As soon as the Ninth Mountain Mountain-cutting Army began recruiting, stirring up excitement throughout the city,
dusk gradually descended.
A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, with sparse whiskers at the corners of his mouth and a hint of shrewdness in his eyes, dressed in coarse hemp clothes, carrying a package wrapped in oil paper, and a jug of wine, rushed excitedly into an alley at Eastern City Ping'an Square.
In the alley, there were somewhat dilapidated houses, no remarkable buildings, and the residents were all lower-class citizens.
Inside, the security was chaotic, often infested with ruffians engaging in mugging, chicken stealing, and other petty crimes.
However, these days, with the return of the much-praised Colonel, it was said that gangs were being cracked down on, and the ruffians in the alley had noticeably become much more subdued.
