Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhong Da Pao brought along his middle-aged bald friend again. That friend looked like an easily agitated idiot. He did not look too happy to see Li Du.
Their car continued the journey southwards and the dilapidated buildings of Hpakant appeared on both sides of the road.
As they went further, the road disappeared. The many heavy-duty trucks driving through had destroyed it a long time ago. Fortunately, it had not rained in recent days and hence, the terrain was still rather flat. If it had rained, traveling would have been even more difficult.
When they arrived at the southernmost part of the town, some tattered huts and houses appeared. They looked like the living quarters of the poor. There was a sign erected in front of that area, saying ‘Town Long’.
“If the knight of Dragon Town is still around, the enemy will not be able to cross the mountains,” Li Du laughed light-heartedly.
The middle-aged bald man hummed, “Beat up one when I see one!”
Li Du had only said those words casually. Although the bald man’s words seemed rather strange, they sounded as though they carried deep meaning.
“What’s up? Does the area in front belong to the Chinese? From this point on, are the locals going to be our own countrymen?”
Zhong Da Pao said, “That’s right. The phrase you just recited was how this place got its name. In the past two days, didn’t you try to gather information on the area?”
Li Du shook his head and said, “Nope. I only said that because I saw those two words, ‘Dragon Town’. What is it about?”
Zhong Da Pao said, “I just brought you here to take a look at the housing area of our own people.”
The name ‘Dragon Town’ sounded rather glamorous. However, the situation there was quite dire. The houses were all tattered and people were dressed in rags. Something that looked like salted vegetables and other unknown objects were drying in the sun outside the houses. At the same time, the drains were open in front and behind the houses, and the stench was overpowering.
The car stopped. When Zhong Da Pao alighted, the people who were playing cards nearby greeted him.
Li Du took a thorough look and realized that he had been there before. Previously, when he entered the town, he had passed by. He had noticed many handicapped people with missing limbs at that place.
He had heard quite a bit of people speaking in Mandarin back at the town center. At Dragon Town, this happened even more frequently. There were also other Chinese dialects such as the northern, southern, Cantonese, Minnan and others. There was a plethora of different languages.
Zhong Da Pao passed him a cigarette and Li Du rejected it. He said, “Sorry, I don’t smoke.”
Hence, he passed the cigarette to an old man. The old man only had one arm and bit the cigarette in half with his teeth. He passed one half of it to a man beside him.
Zhong Da Pao pointed at the people there and said, “We are all countrymen. We are all Chinese.”
Li Du nodded to indicate that he understood. He said, “So? I’ve seen it. Their situation is dire. Why did you bring me here?”
Zhong Da Pao did not answer. Instead, he continued, “There are plenty of rich people in the town. The surrounding land has all been ravaged. There’s no way to farm any sort of staples or vegetables. They rely on imports. You’ve seen the condition of the road, the price for bringing any supplies in is very high.”
“Hence, things here are expensive. One kilogram of brown rice costs twelve dollars. The same goes for cabbage. Fruits cost at least twenty dollars. The prices of chicken, duck or fish are even more exorbitant. The people here only eat meat a couple of times in a year.”
Li Du asked, “If that’s the case, why don’t they return to their country?”
The middle-aged bald man sniggered and said, “Can they go back?”
Zhong Da Pao continued, “They cannot go back. All these pitiful people are stuck. Most of them were doing well back in China, they were all quite well-to-do. Then, they came over to try their luck.”
“What happened then?” Zhong Da Pao shook his head. “You’ve seen it yourself. Don’t talk about striking it rich, these people’s lives are worth nothing.”
Li Du said, “I’ve seen all that. Just get to the point, tell me what you want to say.”
Zhong Da Pao said, “We don’t have much money with us now. However, there are so many mouths to feed and to keep alive. Hence, if they want to make money, what’s the fastest way to do that here? To gamble on the stones! Hence, brother, do us a favor!”
Li Du smiled and said, “Let me set the record straight, I’m considered a businessman…”
“You can’t do business without some plotting, right?” The middle-aged bald man jumped in. “You want profits, right? With your capabilities and our ways, won’t it be easy to make money?”
Li Du said, “No, I mean, as a businessman, why would I want to help the people here? Just out of pity?”
Zhong Da Pao looked at him sincerely and said, “It’s because we are all countrymen. We do not intend to kidnap you to make you make a donation or whatever. We want to work with you. You should have found out over the past two days that if you don’t have someone trustworthy to work with, you won’t be able to enter the field.”
Li Du looked at the people around them and asked, “What happened to them?”
Zhong Da Pao said dejectedly, “What do you think? They had money and came over in the hopes of making bigger money from stone gambling. In the end, they lost all their money, went to borrow more, cheated people to continue gambling. But they still lost the money. In the end, they can’t do anything but stay here.”
Li Du frowned and said, “That means to say, you think that I should help this bunch of gamblers?”
Zhong Da Pao shook his head. “There are not only gamblers here. There are also many innocent people. Some of them were tricked into coming over, others were children left here by their parents. Someone has to help them. Can we just watch them die?”
Li Du asked, “Are you considered a key person in this town? Are you the one taking care of them?”
Zhong Da Pao said, “We take care of each other. I take care of them, they take care of me. In fact, they saved me and my friend some time ago. Hence, I’m here to do my part.”
In the past two days, Li Du had found out some information. He had learned about the existence of Dragon Town. However, the locals referred to it as ‘Chinese Village’, and Zhong Da Pao was the village chief.
Just as he thought before, Zhong Da Pao was a soldier. The hotel staff had told him that more than thirty years ago, some soldiers came over to carry out some missions. However, their identities were exposed after the mission failed.
The hotel staff did not know the exact details but surmised that those men had offended the boss and other key people in the various fields. Hence, they were brutally attacked.
At that time, the Chinese village already existed in Hpakant. When the villagers learned about the identities of the soldiers, they selflessly helped the men to escape. As a result, the village suffered great harm.
Less than two years later, a few of the soldiers returned to Hpakant. They had wanted to lead the people in the Chinese Village of Hpakant to do well. They wanted to take over a few of those fields and develop them.
However, the reality was nothing like in the movies. The territorial powers were complex and the people were unable to land any of the fields.
Fortunately, they were still rather strong back then. They managed to get the field bosses to give a written stipulation that they would not casually bully the Chinese or enter the Chinese village. At least, the Chinese would have their own territory. That allowed the Chinese who came over to have a place to stay.
It was only in recent years, when China grew in power and its economy prospered, that the jade businessmen from China slowly became a key power in the Hpakant business world.
That lifted the status of the local Chinese. However, it did nothing to improve their quality of life. The businessmen would never go to stay in the pitiful slums and those who arrived only brought more squalor into the place.
Hence, the situation of Zhong Da Pao and his Chinese Village became more difficult.
