The city of Wuhan in the month of July was hot and humid. It was only nine in the morning and the scorching heat from the sun was causing people to sweat.
The Hanzheng Street was famous. Everyone in Wuhan knew about it, even those who had not been to Wuhan had heard about it. Its reputation had spread far and wide. It was used as a commerce area and had been used for such purposes since the olden days.
As soon as the sun rose, the street started to get busy. Traders, buyers, wholesalers and distributors gathered from all directions to Hanzheng Street. The noisy and lively street was a sight to behold.
It was at this time, three conspicuous men appeared. It was clear that they were here for a different purpose. The one leading the trio was a stylish-looking man in his twenties. He had sunglasses on and wore a black t-shirt and leather pants. He had black hair, dyed with white streaks, that was neither long or short and flowed past his shoulders.
The man was smoking a cigarette as he swaggered down the street. As he walked, he scratched his scalp with his little finger, then without a care in the world, flick it away.1 However, even if someone was "lucky" enough to get hit, they would only keep their disgust to themselves and not dare to confront the trio. They were obviously thugs.
The thugs that prowl Hanzheng Street were not like the usual thugs. Even their lackeys were of a different cut. The two that followed him wore skin-tight singlets that accentuated their muscular arms and wide backs.
The three thugs quickly reached their destination, a store where its front was littered with firecracker remains. It was clear that the store had just newly opened for business.2
"Dragon and Tiger Physiognomy Shop." 3
The leader of the trio lifted his sunglasses and glanced at the signboard. Then, he lazily yawned, pushed the glass door open and entered the store.
The store had a simplistic decoration with white walls and ceiling, adorned with a few orchid plants here and there, indicating that not much money was spent on furnishing. However, the few sofa made from mahogany placed in the store was lavish. Furthermore, it was still early and yet the air-conditioning of the store had already made the store nice and cooling. (TN: The author is implying that the air-conditioning system is expensive.)
The leader of the trio was someone with a discerning eye, he nodded and thought, The owner of the store must be rich, I shouldn't have any difficulty in collecting the protection fee.
"This noodle shop doesn't look too bad, but there's no tables. Don't tell me customers have to stand while eating?" One of the lackeys muttered, provoking a series of laughter from a young lady who just walked out from the back.4
This girl ain't bad, she exudes a certain charm just by laughing. With a glint in his eyes, the leader turned around and scolded his lackey, "Fuck his ancestor's tablet5, you're embarrassing me with your lack of culture, read up more often when you have the time! What the hell did you mean by noodle shop, it's fucking obvious that it's a physiognomy shop! Remember! Even a thug needs to be civilized!"
After the young thug finished scolding his lackey, he turned to the young lady, flashed a smile and introduced himself, "May I have the pleasure of knowing the young lady's name? My name is Ye Kong. The store owners nearby show respect7 by calling me elder brother Kong."
Although Ye Kong was courteous towards the young lady, the way he spewed vulgarities at his lackey gave her a bad impression of him. She frowned and said, "Uncle8, please don't smoke while you're standing here."
Ye Kong was a thug and a local bully. Usually, people had to show respect to him and yet a young lady was openly rude towards him. He was immediately upset, especially because she called him "Uncle". He was only 24 years old and didn't even have a girlfriend yet.
"Don't smoke while I am standing here? Then, will elder sister9 be providing me a bed for to lie on while I smoke?" Ye Kong replied impolitely while glancing at her.
It's not easy to deal with such a troublesome character. However, the young lady wasn't an ordinary person either. She didn't even bother to reply and just stood there and stared at him.
The two of them stared at each other. Neither of them were willing to yield.
After 10 seconds, Ye Kong raised up his hands and said, "Fine, I'll stop smoking. Sheesh, it's so hard to find a place to smoke these days."
This man isn't that bad, at least he can differentiate between right and wrong. It's just that his personality is too "unique". The young lady managed to endure her mirth and her impression of him slightly improved. She waited until he went outside and threw away his cigarette before she continued, "My surname is Zhao and I am the owner here. Are the three uncles here for physiognomy or a new name?"
Normally, if you're looking for someone in the fortune-telling industry, the older the better. It's even better if their hair is completely white with a full beard and long sideburns, which would give an impression of an immortal. Or they could go with sunglasses and pretend that they're blind. However, the owner turned out to be a young lady. Who knows if she's real?
However, Ye Kong wasn't interested in such things. He came back in and said, "Boss Zhao, I have never believed in superstitions and would never let anyone else manipulate my fate. So, you can forget about swindling me."
Those in fortune-telling hate it when people doubt them or called them swindlers. Ye Kong's words immediately offended her.
"Then what are you here for? If there's nothing else, then I suggest we stop wasting our time."
Ye Kong only smiled, "Boss Zhao, we're from Hanzheng Security Agency. We've noticed the lack of safety in your store, so we came here to provide security."
The young lady didn't catch the hidden meaning in what he said, and immediately declined, "No, thanks. We're only operating a small business here. We can't afford your service. Besides, we have no space for a security guard."
Seeing that the young lady didn't understand, Ye Kong continued, "Boss Zhao's words is incorrect. When one opens a business, it's inevitable that thugs would come and create trouble, or thieves would come and steal your things, or customers may refuse to pay after a fortune-telling. It's better to hire our services just in case. As for the lack of a space, there's no need to worry about it. As long as nothing happens… our company won't turn up."
The young lady thought it was amusing, You're the thugs. You won't show up unless something happens? Don't tell me you plan to get paid without working?
Just because the young lady didn't understand, didn't mean someone else didn't. Just then, a handsome young man gracefully walked out from the back of the store with an ancient tome in hand.
"They're here for protection fees." The young man put away the tome and placed his hands behind his back while he stood next to the young lady.
"Ah? There really are people who collect protection fees?" The young lady seemed a little surprised, as if it was her first time in society. She meekly called out, "Shixiong10…" Clearly, she wanted her shixiong's help with the situation.
When Ye Kong saw this, he thought, Damn it. The shixiong is handsome while the shimei11 is pretty. They're most likely childhood friends as well. There's practically no chance for me. Then let's do this properly, I might as well say it plainly.
Ye Kong said, "This friend is correct, you can call it protection fees. As long as you're doing business on Hanzheng Street, you're under the Hanzheng Gang's protection."
The young man, who clearly seemed to have some experience in society, immediately asked, "How much do we need to pay every month? As you can see, this is a small business and we've only just…"
However, this displeased the young lady. She thought her shixiong would drive the thugs away. Instead, the first thing that came out of his mouth was negotiations.
"Shixiong, how could you submit yourself to these thugs? Don't tell me you're afraid of them?" The young lady interrupted them.
Ye Kong coldly laughed and flexed his muscles, "Boss Zhao, these are the rules of Hanzheng Street. Why don't you ask around and see if there's anyone here who doesn't pay protection fees? You should be grateful that your store happened to be in my territory. You only need to pay a meager 300 Yuan (TN: slightly less than USD50) per month. Just a few stores down and it's Silly Qiang's territory. That guy charges a lot more."
Actually, this pair of shixiong and shimei were the direct disciples of the current leader of Dragon and Tiger Mountain, and were sent out to gain experience in society. Monks and taoist priests, especially ones from famous temples and mountains like them, receive so much donations that they are wealthy enough to not care about such a pitiful amount.
Although the young man wasn't afraid of thugs, he knew that they were annoying to deal with. On the other hand, the young lady was reckless and hated injustice.
"No way! We cannot give in to such despicable acts, I am going to call the police!" The young lady said angrily.
Ye Kong chuckled, "Call the police? Why don't you go right ahead? Did we smash up your shop or steal your things? We're here to solicit work for our security agency. Can the police prevent us from soliciting work?" After Ye Kong finished, he and his lackeys laughed out loud.
The young lady's face turned red from anger, but she had given up on calling the police.
Then, Ye Kong turned to his lackeys and said, "Dimwit 1, Dimwit 2, from today onward, come here everyday to experience the influence of traditional culture. If you want to get a wife, learn more about culture from them. Remember, whether it's rain or shine, be here as long as it is opened and you can only leave when it is closed. Also, if there are any customers, you must be not even take a single step from this place."
The threat behind his words were so obvious, even an idiot could tell that they were going to come over everyday to create trouble. With these two brutes hanging around the store, never mind customers coming here for fortune-telling, even utility bills collectors would not dare to enter.
Even though the young lady did not want to give in, but she knew how difficult it was to deal with the underhanded methods of the thugs. She looked at her shixiong who was persuading her and sighed, "Why can't you just let people conduct their business in peace?"
Ye Kong knew that today's protection fees was in the bag, continued and said, "Pretty girl, do you understand the meaning of peace? If you want "安", then you need to "平". How do I "平"? "摆平" it! How do I "摆平" it? Spend money. So if you want to peacefully do business, then don't be reluctant to spend money. Only when you spend a little money, will you get the chance to earn a lot of money. "舍得". If you don't "舍", then will you "得"?"12
There's nothing scarier than a civilized thug. At Ye Kong's words, the couple could only stare at him in disbelief. They thought, Is it really the vulgar thug from just now saying this? How could he have said lines filled with so much literary?
As for Ye Kong's lackeys, they were more than impressed.
"Elder brother Kong is awesome! Listen to this, if you want "peace", then you need to "settle" it. Why did I not think of such logic?"
"That's because you're an idiot, stupid. Elder brother Kong is civilized. Didn't you heard what he said? Even a thug needs to be civilized!"
"No wonder even our gang leader is impressed with our elder brother Kong."
The two lackeys were amazed by Ye Kong's literary skills. When Ye Kong started to speak again, the both of them quickly turned their attention back to him.
This time, Ye Kong provided an example, "I used to be an owner of a small store just like you. I refused to pay the protection fees as well. I thought it was unfair that I had to split my hard-earned profits. However, trouble soon followed. One day, while I was in the toilet, someone threw a sack over my head and beat me up." Ye Kong had a sad expression on his face, as if he was reminiscing about the past. He shook his head and said, "Now that I think about it. It was only a few hundred dollars. Just for that, now, whenever I use the toilet, I would uncontrollably look around."
The two lackeys almost fainted when they heard what Ye Kong said. Elder brother Kong, here we were just praising you. Your example is… simply too "unique".
When the young lady heard what Ye Kong had said, she laughed. Ye Kong thought, She's finally going to pay up.
Unexpectedly, the young lady lifted up her hand instead and said, "I understand now. To deal with someone like you, I just need to beat you up until you're scared!"
The young lady didn't even hesitate, she threw a palm strike towards Ye Kong. Ye Kong did not even bother to dodge, he thought, As if you could hurt me with those thin arms of yours.
However, the young man knew about his shimei's capabilites, he shouted, "Shimei! Stop!"
It was too late. The young lady's attack was even faster than her words. Her palm was only inches away from Ye Kong's chest(TN: OMG, sekuhara!), the quick witted young man used the object in his hand to block her strike, in an attempt to cushion the force of the blow.
"Pa!"An indescribable sound rang out.
As her palm made contact with Ye Kong, an unbelievable scene unfolded. Ye Kong completely disappeared without a trace, as if he didn't existed in the first place.
The two lackeys stood there in shock, unable to comprehend the situation. They stared at the young lady with horror in their eyes. Finally, both of them shouted, "Heroine, spare us!" Then, they quickly dashed out of the store.
The pair of shixiong and shimei were also stunned by the current situation. She doubtfully held her hand up to her face and stared at her palm, and said, "Shixiong, I only wanted to teach him a lesson, and didn't put in much force! Besides, even if I were serious, how could I even… make someone disappear?"
"I don't know." The young man's eyes were wide open from shock, he said, "I've never seen or heard of people disappearing after getting struck by the Dragon and Tiger Yinyang Palm."
The young lady was troubled, "How did this happen? Why was he so weak? Is he really dead?"
The young man tried to comfort her, "Forget it, cheer up. He was a thug anyway, so just think of it as doing a good deed…" Just then, he suddenly remembered something. He looked at his empty hands and exclaimed, "This is bad! The book that I was holding in my hand… Oh no, that's the 'Compendium of Talismans', that's our clan's heirloom treasure!"
"Ah!" The young lady was shocked as well, however she soon recovered and said, "That book is useless anyway. Majority of the talismans in the book are unusable. It's fine even if we lose it."
"What bad luck. What am I going to say to master when we return…"
If we're talking about bad luck, the unlucky one was Ye Kong. Right now, he was in a gigantic whirlpool constructed from grey clouds. All he could see was an unending sea of grey clouds.
As he moved through the clouds, he did not know where he was. He could neither see anything in front of him, nor could he stop moving. He felt as if he was a leaf within a tornado, while a strong and mysterious force dragged him towards the center of the whirlpool.
The whirlpool was gigantic, to the point where it was almost infinite. Finally, his eyes started to tire and his thoughts dulled… he wanted to hold on.
However, it was too far and too long.
"I, Ye Kong, have never done any felony. I may have committed misdemeanors, but I have performed good deeds as well. Let's hope that when I wake up… it's in heaven." He muttered and finally closed his eyes.
After an indeterminable amount of time, his clothes became dilapidated.
Years passed and his body followed.
Finally, his entire being turned into dust, with only his soul remaining.
And what was protecting his soul, was that "Compendium of Talismans". At that moment, the only thing that remained of the "Compendium of Talismans" was a tiny ray of light. It protected Ye Kong's soul while they traversed through the grey clouds, without any idea when they would reach their destination, or whether it was heaven…
Wow, this was harder to translate than I thought. The author has a superfluous writing style. Hopefully, the next chapter is easier.
1 – I think this sentence would be more appropriate if he was digging his nose. He's just flicking his dandruff. While that's still disgusting, it is not as disgusting as flicking boogers.
2 – It's a Chinese tradition to set off firecrackers when a store is opened etc. It's usually accompanied with a lion dance troupe performance.
3 – It's basically a fortune-teller shop.
4 – 相面 = Physiognomy, 面 = Noodles
5 – 日他仙人板板 – This loosely translates to "Fuck his ancestor's tablet". This is a vulgar phrase said in certain regions in China. 仙人板板 is a piece of wooden tablet where your ancestor's name is carved upon. The Chinese place them on altars and worship their ancestors with it. This is related to the Taoist religion and Chinese culture. Also, 仙人板板 should actually be 先人板板. 仙人 = Immortal, 先人 = Ancestor. Both 仙 and 先 have the exact same pronunciation. 仙人板板 came from typos made by TV studios when they subtitle their shows. You will see this phrase very frequently throughout the series.
6- 叶空 = Ye Kong; 叶 = Leaf, 空 = Empty. Ye is his surname while Kong is his given name. There's not much meaning to it.
7 – 面子 = Face or reputation. You can think of it as showing respect but it has a different nuance to it. In Chinese culture, 面子 is important.
8 – In the Chinese language, uncle is also used to refer to strangers and not just relatives.
9 – Like uncle, elder sister can be used to refer to an older female. Or if the female is younger than you, you're showing respect to her. In this case, Ye Kong's being sarcastic.
10 – 师兄 = Shixiong = Senior Male Disciple. I want to leave it as such, just think of it as senpai! If I use senior disciple, it will lose a lot of its nuances.
11 – 师妹 = Shimei = Junior Female Disciple.
12 – This is a wordplay on peace(平安). 平 = Ping, 安 = An,摆平 = Settle, 舍得 = Willingness, 舍 = Discard, 得 = Obtain