Chapter 68: The Snake at the Head of the Earth (Middle)

  Xiangnan's grandfather, Xiang Zikai, was also a senior in the Tianjin antique shop. He was especially good at calligraphy and had a reputation in the domestic calligraphy circle. Many businessmen liked to ask him for inscriptions when they opened their businesses, and he had very good relationships with others.

  Scholars writing characters, naturally do not like to talk about money, but those who ask for characters will always send a considerable amount of gratuity, which is also a convention. Since childhood, Xiaoshan's family has been quite well-off and has never worried about money.

  After the death of his parents, in order to let his grandson receive a better education, Shu Nan's father entrusted his friends in Beijing to send Shu Nan to Beijing University High School for junior high school. He usually only returned to Tianjin during holidays and summer vacation.

  So although Xing Nan had always followed his grandfather to learn about calligraphy and painting, he wasn't very familiar with his grandfather's business. It wasn't until after he took over the Wen Fang Si Bao shop that he discovered some of the secrets on Antique Street that outsiders couldn't touch.

  On the second day of reopening "Wenbaozhai", several young men with an air of arrogance rushed into the store and lectured Xingnan on some rules.

  The gist of the rules is that if you want to open a shop on Antique Street, you have to pay them 2,000 yuan every month, otherwise your shop will be shut down.

  Xing Nan had just graduated from college and was full of youthful vigor, how could he tolerate the threats of these thugs? Before a few words were exchanged, both sides got into an argument.

  Xiang Nan's grandfather was well-known on this street, and some shops had even received his kindness. As they quarreled, the people around who heard the commotion all gathered over.

  They were all familiar faces on the street, and after some persuasion from one another, those thugs dispersed, but not before leaving a menacing warning: pay up within three days... or we'll smash your store!

  Xing Nan is not short of money. When his parents died in a car accident, the other party compensated him with over 300,000 yuan. In addition, his grandfather left him more than 500,000 yuan after he passed away. With a monthly protection fee of 2,000 yuan, the pressure on him is not great.

  But Shan Nan's character is a bit more stubborn, no matter how the neighbors persuade him, he is unwilling to pay money, and would rather sell the store than bow his head to those extortionist thugs.

  There were also familiar faces on Antique Street, and someone handed over the protection fee to those people. Considering the face of the middleman, the other party did not come to smash the store, but limited it to within a month to move the store away. This is also why Qin Feng saw the shop transfer notice at the door.

  "Damn it, two thousand a month? This job has prospects?" Li Tianyuan's mouth was wide open in surprise after hearing Xiangnan's story.

  These two days have been spent following Qin Feng as he strolls around Antique Street, and Li Tianyuan has gained some understanding of this place.

  This antique street is nearly one kilometer long, in a ring shape, with shops on both sides, probably at least 100 to 200 businesses. If each business pays a protection fee of 2,000 yuan, the monthly income would be around 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.

  Li Tianyuan, who originally thought that Qin Feng's layout of 2 million was a big deal, is now drooling at the corner of his mouth.

  Reconsidering his past behavior of extorting elementary school students, earning tens of yuan every day, Li Tianyuan deeply realized the gap between himself and those people.

  "What do you mean by this? If it's good, why learn it?"

  After hearing Li Tianyuan's words, Xian Nan looked at him with a somewhat unpleasant expression and said: "You don't look like a good person, please leave, my store doesn't welcome you..."

  It's true that Xiang Nan didn't wrong Li Tian Yuan, he had a stubble and looked like he was 27 or 28 years old. He had been getting into fights and extorting people since he was young, and indeed wasn't a good person.

  Li Tianyuan also became displeased upon hearing the other party's words, and shouted: "Hey, what's good about being a good person? Haven't you heard that good people don't live long, while bad eggs live for a thousand years? So what if I'm a bad person..."

  Children born in the 1970s and early 1980s were more influenced by Hong Kong and Taiwan movies, where good people were often bullied.

  So people like Li Tianyuan, especially some naughty kids, like to label themselves as bad guys and say they are good guys, which is equivalent to scolding others. Li Tianyuan is also one of these weirdos.

  "Get out of here, shut up and stand by the door..."

  Qin Feng's eyes widened, interrupting Li Tianyuan's nonsense, and pushed him to the door. He then turned to Shan Nan with a bitter smile: "Shan Ge, my brother has watched too many Hong Kong movies, he's actually not a bad person, don't blame him..."

  "You're all grown up and still can't tell right from wrong."

  Xiangnan shook his head and said: "I think you're not bad, this store won't be open for many more days, just take whatever you want yourself, it's not like there's anything particularly valuable anyway."

  "Xing big brother, I don't want anything..." Qin Feng shook his head, pretending to be curious, and said: "I'm just wondering, who is so powerful that they can kick you out just by saying so? Are you not going to call the police?"

  "Not even surnamed Yuan, how come Liberation didn't execute them all?"

  Having offended the local snake, the formerly bustling "Wenbao Zhai" has also become deserted. It's not easy to find someone to talk to, but as soon as they do, Shannan immediately spills the beans and reveals the other person's background.

  Before liberation, Beijing had Tianqiao, Nanjing had Fuzi Temple, and the "Three Not Governed" of Tianjin were all happy places for Jianghu people before liberation, dens of iniquity.

  Before the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the prosperous area of Tianjin was around Machang. Therefore, there is a saying in the poetry and prose of the Qing Dynasty that "the prosperity should be counted as Guima Street, and the south and north cities are also good."

  The area behind the Hou family residence was densely packed with tea houses, theaters, wine shops, restaurants, bathhouses and brothels, making it a major entertainment district of Tianjin at that time, known as "Xiaojin Guozi".

  After the invasion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the prosperity of Da Guan River Bank, Hou Jia Hou and Bei Men Wai fell sharply. Instead, the Dong Xing Market, which is near this antique street, a hundred or so acres of low-lying land began to flourish.

  As time passed, this low-lying land formed a market with vendors selling tonics and fake medicines, snacks made from leftover food from restaurants, barbers offering shaves and braids, people pulling rickshaws, tea stalls and so on.

  After a long time, this market became bigger and bigger, known as the South Market of Tianjin, also with another name called "Three Not Managed".

  The origin of the name "Three Nos" has two versions, one version is "no one manages the burial of the dead, no one manages fighting and quarreling, no one manages cheating and deception".

  Another theory is that this big hollow is south of the Chinese city, northwest of the French and Japanese concessions. The three countries did not take responsibility for cases that occurred in this concession area, so it was called "Three Not Managed".

  Nan City is not large in size, but it's a bustling place for the three teachings and nine streams, "playing with children". It concentrated Tianjin's teahouses, theaters, restaurants, hotels, shoe hat clothing stores, pastries sweets, and tobacco pipes.

  It is also the place where Jianghu artists "throw their hats" and have everything from martial arts arenas, wrestling arenas, strongman performances, sheep intestine sellers, bean juice vendors, and storytelling chanters.

  As the saying goes, where there are people, there is a world of its own, and in a place as prosperous and bustling as this, with its bright lights, wine and revelry, it's only natural that the shadows of soldiers, police, secret agents and gangsters would also be present.

  In this "three not to care" zone, the most powerful and evil force is Yuan Huiwen. At that time, there was a saying that "in the south there is Du Yuesheng, in the north there is Yuan Huiwen".

  Yuan Huiwen's father, Yuan Laoxian, was originally a notorious thug. Yuan Laoxian had some martial arts skills and wielded a specially made iron rake. He gathered over ten brothers and nephews to form a gang that dominated the Luzhuangzi area.

  In the early years of the Republic, Yuan's elder brothers died one after another, and the Yuan family gradually declined. Yuan Huiwen was born to be rough and illiterate, not reading books or seeking progress, fighting and quarreling with neighbors every day, wandering in the "three no-care" area all day long, and later became a disciple of Bai Yunsheng, a big boss of the Green Gang.

  At that time, on the rivers and lakes of Jin Tian, the most powerful was Bai Yunsheng.

  That included some people from various fields in Tianjin, such as Liu Jingshan, the president of the Chamber of Commerce during the occupation period, Wang Haiming, a notorious tyrant at the Temple of Heaven in Muzhuangzi, and Liu Xiao Wu, the "earth emperor" of Wu County, all of whom were apprentices of Bai Yunsheng.

  Apart from acknowledging Bai Yunsheng as his master and joining the Green Gang, Yuan Huiwen also acknowledged two godfathers in the early 1930s. One was Xie Yutian, a military commander under warlord Li Jinglin, and the other was Liu Shouyan, the head of the Chinese detective squad in the Japanese concession area, which further increased Yuan Huiwen's arrogance.

  Relying on these forces, Yuan Huiwen was rampant in Tianjin City, opening many casinos and selling opium, causing countless families to be ruined. Moreover, Yuan Huiwen had also colluded with the Tōyama Mitsuru's Japanese spy organization, organizing a "plainclothes team" in Tianjin.

  In the second year after liberation, the notorious tyrant of Tianjin, Yuan Huiwen, who was guilty of numerous crimes, could not escape the law and was sentenced to death in 1950. However, at that time, his relatives and followers openly held a grand funeral for him, causing a great disturbance.

  Yuan Jia in Nan Kou, is the descendant of Yuan Huiwen. After more than 30 years, Yuan Bingqi, the grandson of Yuan Huiwen, began to make waves again in Tianjin.

  Yuan Congqi is not very old, only just forty this year. However, since the early 1980s, he has gathered a group of thugs and used intimidation and violence to establish himself in what was then known as "Three No's Area", now Chongren Palace Station.

  Yuan Congqi inherited his grandfather Yuan Huiwen's ferocity and cunning, nominally doing legitimate business, but secretly controlling the underground society of Jin Tian City, and developing it into his tool for accumulating wealth.

  Not to mention other things, just the monthly turnover of this antique street can reach tens of millions. Adding some logistics and transportation business monopolized by Yuan Bingqi, he has already joined the ranks of billionaires.

  Xing Nan originally didn't know about these things either, but some uncles on Antique Street were afraid he would get cheated, so they told him. Now, he poured everything out to Qin Feng all at once.

  PS: First update, got sick, this is weird, woke up automatically at 11:50, Fatty is so dedicated, asking for three rivers ticket, recommended ticket!