I held out my hand to him: "Where's the contract? Do you have it?"
After stammering for a long time, the leper weakly said, "I admit defeat. I'll return every penny to you. Consider these bricks I brought as a gift to you."
I said, "That won't do. How can I take advantage of you? You should finish your work before you leave, and then we'll be even." As I said this, I called Xu Delong over and told him, "Have our brothers watch over these people while they work. Make sure they have enough food, and don't mistreat them." Xu Delong nodded.
The leper screamed, "This is illegal detention! It's against the law!"
I shrugged at him and said, "Go ahead and sue me—" Then I told Xu Delong, "If anyone tries to run away, break their legs!"
Lai Zi finally burst into tears, snot and sobs streaming down his face: "Brother Qiang, if I had known you were a scoundrel too, why did I do this?" He then realized he'd been presumptuous, wiped his nose, and sighed, "Let me die knowing why. What kind of people are you?"
I said, "These are all students I recruited, the kind of guys you wanted to break people's legs. Weren't you going to introduce me to campus police officers?"
The leper sniffled and said, "From now on, I'll bring you all the people I have a grudge against."
The idea of getting Lai Zi and his crew to work was a lie; they weren't really working. They might be good at demolishing a dilapidated house, but these guys were just looking for a living, and besides, you couldn't really imprison them. In the end, Lai Zi called in a few small construction teams who were under his tyranny, and Lai Zi and his men essentially became a professional supervisory team. After a specialist's estimate, adding a large auditorium would cost around 400,000 yuan. Lai Zi wanted to exploit the small construction teams for free, but I still paid them. Lai Zi is now completely subservient to me. Although I hit him with a brick, he still doesn't hate me, which only proves he's a smart man.
Chapter Forty-Two: My name is Tiezhu, courtesy name Xiangde
After getting everything arranged, it was past 2 PM. I had been away from home for a full 12 hours. If I couldn't get back before Baozi got off work at 4:30 PM, this book would be finished here.
Just as I was about to leave, my blue-screen phone rang. I pulled it out, and a dazzling light shone through. Lai Zi, who was next to me, was dumbfounded; he'd never seen a phone like this before. I flipped it open, pressed the blue screen to my face, and answered. Principal Zhang asked, "I heard you've already recruited a batch of students in such a short time?" I glared at Lai Zi, and he whispered, "I didn't mention fighting."
After receiving an affirmative answer, Principal Zhang said, "Are you free now? I'd like to see your students." Knowing full well that I couldn't afford to offend this old man, I quickly said I was welcome.
As soon as I hung up the phone, I was worried. Most of these 300 people were young, around 20 years old, which was acceptable, but their formation was clearly that of someone from the military. Moreover, they all had long hair, which was absolutely unacceptable to Principal Zhang, a rather conservative old intellectual. I couldn't tell him that I had recruited 300 drummers before the school buildings were even finished.
After Lai Zi hung up the phone, he stared at my phone for a long time. When he realized I was glaring at him, he smiled apologetically and said, "Are rich people using blue screens nowadays?"
"Nonsense, do you understand? We even pick out vegetables with wormholes to eat." I told him, "I'll find you something to do. Get me all the barbers from the surrounding villages."
Lai Zi said with difficulty, "Brother Qiang, times have changed. Now even in the countryside, there are hair salons, and they're all staffed by women. If they want to come, that's fine, but if they don't, it's easy for us to misunderstand if we insist. There is an old man in my second uncle's village who can shave bowl cuts, but the problem is that even if he came, he wouldn't be able to shave everyone."
I shooed him aside and had Xu Delong gather the soldiers. I first went to the middle of the line and straightened a few of the soldiers who were standing very straight, making the whole formation look looser. Then I addressed them: "From now on, you are no longer soldiers, you are students!" Xu Delong interrupted, "Sir Xiao..." I waved my hand and said loudly, "From now on, remember not to call me 'Sir,' you must call me..." I thought for a moment that calling me Principal was too high, and calling me Teacher was too low, so I said, "You must call me Director Xiao. An old man is coming to see you later, you must call him Principal, understand?"
If things had gone smoothly, they should have said, "Got it." Then I defiantly put my hand to my ear and asked, "What did you say?" followed by a deafening shout: "Got it!"
But these people didn't react at all. Xu Delong said to them, "Just make it clear."
300: "Understood."
Xu Delong then turned around and asked me, "Brother Xiao, what do you mean?"
I squatted down on the ground, feeling dejected, and picked up a blade of grass to play with. I said weakly, "It's okay, I'll manage in a bit. Can you guys figure out how to cut my hair short?"
Xu Delong was taken aback. In their time, there was no such thing as shaving one's head; they believed in the saying, "Our bodies, hair, and skin are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them." Fortunately, this was an army, where obedience to orders was paramount, and other factors were largely irrelevant. After Xu Delong gave the order, the 300 men were divided into 150 groups and began shaving their heads in pairs with the daggers they had brought. Watching clumps of hair fall to the ground, I felt a pang of heartache. Although they weren't ginseng spirits, the price of hair in the Song Dynasty should have been about the same, right?
When the group regrouped, I took a look and realized it was definitely worse than before they shaved their heads. The styling was so rough; everyone's hair was a mess, some with strands flying in the wind, and others looked like they'd been bitten by dogs. It was too punk, too K-pop, too non-mainstream.
Just then, Principal Zhang arrived. Old Zhang came from Lai Zi's second uncle's place. The village chief sent a farmer to bring Old Zhang on the only still-running sidecar motorcycle in China, with a handsome man wearing glasses on the back.
Old Zhang sat in the sidecar, dressed in a neat Zhongshan suit, his expression dignified, somewhat like a warlord from the Republican era. Old Zhang got off the vehicle, and the bespectacled man followed him.
Principal Zhang first looked at the progress of the project, nodded with satisfaction, and came to me with a smile. Suddenly, he saw 300 expressionless young men lined up neatly in front of him, their hair hanging down at a medium length. At that moment, a breeze blew by, and the hair on the heads of the 300 men fluttered dramatically.
Old Zhang, his face ashen, asked me, "These are the students you recruited?"
I whispered in his ear, "They were all recruited from a remote rural area. They are uneducated, but physically strong, and they are all good candidates for martial arts."
Sure enough, when Old Zhang heard that the boy was from a farming family, he felt a sense of kinship. Then, pointing to Xu Delong, who looked old and rubbing his eyes, he asked, "Is this the parent or the child who looks old?"
I said, "I heard he got in by eating for free. I'm planning to bring him along to watch clothes or something when I lead the team to competitions in the future."
Principal Zhang walked up to a young soldier and asked kindly, "What's your name?"
The young soldier with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a rustic appearance said loudly, "My name is Wei Tiezhu, courtesy name Xiangde."
Principal Zhang said in surprise, "I never imagined that a child from the countryside could write."
Wei Tiezhu said something that shocked everyone: "This was given to us by our General Yue Yun!"
Principal Zhang chuckled and said, "This child seems quite engrossed in 'The Complete Story of Yue Fei'." I wiped my sweat and laughed along. Principal Zhang then asked our fellow villager, "Have you paid your tuition for school here?"
I was really afraid that Wei Tiezhu would say something shocking again, but thankfully he asked, puzzled, "What money?"
Principal Zhang could tell he wasn't helping me deceive people, and he chuckled, his attitude towards me becoming much better. He said, "Even though it's free, you still need to improve the quality. Are martial arts teachers easy to find?"
I confidently declared, "I'll be there in a few days. We'll have everything from long-distance running to swimming, from free fighting to 800,000 instructors (I was thinking of saying 'eighteen weapons'). If the kids are interested in attracting bees... uh, summoning wind and rain, or fortune telling, we can teach them a little bit about traditional culture."
Principal Zhang said, "Let me recommend a teacher to you first." As he spoke, he pulled the refined-looking man with glasses who had been standing behind him to me.
I sized him up. The young man was probably around my age, with a neat middle parting and a delicate, fair complexion. He seemed rather shy in front of others, looking like a graduate student from a third-rate university. But after Principal Zhang's comment, I dared not underestimate him. Could this young man possess some hidden skill? I noticed a fountain pen tucked into his jacket pocket. Who keeps a fountain pen lying around these days? That might be his secret weapon. A pen that never misses its mark?
Principal Zhang swallowed hard before finishing his sentence: "This is Teacher Yan, one of the six teachers at Yucai Elementary School. He can teach you academic subjects."
"this……"
Seeing my hesitation, Principal Zhang's face darkened. "Don't you trust the person I recommended? Xiao Yan is definitely a qualified teacher, and the monthly salary is only 1,000." As he spoke, Old Zhang whispered in my ear, "Agree to it. This child is quite pitiful. He was supposed to graduate from university a year before his family had a change of fortune, so he had to drop out. The young man is a very good person, and he is wholeheartedly devoted to the children."
What else could I say after that? When Teacher Yan saw that I had agreed, she nodded to me to express her gratitude, then stood in front of 300, cleared her throat, and blushed before she could speak. She said shyly, "My name is Yan Jingsheng. You can call me Jingsheng."
Seeing that the 300 didn't move, I made a gesture to them. All 300 understood at the same time and shouted loudly, "Hero Yan!" I was speechless. They were so united that not a single one called me "teacher."
Yan Jingsheng was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud, and it took me a while to pull him up.
Principal Zhang frowned and said, "Xiaoqiang, pay attention to the books your students read. They should read less books about fighting and killing, and more Tang and Song poetry."