Chapter 4

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Wang Xuejiao had already learned that the food stalls in the big market weren’t fixed; it was first come, first served. Stalls inside the market walls required payment—a sanitation and management fee—starting at five yuan per day, which later rose to thirty yuan as business improved. Stalls outside the walls were free, but the comprehensive management office staff—what would be known years later as urban management officers—would come to catch violators and impose fines.

At that time, the jurisdiction of these urban management officers was extremely broad. Anyone wearing the red armband could regulate everything from spitting and disorderly bicycle parking to unauthorized stalls and even flies inside restaurants. Before setting off, Du Zhigang had reminded Wang Xuejiao and Xu Yong, “Make sure you set up inside the walls. Management fees can be accounted for officially; fines are a different matter altogether.”

“Don’t we have any connections on the ‘red armband’ side? A simple heads-up should be enough, right?” Xu Yong asked with a grin.

Captain Fang Jiang smiled. “We used to.”

Curious, Xu Yong inquired, “What about now?”

Fang Jiang said, “When we were cracking down on prostitution, we ran into the comprehensive management squad.”

Wang Xuejiao thought she understood. “They want to take credit, right? But it doesn’t make sense. We’re police; they’re the comprehensive management squad—two different systems. They can just commend themselves.”

Fang Jiang’s expression was complex. “It’s not about credit... cough... it’s about catching that so-and-so Wu’s younger brother. He went to Du, and Du said it wouldn’t help whoever came.”

Wang Xuejiao nodded in understanding.

In those days, rule by man outweighed rule by law. Without journalists or cameras, if Du Zhigang said to let it go, it was done, and he could earn a favor. But Du was a man of integrity—the last line preventing the original owner’s descent into darkness. Once he was gone, the original owner would fully side with the villains.

Though the comprehensive management staff came to plead, Du refused to relent. That was like saying, “If they’re hitting me, it’s really a slap in your face.”

They didn’t deliberately pick fights; after all, unauthorized stalls were within their jurisdiction, so if they caught someone, there would definitely be trouble.

Wang Xuejiao hoisted a pile of bowls and strode out briskly. “Doesn’t matter, let’s go now! Grab the best spots!”

The big market opened at nine in the morning. Some stall owners arrived as early as seven to clean and set up. Those who did lunch business usually came around 10:30. Before 10:30, the stalls belonged to breakfast vendors, who all set up outside the walls. According to city regulations, breakfast stalls that packed up before 9:30 weren’t considered illegal.

When Wang Xuejiao and Xu Yong arrived, it was only 7:30.

Together, they immediately spotted a prime spot between two buildings: it faced the entrances of both buildings and the iron gate of the big market—three gates in plain sight. Above was an overhanging platform for shelter from rain, and nearby a wall to block the wind.

Perfect!

“Good thing we came early, or someone else would have taken it. Let’s move!” Wang Xuejiao jumped off the tricycle and started unloading tables and chairs.

A stall owner selling steamed rice parcels and fried dough sticks, watching them through the fence, couldn’t help but ask, “You’re here this early?”

“Yeah, isn’t it first come, first served here? Afraid there won’t be room if we’re late.” Wang Xuejiao smiled as she arranged stools.

The breakfast vendor’s expression was complicated. “Huh? Aren’t you relatives of ‘Duiyan’?”

“No, this is our first day. Didn’t they say first come, first served?”

The vendor shook his head. “Inside the walls, spots are long assigned. You newcomers grabbing a spot like this might cause trouble.”

Only then did Wang Xuejiao learn that a vendor named “Duiyan” had a permanent lunch box stall here and was well connected with market management. Even if he arrived last, no one dared take his spot.

All available spots were taken.

The only remaining spaces were near the restroom doors or the freight passageways—where even stopping for a minute was forbidden, much less setting up a stall.

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Wang Xuejiao recalled the last time she had been here. Although there were many stalls, the space wasn’t fully occupied. There was more than enough room to squeeze in a stall the size of their tricycle.

“I saw it last time; it should fit.”

The breakfast vendor shook his head. “It’s not about fitting—it’s whether they’re willing to let you.”

“We’ll try to negotiate first. Thanks for the heads-up.”

Negotiate? Who would willingly give up their own interests?

The vendor thought they must be naive, having never known the hardships of life, and stopped advising.

With some time before opening, Wang Xuejiao suggested to Xu Yong, “Maybe we should get familiar with these two buildings. If Li Chaomei and Xiao Wei need help, we can get there faster.”

“You go ahead. When we cracked down on theft last year, I got to know these buildings better than my own home,” Xu Yong waved her off.

Clutching the dozens of pages of menus printed with the office’s creaky dot matrix printer, Wang Xuejiao headed toward the north building.

The big market’s north building sold furniture and lighting on the first two floors, building materials and paint on the third and fourth floors—which was where Wang Jianguo wanted to buy a tin chimney.

The fifth floor sold various decorative knick-knacks; the sixth floor sold small household appliances.

The entire north building was brightly lit. Besides the installed lights, vendors added their own lighting. Furniture and lighting shops were always brilliantly illuminated. Paint and building materials needed lights to avoid color distortion—without lighting, white paint could look yellow. The small trinkets looked entirely different with or without lighting. Even small appliances needed polished stainless steel to look appealing.

The south building was different. The first floor sold snacks; the second and third floors sold greeting cards, plastic colorful garlands, and other festive goods, which didn’t require bright lighting. The fourth and fifth floors sold clothes, the sixth floor sold fabrics and home textile processing services. Although they cared about colors, the lighting wasn’t as bright as the north building but far better than the first to third floors.

Wang Xuejiao thought, If I wanted to spend counterfeit bills, I’d pick the south building’s first to third floors—small businesses, lots of people and chaos; vendors would be more likely to make mistakes.

A female vendor noticed Wang Xuejiao circling several times. She wasn’t from the market management nor a vendor, so the woman suspected she was a scout for thieves and asked, “Which stall are you from?”

“Hello! I sell braised meat rice bowls at the entrance!” Wang Xuejiao hurriedly showed her the menu with both hands.

The menu had only six lines:

Braised Chicken Leg Rice Bowl
Braised Duck Four-piece Rice Bowl
Braised Pig’s Trotter Rice Bowl
Braised Pig’s Face Rice Bowl
Family Feast Rice Bowl
All ten yuan, adding a braised egg fifty cents, adding braised tofu one yuan!

“We can deliver!” Wang Xuejiao enthusiastically explained. “It’s my first day, and I’m not familiar with the stalls here. I’m afraid of delaying deliveries, so I came early to scout the place.”

The woman glanced at the menu and frowned. “Your rice is expensive. Two meat and three vegetable lunch boxes only cost five yuan here. How much food do you have to charge ten yuan?”

Wang Xuejiao stood tall, chest out. “The five-yuan ones with two meats are fake two-meats. I know—they even count eggs as meat. Ours are real ingredients. Our meat comes directly from the meat processing plant! Not from some shady vendor like Wu Er’s scoundrel!”

Wu Er’s scoundrel was local slang meaning a dishonest person selling dubious goods.

Which boss doesn’t claim their goods are the best?

The female vendor smiled but said no more, returning to arranging her merchandise: bundles of plastic tubes, stacks of square colored paper, handfuls of thin strings and beads, fragrant greeting cards, handwritten business cards, autograph books, large postcards, notebooks, pens—essential stationery for students.

Wang Xuejiao knew the colored paper was for folding a thousand cranes, the strings and beads for making bracelets, but she didn’t understand what the plastic tubes were—colorful, thin, soft, and long, with silver glitter on them. “Are these straws?”

“Stars for folding,” the woman said. After finishing her task and before opening time, she took one tube, tied it into a pentagon shape and wrapped the tube around it several times, pinching the five corners to form a plastic five-pointed star.

“Oh,” Wang Xuejiao recalled seeing these in an old show called “My Date with a Vampire,” where the heroine trapped ghosts and turned them into lucky stars stored in jars.

The woman was clearly a savvy businesswoman. Others just sold tubes and maybe bundled a glass jar with ninety-nine stars inside. She innovated by teaching customers to string plastic stars into curtains for doors and windows, selling sets starting at seven hundred tubes for window curtains and two thousand for door curtains, with hooks and plastic threads also charged separately.

Wang Xuejiao was amazed and continued promoting her rice bowls. “You know, anyone who can make money in the big market isn’t ordinary. You work so hard; you need to eat well. Our braised meat isn’t just good meat—it’s delicious, using a secret recipe passed down by a national braising master for eighty years, which I apprenticed under! If it’s not tasty, you can smash my stall.”

The woman, seeing Wang Xuejiao’s proud expression about her braised meat, remembered how she herself had shouted and hustled to make her first sale. She felt a sudden urge to help. “Alright, I’ll give you a good start. Send me a braised duck four-piece at noon.”

“Sure!” Wang Xuejiao pulled out money and bought a notebook and a pen from her. “Here’s a good start for you too!”

Wang Xuejiao found a quiet, empty corner and sketched the general layout of the south and north buildings—the approximate stall locations, fire stairs, and all the exits.

By the time she finished, it was 8:30. The market management office’s leadership arrived.

Wang Xuejiao went straight to knock. The management leader remembered her—the young female cop who had talked an old lady down from jumping off a building with just words.

Upon hearing she was investigating counterfeit money, the leader expressed strong support: “Whatever support you need, just ask. A stall’s no big deal. Even if someone else has taken your spot, I’ll make them leave!”

Wang Xuejiao smiled, “No need—we’re investigating for the sake of peace. If we chase people away, that would just disturb the neighborhood.”

“Alright, I’ll tell them when they arrive.”

Wang Xuejiao quickly added, “This is a confidential mission. If too many people know, word spreads fast, and we won’t catch anyone.”

The management leader’s eyes lit up. “Wouldn’t it be better if those people never came here? I’d love to have them all gone—no trouble on my turf.”

Wang Xuejiao immediately dashed those hopes. “They won’t dare come while we’re here, but we can’t stay forever. We’ll be gone in three to five days, definitely not until the New Year. This market has so many merchants; if someone wants to spend counterfeit bills, this is their first choice. Once we leave, won’t they rush to spend all the fake money they’ve stockpiled? Then vendors and customers alike will flood the rooftops of the south and north buildings, jumping off en masse. How will you celebrate the New Year then?”

Just imagining the scene gave the management leader goosebumps. “Understood, understood! Absolute secrecy.”

With the necessary notifications made and the first deal secured, the good start was half the battle won. Wang Xuejiao was in high spirits as she headed back to her braised meat stall.