Chapter 20 Quick Project (X)
People die for money and birds die for food. Huo Chong punched Zhu Youquan's lackeys without mercy.
The guys had ferocious expressions before they were beaten, and they cursed loudly after they were knocked down. Huo Chong kicked the strongest and most ferocious guy inside. With a pig-killing scream, the guy curled up like a shrimp. The others didn't bother to curse, they got up like drowned dogs and ran away.
Some ran away, turned around and cursed angrily. Some shouted "I'll go back and call for help" and ran away without a trace.
Huo Chong was a little confused by the reaction of these guys. If he took advantage of the crowd to fight hard, Huo Chong might not be able to defeat them easily. Considering the possibility of being beaten up, Huo Chong made detailed preparations. In the end, none of them were used.
At this time, the only people standing there except Huo Chong and his gang were Zhu Youquan and Zhu Youcai and two people beside them. Huo Chong strode forward, and the faces of the two people beside Zhu Youquan and Zhu Youcai changed drastically, and suddenly shouted "Let's go get some help", and ran towards Zhujia Village before Huo Chong approached.
Huo Chong walked to the Zhu family cousins and stood still. He wanted to go up and beat them up, but for some reason he didn't want to do that, so he cursed, "Pull my ass!"
"Ba Pi" is a Shandong dialect, which means "get out of here".
When Zhu Youquan heard this, he was about to pounce on him. Huo Chong was about to fight him, but Zhu Youquan held back and shouted fiercely, "Give me the money that Master left for me!"
This almost made Huo Chong laugh. Is Zhu Youquan a fool?
But on second thought, Huo Chong felt that he couldn't be so big. Uncle Liu must have lost a lot of money before he left this big pit to Huo Chong. But Uncle Liu had been running here for so long, he must have a lot of money left. When Uncle Liu ran away with his sons, the money was naturally taken away by Uncle Liu.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong smiled and said, "Second Brother, Master has been gone for so long, his illness should be completely healed. Go find Master and ask him to come back and explain the money to everyone in public."
After saying this, Huo Chong saw that Zhu Youquan's face first showed hope, then disappointment. Huo Chong couldn't figure out what Zhu Youquan was thinking.
Find the master and ask him to come back. Huo Chong thinks that from Zhu Youquan's point of view, this is a very normal choice. And Huo Chong actually hopes that Zhu Youquan can find his master Uncle Liu. Uncle Liu loves Zhu Youquan so much that he might really give Zhu Youquan some money.
Seeing that Zhu Youquan didn't say anything, Huo Chong wanted to bypass Zhu Youquan and go into the house. Just as he took a step, he saw Zhu Youquan suddenly rushing over, stopped in front of Huo Chong and shouted loudly: "It's all because of you that Master drove me away. Master said he would give me money! He said so!"
Huo Chong was ready to fight back, but he didn't. He just replied coldly: "Then go ask Master for it."
Zhu Youquan's mind was clearly not clear at this time. His eyes were dazed, and he was probably completely immersed in his own imaginary world. He shouted, "It's all your fault! It's not me who made Master vomit blood, it's all your fault!"
Huo Chong had no interest in getting entangled with such an idiot. He pushed Zhu Youquan aside and walked into the house through the gate. He originally thought that the house would be dug up, but he didn't expect the situation to be that bad. Although the things were turned upside down, and the roots of plants in the warehouse were thrown randomly in the yard.
It seems that even Zhu Youquan and his gang think these things are worthless. The incense and candles have disappeared, probably taken away. The dusty clay pots and other things have been moved, but they were just moved away, revealing the worthless ground. There was nothing valuable in the warehouse, and now there is even less.
With Zhu Youquan and his gang helping to "check things out", Huo Chong's last hope was completely gone. When he walked out of the warehouse, he saw the third apprentice brother, the fourth apprentice brother and the sixth apprentice brother rushing in. Seeing the mess, the third apprentice brother Li Tieniu was already angry and shouted, "Big Brother, the second apprentice brother took all our money. Let's go out and ask him to return it."
Seeing that his third apprentice brother looked like he was ready to fight to the death, Huo Chong smiled bitterly, "Tie Niu, close the door, I want to tell you something."
Li Tieniu looked at Huo Chong in confusion, pointing to the door, "Big Brother, Second Brother is at the door, don't let him run away!"
Seeing that his third apprentice brother was so excited, Huo Chong said to his sixth apprentice brother Liu Shiwang, who was not so excited, “Shiwang, go and close the door.”
The sixth junior brother obeyed the order and left. Huo Chong kicked away the firewood under his feet and pulled the third junior brother towards the messy middle hall. The fourth junior brother Xiushan followed Huo Chong and Li Tieniu who was trying to struggle, and walked towards the main hall while looking left and right.
The three of them sat down in the room, and the sixth apprentice brother also closed the door and rushed over. After the brothers were ready, Huo Chong said, "Our master got into a big trouble. You all know it, right?"
The fellow apprentices nodded. How could they not know that the Cao Gang had come to their door?
Huo Chong told his fellow apprentices that their master had taken his sons and all the money away. The apprentices didn't say anything, but the look on their faces made Huo Chong feel a little distressed. It was an expression of being abandoned. Although they wanted to say something, what they saw these days made them feel something, and it was a very straightforward feeling.
After a long silence, Li Tieniu reluctantly spoke, "Big Brother, Master doesn't want us anymore?"
"Yeah." Huo Chong nodded.
Li Tieniu's eyes immediately turned red, and the other fellow apprentices also lowered their heads. The youngest, the sixth fellow apprentice, Liu Shiwang, had already begun sobbing.
Huo Chong didn't want his fellow apprentices to fall into despair. The only people he could rely on were these apprentices. Before everyone's emotions fell into the abyss, Huo Chong said loudly: "Master is gone, but I am still here. As long as I am here, there is nothing that cannot be overcome! Junior apprentices, how do you feel about following me these days?"
No one answered, and the fellow apprentices were still deeply trapped in the despair of being abandoned by their master.
Huo Chong stood up and shook his fellow apprentices' shoulders one by one, forcing them to look up at him. With their eyes fixed on him, Huo Chong asked loudly, "The people that Master offended came to our house, Zhu Youquan also made a scene, and those people in the village also tried to harm us. Did I hold on? Did I fall? You are all watching, so tell me the truth!"
Third apprentice brother Tie Niu was the first to struggle out of despair. He replied in a hoarse voice: "Big Brother, you are really amazing. You held on!"
Hearing the third junior brother express his trust in Huo Chong, the other two junior brothers finally woke up from their dreams and quickly said, "Big Brother, we will follow you from now on."
The three junior brothers had all experienced hardships, and Huo Chong didn't want to say too much at this time. He turned his head and looked at the tablet on the table. Although Zhu Youquan moved the tablet to see if there was anything valuable hidden under it, he didn't smash it to vent his anger after discovering that it was just a tablet.
Huo Chong straightened the tablet and ordered his fellow disciples to get a clay basin, light up the few scattered incense sticks and bring them in.
The three of them immediately hurried out. Not long after, the basin and incense that served as the incense burner were brought in. Huo Chong placed the incense next to the basin and led his three fellow apprentices to kneel down in front of the tablet of the ancestor.
Although the surroundings were still in a mess, the three junior brothers were all refreshed by kneeling down in front of the Grand Master in an orderly manner.
Huo Chong said loudly to the tablet: "The ancestors of all generations are in heaven. Today, I, Huo Chong, swear in front of the tablet of the ancestors that I will never let our sect fall!"
After saying that, Huo Chong turned to his fellow apprentices and said, "Apprentices, follow me and recite."
The fellow apprentices had not remembered what Huo Chong had just said at all, so Huo Chong repeated his words to them one by one.
Then he said: "From now on"
The fellow apprentices understood what Huo Chong was saying, and with a certain reverence, they chanted along: "From now on..."
"We are brothers"
"We are brothers"
“Sharing the Blessings”
“Sharing the Blessings”
“We share the same difficulties”
“We share the same difficulties”
"If I'm sorry to my fellow apprentices"
"If I'm sorry to my fellow apprentices"
“You shall not die well!”
“You shall not die well!”
After swearing an oath in front of the tablet of the ancestor, Huo Chong stood up and pulled up his fellow apprentices one by one. According to the 21st century model, they put their hands together in the order of senior brothers at the bottom and junior brothers at the top. Huo Chong said, "Brothers, if I have a bite of food, I won't let you go hungry. If I have a penny, I won't let you suffer poverty. Are you willing to follow me?"
The junior brothers had no other thoughts at this time, and they all said: "We will follow our senior brother from now on, and we will do whatever he tells us to do!"
"Good brothers, I will have to rely on you to help me from now on!" Huo Chong said, and then he pulled out his hands to hug the three junior brothers together. The junior brothers also hugged each other. At this time, Huo Chong could feel that everyone had finally become a small team.
Without being overly sentimental, Huo Chong let go of his arms and said to his fellow apprentices, "Everyone, follow me and clean up the house. It's impossible to live in such a mess."
After saying that, Huo Chong took the lead and started to clean up. The fellow apprentices wiped their tears and followed Huo Chong to work. After a while, the sixth apprentice who was in charge of the firewood room shouted, "Brother! Brother!"
Not knowing what had happened, they hurried over. The sixth apprentice pointed at the rabbit cage and shouted, "The rabbit has given birth!"
Huo Chong and the others went over to take a look, and indeed saw some weak little balls of flesh leaning against the mother rabbit's belly to suck milk. Although the mother rabbit looked listless, she was still alive.
Huo Chong had long forgotten about the rabbits these days, and just asked his fellow apprentices to take care of them as much as possible. Hunter Liu caught rabbits for food, and the rabbits were more or less injured when they were caught. The male rabbits didn't survive, and they quickly entered their last moments, and were then killed for meat. Only the pregnant female rabbit survived until now, and it was unexpected that this heroic rabbit mother gave birth to the baby rabbit in her belly.
"It's not easy for the rabbit either. If she can survive, so can the rest of us!" Huo Chong praised.
The fellow apprentices also felt somewhat encouraged, so they added more water and grass to the rabbits and continued to work.
While Huo Chong was working, he had already started thinking about what to do next.
Huo Chong was able to get out of the desperate situation because he used the method of fast project. The so-called fast means that Huo Chong cannot come up with a project by himself, but must use other existing projects. If Huo Chong sets up a stall by himself, not only will the risk be high, but the cycle will be frighteningly long.
However, the future plan cannot be like this. Huo Chong has gained time, so he must come up with a more reliable and controllable project within this time. Although raising rabbits is unreliable, it is not completely out of consideration.
But Huo Chong still has to consider projects with less risk. Thinking about it, Huo Chong sat down unconsciously. The fellow apprentices did not speak and continued to work according to Huo Chong's instructions.
