Chapter 4 Pawnshop

  Pawnshop

  Yao Feng walked out of the government office and looked around, seeing two execution stands erected on the empty space in front of the gate. His body, which had just relaxed, suddenly shuddered again.

  "It's a good thing I reacted quickly, and the wallet looks clean too. This time I didn't get involved in some unclear lawsuit, otherwise I would be standing inside this police station right now."

  I read in a book that the Qing dynasty's cangue was particularly cruel, looking simple but actually brutal. A person would be locked in it with their neck stuck and suspended inside, generally unable to hold on for two or three days before dying. Compared to the autumn assizes which required reporting to the Ministry of Justice, Qing officials preferred using this method to directly kill people, without having to worry about consequences...

  Yao Weng's heart felt both sorrowful and fearful, and he couldn't help but shudder all over, hastily shifting his gaze away from the two lanterns that had claimed countless lives. He walked heavily through the city, lost in thought.

  At that time, Qingdao Port was just a small fishing village and harbor. The city wall was low and short, the houses inside the city were disorderly planned, and the traditional Chinese courtyards with black tiles and white walls were densely packed in the city.

  "In 1875, the Qing dynasty was like this, so boring. I don't want to stay here. I must seize the opportunity to make some deals in both time and space, quickly earn a lot of money and become rich. Then...I can enjoy my wealth in 2011! Who knows when, my ability to travel through time and space will disappear." Yao Feng walked on the dirt road paved with yellow earth and bluestone in the city, thinking as he went.

  Along the way, people who caught his eye were all wearing tattered clothes, and those with sallow complexions were everywhere. Yao Mou turned back to look, only to find that there was always someone staring at him from behind.

  While being observed, Yao Fan is also observing the people here.

  The poor people here seem to have symptoms of malnutrition, with dark yellow complexions and very few tall and strong individuals. Yao Fan estimated that their average height was less than 1.6 meters. A person like Yao Fan who is 1.85 meters tall is probably the tallest in the city.

  The poor people here don't seem to need to lose weight, but they all lack spirit, and everyone exudes a numbness and baseness from the inside out, as if the word "poverty" is starkly written on their bodies, with an inexplicable sorrow in their dull eyes.

  The men all had a withered, dirty yellow pigtail tied at the back of their heads, an utterly filthy and twisted thing that didn't belong to the Chinese people at all. It hung down from the top of the back of their heads, a shameful symbol that had lasted for over two hundred years. The foreheads, temples, and napes of the men's necks were all shaved smooth, revealing the dark yellow, dirty-looking skin underneath their short hair. Yao Fan knew they had grown accustomed to this hairstyle, as well as their identity as a slave nation.

  Now in the Qing dynasty, it's very simple to "judge people by their appearance". Those who look like they're living a relatively good life have shaved heads, wearing rough cotton or hemp clothing, while those who are doing slightly better wear silk jackets. As for the poor, Yao Wenyuan really can't tell whether the greasy and dirty clothes on their bodies were originally made of cotton or hemp, probably they've been living like this for over 200 years and don't care about it themselves.

  When Yao Fang, dressed in strange and clean clothes, curiously observed the people around him, the surrounding people also treated him as a monster-like observation. Several children followed behind Yao Fang, dragging their noses like tails, looking at this fake foreigner's every move with curiosity. In their eyes, Yao Fang's clothing was not only strange, but even his way of walking was unusual, with his head held high and chest out, swinging his arms as if performing a play. Unconsciously, the children behind him began to imitate Yao Fang's strange movements, deliberately swinging their arms as they walked. The children soon discovered that walking like this was actually very proud, very arrogant, very abnormal, and very rude, so they stopped continuing.

  The pedestrian's attention didn't make Yao Fang feel uncomfortable at all. He smiled and walked into a bustling street in the city.

  At the entrance of this street stood a wooden archway painted with vermilion, on which were hung several wooden signboards, bearing some allusions that Yao Feng couldn't understand and some flowers and birds that he could. Yao Feng was not interested in either the allusions or the flowers and birds; he had no interest whatsoever in the culture of this backward country.

  Under the archway, on both sides of the ground, there were some crawling rags. Yao Wenyuan looked carefully and found that they were a group of barefooted and tattered black beggars who gathered here to ask for food.

  Yao Fan subconsciously felt that these beggars were disgusting, they looked half-dead, dirty to the point where their original skin color was unrecognizable, each one either kneeling or lying down, like a group of festering sores growing out of the mud. The only white part on their entire body was the whites of their eyes, but this only made their gaze seem more like that of a stupid corpse, evoking fear and disgust. Some were kneeling on the ground, holding gourds made from calabaza with one arm raised high, while others beat bamboo clappers and sang begging songs that Yao Fan couldn't understand. There were also many who had varying degrees of disability, these people too were chanting and begging in a mournful tone. In short, this group of blind, crippled, ugly, dirty, and terrifying beggars was really frightening. At this moment they were prostrate on the muddy ground, their eyes fixed intently on Yao Fan, straining to squeeze out sounds from their mouths: "Good sir, have mercy, give us some food... Queen Mother Goddess bless you, good sir, give us something to eat..."

  Yao Fan felt both sympathy and disgust for the beggars, sympathy was his nature, while disgust was a habit, one was innate, the other acquired. He was on guard against these dead souls in his heart, reminding himself that he wasn't here to do charity work, and walked away quickly with a guilty conscience.

  All the way here, Yao Fan could see that this street should be the most prosperous place in Qingdao Port. There were still poor men squatting on the walls and corners of the road, with grass signs on their heads selling themselves, among whom there were some dirty children who couldn't tell whether they were boys or girls, also with grass signs on their heads, it seems that prostitution is not illegal here.

  Where slaves can be bought, there must be rich people. Where there are rich people, business can be done. Yao Fan's logic is simple.

  There were also some prostitutes on this street, although few in number, they had a significant impact, at least scaring Yao Fang.

  They painted red cheeks, scattered chest buttons, and solicited customers on the street, obviously being prostitutes.

  Yao Fan's curious gaze caught the attention of the streetwalkers, and two coarse-looking women shouted at Yao Fan with great enthusiasm: "Old man, come sit down, we have good tea and melon seeds to entertain you." As they spoke, they deliberately pulled open their collars, revealing their white breasts.

  Yao Fang smiled, he appreciated the other's enthusiasm for self-promotion, but was not interested in the goods. The flesh trade is one of the most despicable services a country can provide.

  Yao Fang quickened his pace, swiftly walking away from the street. At this moment, although he still felt a little unfamiliar and fearful of the local area in his heart, he had already found his footing. After all, this was still China, even though it looked strange, barbaric, and backward beyond imagination, but ultimately, it was still China.

  This street is not long, and after walking through it, Yao Fan had a good understanding of it. Although Jiaozhou is not as prosperous as Shanghai today, it has already taken on the shape of a city.

  Along the way, there were garment stores, pawn shops, barber shops, bamboo product stores, butcher shops, fish markets, fishing net stores, salt stores, rice stores, general merchandise stores, hat stores, leather goods stores, pawnshops, porcelain stores, pharmacies, wine houses, restaurants, cake and pastry shops, tea houses, woodwork stores, carriage rental shops... The existence of these various shops clearly indicated that Yao Fang had already arrived at a prosperous small town.

  In short, Yao Weng opened his eyes and actually discovered a commercial pattern of small towns in the Qing Dynasty.

  "It seems that the city is mainly inhabited by merchants and artisans, as well as wealthy urban landlords. As for farmers and fishermen, of course, they would not live in the city. After strolling around, it's quite a lively place, no wonder the imperial court has set up 9 various offices and a maritime customs office here."

  He thought again and remembered that he still had dinner with Judge Sun Maowen in the evening, and his heart immediately felt anxious - no money!

  "Can't this meal be paid for by the official's money? But I, a time-space traveler, don't have any silver coins circulating here. Not even the essential watch-like divine instrument that crossers must carry, I didn't bring it with me. This is all because I usually use my mobile phone to tell the time and never considered the possibility of crossing over. It's really embarrassing for Northern Dynasty Dragon Empty and other crosser parties."

  Yao Fang decided to try his luck, no matter what.

  As a modern person from the 21st century, can't just waste one's own blood for a little money? For the price of a meal, forcing oneself to cross over again, how will I have the face to mix in the forum afterwards?

  Yao Feng raised his head, puffed out his chest, shook his head from side to side like a sprinter preparing for the starting gun, shook his shoulders, patted his clothes, swung his legs and strode spiritedly towards a pawnshop called Wannian Dang.

  "If I really can't cheat, then I'll just run away." Yao Fan thought to himself.

  This pawnshop, named "Wannian Dang", is not very big, but on this street it's already considered to be a bright and clean storefront. The hollow window lattice has paper pasted on it, without using luxurious things like glass, giving people a feeling of ancient simplicity.

  Yao Fan hesitated for a moment at the door, adjusted his mentality to that of a rogue, and then strode in with a big step, only to see his partner standing behind a high black lacquer counter, staring at him in surprise at his outfit which was completely like that of a Japanese devil.

  After entering the store, Yao Fan's eyes rolled around and he quickly scanned the entire place. He then strode over to a chair by the window, sat down with his legs spread wide, and loudly shouted: "Shopkeeper, come here! I have precious goods! I want to temporarily leave them with you in exchange for some silver!"

  The fellow saw the newcomer's imposing appearance, dressed in a bright and shiny foreign attire, speaking fluent Mandarin, and was likely to be a fake foreigner with some background. So he had no choice but to break the rules and open the cabinet door, coming out from behind the high platform that gave him a psychological advantage, walking carefully to Yao Fang's front, bowing his waist and asking: "Sir, what can I do for you?"

  Yao Feng rolled up his suit sleeve, took out his phone with a serious expression, and held it high in his hand, singing in an opera-like tone: "One million two!"

  The shopkeeper almost burst out laughing, his face twitching as he said: "You're joking, sir. This box is worth 10,000 taels? Even if it was, I'm not authorized to make the decision, I'll have to ask my boss."

  Yao Fan didn't give him a good face, instead he turned red with anger and shouted in a loud voice: "What are you mumbling about! Call your boss out!"

  The fellow had no choice and didn't dare offend this seemingly powerful ice-cold Japanese devil, so he hastily went to the back hall to call out the boss.

  After the old boss came out, he found that Yao Fan was a decent fake foreigner, and his attitude immediately became more polite, and he hurriedly ordered tea.

  He took a look at the boss, who was wearing a long gown made of lake silk and didn't seem to mind the heat. On top of that, he wore a dark blue vest with clean clothes. His thick eyebrows were tightly attached to his fine eyes, and his lips had an eight-character mustache carefully trimmed into two willow leaves, aligned with the corners of his mouth. A faint cyan beard about one inch long was sparsely grown on his chin, giving him a trustworthy appearance that seemed clever yet honest.

  After the self-introduction, Yao Fan knew that the boss's name was He Wannian. Then Yao Fan brought out the nonsense he had previously told Sun Maowen and repeated it again, so He Wannian also knew that Yao Fan was a big-name merchant.

  It is said that Yao Fang was born into a wealthy Western merchant family, and He Wannian's expression became much more courteous, addressing him as "Brother Yao" at every turn.

  Yao Fangxin said: Since you've already called me brother and sworn fraternal affection, I can start cheating now.

  "Mr. He, look, I'll demonstrate this calculator for you."

  Yao Fanyi rolled up his sleeves, opened the calculator function on his mobile phone, and started doing arithmetic operations with his right index finger flying rapidly.

  He Wan Nian knew Arabic numerals, and he knew that foreigners used this method to count. Looking at the Arabic numerals on the screen in the tens of millions, calculations could be done in the blink of an eye, and this glowing jade board called a screen was so magical...

  He Wannian had seen all sorts of foreign goods before, such as matches, clocks, and woolen cloth... no matter how strange or unusual they were, they would not exceed human understanding. However, the precious foreign object in Yao Fan's hand was something he had never seen before. He Wannian truly felt that this electric calculator was a heavenly treasure, its ingenuity beyond compare.