The child stood timidly on the spot, with over a hundred pairs of eyes of various colors piercing through him—he had no time to run, nor to lie down.
Cao Yongchang's appearance here had its reasons.
After escaping from the city gate, he hid in a wine cellar until nightfall. Then he slipped into the kitchen of the Five Blessings Tower under the cover of darkness, found something to eat, and located a warm haystack in the backyard shed to sleep on.
Although he was but a child, Cao Yongchang's wildness was innate; not to mention beating someone to death in the street, he had traveled hundreds of miles on his own, sleeping in the open, yet he didn't feel the slightest bit of hardship—on the contrary, he had a kind of wild growth.
With no money for travel or food, he relied on the storytelling he had heard in the brothel areas, telling stories on the street, and lived off the onlookers' tips.
