sinovels Chapter 1725 An Ancient Chinese Saying (Part 2) - Thanks to Alliance Leader Kang Pangpang for the ex
Chapter 1725 An Ancient Chinese Saying (Part 2) - Thanks to Alliance Leader Kang Pangpang for the ex
Chapter 1725 There's an old Chinese saying... (Part 2) Thanks to Alliance Leader Kang Pangpang for the extra 45 chapters.
Zhao Jun suddenly swore, and the smile on Ishii Keiya's face froze instantly. Murata Tomotaro, recovering from his shock, suddenly leaped in front of Zhao Jun.
At that moment, a large hand appeared beside Zhao Jun, grabbed the 1.65-meter-tall Murata Tomotaro by the collar, and lifted him up.
It was Li Baoyu who made the move. When he came out of the door, Chen Yifeng and the others who were following the three Japanese soldiers were all shocked.
Previously, Li Baoyu's height and weight were the same, both 190 cm. But shortly after the New Year, Li Baoyu gained weight and is now approaching 200 kg.
His large frame gave him a very imposing presence.
Murata Tomotaro, who was grabbed by Li Baoyu, threw a punch at Li Baoyu, but when Li Baoyu straightened his arm, Murata Tomotaro's fist could not hit Li Baoyu at all.
Murata Tomotaro was no pushover. When he couldn't hit Li Baoyu's face, he became enraged and punched Li Baoyu's arm.
Li Baoyu reacted quickly, pushing Murata Tomotaro away, causing Murata Tomotaro to fall backward uncontrollably.
Fortunately, there were people behind him; Big Leather Jacket and a companion helped Murata Tomotaro up.
At this moment, Chen Yifeng stepped forward and stood between Li Baoyu and Ishii Keiya, saying, "Let's talk this out, let's not fight!"
“I’ve already told you everything, there’s no need for us to say anything wrong.” Zhao Jun said bluntly, “My house won’t let you in, and we won’t work with you, so just leave.”
After saying this, Zhao Jun pointed at Murata Tomotaro and said, "You little devils, if you keep talking back to me, I won't say I'll make sure you can't leave this village, but I guarantee I'll beat you to a pulp."
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Murata Tomotaro seemed unconvinced, but was held back by the two men in the leather jackets.
Seeing this, Zhao Jinhui and Li Baoyu stepped forward together. Zhao Jinhui rolled up his sleeves and said, "Damn it, if you're not happy, let's have a go!"
"Dude, what are you doing?" Chen Yifeng saw that things were not going well and quickly tried to persuade him, saying, "It's not that serious."
"Alright!" Zhao Jun waved his hand and said to Chen Yifeng, "This is my doorstep. You and your little devils get the hell out of here."
Hearing this, Chen Yifeng was still unwilling to give up and hurriedly said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Buddy, Mr. Ishii is here to do business with you. Let's find a place to sit down and have a chat."
“My family doesn’t have much to sell.” After saying this, Zhang Yuanmin gestured with his chin toward Zhao Jun and said, “This is our leader, so his words represent me.”
"Did you hear that? We have nothing to sell you." Zhao Jun chimed in, stating, "Even if we did, we wouldn't sell!"
As he spoke, Zhao Jun looked at Keiya Ishii and emphasized, "Give me 80,000 dan, and I won't sell to the Japanese!"
"Dan" is a traditional unit of weight. One dan is usually fifty kilograms, so eighty thousand dan is four thousand tons.
Zhao Jun's words are a local saying, meaning that even if you bring 80,000 dan of grain, you can't exchange it for a single hair of mine.
After speaking, Zhao Jun turned and entered the courtyard, followed closely by Lin Xiangshun, Zhang Yuanmin, and Xie Chen, and then Zhao Jinhui. Li Baoyu, who was at the back, glared at Chen Yifeng and then closed the gate.
Kei Ishii, who was locked out of the door, was also blushing. He glared at Tomotaro Murata, who hurriedly lowered his head.
Kei Ishii glanced back at the Zhao family compound, then turned and got into the car.
Chen Yifeng caught up to the car door and asked, "Mr. Ishii, where are we going next?"
"Let's go!" Ishii Kei didn't say where to go, just said "Let's go." Chen Yifeng sighed and turned to the two drivers, saying, "Let's go down the mountain first and find a place to stay in the county."
Everyone got into the cars, with the Jeep in front and the Santana behind.
The atmosphere in the Santana was tense from the moment they got in. Kei Ishii had a gloomy face and didn't say a word, as did Mayumi Mori. Chen Yifeng and the driver both looked helpless.
After several days of running around and spending the whole morning on the road, it all turned out to be a wasted trip, and I almost got beaten up in the process.
"Mr. Chen." Suddenly, Keiya Ishii's voice rang out, and Chen Yifeng quickly turned around and asked, "Mr. Ishii, what's wrong?"
"Chen-san," Kei Ishii asked Chen Yifeng, "Can your club put some pressure on them?"
The gang that Keiya Ishii mentioned is called a violent group in Japan and a triad in China.
Of the eight people who came today, three were Japanese, and the other five were Chinese, all of whom were involved in organized crime.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yifeng instantly understood. Ishii Keiya wanted him to summon his men so he could use some methods against Zhao Jun and his group.
Chen Yifeng smiled wryly and said to Keiya Ishii, "Mr. Ishii, there's an old saying in China..."
Before Chen Yifeng could finish speaking, he saw Ishii Kei's face darken. Chen Yifeng was taken aback, thinking to himself, "This is the kind of attitude this Japanese guy likes."
Chen Yifeng never expected that ever since the incident in front of Zhao Jun's house, whenever Ishii Kei heard the phrase "There is an old Chinese saying," he would recall Zhao Jun's words, "Little devil, I'm pretty!"
At this moment, although Chen Yifeng did not know why Ishii Keiya was being displeased, he continued, "Even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake."
After saying that, Chen Yifeng gave a wry smile and said, "We can't send too many people, and we don't dare to fight on their turf."
"Then what about finding a local gang?" Kei Ishii was quite quick to draw inferences, but Chen Yifeng shook his head and said, "That doesn't seem to work either. In these remote mountain villages, people tend to side with each other."
"Then let them fight amongst themselves!" Keiichi Ishii suddenly remembered a "big duck," recalling Zhang Laibao saying that his family and Zhao Jun's family didn't get along.
In this village, it's easy to find out who the people who cheat on the road are.
Before leaving, Chen Yifeng went to Wang Fu's shop and bought four more packs of pastries.
When they arrived, Zhang Laibao was at home boasting.
Hearing the car horn, Zhang Laibao ran out excitedly and nodded to Chen Yifeng, calling him "brother."
"Young man," Chen Yifeng said to Zhang Laibao, getting straight to the point, "We need your help with something. If you can help us, we'll be happy to oblige."
"What's up?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Laibao immediately became interested.
"Come on, let's talk in the car." Chen Yifeng put his arm around Zhang Laibao's shoulder and led him to the front of the Santana.
At this moment, the driver got out of the car, and Chen Yifeng held the door and invited Zhang Laibao to get in.
As Zhang Laibao got into the driver's seat, his eyes lit up as he turned the steering wheel, completely unaware of Ishii Keiya and Mori Mayumi sitting in the back.
Once Chen Yifeng was seated in the passenger seat, Zhang Laibao calmed down a bit and smiled at Chen Yifeng, saying, "Brother, what's up? Go ahead and say it."
“Young man, we’ve come here to discuss some business with Zhang Yuanmin…” Chen Yifeng hadn’t finished speaking when Zhang Laibao said, “Brother, it won’t do you any good to do business with him.”
"Huh?" Chen Yifeng was taken aback and quickly asked, "Then why?"
“He’s Zhao Jun’s lackey.” As Zhang Laibao spoke, he counted on his fingers: “Zhao Jun’s three biggest lackeys are Zhang Da Kudang, Li Da Hu B, and Xie Er Lengzi.”
Even though Keiya Ishii and Mayumi Mori, who were sitting in the back row, were experts on Chinese, they were completely bewildered.
"So if we want to deal with him, we have to go through Zhao Jun, right?" Chen Yifeng asked. Zhang Laibao nodded and said, "Absolutely. If Zhao Jun doesn't speak, none of them will help."
After saying this, Zhang Laibao thought for a moment and then said, "Why are you thinking of doing business with Zhang Yuanmin? What does he have? Even if he has bear bile and hides, they all have to be handed over to Zhao Jun."
"What if it's a very valuable bear bile?" Kei Ishii suddenly asked. No matter how well he spoke Chinese, it was different from that of a native Chinese speaker, and Zhang Laibao immediately recognized it.
But Zhang Laibao didn't care. Instead, he said, "Even if it's expensive, it won't work. Zhao Jun is the leader, and he has the final say."
Hearing Zhang Laibao's words, Ishii Kei recalled Zhang Yuanmin's statement in front of the Zhao family's gate, knowing that he couldn't get around the issue of Zhao Jun. So he asked Zhang Laibao, "If I want to buy Zhang Yuanmin's bear bile, is there any way I can do it?"
"I don't have any good ideas," Zhang Laibao said, scratching his head. "I don't get along with any of them, and I can't even talk to them..."
Before Zhang Laibao could finish speaking, he saw Ishii Kei also make a gesture to the side, and then take two large bills from Mori Mayumi's hand.
Keiya Ishii handed the money to Zhang Laibao, who was overjoyed. Looking at Keiya Ishii, Zhang Laibao asked uncertainly, "Is this for me?"
Kei Ishii also loosened the money in front of him and nodded emphatically, saying, "Thank you."
“This…this…” Zhang Laibao hadn’t had this much money since Zhang Zhanshan died. Looking at the twenty yuan in his hand, Zhang Laibao gritted his teeth and looked at Ishii Keiya, saying, “There’s someone who should be able to help you.”
"Who is it?" Kei Ishii was secretly delighted when Zhang Laibao said, "His name is Li Ruhai, the second son of that Li Dahu family I just mentioned..."
"No?" Chen Yifeng interrupted Zhang Laibao and asked, "Didn't you say that big bastard was Zhao Jun's lackey? Then what about his kid..."
“Brother, you don’t know?” Zhang Laibao laughed, “Li Ruhai is a money-grubbing, treacherous man.”
After saying this, Zhang Laibao looked at the twenty yuan in his hand and felt that something was wrong.
Then, Zhang Laibao stuffed the money into his pocket and said to Ishii Keiya, Chen Yifeng, and the others, "I'll tell you something, and you'll understand. This Li Ruhai, he eats and drinks at Old Zhao's house every day, and then he and Wang Meilan... Zhao Jun's mother, are vying to be the head of the family affairs department. What kind of jerk is that?"
"Family Director?" Ishii Kei was also confused, and looked at Chen Yifeng to ask, "Mr. Chen, what kind of cadre is the Family Director?"
"I think he's the women's director?" Chen Yifeng said, then asked Zhang Laibao, "You said that guy is Da Hu B's brother? How come he's the women's director?"
“See, that’s what I mean,” Zhang Laibao said with a look of disgust. “This guy just loves to chat and joke around with old women.”
The Northeastern dialect was a headache for Kei Ishii, but he roughly understood what Zhang Laibao meant. His eyes lit up and he thought, "Greedy and lustful, this guy is worth a try."
"Where is he now?" Chen Yifeng asked Zhang Laibao. "He's at Zhao Jun's house too."
Thinking of the people next to Zhao Jun earlier, Chen Yifeng feared that Li Ruhai was among them.
"He..." Zhang Laibao was about to speak when a voice came: "Aunt Qi, where is my uncle?"
“This is Li Ruhai!” Zhang Laibao pointed forward and said, “The one speaking is him.”
"Can you call him over?" Chen Yifeng asked. Zhang Laibao replied, "Brother, come with me. This guy's a sly one. Just tell him you're looking to buy something from him, and he'll jump for joy and come with you."
Without a word, Chen Yifeng got out of the car with Zhang Laibao. Zhang Laibao led Chen Yifeng to the outside of Old Qi's courtyard, where they saw Li Ruhai helping Wu Dongxia pick beans. Zhang Laibao called out, "Li Ruhai, come here!"
"What are you doing?" Li Ruhai turned around, and Chen Yifeng could see clearly that he had never seen this person before in front of the Zhao family's gate.
"Good news!" Zhang Laibao said, "This older brother wants to ask you to buy some things for him."
"Oh dear!" Upon hearing this, Li Ruhai hurriedly walked out of the courtyard, nodding and smiling at Chen Yifeng as he went.
Chen Yifeng was taken aback when he saw Li Ruhai's appearance. He was too young, maybe fifteen or sixteen? How could someone so young be a women's director? Could he really be a seamstress?
At this moment, Li Ruhai raised his hand and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Chen Yifeng, saying, "Brother, you look unfamiliar."
Li Ruhai wasn't home early this morning; he went to Yongfu Village to visit his old classmate. He was unaware that the Japanese had come to his door.
He had just returned not long ago when he entered the village and heard that Wu Dongxia and her husband had been fighting, so Li Ruhai came over to offer his condolences.
"Ah..." Chen Yifeng quickly clasped his hands in response, saying, "Young brother, we are from out of town."
"Ah, hehe..." Li Ruhai chuckled upon hearing this and asked Chen Yifeng, "From out of town? What do you have your eye on in our mountains?"
"Let's talk in the car." Chen Yifeng turned to the side and raised his hand, inviting Li Ruhai to follow him.
Li Ruhai strode away, and Zhang Laibao wanted to follow, but then he saw Chen Yifeng wave to the man in the leather jacket and say, "Give those four boxes of gifts to the young man?"
The man in the big leather jacket quickly stuffed four butter paper packets into Zhang Laibao's hands and sent him home.
Chen Yifeng invited Li Ruhai into the Santana, but Li Ruhai sat in the passenger seat. Then Chen Yifeng drove away from the Zhang family compound.
Li Ruhai, who got on the bus, was much more composed than Zhang Laibao. He didn't look around, but turned back and nodded slightly to Ishii Keiya and Mori Mayumi.
Keiya Ishii smiled and nodded in response. At this moment, Chen Yifeng said to Li Ruhai, "Young man, this is Mr. Ishii from the island nation."
Upon hearing Chen Yifeng's words, Li Ruhai was taken aback, then stared wide-eyed at Ishii Keiya and said, "Kid..."
Before Li Ruhai could finish speaking, he saw Ishii Keiya glare at him, and the Santana suddenly stopped in its tracks.
Li Ruhai swayed slightly and quickly corrected himself, saying, "My little VIP!"
Upon hearing those three words, Keiya Ishii, Mayumi Mori, and Chen Yifeng were all taken aback. Then, Li Ruhai burst into laughter, turned to look at Keiya Ishii, and said, "There's an old saying in China..."
Hearing Li Ruhai's opening remarks, Ishii Kei's expression, which had just softened, changed again. Then Li Ruhai continued, "Isn't it delightful to have friends coming from afar? Hahaha..."
Kei Ishii recognized the compliment and immediately smiled and nodded in response to Li Ruhai.
Li Ruhai smiled again, cursing Ishii Keiya, Chen Yifeng, and Zhang Laibao in his mind, but his smile remained as warm as a spring breeze.
When Li Ruhai got into the car, he saw that there were four people inside and outside the jeep, not counting Chen Yifeng, and then there were five people including the driver who just got out.
At this moment, a jeep followed behind, carrying Chen Yifeng and two Japanese soldiers. Li Ruhai knew that a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, so he pretended to be friendly with Chen Yifeng and the others.
"Young man," Chen Yifeng said to Li Ruhai, seeing how cooperative he was, "you know Zhao Jun, right?"
“I know him,” Li Ruhai nodded, “That’s my older brother.”
"Mr. Ishii wants to get to know your older brother," Chen Yifeng said. "Could you put in a good word for me?"
"Connecting people?" Li Ruhai frowned. "What business do you have with my elder brother?"
“Young man.” At this moment, Kei Ishii also spoke to Li Ruhai in broken Mandarin: “My family has been engaged in traditional Chinese medicine for more than a hundred years. I came to China this time to purchase some Chinese medicinal herbs for my family.”
"Chinese medicinal herbs?" Upon hearing this, Li Ruhai's eyes darted around and he said, "So you want to buy bear bile from my older brother?"
“Yes!” Kei Ishii also smiled and said, “But Mr. Zhao Jun seems to have a misunderstanding about us islanders. I would appreciate it if you could help me introduce him.”
As he spoke, Kei Ishii took a stack of 100-yuan notes from Mayumi Mori, which looked to be about twenty.
Kei Ishii also handed the money to Ruhai Li, who quickly raised his hand and refused, saying, "This won't do, this won't do!"
Seeing that Li Ruhai refused to accept the money, Ishii Kei also put aside his pride, took the money with both hands, handed it to Li Ruhai, and bowed his head, saying, "Please."
"This..." Li Ruhai looked at Chen Yifeng upon seeing this. Seeing Chen Yifeng nod, Li Ruhai quickly turned back and said, "It would be impolite to refuse, and I would feel ashamed to accept it."
After saying that, Li Ruhai took the money.
Seeing that Li Ruhai had accepted his offer, Ishii Kei smiled at Li Ruhai and said, "Please help tell Mr. Zhao Jun that the price I offered will definitely not disappoint him."
"You want both copper and straw gallbladders, don't you?" Li Ruhai's next question stumped Ishii Kei as well.
“Ah, maybe it’s just a different name.” Li Ruhai smiled and asked Ishii Keiya, “It’s just that after bear bile is dried into powder, there are yellow ones and green ones. We call the yellow ones copper bile and the green ones grass bile.”
After saying this, Li Ruhai added, "Generally, grass gallbladders are more common than copper gallbladders."
“Copper gall, yellow…” Kei Ishii also knew about bear gall, and he knew immediately that these two were not the golden bear gall he was looking for.
Kei Ishii was very patient. He said to Li Ruhai, "The bear bile from Changbai Mountain in China is of very high quality and is in short supply in our island nation. I'll say it again: the purchase price will definitely satisfy Mr. Zhao Jun, but he's unwilling to sit down and talk with us."
"Hehe..." Li Ruhai chuckled and said, "Let's talk business, let's talk business. How can we make a deal without talking?"
“That’s right!” Chen Yifeng interjected, “Zhao Jun got a bit agitated. When we went there just now, he got angry with us because he said something wrong.”
“That would be bad.” Li Ruhai laughed. “We Chinese have an old saying: ‘Even if a deal falls through, we should still be on good terms.’”
Keiya Ishii's expression shifted, and finally he smiled at Li Ruhai and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."
"Sure, sure!" Li Ruhai smiled and nodded to Ishii Keiya, then asked, "If my older brother agrees to talk to you, where should I find you?"
Upon hearing this, Keiya Ishii looked at Chen Yifeng, who then said to Li Ruhai, "Then I'll give you a phone number."
Three minutes later, the Santana stopped at the eastern end of the village. When Li Ruhai got out of the car, Keiya Ishii, Mayumi Mori, and Yifeng Chen personally got out to see him off.
"Please!" As Keiya Ishii and Mayumi Mori bowed deeply to Li Ruhai, Li Ruhai quickly clasped his hands in greeting and said, "You're too kind."
Kei Ishii straightened up, said goodbye to Li Ruhai, and the eight of them got into the car and headed out of the village.
Li Ruhai stared at the car, his face beaming, repeatedly waving in greeting. Only after the car disappeared from his sight did Li Ruhai's expression darken, and he said, "I'll pay you a damn damn damn!"
I'll update at the same time tomorrow, and there will be an extra chapter.
Before I started writing the book, I farmed at home. After I started writing, I leased out the land. My family had twelve mu of land for our own food, and I also cultivated eight mu of paddy fields. My rice was very good. The villagers also grew rice, and if they wanted to give gifts, they would buy my rice.
One November, someone said that the Japanese wanted to buy my family's rice. My reply was that I wouldn't sell it even if you gave me 80,000 dan (a unit of weight).
I'm not saying this to boast about myself, but to express how disgusted I am with the Japanese.
(End of this chapter)