Chapter 266: Today is Different from the Past
Zhang Nianzu felt that they could no longer stay in Changsheng Street. Now they were like a military target and could be bombed by enemy missiles at any time. He signaled Li Changgui and others to pack up.
Li Changgui asked: "Where are we going next?"
Zhang Nianzu whispered, "I haven't thought about it yet, let's go pick up Xu Xiaofeng first."
When Old Wu saw several people packing up their belongings, he couldn't help but ask in surprise, "What are you doing?"
Zhang Nianzu took his hand and said, "Old Wu, when this matter is over, I will come back and repair the car with you."
Old Wu wanted to ask something, but Li Changgui said, "Brother, Nianzu is not an ordinary person. You just need to know that we are not going to do anything bad."
During this period, Old Wu's mind was entirely on Wu Doudou, but he also felt what Zhang Nianzu was going through. He was a rather slow and honest person, and didn't know what to say at this time, so he just stood at the door and watched these people leave.
Lei Tingting on the opposite side also looked over here in surprise. Zhang Nianzu smiled at her from a distance, took Li Changgui and others into the old Ford, and went straight to Lao Jiang's bar.
It was just getting dark when Zhang Nianzu and his friends arrived, and there were already quite a few people sitting in the bar.
Since Lao Jiang became famous in the First Battle, this place has also become a "net celebrity shop" on the street. Nine out of ten people who come to check in every day are burly men with scars and tattoos, but in the past, these people all came to visit their idols, and there was a happy atmosphere. But now the bar seems very chaotic and low-pressure. People who come and go have heavy hearts and sinister faces, as if they are tacitly planning something big.
Li Erhu had almost never been to such a place. He held a bottle of beer and looked at the big men passing by him, and said with emotion: "People in the north are still taller--"
When Lao Jiang was in office, he would play stylish jazz or classic old songs before the performances began. Now, the bar is filled with ear-shattering disco noise .
Zhang Nianzu frowned and asked, "Sister Xiaofeng, are you going to sing for people in this kind of environment?"
After dark, the disco music suddenly stopped, and there was no host to introduce the show. Teresa Teng walked onto the stage in a cheongsam. Someone in the audience shouted, "Beauty," which caused a burst of laughter.
Xu Xiaofeng looked calm but a little sad. She asked the backstage to play the accompaniment, which was an old song "The Past Can Only Be Relived". As the music started, Xu Xiaofeng's ethereal voice entered the song, with infinite feelings and sighs, like crying and complaining, which moved people.
Li Changgui felt more and more uncomfortable as he listened, and sighed, "It's really hard for this girl from the Xu family to sing "The Past Can Only Be Recalled" as "The Past Can't Be Recalled".
Zhang Nianzu said: "We will take her away after she finishes singing this song." They just wanted to go backstage to pick her up, but Teresa Teng sent someone to tell them that the program had been arranged and everything could be done after the performance.
Without Chiang Kai-shek in charge, the sad old songs could not give the group of people a moment of peace. They smoked, ate melon seeds, and poured beer foam on each other across their seats for fun. Zhang Nianzu felt very uncomfortable and kept looking at his watch.
At this time, a henchman suddenly walked to the stage, put a bottle of beer on the edge of the stage, and then inserted a hundred yuan into the bottle. He shouted to Teresa Teng who was still singing: "This is a reward from our brother Liang. Drink the beer and the money is yours." Then he pointed to the middle seat below, where sat a man in his thirties with a gangster-like face. There were a dozen henchmen surrounding him. When they saw that they had become the focus, they stood up and waved their hands and clasped their fists around.
This kind of tipping is common in the Errenzhuan stage of barbecue stalls. Errenzhuan actors are mostly grassroots and are good at making jokes. They put money on the bottle and send it to the people. The rule is to put the bottle upside down and put it into the mouth. The beer flows straight into the stomach without leaking. This job is not a big deal for these actors. In addition to being an extra income, it can also liven up the atmosphere. However, in today's situation, it is clearly an insult.
Teresa Teng glanced down, nonchalantly left Ma Zai aside and continued singing.
The henchman slapped the stage vigorously and said, "Hey, I asked you to drink, don't you want to give face to our brother Liang?"
In this small theater-like bar, the two hundred people present were most likely members or old friends of Thirteen Spices. Some of them had good relations with Chiang Kai-shek and even though they were not happy with him, Chiang Kai-shek had fled with the Japanese, and Shi Jingtang, who had just regained power, wanted to clean up the mess. At this critical moment, no one dared to openly support Xu Xiaofeng. That Liang Ge was the godson of a senior executive of Thirteen Spices and the leader of the young group. He came out to make trouble just to show off his authority as the "crown prince". Anyone who offended him would have a hard time in the future.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, the thug suddenly reached out to grab Teresa Teng's feet. Teresa Teng subconsciously stepped back, and the microphone fell onto the stage.
Zhang Nianzu stood up and led Li Changgui and others through the seats. Li Changgui and Li Erhu each guarded a corner of the stage. He jumped up, picked up the bottle of beer, put the money in his pocket, tilted his head back and drank the beer. He smiled at Brother Liang below and said, "I appreciate it on behalf of Sister Xiaofeng." Then he said to Xu Xiaofeng, "Sister, let's go."
The henchman immediately got angry and shouted, "Where the hell did you come from? Is that wine for you?"
Li Changgui looked at Zhang Nianzu, who shook his head slightly and said to the audience: "Everyone, Lao Jiang is my friend. He is responsible for what he did. You should understand the saying 'don't let your family suffer any harm' when you are in the underworld. I will take Xu Xiaofeng away to save you from any embarrassment. Let's just leave it at that."
Someone below sneered, "Who is this person? He is so arrogant."
A voice immediately answered him: "Zhang Nianzu."
This name seemed to have some kind of magic power, and everyone, whether they knew it or not, fell silent.
"Look how scared you are! Does he have three heads and six arms?" Brother Liang stood up lazily and said to the stage, "Zhang Nianzu, right? I've heard of you. Chiang Kai-shek protected you before, but now he's a traitor and left a little widow here. Do we still have to worship him like a god? I'll give you two choices. Either let Jiang Zhicheng come out and give an explanation, or let Xu Xiaofeng drink to apologize, otherwise you can't leave this door."
Zhang Nianzu said calmly: "Come up and talk to me."
"Hey - are you trying to show off?" Brother Liang took a step forward, and his dozen or so henchmen stood up and surrounded him in a fan-shaped formation with great momentum.
Zhang Nianzu whispered to Li Changgui, "We'll act according to circumstances."
Li Changgui nodded. He had been following Zhang Nianzu for a long time, and he knew the old man's temper very well. He went on stage to drink just now because he wanted to keep things quiet. Zhang Nianzu didn't like to get entangled with these people and didn't want to cause trouble. It would be best if you could leave just now, but it was obvious that someone didn't want you to go smoothly. If a fly is dangling in front of you and you can't drive it away with one or two swipes, you can only take out the fly swatter and insecticide...
More than a dozen henchmen rushed to the two entrances of the stage. Brother Liang pointed at Zhang Nianzu and said, "Don't run!"
Zhang Nianzu squatted on the stage and looked down at him, smiling and said, "I will definitely not run away, and you should not run away either."
Li Erhu took a stance and said bitterly, "I've had three fights this week..."
The lackeys were not stupid. They heard this man speak like an expert in fighting. They also saw that he was 1.85 meters tall and looked very powerful, so he might be a professional bodyguard. They saw that the other side was a middle-aged man in his forties with a dull face. So they rushed over like bees. Li Changgui raised his palm and heard a slapping sound. Every one he slapped fell down, just like a fly slapping a fly. The front fell down and the back followed. Ten or so lackeys used ten or so slaps and lay down in the corner of the stage. After hitting the man, Li Changgui took back his palm and stood there indifferently.
Brother Liang always relies on the human wave tactic when fighting with others. With these dozen henchmen by his side, when a fight starts, he shouts, just like a dozen hunting dogs rushing at their prey. He slowly dawdles behind, and when he gets close to the target and the target falls to the ground, he says a few harsh words. This method works every time. Today, he walked forward leisurely as usual, but halfway through, he found that none of his men were in front of him. At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on him. Just now, he told people not to run, and people wanted to see if he would run. Some regular customers of the bar shook their heads. Zhang Nianzu had fought more than once in this area, and each time he won with fewer people . What's more, he brought helpers today. Even if Brother Liang had just returned from another place, he should have asked about the kind of person his opponent was. It can be seen that the saying that drinking is harmful to health is really a fallacy. If Brother Liang often came to the bar, he would never suffer such a big loss...
Brother Liang is really a man, he won't run away if he says so... Isn't that pedantic? He turned his head and was about to hit him when he heard a weak voice saying, "Go up!" It turned out that Ah San was injured and had been sitting in the audience, and Brother Liang was unlucky to run in front of him. Ah San's upper body was slumped in the seat, and with a kick of his right foot, he kicked Brother Liang onto the stage across five or six rows of seats.
I don't know if it was because of excessive shock or stomach cramps, but Brother Liang struggled and knelt on the stage, vomiting violently. Zhang Nianzu glanced at him with his head down, not interested in arguing with him. He supported Xu Xiaofeng and said, "Sister Xiaofeng, let's go."
The bar with more than 200 people was in complete silence. They watched a few people walk to the door. Before Li Changgui turned around and closed the door, he said lightly: "It's really disappointing that Thirteen Spices is without the Thirteen Spices Tiger."
