In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu's reign, winter in Tianjin came extremely early. On the edge of the Haihe River, the north wind blew against the water, mixing the soot and fishy smell on the dock together, and it smelled like old blood. Cao Laojiu threw the last cigarette butt in his hand into the river, watched it being swept away by the waves, and then turned and walked towards Yaowan.
Yaowan is not a place name, but a jargon. At the bottom of Weijiu River in Tianjin, there are many people struggling to survive on the waterway, and many people die in the water. Those that were dead and unclaimed drifted to the backwater bay near the mouth of the Sancha River and were stranded on the mudflats. In the early years, a kind person provided money to build a tile-roofed house there and hired people to collect the body and bury it. Later, the good man died, and no one took care of the matter. However, the tile-roofed house was still there and became a resting place for the body collectors. Later, those who worked in this field gave themselves a name - Yaowan Judge.
Cao Laojiu is the judge of this generation.
