Chapter Three: The Gateway to a New World

After returning to the shantytown, Chen Guangliang washed up, changed his clothes, and went to his maternal uncle’s nearby home to eat dinner with the family.

“Uncle.”

“Cousin.”

A sturdy girl of about thirteen was tending the fire and cooking. She was Yang Xiuchun, the eldest daughter of the house.

The kitchen was nothing more than a cooking spot set up outside in the alley, and that was how everyone here lived. There was no running water nearby, and since a bucket of tap water cost a tenth of a yuan, most people fetched their drinking water directly from the Huangpu and Suzhou rivers. Only a few could afford tap water.

“Cousin, here is today’s meal money.”

Chen Guangliang handed Yang Xiuchun two ten-cent coins, each still stamped with the old line: ten coins to a yuan.

As soon as she took the money, she said cheerfully, “Cousin, I’ll go get your change.”

“Don’t bother. From now on, just count me for twenty cents. My appetite has grown again, hasn’t it?”

Chen Guangliang ruffled his younger cousin Yang Xiaohu’s head, then chatted casually with Yang Xiuchun.

“How could that do? What difference does it make if you eat a little more or a little less? Why should I charge you an extra five cents? ... I see it: after pulling a cart for a few days, you’ve started spending money with a loose hand.”

Though her words were sharp, Yang Xiuchun was already moving to fetch the change.

Chen Guangliang took her arm at once. “Cousin, you’re making this difficult for me. I just want a bit more to eat. Why not prepare a little extra? ... Be good, and don’t forget I’m your elder cousin.”

Yang Xiuchun shot him a suspicious glance. In the past, this cousin of hers would never have been so intimate, even to the point of holding her arm.

“All right, I get what you mean.”

Only then did Chen Guangliang let go and sit on a stool outside with his uncle, chatting idly.

There was no dining room in such a house, only a single room for sleeping, so everyone ate outside, with a table and stools set up in the open.

His uncle was smoking cheap hand-rolled cigarettes, exhaling clouds of smoke in a small relief from a day of hauling passengers.

“How much did you make today?”

“One yuan and twenty cents.”

His uncle set down the cigarette in surprise. “You’re lucky. On your fourth day you’ve already earned more than me, an old hand at this.”

A net profit of seventy cents a day was already a very good income.

In truth, the Yang family’s conditions were still considered rather decent: his aunt made eighteen yuan a month at the textile mill, his cousin earned ten yuan a month as a child laborer there, and his uncle made around fifteen yuan a month pulling a cart. Only his nine-year-old younger cousin was a pure burden.

Yang Xiuchun, standing nearby, pricked up her ears with great interest.

“Mhm, I got a small fare, from Zhanpu Road Bridge to the Race Course.”

His uncle said no more. After all, luck like that did not come every day.

Besides, his nephew’s meals alone already cost nine yuan a month; that was quite a burden.

One had to remember that under the standard ten-yuan living allowance, food could only account for sixty to seventy percent. On top of that, they still had to pay eighty cents a month in rent, plus all sorts of other odds and ends.

“Brother Guangliang, you’re done for the day?”

“Yes, Ah Feng!”

A young man about Chen Guangliang’s age came forward to greet him. It was his friend Lin Feng from the shantytown.

Lin Feng was very interested in Chen Guangliang’s work pulling a rickshaw, always asking after news, practically saying outright that he wanted Chen Guangliang to take him along.

“Pulling a cart is still the best job. The more you work, the more you earn, and you don’t have to swallow so much anger.”

“How can you avoid anger? We still have to take it from the police and from the passengers. It’s all the same everywhere.”

“Still much better. Brother Guangliang, you don’t know this, but I was beaten by a foreign devil yesterday. I really wanted to hit back.”

As if anyone would believe that.

This was the concession, after all. Foreigners ran rampant there with complete impunity, and even more arrogant were the red-headed sepoys and those police who served as their running dogs.

“What, Ah Feng, you want to pull a rickshaw too?”

Ah Feng was broad-shouldered too, and at seventeen he was already growing a beard.

Chen Guangliang, in truth, was just over five foot seven. Not exactly huge, but clearly a man with strength.

When Lin Feng heard that, he immediately said happily, “Yes! Brother Guangliang, can you guide me a bit and help me get started?”

As he spoke, he stole a careful glance at Yang Qingshan, because this “uncle” was not easy to talk to.

“If you want to enter the trade, first you need to know the concession’s layout and roads, and be familiar with the famous buildings and shops on the streets. You’ll have to do more groundwork on your own first... Once I’m more settled in this line of work, I can be your guide.”

“All right, no problem. I’ll go get you a pear... then I’ll leave you to it!”

Watching Lin Feng leave happily, Yang Qingshan frowned and said, “Guangliang, you really mean to bring him into the trade?”

Chen Guangliang replied earnestly, “Uncle, I want to buy my own rickshaw, even build my own fleet someday. What’s the harm in having one more brother? The more people like that, the better.”

Yang Qingshan froze, then said, “What nonsense are you talking? Your uncle has been pulling a rickshaw for seven or eight years and still hasn’t bought one of his own!”

It was not as though their family’s income had been bad lately, but that was only because his wife had entered the textile mill in recent years and his daughter had also begun earning money.

Chen Guangliang said confidently, “Uncle, under normal circumstances, I can buy my own rickshaw in just two years. But that’s not how one should do things. Once I’ve saved up thirty silver dollars, I can invite others to join in. If ten people won’t do, then twenty will. Isn’t that much faster?”

Xiangzi would never dare borrow at ten percent a month, and even if someone suggested that he invite partners to join, he would not listen. A man like that was doomed to misery.

For Chen Guangliang, however, inviting partners was perfectly normal. If someone were willing to lend at ten percent over ten months, he would dare to borrow it too.

Yang Qingshan was stunned. After a moment, he said, “And why would anyone want to join? Wouldn’t the cart be pulled by you?”

Indeed, the thinking of people like this had long since hardened. It was far too hard for them to get rich.

Chen Guangliang explained, “Uncle, think about it: the daily rental is nine dimes, which comes to twenty-seven silver dollars a month. If I promise to share the profits every month, then if you invest twelve silver dollars, you’d get two and seven a month. In half a year, you’d have your capital back, and the cart would still give you a ten percent share, with money continuing to come your way... Isn’t that better than leaving your money in Boss Wang’s hands?”

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Yang Qingshan’s mind, opening a door to a new world.

After a long silence, Yang Qingshan said excitedly, “Your uncle has a little savings too. If the day comes when you invite people to join, count me in!”

He had always valued this nephew highly. He had studied at a private school for several years, and he had grit to boot—wasn’t that the sort who could both write and fight?

What was more, he could see the nephew’s progress over these past four days with his own eyes.

At the very least, in the trade of rickshaw hauling, the boy was far better than he was.

“Mhm. I’ll work harder and build up some capital first.”

Although it was possible to bring people in as partners, Chen Guangliang would first need some reputation and standing. Otherwise, why would anyone trust him?

His uncle might be an old hand, but when it came to taking charge, he would have to rely on himself.

So from here on, Chen Guangliang would simply work hard in this trade.

In truth, Chen Guangliang also knew that in another three to five years, competition in the rickshaw business would become brutally fierce. The number of rickshaws would double, and the number of pullers would double as well, making the industry cutthroat.

If he wanted to rise above the rest, he had to act quickly. Once the chance was gone, it would be hard to seize again.