Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 25: Finding Xu Wuliang
Huaiyuan Town, with the horse-drawn path on the east side of Baijian River as its main street, was one of the most important grass markets in Tongbai Mountain in the early years.
Over the past 150 to 160 years, the population has grown, and three branch streets have been expanded on the south side of the main street. Eight or nine alleys run through them, almost outlining the outline of the Hedong street market in Huaiyuan Town.
Liutiao Lane is located in the southeast corner of the street market and was originally the outer edge of Huaiyuan Town.
As Huaiyuan Town was not a county, it had no qualifications to build city walls. In the early years, willow branches were planted as boundaries. However, as the population grew and the market expanded, this place became one of the alleys of the Hedong market; the willow branches also became mostly jagged ancient willows.
In the past two or three decades, more and more merchants and travelers have been traveling east and west along the Zouma Road, and poor villagers have come to Huaiyuan Town to make a living. In the military camp on the west side of the river and the outskirts of the street market on the east side of the river, there are more and more shabby huts in those easily flooded and unowned low-lying areas, and tens of thousands of people are crowded there.
People who settled in the street market in the early years were either wealthy families or landlords in the surrounding area, or they had small businesses in the street market. Most of them had a stable life and were well dressed. But when Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er walked to Willow Lane and saw the pedestrians passing by in a hurry, most of them were ragged, pale and hungry, which was a clear distinction.
When his mother died, the few acres of land in the family were all used to pay for the funeral. Looking at the people living in thatched huts south of Willow Lane, Xu Huai felt that if he had not been taken in by his Seventeenth Uncle and Su Di in the past two years, he would most likely have to live there as well, enduring hunger and cold every day.
Xu Huai looked at Liu Qiong'er's charming face, and at this moment he was also tense, wondering what memories it brought back to her.
Xu Huai didn't dare to conclude that there were no abducted women and children in Yuehonglou, but he was sure that most of the girls were actually sold by their families.
When Tang Lingde handed over the indenture, Liu Qiong'er took it and held it in her hand, not allowing anyone else to take a look. But before Xu Huai found Liu Qiong'er, he specifically inquired about her life experience and learned that she was sold to Yuehonglou when she was twelve or thirteen years old.
This is definitely not a pleasant memory for anyone.
It had just rained in spring, and the Willow Alley was muddy and the air was filled with the smell of mule and horse feces and urine. Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er walked along the tiny bit of dry land at the side of the alley and came to the "Ge Ji" blacksmith shop - this was passed down after Xu Wuliang's father-in-law passed away.
A doorway was dug out in the courtyard wall, which served as a shop open to the public. A badly peeling wooden lacquer sign was hung on one side.
A stove was burning brightly in the shop. A thin little girl in coarse clothes, her face blackened by the stove dust, was pulling the bellows with great effort.
In mid-spring, Xu Wuliang, with his bare chest, took a red-hot short blade out of the fire with tongs, and raised the hammer to forge it rhythmically.
Xu Wuliang is just over forty years old, with some grey strands of hair on both sides, showing that he has had a hard time in recent years, but the tendons between his arms are like little mice, rolling with the impact of the hammer on the vise, full of an indescribable sense of power, showing that he has not given up his skills.
"Dad!" The girl saw Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er walking to the door, and timidly called out to Xu Wuliang who was concentrating on hammering a short blade.
The shop was low, and half of Xu Huai's face was blocked by an iron plow hanging from the beam. Xu Wuliang looked up and saw only Liu Qiong'er's face. He greeted her:
"Miss Liu, what I'm making right now is the makeup knife you wanted. You have high requirements and you paid enough, so of course I dare not give you a perfunctory answer. Look, this is a craft I learned from the Jingsheng Imperial Army. Don't be fooled by the fact that this makeup knife is less than half a foot long, but it is made of the best iron material, covered with medicinal mud and fired with a unique secret method, and forged for three full days to remove impurities. If you don't believe me, come and take a look at the pattern of this short blade. Is there any difference between it and the knives and scissors we usually use? This is not yet finalized. Calculating the time, it will take at least the afternoon to be made. The scabbard is ready, but the handle must be made of fine sandalwood inlaid with silver. I can only trouble you to come again in the evening."
Actually, there is no difference between makeup knives between men and women. Anyone can wear it as a self-protection or waist ornament. Women nowadays carry it with them mainly to prevent harm. The handles are mostly decorated with silver, so it is also called a silver makeup knife. Men hide it in their sleeves or pockets, so it is also called a bag knife.
Liu Qiong'er had overheard the assassin say that the Xu family members who returned from the Jingsheng Army might be secretly involved in protecting Wang Bing, so she couldn't resist her curiosity and borrowed a silver makeup knife to test Xu Wuliang.
Xu Wuliang thought that Liu Qiong'er had remembered the agreed time wrongly, and couldn't wait to come over early to take away the silver makeup knife that had not yet been made.
Liu Qiong'er stepped aside.
"Xu Huai, why did you come to see me?" Xu Wuliang exclaimed in surprise.
He had just greeted Liu Qiong'er with a hammer and pliers in his hand. He threw the hammer and pliers on the forging table, wiped his hands on the apron that was full of holes burned by sparks, and walked over with joy, looking Xu Huai up and down:
"It's been a few years since I last visited your uncle Wu Liang. You've grown so tall now. It seems Xu Wu Jiang didn't dare mistreat you, otherwise I wouldn't forgive him! How did you get here? What did Xu Wu Jiang do to send you here? Xu Wu Jiang is really something. Why would he ask you to run errands for such a small matter when he could send anyone else?"
Although he had been avoiding this place intentionally in the past few years, Xu Wuliang had always been paying attention to him. Xu Huai felt sentimental for a moment and didn't know how to say some things.
"Manager Xu, can we talk for a moment?"
Although Willow Lane was dilapidated and muddy, it was much more bustling with people coming and going than the area around the courtyard they had their eyes on. Liu Qiong'er thought it would be more convenient to talk in the courtyard.
"Did you come here with Miss Liu?" Xu Wuliang pointed at Liu Qiong'er in surprise and asked Xu Huai.
Huaiyuan Town is not big, but not small either. What happened in Yuehonglou had already spread to the military camp, but Xu Wuliang in Liutiao Lane had not heard of it yet.
"Things are a bit complicated, let's talk in the backyard!" Xu Huai said.
"Okay, let's go to the back and talk," Xu Wuliang shouted at the girl, "Xiao Huan, you keep an eye on the fire. If you dare to go out and play, I'll break your legs!"
There was a door on the side of the shop, which led directly into the yard. But as soon as they entered the yard, they heard a "ping pong pong" sound coming from the shop in front. Through the half-open door, Xu Huai saw three men walking into the shop behind them, picking up several knife shovels that were used as samples and hammering them on the pliers.
"Master Ge!" Xu Wuliang was not angry. He forced a smile on his bitter face and walked back to the shop, apologizing humbly to those people, "Miss Liu from Yuehonglou made a knife for me a few days ago and gave me ten thousand coins. I'll tell you, there are always people who understand good craftsmanship. This shop may have good fortune in the future. Master Ge, please bear with me. I will definitely pay you back bit by bit!"
"Xu Wuliang, how long have I been taking care of you?"
The lazy man in the lead, who was a bit bald and had sparse hair tied into a bun, was chewing a blade of grass and wanted to sit down, but he couldn't find a clean place to sit in the blacksmith shop, so he cursed and said,
"You said, in this shabby place, except for poor people who can't squeeze a few coppers out of their pockets, who else would come to you? Miss Liu from Yuehonglou asked you to forge a knife, and you still want to trick a ghost? Why is she forging a knife, is she going to kill someone? Ask the men in Huaiyuan Town, if Liu Qiong'er from Yuehonglou wants to kill someone, nods and says she is willing to sleep with him for a night, how many people do you think will jump out to help her kill, and why do she need to come to this shabby place like yours to forge a bird knife?"
"Someone from Tang's warehouse?" Xu Huai asked Liu Qiong'er in a low voice.
Liu Qiong'er glanced at him sideways. She had heard a lot of things, but apart from those who were qualified and had the style to spend a few taels of silver to go to Yuehonglou to listen to her singing and playing a few songs, she really didn't know many people in Huaiyuan Town.
There were hundreds of people in Tangji Warehouse, from the manager to the grooms and laborers. There were also people specifically responsible for collecting and lending debts. How could she recognize them all, since she had never come into contact with them?
Besides, she didn't know whether Xu Wuliang had borrowed money from Tangji Warehouse, but no matter what, if she and Xu Huai didn't intervene, Xu Wuliang would not be able to pay off the debt.
Nowadays, if you lend money and return 90% of it, you are considered to be extremely conscientious, and most people even double the money every year.
So, either don’t lend money, or if you encounter difficulties or famine, and go to money lenders, who won’t be squeezed dry until not even a bone is left?
If it weren't for this, how many alleys in Hedong Street in Huaiyuan Town would have houses owned by the surname Tang?
If it weren't for this, how could the big clans such as Tang and Xu have thousands or even tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Tongbai Mountain, where there was already an urgent need for arable land?
"Ge Laitou, what are you doing? Are you here to cause trouble? Do you think we are afraid of you?" At this time, three young men in tattered clothes came over from outside, pushed away the lazy man who was collecting debts, protected Xu Wuliang, and questioned the lazy man aggressively.
The lazy man sat on the table beside him with a pout, spreading his hands to show that he had no intention of causing trouble. He said to Xu Wuliang through three young men: "Xu Wuliang, I also run errands to make a living. I have helped you delay until today, which can be said to be the most I can do. If you don't pay off the debt, the boss will ask Deng Langjun to judge, and I can't do anything about it. But since I'm here today, you have to give me some interest and let me buy it back to report to the boss! This short blade is good, I will accept it first..."
The lazy man was also a connoisseur of valuables. The makeup knife on the pliers table had not been forged yet and had not been equipped with a handle, but looking at the forging marks he could tell that it was a top-quality piece that Xu Wuliang had carefully forged over the past few days. He picked up a scabbard from the table against the wall and wanted to put the makeup knife in it, ready to take it away as interest.
"This is really a makeup knife custom-made by Miss Liu from Yuehonglou. I have over a hundred dollars on hand. Ge Laozhuang, you take it first." Xu Wuliang stopped him.
"Xu Wuliang, what do you mean? You want to attack me by relying on your numbers, right? You'd better think about the consequences. If you touch me and I become lame or broken, can you afford the compensation with your shabby shop?" the lazy man shouted.
"Fuck you!" Xu Huai walked into the shop, slapped the lazy man in the face, and cursed, "How dare you take away the silver makeup knife that my Miss Liu customized? I'll beat your mother to death!"
There is a science to slapping someone in the face. When Xu Huai gave this slap, he did not intend to give the lazy man and his two followers a chance to resist.
In this move, he used the horizontal slashing force of the Fu Mang Knife and the flipping fist stance of the Fu Mang Fist. When he stepped forward, he used the shaking of his body to drive his palm with his elbow. It was so fast and fierce that the lazy man had no chance to dodge.
The lazy man staggered and fell to the ground sideways, spitting out a mouthful of blood with a molar mixed in it - this was because Xu Huai had no intention of killing him, otherwise he would have taken advantage of his unpreparedness and broken his cheekbone with a single punch.
The lazy man sat on the ground, covering his swollen cheeks. He felt his head was swelling. He opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word for a long time.
The other two hangers-on who were standing outside the shop door waiting to see the fun, saw their accomplice being beaten to the ground, and they also gritted their teeth and glared, but they didn't dare to rush in.
They were sure that Xu Wuliang and his three apprentices had roots in Huaiyuan Town, and would know the consequences even if they took action, so they dared to come and act tough. But who could guarantee what Xu Huai, a fool, would do?
It is said that the lazy ones are afraid of the powerful ones, and the powerful ones are afraid of the stupid ones who don't care about their lives - if they rushed into the house, and this idiot Xu picked up a sharp knife from the clamp and stabbed them, who would they go to cry to?
"This is the silver makeup knife I asked blacksmith Xu to make, and you just want to take it away for no reason. Should we go to Mr. Deng to talk it over?" Liu Qiong'er walked in from the yard after seeing Xu Huai shock the three young scoundrels with his move, staring at the lazy man who was sitting on the ground in a daze and questioning him.
Deng Gui was the inspector and also the warden of Huaiyuan Town. Outside of the clan, all cases that did not involve human life were usually reported to Deng Gui for judgment.
This was what the lazy man had said to scare Xu Wuliang just now, and Liu Qiong'er returned the same words to him at this time.
In Huaiyuan Town, Liu Qiong'er, who seldom went out of Yuehonglou, didn't recognize many people, but there were not many people who didn't recognize her; the same was true for Xu Huai.
After a while, he recovered, looked at Xu Huai with resentment and hatred, then stood up covering the swollen half of his face, turned around and left with his two men.
