Wei Tiezhu said, "Teacher Yan wasn't seriously injured, but I don't know about the dozen or so people. Li Jingshui was on duty at the time, and he went up to mediate when he saw Teacher Yan was being bullied."
I was so angry that I said, "You think you can persuade someone to go to the hospital just by trying to break up a fight? Go find Li Jingshui for me."
Before long, a young soldier came running up to me and snapped to attention. I recognized him immediately; he was one of the five warriors who had fought with Lai Zi and his gang last time, the kid who loved kicking people in the groin.
I asked him, "What exactly happened this morning?"
As a result, Xiao Li's answer was exactly the same as Wei Xiangde's: "...I went up to break up the fight."
You didn't kick someone in the groin, did you?
"No, I only managed to persuade five of our Captain Xu to lie down before he stopped me from doing so."
Sweat beaded on my forehead again. I glared at Li Jingshui and hurried toward the village clinic. Hu Sanniang caught up with me and asked, "Where are you going? Take me with you."
I said, "What do you know how to do? I'm here to settle things for others."
Hu Sanniang flicked my forehead and laughed, saying, "Little brat, you think you can settle things for others? Quickly call me Third Sister."
I rubbed my head and said with dissatisfaction, "You look to be no more than twenty-four or twenty-five years old. Don't be so disrespectful. Feminism wasn't popular in the Song Dynasty, was it?"
Hu Sanniang hooked her middle fingers over her thumbs and threatened me, "Do you want me to flick you into the form of Buddha? Can you ask a woman's age? Let me tell you, I was born in 1107, and I'm only 900 years old now. You'd be at a disadvantage if I made you call me 'sister'?"
I yelled, "Grandma, great-aunt, Black Mountain Demon..."
Some readers might object, since I'm walking with the stunningly beautiful mature woman Hu Sanniang on a picturesque country road, why don't I flirt with her? Even a description of Sanniang's alluring eyes and half-exposed breasts would be fine.
In fact, Hu Laoyao was neither charming nor alluring. I really wanted to write this book as a harem novel, with a powerful, domineering presence that captivated young girls, but then I thought: Oh dear, how embarrassing, how could I have such thoughts… I'll use everything I can, but strength doesn't always dictate things. Although Brother Qiang, with his stubble and grime, is still somewhat capable, wielding a brick, he'd ask himself who dares to look down on him. If no one dared, that would be great, but the problem is, even if someone doesn't give us a second glance, there's nothing we can do. Li Shishi even learned self-defense from Emperor Huizong's guards; in her words, they were just enough to beat me.
I wasn't born great, and I've lived a very frustrating life.
I obediently followed my third sister to the slope not far from the clinic. Looking down, I saw Yan Jingsheng sitting dejectedly outside the clinic, surrounded by about ten people. I walked right up to him, but he didn't recognize me. Then I realized his glasses were indeed broken, and he was holding the frame in his hand. I called out to him, and he looked up blankly, squinting at the sky, "Is this Director Xiao?" I had barely uttered a "yes" when I was surrounded by the group of about ten people. A burly man with a face full of scars grabbed my collar and roared, "You, surnamed Xiao, have finally shown up! I've been looking for you for ages!"
I said, "What are you doing? I don't have a son who has been lost for many years."
The burly man raised his fist to punch me, but my third sister said with a smile, "Let's talk this out, don't fight."
The burly man pointed at her nose and said, "Woman, get out of here."
I was overjoyed! I was worried that Hu Sanniang wouldn't help me. This kid's words were a godsend.
Hu Sanniang still had a smile on her face when she reached out and flicked the burly man's finger that was pointing at her onto the back of her hand. The burly man screamed and bent over. My third sister kicked his nose flat, and then, without caring whether the others made a move or not, she chopped down five more men in a flurry of blows. This female bandit was ruthless in a fight; she was truly a savior of the wheelchair factory.
The remaining five or six people ran off into the distance, and Hu Sanniang, too lazy to chase, stood with her hands on her hips and cursed, "You son of a bitch, how dare you look down on women!" I was sweating bullets; I hardly ever say those words. Taking advantage of my sister's position, I also stood with my hands on my hips and pointed at the people lying on the ground, saying, "You should just accept it. My third sister is soft-hearted; if you had met my brother-in-law, you would have been transported to another time long ago." Unexpectedly, this attempt at flattery backfired. Hu Sanniang grabbed my ear and smiled sweetly, "You mean I'm inferior to him?"
This woman is truly ruthless and vicious. She was laughing and joking, but she showed no mercy at all. My ear was bleeding before she kicked me away. I, Xiao Qiang, wouldn't even dare to think about a woman like that; Xiao Feng would be more like it.
These fifteen or sixteen people have been fighting with my men since morning, and now only a third of them are left, and I still don't know why. I sat down next to Yan Jingsheng and said, "Do you take off your glasses every night before bed?"
"Huh? Pick it? What's wrong?" Yan Jingsheng blinked and looked up at the sky. Seeing his expression, I instinctively wanted to lie down and have him massage my whole body.
"I'm just wondering, how did you find your glasses after you woke up?" I asked him the important question: "What's going on with these dozen or so people?"
Yan Jingsheng smiled bitterly: "We've run into some thugs recruiting students. This morning, a dozen or so of them split up and tried to persuade our students to go with them. I went out and tried to reason with them, but no one paid any attention to me. In the end, they even broke my glasses."
These words deeply saddened me. Comrade Xiao Yan has only been with me for two days and has already suffered so much. Not only has she been threatened by bad guys, but she also persevered in teaching by pulling clods of dirt under conditions of lack of guns and ammunition. She is truly as Principal Zhang said, dedicated and wholeheartedly devoted to her students.
I told him, "If something like this happens again, just let them take it away. It's best if they can take it away."
Yan Jingsheng said in surprise, "How can that be? Nowadays, those schools only care about making money and don't care about quality at all. As long as these 300 students are in my hands, not a single one of them will be lost, because I have faith in you and think you are a person who truly cares about them."
"Don't flatter me. The female lecturer I hired for them is completely clueless about the history after the Southern Song Dynasty." Yan Jingsheng didn't say anything, just laughed.
Seeing that things were going badly, I started to provoke this stubborn guy: "These students are really something. They didn't even send two people to follow you. If I hadn't come, you would have been finished."
Yan Jingsheng said with a warm smile, "I told them not to come. We teachers can handle anything that happens. By the way, that student named Li Jingshui is really good at kung fu, but he has a bit of a violent tendency. People he hit all have minor fractures."
I helped him up and said, "Take your own way back. If you need anything in the future, have that scoundrel call me—what's your prescription? I'll get you a new pair."
Just then, the five men who had been beaten by Li Jingshui came out, their faces pale and swollen. Before the doctor could even put away the bandages and clips, the five men who had been beaten by Hu Sanniang immediately stepped in. These men had come to the clinic in pairs, but when they left, one man was supporting two. They had originally intended to say a few harsh words, but after seeing the insincere smile of Third Sister, they all slunk away.
Chapter Forty-Eight: Risking One's Life
Less than half an hour after I saw those people off, I started receiving phone calls again. It seemed like they were all in cahoots. The people on the phone all used the same old-fashioned, magnanimous tone to ask me to "talk" at a bar called "Reverse Time" at 9 p.m. They all ended the calls with a big brother-like tone, saying, "Xiao Qiang, you have to give him face." It was a veiled threat.
It seems the city's admissions staff have temporarily formed a united front to demand an explanation from me. I really don't want to make things worse. I'm well-off now, but I have to think about the future. If this year ends and next year my clients are all sorts of doctors and other medical professionals, I'll be completely lost. So I agreed to their demands.
When Hu Sanniang saw that I was in a bad mood on the phone, she asked if I was in trouble. She said, "Why don't you call Dai Zong and Yang Zhi to help you settle things?" I was very surprised by the list of people she provided. She explained to me, "Yang Zhi is quick with his hands and Dai Zong is quick with his legs. With these two, we won't leave a single one alive."
Tsk tsk, I think she should just change her name to "Broom Star," is she trying to help me?
We took the bus to the city, and I asked her, "Are you coming home with me?"
Hu Sanniang said, "Maybe next time..." As she spoke, she pointed to the Olay advertisement on the station billboard and asked me, "Have you used this? How effective is it?"
I said sheepishly, "I only use Dabao."
Hu Sanniang waved her hand at me: "Go ahead, go ahead, I'll go back by myself in a bit."
I told her, "Remember, it costs 1 yuan to ride a minibus. Sometimes the driver will overcharge you because you're from out of town."
I only regretted saying the wrong thing after we broke up. She shouldn't misunderstand the word "zai" (宰). Back then, shady shops were rampant, and "zai" meant real swindlers.
When I walked into the alley and heard the familiar sound of mahjong tiles, tears welled up in my eyes. Only now do I realize that it was wrong of me to dislike Liu Bang so much before. He was a founding emperor, yet he had to share a bed with my simpleton and risk his life every day to live under the same roof with his sworn enemy. All he did was fall in love with my ugly son and enjoy playing a few mahjong tiles. He was much easier to serve than those bandits.
Thinking of this, I went into the activity center, but surprisingly, I couldn't find Liu Bang. At the table with Grandpa Zhao and the two elderly women on welfare, a strange old man was sitting. When I asked him, Grandpa Zhao said, "Your friend went to play mahjong with some shady characters."