The Republic of China: I, Xiangzi, a Hero in a Chaotic Era

She saw a cold glint in the sea lion's eyes, as if he was extremely displeased with her "bargaining," and quickly interrupted him with the most crucial words before he could start to scold her.

"In return, I... I'll offer you a path to wealth."

"A much more lucrative path to wealth than these five thousand silver dollars. How about it?"

The room was quiet, with only the occasional crackling of the oil lamp wick popping and the faint sounds from outside the door, whether it was the wind or voices, it was hard to tell.

Several burly men remained standing in the shadows like statues, while only Hai Gouzi narrowed his cold, star-like eyes, his gaze scraping back and forth across Hu Niu's face like a probe, as if weighing how much of her words were genuine, how much were feigned, and how much were the delirious ramblings of a dying struggle.

After a moment of suffocating silence, the sea lion let out a short, mocking laugh from its nose.

The laughter was dry and lacked any warmth; instead, it seemed to lower the temperature in the room even further.

"You little brat, you're about to die and you're still spouting nonsense and making empty promises."

He took another half step forward, looking down at Tiger Girl, his disdain and disbelief undisguised.

"Your father, Liu Si, is just the owner of a beat-up car factory. At best, he's just a small-time hoodlum with a bit of a reputation in that little corner of Xi'anmen Street. This five thousand silver dollars..."

He glanced at the empty bundle on the ground, which had been turned upside down.

"They've probably squeezed every last drop of his wealth out of him, leaving him with absolutely nothing."

"You're just living off your father, managing his accounts, and calling out to the drivers. What do you know? What other way can you possibly make money? Keep making things up."

Sea Dog's words were like ice water, pouring down on Tiger Girl's heart, which had just begun to ignite a glimmer of hope.

But she knew this was her only chance.

She had to convince the sea lion that she truly held an even bigger secret.

She forced herself to calm down, even though her hands, bound behind her back, were numb and tingling from lack of blood circulation, and even though her thin clothes could not keep out the chill of the dilapidated house, making her shiver all over.

Tiger Girl took a deep breath, the cold, musty, and dusty air irritating her throat.

She raised her head and looked directly into the sea lion's cold eyes, trying to make her gaze appear sincere, even with a hint of urgency as if to say, "You are unaware of this."

"Uncle Hai, you...you are unaware of this."

She lowered her voice, as if sharing a huge secret, even though this "secret" was her only bargaining chip for survival at this moment.

"My father, Liu Si, his background... is far more than just that of a car factory owner."

"He still has... a large sum of money. A sum you... you probably can't even imagine."

She saw the sea lion's eyebrows twitch almost imperceptibly. Although his face remained indifferent, his scrutinizing gaze seemed to have become more intense.

A thought flickered in her mind, and she continued, her tone deliberately conveying a mixture of dissatisfaction with her father's "hiding of wealth" and a sense of satisfaction at revealing it.

"You only asked for three thousand silver dollars before, that was a completely low price, you were too short-sighted."

She used her words carefully, afraid of angering the other party.

"With all the wealth my father has hidden away, even if you asked for ten thousand silver dollars... he could come up with it."

"Ten thousand yuan."

Hai Gouzi repeated the number, his voice still steady, but Hu Niu keenly caught a sharp glint in the depths of his eyes.

It was an instinctive reaction when greed was truly provoked. The sea dog didn't immediately sneer or refute; instead, it remained silent for a moment, seemingly reassessing the woman before it who was terrified yet had suddenly uttered such astonishing words.

The men inside exchanged glances, and a subtle, expectant atmosphere filled the air.

"oh."

The sea dog finally spoke again, its tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"What's going on? Tell me."

He didn't sit down, but remained standing, looking down at her, but the playful teasing of the cat-and-mouse game had faded, replaced by a cautious inquiry.

"My father... my father wasn't born and raised in the capital, you might not know that."

Tiger Girl began to narrate, her voice lowered by memories and the deliberate creation of mystery.

"He fled from Zhili during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the previous dynasty."

"At first, I carried heavy loads and did manual labor around the Xi'an Gate area."

"Later... I don't know what connections he used, or maybe he was just brave enough to risk his life, but he was selected to work in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury as a treasury guard."

She paused, observing the seal's reaction.

The sea lion's face was expressionless, but it listened very attentively.

Kubing, in the capital during the late Qing Dynasty, was a special group with a strong sense of ambiguity.

Tiger Girl continued, her tone filled with the excitement of revealing a secret.

"You may have heard of the treasury guards back then, Master Hai. They all had one... one special skill: how to get silver out of the treasury."

She licked her lips.

"The most common method is to slip money into the 'back door'."

She saw a man behind the sea dog wearing a knowing and lewd smile, clearly knowing the slang.

Tiger Girl disregarded her embarrassment; this was a crucial part of her story.

"They soaked the official silver in lard, stuffed it...stuffed it into the anus, and smuggled it out."

"Once it's out of the warehouse, you find another place to get it out. How much you can carry at once depends on your 'skill' and courage."

"My dad..."

She took a deep breath, as if recounting a distant and astonishing event unrelated to herself.

"He was skinny, but incredibly strong, and... and he seemed to be a natural at it."

"I've heard...I've heard some older people vaguely mention that he was this guy in the warehouse back then."

She tried with difficulty to raise her bound thumb, but couldn't; she could only signal with her eyes.

"He served as a treasury guard for a full ten years. With just that skill, he smuggled out at least... at least several thousand taels of silver."

"This is just the treasury silver; it doesn't include the benefits obtained by those who embezzled while guarding the treasury, or those who helped outsiders to pull strings."

"Later, the previous dynasty ended, and the job of managing the treasury was lost."

"But my father, relying on the capital he had saved up before, as well as the insight, courage, and connections he had honed in the treasury, and those connections with all sorts of people, quickly rose to prominence."

Her speech gradually became more fluent, as if she were truly recounting her father's rise to wealth.

"He released the King of Hell's tent, nine times out and thirteen times back, with interest compounding, driving countless families to ruin and death."

"He ran casinos, setting up traps to prey on fools with some family wealth who dreamed of getting rich. He also... he trafficked people, especially women and children, buying them cheaply from impoverished areas or tricking them into it, and then reselling them to brothels in Tianjin, outside the Great Wall, or in the capital."