Chapter 004: A life-or-death gamble in a busy city
Mr. Wang was so angry that his face turned red. He spat at his son and said, "You idiot, you want to humiliate yourself? That's it." After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and walked deeper into the yard.
Wang Deyi stamped his feet in anger and pounded the wall with his right hand in panic. He started screaming as soon as he moved. His right hand was injured by Zhao Yulin and was still hanging around his neck, so how could he move it?
After the cart had traveled for a while, Zhao Yulin saw the Zhao family's Sincerity Pawnshop. He stopped the cart and asked Li Chuan to take a silver ingot to exchange for some small change. The silver ingot Liu San gave was too big, weighing 20 taels, so it had to be exchanged for small change.
When the shopkeeper saw Zhao Yulin coming in, he immediately stepped forward with a big smile on his face and called him "Third Young Master."
He asked expressionlessly to exchange silver, requiring full silver and accurate weight.
When the shopkeeper saw Li Chuan take out a huge ingot of silver, his eyes lit up immediately and he said, "That's right, I'll take care of it." Then he went in to get the silver, weighed it, put it in a purse and handed it to Li Chuan.
Zhao Yulin said nothing more and turned to walk out. The shopkeeper was still greeting him affectionately, "Third Young Master, take care."
Heading south, we arrived at the crossroads in the center of the county town, but the ox cart was stopped by several ragged young men.
Zhao Yulin heard someone shouting in a nonchalant voice from behind: "Is that the abandoned child of the Zhao family, the young scholar Zhao Yulin?"
Before Zhao Yulin could say anything, he heard the people around him laughing and talking:
"The bastard is so unlucky. Not only is he abandoned, but he is also bullied by hooligans."
"The master of the Zhao family is still a scholar, but now he is afraid of the abandoned child of the Wang family. Even Confucius is embarrassed."
The sun was blazing, and Zhao Yulin saw that more and more people were watching, so he didn't want to get involved, so he told the driver to go fast. The scoundrel actually stopped the ox cart in the street and said, "Are you scared? Don't go. I heard that when the little scholar gets angry, the consequences are very serious. He smashed a door of the Wang family with one slap. I want to see how ."
After saying this, the ruffian slapped the ox on the head. The ox felt pain and stepped back, frightening the driver so much that he ran away.
Li Chuan, with a sad face, pulled Zhao Yulin's arm and whispered that this ruffian was called Yao Sheng, and he was a complete rogue. Once he stuck to you, he would be like a rotten snake, and you couldn't get rid of him or get rid of him. Everyone in Yibin city was afraid of him.
Zhao Yulin knew that someone was deliberately preventing him from leaving and wanted to humiliate him in the street.
He laughed out of anger, patted Li Chuan on the shoulder and said, "I'm a scoundrel who specializes in dealing with ruffians. Let's see how his brother will deal with him."
Zhao Yulin got out of the car, straightened his clothes, and walked to the front of the car with a folding fan in his hand. He looked at Yao Popi carefully, closed the folding fan and said, "Hey, isn't this Brother Yao? What's wrong? You stopped me in the middle of the day. Do you know I'm hungry and want to treat me to a meal?"
Yao the scoundrel never expected Zhao Yulin to do this and was stunned on the spot.
He never does business at a loss. He suddenly came to his senses and said, "Eat your mother's feet." Which bastard wants to treat you to a meal?
Some people say that a weak young scholar broke down the gate of Wang's family. Look at him, my dear readers, with his weak appearance, do you think it is possible?
Today, I will let you see the real skills of this little scholar.
As Yao Popi spoke, he hammered his hairy, dirty chest with his iron fist and shouted, "Come on, hit it here. If I injure you, I won't ask you to get medical treatment. If I kill you, I won't ask you to pay with your life."
Yao Popi yelled to the people around him like a street loudspeaker, asking everyone to look carefully and look closely as if he was selling dog-skin plasters.
Damn, give me this trick, I’m not the second Yang Zhi.
Zhao Yulin was angry in his heart, but still smiling, he waved his fan and pointed at the ruffian Yao and said, "It's okay for us to fight, but I have real kung fu. If there are casualties, you are a ruffian and you can act helpless and deny it, but I am a scholar, where can I go to seek justice?"
Yao Puff said, with his body like that, how could he hurt anyone? Pah.
Someone on the side started to make a fuss. A scoundrel with triangular eyes said that this was not difficult and both parties could just sign a written agreement first.
Someone else suggested finding a middleman to provide a guarantee so that no one would suffer a loss.
These people are not afraid of making things bigger, but are just afraid of not seeing the excitement and are trying their best to add fuel to the fire.
Yao Popiah immediately pulled a few of his followers and said that he had a witness and asked Zhao Xiucai to come over quickly.
Zhao Yulin looked around and found a burly man in tight clothes standing in the crowd. Li Chuan also saw him and told him that it was Captain Lei from the county government. Let's ask Captain Lei to be a witness.
Zhao Yulin bowed to Captain Lei and greeted him on the street: "My fellow villagers, fists and feet have no eyes, and there will inevitably be casualties. How about asking Captain Lei to be a witness today?"
Everyone shouted, "Yes, yes, yes. Let's ask Lei Gongcha to do justice. This will save the government the trouble."
Captain Lei stepped out from the crowd, saluted Zhao Yulin, walked around the scene, and agreed to be a witness.
The spectators formed a circle and began to move back, surrounding Zhao Yulin, Yao Puppet and Captain Lei in the center.
At this time, one of Yao Puppi's brothers said that since my elder brother and the young scholar were competing in martial arts, why not set a handicap and use the property in the young scholar's car to add some prizes?
Everyone became even happier when they heard this. Some people were fighting desperately, and they were betting on the winners and losers on the spot for fun. It was really joyful to kill two birds with one stone.
Zhao Yulin felt even more unhappy, as he was sure to be taken advantage of.
"Humph, you want to play a trick on me? I don't even know who is playing a trick on whom."
Zhao Yulin immediately said that this brother had proposed a good idea, so let me be the banker. I have 40 taels of silver here, plus these treasures, it should be at least 100 taels. How do you think we can place the bet?
Everyone quickly came to a conclusion: if you bet on Zhao Yulin to win, you would have to pay one or two taels of silver for each lost bet; if you bet on Yao Popiah to win, you would have to pay ten taels of silver for each lost bet.
In their opinion, Yao the Ruffian ate delicious food and drank spicy drinks every day, his body was as strong as an iron tower, and he was also a martial artist. Zhao Yulin, with his weak physique as a scholar, was no match for Yao the Ruffian and was bound to lose.
Now quite a few members of the Wang family have joined the group. They are not afraid of Yao the ruffian and take the opportunity to stir up trouble and want to place bets. They all want to see what will happen to Zhao Yulin.
Zhao Yulin called Li Chuan and two coachmen and servants and asked them to bet all their belongings and started a gambling game on the spot.
The people around immediately rushed to place bets. No one was optimistic about Zhao Yulin's scholarly figure, so naturally they all bet on Yao Puppet to win, as if all of Zhao Yulin's belongings, including his underwear, were already theirs.
Li Chuan came over and said to him nervously: "Master, we won more than a thousand taels by betting on Yao Pip. We can't afford to pay it back."
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "Who said we are bound to lose? Keep the silver for me."
At this time, an old man with a youthful face and white hair came in from the East Street, took out ten taels of silver, handed it to Li Chuan and said, "This is the first time for a scholar to participate in a martial arts competition in Yibin. It's interesting. I'll join in the fun, too."
Captain Lei stepped forward and saluted, "Hello, Mr. Zhang. Sorry to bother you."
Li Chuan immediately bowed to the old man and said, "Sir, please understand. It is not my young master who is causing trouble." The old man shook his head, looked at Zhao Yulin and said, "Don't hesitate to take action. Give us scholars face."
Zhao Yulin bowed and said, "I will remember your teachings, sir."
The people outside the circle who were watching the fun had already lost their patience. Some of them were yelling at Mr. Zhang to go back quickly because classes were about to start at the academy.
These people were having fun and placing bets just to watch the big show and couldn't wait for the results to come out.
Yao Ruffian stood in the middle of the field holding a brand new machete, stretched out his index finger to hook Zhao Yulin, and shouted at him to come up quickly and die.
Zhao Yulin bowed to the spectators around him, then shook the folding fan in his hand and asked Captain Lei if he needed to check whether his folding fan had any hidden weapons.
He had no weapon, so he used this folding fan as a weapon.
The ruffian Yao held a 1.5-meter-long pure steel sword in his hand, and the blade shone coldly in the sun. When he heard that Zhao Yulin was going to use the folding fan in his hand as a weapon and looked down on him, he angrily said that even if the young scholar was unarmed, he would not show mercy.
There was also a fan seller who was eager to see something new. He actually brought ten new fans and asked Yao Popiah to pick one for Zhao Yulin to use as a weapon. He was not afraid that the folding fan in Zhao Yulin's hand had a mechanism.
Yao Ruffian picked up a fan threw it to Zhao Yulin. Zhao Yulin reached out to catch it, opened it and fanned himself twice, then said to Captain Lei that it fit his needs.
Captain Lei immediately began to explain the rules of the game. In fact, there were no rules at all. The winner was the one who beat the opponent so hard that he could not fight back.
Then, the captain asked the two detectives who had followed him to shout at the spectators around to disperse, and the scene suddenly became quiet.
Zhao Yulin tied his gown tightly around his waist and fanned himself.
Captain Lei shouted, "Ready, fight!"
Yao Ruffian picked up his broadsword and rushed towards Zhao Yulin.
Zhao Yulin quickly folded his folding fan and ran back. Seeing that Yao Puff was about to catch up with him, he suddenly turned right and ran west.
In this way, one person runs in front and the other chases behind, and the two always keep a distance of about three steps between them.
After one round, Yao Pip called a halt and asked Zhao Yulin if he wanted to continue fighting.
Want to be a coward and avoid the fight?
This is not the way to fight a life-and-death duel.
The spectators around were also making a fuss, shouting that the young scholar was a piece of crap, all good looking but useless.
The scholar was really afraid of death and dared not fight.
Some people are still rushing to place bets, and you can bet that Yao Puppy will win.
Even Mr. Zhang frowned.
It wasn't that Zhao Yulin didn't dare to fight. After all, this was his first actual combat since coming to Southern Song Dynasty. Firstly, he wanted to feel out Yao Pupi's martial arts skills, and secondly, he wanted to show weakness so that others would see that even if he killed Yao Pupi, it would be an accident.
But now, he knew that he would not be able to escape if the fight started again.
He quietly told Li Chuan to pack up the money and prepare to run away.
Li Chuan didn't understand what was going on. He thought Zhao Yulin knew he was going to lose and was afraid that he would run away because of losing money. So he quietly asked the driver to move the ox cart outside the circle of spectators.
At this time, Captain Lei and Mr. Zhang spoke together. After they found a few people to discuss on the spot, they agreed that both sides could not retreat more than three meters, and if they touched the circle of spectators, they would be considered losers. Then they would call both sides to the stage again.
