Chapter 354: A Brawl in the Small Tavern

"Don't look at his age, he is an engineer at the Northern Automobile Factory," Chen Xueru said.

"I don't believe it, he isn't even 20 yet, right? How is that possible?" Xu Huizhen shook her head, not believing it at all.

"I can't be bothered with you!" Chen Xueru flicked her braid and walked away, then immediately shouted, "Zhuzi, come over and have a couple of drinks with me!"

He Yuzhu pulled up a chair beside Chen Xueru and sat down, greeting the foreign merchant sitting next to her: "Harasho!"

That was a man of about thirty, not very tall, with a scholarly air. He smiled and responded in Chinese: "Hello, my name is Xie Er Gai, and I came with Miss Chen to buy down jackets."

"You speak Chinese! Xueru-brand down jackets are worthy of the Soviet Union's winter!" He Yuzhu said with a smile.

Xie Er Gai gave a thumbs up, "That is a very good advertising slogan!"

"Your Chinese is not bad!" He Yuzhu praised.

Just then, the door curtain was lifted, and a young man with a thin face and the look of a Cadre walked in, heading straight to the counter. He took a brand-new rattle-drum out from his bosom and handed it to Xu Huizhen: "Huizhen, this is for our daughter!"

Xu Huizhen didn't take it, saying: "Cadre Fan, the little girl can't even roll over yet, how would she know how to play with this?"

"Keep it, she'll know how in a few days!" Fan Jinyou placed the rattle-drum on the counter.

"Not busy with official business today? Coming to support my business in broad daylight." Xu Huizhen's eyes darted, seemingly casting a spell.

Fan Jinyou was a bit dazed by the sight and hurriedly said: "I, I just finished inspecting the hygiene and stopped by to rest my feet on the way. The usual, two liang of liquor, one plate of garlic sausage."

"Coming right up!" Xu Huizhen turned nimbly, revealing a flash of white at her waist, and the wine dipper reached into the vat, making a clear "glug" sound.

He Yuzhu glanced over there, lowered his voice, and said to Chen Xueru: "This woman is too seductive, I can barely resist the temptation, no wonder my second uncle has his eye on her?"

Chen Xueru stepped hard on his foot under the table and scolded: "Your mouth really has no filter! Your second uncle is just a 'wobor', don't think so much!"

"What is a wobor?" Xie Er Gai asked.

Chen Xueru and He Yuzhu looked at each other and smiled, and He Yuzhu made a gesture of tilting his neck to carry something.

Xie Er Gai burst into laughter, "Chinese is truly profound and vast, this is just too vivid!"

"My second uncle wears an official uniform, how is he not a match for Xu Huizhen! And my second uncle is a proper member of the proletariat, while Xu Huizhen is a petty proprietor," He Yuzhu argued unconvinced.

"I am also a petty proprietor, do you look down on me too?" Chen Xueru said with dissatisfaction.

"We are friends, why are you saying this?" He Yuzhu said.

Chen Xueru rolled her eyes at He Yuzhu, "Your second uncle is at least in his thirties, and Xu Huizhen is only in her early twenties..."

"Fine, fine, I can't win an argument with you," He Yuzhu stopped bickering with her.

Xie Er Gai raised a glass of wine and said: "You two are a bickering couple!"

Chen Xueru glared at Xie Er Gai, "If you don't know how to use the words, don't use them blindly."

Xie Er Gai raised a glass of wine and said: "Brother He, a woman's mood is truly hard to fathom!"

Chen Xueru curled her lip and said: "See that? That one is Cadre Fan from the neighborhood office, he's chasing Huizhen too. But this person is just a freeloader, like a piece of dog-skin plaster; once he sticks to you, it's hard to tear off!"

"You know him so well, did he chase you too?" He Yuzhu leaned in closer, asking with a curious face.

Chen Xueru nodded, "His little schemes were seen through by me long ago, I didn't pay him any mind at all."

He Yuzhu was amused: "It seems your emotional world isn't lonely either?"

"Nothing good ever comes out of a dog's mouth!" Chen Xueru scolded.

While they were laughing and talking, the cotton door curtain was lifted, and a middle-aged man walked in with a scroll tucked under his arm.

"See that, another one has come," Chen Xueru nudged her chin toward the person who entered, "This person's surname is Xu, he's a teacher, and he's also one of Xu Huizhen's suitors."

"This one actually looks a bit scholarly, it seems my second uncle's rivals are getting tougher one by one."

"Isn't that so?" Chen Xueru said in a low voice.

Teacher Xu walked to the counter, his gaze burning, "Huizhen, let me discuss something with you. I want to use this painting in my hand to trade for that Tang Dynasty tri-colored glazed horse in Old Master He's room, what do you think?"

Xu Huizhen shook her head, "No trade."

Teacher Xu couldn't keep his face straight and said sheepishly: "Fine, pretend I didn't say anything," and turned to leave.

"Teacher Xu," Xu Huizhen called him back, "Since this painting was brought back, and it was an object the old master cared about while he was alive, taking it away again... I'm afraid that's not quite appropriate, right? What do you think?"

Fan Jinyou, who was nearby, had been listening with his ears pricked up, and now he hurriedly interjected: "Exactly! Teacher Xu keeps saying he's a good friend of He Lao Ye Zi; if you ask me, if he really were a friend, he should take this painting to the grave and burn it, that would settle a matter of the heart! Huizhen, don't you think so?"

These words were too vicious; the customers at the nearby tables also stopped their chopsticks and peeked over quietly.

Xu Huizhen's face darkened slightly, and she flicked the feather duster in her hand hard against the counter, "Cadre Fan, you are a neighborhood Cadre after all; instead of mediating disputes, you're here stirring up trouble, what are your intentions?" She turned back to Teacher Xu, "Teacher Xu, I'm not asking you to leave the painting for free, I'll waive your wine bill for a month!"

Fan Jinyou said sarcastically: "Teacher Xu, you're at this age, you should have some self-awareness. What, are you looking for someone to help you with your old age?"

These words were like a needle, piercing straight into Teacher Xu's heart.

His face flushed red, and he turned abruptly: "Fan Jinyou! Don't think that just because you're a neighborhood Cadre you can climb all over people! Who doesn't know your background, relying on freeloading..."

"Xu He Sheng, damn you!" Fan Jinyou was most sensitive about having his shortcomings exposed, especially in public, and immediately flew into a rage, reaching out to give Teacher Xu a hard shove.

Teacher Xu was caught off guard, his waist hitting the corner of the table. The pain made him gasp, and subconsciously he lifted his foot to kick Fan Jinyou's knee! At almost the same moment, He Yuzhu flicked his fingers under the table, and two small pebbles shot out, hitting Fan Jinyou's knee dead on.

"Ouch!" Fan Jinyou's knee went numb, and with a "thump," he actually knelt on the ground.

Seeing this, Teacher Xu gloated: "Cadre Fan, I can't accept such a grand gesture!"

At this, Fan Jinyou's face turned completely liver-colored.

He lunged up, swung his arm, and with a crisp "slap," gave Teacher Xu a solid, resounding ear-slap!

This slap was like poking a hornet's nest.

Teacher Xu was stunned by the blow, froze for a moment, and then the blood rushed to his head. He grabbed a plate of peanuts from the counter and smashed it at Fan Jinyou's head regardless of anything else!

"Bang—Clatter!"

The plate hit Fan Jinyou's head solidly. Fan Jinyou let out a howl, and blood immediately appeared on his forehead, with beads of blood streaming down his brow bone.

The Small Tavern exploded! The customers stood up one after another, knocking over tables and chairs, and plates shattered all over the floor.

"Stop fighting! Hurry and stop!" Xu Huizhen stamped her feet in anxiety.

Seeing that the time was right, He Yuzhu hurriedly pushed Cai Quanwu, who was still dazed beside him: "Second uncle, quick! Break it up!"

Only then did Cai Quanwu snap out of it, spreading his arms to block the two men, "Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Cool your tempers! If you want to fight... go fight outside, there are so many guests here!"

Fan Jinyou clutched his bleeding forehead and pointed at Teacher Xu, cursing loudly: "Xu He Sheng! You hypocrite! Who in the neighborhood doesn't know that you weren't good to your late wife at all? When she was dying, her body was already rotting..."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Xu was even more incensed and cursed back: "Pah! Fan Jinyou, you still have the nerve to talk about me? You're living off Ma Gua Fu's inheritance while fooling around with other women outside; do you think everyone else is blind?"

"I'll fuck your ancestors!" This sentence truly struck a nerve with Fan Jinyou; his eyes turned blood-red, and having completely lost his reason, he bent down, grabbed a long wooden bench, swung it, and smashed it toward Teacher Xu!