I scratched my head and said, "I came up with this idea when I was in school, by stealing exam papers from the office."
"Yeah, you know my line of work isn't easy these days. Modern houses don't have roof beams anymore, and climbing on the ceiling lights makes you vulnerable to electric shocks. If you get caught, you can't imitate a mouse's squeak, so you have to be careful before entering a house. I ended up imitating street thugs fighting to get them to turn off the lights. After I got inside, I opened all the windows and lay in wait for half an hour before making my move."
I interrupted him: "Brother Qian, how did you know they had treasures at home?"
Shi Qian spoke of this part with the most pride: "It's strange, maybe I'm just lucky. They just casually threw such a precious treasure on the table, letting it glitter there..."
Oh no! It's definitely the pearls from the steamed buns that were stolen.
"Then what?"
"Haha, that's it, Brother Qian made his move and it was a resounding success!" Shi Qian finally finished keeping everyone in suspense and suddenly pulled out a round bead, holding it in his palm for me to see.
It was a pink, round ball that looked very pretty. I took it from his hand and threw it hard on the ground.
Shi Qian screamed, "No!" This master thief, imitating my previous attempt to save the Listening Wind Bottle, pounced on the bead like a vicious dog throwing itself into excrement.
But he was too late. He watched helplessly as the bead slammed solidly to the ground, and then—bounced back violently.
I caught it in my hand and bounced it on the ground, saying slowly, "This is a glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball..."
Shi Qian clearly sensed something was wrong and cautiously asked, "How much is it worth?"
As I played with the bouncy ball, I said, "This thing cost 5 qian last year, but it's banned from sale now because of radiation. This collector's edition will probably sell for 1 yuan."
Shi Qian said with a sob in his voice, "No way?" He picked up the bouncy ball, but didn't dare to throw it on the ground like I did. He lost his grip, and the ball fell to the ground and rolled under the sofa.
I shrugged at him: "Now we don't even have a single dollar left."
Chapter Sixty-Six: A Warrior Against Ten Thousand
I told Shi Qian to continue sleeping, while I racked my brains trying to figure out how to find this person first. Liu Xuan still needed to be saved; this was no joke. Dislocating someone's arm—even an accomplice would get several years in prison, right? But this kid was really annoying; besides dislocating his arm, we had to teach him a lesson.
I rode my motorcycle back to the pawnshop. Baozi was on the early shift again this week and had already left. Li Shishi was cleaning the house, Fatty Ying was playing Double Dragon with Jing Ke, and Liu Bang had naturally gone to "work" as well. According to Ersha, he had been texting with the "Black Widow" he met at the bar until very late yesterday.
Xiang Yu lay on the floor in an unusual manner, his head resting on his arm, his eyes burning as he thought about his van.
Every time I come back and see them, I feel a sense of peace and contentment. I'm starting to feel that we really are like one big family.
I grabbed a pillow and ran downstairs, then simply lay down on the sofa, ready to take a long nap. Anyway, nobody usually comes here, so this place can also be used as a shopkeeper.
Just as I was drifting off to sleep, Uncle Zhao's second son, Zhao Bailian, suddenly shouted, "There's murderous intent!" He was squatting by my door, and the shout startled me awake. I was about to yell at him when a van pulled up in front of my door. Both doors swung open simultaneously, and six burly men jumped out, making a total of eight, including the one in the driver's seat. Each of them had a menacing face. The leader grabbed an ashtray and slammed it against the table, glaring at me and asking, "You're Xiao Qiang?"
"I just... what do you want with him?" I was about to answer when I saw that they were all carrying sticks. Even though Brother Xiaoqiang had been out of the underworld for many years, he still had some sense. He could tell they were here to smash up the shop.
The leader said menacingly, "Stop talking nonsense, aren't you?"
I quickly mustered my strength, stood up, and said, "Wait for me, I'll call it for you." I shouted upstairs, "Brother Yu, your van has arrived!"
A loud crash echoed overhead, and Xiang Yu, wearing slippers and shorts, pounced down like a tiger descending a mountain, his voice booming, "Where are you?"
I ducked behind him, poked my head out, and said, "I'm Xiao Qiang. What do you want with me?"
Xiang Yu's appearance did startle the eight men, but seeing that there were only two of us, they still didn't take us seriously. The leader waved his stick and said arrogantly, "Here I come to smash you, you bastard!" He then raised the stick to smash my computer. I shouted, "Stop!"
There was a pause on the other end, and I quickly said, "Don't smash things, can we smash people somewhere else? You can see I don't have anything valuable here. Besides, the neighbors are all old men and women who like to meddle, what if they call the police?"
The leader chuckled coldly, "Xiao Qiang, you're quite the tough guy. We're not afraid you'll run away. Where do you want to go?"
I said, "School's out today, and there's an elementary school not far from here. Would it be okay to go there?" As I spoke, I gave Xiang Yu's waist a good squeeze. Xiang Yu, of course, understood the situation. He turned to me and said, "How can we fight with eight people? I'm not going."
The person on the other end laughed wildly: "Hey Xiao, your friend chickened out. A real man takes responsibility. We'll wait for you at the door for one minute!" With that, he led the group out.
I nudged Xiang Yu and said, "Did you hear that, Brother Yu? He's calling you a coward."
Xiang Yu didn't care at all, saying casually, "Why don't you just kill them all? Why do you need me to do that?" He then turned to go upstairs. I forgot that he always thought of me as a god with limitless abilities.
I held onto Xiang Yu tightly and said, "Do you still want bread? I promise you, Brother Yu, as long as you take care of them for me, I will not only get you bread within 3 days, but I will also teach you everything you need to know."
Xiang Yu turned around and said, "Really?"
I'd be a fool to lie to you!
Without a word, Xiang Yu walked towards the eight men. He was still too foolish. If it were Hu Sanniang, she would definitely say: "You're too young to be my grandson, aren't you?"
I grabbed Xiang Yu again, and he said impatiently, "What is it now?"
"Brother Yu, we can't let anyone die later. It's best if no one has a broken arm or leg. Ideally, they should lie in bed for a month or two and suddenly recover completely."
Xiang Yu looked troubled and thought for a while. The thugs outside shouted, "Time's up! If you don't come out, we'll smash your shop!" He said as he walked out, "I'll do my best."
The ten of us walked together towards the school. The other eight were dressed in tight-fitting, sharp clothes and exuded a menacing aura, while Xiang Yu and I were nonchalant and carefree. The scene was a bit like being escorted to the execution ground. This time, I made an exception and didn't bring a brick. I refused to believe that Xiang Yu, the invincible warrior, would need me to fight eight people—these eight people had really misunderstood Xiang Yu. If eight hundred people came today, he might get excited, but eight people were like eating sparrow tongues to him.
The school's small gate was open; the old gatekeeper was probably playing chess. I forcefully led the group inside. I knew there was a small playground behind the school, a narrow area where escape wouldn't be easy. At first, the eight men were wary of me running away, but they became increasingly confident as we walked. Once we arrived, they looked at me like I was an idiot—in this place, even if you killed someone, no one would see.
Then they lined up in a row. I raised my arms and legs, my whole body completely unharmed, and leaped into the circle. I pointed at Xiang Yu and said, "Take him down first!" In the blink of an eye, I leaped five feet away. I didn't even break a sweat or change color. I was the epitome of a master.
Without a word, the eight men grabbed sticks and rushed in front of Xiang Yu, striking him repeatedly. Then, a scene that shocked me unfolded: Xiang Yu was completely powerless to fight back!
He clumsily blocked the clubs that swept towards him with a strong wind, but his feet didn't budge an inch, making him look like a big, clumsy bear. Eventually, he simply stopped blocking and let himself be hit. But it seemed that his skin was thick enough, as the clubs bounced back when they hit him, and Xiang Yu didn't show any sign of it.
I yelled, "Brother Yu, fight back!"
Standing in the circle of clubs raining down on him, Xiang Yu helplessly spread his hands at me and said, "I don't know how to hit him. You don't allow me to kill him or cripple him, I've never done it this way before."
Sweat beaded on my forehead. I said, "I'm not afraid of crippling him, just don't kill him."