Chapter 4.9 Cockfighting (Extra)

In the bathhouse, Chen Pi stripped Chun Shen completely, and scrubbed him with a board brush to get all the dried blood off his head. Chun Shen stared curiously at Chen Pi’s crotch.

You still had to be fastidious when begging. Children couldn’t be too dirty or look diseased, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to enter people’s shops. Now that the country was chaotic, it was very difficult to beg on the road. As soon as one person gave money, all the other beggars would come and surround them. As a result, people were afraid to give alms on the road. If you wanted to beg, you’d have better luck going to the back of somebody’s shop. This child was suitable, but he had to be cleaned up a little so he didn’t look too dirty or infectious. Otherwise, he’d be beaten away as soon as he entered someone’s shop or temple.

After Chen Pi helped him clean up, the brat slipped into a bamboo basket full of all kinds of old towels. The bathhouse was warm, and Chun Shen soon fell asleep. Chen Pi found a place to lie down and thought to himself, this brat’s miserable appearance will definitely earn a coin tomorrow, and then I’ll be able to make a name for myself.

While his thoughts kept him from falling asleep, Chun Shen was curled up in the bamboo basket, snoring.

When Chen Pi got up late the next day, he started stretching. His tibia had been loose since he was a child, so his joints were different from those of ordinary people. Chun Shen followed his example and also started doing stretches. When they were done, Chen Pi slipped them out of the bathhouse, grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, patted Chun Shen’s cheeks and hair so that he looked as if he’d just returned from the frontlines, and then kicked him into the street.

As Chun Shen took to the street with a broken bowl in his hand, Chen Pi weighed his money bag and decided he didn’t need to go to the dock today. He went to the east gate instead, where the Kaifeng people had set up cockfighting pits. They were said to come twice a year and stay for two months each time.

Kaifeng had a long tradition of cockfighting, and had been coming here to open cockfighting pits for more than ten years. At the beginning, there was only one pit here, but now there were three or four big ones in the square outside the east gate. Some Hankou people also set up cockfighting pits and gambling dens everywhere, but it was always the liveliest whenever the Kaifeng people came. For three months, all kinds of “rooster kings” and “fighting roosters” from all over would gather and fight in succession. Tens of thousands of silver dollars flowed in and out each day, and there were also many “rooster heads” for breeders to buy and sell.

Kaifeng cockfighting was more civilized and had a lot of rules, but if you walked past the east gate cockfighting pits to the forest behind it, you would find a hidden mountain depression. That was where a special cockfighting pit had been set up. The roosters here had all kinds of iron hooks and needles on their beaks and claws, which made them appear quite dashing. The owner of this pit was a local named Cai Dongnan, who was a descendant of a famous cockfighting family in Kaifeng. The cockfighting was dressed up in order to please the various dignitaries in Hankou, and the ground would be covered in blood, which made the gambling even more exciting.

Today, there was a famous rooster called “Qinhuai Murderer” that would be fighting. It had a red neck, a red crest, and eight small steel needles on its beak, which made it look like a trumpet when it was opened. Its neck was as thick as a man’s arm, and even a human wouldn’t be able to stand if it pecked at a vital point. Within half a day, it had already pecked four opponents to death.

Chen Pi placed three bets against it. He was greedy and wanted to earn more, but all the chickens he bet on were pecked to death by Qinhuai Murderer. As a result, the copper coins in his hand were reduced to less than half. He weighed them and then left angrily. When he returned to the bathhouse, he saw Chun Shen sitting on the steps holding a bowl of tofu.

Chen Pi went up to him, squatted down, and scooped out the tofu. He fiddled with it for a long time, looking for a coin, but there was nothing else there besides the tofu.

Chen Pi grabbed a fistful of the tofu and threw it in Chun Shen’s face. Chun Shen wiped it—and the dirt—from his face and put it in his mouth.

Chen Pi lay there that night, feeling annoyed. It wasn’t because Chun Shen didn’t get a coin, but because he had lost money during the day. Why did he lose so much at once? His mind was full of “Qinhuai Murderer”, and he shouted in his sleep. The next day, he left before dawn and took the rest of his money to the cockfighting pit.

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