Accompanied by a Fool To Do Farming - CH 23

Chapter 23: 麻烦上门

(Trouble come to the door)

Translator : LittleYen

After sending Zhao Amu away, Zhong Ziqi walked into the kitchen in a happy mood. What made Zhong Ziqi laugh was that Zhao Zheng’an was still staring at the two puppies with his eyes wide open, which looked funny and harmonious.

“Eat up! It’s delicious.” Zhao Zheng’an nudged the bone with a look of anticipation, he imagined that, in the future, the dog would look like an impressive presence, he would be so imperious when he took it out, and Hu Zi and the others would definitely envy him.

The dogs were still small,after holding out for so long, when they saw that the man in front of them was really harmless, they dropped their guard. The big one came over to take the bone away, while the little one followed him to the corner so they could eat it together.

Zhao Zheng’an gave a happy smile.

“Do you like it?” Zhong Ziqi asked.

“Like it.”

“Name it if you like it!”

Zhao Zheng’an thought seriously about it but he eventually shook his head, he couldn’t think of one: “Wife,you name it!”

When Zhong Ziqi saw that he really couldn’t think of one, so he had to name it instead, seeing that the two dogs had dark fur, he said casually, “Let’s call them Da Hei (Big Black)and Xiao Hei (Little Black).”

He wouldn’t admit that he was a loser at naming!

Zhao Zheng’an clapped his hands happily and shouted at the two little dots who were eating so well, “Da Hei! Xiao Hei! ”

The dogs didn’t care about him.

Zhong Ziqi shook his head,left him alone, now he had two puppies to play with, so he wouldn’t be bored anymore.

In the evening, after dinner, Zhong Ziqi sat on the bed and counted the money he had made in the past few days. In the nearly half a month since he had opened the shop, he had made a net profit of nearly two Guan(One Guan= string of 1000 cash). For an average family, two Guan is more than enough for half a year’s expenses.

Zhong Ziqi was not satisfied, now that he had passed the initial difficult period, he wanted to think of something more permanent and profitable, the cold noodle business was only for this season, after that it was gone, it was better to … Suddenly Zhong Ziqi had an idea in mind.

The next day, Zhong Ziqi went out to his stall as usual. It didn’t take long for the peace and quiet time to pass as the trouble came to the door.

“Who are you?” Zhong Ziqi looked warily at the three men in front of him. The leader of the group was a middle-aged man with an oversized body, gleaming across his whole face, a goatee on his chin and narrowing his small eyes,looking shrewd and ruthless.

“You are the owner of this noodle stall, right? I am the owner of Changshun Restaurant, my surname is Chang.” Boss Chang said with a smile.

The other customers in the stall had already got up and left, they knew very well what kind of person he was.

“I wonder what is the purpose of Master Chang’s visit to my small stall?” Zhong Ziqi looked at this man, he knew that he was not a good person, he just hoped that he would not come hard and hurt the innocent.

Zhao Ning, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Zheng An were all standing behind Zhong Ziqi, watching nervously.

“I heard that not too long ago, Jin Hua Restaurant’s boss came, and I also heard that you turned him down, so what I came for, I’m sure you know what it is for, think about it carefully oh, I’m not as good as that old man.” The old man said with a smile as he looked around. It’s just that Boss Jin’s smile looked kind, this person, on the other hand, looked eerie.

Zhong Ziqi’s heart thumped,what he feared was what he would get: “This – I hope Boss Chang will give me some time to think about it, okay? I will give you a satisfactory answer in two days.”

“He he, then I’ll give you two days, if you don’t agree, I don’t think you’ll have to do business in Qing Shui town anymore!” Boss Chang gave him a threatening sweep before he stomped over a table causing the bowls on the table crackled and broke all over the floor.

He grunted and walked away satisfied.

Zhong Ziqi was relieved to see the trio walking away, feeling sweat on his back, his arm in his hand tense, Zhao Zheng’an’s face angry, if he didn’t hold on him tightly, Zhong Ziqi had no doubt that this guy would have rushed up and fought them.

“That’s too much! ” Zhao Ning said with red eyes and furious, he was really frightened, he had lived in the village since he was a child, he only occasionally went to the town, he had only heard about how scary the rich people were but never really seen them, even the rascals in the village were not so cruel.

Zhong Zizhi was fine, after all, he was a grown man over twenty years old (I guess around 25). He had seen a lot of different kinds of people, so at least he wouldn’t be scared out of his wits by such a scene, but there was no denying that he was indeed shocked.

“Wife, he’s bad! bullying my wife!” Zhao Zheng’an glared in anger,it was the same for him, it was the first time he had seen such a scene so he was both scared and angry, afraid that they would hurt his wife even though they had left, but they had still destroyed his wife’s things.

“Hey, if you guys provoke him, you all would be in trouble!” Uncle Song next door shook his head and sighed, his voice thick with worry.

“This kind of thing is not just once or twice. It happens all the time on the docks. Just kicking over a table is, by comparison, quite gentle.There used to be a man on the pier who was very good at cooking seafood. He was a guy with a tough personality. He was famous for his good cooking so at that time, half of the customers who came to eat at the pier went to eat his food. Unexpectedly, he was targeted by the surnamed Chang. He was almost crippled in the end.” Uncle Song paused for a moment as he said this.

“And what happened after that?” Zhao Sheng asked, while the crowd had a vague guess in their minds.

Sure enough.

“Later ah, he had to compromise and handed over the recipe to Master Chang. This Changshun restaurant has always acted ruthless, cunning, vicious and merciless; he had no one to turn to, he was also afraid to get his own family involved in this before he compromised. Now, he no longer has a stall or opens a business, but has gone home to farming in earnest.” Uncle Song finished with a sigh, he seemed helpless, there was regret in his eyes.

For a while, the atmosphere in this small place was oppressive and silent.

“This..what should we do? We’ve just done a good business, do we have to …?” Zhao Ning was so anxious that he was on the verge of tears, not knowing what to do (六神无主) .

[六神无主: literary it means six gods without master, the actual meaning is: Out of one’s wits (idiom) / distracted / stunned. This describes panic / anxious, no idea, not knowing what to do. Explanation for this phrase of six gods/ 六神 ; Taoists believe that the human heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, and gallbladder are each dominated by gods, called six gods. ]

Zhao Sheng also had a serious face although in his heart, he was also feeling a sense of helplessness. If a fight could solve the problem, then he, as a man, would immediately rush in, but this was not such a simple matter. Behind the scenes, there were so many twists and turns that he didn’t even dare to think about it.

Zhong Ziqi took a deep breath and suddenly smiled: “Don’t you guys worry, I know what to do, I already prepared in my heart!” He made a decision last night, today he came to catalyse it, but this Changshun restaurant’s owner was too arrogant, otherwise he could have considered whether to sell him the recipe or not, but unfortunately … he, Zhong Zizhi is not someone who can be threatened, the tougher you are, the tougher he is, he is not tough on the surface, he is tough in his heart, he is stubborn in his heart, from the matter of taking the vegetables,you can see he is a ‘seek revenge for the smallest grievance’ person, how can he conveniently give the recipes to them just like that? He would rather give the recipes away for nothing to others, rather than let them have their way.

[睚眥必報 yá zì bì bào : seek revenge for the smallest grievance / not let anyone get away even with a hostile look]

Zhao Zheng’an was on the sidelines with an impatient look on his face, he was infected by this tense atmosphere, he could hear that man seemed to be back again later, back to bully his wife again? He wouldn’t allow it! (╰_╯)

“Ziqi, don’t be a hero (逞能) !” Zhao Sheng said worriedly. He was afraid that he would follow the same path as the man Uncle Song had just described.

[ 逞能 : to show off one’s ability / to boast one’s merits]

“That’s right, Ziqi, if worst comes to worst let’s just sell it to him! Safety is important na! With your skills, you can make money doing anything.” Zhao Ning also said anxiously.

“You guys are still too naive, if you really tell Chang Shun the recipe, even if they buy it, it will be at a very low price. Some of them who sell the recipe, even if they sell it, they will be robbed at the end of the day. I don’t have to say it, you know it well.” Uncle Song said, he truly loved these children, he did not want them to suffer, but the world was dark and complicated, he could not give them shelter, he could only pray that they would be safe and sound.