With Foreman Sun's help, Xiaocao's eldest uncle and eldest cousin from the Liu Family were able to find work every day. At times, they would also bring her second uncle with them. They earned over a hundred copper coins per person every day. Eldest Aunt also stopped selling pickled vegetables since she wasn't able to make much money from selling them anyways…

　　Seeing that her father was chatting fervently with Grandpa Liu, Xiaocao stood up and strolled around. During these past couple of days, she had been focused on earning money and hadn't had the time to tour the docks.

　　Tanggu Docks had only begun to develop in the past few years after the current emperor ascended the throne. When the current emperor was still a teenager, he had liked venturing in the seas. He had also personally supervised the making of ocean-going vessels. After he ascended the throne, he vigorously developed ocean s.h.i.+pping and formed a strong navy to combat pirates and protect the s.h.i.+pping vessels. As a result, the s.h.i.+pping industry had flourished in the past five or six years.

　　As the closest docks to the capital, the development of Tanggu Docks was naturally a matter of course. But, it was still a rather new wharf. Although it was big, it looked very simple and many of the constructions hadn't been completed. However, merchants with foresight seemed to have set their eyes on the docks. Allegedly, the Zhou Family had already selected a location near the docks to build a branch of Zhenxiu Restaurant.

　　As Xiaocao wandered around, she had walked far from Grandpa Liu's noodle stall and arrived at the place where the dockers were hired. It was the most lively here every day before dawn. Over a hundred short-term laborers would gather here, waiting to be selected by the foreman. However, at this time, people were already busily working on the docks, so there was barely anyone here now.

　　"Hey! Your name's Xiaocao… right?" Several guys, who appeared like good-for-nothing rogues, blocked her path.

　　Yu Xiaocao looked around and frowned inwardly. She warily looked at the guy with a face that says 'I'm a bad guy', and asked, "What can I do for you?"

　　The leader, who wore a cotton-padded jacket that was seventy percent new, had his hands tucked in his sleeves and coldly stared at Xiaocao with his rat-like eyes. With a crafty smile on his face, he said, "I heard that your one copper coin meat dish is selling pretty well at the docks."

　　"It's nothing special. It might seem like I'm selling a lot, but we sell it for a cheap price and don't get much profit. So, we don't earn much!" Xiaocao didn't believe he was here to congratulate her on her prospering business, so she secretly stayed alert.  

　　Behind the rat's eye, a skinny guy with a protruding mouth and ape-like chin jumped out and shouted, "Who cares if you earn any profit! You're selling things on our Brother Shark's turf! Did you pay respect to the boss? Did you pay the protection fee yet?"

　　Yu Xiaocao understood very clearly now. Her business had been doing too well these past two days and caused others to become envious. Thus, people had come to extort money! She looked around and moaned in her heart. She couldn't find a single person nearby at this time. What should she do?

　　"Protection fee? I'm new here and haven't heard anything about needing to pay a protection fee in order to do business on the docks." Yu Xiaocao stalled for time as she tried to think of ways to get away from this group of scoundrels.

　　The man who was known as Brother Shark showed a thug-like smile and said, "Just because you didn't hear about it, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist! Stop with the bulls.h.i.+t and give me the money!"

　　"Okay, okay! I'll pay… How much do I need to pay?" Xiaocao showed weakness in order lower her opponent's guard.

　　Brother Shark and Skinny Monkey looked at each other triumphantly, and then demanded an exorbitant price, "Ten copper coins for a day. If you're paying monthly, we'll just take two hundred copper coins per month!"

　　s.h.i.+t! Two hundred copper coins? Even the best business on the docks wouldn't be able to pay two hundred copper coins a month for a protection fee! It seemed like these local bullies only aimed at her.