Chapter 27: Get Him!
Duomen ultimately didn’t have the nerve to follow Cao Weida to Yihongyuan. After all, he was older than Cao Weida, and Duomen couldn’t bring himself to let go of his pride.
Cao Weida didn’t mind either. After they parted, he went to the Confidential Section to find Zheng Chaoyang and informed him that there might be another business deal in a few days.
After Zheng Chaoyang learned about it, he immediately said there was no problem.
The previous transaction had gone too smoothly, so smoothly that it made him a bit unaccustomed.
In the past, transporting even a little supplies back to the red zone required caution everywhere, and even then, comrades would occasionally be exposed and sacrificed.
But last time, the transport went smoothly all the way out of Beiping’s territory, completely unobstructed, even making them feel a bit dreamlike.
And because they had cooperated once and built a foundation of mutual trust, when Cao Weida mentioned cooperation again this time, he immediately agreed without hesitation.
Money, the Communist Party didn’t have much of, but it wasn’t none either; they could scrape some together.
But supplies weren’t available anytime. If possible, the Communist Party would hate not to sell even the pot they ate from to exchange for money, just hoping for more supplies to boost the troops’ combat effectiveness a bit and reduce sacrifices in the ranks.
After finding Zheng Chaoyang, Cao Weida went to find Little Ear again and told him to quickly figure out a way to handle the house matter.
Little Ear agreed immediately.
“It’s still more comfortable being the boss. No need to lift a finger for anything—just give an order and it’s done.”
Cao Weida sighed, suddenly gaining some understanding of why some people were fond of certain privileges and power. Those who had never wielded power would never know how alluring it was. Hadn’t those emperors only let go of power in their hands right before death?
“Xiangzi, come on, let’s go out and grab a bite.”
“Alright, Master, sit tight.” Xiangzi was quite satisfied with his current life. The master truly treated him like a person, didn’t make him do this or that, didn’t take the car out much, leaving the rest of the time completely free, and the silver dollars each month weren’t few.
He silently calculated: twenty silver dollars a month. If he saved and skimped on food, he could buy a car in half a year.
However, if the master never fired him, he didn’t even want to buy his own foreign car anymore. Even if he did and earned money pulling it, it might not be as much as what the master gave, and the key was it was easy!
Xiangzi was happy, so his service was naturally even more attentive. The car pulled steadily and quickly, arriving near Tianqiao in no time.
Tianqiao was a famous gathering place for commoner culture in Beiping. Even in this war-torn era, it still maintained considerable human presence.
It gathered folk arts performances like acrobatics, opera, comic dialogue, and more, along with many various trades.
In terms of food, Tianqiao had always been renowned for its cluster of snacks, with many vendors selling fermented mung bean juice, fried dough rings, enema, donkey rolls, stewed offal, and other traditional snacks.
Not only tasty, but the prices were also affordable.
At the same time, it was also a place black gangs liked most, because they could collect plenty of protection fees!
“Right here. Park the car, come on, let’s go eat something. Any food restrictions?”
“Look at you saying that. For people like us, our lives are cheap—where would we have any food restrictions? If you reward me with a bite to eat, I’m already endlessly grateful.” Xiangzi knew his place. Although Cao Weida was easygoing, he never got cocky about it, always keeping his position clear.
Passing by a fermented mung bean juice stall, the boss with a face full of weathering grinned and called out: “Cao Ye, how about a bowl of fermented mung bean juice? Freshly made, hot off the pot.”
Cao Weida was quite satisfied with his attitude. Before him, the surrounding small stalls and vendors dreaded seeing patrolmen, as it meant these black-uniformed dogs were coming to collect respect fees again.
But since he took over, the protection fees here basically didn’t need to be paid anymore. He treated the vendors amiably too, and over time, both sides became familiar, so they proactively greeted him now.
But he was quite annoyed at the boss’s ‘sinister intentions’ and rolled his eyes irritably: “Give me a break. Drink one bowl of your fermented mung bean juice, and the fart it causes lingers from one end to the other without dissipating. You’re trying to harm me.”
Old Beiping’s fermented mung bean juice was a specialty, but even many Beiping people couldn’t accept it. That sour, spoiled smell was simply scalp-numbingly awful.
But plenty of people did accept it, because it was economical, filling, and if you got used to drinking it long-term, it even had a unique flavor, somewhat addictive.
But Cao Weida respectfully declined it. When he first arrived, he tried tasting it, but the result? One sip, spit for five minutes!
From then on, he developed an allergic reaction to fermented mung bean juice.
However, he couldn’t say it outright, so he just made excuses like it caused excessive farting.
The boss was amused by Cao Weida’s words. “Alright, looks like our fermented mung bean juice doesn’t have the good fortune to enter your stomach. Here we have some pea cake—want some?”
“Send it to the stewed offal stall over there.”
“Got it, sir. Taking it over right now!” The boss grinned, gestured with his hand, and then got busy with his own work.
Bringing Xiangzi to sit at the stewed offal stall, he ordered two portions of stewed offal and ate them huffing and puffing, eyes scanning around. He didn’t see any clueless punks causing trouble, but instead spotted several patrols of little devils.
“Well, looks like I can’t vent my temper today.” Cao Weida was a bit disappointed. With nothing else to do, he told Xiangzi to wait near the car, while he strolled around with hands behind his back, soaking in the atmosphere of this era.
Honestly, the experience was pretty good. Though later generations were more developed, they truly lacked the human touch of this era.
Just then, a burst of cheers came. Cao Weida, a lover of spectacles, immediately squeezed over curiously.
Only after going in did he realize a dozen or so half-grown kids were practicing wrestling on the fine sand ground.
Tianqiao was an important gathering spot for Beiping wrestling. All Beiping wrestling experts would congregate here to compete with each other, and it was the favorite spectacle of old Beiping’s people.
Cheers filled the surroundings, among them a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old maid cheering the loudest, jumping around noisily:
“Gouzi, use the leg trip! Lower your body!”
“Hey, Zhuzi you dummy, go for his groin!”
“Harder, quick—ah, what a shame!”
“Gouzi you hopeless thing, can’t even beat Zhuzi. Might as well die stupid!”
The defeated Gouzi felt wronged. “Zao’er sis, stop it. Zhuzi’s dad is a cook, eats full meals every day without skimping on oil and water. What do I eat? Where’s my strength?”
“Say you’re dumb and you are— so many excuses. You’re thirteen and can’t beat a twelve-year-old. Have the nerve? You’ve eaten a whole year for nothing!”
Zhuzi?
Could it be He Yuzhu?
Hearing this name, Cao Weida couldn’t help looking toward the victorious kid, about fifteen or sixteen, standing with hands on hips and strutting.
So, he was Zhuzi?
Well then, he did look pretty mature. At twelve years old, he looked fifteen or sixteen. Cao Weida chuckled inwardly.
But it had to be said, the kid had real wrestling skill. The title of siheyuan war god wasn’t for nothing.
“I’ll do it.” At that moment, a boy about Zao’er’s age, dressed in wrestling gear, walked into the wrestling area with a disdainful look.
“Tie Dan bro.” Gouzi rubbed his sore spot and called out.
“You step down first.” Tie Dan’s eyes locked tightly on Zhuzi. He’d trained wrestling with his master for no short time and had good judgment. He could tell He Yuzhu had real skill—he’d met a tough opponent.
But that’s what made it interesting. If they were all like Gouzi, it would lose the fun.
“Tie Dan, can you do it?” Zao’er said cool words from the side, full of doubt.
“What kind of talk is that? What do you mean ‘can I do it’? Of course I can—I’m great at it!” Hearing the doubt, Tie Dan immediately got upset.
“Let me tell you, I, Tie Dan, can pierce heaven and earth! Master said I’m a once-in-a-century wrestling prodigy. In wrestling, I haven’t yielded to anyone yet!”
He Yuzhu had never lost a fight with peers. Hearing this stirred his competitive spirit:
“You’re Tie Dan, right? You say you’re heaven-piercing build, I’m no shrinking violet either. Big talk anyone can do—better to see the real deal with our hands!”
“Name the rules: the sharp way or the bloody way!”
This was wrestling lingo: sharp meant for real, winner takes all by skill; bloody meant pull punches, save face for each other.
“Who you looking down on? Sharp!” Young lads all cared about face, and with so many watching publicly, who didn’t have competitive pride?
“Come on!” He Yuzhu naturally wasn’t afraid and immediately agreed.
Their wrestling match started quickly. It had to be said, both had solid wrestling techniques and were well-fed daily. They went back and forth fiercely, neck and neck.
In the end, He Yuzhu had a slight edge, throwing Tie Dan onto the sand with a shoulder hug throw.
He Yuzhu stood with hands on hips, laughing heartily, utterly smug. In contrast, Tie Dan on the sand doubted his life.
He’d lost—he actually lost!
His master had clearly said he was a once-in-a-century wrestling talent.
Zao’er immediately showed a schadenfreude grin. “Serves you right for strutting around usually. How’s that, lost now? See if you dare act cocky again, hee hee.”
Tie Dan got up silently and walked away. Zao’er felt she’d said the wrong thing, called after him a few times with no response. Temper flaring, she simply stopped calling, muttering: “Can’t even master your skills and now throwing a tantrum. Ridiculous.”
With Tie Dan gone, no one else came forward to spar with silly Zhuzi.
There were still some unconvinced who wanted to try again, but their stomachs growled with hunger—where would the strength come from?
Wrestling was very physically demanding, requiring lots of nutrition intake.
They’d just been cheering from the side, their mouths watering sourly nonstop.
Seeing no more spectacle, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only the little maid called Zao’er sis with a few half-grown kids.
“Oh~~ I remember now, this isn’t Tian Zao from that TV series Hutong? No wonder it sounded so familiar just now.” Cao Weida remembered: one Zao’er sis, one Tie Dan—so many TV series characters spotted, it had to be.
