The Brotherhood Order

My name is Jiang Li, and I’m the head of the Paoge’s main hall at Chaotianmen Wharf. People from every walk of life call me “Chief” when they see me. It’s not because I hold some lofty office. Here at Chaotianmen, the rules were built with lives, starting with my grandfather’s generation: know your loyalties, and follow the brotherhood’s code. The Japanese bombed Nanjing, then Wuhan, and finally their planes reached Chongqing. The Military Statistics Bureau came too, and planted a woman by my side. Her name was Chen Xiang. She was a student at Jinling Women’s University, and her smile was like the misty rain of Jiangnan in the third month. But the way she looked at me was the way you look at a dead man. Her codename was “Kite.” Director Dai coveted Chaotianmen, a prime piece of real estate. The Japanese coveted the Yangtze, a vital transport artery. But I’ve never been one to believe in evil omens. From the great evacuation of Yichang to the bombing of Chongqing, I led three thousand Paoge brothers, hauling ropes biting into our flesh and shouting until our voices broke. We fought the Japanese for machinery and outwitted the Military Statistics Bureau. We risked our lives beneath the bombs to transport the Palace Museum’s national treasures, and saved people who were never supposed to survive right under the secret agents’ noses. The woman who was supposed to take my life later became the deepest attachment of my own. Only later did I learn that her father had been executed by the Bureau’s own men. Some debts don’t need Heaven to settle. The world may be in chaos, but the rules must stand. The Paoge’s word is law, with the land and rivers as witness. The Yangtze still flows past Chaotianmen Wharf. .