The Man Who Lost Salt

At Tuesday dawn, South City Market had not fully woken. Following the book's lead, Shen found a young woman behind the fish stalls, clutching a document pouch. Her name was Xu Zhi. She was a planning assistant on the market redevelopment and a former scholarship student of Gu Tingchuan's foundation. “You know Gu?” Shen asked. Xu went pale. “He wants me to change an assessment. Make the market look like an abandoned dangerous building, so the residents have to leave. But I read the fire records. The real danger is the cold-storage warehouse they plan to build.” Her pouch held a dozen suppressed inspection reports. Gu did not only want the land. He wanted a calculated relocation to force small vendors out cheaply.