: The Monster of the Human Market

  Between the docks of the harbor and the palace of the old imperial court was a human market.

  Of course, this place has nothing to do with the human flesh market in horror movies. It's just a place where idle urban people gather to sell their labor, simply put, it's a short-term job.

  That day, a dignified old man came to the human market, followed by a well-dressed long servant. Early in the morning, he wandered around the human market and finally found his way to the front of Fan Siye's partner pile. At first, everyone thought it was a business visit, but unexpectedly, the old man respectfully called out to a young laborer: "Young master."

  This shout was too much, and it shocked everyone.

  Everyone calls him Qiangzi, or Kuai Li Qiang, but no one knows his real name. Kuai Li Qiang has been renting a house from Liu Cuicui on the west side of the city for over half a year now, yet he is already known as one of the three great monsters of Ren Shi. The other two are Cheng Ziqiang and Yamato Sanlang, who came three years ago. There's also Tian Laosi, the son-in-law of a fisherman, but since he only comes to Ren Shi during the off-season for fishing work, calling him a monster is somewhat forced.

  Cheng Ziqiang and others were called "human monsters" for no other reason than that their way of life was somewhat different from that of other coolies.

  These days, migrant workers in the city, although they are considered to be at the bottom of society, still live a relatively comfortable life. After all, these days are still peaceful, as long as one is slightly diligent, it's easy to make a living and support their family.

  Most of the people who work as casual laborers in the market are around thirty years old, young and strong. Those over forty are relatively rare. Generally speaking, most of the manual laborers at this age have changed careers, because people at this age not only tend to be more even-tempered but also have some savings.

  People in their thirties are just the right age to be idle and fond of playing. In the morning, they would invite a few friends to go to the labor market to wait for work, usually some manual labor such as moving or unloading goods. Although it was hard work, the pay was not bad, and after completing a task, they could earn two or three hundred copper coins. This amount of money is insignificant in the eyes of the wealthy, but it's enough to guarantee a day's food and clothing for a family at the bottom of society, because at that time, fine grain cost only three or four copper coins per catty.

  After a day's work, when they get their wages, it's usually just past noon. The coolies' happy life begins - first find a small bathhouse to take a bath, and while taking the bath, let the bathhouse attendant go to the small restaurant across the street to order food: generally a large bowl of mixed meat and vegetables, a large bowl of noodles, plus four or five catties of old pot stew. When he finishes his bath, the food is ready, and then they have a satisfying meal stark naked, followed by a sweet nap on the bed in the bathhouse. After sleeping enough, they rush to the pawnshop. The pawnshop is close to the labor market, not far away.

  The idle porters in the square looked around, cheered when they saw something exciting, and threw a few coins into the arena. They spent their time like this until sunset, then went to the market to buy two or three catties of coarse and fine grains, some vegetables, and occasionally, during festivals or when they were in a good mood, they would also buy some pork or beef slices. Although the vegetables sold in the evening were not very fresh, they were cheap.

  After buying all these, they wouldn't go home, but would go to a tea house to drink tea and eat buns while listening to storytelling and watching plays until the sky was completely dark before returning home with a tired look. Once back home, they would hand over the things they bought and the remaining money to their wife, only then could they consider the day's tasks complete. The next day would be the same. Although this life couldn't be considered wealthy, it was quite comfortable.

  This is the daily life of ordinary coolies, half a day's work and the rest of the day wandering around for fun. But there are also those who can do it all day long, these people who don't know how to enjoy life have become freaks in the human market. These are the likes of Coolie Strong mentioned above.

  Kusariko isn't the earliest monster to appear in the human market. The first one was a Japanese dwarf named Kosame Sanroku, who is no longer active in the human market. Some people claim to have seen him wearing a white coat and walking around a certain hospital, but it's unclear if he actually became a doctor or not.

  Linhai City is a big dock, and it's not unusual to see foreigners. In the past, there were many blond-haired blue-eyed Westerners in Linhui, but after Europe went to war, many Westerners reportedly returned home to serve their countries, and their numbers gradually dwindled. Then, short-nosed little Japanese people became more common.

  Anyone who has dealt with Orientals will tell you that they are a queer lot. One minute they're bowing and scraping to you, the next they're chasing you down the street with a sword, and if you try to defend yourself, they'll claim you don't know any manners. Especially those with black dragons tattooed on their backs and arms, and missing a little finger on their left hand - they're particularly vicious.

  However, a Japanese devil like Shōsuke Yamayama is rarely seen. When Shōsuke Yamayama first appeared in the human market, he was still wearing a big hat and a student uniform, and his Chinese was not good either. The laborer Fan Siye thought he had come to recruit a tutor, and only after asking him did he know that this kid wanted to work as a short-term laborer here.

  At first, Master Fan didn't want him, whether he was an Easterner or a Westerner, who had ever seen a foreigner do manual labor? But he couldn't resist the other party's repeated requests and had to agree. However, this little devil is really diligent when it comes to work, especially this Xiao Shan Sanlang, who became the first monster in this group of laborers to work all day long.

  As for why Xiao Shan Sanlang came to work as a laborer, Fan Siye might know the details, but this old man was very tight-lipped about it. Even after being forced to drink half a kilogram of liquor, he didn't utter a single word. Anyway, people take care of their own affairs, and over time, everyone else got tired of inquiring about it.

  After a day of hard work, Xiaoshan Sanlang was different from others in several ways. One was that he liked to read books and was known as "Ghostly Scholar" among the laborers. He would hold onto his book even when waiting for work to be done. Another difference was that he had never been seen engaging in any form of entertainment, neither visiting brothels nor watching plays. What joy could there be in living such a life?

  After careful observation by Kuroba's men, everyone was surprised to discover that Shōsuke had a hobby - taking baths.

  Actually, the Eastern devils all like to take baths and can't get enough of soaking in the bathtub eight times a day. At first, everyone invited Shōzan Yamamoto to go to the public bathhouse to soak and scrub his back, but after going once, he never went again, saying it was unsanitary. Later on, he even drew cold water from the well in the backyard of his landlord, Ryūsui Yanagisawa, to rinse off, which was still passable during the summer, but when others did the same thing in winter without catching a cold, it really made one admire them.

  He had only been there for two or three years when Xiaoshan Sanlang left, and before he left, he invited everyone to have a drink. This kid got drunk, first sang a few Japanese songs, and finally started scolding people, saying that the Chinese were not making progress. Everyone didn't quite understand what he was saying, but later on, his scolding became more and more fierce, with Tian Laosi and several other laborers getting angry and pressing him to the ground for a good beating, almost beating out his Japanese crap.

  The next day, everyone sobered up and thought about what happened the night before. They all felt a little guilty, after all, Xiaoshan had never done anything wrong to them in the past. Just as they were thinking this, Xiaoshan came knocking on doors with gifts to apologize. This made everyone even more embarrassed. However, from then on, Xiaoshan Sanlang never appeared in the market again.