Dong Ping gave him a piece of paper. The young man put the money away, then scooped two loaches from the basin at his feet and threw them into the fish tank. Before the two loaches even reached the bottom, they were immediately attacked by the small fish. Their snouts opened, revealing ugly, menacing triangular teeth, and in a few swift movements, half a loach was devoured. The two loaches vanished instantly, and the small gray fish scurried away. Only a few faint streaks of blood remained in the tank, which disappeared after a while.
The young man said mysteriously, "This is the legendary piranha, which is strictly prohibited from being bought and sold by the state. It's easy to raise; as long as there's meat, it won't die even if the whole world goes into nuclear war."
Hu Sanniang came closer and exclaimed, "This fish is interesting! How much is it?"
"100 each, cheap, right?"
Lin Chong laughed and said, "Luckily, we in Liangshan don't have such a thing, otherwise Zhang Shun and Xiao Er and Xiao Wu would all be just skeletons."
Hu Sanniang laughed and said, "The skeleton is fine, but I'm afraid of having your little brother bitten off..."
Why is this woman's mind filled with...?
We chatted and laughed, but Dong Ping remained silent. He suddenly asked the young man, "You're asking me for a dollar for those two loaches?"
An old fishmonger nearby said, "Those loaches usually only cost two cents each. He hasn't sold many piranhas, but he's made a lot of money just selling loaches."
Dong Ping said to the young man, "You fish them all out for me."
The young man was beaming with excitement: "You want them all?" He deftly scooped all the piranhas into a black plastic bag and said, "There are 12 in total, 1200 yuan, and I'll throw in a bag of loaches for you."
After taking the bag, Dong Ping did something no one expected: he dumped all the fish out of the bag onto the ground and stomped on them, crushing them to pieces. Only after they were all dead did the young fishmonger, speechless, utter a single sentence: "Hey, you..."
After stomping the fish, Dong Ping threw 200 yuan on the fish stall and said, "Do you know why I did this?"
The young man shook his head in a daze.
"I just can't let you continue to harm the loaches..."
The young man wanted to turn hostile, but seeing that we outnumbered him, he cried out, "Brother, it's survival of the fittest. These piranhas are carnivorous, so why should I feed them crumbs?"
Dong Ping said, "I don't care, but I can't stand it if I see it."
I suppressed a laugh and slipped the young man another 300 yuan. It wasn't that I pitied him; I just felt it was quite remarkable that a fishmonger had managed to bring about natural selection.
I'm starting to understand the bandits' code of conduct. If a wolf bites a lamb and severs its trachea, they consider that wolf a kind one and deserving of praise; but if a lamb chews a cabbage into a mess, that lamb is absolutely wicked and will be thrown into the pot without even being plucked!
Seeing that all the fish that could eat loach were dead, Hu Sanniang said boredly, "Let's hurry up and leave."
Dong Ping said, "Why don't you go in first, and I'll take another look at the fish."
So I led a group of people into the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall. In the magnificent training hall, there were rows of sandbags and wooden dummy dummies in the northwest corner, a standard boxing ring in the northeast corner, and a wide central area where students trained, with various electrical and traditional equipment scattered throughout. Looking up, you could see a dome; there was no second floor, only a few small offices floating above, with narrow, winding staircases leading up.
When we entered, two large groups of people were facing off. They were all standing in the middle of the hall, glaring at each other menacingly, so much so that no one greeted us when we came in. Only when we got quite close to them did a burly man on the left ask us, "What do you want?"
I said, "We are tigers..."
Hu Sanniang suddenly jumped between the two groups and shouted, "Let's challenge them!"
Chapter Ninety-Two: The Nine Swords of Dugu
Now I finally understand what "you reap what you sow" means. You see, the two words "challenge the gate" combine movement and stillness, have a clear intention, and express the meaning clearly. When Hu Sanniang jumps into the middle and shouts "challenge the gate," it is powerful and imposing. But if she shouted "fight," "we're here to cause trouble," or even "we're here to punish you," the effect would be much weaker, and others might not take it seriously.
Why would I teach her how to "challenge" other people's businesses?
Her shout startled both sides. The group on the right seemed to be visiting from the sidelines; they were all wearing open-fronted martial arts uniforms with black belts around their waists and were barefoot, looking rather pretentious. One of them shouted, "Did you make a reservation?"
……reserve?
The man shouted again, "Those without reservations should queue up; we arrived first."
Damn, it seems Tiger has a terrible reputation in the industry; people are lining up to challenge him.
I pulled Hu Sanniang back and whispered the situation to her. Hearing that she didn't have to lift a finger and there was even a good show to watch, she beamed. She took a few steps back and said to both groups, "Then you two go first." Both groups glared at us fiercely. The situation was very unfavorable; it seemed they all considered us reinforcements for the other side. There were nearly 100 of them on both sides combined. I wasn't confident if a fight broke out.
The people on the left are all wearing sportswear; they are the hosts of the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts School. However, the 12 Taibao and those who participated in my school's anniversary celebration are not here. It seems that this is a group of students who have just enrolled. However, they are all big and burly, and they are definitely not easy to deal with.
Then, one person each stepped out from the Taoist priests and the sportswear group. Both were nearly 2 meters tall, with broad shoulders and thick backs. If they were to walk with their arms swinging, they wouldn't be able to pass through a normal door. Moreover, the two seemed to have similar backgrounds; one was bald and wore an earring, while the other had tuna tattoos all over his neck. Dong Ping definitely liked this person.
These two burly thugs seemed to have a mutual respect for each other. The bald man, representing the dojo's followers, bowed slightly to the tuna and said, "We are from the Red Dragon Dojo. Our dojo mainly teaches Judo and Taekwondo. We heard that your dojo uses the traditional Da Hong Quan as its main subject, so we came to verify and observe."
Tuna gave a perfunctory fist salute and said, "You all know we have traditional martial arts, so why did you go and learn foreign stuff?"
The bald man chuckled, "I've heard that your master, Mr. Du Laohu, has always been quite resistant to foreign martial arts. I never imagined his disciples would be even more so. My friend, have you ever considered that anything that wants to develop sustainably must learn from others' strengths and compensate for its weaknesses? Why are judo and taekwondo included in the Olympics? This shows they must have profound and complex aspects. At the very least, it demonstrates their strong sporting and competitive spirit..."
Well, besides knowing that Tiger's surname is Du, I've also heard such profound remarks. I never imagined that bald man could be so eloquent and flattering. Even the president of the International Olympic Committee might not be as good as him.
Tuna waved his hand: "Enough nonsense. Just because something exists doesn't mean it's reasonable. If I were in charge, I'd cancel all the Olympic events except table tennis!"
That's a bit of sophistry. Besides, wouldn't doing that turn the Olympics into the World Table Tennis Championships? But the tuna issue is far more complex than I think; the following statement is truly thought-provoking!
"What are you Taekwondo practitioners doing? Isn't it just splitting thin wooden boards every day? You pat your left atrium and say, do you have the nerve to call that martial arts? And look at your Judo practitioners, does it stop being a grappling technique just because you're wearing mourning clothes? You're supposed to train your internal energy and external muscles and bones, but where's your energy?"
The bald man became agitated: "My opponent seems to have a biased understanding of these two fighting styles. We do indeed emphasize external martial arts, but that's precisely why it's easy to learn quickly. With today's fast-paced life, who has time to practice horse stance for two hours? So you see, young people these days are all in dojos like ours, who still goes to learn Tai Chi?"
The tuna cried out tragically, "Damn it, this is what you call being impetuous..."
The heated debate between the Sword Sect and the Qi Sect sparked countless thoughts in me. This debate further confirmed the saying: "A rogue isn't scary, but a rogue with culture is." Lin Chong, standing to the side, was completely swayed and nodded repeatedly, Hu Sanniang was drowsy, and Duan Jingzhu was looking around nervously.
Seeing that he and the tuna were at odds, the bald man said, "How about we each send 10 people and have a contest?"
Tuna: "That's great!"
Bald man: "We only use judo and taekwondo."
Tuna: "We naturally only use the Great Flood Fist."