The ship docked at Hui Provincial City’s wharf with a slight jolt. The passengers in the cabin surged forward toward the deck, creating a clamorous scene…
“We have arrived at Hui Province’s wharf! Please take your luggage and belongings and prepare to disembark! Snow has piled up on the deck, take care to not slip…!” The boatmen on the ship announced loudly as they tried to maintain order on the ship. “The river is not frozen yet, but the water is still cold. You’ll barely survive if you fall into the water, so please be careful…!”
“Also, don’t leave the wharf immediately when you have disembarked! You’ll need to obtain a travel slip from the Inland-Water Transportation Office first. When you leave in another two days, you will need to exchange the travel slip you received today for a travel pass from the bureaucracy. Otherwise, you will be in trouble if there are any inspections at the ferry crossings…”
The boatman’s voice was coarse and loud. After repeating the instructions a few times, most of the passengers heard him and went to obtain a travel slip after they got off the ship.
“Brother Gu, I’ll be leaving now. If you happen to come to Su Province next time, remember to come find me so we can drink to our heart’s content! I guess it’s fate that we met each other here, hahaha…!”
An Shidao shouted at Yan Liqiang by his alias and bid farewell to him on the deck in front of his subordinates and the other passengers on the ship.
“Take care of yourself too, Brother An! If you come to Gan Province next time, I’ll have plenty of wine waiting for you…!”
“I’ll keep that in mind then! Brothers, let’s go…!” After they both exchanged their farewells, An Shidao waved to his subordinates. All of them then disembarked the ship with a few medium-sized crates. Waving at Yan Liqiang for the last time, they then disappeared into the dense crowd at the wharf in just the blink of an eye.
Yan Liqiang held his own luggage as he followed the crowd — he was one of the last ones to disembark.
Hui Provincial City’s wharf was very wide, with boats and ships fully parked on both sides. Although it was still snowing, the wharf was still busy because the Huichun River wasn’t frozen yet.
If Yan Liqiang had a choice, he’d prefer to see an empty wharf rather than a wharf still bustling with activity in the evening on a cold day. The lively scene made Yan Liqiang feel somewhat depressed.
The atmosphere was no different than the last time Yan Liqiang was here. Yet when he looked closely, he noticed something was amiss. The tension was high and there were a lot more officers from the Inland-Water Transportation Office patrolling around compared to last time. Not only that, but there were also more law enforcers walking around. The laborers gathered by the warehouses, looking less energetic than before. They sat on the ground as they watched the passengers disembarking from the ship strangely. A few bailiffs from the Inland-Water Transportation Department were pacing back and forth while berating them.
The bulletin board near the place they disembarked was filled with wanted posters of criminals from the White Lotus Society. Yan Liqiang took a look at them and thought they did a really horrible job on the sketches. Even so, he didn’t tarry for too long after getting off the ship. He followed the other passengers to the Inland-Water Transportation Office nearby and queued up to get one of those travel slips. These travel slips were also something new. When he came to Hui Provincial City last time, he was free to enter and exit without any travel slips.
Yan Liqiang’s turn came very quickly. The person in charge of the travel slips was a thin, middle-aged man who looked like a scholar. When Yan Liqiang walked toward his desk, the man lifted his gaze to look at him, then lowered his head again to write down something on a paper with his brush — ‘Male, around 18 years of age, height about five feet six inches, delicate face, a red mole on left earlobe, arrived at Hui Provincial City’s wharf on the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month.’
After the scholarly-looking man was done writing, he picked up a red seal from the side and stamped the travel slip.
“Alright, this is your travel slip. Just place your right thumbprint here and proceed to make a payment of twenty copper coins over there…” The man pushed the paper toward Yan Liqiang, then shouted loudly, “Next! Hurry up…!”
Yan Liqiang placed a right thumbprint on the travel slip and paid twenty copper coins. He put away the travel slip, then left the Inland-Water Transportation Office.
When Yan Liqiang was leaving, the next passenger made a huge fuss at the Inland-Water Transportation Office. “What? This travel slip costs twenty copper coins? Why is it so expensive…?!”
“It’s fine if you don’t want one, but don’t go crying if you get arrested as a refugee or a rebel after you leave this place. The capital regions are on high alert over the past few days, trying to catch and kill people from the White Lotus Society. Those people are not issued any travel slips. It’s your choice whether or not you want to get one…”
Upon hearing the explanation from the Inland-Water Transportion officer, the man instantly quieted down…
Yan Liqiang exited Hui Province’s wharf and found himself on the main street. The sun was setting and the snow got heavier. Pedestrians and carriages were hurrying along the streets.
“Brother, would you like a newspaper? Here’s ‘The Great Han Times’ from yesterday…!” A small boy about eleven or twelve years old jogged up to Yan Liqiang and waved a newspaper in front of him when he saw him coming out from the wharf.
“Alright, I’ll take one…” Yan Liqiang fished out a fragment of silver without thinking and handed it to the young newspaper seller to receive a copy.
“Um… do you have copper coins, Brother? I don’t have any change with me…” The young newspaper seller seemed troubled.
“Keep the change. Take it as a reward. It’s getting dark, you should go home earlier. Don’t make your family wait…” Yan Liqiang patted the young boy’s frozen cheek that was shaped like a round apple.
The young boy seemed overjoyed as he quickly bowed to Yan Liqiang to express his gratitude. “Thank you, Brother! Thank you so much…!”
“You’re welcome. Now, go…”
“I will…!” The young newspaper seller beamed and showed Yan Liqiang his pearly whites as he cautiously stashed the silver fragment into his pocket before he jogged away and disappeared around the corner of the street.
Yan Liqiang shifted his gaze to the latest issue of ‘The Great Han Times’…
The headline of this issue was ‘The birth of the stone turtle at the Spirit Peace River is a hoax! The fraud behind this hoax has been arrested and pleads guilty to the charges against him!’
Yan Liqiang instantly frowned at the headlines, then proceeded to read the contents underneath. It was reported that the experts from the Imperial Capital’s Law Enforcement Office had successfully arrested a few thugs in the western part of the capital. After taking them in for questioning, the thugs admitted that they were the ones who threw the stone turtle into the Spirit Peace River in the third lunar month of this year, and that the stone turtle was carved by someone they hired. The words on its back were just nonsense they had made up and they didn’t expect the incident to blow up…
The second news under the headlines was ‘The provinces are welcoming timely snow and expecting a good harvest next year’…
Turning the page, there was another news article occupying the entire section on the second page: ‘The Great Han Empire’s Qin Tianjian refutes the Heavenly Dog devours the sun in the fifth lunar month.’
Yan Liqiang was sure that something had really happened to Fang Beidou and the rest just looking at the two news articles in the newspaper. Otherwise, there was no way false information like this would be published on ‘The Great Han Times’ to trick the commoners. In this era where commoners were mostly ill-informed as there were only limited sources of information, the articles published on ‘The Great Han Times’ could easily trick them.
“GODDAMN…!” No matter how good-tempered Yan Liqiang usually was, he couldn’t stop the anger rushing to his head after reading the newspaper as he furiously tore up ‘The Great Han Times’ which he had personally founded…