We stood at the gate of the courtyard and did not disturb the martial artists. They practiced every move very seriously. Zhao Tiequan stood at the front of the team, looking at the martial artists with a sharp gaze, and occasionally said a few boxing proverbs to remind them.
Suddenly, a young man came through the middle of the team. He was stout and clumsy. It was Zhao Hongjun.
"Brother Hao, you are here!" Zhao Hongjun stood in front of us, panting.
"Well, what did you ask us to see?"
"Wait a moment, you will see it soon." Zhao Hongjun turned around and looked at the martial artists in the yard.
At this time, the sound of a bell rang in the corner of the yard. A gray-haired old man was holding a bright orange bell in his right hand, which was ringing non-stop. After ringing a few times, Zhao Tiequan, who was in front of the team, said, "Stop!"
Everyone stood up straight, motionless. Zhao Tiequan ordered again: "Let's eat."
The crowd dispersed and ran to the corner, where a large pot was set up, steam was coming out, and it was unclear what kind of rice was in it. Next to the pot, there were two bamboo baskets, and inside the baskets were porcelain bowls and chopsticks. Everyone took the bowls and chopsticks, rushed to the pot, and filled their bowls with rice. It turned out that Zhao Tiequan had to take care of the three meals of the disciples. But this shouldn't be a difficult task for Zhao Tiequan, right? So I was still wondering what Zhao Hongjun asked me to see.
I looked at Zhao Hongjun in surprise, but Zhao Hongjun's eyes were always fixed on the martial artists. After the martial artists had their meals, they went to various corners and gathered in groups of three or four to eat. There were also many martial artists gathered near us. Only then did I realize that they all had two steamed buns in their bowls. A martial artist complained, "Why are they steamed buns again, and they are served with pickles!" The martial artist next to him said, "Yeah, it's been a few days. Is the master in financial trouble?" The first martial artist said, "It shouldn't be. The master is so rich. He owns so many places on Kaiyuan Road and runs a big bar. How could he be short of money?" The next martial artist threw the bowl and said, "Then we have to eat these. No wonder so many brothers and sisters ran away!"
I looked at Zhao Hongjun in surprise. Zhao Hongjun clenched his fists tightly, his eyes full of stubbornness and humiliation. At this time, we heard a quarrel from the big pot. We all looked up and saw the old man in charge of serving food said, "You have already eaten two steamed buns, you can't have more!" The martial artist in front of the big pot said indignantly, "It's fine to eat steamed buns with pickles, why are you only giving me two steamed buns now?"
The old man said, "I just won't give it to you. I don't know why. Go ask Master Zhao!"
But Zhao Tiequan had already gone into the house and could not hear the quarrel outside. The martial artist was still not giving in and insisted on making another steamed bun. Slowly, the whole yard became noisy, accusing the old man of not making more steamed buns. "We are all martial artists, how can we practice kung fu without enough food?" "We cover so many places every day and help the master make so much money, how come we can't even have a full meal?" "If you keep going like this, I won't come anymore!"
"What's the commotion!" Suddenly, a loud shout came out, and the yard immediately became quiet. Peng Jiang was standing in the middle, his eyes wide open, obviously furious, and he said fiercely: "If you don't want to eat, get out!"
Peng Jiang's prestige was obviously quite high. No one dared to speak. They lowered their heads and ate their bowls silently. For a while, the only sound was the sound of people swallowing. Slowly, people began to chat in low voices. I asked Zhao Hongjun: "What's going on?"
Zhao Hongjun gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Hao, can't you see? My family's finances are in big trouble. Now we can't even afford to feed our apprentices! In the past, my family had a forest bar, so feeding these people was far from a problem. But now..."
"No." I said doubtfully, "Doesn't your father own a lot of entertainment venues? How come... you are so poor?"
"My dad protects those entertainment venues and doesn't charge a penny!"
"Why?!" I was shocked. This was something I had never expected.
"My dad said that martial artists should be chivalrous and not talk about money all the time. Protecting the weak and maintaining peace is our duty. So those entertainment venues that my family protects don't charge a penny."
“This… isn’t necessary. Helping people solve their problems and making some money…” I was stunned. I never expected it to be like this.
"My father's ambition is to promote martial arts. He doesn't care whether he makes money or not, so he has never taken money seriously. My family used to have a forest bar. This bar was very profitable and could provide meals for hundreds of people every day. Now..."
Miao Wenqing next to him suddenly asked: "Your family is so poor, how can you afford to open such a big bar?"
Zhao Hongjun said: "Su Yaming sponsored my dad, which was equivalent to Su Yaming helping my dad to support these apprentices. Of course, the condition was that when Su Yaming needed my dad, my dad had to help. Like the matter of Su Xiaobai that day, my dad had to go. In fact, my dad has done a lot of things like this. He was very painful and felt helpless. But there is no other way. If you take someone's money, you have to do things for them."
"But later, your father gave me the bar as an apology..."
"Yes, on the one hand, my dad wanted to apologize; on the other hand, my dad didn't want to be controlled by Su Yaming anymore, so he gave the bar to you!"
"But if this happens, wouldn't our financial resources be completely cut off? Why would your father do this..."
"I've said before, my dad has no concept of money, he just thinks enough is enough. After giving you the bar, he still had some savings, and he wanted to invest in something, but ended up losing it all, and now he's spending more than he earns..."
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