The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 2: Ningyang Guild Hall, blood for blood
Yu Chong was a businessman who bought these people's debts from the captain and sold them to the mines.

His purpose was to make money, not to cause trouble.

Seeing that Chen Zhengwei didn't look like a good guy, Yu Chong thought for a moment and asked, "How good are you?"

"Not bad!" Chen Zhengwei grinned, revealing a row of sharp white teeth.

"Wait for me here!" Yu Chong said and walked away.

Chen Zhengwei waved to Chen Qiaoniang and Chen Zhengwu, then sat down aside and watched Yu Chong and his two men check the people and arrange them on the carriage.

Outside the fence in the distance, the white people were still holding signs and cursing.

In the distance, tall chimneys were emitting black smoke.

"Brother, what should we do next?" Chen Qiaoniang asked in a low voice, her eyes full of anxiety and uneasiness.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Can a living person be suffocated to death by urine?" Chen Zhengwei looked at the two burdens.

After all, they are relatives of this body. If I leave them alone, who knows where they will be sold.

Forget it, it’s just two more pairs of chopsticks, I’ll just keep them for now.

After the others were arranged and sent away, Yu Chong waved to Chen Zhengwei and the other two, then got on a carriage.

The carriage could only seat two people, but there was still a little space in front of the knees, so Chen Zhengwei let the two of them squat there.

Chen Zhengwei himself was disgusted by the smell on the three of them, and Yu Chong still felt uncomfortable even though he covered his nose with a silk scarf.

"Where are you sending me?" Chen Zhengwei turned his head and asked.

"Ningyang Guild Hall! I'll help you with this, but whether they keep you or not depends on you." Yu Chong said.

"Oh?"

"All the people in Ningyang Guild Hall are from Taishan," Yu Chong explained simply.

There are three main types of forces in Chinatown. One is the brotherhood association, which is also the most common one.

The second type is the local party.

The third type is the clan association.

Hometown parties and clan associations all use geography or blood ties as a bond to help newly arrived Chinese settle down. They also provide them with protection and help them solve some problems.

However, if you join a township party or clan association, you still have to pay membership fees every year.

It’s not much, just five dollars a year.

Chen Zhengwei is from Taishan, and Yu Chong knows that the Ningyang Guild Hall has been in some trouble recently, so he took him there to take a look.

"According to their calendar, what year is it now?" Chen Zhengwei asked as he looked at the low buildings outside.

The buildings on both sides were very low, mostly one- or two-story wooden houses, with a few three- or four-story brick and stone buildings. There were signs hanging on the doors, bakery, grocery store, clothing store, etc. Chen Zhengwei could only understand half of them by guessing.

The ground was paved with small stones, and the gaps between the stones were filled with mud and dirty water.

The wheels of the carriage rolled over the bumpy road, and occasionally dirty water could be seen spilling onto the roadside.

"According to the foreign calendar, it was 1878! Have you been to school?" Yu Chong asked in surprise. He had taken over many batches of piglets, but this was the first time someone asked him this question.

"Of course!"

Yu Chong looked at the two children squatting on the floor of the carriage and immediately reacted.

Very few of those who come here have received an education, and most of them come here to do hard labor.

But the one next to me is different. He came here with his family to seek refuge.

The carriage passed through a memorial archway at a street corner and then went uphill. This was Chinatown.

Arriving here, Chen Zhengwei felt like he had returned to the county town of his former hometown. On the low buildings on both sides hung wooden signs of pharmacies, laundries, and grocery stores.

Most of the pedestrians around were wearing two-piece jackets, and quite a few were wearing long robes with yin-yang hairstyles on their heads.

Some people wore long robes and top hats, and tied their braids inside the hats, which looked a bit out of place.

Compared to the streets outside, the streets here are narrower and the buildings on both sides are shorter. But it is quite lively here.

After all, there are more than 40,000 Chinese people living in these dozen streets.

The aroma of steamed buns from the roadside made Chen Zhengwei very hungry, and Chen Qiaoniang and Chen Zhengwu were also drooling. However, they were also sensible and didn't say a word.

Just as Chen Zhengwei was wondering whether to borrow some buns, the carriage stopped in front of a somewhat shabby two-story building.

There was a man in his twenties squatting at the door, wearing a coarse cloth jacket and a braid on his head.

After several people got out of the car, Yu Chong said to Chen Zhengwei, "Wait here."

He whispered a few words to the man squatting there and was taken inside.

After a while, the man came out and asked Chen Zhengwei: "Did you just get off the boat?" "Where are you from Taishan?" "What's your name?"

"Xinning, Chen Zhengwei."

The man's face suddenly showed a little more smile: "Your hometown is Wencun Chen?"

Chen Zhengwei thought about it and felt that his ancestors should have come to Xinning County only during his father's generation.

The man burst into laughter immediately and started chatting enthusiastically: "We are real relatives. My name is Chen Zhenghu, also from the Wencun Chen family. My father is Chen Fengsheng, and my grandfather is from the Zhi generation." "Our ancestor is Fang Ying, who worships Zhi and upholds Zheng..." Chen Zhengwei said with a smile. He did remember it.

"Then you have to call me cousin!" Chen Zhenghu nodded repeatedly, with a look of surprise on his face.

The two of them had the same generation name, and were not only from the same hometown but also blood relatives, so they became close immediately.

Ten minutes later, the door was pushed open and Yu Chong waved.

"I'll go in first!" Chen Zhengwei patted Chen Zhenghu on the shoulder and went in.

After rolling around on the boat for a month, the smell on his body almost made Chen Zhenghu faint.

After entering the door and turning into the hall next door, I saw several men with gloomy expressions.

However, the two did not stop and went straight to a room on the second floor. Before going upstairs, Yu Chong whispered, "The person we are going to see in a while is Mr. Huang."

When he reached the door, Yu Chong knocked twice and heard a voice from inside: "Come in!"

When Chen Zhengwei entered the room, he saw a man in his thirties sitting on a chair, wearing a black silk jacket.

He is thin, but has a bright look in his eyes.

Mr. Huang looked Chen Zhengwei up and down. Chen Zhengwei was tall and strong, about 1.72 meters tall, much taller than the average person.

At that time, the height of Chinese people was about 1.65 meters, while the height of white Americans was only 1.7 meters.

"Have you come here because of a crime?" Mr. Huang asked.

"It's just a small matter!" Chen Zhengwei grinned, revealing his white teeth.

"You came across half the world for such a small matter..." Mr. Huang smiled and changed the subject: "How good are you? Are you brave?"

"What do you want me to do?" Chen Zhengwei asked directly.

"It's not easy for us Chinese to take root here. Those foreigners treat us as second-class people. It's not so bad like this, we can still live. But recently many people have been targeted..." Mr. Huang spoke after hesitating for a moment.

"Recently, many people were attacked when they were going home at night. More than a dozen people were injured. This is still a small matter. But they have become more aggressive. The night before yesterday, two people were beaten to death. They were hit on the head with a hammer, and they were beaten to death. I had to lead people to pick up the bodies. They could not even be recognized as human beings."

When he said this, Mr. Huang's blood boiled and his face turned red. He said word by word:
"Blood for blood, tooth for tooth, I want you to solve this matter! Do you dare?"

"Do you know who the target is? How many people are there? Can the problem be solved by killing them?" After hearing this, Chen Zhengwei's expression did not change at all, he just asked with a smile.

This made Mr. Huang, who had been staring at Chen Zhengwei's expression, nod secretly in his heart.

This kind of thing should not be done by a newcomer who you meet for the first time.

However, he didn't have any suitable people, and Chen Zhengwei came with his family and younger siblings, so it was a different situation.

"We Chinese here work hard and earn half the salary of others, but we do better than others. As a result, we have offended many people, especially the Irish. They think we have taken their jobs!"

"This time, it was done by a group of Irish ghosts. There are more than a dozen of them."

At this point, Mr. Huang's voice was also filled with dissatisfaction and resentment: "Those older generations always want to be patient when things come to a head. But what problems can be solved by being patient? It will only make those foreigners worse. We must let those foreigners know that we Chinese are not easy to bully, and they should think twice before they plan to target us!"

Chen Zhengwei suddenly realized that the Ningyang Guild Hall was not a monolithic entity. There were different voices within it, and perhaps even different factions.

I guess Mr. Huang is a hardliner.

But this is normal. Ningyang Guild Hall is just an organization for mutual assistance among fellow townsmen. With so many people, there will be various voices.

"How much are you offering?" Chen Zhengwei asked directly.

"Eight hundred dollars! You have to kill their leader and at least three members." Mr. Huang stretched out his hand and made the number eight.

Here, the average foreign worker earns about 380 yuan a year, or 30 yuan a month.

The annual income of Chinese people here is 180 yuan, only 15 yuan per month, which is half of that of foreigners.

So eight hundred yuan is already a huge sum of money.

The only problem is that there are too many foreigners.

However, as long as we kill the leader of that gang and at least three other members, the remaining ones should not dare to show up again.

"Eight hundred dollars for four lives? And it's a gang. Do you think it's a pig slaughter?" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile, while his mind was racing to think of what price would be appropriate.

After all, in this era, human life is not worth much, and one hundred yuan can buy a life.

"One thousand two hundred dollars, half of it as a deposit. Give me a gun, and find me a helper to lead the way! Chen Zhenghu below will do."

The deposit of 600 yuan was enough for him to buy ten copies first.

The remaining money is just enough for food and drink for a few days, and a change of clothes.

"Besides, I need two days to recover."

Mr. Huang looked at him for a while, then said slowly, "Okay!"

Anyway, he couldn't run away, and it was impossible for him to use the money to do anything. If he failed, the money must be with his brother and sister-in-law and he could get it back at any time.

"Remember, if you are caught, keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything you shouldn't say, maybe you can still survive! And if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your brother and sister-in-law!"

Chen Zhengwei smiled and narrowed his eyes to hide the ruthlessness in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)