Chapter 796: Delivering the USB Drive to Sijiucheng

I originally thought that everything had been handed over to Liu Yong to handle.

I never expected Liu Yong to kick the ball to me again, asking me to deliver a USB drive to Zheng Ge in Sijiucheng.

This Liu Yong is really a damn ghost; he's acting like a scared turtle.

I must handle it,

After returning to the hotel, I called Ding Li and urged him to come quickly.

I need to go to Sijiucheng together with Ding Li overnight.

Ding Li then went to prepare the car and license plate.

When Xiao Long heard we were going to Sijiucheng, he also wanted to come along.

I didn't let Xiao Long go; now is a critical period.

If anything unexpected happens, I couldn't bear the responsibility.

Make sure Xiao Long and Shi Yong protect Qian Niang and Ru Meng well after I leave.

After arranging everything, Ding Li and I set off by car.

Ding Li changed the car's license plate to a new one.

We still avoided the expressway and took the side roads.

Although the expressway is faster, it's more dangerous because there are surveillance cameras everywhere.

Nowadays, surveillance cameras have facial recognition, automatically tracking and locking onto faces.

If the camera catches me, I can't escape.

Although the side roads are slower, there are no cameras and no random checks.

Ding Li and I took turns driving,

We took advantage of the darkness to better enter Sijiucheng.

When we were about to arrive at Sijiucheng, Ding Li stole another license plate.

After changing it, we dared to enter the city; otherwise, out-of-town vehicles would not only be inspected but might not be allowed in at all.

With a local license plate, entering the city became very convenient.

When we reached the place Liu Yong told me about,

the sky still wasn't bright,

Since it wasn't light yet, we also couldn't contact Zheng Ge.

Ding Li and I first got out of the car to see if there was anything to eat, have a bite, fill our stomachs a bit—we'd been driving all night and everyone was hungry.

Zheng Ge lives in a large compound.

From the outside, this compound looks very dilapidated.

But don't underestimate such a run-down compound,

such a compound might be worth hundreds of millions.

So here, don't talk about money, or people will laugh at you to death.

Around the compound are narrow streets, all converted from old hutongs.

Back when those hutongs were built, they never imagined future development would include automobiles,

that there would be so many people, that it would be so crowded.

Moreover, there was no planning.

The houses in the hutongs were built by the owners back then according to their own whims.

All the hutongs twist and turn.

This place belongs to the North City of Sijiucheng,

not the South City; Sijiucheng is divided into North and South Cities.

Back then, the North City was mainly inhabited by nobles and officials, while the South City was home to ordinary commoners.

The accents of the North and South Cities still differ somewhat,

Of course, Sijiucheng also has circles of disdain, with the North City looking down on the South City.

Here we won't discuss it further.

In short, the North City of Sijiucheng has always been a residential area for the elite.

It has never changed.

For example, the South City has many markets; originally it was a big market, with a horse and livestock market, a pork market, later changed to the Pearl Market Gate, and also the Vegetable Market Gate—not only for killing people but also for selling vegetables.

Actually, I don't know much about Sijiucheng either; all this I heard from He Zuming.

In the past, as soon as you left the North City gate, there were brothels and escort agencies—facilities provided to support the North City elite.

The most famous of these brothels is the Eight Great Hutongs.

Actually, these Eight Great Hutongs are not what we imagine.

The real brothel is a place where nobles and officials go to fall in love.

In ancient times, brothel women were certainly talented and beautiful, skilled in poetry, books, chess, and painting.

The marriages of nobles and officials were arranged; there was essentially no love between them.

Marriages for the sake of family connections caused suffering for both men and women.

What could be done? Thus brothels appeared, providing a place for nobles and officials to fall in love.

Ancient love stories are all related to brothel women.

Brothel women are not just anyone who wants to see them can see them.

if you want to arrange a meeting with them, there is a very complicated process.

First you must write a poem for the woman you have taken a liking to,

Women, upon seeing that his poems are vulgar, simply ignore them; no amount of money helps—otherwise you just lose value.

Thus, some literati would hang around the brothels, specializing in writing love poems for the powerful, so they could take those poems to the women they fancied to show off their talent.

Thus literati are the cheapest; for a living they'd sell anything.

Upon seeing the woman they like, they can't immediately get to the point.

They need three appointments and four invitations—what does that mean?

It means having tea three times and receiving guests four times.

Once everyone is familiar, like friends,

only then can they enter the topic of love.

Don't think that once you're on the love topic there's nothing else.

Otherwise, because the woman you like isn't only allowed to love you; she can love others too.

She has autonomy.

You have to spend lots of silver and time on her, not allowing her to love others.

Thus the women in the brothels are very wealthy.

With money comes capital, thus more choice.

Some became the famous social butterflies of the time.

Of course, there are no brothels now,

this cultural phenomenon no longer exists,

but I feel the modern film/TV entertainment industry is even more like the ancient brothel, or even worse.

I've said too much, hehe, I've gone off topic.

I and Ding Li were walking around here,

Looking at the buildings here; basically the exterior hasn't changed. Only the interior decoration is more modern, more suitable for living.

Finally, at a turn we saw a shop,

it was a shop selling breakfast snacks.

Inside they mainly sold the fried dough twists and soybean juice, etc., Sijiucheng's snacks.

I ordered two bowls of soybean juice and a few fried dough twists.

Ding Li served some pickles on a small dish.

To be honest, I really can't drink this soybean juice.

It has a foul smell,

I see others drinking it with great enjoyment,

I feel it's not even as good as plain water.

One region's water and soil nurtures its people,

The spicy chicken I like, they might not necessarily like to eat.

I only took a sip and couldn't drink more.

I picked up the fried dough twist and ate it; needless to say, it was fried well.

Ding Li, however, gulped down the soybean juice.

"Ding Li, how do you like drinking this stuff?"

"Brother, you don't know; back when I sold vegetables in Sijiucheng I drank this every day, got used to it; if I go a day without it, I start craving it."

"You're not drinking it, give it to me." Ding Li laughed.

I pushed that bowl of soybean juice to Ding Li.

Ding Li drank it slowly.

After we finished breakfast,

I checked the time; it was already past seven.

I felt the time was about right.

I wanted to quickly hand the USB drive to Zheng Ge, then go back.

Staying here even an extra minute is extremely dangerous.

You know, Wen Han hasn't fallen from power yet.

Following Liu Yong's phone number, I dialed it.

As soon as I dialed, it was off.

Damn,

damn it, it's off.

What the hell.

I said to Ding Li,

"Let's go back to the car and sleep a bit, then call again later. Damn, that Zheng Ge's phone is off."

"Sure, I'm sleepy and want to nap a while." Ding Li said.

I and Ding Li returned to the car and turned on the air conditioning.

We wanted to sleep comfortably inside for a while.

Then I would contact Zheng Ge again.

We had just lain down in the car,

my phone rang,

I saw it was the call I had just made.

No need to ask, the other party has returned,

I hurriedly answered the phone,

"Hello, who is this?"

A neutral-sounding man's voice came from the phone,

"Are you Zhao Jianqiang?"

"Yes, hello, may I ask who you are?" I deliberately asked over the phone.

"Don't ask who I am.

"Come over, the gate is open." The person said that and then hung up the phone.