Chapter 2: 1932, Beiping

  In the cold wind, Yang Feng rode his electric tricycle out, although he still had many questions to ask, but this was clearly not the most important thing, the most important thing was...

  "Hey, what about you, pancake vendor!" The speaker was a dark-skinned man in his thirties, holding a wooden stick and looking not too fierce. Behind him followed a group of onlookers, all wearing thick cotton jackets and pants, looking warm and cozy!

  Yang Feng was stunned for a moment, did parallel space also have urban management? Is this still allowing people to live?

  The guy walked up and sized Yang Feng up before bursting out laughing.

  "What's wrong?" he asked with a raised corner of his mouth.

  "Let two outsiders snatch it away!" Yang Feng's response was perfect, accompanied by a helpless expression on his face, making it difficult for people to harbor any suspicions.

  Hei Pi seemed to have believed him and looked at his car, asking with some doubt: "What about the eggs and noodles inside?"

  "Robbers want everything I have."

  "No, I clearly saw him smashing eggs on the wall and then bouncing back to hit his own head." The middle-aged man who had just bought a pancake shouted excitedly from the crowd behind.

  "Do you believe it?" Yang Feng asked the crowd with an innocent face, come on! With my brain, if I couldn't even solve this small matter, then there's no need to fight wits and bravery with the city management.

  They were clearly unbelievable, and no one would believe that eggs could be thrown against a wall and bounce back to hit people on the head.

  Even the black skin has lost interest now.

  "It's all right, hurry up and mind your own business!" He said with a wave of his hand.

  "Which brother borrowed clothes to wear?" Yang Feng asked with a flattering face towards everyone.

  "This time of year, who has extra clothes to spare!" Hei Pi said with a gloomy face.

  "I'll pay," Yang Feng hesitated for a moment, it seemed like the RMB might not be circulating here, he glanced at himself and then took off his wristwatch.

  When making pancakes, it's inconvenient to watch mobile phones. Placing an alarm clock or something is easy to damage, so he bought a quartz wristwatch, a traverser's artifact.

  "I'll trade this watch for it!" he said, holding up his wristwatch.

  Hei Pi's face changed color, the cheapest watch would cost dozens of dollars, and this one didn't look like the cheapest at all, so he changed into a cotton robe?

  Is he really stupid or just pretending?

  "Hey brother, there's a pawnshop to the left after you exit the alley. Your watch should be worth around 10 or 8 yuan, which is enough to buy an old cotton-padded jacket from there."

  "This alley is all poor guys living here, if one person can have a set of warm clothes that's already good enough, no one has any extra." Hei Pi kindly reminded.

  What the heck is this place, even a worn-out cotton-padded jacket has become a luxury.

  Yang Feng was very hesitant, he knew that with this outfit going to the pawnshop would definitely get him ripped off, and estimated that even a watch would only be exchanged for the most tattered old clothes, but his life for the next few days would have no direction.

  What did he just say? Pacific Ocean? Is this the Republic of China?

  "A set of cotton clothes, plus five big ocean coins, who wants to exchange?" He raised his hand and said to the crowd watching the excitement.

  "No problem with the table!" Hei Pi also came to his senses and made a hint to the crowd, guessing that Yang Feng's offer had a big profit margin, but he might be embarrassed to take it himself, so he'd rather let his neighbors make some money.

  Everyone looked at each other, it seemed that not many people had the funds to do this business. Finally, a slightly fatter guy walked out and bowed his hands to everyone: "If the neighbors have no objection, then brother will take over."

  Everyone has no objection.

  This guy called Mr. Liu quickly went home and brought back a cotton-padded jacket that was still warm from his body heat.

  "My dog just gave birth, don't despise it!" He said with some embarrassment.

  He doesn't care about anything, Yang Feng is now almost frozen to death, let alone taking it from a living person, even if it's taken from a dead person he won't be disgusted.

  He changed into warm clothes, and Yang Feng let out a comfortable sigh as he took over four silver dollars with Yuan Shikai's head printed on them, along with a handful of copper coins.

  "Who will help me find the way? I'm going to buy some flour and eggs, this is the reward." Yang Feng said, holding three twenty-wen copper coins.

  "No need to spend money, I'm just going to patrol the street ahead, I'll take you with me." Hei Pi said from the side.

  The two of them walked out of the alley together, and as soon as they came out, they saw a large group of young men and women holding banners that read "Down with Japanese imperialism!" and "Return Manchuria to China!" walking by.

  Yang Feng's heart was chilled to the bone.

  He asked nervously, "What's going on?"

  "It's not like the Japanese are just making trouble, they've already occupied the three eastern provinces, and just the other day they bombarded Shanhaiguan, who knows, maybe next they'll attack Beiping City. Now, let's not even talk about these students, which Chinese person isn't furious!" Hei Pi sighed and said.

  Alright, now that the time and place have been confirmed, it was Beijing at the end of 1932. Next came the Jehol Incident, the Great Wall War, then the July 7th Incident, and finally the Republic was overthrown.

  "Alas!" Yang Feng also let out a long sigh.

  Things got simpler afterwards, black-skinned patrolman Liu Shuming took Yang Feng to buy various materials, and then this guy directly sold Jianbing guozi on an electric tricycle in Beijing City in 1932.

  Not to mention business is good, this guy cleverly rode his bike following the procession of students.

  "Have a pancake! Five cents each, eat your fill and you'll have the strength to curse the Japanese!" He ran to the front of the queue, set up his stall, and began to hawk his wares.

  What's more, his tricycle was new and the pictures on it were beautiful. The price was reasonable and he looked spirited. Soon some students who were hungry came to buy from him.

  Almost all of those who can attend middle school and university come from relatively well-off families and have plenty of pocket money, so the 5-cent pancakes were quickly sold out in dozens.

  The procession marched straight to the residence of Zhang Xiaozhu, the king of Shunxing Prefecture, and at this time, the police and Northeastern Army appeared.

  Yang Feng, who was tempered in the battle with the city management, jumped onto the tricycle and turned his head to drill into the alley next door as soon as these big soldiers appeared like wolves.

  However, he didn't rush to leave. This wasn't a dead end, and it would be easy to run away if needed. So, he simply turned around, sat back in the car, and watched the commotion.

  The procession had already become chaotic, the black-skinned police hadn't done much yet, they were all Beijingers, and couldn't bring themselves to lay hands on these students. But Zhang's Northeastern troops weren't so gentle.

  These guys who were driven out by the Japanese, when dealing with students, showed great courage, using their fists and feet, as well as rifle butts, and quickly beat these young men and women who had never suffered before until they fell to the ground.

  In the chaos, two girls wearing blue Republic of China student uniforms supported a companion with a broken head and ran into an alley, followed by two Northeastern Army soldiers holding wooden clubs.

  "The Struggle of the Two-Faced Merchant... more" Latest chapter released by Yunqi Book House, the latest and fastest online release site! (This site provides: traditional pagination, waterfall two modes, can be selected in settings)