The public was in uproar.
Dingwu also built:
"You look familiar. You can't say you've never seen me before, can you? To be honest, I don't think we've ever greeted each other. Tell me, what's your name, Wan'er?"
Zhigao couldn't save face:
"Stop arguing, I'll do my thing, you go yours, what are you trying to create?"
"Oh? Then hurry up and pay me back with a bird and my land fee, and we'll skip the tax."
"I've only just started playing, and I haven't scored many points yet. None!"
"Ask Boss Tang and his men if there are any rules."
"No need to ask anymore. I'm a lone wolf, I'm not with them, and I'm not afraid of you. If you have any money, I'll throw it into the latrine!"
As they were talking, a brawl broke out. Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Huaiyu immediately stepped in, pushed Ding Wu aside, and the three of them gave him a good beating. Boss Tang couldn't stop them.
Huaiyu's eyes were bloodshot from the beating. He turned around and grabbed a weapon. Ding Wu, on the other side, smashed whatever he could get his hands on, and Zhigao was hit on the head, blood streaming down his face. The situation escalated, and neither side was willing to stop.
When Tang Laoda saw Huaiyu about to grab her weapon to stand up for Zhigao, he panicked, worried that something bad might happen. He tried to hold Huaiyu back and prevent her from getting close.
He then instructed several onlookers hiding nearby to delay him, while he himself went up to Ding Wu, pushing and pulling him, pleading with him to show some kindness and then let him off the hook.
Tang, a rough and tough guy, was able to take on three people in no time. Ding Wu's jaw was grinding, and his face and hands were covered in bruises and bloodstains.
Tang Laoda slipped him some money:
"Please forgive them, the kids don't understand the rules of the game, please don't take it to heart. Don't forget to bring some money for cigarettes, thank you! Thank you!"
Huaiyu had no idea what his father was saying to Ding Wu, but he saw the two of them pulling and tugging away from Yangzi.
Dandan couldn't lift Zhigao, who had fallen to the ground.
Zhigao tried to hold on, but his face was covered in blood, and he was in so much pain that he was delirious and couldn't get up.
Blood smeared his eyes again, and Dandan wiped them with her sleeve, but it didn't stop.
Seeing that the two fight scenes outside the play were over and there was no physical pain involved, the onlookers gathered around again—also out of kindness.
There was even a woman who, holding a child in one arm, without saying a word, made him pee...
Zhigao's head and face were drenched in the child's urine, and he immediately jumped up in pain, yelling and screaming:
"Wow! This pee is really something! What is that stuff?!"
The kind-hearted woman was terrified and felt deeply aggrieved.
"Children's urine can stop bleeding. We often use children's urine at home to stop bleeding and reduce swelling. It will be good for you."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Zhigao was furious.
"Damn it! Get the hell out of my way!" Zhigao roughly wiped away the urine, which seemed to thin the blood a bit, perhaps just some old traces mixed with urine, and then it really stopped.
Huaiyu and Dandan busied themselves getting some strips of cloth to tie it up. A nearby stall was selling Dali Jiuhe medicine, and a kind-hearted person immediately grabbed some Jiu San ointment to apply to it.
Before I even opened the bag, more people started crowding around.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
Annoyed that the customer was too slow to let them pass, the rude man barged in and shouted:
"Hey, hey, bring that medicine powder back!"
It turned out that the person selling Dali Jiuhe medicine next door had snatched back a packet of powder that was about to be applied and replaced it with another packet.
"That won't work! Let me try!"
Then, he skillfully applied medicine to treat the wound. Zhigao, bleeding from his head and in pain, was held down by one hand.
"Sit up properly! What are you doing moving around!"
It turned out that what he was selling at his stall was nothing but counterfeit medicine. He made it sound incredibly effective—dog skin plaster, hemostatic powder, toothache medicine, and even remedies for male kidney deficiency and coldness, and female leukorrhea… all fake. Driven by his passion for healing, he forgot his livelihood and immediately retrieved the "real medicine" from the wooden box behind him…
In a few quick movements, he got Zhigao settled. After receiving thanks from Huaiyu Dandan and Boss Tang, he finally understood and his face flushed red.
Of course, there were also those in the crowd who were clear-headed, but seeing his eagerness to win people over, they didn't say anything.
Most of the simple and honest people couldn't make that connection at all; they just whispered and praised him, forgetting why he had "switched" the medicine to something more effective. After the doctor left, the people forgot that Zhigao had ended up in this predicament simply because of his clever scheme.
The old man whose thrush had died suddenly realized what he had lost and began to mutter to himself:
"You owe me money, pay me back!"
"Come on, old man," they actually advised, "Don't make him pay. Can't you see he's injured? He has several scratches all over his body, bright red and raw, he looks so pitiful!"
"Yeah, let's just forget about it?"
Old Tang had no choice but to come over, give the old man some more money, and say a few words of comfort. The two then pulled each other away from the scene.
Seeing the situation, Zhigao felt deeply saddened.
I've never been on the field before. Once I did, I thought I'd laid a solid foundation and made a name for myself, but little did I know I was just a rat dropping that ruined the whole thing.
Not only did he wreck Tang Laoda's place, but this was also the first time he'd shown off his skills, and they weren't bad at all. But man proposes, God disposes, and he ended up ruining his own show for Dandan! Dandan must have looked down on him, probably thinking to herself, "Still trying to make a living in the underworld? Stop pretending to be something you're not."