Several miles outside Dachen Village, in a dilapidated temple, was a gathering place for some of the most notorious thugs from Ten Li Mountain Village.
Those who could be called thugs were those without any property.
Huang Ba lounged with his legs crossed on a half-toppled deity statue, his belly exposed.
His body was very sturdy, like a wild boar, yet he had small, beady eyes.
Someone was picking fleas out of his hair.
"Damn it, how odd," Huang Ba wondered aloud. "The autumn taxes are almost due, and the Chen Family is still holding on? Does that old lady actually want to send her youngest son to perform compulsory labor?"
"Brother Ba, do you think it could be that his dead older brother left some Silver for his family when he got into trouble, and that's why they are acting so fearless?"
The ones who usually hung out with Huang Ba were also a handful of good-for-nothing thugs. One of them, named Xie Gouzi, who had no property and was skinny, his eyes filled with mischief, said, "If that's true, Big Brother, you should report them again and make sure their family can never recover."
"Impossible! Do you think the Government Officials at the county office are just sitting around doing nothing, not knowing whether Chen Xin hid anything?" Huang Ba, a clever man, pondered with his head down, then said, "They must be gritting their teeth and holding on."
"Then what should we do? His family stubbornly refuses to sell their house. Should we stir up more trouble?" Xie Gouzi suggested, sucking his teeth.
"I never cared for that broken-down house; it's not worth much. I'm eyeing Chen Xin's wife..." Huang Ba's eyes gleamed. "I've always had a taste for other men's wives, especially widows like her. They have a certain flavor that untouched young girls just don't possess."
"Xu Lan, that woman... pretty enough, one of those enticing yet elusive types..." Xie Gouzi fantasized, but noticing Huang Ba's disapproving look, he quickly added, "Brother Ba, what do you think we should do?"
Huang Ba couldn't think of a plan at the moment and finally said, "Keep an eye on their house. Find a chance to talk to Chen Ku."
"Who will keep watch?"
"Me? Me?"
「Early the next morning.」
Chen Ku got out of bed and, after much deliberation, decided to visit Zhao Bocai's house.
"Is Big Brother Zhao home?" Chen Ku called from outside the door.
Zhao Bocai came to the door wearing a jacket. "Yes, Brother Chen Ku, come inside. It's chilly this morning."
Once inside the main room, with the doors and windows closed, it was indeed much warmer.
Chen Ku was just about to speak when he saw Zhao Bocai turn and head to another room.
Soon, a quiet argument drifted from that room, "Zhao Bocai, not only does our second son constantly spend money, but our family has also already done enough for the Chen Family! Do you still want to go on living like this..."
Chen Ku's expression shifted slightly.
Soon, Zhao Bocai came out, smiled at Chen Ku, and said, "Don't mind that."
Chen Ku explained, "Big Brother Zhao, you misunderstand. I'm not here to borrow money."
Zhao Bocai, however, holding a money bag, shook his head and said, "Brother Chen Ku, I've heard about the trouble with Huang Ba. Here, I've prepared some strings of cash for you—take it. After paying the autumn taxes, you mustn't sell your house or your family members. I had a life-and-death friendship with your brother. Before his troubles, he asked me to look out for you if possible. You also saved my child, so please, take it."
He passed the money bag over.
Chen Ku stood up from the chair, waved his hand, and said, "I'm truly not here to borrow money. But I do indeed need your help with something, Big Brother. Please take a look at this first."
Saying this, he took a ginseng root out of his back basket.
Zhao Bocai's eyes lit up at the sight of it. "Such a huge ginseng! This... this is worth at least four or five taels of Silver! Did you... did you dig this up?"
Upon seeing Chen Ku pull out such a valuable Herbal Medicine, Zhao Bocai realized Chen Ku wasn't there to borrow money.
"Yes, that's right, but... this Herbal Medicine can't fetch a good price while it's in my hands," Chen Ku said helplessly.
Zhao Bocai, upon hearing this, looked deeply at Chen Ku.
He understood immediately what kind of help Chen Ku was asking for.
"Are you thinking... thinking you want me to secretly buy this from you again, like that dog skin?"
He was certainly well aware of the extortionate levies the Herbalists suffered at the Medicine and Firewood Market.
He knew that if this ginseng, worth 5 taels of Silver, were sold at the Medicine and Firewood Market, Chen Ku would get one tael of Silver at most.
However, putting it nicely, this was tax avoidance. Putting it harshly, it was helping someone evade taxes.
The consequences, if discovered, could be severe or minor.
Hesitation appeared on Zhao Bocai's face.
Chen Ku stepped forward and said, "I know you're taking a risk, Big Brother, so I'll give you twenty percent of whatever it sells for."
Zhao Bocai looked at Chen Ku. "You sit first."
Upon hearing this, Chen Ku knew there was no further discussion to be had. Although he felt helpless, he wasn't too disappointed. After all, it involved risk. What he had actually come for was guidance.
Sure enough, after letting Chen Ku sit down, Zhao Bocai slowly said, "It's not that I won't help you. I'm a hunter. When I sold that dog skin last time, no one suspected anything. But if I help sell Herbal Medicines, anyone with discerning eyes could see through it. Continuing this way isn't a sustainable solution."
Chen Ku sighed and said, "That's true. I wasn't thinking things through completely."
Zhao Bocai sighed. "It's not that you weren't thinking comprehensively. The world is just like this; it forces people to resort to crooked methods and evil paths, otherwise, they can't survive. To be honest with you, I, your Big Brother Zhao, have done similar things before. But I'm laying it all out for you now: I can't do this. It's mostly because of my second son. He will soon be registered as a County Household, and I can't afford any mishaps on my end."
Chen Ku stood up and slowly said, "I've troubled you."
There was a moment of hesitation in Zhao Bocai's eyes.
Finally, he said, "Wait."
Chen Ku, who was about to pick up his basket, turned to look at Zhao Bocai.
Zhao Bocai hesitated and then said, "Although I can't help you directly, if you just want to avoid that heavy exploitation and sell your Herbal Medicines, I can point you in a direction."
Chen Ku's eyes flickered slightly. He quickly cupped his fists and said, "Please enlighten me, Big Brother Zhao."
That had been his primary goal all along. He lacked connections due to his current low status, finding many circles and pieces of information inaccessible. Yet, Big Brother Zhao was different. He had been extremely close to my elder brother and was a prominent hunter in all of Baojiao County, one who could even send his own younger brother to train in martial arts. What he needed were some pointers from Big Brother Zhao.
Zhao Bocai took a deep breath and said, "Where there is light, there is darkness. Where there are policies from above, there are countermeasures from below. Our Daji Dynasty's taxation weighs so heavily on the common people that, naturally, many illicit activities have sprung up among them. Severe ones include smuggling and the illicit selling of salt, and less severe ones include... the black market."
"Black market?" Chen Ku immediately understood what those two words implied.
"Correct. The Medicine and Firewood Market is the officially designated trading market, where everything must be taxed heavily according to the Imperial Court's regulations. There's also the extortion from those Government Officials. Even a Registered household has to get fleeced badly when entering the Medicine and Firewood Market. The reason people still have no choice but to go to the Medicine and Firewood Market—a reason you also know—is that most people are law-abiding and timid. Even if they are ruthlessly exploited, as long as they can eke out a bare living, they absolutely wouldn't dare to consider other alternatives. It's just that the pressure is immense."
Zhao Bocai continued solemnly, "However, those who are bold and can't make a living don't care about such things, which is why the black market emerged. Trading there involves protection fees and stall fees, but even so, it's only about ten percent of the exploitation at the Medicine and Firewood Market. Your ginseng worth 5 taels of Silver could fetch at least four and a half taels back in the black market. But the risks are also extremely high. If caught, the fines are much heavier, and you could even face execution. You need to be mentally prepared for that."
"I understand," Chen Ku pondered for a moment and nodded. "Just tell me where the black market is, Big Brother Zhao, and I'll be immensely grateful."
Beyond this, he needed a large amount of Silver Coin for his martial arts training—for buying meat and Herbal Medicines. Five taels of Silver, at the Medicine and Firewood Market, would be reduced by seventy or eighty percent, leaving him with only twenty or thirty percent, and even then, he'd be at the mercy of others' moods. In such an exploitative environment, it meant that even if he worked himself to death, finding countless Herbal Medicines, it would still be a losing battle for his martial arts training; he wouldn't be able to sustain the consumption. Thus, breaking through this layer of exploitation was necessary to quickly accumulate resources for self-improvement and growth.
Whether in his past life or this one, he understood a fundamental truth. If he remained honest and diligently did his part, the world was never short of people like him. If one could endure hardship, there would be an endless supply of hardship to endure. They were practically born to be toiling beasts of burden. He had to fight for himself, to change his fate. He would not remain a beast of burden; if he was to be anything, he would rise above others.
Zhao Bocai said, "That black market is thirty miles away... It operates on the third, sixth, and ninth days of each ten-day cycle, opening at dawn and closing before daybreak."