Chapter 28

"In the end, those golden treasures did not belong to them."

"They worked sixteen or seventeen hours a day, and all they could get was a full meal."

"I won't go into detail about the misery of the gold-panning workers here; if you are interested, you can go watch a documentary."

"Of course, our Xia Kingdom doesn't have one, but the United States had a gold rush that lasted nearly ten years."

"In the American gold rush, hundreds of thousands of laborers died; those interested can go take a look."

"Let's get back to the shanties where these gold-panning workers of the Gelao Society lived."

Zhang Lin paused and picked up his teacup to take a sip of water.

The audience below began to think along with him.

Zhang Lin had been laying the groundwork for the gold-panning workers; could it be that Heibei Laoliu eventually went to Old Changsha because of an uneven distribution of spoils?

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If that were the case, this story would be a bit disappointing.

Although Heibei Laoliu was a gang member, before this, his image as a lone hero had already been built up by Zhang Lin.

If such a hero were to leave his hometown because of an uneven distribution of spoils, it would really give a sense of brokenness to the story.

At this time, they saw Zhang Lin put down his teacup and continue: "The passages between the shanties of the Gelao Society were extremely narrow; at this time, people had already walked out of the shanties, and the sound of a bronze gong came unhurriedly."

"In those years, the bronze gong was an important tool for transmitting information."

"Once the bronze gong sounded, it meant something big was happening!"

"The people who came out of the shanties naturally came out because they heard the summons."

"At this time, the sky was very dark, and in the narrow passages, even the faint light of the stars and moon was obscured."

"Suddenly, a small team of people, carrying torches, with the leader shouting while beating a bronze gong: 'Our Golden Lead has won, everyone hurry to the river beach to gather! The whole stretch of the river is full of gold nuggets waiting for us.'"

"This small team of people, about seven or eight of them, were all in uniform tight-fitting clothes, looking mighty, each holding a torch in one hand, and on their raised arms, they had shiny short blades buckled."

"Wherever they passed, the crowd scattered like ghosts to make way."

"The identity of this team of people was very special; they were specialized blade-wielders."

"So-called blade-wielders existed only to be loyal to the hall masters, helmsmen, and leaders of the Gelao Society!"

"The supreme status of these Gelao Society high-level officials came from these blade-wielders."

"Let me tell you about the composition of the Gelao Society at that time; like here in the Jinshajiang, tens of thousands of people gathered, so naturally, there were people in charge."

"The highest level of command was a leader sent down by the Gelao Society, just like the Gelao Society headquarters spread throughout Sichuan and Shaanxi."

"Underneath were twelve halls, each with a helmsman, so the leader had the highest status here."

"Heibei Laoliu's foster father, Hall Master Li, dreamed of sitting in the leader's position!"

…….

"Except for the leader with supreme status, the status of the hall master was actually already very high."

"Like the blade-wielder team responsible for delivering the message just now, each hall had about ten teams."

"They were all masters of the blade, and it could be said that their skills were extraordinary."

"The task of the blade-wielder team, besides maintaining order and enforcing rules, had a very important item: preventing escape."

"Those escaping were naturally the gold-panning laborers I mentioned earlier."

"The laborers were attracted by the countless gold nuggets in the Jinshajiang."

"Everyone thought that enduring hardship here was just a very short period of time."

"After a year or half a year, they could take a large amount of gold nuggets, leave this place, and say goodbye to suffering."

"Return to their hometown to build a house, buy two acres of land, then get married and have children, and live a worry-free life from then on!"

"But these laborers only realized after they arrived that there was indeed gold everywhere; as long as you were diligent, you could pan a small pocketful in a day."

"But was this gold yours? It all belonged to the Gelao Society!"

"Under the gleaming blades of the blade-wielders, the laborers didn't dare to hide even a little bit of gold."

"They even had to take off their underwear to be checked; only then would they pass."

"But human wisdom is always extraordinary; there were always some people who could slowly hide some gold under such strict inspections."

"Year after year, when the gold accumulated to a certain amount, these people began to plan their escape."

"The task of the blade-wielders was to catch these people who were escaping with gold!"

At this time, the audience at Sanqing Garden, hearing this, was already a bit confused.

Wasn't it about Heibei Laoliu's victorious return?

Why talk about the gold-panning laborers again?

Could it be that Heibei Laoliu was sent out to chase the escaping laborers?

But was this something a person who won the gold mining rights for the entire river for the gang should do?

Zhang Lin saw the confusion of the crowd, and he smiled.

He said to the audience below: "Everyone, listening to a story naturally requires listening to the whole thing; this story also needs groundwork to be complete."

"I spent my breath talking about the gold-panning laborers, which is also to tell you that an important character is about to appear."

"Just said that there are laborers who will hide gold, but being able to hide it doesn't mean being able to take it away."

"Why? Because life in the shanties is too miserable."

"Besides work, the only few entertainment activities are gambling, prostitution, and smoking opium."

"The Gelao Society knew too well how to trap these laborers in the Jinshajiang forever."

"With these three things—gambling, prostitution, and drugs—as long as you touch them, it's hard to get free."

"So, in these dozens of miles of shanties, besides the laborers, there lived a large number of prostitutes."

"The prostitutes here were not the beauties in the high-class brothels."

"They almost had to receive a dozen guests every day; they were all dark prostitutes who couldn't be brought into the light."

At this time, anyone who remembered Heibei Laoliu's demeanor in Old Changsha felt a stir in their hearts.

Heibei Laoliu depended on an old prostitute in Old Changsha for survival.

Could this old prostitute have been brought out from the Jinshajiang?

But Zhang Lin just said that the prostitutes by the Jinshajiang were all dark prostitutes.

Such an identity, matching Heibei Laoliu, is really...

Can't be brought into the light...

If Heibei Laoliu really went to Old Changsha for such a prostitute, that would simply be a stain on the whole story!

It's not that a blade-wielder and a prostitute can't have a story.

On the contrary, a combination of a blade-wielder and a prostitute can give the story a lot of room for imagination.

But if the heroine is a dark prostitute, that wouldn't be very beautiful.

While the audience was worried, they were even more curious about the appearance of the woman who was about to appear.

Only Old Lady Huo in the second-floor box was surprised.

Because she was certain that the old prostitute was definitely not from the Jinshajiang.

She was a native of Old Changsha!

Therefore, the woman who had a story with Heibei Laoliu by the Jinshajiang back then was definitely not simple!

"After the blade-wielder team finished delivering the good news, they left this shanty and headed to the next gathering place."

"And inside one of the shanties in this gathering place, a woman was grooming herself."

"There were a few candles lit in the shanty, and on a table, there was a mirror one foot square."

"The mercury on the back of the mirror had peeled off quite a bit, so the face reflected on the mirror surface also looked a bit incomplete."

"But even so, one could see that the face in the mirror was extremely pretty."

"Even though the candlelight in the shanty wasn't bright, the woman's pair of bright eyes was enough to make up for the lack of light."

"Such a pair of clear and bright big eyes, even in the darkness, one could feel their liveliness."

"And the pair of hands touching her face in the mirror, with skin as white as jade, also looked very moving."

"Such hands, at a glance, were not for doing rough work, so everyone should know what her identity was."

"Just as the woman was in a daze, suddenly there was a light knocking on the door."

"The woman instantly tensed up and asked who it was."

"The person outside quickly said: 'It's me, open the door!'"

"Hearing this familiar voice, the woman stood up and opened the door to let him in."