Here it comes, the test is here. Usually, after this thrust, I'll know how much skill I've learned. I retreated several dozen steps, then suddenly charged at Lin Chong. When I got close, I stopped abruptly, leaned forward, and with a flick of my wrists gripping the staff, thrust it forward, shouting, "Hey!"
I learned this from the Japanese.
Lin Chong calmly reached out and grabbed the end of my stick, then used the stick in his hand to push me over the head, sending me tumbling. The onlookers burst into laughter.
I sat on the ground, eagerly awaiting Lin Chong's praise. Even according to the usual pattern, he should have seen that my spear strike, though "seemingly weak, was actually of excellent quality," right?
Lin Chong chuckled and said, "So you have absolutely no foundation?"
Nonsense, if I had a solid foundation, would I need to learn from you?
Lin Chong struck a stone on the ground with his wooden stick, and with a snap, the stone shattered into several fragments. He said, "When you reach this level, I will pass on the Lin Family Spear Technique to you."
I see now, he's treating me like a daily routine. If I could reach that level, I'd be practically a crack shot in this day and age, so what's the point of learning anything?
I handed the stick to Yang Zhi and said, "You guys play, actually I'm not interested in fighting and killing." Lin Chong crushed the pebbles into powder one by one and said, "Actually, this is easy. You just have to think of them as rotten apples, and before you draw your spear, imagine what they will look like after you crush them."
So it turns out the Lin family spear technique was actually the earliest form of idealism. I'm never learning it again!
I'm 27 now, unlike those clueless 17 or 18-year-olds who have plenty of time to play dumb and pretend to be naive, like someone who could practice the "Dragon Soaring" technique while hugging a sapling, or spend three years circling a big tree like Tong Ling—which isn't environmentally friendly either. Looks like asceticism isn't for me; I'll just wait for Heaven to pay me.
An Daoquan waited for me to sit down again, then stroked his beard and said, "I just examined you. Your kidneys are fine, but you're generally weak, so you're not suited for martial arts. Also—you have athlete's foot."
By this time, Jin Dajian had already pasted all the fragments onto the model. The paper tube now looked like a sesame seed candy. He said, "Now all that's left is to glue it. After gluing it, I'll pour water on it to soak the paper until it's mushy, then brush it off and it'll be as good as new. But I'll need to spend some time preparing special tools; it'll probably take a few days."
Chapter Fifty-Six Black Shop
The 2 million yuan worth of goods were recovered just like that, thanks to a piece of paper and a raw egg. There's still a broken chamber pot in my hometown; I wonder if he can fix it. It's said that my great-uncle captured it from a Kuomintang major when he was in the army.
Then I remembered the bar incident, and I asked Jin Dajian, "Did Zhang Qing from the vegetable garden come with you?" Before Lao Jin could answer, I quickly said, "Forget it, even if he came, we can't look for him. He keeps putting sleeping pills in our drinks, it's unbearable. If he turns people into steamed buns, it'll cause a nationally shocking case." I scratched my head and asked Jin Dajian, "Who else in your group knows how to do business?"
Jin Dajian shook his head, and An Daoquan said from the side, "Are you going to open a shop?" I nodded quickly.
"Hey, then you should look for Zhu Gui and Du Xing."
I thought for a long time, and Zhu Gui vaguely remembered that the person in charge of the Nanshan Hotel was actually the contact person. As soon as someone joined, he would shoot an arrow into the reeds, and then someone would row out a boat to pick them up. I think his archery skills must be better than Hua Rong's; otherwise, he would have shot his own people. I wasn't very familiar with Du Xing, but he was probably the assistant manager.
I asked An Daoquan, "Which tent are they staying in?"
An Daoquan rolled his eyes at me: "How would I know? Go and call him yourself!"
So I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Zhu Gui—Zhu Gui—"
At a nearby construction site, a worker asked me with concern, "Has the price of pork gone up again?"
Just then, the curtain of a tent was lifted, and a voice was heard before the person was seen: "What are you shouting for! Trying to call back your soul?" A very sturdy man came out. Although he said that, he had a smiling face, stubble on his beard, and looked exceptionally approachable. He was clearly the kind of businessman who had been through the ups and downs of life and was particularly good at dealing with people. When he saw me, he asked cheerfully, "What brings you here?"
I said, "I'm planning to let you go back to your old ways and open a tavern."
"Come in," Zhu Gui said, lifting the tent flap to let me in.
As soon as I entered, I came face to face with a wiry man sitting on the floor. He looked grotesque, with big eyes and shriveled skin, like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. If I didn't have supernatural powers, I would definitely think I was seeing a ghost. He was holding a ballpoint pen and writing something on a pile of papers.
Zhu Gui introduced me: "This is Du Xing, nicknamed 'Ghost Face'."
I quickly greeted him, "Hello, Brother Du—it's truly better to meet you in person than to have heard so much about you!"
Du Xing was ugly, but a very nice person. He said, "Sit down, brother." Then he handed me a piece of paper, which I saw was written in traditional Chinese characters: "A certain amount of sorghum, a certain amount of water vat, a certain amount of wooden planks, and a certain amount of silk." I asked him what he was going to do with it, and Du Xing said, "I plan to brew some wine."
My nose tingled with emotion as I said, "It's all because we brothers have been neglecting you all. I'll call the distillery right now and have them connect the pipes." I thought to myself, "These Liangshan people have quite the temper. They haven't bought me any wine for just two days and they're already thinking of brewing their own. If they feel they don't have enough money, they should just do it themselves..."
To everyone's surprise, Du Xing shook his head and said, "Your wine is too awful. The sweet ones are too sweet and the spicy ones are too spicy. How can it compare to our 'Three Bowls and You Can't Cross the Hill'?"
I exclaimed in surprise, "Three bowls and you can't cross the hill... That's not Wu Song..."
"Yes, it's the same wine that Brother Wu Song drank when he crossed Jingyang Ridge. Even after he joined Liangshan, he still couldn't forget it, so we simply spent a lot of money to buy the recipe and brew it ourselves."
Holding the invoice he wrote, I said doubtfully, "Are you really sure? Don't waste the brewed product from two truckloads of grain and then go blind from drinking it."
Du Xing said, "It's not a big problem. The main issue is that we don't have any yeast on hand, and the weather is too hot, so it's easy for the brew to spoil." I took out two bills and placed them on the paper, saying, "You guys handle this. Let Brother Song Qing take care of the purchasing. Now let's talk about our business."
Zhu Gui explained to Du Xing, "Xiao Qiang wants us to help him look after the restaurant." Du Xing hesitated and said, "We came here to have fun, why are we doing work?" Zhu Gui nodded and said to me, "That's what I was thinking too."
I quickly said, "You don't need to work. It's not really a restaurant; it's just a place for drinking and having fun. There are lots of pretty girls at night, and sometimes there are even strippers. And during the day you can do whatever you want; you don't need to open the door."
Zhu Gui muttered, "We don't need to open during the day..." Then he and Du Xing asked me in unison, "Are you running a shady business too?"
I staggered a few steps before I could barely stand and said, "Please don't misunderstand. When we get there, we can't add anything to the drinks. We have to treat everyone like God... uh, like your Brother Song Jiang."
Du Xing glared at him and said coldly, "Can't you fight if you see someone you don't like?" He doesn't even like other people, they look like E.T.
"We can't fight. That place isn't ours, and even if you two go there, you won't be in charge. Your only job will be to bring the people Liu Laoliu brought here. Otherwise, we'll just be protecting ourselves. We'll do the work that pays, and they can take the blame. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Zhu Gui chuckled and said, "We understand now. It's not your shop that's shady, it's the people who are shady."
Finally, I agreed that Zhu Gui and Du Xing would come with me later, as I needed to check on the progress of the construction site.
Several main buildings were already taking shape, and the workers were working enthusiastically. Even the scoundrels and hooligans were carrying bricks and tiles, and they worked even harder when they saw me. This project not only saved several construction teams, but also pulled a lot of hooligans out of the mire.
Lai Zi was standing with an engineer, pontificating about everything. The engineer, wearing a hard hat and around 40 years old, spoke arrogantly, lecturing Lai Zi: "See? I told you to move the cafeteria back 15 meters, didn't I? Otherwise, the dormitories would have blocked the cafeteria as soon as they were built... The auditorium should of course be built to the east, for good luck, you know? Think of the Liangshan gathering hall..."
I went up to the man, patted him on the shoulder, and said politely, "Brother, who are you...?"
Lai Zi spoke first: "Isn't this the teacher you invited? Brother Qiang, I'm impressed. You have so many talented people here. If it weren't for this Engineer Li's guidance, not to mention the overall structure, we would have been stuck at least for a month."
"Engineer Li?" I didn't recognize the man at first because he was wearing a hard hat, but upon closer inspection, I remembered that there seemed to be someone like him who picked me up at the station that day.