Chapter 32

Liang Qu went home, found clean clothes to change into, and then jogged all the way toward Pingyang Town.

The leaves piled up on both sides of the road were getting thicker; the top layer was red and yellow, and the bottom layer was black and brown.

The wind blowing on his body felt like an ice blade, but Liang Qu only felt endless energy; he wasn't cold or hot, and what was burning in his chest was called passion.

Liang Qu tilted his head back; the huge setting sun descended bit by bit, reflecting his pupils into a brilliant red-gold.

The setting sun took away the sunlight from the earth bit by bit; the pale red forest turned black-red, and night would soon fall; this was the last glimpse of the sunset.

He suddenly felt that this world was not bad—no pollution, no cages, and the air was fresh.

A brief period of being down-and-out wasn't a bad thing; as long as the direction was correct, both simmering and stewing could be ways to become delicious; working hard was the same; there would always be a day to get ahead.

"Roar!"

Liang Qu shouted.

The mule pulling the cart by the road was startled, pulled the cart, and wanted to run into the forest; the driver whipped it several times before it returned to the right path, cursing in a low voice: "Idiot."

Had this word appeared so early?

Liang Qu was stunned, but he wasn't angry; he just smiled back. The driver saw this and left while cursing, thinking he had really met a fool.

Arriving at Pingyang Town, Liang Qu guessed that Li Li Libo and Chen Chen Jiechang should be hungry, so he bought a few steamed buns and took the familiar shortcut to the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall.

The gate of the martial arts hall was brightly lit; there was a large oil lamp every few meters after entering, and a lantern every ten meters.

Liang Qu carried the oil-paper bag and walked through the corridor with ease.

There were many more people on the martial arts field, about fifty or so.

Many people would go home to practice by themselves after learning the boxing, and meet again at the end of the month; the thirty people seen on the day of registration were not all of them.

It was just that there didn't seem to be any serious martial artists in the crowd; they were all apprentices.

Liang Qu thought that perhaps the martial artists had something to do, or had gone to pay respects to Master Yang in advance, so he didn't think much of it, but secretly, many people were glancing at him intentionally or unintentionally.

"Strange, why are they all looking at me?"

Liang Qu couldn't understand; he was down-and-out, and usually, no one paid attention to him; they were willing to be friends with him, but they wouldn't stare at him, right?

Was he late?

He remembered that once in high school, he woke up late and was caught by the head teacher who came to check on morning reading; many close classmates pretended to read but were actually watching the show, exactly the same as now.

Liang Qu had no choice but to pretend not to see them and went to the corner of the flower bed alone to find Li Li Libo and Chen Chen Jiechang.

Hearing footsteps, the two raised their heads, and after seeing Liang Qu, they lowered their heads in unison, but the bruises on their eye sockets and their swollen cheeks couldn't be hidden at all.

Knowing that the two liked to annoy each other, Liang Qu thought they had played too hard: "What's the situation? Did you two fight? Why are you hitting so hard?"

The two looked at each other, both silent.

Liang Qu realized something was wrong, squatted down, and asked in a low voice: "What exactly is the situation?"

Silence for a moment.

Chen Chen Jiechang broke the silence.

His swollen cheeks made his voice vague: "After you left, Lu Lu Tingcai brought a group of people to ask us for money, saying we smelled and affected their martial arts practice, and wanted two taels of silver each as compensation. We were angry and fought with them."

Two taels?!

Liang Qu was shocked.

This was asking for money?

This was asking for his life!

"What about that guy surnamed Lu?" Liang Qu had no respect for Lu Shaohui, and anger surged in his chest. "And Master Xiang, didn't you look for him? Master Xiang should have helped, right?"

"That guy surnamed Lu didn't even look at us properly." Li Li Libo gritted his teeth. "He turned and left! I don't know where Master Xiang is either; from noon until now, only us apprentices are left in the martial arts hall."

Liang Qu couldn't believe it; how could it be such a coincidence today?

"Originally, I knocked one out first, plus Brother Chen, two against three, the chance of losing wasn't high, but then three more people came to help them, and we lost."

Chen Chen Jiechang snorted when he heard this; he was very unconvinced; he could have seriously injured Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi, but who would have thought the other side had helpers? In the end, he only left a few bloodstains on Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi's neck.

"Now they want us to scrape together ten taels of silver, otherwise they'll find us to 'spar' every day in the future, pfft~"

Chen Chen Jiechang laughed at himself; he didn't regret it, just regretted that the three people behind came too fast, giving him no chance to strangle Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi.

It was useless to say anything now; he sighed: "We two discussed it; the fight was because of us, so we'll make up the extra four taels."

Li Li Libo nodded; they both felt a bit guilty, thinking it was their own insistence on fighting that caused one person to become three taels, and Liang Qu's family situation wasn't good to begin with, so naturally, they had to make up the extra gap.

The corner of the flower bed was silent.

Without human voices, the crickets in the flower bed felt safe and began to chirp intermittently; the sound wasn't clear, but instead sounded very old.

It was now early winter, and in less than half a month, it would be mid-winter; the crickets couldn't chirp anymore—it was dying, perhaps freezing to death on some night when the temperature dropped sharply.

On the martial arts field, the people who were communicating and exercising often looked at the corner of the flower bed that they had never paid attention to before.

There was mockery, coldness, and some who found it interesting.

The third young master of the Zhao family, dressed in brocade and finery, looked at the flower bed and then at another corner; that was where Lu Lu Tingcai, Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi, and others who had started the trouble were.

Those few were also silent.

With things having reached this point, could they get any benefits?

Impossible.

Zhao Zhao Xueyuan knew clearly that they would be punished, even more severe punishment.

In the past, this group could collect protection fees because those who were bullied didn't dare to speak up, and when martial artists were around, they basically fought outside the martial arts hall.

People at the bottom were used to being inferior, born to fear those in high and low positions; once deceived by Lu Lu Tingcai's rhetoric, they didn't feel that the high-and-mighty martial artists would help them.

Most people who suffered losses wouldn't think of reporting it to the officials, right?

Relying on the deception routine, Lu Lu Tingcai and the others were invincible, but they didn't expect to run into two tough nuts today; they took the initiative to attack an old student ruthlessly, starting with a brick.

It was just that he didn't know if the bones of this last apprentice from the same hometown were hard or soft.

Zhao Zhao Xueyuan was very curious.

At this time, Lu Lu Tingcai and the others knew they had made a big mistake, but young people's blood was surging, so how could they care about so much?

The matter was basically impossible to hide; now they were breaking the jar to smash it, asking for a more ruthless price, like gamblers with red eyes at the end of their rope, more dangerous than at any other time.

The difference was that Li Li Libo and Chen Chen Jiechang were still kept in the dark.

No one reminded them; everyone was watching the show.

The martial arts field, rammed with yellow earth, was illuminated orange-yellow by oil lamps.

Liang Qu stood up, the lamp light stretching his shadow very long, casting it on the wooden wall, flickering slightly.

Li Li Libo and Chen Chen Jiechang couldn't help but look up, seeing Liang Qu reach out and hand over an oil-paper bag.

"Take it."

"This is..."

"Take it!"

The crickets in the flower bed fell silent.

Li Li Libo and Chen Chen Jiechang reached out to take it, feeling the warmth inside the oil-paper bag, guessing it was food.

Liang Qu turned and walked toward the center of the martial arts field.

Everyone cast their gaze over.

Liang Qu looked around.

He had never been here before, let alone enjoyed such attention.

Tired,

Really tired.

He used to work overtime until midnight, tired like a dog, but he had never been as tired as he was now.

Starting from "Scabby-Headed Zhang," to the three Wang brothers, and that spirit monster in the water.

The whole society was like a dense, airtight net, trapping everyone who wanted to climb up.

Everyone trying to pass through was squeezed into a hideous and bloody mess in those narrow holes.

Those spiders, poisonous insects, and centipedes hung on one node of the big net after another, looking forward to the bloody prey struggling until they were exhausted, fighting for the bloody food.

Liang Qu looked at the corner on the other side.

Everyone was there: Lu Lu Tingcai, Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi, Yu Yu Weilong, Xiang Xiang Quji...

These... poisonous insects!

Liang Qu's gaze suddenly changed, becoming very quiet; he reached out his hand and pointed at the seven people.

"I want to fight you!"

The martial arts field suddenly became as silent as death.

"Pfft, haha..."

Someone laughed out loud.

Liang Qu was expressionless, staring fixedly at that person.

"Cough, cough."

The atmosphere was dead silent again.

Lu Lu Tingcai and the others had to stand up under the pressure of the gaze.

They actually already regretted it, especially Mother Xue Mother Xue Dingyi, regretting his impulsiveness, but at that time, his brother had been cracked open, so how could he think about so much?

But facing such arrogant provocation, sitting down would be too cowardly.

"You alone?" Lu Lu Tingcai, with a white bandage on his head, looked very funny, but with the backing of the six people behind him, no one would think it was funny. "You can't weigh your own..."

So cheap.

Liang Qu felt his chest was very stuffy, as if it were blocked by depression.

He patted his chest hard, making his chest hurt, letting that pain suppress all the depression and anger.

"I alone am enough! I alone, defeat all of you, all of you!"