Chapter 20: Better a Chicken's Beak

"We won!" Ji Ying let out a cheer, lifting his chin at the others, his meaning plain: See? Just as I said, Brother Heifu is formidable!

"It was decided that quickly?" The other seven in the room looked at one another in disbelief; they hadn't even reacted yet…

"How did that happen…"

Dongmen Bao also wore an expression of utter incredulity. In the past, when he arm-wrestled with boys his age in the county—on the streets or under the trees—he had always used his right hand. This was his first time playing with his left, so he was not yet skilled in exerting force or positioning. Yet Heifu was as practiced as if he had drilled it a thousand times, and the sheer strength of his grip far exceeded anything Dongmen Bao had imagined.

"I refuse to accept this!"

He held it in for a long moment, then suddenly shouted, his eyes fixed dead on Heifu: "Again!"

"You—earlier you went on about being open and aboveboard, and now you lose and try to weasel out? What kind of man does that!" Ji Yi was having none of it and immediately fired off a barb, his words stinging Dongmen Bao's face bright red.

"Ji Ying." Heifu raised a hand to stop him, smiling. "Once more won't hurt. In that case, how about best two out of three?"

"Fine!" Dongmen Bao said through gritted teeth. He felt he had been careless a moment ago and had underestimated Heifu far too much. This time, he would be sure to stay on guard.

The two set their stances again, arms crossing. This time Dongmen Bao did not dare to taunt him; his lips pressed tight, he stared fixedly at Heifu's posture.

For the sake of fairness, this time they had Ji Ying call the start.

"Go!"

The moment Ji Ying's voice rang out, Dongmen Bao threw in every ounce of strength he had. This time he was not toppled by Heifu's explosive burst of power; they locked at the midpoint.

Their palms pressed tight, arm muscles straining, they lifted their heads and met each other's eyes, each seeing the stubborn grit in the other's gaze…

"This Dongmen Bao—even using his left hand, he's got a brute stubbornness to him." Heifu knew he had met his match, but that was fine. Arm-wrestling relied not only on strength but also on technique.

In his previous life, he had played this game plenty with his police academy classmates, so he knew that the most advantageous position for exerting force in arm-wrestling is when you can see your five fingers head-on, rather than the web of your thumb facing you. Also, by the principle of the lever, the closer your opponent's arm is to you, the more it favors your own exertion.

So once the two were locked in a stalemate, Heifu began subtly adjusting his posture and tried to draw Dongmen Bao's hand toward his own side—then suddenly slammed it downward!

"Here it comes again!" Dongmen Bao was forced to shut his eyes, his teeth clenched to the death, veins bulging on his neck and forehead, the three round birthmarks on his face flushing an even deeper red. He concentrated every shred of strength into his left hand, yet still could not stop it from being turned, inch by inch, until it was pinned against the earthen platform…

The second arm-wrestle: Heifu won again.

"I lost. You're the better man. This squad leader post is yours."

This time, Dongmen Bao did not shout "Again!" He rose to his feet, somewhat dejected.

Seeing Dongmen Bao—who had been overbearing the entire day—actually concede defeat of his own accord, everyone in the room looked astonished and could scarcely believe it. The gazes they turned on Heifu now held even greater admiration from those who already admired him, and deeper fear from those who already feared him.

After this contest of strength, there was no longer any dispute over who was the head of this room.

Yet Heifu, having won, did not gloat. Instead, he said to Dongmen Bao, who was sulking where he stood: "Brother Bao, in truth, you did not lose."

"What do you mean by that?" Dongmen Bao immediately spun around at those words.

Heifu raised his left hand and said, "I didn't have a chance to say it earlier, but the truth is, I am left-handed."

"Heifu, you won fair and square—why bring that up!" Ji Ying grew frantic. Watching the arrogant Dongmen Bao eat humble pie had delighted him beyond words; who would have thought Heifu would lay the whole truth out in the open? Ji Ying's face filled with alarm…

Heifu, however, thought nothing of it and said deliberately, "This arm-wrestle was actually to my advantage and unfair to Dongmen Bao. How could I conceal that?"

With that, he bowed with clasped hands toward the somewhat shamed and angered Dongmen Bao and said, "That is how things stand. Today's contest doesn't count!"

Dongmen Bao's expression flickered through uncertainty for a long moment, countless thoughts flashing through his mind. In the end, his anger slowly subsided. He sighed and said, "Left hand against left hand—in both deciding moments you didn't use any underhanded tricks against me, but won openly and honorably. How can that be called unfair? Besides, the fact that you told the truth and didn't hide it shows you had no intent to deceive me…"

He cupped his fist and said, "A loss is a loss. I have nothing more to say. You take the squad leader post; I will absolutely not contest it again!"

The reason Heifu had revealed the truth was, first, that they would be living together day and night for the next month, and that little secret of his was bound to be found out. Second, it was also a gamble on Dongmen Bao's character. Sure enough, this rough fellow had a pride of his own.

Heifu burst into hearty laughter: "A straightforward man indeed!"

With the ease of an old friend, Heifu stepped forward, clapped Dongmen Bao on the shoulder, and said, "Brother Bao, the way I see it, between you and me—in strength, in martial skill—it's truly hard to say who is better!"

"Hard to say who is better?"

Dongmen Bao turned those words over in his mind, and his anger vanished completely, replaced by a touch of delight.

Heifu had just made a name for himself in the county; the young men were all buzzing about his exploits and regarded him as a brave warrior. Dongmen Bao, though also a standout locally, was only known within their Dongmen neighborhood. Step beyond that tiny patch of ground, and who even recognized him?

Now to be called "hard to say who is better" by Heifu, the warrior the whole county was praising—how could he not be pleased?

One had to understand that Dongmen Bao's relentless challenging of Heifu earlier was precisely to gain fame by defeating him. For young men like them in the village wards, nothing mattered more than reputation. Sometimes, for the sake of a name, there were plenty who would even stab themselves with a knife. So although he had ultimately lost, to receive such mutual-respect praise from his opponent—Dongmen Bao found it very gratifying.

Striking while the iron was hot, Heifu added, "I've also heard a saying: 'No discord, no concord.' Let's just consider today a meeting of friends through arm-wrestling. What do you say?"

After being showered with compliments, Dongmen Bao nodded in a daze: "Fine! No discord, no concord!" As he spoke, he also clasped his hands and bowed to Heifu.

Now that they were friends, everything was easier to discuss.

"There is one more thing."

Heifu said to him, "The squad still needs a squad deputy. Would you be willing to take the post?"

Seeing hesitation flicker across Dongmen Bao's face—likely unwilling to be subordinate to another—Heifu reasoned with him: "In truth, this squad leader, squad deputy—they're nothing but sesame-seed-sized minor functionaries, and not even formal appointments, just temporary conscript roles. They hardly count as higher or lower in rank."

As he spoke, Heifu shot Ji Ying a meaningful glance.

Though Ji Ying disliked Dongmen Bao, he listened to Heifu and knew he must have his reasons. He took the lead in stirring things up: "That's right! The eight of us are all just common soldiers—what qualifications do we have to be squad deputy? The way I see it, Heifu and Bao are the men with the highest rank and best martial skill in this squad. They're the most fitting to be our squad officers, perfectly fitting! Don't you all agree?"

"Exactly." The others chimed in with their agreement.

At this point, Dongmen Bao found himself riding a tiger and unable to dismount. Only after a long pause did he reluctantly say, "In that case… I'll be squad deputy for this one month."

"It's settled then! We'll work together!"

Heifu smiled and clapped palms with him in a pact, thinking to himself that his strategy had indeed worked.

He had long since thought it through: this month of conscript labor would not be easy to endure. Outwardly, Heifu had to guard against that Centurion Bin's retaliation; inwardly, he wanted to keep everything under his own control. That was why he had fought for this squad leader post. As the saying goes, better to be a chicken's beak than an ox's rump. At Heifu's current station, the "ox" was far out of reach, but this "chicken's beak" right before him—that he was determined to seize!

Dongmen Bao was a rather interesting person. Overbearing, yes, but judging by how he conducted himself, he was a straightforward man typical of this era. As long as you treated him with sincerity and earnestly befriended him, he was not so hard to win over.

As the two of them were busy with their "mutual admiration," Chao Bo, who had been watching from the wall the whole time, also breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't come to blows, he wouldn't have to brave the rain to report them.

But seeing that the two had already divided up the posts of squad leader and squad deputy between themselves, Chao Bo, as an old-timer who had served many times, could not help but speak up in warning: "You two, the squad leader and squad deputy of conscripts are not positions we decide among ourselves."

Dongmen Bao immediately took offense. His eyes swept over fiercely and he cursed, "You old fool—at your age and still a common soldier. Is there any place here for you to speak?"

"I…" Chao Bo was shot down, his face flushing red with stifled indignation.

Heifu, however, walked straight toward him, frightening Chao Bo into trembling. To his surprise, Heifu instead gave him a polite bow and said:

"Many thanks for the reminder, elder. This is Heifu's first time serving; there are many things I am not clear on. In this coming month, I will need to seek your guidance often, elder. You did say before that you would look after me, your young fellow townsman."

Heifu spoke to each person according to their nature. With rough fellows like Dongmen Bao who had a touch of the knight-errant about them, he won them over with strength and treated them with sincerity. With older men like Chao Bo, he adopted the stance of a junior, put on an inquiring tone, and drew them into conversation, asking about this and that.

Uncle Chao was immensely pleased by this, and proceeded to recount every rule and custom of being a garrison conscript to Heifu in full detail.

As it turned out, although squad leader and file leader were only minor temporary military ranks, they still had to be held by someone with a noble rank. Their squad only had two men of the first rank, Dongmen Bao and Heifu, so the squad leader and file leader would indeed have to be chosen from the two of them — but they would still need the two centurions' approval tomorrow...

"For the garrison conscripts' training, is Centurion Bin in charge or Centurion Chen?" Heifu asked.

"It's Centurion Chen. Centurion Bin is in charge of the county regulars," Uncle Chao replied.

"Then there's no problem." Heifu immediately breathed a sigh of relief. With that, the matter was as good as settled.

Afterward, he asked again what exactly garrison conscripts had to do.

"The first half of the month is for drill, the second half is for repairing city walls — building fortifications, paving roads, mending bridges..."

"During drill, what exactly do they train?"

Heifu knew nothing about building bridges and paving roads. What he cared about was: what exactly did the reservists of this era train in? If it was drawing bows and shooting arrows, or riding horses and slashing with blades — sorry, but he truly had no skill in those.

Uncle Chao grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth, and said, "Nothing special — mainly formation drill and marching order."

"Formation drill and marching order? That's it?" Heifu blinked, nearly bursting into laughter.

Here's a joke for you: someone who graduated from the Armed Police Academy could do the goose-step in their dreams!

That stuff — in his previous life, he had drilled it for three whole years!

PS: The contract's been signed. Thank you everyone for the tips. So many things happened with the last book — it's honestly shameful to speak of. I, Qiyue, truly have no face to accept any more tips. Just drop a vote as you pass by, that's enough.

(End of chapter)