Chapter 1: The Rogue Young Master

  Tianjin, China. Mid-1920s.

  The entrance of Tianjin's Jingwu Military Academy was extraordinarily lively, with vendors selling wontons, frying pancakes, performing monkeys, showing off skills, telling fortunes, begging for food, and prostitutes soliciting customers... The crowd surged forward, shoulder to shoulder, the noise was deafening, it was just like a replica of Beijing's Tianqiao.

  Li Mengsheng, Zhao Lianzhu and Wang Tong walked out of the school gate, crossing the monkey's playground with their arms akimbo. The monkey happened to be wielding a large iron knife, wildly slashing about, when Li Mengsheng kicked it in the buttocks. With a strange cry of "Squeak", the monkey leapt out of the crowd and scrambled up onto the rooftop, with the monkey trainer shouting as he chased after it.

  Zhao Lianzhu burst out laughing, Li Mengsheng gave him a slanted glance and said: "Your second uncle has gone up to the attic, what are you laughing at?" Zhao Lianzhu scratched his head and didn't dare retort.

  Wang Tong said: "Meng Sheng, can't you just not look for trouble?"

  As they spoke, they arrived at the performance venue. Wang Tong saw that Li Mengsheng was about to cause trouble again and quickly pulled him away, "Aren't you going to the theater to find Xiaofeng? Let's go."

  The strong man performing the stunt with the red-tasseled spear was holding his breath, his face bright red, the spear shaft deeply bent, and the tip already embedded in his flesh. Li Mengsheng rolled up his sleeves, put his mouth on his arm, and blew hard, producing a sound that was both mournful and playful, with nine twists and turns, echoing out.

  Zhao Lianzhu rushed towards the big man and shouted: "This brother's air valve is leaking!"

  The onlookers burst out laughing, the big man relaxed his muscles, tilted his head to one side, and the red-tasseled spear shot up like an arrow. The surrounding crowd let out a cry of alarm and scattered in all directions, dodging the falling spear. The vendors in the distance saw the crowd running wildly and thought it was the security team coming to crack down on thieves, so they hastily packed up their goods and ran towards the nearby alley. In an instant, people were pushing and shoving each other, no one knew what had happened, and the scene became chaotic.

  At this time, Li Mengsheng and his group were already in the backstage of Jinghua Theater. Xiao Fengjiu had just finished singing and was changing clothes in the dressing room, while Li Mengsheng, Wang Tong, and Zhao Lianzhu waited at the door of the dressing room.

  Li Mengsheng lazily said with a cigarette in his mouth: "Tonight, I must get Xiao Fengjiao. This little thing has already cost me over 1,000 yuan. Last month, I asked Old Man for money, and he said he didn't have any more sons like me, so Chen Canmou brought me 100 yuan. I took all of Chen Canmou's own money and left him two yuan for travel expenses, which added up to 130 yuan, still not enough to buy Xiao Fengjiao a piece of jewelry! Wang Tong, I heard from Chen Canmou that Old Man also sent you some money?"

  Wang Tong vigilantly looked at him and said: "You can forget about my money, that's our food allowance. Li Bo was afraid you'd lose so much that you couldn't even afford to eat, so he had me hold onto some cash. Don't drag Lian Zhu and me down with you! The two of us still need to eat, Lian Zhu is your servant, I'm your study companion, do you have the nerve to take advantage of us?"

  Li Mengsheng was anxious: "When the hell did I treat you two as followers and companions?! The three of us have been brothers since childhood!"

  Lian Zhu hastily pulled out his purse and said: "Young master, I still have three dollars left, you can use it first." Li Mengsheng pointed at his nose and shouted: "Call me big brother! How many times do I need to tell you, don't call me young master, call me big brother!"

  "Hey! Don't take it out on your brothers!"

  Just as the three brothers were taking a break, a group of people came in from outside. The fat man at the front walked with big strides and swayed over to them. Li Mengsheng blocked the entrance to the dressing room and said: "What are you doing? This is the backstage area, spectators please go to the back!"

  "Ah, the young master of Director Li?! I apologize for not showing respect earlier! As the son of General Tang's protector, our two families' territories are adjacent to each other and have been old friends for many years. We younger ones should also get along well."

  Li Mengsheng understood that his father and Tang Hu Jun were old enemies for many years, both serving as banner generals in the Beiyang Army until they each carved out their own territories. They had always been at odds with each other, exchanging blows and kicks, with their two warlord domains adjacent to each other, one belonging to the Northern Army (Yuan Shikai's Beiyang clique) and the other leaning towards the Southern Army (Sun Yat-sen and Chen Jiongming's revolutionary army). They frequently clashed with guns and cannons, but since they were evenly matched, neither could swallow the other whole.

  Li Mengsheng tilted his head and smiled: "What instructions does Lord Tang have for me?"

  Tang Gongzi said: "I booked Xiaofengjiou for tonight, I'm here to pick her up, what are you doing here?"

  Li Mengsheng said: "Little Phoenix is going to warm up Dad's bed today, Little Tang Baozi, you're late!"

  Xiao Tang chuckled and said, "My three thousand taels of silver have already been spent on Little Phoenix, today she can only accompany me, nothing else can be done, let alone warming the bed for Young Master Li!"

  Li Mengsheng pulled away Wang Tong and Lian Zhu, who were following Tang Huanzi's entourage, and said to Tang Huanzi: "You think you can win over Xiao Fengjiao with just two stinky coins? Today I'm in a good mood, so let me teach you how to pick up chicks! Picking up ordinary chicks just requires throwing money around, but picking up high-end artistic chicks like Xiao Fengjiao requires the 'Five Character True Scripture' of picking up chicks!"

  "What are the five characters?" asked Tang Baozi, blinking his small eyes.

  "That's Pan, Lu, Deng, Xiao, and Xian."

  Tang Baozi asked with great interest, puffing out his face: "What does all this mean?"

  "Pan, is to have the appearance of Pan An; Lü, is to have the lower body of a donkey; Deng, is to have the wealth of Deng Tong (who was granted a copper mountain by Emperor Wen of Han and allowed to mint his own coins); Xiao, is to be gentle and careful with women; Xian, is to have ample leisure time to accompany women. If one can achieve three of these 'Five Character True Classics', they will be unbeatable in love. If all five are achieved, even Empress Dowager Cixi would not be a problem."

  As they spoke, one of Tang Bao's attendants hurried in and whispered a few words in his ear.

  Tang Baozi laughed and said, "Li Gongzi, you can keep your 'Five Character True Scripture' to admire yourself, I'm leaving now. Little Feng Jiao has already gone out the back door and got into my car, haha." After that, he was surrounded by his entourage and left.

  Meng Sheng turned around and kicked open the door of the dressing room, indeed empty. Meng Sheng smiled instead of getting angry: "Hehe, Saiweng lost his horse, who knows it's not a blessing."

  Lian Zhu scratched his head and said: "The man ran away, the money was spent in vain, and you're still smiling."

  Wang Tong said: "What I admire most about you is that no matter what situation you are in, you always comfort yourself."

  Li Mengsheng said as he walked out: "Fortunately, I didn't say anything. Even if I cried, she wouldn't be moved, let alone come back to find me. Where can you still find sentimental Du Shiniang, Shan Ya Qin and Hua Juan Niang? Xiao Feng Jiao is just a ***, only sleeping with money, when I have money, I won't even sleep with her! What I play is the process, once on the bed, it's all over after turning off the lights, what's there to be angry about?! Let's go eat!"

  The three of them went to a restaurant and had a big meal, then returned to the dormitory of the Jiangwu Military Academy. This Jiangwu Military Academy was originally established as a military training camp by Yuan Shikai in Xiaozhan when he was training troops, and later became a military school, one of China's earlier military schools. Around 1920, various warlords from different regions sent their children to this school to study military affairs, hoping that they would inherit their fathers' careers. These children had powerful fathers backing them up, so they didn't take their studies seriously, spending their days eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, which also led to the area around the school becoming notorious for its decadence and corrupting the local customs. The school arranged dormitories according to the status and power of the students' fathers, with Li Mengsheng, a small warlord's child, only able to live in a small room that was half the size of a normal one, shared by three people.

  Lianzhu is the son of Li Dudu's old housekeeper, and Wang Tong is the son of Li Dudu's Zhen Guo Jun Wang Canmou's son. Wang Canmou died in a warlord battle to protect Li Dudu, and Li Dudu adopted his son Wang Tong as his own. The three grew up together, studying and practicing martial arts at the same private school. Li Mengsheng never treated them as outsiders, but the old housekeeper had taught Lianzhu from a young age to maintain a master-servant relationship, so Lianzhu always regarded Li Mengsheng as his master and himself as a servant. Although Li Mengsheng often teased him, he was also very kind to him, thinking of him whenever there was something good to eat or drink. Lianzhu thought this was the way things should be and accepted this master-servant relationship deep down.

  Because the money had been squandered and was almost gone, they could only stay in the dormitory honestly. Wang Tong lay on his bed reading a book, Li Mengsheng played dice with Lian Zhu, whoever lost would drink a bowl of cold water. Lian Zhu was not Li Mengsheng's opponent, he drank seven bowls of cold water, and his mouth was filled with water flowing down from the corner of his mouth.

  Just as Meng Sheng was pouring cold water on Lian Zhu's head, a hurried knocking sound came from outside the door. Wang Tong hastily got out of bed to open the door, and Chen Canmou rushed in with a dusty face and sweat-drenched clothes, shouting hoarsely: "Young Master! Something's wrong! Hurry back!"