Chapter 48: Selling One's Life

  It wasn't even half an hour after I sent those people away, and I started receiving calls one after another. It seemed like they had colluded with each other. The people on the phone uniformly used a tone of "a big shot doesn't care about trivial matters" to ask me to meet at 9 o'clock in the evening at a bar called "Reversing Time" to "have a chat". At the end, they all used an elder brother's tone to tell me: "Xiao Qiang, you must give face, oh." With implicit threats.

  It seems that all the recruitment personnel in the city have temporarily formed a united front to reason with me. I really don't want to make an enemy out of this, and now that I'm strong and capable, I have to think about the future. If I pass 10,000 this year, next year my clients will be some kind of doctor or something, and I'll be in trouble, so I agreed with them.

  Third Sister saw that I was answering the phone with a gloomy expression, and asked if I had any trouble. She said: "Why don't we call Dai Zong and Yang Zhi to help you settle the matter?" I was very surprised by the personnel list she provided, and she explained to me: "Yang Zhi is quick-handed, and Dai Zong is quick-legged. With these two men, not a single person will be left alive."

  Hmph, I think she'd better change her name to "Sweeping Star" instead. Is this supposed to be helping me?

  I took the bus with her to the city and asked her: "Are you going home with me?"

  "Next time..." she said, pointing at the Yu Lan oil advertisement on the train station billboard and asking me, "Have you used this before? How's the effect?"

  I'm embarrassed to say: "I only use Da Bao."

  "Go ahead, go ahead, I'll be back in a while."

  I told her: "Remember, taking a minibus costs 1 yuan. The driver might overcharge you if he sees that you're not from around here."

  We broke up and I regret saying the wrong thing. She misunderstood this character, they were popular in that black shop back then, and that was a real slaughter.

  As I walked into the alley, I heard the familiar sound of mahjong and my eyes began to well up with tears. Now I realize that I was wrong to have treated Liu Bang poorly in the past. He's an emperor who founded a dynasty, yet he came to my humble abode and had to share a bed with Er Bai, putting his life at risk every day by being under the same roof as his sworn enemy, all because he fell for my ugly baozi. His hobby is playing small-stakes mahjong, which is much more pleasant than serving those bandit officials.

  As I thought of this, I walked into the activity center, but unexpectedly didn't find Liu Bang. Instead, Zhao Dajie and those two elderly women who relied on low-income subsidies were sitting at a table with an unfamiliar old man. When I asked, Zhao Dajie said: "Your friend went to play wild mahjong with some shady characters."

  I didn't take it to heart, and when I arrived at the pawnshop door, I found Jing Ke playing with Zhao Dage's second son, Zhao Bailian. As soon as he saw me, Jing Ke hehe smiled foolishly, and I asked him what was wrong with a chill, because I found that his smile was full of treacherous intentions again.

  Jing Ke whispered mysteriously to me: "Just now a pretty girl came looking for you, I said you weren't here and sent her away."

  "What's next?"

  Jing Ke said with a smile: "I didn't tell Baozi..."

  It's still my five-person group with me, dear! I hugged Jing Ke tightly and said with tears streaming down: "Brother Jing, you've finally done something good!" But then I was puzzled again, "Beautiful girl? What did she say?"

  "She asked you to meet at a bar at 10 o'clock tonight."

  Pretty girl, 10 o'clock at night, bar...... How can this not make my blood boil and let my imagination run wild? I asked gently: "What bar?"

  "Hey, forgot..."

  Zhao Bai Lian suddenly shouted: "There is killing intent!"

  There's killing intent, it's normal, I really want to smash my head against Jing Ke's!

  I walked into the house in a daze and saw Li Shishi fiddling with my computer again. This time, she didn't even try to hide when I came in, clacking away at the keyboard. In front of her was a large five-stroke character root table, and next to it was a book titled "Computer Operation for Beginners". I asked her what she was doing, and she said while busy: "Don't bother me, I'm preparing lessons."

  I took a glance and saw on the screen: Lesson 1, Who Am I. Then in sections it was written: Preface: In specific environments, there are always some people who change the times. These people were sparse as morning stars at that time, but looking back at the long river of history, they will present a magnificent list, and we may be on this list...

  Li Shishi stepped aside and let me see, saying: "Is this written okay?"

  "It would be even better if it were whiter."

  Li Shishi adjusted the screen brightness a bit higher, then turned around to ask for my opinion. I couldn't help but laugh and said: "That's not what I meant - I think you could write it like this: Today, all of you who are present are quite extraordinary, although we're not from the same era, we were all celebrities in our time. Let's start with the first student in the front row, and I'll introduce each of you, telling stories about what you did back then and how it affected the future. This will help everyone get to know each other better and understand themselves more deeply..."

  Li Shishi's eyes lit up: "Brother, you've said something so profound yet simple, you're even better than Confucius and Han Yu. I think from now on, it's better if you take over this class."

  I embarrassingly said: "Stop messing around, apart from Deng Tuozi and Hu Han San, I only know a limited number of historical figures."

  "Who is Hu Han San?"

  "Uh... He's a stubborn and unyielding rascal who has returned home in glory multiple times."

  "But after Southern Song Dynasty, I am completely blank, and I just saw the establishment of Dadu in Yuan Dynasty."

  "Don't worry, Rome wasn't built in a day either. You can learn as much as you want, and I'll teach you how to use Baidu later. By the way, as your teacher, you should look at problems objectively and not wear colored glasses. If Wanyan Agu and Kublai Khan were to come to your class together, you mustn't be biased or partial."

  Li Shishi smiled calmly: "I've long considered myself a modern person, all the fighting and killing, grudges and romance are men's business, I don't have room for so much of that either."

  Speaking of grudges, I remembered that there was still a Hongmen Banquet waiting for me at night. Alas, if only Fan Kuai, the bodyguard of Lord Bao, were present, it would be great. Letting me go alone is something I'd rather die than do. Although going doesn't necessarily mean fighting will break out, what if it does?

  To ensure absolute safety, Xiang Yu often goes alone into the enemy's army of tens of thousands, and even if we put aside exaggeration, there aren't 1,800 people who died at his hands. There is always a whole regiment, but taking Xiang Yu along would also easily mess things up. Others would think that nothing has been done yet, and he brings such a big guy over, isn't this showing off? Moreover, Xiang Yu's temper is not good, if they don't fight, it's fine, but once the battle starts, if less than 10 or 8 people die, there will be no face to see the parents of Jiangdong again.

  Qin Shi Huang and Liu Bang are directly ruled out, taking a baozi (steamed bun) with them is more useful than they are.

  Li Shishi is elegant and charming, with an absolute sense of dignity. The other party said bluntly that they were just some thugs recruiting students, not the underworld, so even if they turned against her, they shouldn't have the guts to do anything out of line. The problem now isn't about saving face yet, exclude that.

  It had to be Jing Ke, although he might have ruined a good thing for me and I'm quite angry with him. Until now, Jing Ke has shown his skills, and in my heart, I'm not very confident, but this guy's bravery is probably real - lacking in cunning, that's all.

  After dinner, I pulled Jing Ke aside and asked him quietly: "Kezi, dare you still do things that risk your life?"

  "Who are you going to die for?"

  I ventured: "For instance, give me..."

  Jing Ke said resolutely: "I can give my life for Prince Dan..."

  I felt a chill, and I couldn't compare to the Crown Prince Dan. How did he treat Jing Ke back then? Er Sha liked listening to the sound of gold coins falling into water, so Crown Prince Dan ordered someone to take a large handful of gold coins and toss them into the water (isn't the idiom "the sound of something being thrown into the water" from this?). Er Sha heard that the liver of a thousand-mile horse was delicious, so Crown Prince Dan went through great difficulties to find one for him to eat (friendly reminder: horse liver is toxic, do not eat). Once, Er Sha listened to light music and saw that the girl playing the piano had very white hands, so he said "nice hands". That little scoundrel Crown Prince Dan actually cut off the girl's hands and put them in a box as a gift for Er Sha.

  How am I supposed to deal with this idiot? For a few bucks in battery money, he always scolds people like they're three-year-olds. You say he's stupid? Stupid people are more straightforward. If you want him to die for me, then forget it.

  Jing Ke suddenly slapped me on the shoulder: "I can die for him -" and then showed an angel-like silly smile, "not to mention you!"

  This time my eyes were really wet, just because of his words. Don't mention that I ruined a good thing that hadn't even started yet, even if I stripped a lively and charming girl naked and threw her on the bed, he would still lead the inspection team to rush in, but I wouldn't hate him for it.

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  Xiao Hua said that if she promised two updates, she would definitely deliver them. Although the second update every day is a bit late, or rather, the first update every day is too early, haha.