Gold-Toothed Gao

After a few hours, the sun had begun to set. The sky was a mixture of orange and yellow rays which lit up the drifting clouds beneath them. Yawu sat by the city wall, hugging her knees, looking up with a faint smile.

She didn't mind waiting for the guard to finish his job. The mere action of sitting and idling, free of harassment, was a luxury she had never been afforded before. Plus, she had more than enough entertainment to make do with, in the various travellers and merchants that were queuing to enter the city, which had by now decreased a lot.

Cang'An's position as a crossroads of commerce manifested itself not only in its economic power amongst the surrounding region, but also in the garbs and clothing of its citizens and in its visitors. It wasn't uncommon to see a group of people wearing uniform blue stripes and patterns stroll past, only for another group who wore red and black to leave in the opposite direction.

As someone who had grown up in Yong and especially as a mixed-blood barbarian, she had quite the knack when it came to identifying both barbarians and Yongsmen. As she watched the passersby with interest, she inevitably ended up meeting eyes with people from Yong. But the feelings behind those gazes she received were generally indifferent, as if unwilling to waste energy in interacting any further with her.

Yawu found it surprising. Back in Yong, the discrimination against barbarians and half-breeds was open and encouraged by the officials, but here in Cang'An, even people from Yong didn't seem to want to speak of it out loud. Perhaps it was something akin to avoiding airing one's dirty laundry, in that over generations, Yong and the barbarians had mixed and interchanged more than just culture to the point where outsiders found them hard to tell apart.

The moment someone from Yong denounced the barbarians in public, someone would inevitably respond with, "but what's so different between you guys and the barbarians anyway?".

As Yawu became lost in her own thoughts, the guard who had offered her a piece of bread walked over. Unlike before, he was mostly unarmoured, wearing only a cloth uniform, a linen hat and a sword by his waist. 

"I'm done with my shift. Let's go in, shall we?" He reached out a hand, seemingly unconcerned by Yawu's visible dirtiness.

Yawu stood up spryly, without accepting the outstretched hand. Over the years, she had developed a sense of self-awareness that at this very moment prevented her from dirtying her benefactor's clothes.

The guard shrugged in response, before gesturing to the main gate. 

"Well, let's head in then." Mid-stride, he couldn't help but notice Yawu's unwashed face, feeling a pang of pity for the girl. "I'm Zhang Baofu, what are you called?"

"Yawu." She replied, following him closely. Monitoring his expression intently, she found that Zhang Baofu's only reaction was the initial surprise from hearing a barbarian-style name, nothing more.

Entering the gates, Yawu's pupils dilated in amazement as the Cang'An's east sector filled her vision. Though she was only on the east main street, rows upon rows of street entrances lined the sides at regular intervals. Yawu couldn't see much beyond just this initial glance, but she imagined that the streets beyond crisscrossed, wound together and branched off into the distance, as if a giant had taken a gigantic ball of yarn and rolled it hap hazardously, seemingly uncaring of the final placement of each alleyway and street.

Zhang Baofu watched with a grin, seemingly taking pride in his city of residence. Eventually, Yawu recovered from her shock, though her first impression of Cang'An would most likely stay with her for a lifetime.

As they walked at a leisurely pace, Zhang Baofu couldn't help but enquire about Yawu's circumstances.

"You don't seem to have much of a plan in visiting Cang'An." He commented. "Where are you from?"

Yawu didn't respond immediately, deliberating over what information was dangerous to share, only to realise that even if her family found out about her, they likely wouldn't come looking anyway.

"Yong. I ran away from home."

Zhang Baofu frowned softly, but ultimately didn't speak. After a few moments, he voiced his doubts.

"At such a young age, you managed to come all the way from Yong? Since you ended up at Cang'An's east entrance, you must have passed through the wilderness, no?" He let out a breath of foggy mist. "During the winter, no less."

Yawu shrugged, having little to say. "What is the wilderness?" She asked.

Seeing an expression that did not seem like feigned ignorance, Zhang Baofu was visibly astonished. 

"Well… it's not important at the moment. Do you have any plans coming here? Any friends or extended family to stay with?"

Yawu shook her head decisively. "No. My only goal was to leave home."

Scratching his chin through his thin beard, Zhang Baofu pondered for a few seconds.

"Well, if you want, I have a spare room at my house if you'd like. Don't get me wrong, it used to belong to my daughter." With an unreadable expression, he paused. "But she moved out. Now it's just me and my old bones, haha."

Though he tried to cover his emotions, Yawu, who had long since become an expert in reading others, knew that he was concealing pain. She felt that it would be prudent not to ask, after all, she was currently relying on the older man's charity to hopefully establish a foothold for herself in Cang'An, which had become her dream city after merely half a day of admiring its walls.

After brief consideration, Yawu nodded. "Sure. As long as you give me work to do."

"Work? I'm a city guard, so there's not much I can do for you in that regard." Zhang Baofu chuckled.

"Surely I can take out the latrine or draw water from the well?" Yawu offered.

Zhang Baofu shook his head, with a tut. "No need, we have a sewage system and running water to every house in the city. No offence, but how backwards are they over there in Yong?"

Despite having experienced persecution from the people in question for the majority of her life, Yawu still couldn't help but feel a tinge of indignation on their behalf.

"People have been fetching water from wells and disposing of their waste manually for a long time. If it's worked for our predecessors, why change it?" She retorted.

"Living in caves worked too, but don't you find that the comfort of a house and a warm bed to be so much better? Any other alternative is, well, barbaric." Zhang Baofu laughed, gently patting Yawu on the back as he widened his gait and continued onwards.

Yawu had never been a particularly wordy person. Whenever her family or neighbours criticised her, it was almost always for the sake of doing so. She quickly learned that arguing back would only earn her more beatings, so gave up a long time ago. Combined with the fact that she wasn't accustomed to speaking this much to begin with, it was a given that the experienced Zhang Baofu would best her verbally.

Soon, after many twists and turns, they stopped outside a small house near the edge of the eastern quadrant. Though it was small, it was more than enough for a family of four to live in from the looks of it. There was even a small courtyard with a small sapling sitting snugly to the right, basking in the setting sun's dimming light.

"You'd better head in an' wash up. Holler if you need any help." Zhang Baofu said, unlocking the front door for Yawu to enter. "The last room on the left- there's a water tap which can be opened by twisting the knob and a latrine."

"Okay." 

Despite Yawu's short and broken sentences, Zhang Baofu could feel the gratitude from within. He shut the door, stepping back into the courtyard to give Yawu maximum privacy and sat down onto a rattan-rocking chair with a happy smile. Though it was winter and the area was blanketed thinly in snow, he seemed unbothered by the cold, contently enjoying the northern breeze.

Suddenly, he felt a strange sense of unease. Eyes narrowed, he stood up and peeked out over the wall of the courtyard, looking left and right down both sides of the street. As he did so, a head abruptly intruded into his vision. It was pale, with patchy hair that was poorly covered with a hat, its toothy grin proudly displaying an eye-catching set of golden teeth.

Jumping back in shock, Zhang Baofu's hand reached down to the hilt of his sword instinctively.

"You! What are you doing here?" He asked, calming himself down.

"Heheh, ol' Zhang, it's been two weeks." The pale man replied, unlocking the front gate and helping himself in. Behind him followed two men of average builds, wearing rather casual clothes. The only thing of note about their appearances were the mismatched black gloves that they each wore on one hand only.

Seemingly uncaring as to the fact that Zhang Baofu was armed, the pale man swaggered over to the rattan chair, seating himself with a groan. The two henchmen followed, taking their positions on either side of the chair.

"Boss Deng is growing tired of your stalling, ol' Zhang. I've been trying my hardest to convince him, but y'know, a guy like that in an industry like this, it's already shocking how much he's been letting you get away with." The pale man grinned, the meaning of his words clear.

Zhang Baofu regained his posture, scowling at the pale man's words.

"You want another bribe? I paid you already last week!" He complained, his right hand stroking the hilt of his sheathed sword.

Though he was deliberately placing the weapon under the pale man and co.'s view, even going as far as to pat it provocatively, the truth was that out of all the 'associates' under the Black Hand gang, Gold-Toothed Gao was one of the better ones to be speaking to.

At the very least, he didn't visit with an entire miniature militia like the others, speaking with fists first before using words only after the debtor had lost the ability to stand. On the other hand, however, with Gold-Toothed Gao's extortionate fees and criminal interest rates, Zhang Baofu wasn't sure whether he was interested in the ability to walk anymore.

With a shrug, Gold-Toothed Gao picked his ear with his left pinky. "Times'a changing old boy. I dunno how much a low-level guard like you knows, but this lovely city is becoming increasingly more dangerous by the day. And I don't mean because of us, the Black Hands."

"I find that hard to believe." 

"It's none of my concern whether you believe it or not. All I'm sayin' is that it might be good to consider packing ya bags and hitting the road. I'm doing one last round of collections and then poof! You'll never see me again."

Zhang Baofu frowned with concern. "Is it really that serious?"

Gold-Toothed Gao turned to look at each of his lackeys with a look of mock disbelief. "Wow, they really dun' tell you lot nothing!" Seeing Zhang Baofu's serious look, he stopped joking around. "What us mere mortals experience is just the aftermath of the goings on from up there."

He cupped his fists and saluted the sky with exaggerated movements, avoiding using words and explaining with his actions instead. Wide-eyed, Zhang Baofu wondered for half a second whether he was being duped or not.

But he cleared his doubts quickly. Although Gold-Toothed Gao was a criminal and a cheat, he was surprisingly thorough when it came to doing his job. In this case, he was most certainly playing nice.

"Out of all the common peoples, the low to middle class will experience it last, after everyone else, right before everything goes kaput. The gang's been feeling the pressure already- several new fellas have been sneaking around our turf. If you don't want to cough up even more money for protection fees, you might as well sell off your house and make a run for it!"

Zhang Baofu took a few moments to digest the information. After some hesitation, he opened his coin pouch and withdrew a single piece of silver, depositing it carefully into Gold-Toothed Gao's open palm.

"I'm getting paid in three days. Surely, you can wait that long?" 

Gao raised his eyebrows quizzically. "Only a silver? But you can afford to raise that little mistress over there?"

Zhang Baofu shook his head vehemently. "She's even younger than my own daughter, you villain. No, I'm just helping her get back up on her feet for the moment."

Gold-Toothed Gao shrugged as he stood up. He took Zhang Baofu's hand and shook it with a grin.

"I don't care 'bout your private matters- not until someone else pays me to, at least. Anyway, make sure you get me that last silver on the dot. Same time as usual." As he turned to leave, he halted his steps suddenly, tilting his body to look Zhang Baofu side-on. "By the way, I've heard some news about the person you're looking for."

Zhang Baofu's eyes lit up. All of his grievances seemed to vanish as he stepped forwards, eager to hear what Gao had to say. But the man in question raised a single finger, wearing a teasing grin.

"One silver, three days. I'll tell ya then. Ba-bye!"