As they approached their stop, Kang Wei mentioned someone would be meeting them at the station.
Xia Xiaolan spotted Bai Zhenzhu waiting on the platform, looking dark-skinned with extremely short hair and wearing sportswear – she could easily be mistaken for a man.
How could a young woman live so roughly?
Kang Wei didn’t recognize this masculine figure as the “Sister Bai” Xia Xiaolan had mentioned, and kept looking around:
“Sister-in-law, where’s the person you mentioned?”
Bai Zhenzhu grinned at him, “Xiaolan, is this your brother?”
What brother – Kang Wei was two years older than Xia Xiaolan. Xia Xiaolan made the introduction, “Kang Wei, this is Sister Bai I told you about.”
Pardon Kang Wei’s poor eyesight, but he couldn’t see anything “white” about Sister Bai. The strong sunlight in Yangcheng made women generally less fair-skinned than their northern counterparts, and standing next to Xia Xiaolan made Bai Zhenzhu look even more like a piece of coal.
However, the “coal” didn’t mind at all. Knowing she didn’t need to be reserved around Kang Wei, Bai Zhenzhu became excited.
She realized how foolish she’d been before, selling fruit where accidental damage meant losses, and always worrying about spoilage. How could it compare to trading clothes? Bundles of pants packed in snake-skin bags could be tossed around anywhere!
She didn’t lack strength, and since she didn’t think of herself as a woman, her combat ability was off the charts – she was like a fish in water in Shenzhen Special Zone.
“There are so many buyers, I’m busy collecting money all day!”
Not just busy collecting money – she was rushing even to eat and sleep, running between the inner and outer areas. Finding long hair too time-consuming to wash, she’d simply gotten a men’s haircut. She dressed more like a man too, which was necessary because in Shenzhen, business meetings started with offering cigarettes. As a woman, doing this would seem strange, but after cutting her hair and changing her clothes, no one gave her odd looks anymore.
Kang Wei looked her over repeatedly; this Sister Bai was quite impressive – there weren’t many women as bold and determined as her.
To dare go to Shenzhen Special Zone alone!
Xia Xiaolan listened to Bai Zhenzhu’s excited chatter with happiness.
She had even invested in Bai Zhenzhu’s business.
Even without relying on profits from reselling western-style pants in Shenzhen, the faster Bai Zhenzhu established herself there, the sooner Xia Xiaolan could implement her next plan.
As soon as Bai Zhenzhu appeared at the train station, Cao Liu and his men guessed Xia Xiaolan would come. Watching Bai Zhenzhu would lead them to Xia Xiaolan, and she did come, but with a pretty boy alongside her!
“He doesn’t look like the previous one?”
“Doesn’t…”
Cao Liu suddenly felt their boss might be getting cuckolded.
When their men followed up, they discovered the three got into a car after leaving the station, which quickly drove away.
When this was reported to Ke Yixiong, he wasn’t concerned.
“Just keep watch on the clothing market area. I don’t think she’ll give up this business so easily.”
Ke Yixiong smiled with narrowed eyes – he just wanted to make friends, wasn’t that a reasonable request?
Kang Wei said the person meeting them was called Brother Pan San, so Xia Xiaolan just followed suit without asking questions. As soon as Bai Zhenzhu got in the car, she became uneasy – Pan San gave her a dangerous feeling, perhaps a warrior’s intuition.
Though Xia Xiaolan was beautiful, Pan San barely glanced at her, showing more interest in Bai Zhenzhu instead.
“Have you trained?”
Bai Zhenzhu nodded, and Pan San focused on driving, not saying another word.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know Pan San’s background, but Kang Wei seemed to trust him completely. Pan San had a scar on his face that split his right eyebrow vertically in half, running from his forehead to his eyelid – any lower and he would have lost his right eye.
Could Pan San alone handle someone like Ke Yixiong, who was at least a local gang leader?
Xia Xiaolan decided to trust for now.
Pan San drove an 80% new Polonia, his lean frame looking oddly mismatched in the driver’s seat, like a fierce bandit who had stolen a small car.
Hearing that Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t pick up goods until the afternoon, he drove the three to eat.
He ate incredibly fast, finishing a bowl of rice in three mouthfuls, and gulping down soup in one go. For Pan San, eating was a long-formed habit meant for filling the stomach, not savoring flavors.
This was different from Zhou Cheng.
Zhou Cheng was knowledgeable about fine cuisine and able to describe how an 18-jin black carp tasted just right.
One could guess a person’s background and upbringing from their attitude toward food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Zhou Cheng’s family background was genuinely good – in these times, families who could still focus on fine dining… had truly never gone hungry.
While Kang Wei seemed familiar with Pan San, they hardly spoke, though he appeared to trust him completely.
Could one man alone handle Ke Yixiong?
Or was he perhaps an understated solo boss in the underground world?
When Pan San went to smoke outside the restaurant, Xia Xiaolan asked Bai Zhenzhu: “Have you heard of him before?”
Bai Zhenzhu shook her head, “No, but he’s someone who has seen blood.”
“Seen blood” meant he had killed before.
Zhou Cheng wouldn’t possibly seek help from a criminal, so Xia Xiaolan guessed Pan San must be a retired soldier or something similar.
What Bai Zhenzhu didn’t say was that she feared Pan San more than Ke Yixiong – this man must have taken more than one life, his whole body emanating killing intent. As a martial artist, she was particularly sensitive to this.
Afraid of frightening Xia Xiaolan, she changed the subject:
“These past two weeks, I’ve earned over 5,000 yuan. I’ll give you your share right away.”
Xia Xiaolan was surprised, “I remember you’re selling cheap, high-volume pants. With only two or three yuan profit per pair, how did you earn so much?”
Bai Zhenzhu’s eyes and eyebrows crinkled with joy: “The profit per pair isn’t much, but I go to Shenzhen’s People’s Bridge Small Goods Market every day. On slow days I sell dozens of pairs, on good days over a hundred. Xiaolan, you were right – Shenzhen isn’t as prosperous as Yangcheng yet, but the money there is really easy to make!”
In these times, if you chose the right industry and weren’t afraid of hard work, there was no way you couldn’t make money.
Bai Zhenzhu made it sound easy, but the small goods market was crowded with various vendors. While Xia Xiaolan’s street stall was reported for “speculation and profiteering,” how could Bai Zhenzhu’s pants business run smoothly? Sometimes fighting broke out over business disputes in the market – Bai Zhenzhu had to knock down several people before others stopped messing with her stall.
But fighting wasn’t anything special to Bai Zhenzhu, and she didn’t have troubles like Xia Xiaolan’s messy romance issues, so she didn’t bother mentioning it.
“People’s Bridge?!”
Xia Xiaolan found it familiar.
Shenzhen’s People’s Bridge Small Goods Market was famous – in the future, many successful Shenzhen business tycoons would earn their first pot of gold there. If Xia Xiaolan remembered correctly, the People’s Bridge market would stay popular until the mid-90s, being not just a must-visit spot for mainland tourists to Shenzhen, but also a major distribution channel for products from the Pearl River Delta and eastern Guangdong enterprises.
Of course, it was still early 1984, and the small goods market had probably just started growing.
“Sister Bai, you should try to get a fixed stall spot.”
Bai Zhenzhu strongly agreed: “Coming late means no place to set up. Having a fixed spot would be much more convenient.”
Bai Zhenzhu meant a fixed street stall spot, while Xia Xiaolan meant a shop – they were talking past each other but both happy, achieving an odd harmony.
Kang Wei and Pan San had been talking outside for a while, and when they came in, they caught the tail end of the stall discussion. Kang Wei showed interest: “Sister-in-law, what do you think I could do with my money?”