Chapter 18 Quick Project (VIII)
The sound of the gong came from far away. Huo Chong and the Baji Sect master had already fought for seven or eight rounds. The two of them tested each other, and their moves were useless. Huo Chong became more and more confident as the fight went on. The opponent's level was strong enough to fight ordinary people , but it was still not good enough to face modern fighting techniques.
Huo Chong's coaches have talked about the problems of traditional martial arts. The performance of this Bajimen practitioner is exactly the same as those typical cases. His understanding of martial arts does not come from the structure of the human body and the study of energy movement, but from the exploration and imagination of those people in small sects.
Sure enough, the conventional probing was fruitless. The Bajimen master began to display some tricks. According to the narration of Huo Chong's coaches, these tricks were just some unnecessary movements to attract the opponent's attention. The attention of fighters who had undergone rigorous training would never be attracted by fancy moves.
Huo Chong had gone through rigorous training, and when the Baji Sect master's extra movements slowed down his speed, Huo Chong pushed his palm into his chest, pushing him back a few steps.
Just as he was about to follow up and hit it hard, he heard a loud gong sound. The person beating the gong was already nearby.
Huo Chong took a few steps back and turned his head to look at the person who was beating the gong. He saw several guys wearing the same clothes as the police officers on TV stopped beside the crowd. The one beating the gong only had a gong in his hand, and the others held sticks. These people gathered around a guy in his thirties. His clothes looked brighter, he was empty-handed, and he looked average. But the mustache on his face was shiny black, which attracted attention.
The mustache man stepped forward a few steps, "Are you guys fighting?"
Although compared with dozens of people, the mustache man was alone. However, when facing this guy who was probably the head of the police, the dozens of people were completely suppressed by the momentum. The five leading figures all stood up and walked over with a smile.
The captain pointed at the man opposite Huo Chong and said, "Why do I see you everywhere? The victim from last time still wants to find you..."
When the Baji Sect member heard this, he grabbed his clothes and turned around to leave. In a moment, he disappeared without a trace with his two men.
Without these three fighters, Huo Chong felt relieved. What made Huo Chong even more relieved was that Xu Youlin was following from a distance in the direction where .
So far, the head of the police had been very impartial in enforcing the law. And impartiality itself was beneficial to Huo Chong. Seeing Xu Youlin appear, Huo Chong was sure that the head of the police would be more impartial.
Sure enough, the captain continued to ask what the gang was doing here. The five people in the lead hesitated and seemed to want to quickly pass the question and then disperse.
Huo Chong turned to look at Zhu Erniu. When it was his turn to speak, he saw that Zhu Erniu looked uneasy, as if he also hoped that the chief constable would leave quickly. Huo Chong knew that he could not interrupt because he was not the main person. He walked back, patted Zhu Erniu on the shoulder, and whispered: "Hurry up and tell the chief constable that this is for wine tasting."
Zhu Erniu was startled and said in embarrassment: "Wait... wait until the captain leaves before we talk about it."
Huo Chong threatened in a low voice: "After the captain leaves, those people will continue to smash your workshop. Do you admit it?"
Although Zhu Erniu was also afraid, he still cared about his own workshop and stepped forward timidly. When he opened his mouth, Huo Chong was almost angry to death. Zhu Erniu, this coward, didn't grasp the point at all, just said that everyone should drink or something.
Seeing that Zhu Erniu was unable to do so, Huo Chong could only step forward and salute, then said, "Captain, these people in front of us said that this brother Zhu stole my skills and wanted to destroy his workshop."
After hearing this, the head constable did not speak to Huo Chong, but turned around and asked the five groups of people, "Is this true?"
When the five groups heard that their conflict had been exposed in front of the head of the police, their faces changed. The head of the police walked up to the landlord San Wagang and said with a fake smile: "Master San, are you here to help destroy the workshop?"
"How could it be!" Sanwagang shook his head like a drum.
The captain then asked other people, and they all said they were good citizens and had never caused any trouble. The captain finally asked Uncle Zhu, who made up his mind and shouted, "They stole my wine yeast!"
"When was it stolen? Did you catch the person who stole your distiller's yeast?" the captain continued to ask with a fake smile.
When Grandpa Zhu heard this, he didn't know how to explain it. It was easy to say this a few months ago, but there was no chance of proving it. But Grandpa Zhu didn't want to give up, so he could only stiffen his neck and shout, "He stole it! He stole it!"
"All right!" The head of the police force frowned and shouted to the officer, "Come, lock him up and take him back to the yamen for questioning."
The guards shook the iron chains and opened the wooden shackles to lock him up, which frightened Grandpa Zhu. Several other prominent figures in the village were also frightened and hurried over to plead for mercy.
The head constable waved his hand to stop the officer who was about to put Mr. Zhu in the cangue, and said to the group of people: "Since the same yeast was used, the taste of this wine must be the same. Don't you think so?"
The others could only agree when they heard this logical statement. The head of the police said to the officers, "Go and call Zhu Qi and Li Tongshan who are nearby..."
He then mentioned a few more names. It seemed that the officers had been here many times on business trips, so they didn't ask any more questions and just took the orders and left.
When Huo Chong saw this situation, he quickly asked Zhu Erniu to go back to the house and move out the tables and chairs. The head of the police drew a line for the group of people, "Whether it is the same wine or not, you will know after drinking it. Let's call everyone together and taste it together!"
As he was talking, Zhu Erniu had already brought out and asked the captain to sit down. Huo Chong saw Xu Youlin secretly waving at him and hurried over. Xu Youlin sighed and gave Huo Chong two hundred yuan.
Without Xu Youlin saying anything, Huo Chong had already directed his junior fellow apprentice, Zhu Erniu, and two small workers in his workshop to prepare the banquet. How much to give the constable afterwards could only be discussed later, as this meal was indispensable for the occasion. Moreover, this meal was not just for the constable alone, the occasion would not be small.
By the time the arrangements were completed, the sun had already passed the zenith. The prominent figures nearby had all arrived, and Huo Chong had seen them all. He stepped forward and saluted one by one. These people had complicated looks, and it seemed that they had known something for a long time. It was just that the five in front of him jumped out to do things directly, and did not jump out directly or rush to the front.
When everyone was gathered, the captain stood up and said, "I invited you all here today to let you taste what the wines of Master Zhu and Zhu Erniu taste like. If this Zhu Erniu steals the master's skills and makes the same wine as Master Zhu's, then I will lock him up and send him back to the government office. If the wine is different, we have to say something."
After saying that, regardless of Uncle Zhu's expression, the head of the police directly asked Zhu Erniu to pour wine for these leading figures. The crowd obviously did not support Zhu Erniu. No matter how smiling Zhu Erniu was when pouring wine, these people did not even look at him. As more and more wine was poured, the air gradually filled with the strong smell of alcohol.
Li Tongshan frowned, looked at Huo Chong for a moment, picked up the wine bowl and sniffed it, frowning even more. Someone next to him had already taken a sip, then grinned and said, "What is this!"
Huo Chong said loudly: "This is Shaojiu. Zhu Erniu brewed it using the method I taught him."
No one showed any surprise, it seemed that they had heard about the relevant news. The leading figures took a few sips slowly, and everyone frowned and curled their lips because of the spicy taste of the distilled liquor.
The captain took two sips and frowned, unable to drink any more. Putting down the bowl, he asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you want to drink more?"
Everyone shook their heads, indicating that they didn't need to drink more. The head of the police said, "Uncle Zhu, bring your wine up."
Uncle Zhu looked disappointed and could only let his apprentices serve the wine. This time, everyone drank without frowning or curling their lips, and they all seemed to enjoy it. Those who could drink more even drank a glass of wine in one gulp, exhaled with satisfaction, and poured another glass.
When everyone had finished drinking and put down their cups, the captain asked, "Now that we've drunk the wine from both sides, do you think it's the same?"
No one answered, and the scene was silent. Huo Chong thought that the matter was over, but Liu Laowu hesitated and said, "I think it's about the same."
"Oh?!" The captain's eyes fell on Liu Laowu, "Do you think this is the same wine?"
If the captain hadn't been there, Liu Laowu would have insisted that it was the same wine. When the captain asked him this, Liu Laowu didn't dare to carry it himself. He turned around and asked the others: "Don't you think it tastes the same? Don't they all taste like wine?"
There was a low roar of laughter around, but no one said anything to Liu Laowu. The head constable, who had a mocking smile on his face, frowned and said, "Liu Laowu, since you said the wine is the same, then come back to the yamen with me and listen to what the people in the yamen say about whether the wine is the same or not."
Hearing this, Liu Laowu quickly responded loudly: "I just said that these are all wines, I didn't say they taste the same. The taste is different. I can't drink Zhu Erniu's wine. It's unpalatable!"
Although Liu Laowu still tried his best to slander him publicly, he finally gave in. The head of the police did not make any more trouble and continued to ask others: "I think the wine on both sides is completely different. What are you drinking?"
Still no one said anything. It seemed that everyone knew that this was not the same wine, and they also knew that the so-called stealing was just an excuse.
Seeing the silence of these people, Huo Chong knew that this silence was because these people were unwilling to openly stand on Huo Chong's side. Even with the support of the people in the county, those who opposed Huo Chong taking over Uncle Liu's position still had great power, and even a certain consensus.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Grandpa Zhu crying, "They stole my yeast! They stole my yeast!"
No one paid any attention to Uncle Zhu's tantrum. Everyone just listened quietly. The leading figures didn't even look at Uncle Zhu. At most, they glanced at the head of the police.
The head of the police listened to Grandpa Zhu crying, but ignored him. After a while, the head of the police said to the person who seemed to be the leader of Zhu's village: "You don't care about the people in your village?"
Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up and shouted at Grandpa Zhu's disciples, "You are just watching your master crying and wiping his tears, and you want to wait for him to cry until something bad happens? Send him back quickly!"
When several disciples heard this, they hurriedly supported Grandpa Zhu. Grandpa Zhu was a cunning man, so he continued to cry and supported his disciples. When they passed the corner, the crying stopped. Then they heard the sound of beating. It should be Grandpa Zhu who cursed and abused his disciples to vent his anger.
The captain must have been used to this kind of farce, as he stood up as if he didn't hear anything and waved to Huo Chong. When Huo Chong arrived in front of the captain, the captain put his hand on Huo Chong's shoulder and said to everyone: "I heard that Huo Chong took over Liu Feng's position and didn't even treat everyone to a drink. This kid troubled everyone to run so far today, we can't let him go!"
After that, he turned to Huo Chong and said, "Huo Chong, toast everyone! Let's drink a lot!"
