Chapter 23 Three Fellow Countrymen
Chen Jiechang turned around when he heard the voice, and when he saw Li Libo, he sneered, "Why can't it be me? You can come, but I can't?"
"Hey, are you looking for trouble?" Li Libo rolled up his sleeves and pretended to teach Chen Jiechang a lesson.
Xiang Changsong stood between the two of them and said with a smile, "You two have a very good relationship."
“Who has a good relationship with him? *2”
Liang Qu scratched his head and said, Chen Jiechang, he also had an impression of this man.
There are many people in Yixing City, with more than a thousand people, half of whom are from fishing families. There are only dozens of people of the same age. Li Libo is one of them, and Chen Jiechang is another one. They see each other every day and everyone knows each other.
Liang Qu was fifteen or sixteen years old, Li Libo was seventeen or eighteen years old, and Chen Jiechang was even older, around nineteen or twenty years old.
Compared to Li Libo who has two older brothers and has a lazy nature, Chen Jiechang only has an older sister who is a well-known fisherman with a daily income of over 100 Wen, almost the same as Liang Qu now.
Chen Jiechang doesn’t have a golden finger, he caught it relying on his own ability.
Xiang Changsong said, "It's not like there haven't been people from Yixing City here before, but it's quite rare to have three of you here at the same time. Since you all know each other, I'll leave the rest to Junior Brother Liang and Junior Brother Li."
Liang Qu nodded: "Okay."
"Brother Jack."
"A water."
Chen Jiechang nodded, his attitude was obviously better than that towards Li Libo. Speaking of the fact that he came to learn martial arts, there was indeed some Liang Qu factor in it.
On the day when the two of them caught the precious fish together, Chen Jiechang's limelight was completely overshadowed by Liang Qu. As they were both young people, they were naturally resentful and felt that they were being robbed of the limelight for no reason.
But on the day of paying the autumn tax, Chen Jiechang saw with his own eyes what Liang Qu did, and his indignation turned into admiration.
To be fair, if it were him, he would definitely not be willing to give out that stone of rice. Then he heard that Liang Qu went to learn martial arts.
Chen Jiechang had made quite a bit of money from selling the precious fish, and with that, he had a lot of surplus after paying the autumn tax. So he started to think about finding a way out.
After a while, Lu Shaohui came back. When he learned that he had another student, who was also from Yixing City, his brows frowned again, but he quickly calmed down.
Chen Jiechang sensed something was wrong, and his subsequent experience confirmed this. If Liang Qu and Li Libo had not pointed out his mistake, he would have had no idea whether the standing meditation he had performed was correct or not.
Before coming here, I thought about the low status of fishermen and that I might be discriminated against, but I didn't expect it to be so serious.
If Liang Qu and Li Libo had not laid a solid foundation under Hu Qi's guidance and were not able to take over as instructors, they probably would not be able to learn a few good piles in a day.
If Chen Jiechang hadn't heard from Liang Qu that there was a martial arts master named Hu Qi who he could rely on, he would have almost lost his patience.
Liang Qu consoled him, "Just bear with it for a while. Wait until I finish learning Crane Fist. Then I'll teach you."
Some of the stance exercises in the three boxing methods are similar, only about one-third are very different. If you have the foundation, you will be able to learn it quickly.
Liang Qu has finished learning the tiger boxing yesterday and this morning, and he will probably finish learning the crane boxing by tomorrow.
Chen Jiechang took a deep breath and suppressed his annoyance: "Sorry to bother Ah Shui."
"It's a small matter. There are only three of us from the same hometown in the martial arts hall, so we should naturally help each other."
Li Libo curled his lips: "Why don't you say you are bothering me? I just taught you, okay?"
"You? Ha."
"?"
"You said that boy went to learn martial arts?"
In the courtyard, Zheng Xiang, dressed in white brocade clothes, was circling around the peach tree. The falling leaves made it seem like he was in a complicated mood.
The servant in sackcloth bowed and said, "Yes, I have been following him for many days. For some reason, the boy surnamed Liang seemed to have suddenly become smart and his fishing skills have become more and more powerful. About half a month ago, he actually caught a precious fish called ox-horn pomfret. He sold it for six taels and five cents, and then went to Yang's martial arts hall to learn martial arts. The martial arts master Hu of the martial arts hall also said that he has a good physique. It has been more than ten days now."
"Yang's Martial Arts School? The Third Young Master is also learning martial arts there, right?"
"Yes." The servant paused, "Oh, there is one more thing. During the autumn tax two days ago, a fisherman named Chen Qingjiang owed seven dou of rice and was almost sent to Lanzhou to dig a canal. It was that boy who paid the difference with three dou of rice and six cents of silver. I asked around and they said it was because Chen Qingjiang had given that boy a sesame cake and a few pounds of grain before."
Zheng Xiang was a little surprised, then sneered with narrowed eyes: "A piece of pancake plus a few pounds of grain can be exchanged for a stone of fine rice. I want to do such a good deal."
The servant Ah Quan remained silent.
Zheng Xiang circled the peach tree again and suddenly cursed, "That Lin guy is so hateful. He kept me out for more than a month for no reason. What a lowly animal!"
There are two stewards in the Zhao Mansion, the chief steward is Lin Guiyong and the second steward is Zheng Xiang.
In fact, Zheng Xiang was not a housekeeper, but a hired servant in the Zhao mansion. However, he was smart and tactful, and gradually became the second housekeeper in the mansion.
Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.
It was impossible for the chief steward Lin Guiyong to watch Zheng Xiang rise and affect his own position, so there were often frictions and constant competition between the two.
Zheng Xiang tried every means to please the old man, and Liang Qu was one of his ways. However, before he succeeded, he was sent away by the chief steward on the day before the old man's 64th birthday, and went to Huangzhou to deliver gifts and do business on behalf of the second young master.
It was more than a month later when he came back. Not only did he miss the great opportunity to show up on his birthday, but he could only have his subordinates hastily deliver the gifts.
Although the second son was very happy and praised him for doing a good job, he was not the one in charge of the family, not to mention that there was an eldest son above him.
It was not until Zheng Xiang remembered that there was still a good-looking young man in Yixing City who could be operated, and then he heard from the servant that the boy had gone to learn martial arts, that he became extremely depressed.
Master Yang is extremely careful about his reputation. If any accident happens to his disciples during their apprenticeship, the Yang martial arts school will definitely investigate, even if it is just a pretense.
Knowing that Zheng Xiang forced people to buy and sell things, there would definitely be trouble.
Zheng Xiang was very confused as to why such a drastic change would occur to a man who was almost starving to death in the bald man's mouth.
Could it be that he really has come to his senses as people often say?
Zheng Xiang was a little skeptical, but he had to believe it.
It is impossible to act recklessly at this point. No one in Pingyang Town dares to mess with the Zhao Mansion, but that is the Zhao Mansion, it is Master Zhao, the eldest son, the second son and the third son, not him!
He still has to climb higher!
Bullying a teenager is a small matter, causing trouble is also a small matter, but because you waste the Zhao family's toilet paper, that is a big deal!
If the old man hears this, he will never be able to replace Lin Guiyong and become the chief steward of the Zhao Mansion!
Being cautious and treading carefully is Zheng Xiang's life creed.
"By the way, where is Baldhead Zhang?"
"I haven't seen him since last time. I guess he's too embarrassed to see you."
"You are an incompetent person." Zheng Xiang cursed again. After a while, he suddenly asked, "A Quan, has anyone in Pingyang Town ever gone too far in learning martial arts?"
"That's possible." Ah Quan laughed awkwardly. "I haven't heard of the other two. The Yang family martial arts school has been open for more than ten years. There have been a few Qianshou martial artists who have broken through the barriers, but definitely less than thirty."
"So how many people have entered the Yang family martial arts gym in the past ten years?"
Ah Quan did a quick calculation: "Five or six per month, that's nearly a thousand in ten years."
"Less than a thousand? Ha, then we'll just wait patiently for two months."
(End of this chapter)
