Chapter Thirty-Three: Selling Fake Medicine

  Ma Fei pulled Li Guoting out of the hotel's gate.

  Two people stood on the bustling street with a constant flow of water, facing this prosperous city, both feeling somewhat strange and helpless.

  "Second Brother, where are we going to make money?" Li Guoting asked Ma Fei.

  "Go make money where you can make money." Ma Fei said thoughtfully, gazing at the cars driving by on the street.

  "Where can you make money?" Li Guoting was confused after hearing it. "Second brother, where is the place to make money?"

  "Never mind, big brother," Ma Fei said. "Follow me. Let's go forward and take a look."

  Ma Fei led Li Guoting along the main street. After turning several streets, they arrived at Hankou Riverside Avenue.

  Hankou's Jiangtan Boulevard is one of the bustling streets, along which there are many Western-style buildings, including banks, firms, warehouses and foreign consulates. On top of these buildings, they planted some colorful flags that neither of them could recognize. Along the riverbank, there were also some old buildings left over from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

  On the main street, cars came and went, honking their horns as they wove through the crowds. On both sides of the riverbank, not far apart, there was a dock. The dock was bustling with people, unusually noisy.

  "Second brother, where is this?" Li Guoting asked Ma Fei.

  "By the riverbank. Big brother, you'll know when you see it," Ma Fei said.

  "I know it's by the river, I'm asking what this place is called." said Li Guoting.

  Ma Fei raised his head and looked around, his eyes lit up, seeing a courtyard surrounded by red walls not far in front of him, with a wooden grid carved and towering inside. He said casually: "It's the Dragon King Temple by the river."

  "Longwang Temple, in our Panlong Town, near the Jialing River, there is also a Longwang Temple. When I was young, I went with my dad to pay land rent. I even played there before." Li Guoting looked towards the red-walled courtyard in front of him, seeing the Longwang Temple that Ma Fei had mentioned. Suddenly, scenes from his childhood playing at the Longwang Temple appeared in his mind.

  "What kind of temple is the Dragon King Temple in your area? It's a poor and remote place. Except for beggars, no one wants to go there, can it be compared with this place?" Ma Fei glanced at Li Guoting beside him with disdain, thinking: He's just a country bumpkin who doesn't know anything.

  Li Guoting hastily said: "Second brother is right, our place is a poor and remote village. Indeed, there's nothing to compare with. Then where are we going now?"

  "Go take a look first and then we'll talk."

  Ma Fei led Li Guoting forward and arrived at the Longwang Temple on the bank of the Yangtze River in Hankou.

  Longwang Temple is a scenic spot on the riverbank, from Longwang Temple to Yiyuan Road, there are thirteen large and small docks along the river within three miles. These docks undertake more than half of the cargo traffic in Wuhan's three towns every day. Here, many merchants come and go. Many people make a living by relying on these docks along the river. Every day, from the faint light emitted from the east to the gradual subsidence of the bustling crowd at midnight, there is almost no interruption of human flow.

  Ma Fei and Li Guoting soon arrived in front of the Dragon King Temple.

  The Longwang Temple, built in the Ming Dynasty, is located on a slope of the embankment. It faces south and has a small area. On the brick-wood-tiled roof of the temple gate, a golden plaque with the words "Yu Wang Palace" hangs high. Inside the temple, there are statues of Yu Wang and Panlong. Today, coincidentally, it is the Temple Fair of Longwang Temple. In front of the temple gate, people come to worship, burn incense, kowtow, and make bows. The entire courtyard is filled with people coming to offer incense and make wishes, praying for the blessing of the Dragon King.

  On both sides of the riverside avenue in front of the temple, all sorts of stalls doing small business were set up. There were those selling incense and candles, snacks, cigarettes and matches, local products from the mountains, and foreign cloth. All kinds of people were there.

  Among these crowds, from time to time, several armed police officers would appear, walking back and forth among the people. Sometimes they would scold or curse at those who looked out of place, or even punch and kick them a few times. The temple fair visitors were so scared that whenever they saw the police coming, they would automatically make way and clear a wide path.

  Ma Fei took Li Guoting around the temple fair. Seeing that Ma Fei didn't do anything either, he asked: "Second brother, what are we doing here at the temple fair? We don't have any money either. Can you make money at a temple fair?"

  Ma Fei burst out laughing and said, "Big brother, you were right! We came here to make money. I originally thought it wouldn't be easy to find a market like the ones back in our hometown. But look at this, heaven really is helping us out. The saying goes 'heaven will not abandon people'. And isn't this temple fair right in front of us exactly the place we were looking for to make some money?"

  Li Guoting looked around in front of and behind him, he didn't know what method Ma Fei was talking about to make money. He himself didn't understand at all, and asked again: "Second brother, how do you plan on making money? Are we going to start a business? We don't have any capital or funds. Is it going to be like being a porter for someone else? I see there are quite a few porters around here."

  Ma Fei shook his head and said, "Who let you go do coolie work? That kind of job is for people like us. However, big brother was right about one thing, we are going to do business, and it's a business with no capital."

  Li Guoting was even more confused: "Second brother, what is a no-capital business? I've grown up so big and never heard of doing a no-capital business. When I was young, my dad took me to the county town, we were carrying grain to buy. Where is there no capital?"

  Li Guoting hadn't finished speaking when Ma Fei interrupted him: "Big brother, don't mention your childhood again, what's the point. Today I'll teach big brother a trick, and later on, big brother will know what kind of no-cost business I'm teaching you to do. Big brother, go to the dock now and find us some dead mice. Just get one or two dozen."

  "What's the use of looking for a dead mouse?" Li Guoting asked in confusion.

  Ma Fei was somewhat impatient, and said to Li Guoting: "Big brother, don't ask anymore, go find it quickly. I'm in a hurry. You go find the dead mouse. I still need to find something else. Later. We'll meet at the riverbank."

  Ma Fei finished speaking and turned away from Li Guoting, heading towards the back of Longwang Temple.

  Li Guoting saw Ma Fei leave and he also walked towards the dock by the river.

  Li Guoting searched east and west, and finally found a dead mouse on a smelly garbage heap beside the dock. Then, Li Guoting held back his nausea, bent down and picked up the dead mouse from the garbage heap.

  Li Guoting finally found fifteen dead mice after rummaging through several such garbage dumps. He found a discarded, tattered and dirty canvas bag in the dump, put the dead mice into it, and then went to the riverbank mentioned by Ma Fei to look for him.

  As soon as he arrived at the riverbank, he saw Ma Fei holding two red bricks in his hand, standing by the river, as if he was going to fight someone. Li Guoting was startled and hurried over to ask: "Second brother, what are you doing with those two red bricks in your hand? Are you going to fight someone?"

  Ma Fei burst out laughing and said, "Big brother, who are you fighting with? We can't afford to stir up trouble here. If we cause any trouble, we won't be able to stay in Hankou anymore. I'm just trying to make a living."

  "Make medicine? Even red bricks can be made into medicine?" Li Guoting shook his head in disbelief.

  "It'll be clear soon. Where's the mouse? Have you found it?" Ma Fei asked.

  Li Guoting handed over the tattered cloth bag in his hand to Ma Fei and said: "There are fifteen in total, all inside."

  Ma Fei took over the tattered cloth bag, looked inside from the opening and said: "Not bad, big brother picked up so many dead mice in just a short while, not bad. Alright, let's start making mouse poison now."

  As he spoke, he took out a bundle of grass paper from his pocket and placed it on the ground. He then asked Li Guoting to go to the riverbank to find a larger, flatter stone, which he put in front of him. With everything ready, Ma Fei squatted down on the ground and began making rat poison.

  He first put a red brick on the flat stone and ground it hard. Before long, he ground out a pile of red brick powder. Then, to Li Guoting, he said: "Brother, don't idle around. Quickly help me package the ground brick powder with paper, don't pack too much, one by one."

  Li Guoting also squatted down and wrapped up the red brick powder according to what Ma Fei said.

  Before long, they had wrapped dozens of such small paper packages.

  "Big brother, let's go. We're going to sell rat medicine in front of the Dragon King Temple." With that, Ma Fei pulled Li Guoting and headed towards the Dragon King Temple.

  In front of the Dragon King Temple, Ma Fei found a bustling spot and pulled out a copper coin from his pocket to give to a nearby vendor selling iron goods. The vendor then gave Ma Fei a small space, where he and Li Guoting laid out the tattered burlap sack, arranging the dead mice one by one on top of it. Then, they piled up the paper packages containing red brick powder on top. Ma Fei shouted out loud.

  "Selling rat poison! Selling rat poison! Ancestral rat poison, one bite and it's dead. Male rats eat it and die one by one, female rats eat it and a whole nest dies. Genuine ancestral rat poison, only sold for one day, everyone come and buy it now! If you miss this store, there won't be any left. Come and buy! Come and sell! Buy two packs, get one free. Buy three packs, get two free. Buy five packs, get five free, until stock runs out. Don't miss this great opportunity! Only sold for one day, come and buy now!" Ma Fei shouted at the top of his lungs to the people coming to the temple fair.

  Li Guoting couldn't help but steal a glance at Ma Fei and burst out laughing.

  Ma Fei didn't understand. He turned around and asked: "Big brother, what are you laughing at?"

  Li Guoting pointed at Ma Fei with his finger and laughed: "Second brother, this western-style outfit of yours doesn't look like it belongs to a rat medicine seller."

  Ma Fei glanced at his own somewhat dirty suit, undid his tie and carelessly threw it around his neck. He roughly combed his hair a few times and said: "Now I look the part. Look over there, those people selling foreign cloth, and over there, selling foreign cigarettes and matches, aren't they all dressed like me? What's strange about that."

  Then Ma Fei shouted again in a loud voice.

  Li Guoting, who was standing beside him, also started learning from Ma Fei and helped him hawk the fake rat medicine.

  It wasn't until late afternoon that the vendors gradually dispersed. Ma Fei and Li Guoting finally packed up their "rat poison" stall.

  The two walked to the riverbank, threw away the dead mice they had picked up again, found a deserted place, and counted the money they made from selling "rat medicine" under the dim streetlights.

  "Big brother, we've earned quite a bit. So many copper coins. At least several silver dollars, enough for us to spend for several days." Ma Fei said with joy on his face to Li Guoting.

  Li Guoting's face also showed a joyful expression. He really admired Lao Er from the bottom of his heart.

  "Second brother, you're really something, better than me. You can even sell powdered red bricks as rat poison and make so much money from it. I admit defeat, haha!" Li Guoting said with a smile, holding the copper coins.

  "What a bold little kid, daring to do business on Master Ma's turf. He's asking for death."

  Just as Ma Fei and Li Guoting were rejoicing over the copper coins they had swindled from selling fake medicine, several men in black clothes and top hats suddenly emerged from a dark corner behind Ma Fei. They surrounded Ma Fei and Li Guoting, and one of them, with a scar on his left cheek, glared at Ma Fei with a fierce expression and shouted at him.