Volume 1 Chapter 71: Five-Star Du Song Wine

  The sky was still bright after dinner, Xiang Yu put down his bowl and chopsticks, grabbed me and went downstairs. He stood by the van door and said, "Today, no matter what, you have to teach me how to drive."

  I reluctantly got on the bus, Xiang Yu sat beside me and muttered to himself as he followed my movements: "Start the fire, pull the handbrake, step on the clutch, shift gears..."

  I drove the car to the elementary school gate, and the students had already finished school. The gate was locked, and the old man at the door was drinking tea in the delivery room. I shouted: "Grandpa, can we open the door and practice driving?" The old man didn't even look at us, shook his head directly, and continued to sip his water.

  Xiang Yu said angrily: "I'll go kick the door open."

  I hastily pressed him and said: "Do you want to come again in the future?" He then stopped.

  I reached into the cardboard box in the car and pulled out two boxes of Zhonghua cigarettes, walked into the reception room and placed them in front of the old man. I thought that an old man who saw the bright red Zhonghua cigarettes would definitely be excited, but unexpectedly, the old man was very calm. He slowly unwrapped the cigarettes, chatted with me for a couple of sentences, lit one up, took a puff, and then stood up, picked up the keys and opened the door. Just as I was about to get in the car, he patted my shoulder and said: "Young man, you're okay, feel free to come next time - this Zhonghua cigarette is actually real!" Only then did I realize that he had thought I was trying to trick him with two packs of fake cigarettes.

  I drove the car to the playground and turned off the engine. I said to Xiang Yu, "You come on, aren't you already good at starting?"

  Xiang Yu moved to the driver's seat, was stunned for a while, and asked me: "What's the first step again?" I leaned my head against the glass and said gloomily: "Start the engine!"

  "Oh..." He then went to turn the key, which wasn't his fault, many people are like this, they learn theory very well but become stupid once they get in the car. And after all, Xiang Yu was a person from 2,000 years ago.

  He lit a fire, lowered his head to find the clutch, stepped on it with one foot, and knew how to shift gears. Then he gave it some gas, and the car died...

  "Older brother, shall we put down our watches first?"

  "Oh..." He turned off the engine, released the handbrake, pressed the clutch, and then gave it gas, but the car stalled...

  "Release the clutch slowly and give it gas after the car starts moving."

  "Ah......" Xiang Yu's forehead was sweating, and he started frantically tinkering again.

  Half an hour later, the car was originally where it was, and now it's still there. Xiang Yu is not doing well in learning to drive. I didn't plan to teach him properly at first, but people are weird, when they meet a stupid apprentice, they want to teach him even more.

  I drove Xiang Yu to the passenger seat and asked him: "Can you ride a horse?"

  Xiang Yu wiped his sweat and said: "This is much harder than riding a horse, I can ride a horse now."

  "Now, imagine you're riding a horse. Pressing the ignition is like saddling up; releasing the brake is like untying the reins; pressing the clutch is like getting on the horse's back; shifting gears is like kicking the horse in the belly; then releasing the clutch and giving it gas is like cracking a whip - isn't that just like making it run?"

  Xiang Yu exclaimed in surprise: "I didn't expect you could ride a horse."

  "I haven't even ridden a donkey, isn't this what you're forcing me to do?"

  The fact is that Xiang Yu's IQ is still very high. A person who can learn a few days of kung fu and be invincible in the world, except for so-called roots, has a very strong understanding - cannot be treated equally with Er Sha.

  Xiang Yu's movements this time were smooth and natural, but what he muttered to himself was: "Saddle the horse, untie the reins, mount the horseback, pat the horse's belly, and give it another whip..."

  The van started moving, Xiang Yu excitedly stepped on the accelerator, and the car ran faster and faster, but it was still in first gear. After stepping on the accelerator to the end, the car also roared loudly, Xiang Yu grasped the steering wheel, laughing wildly, with a hint of arrogance and domineering, the King of Western Chu had found the feeling of galloping on the battlefield again.

  The car started running and that was the hardest part. I breathed a sigh of relief, saw that there was a turn ahead, and told him: "Turn the steering wheel."

  This is obviously a sharp left turn, but Xiang Yu was desperately turning the wheel to the right. The car was about to crash into the wall. I shouted: "The direction is wrong!" Xiang Yu continued to turn to the right, and I shouted again: "Step on the brakes! Step on the brakes!" Xiang Yu looked around dizzily and said: "Huh? Where are the brakes?"

  My god! He knew the difference between accelerator and brake when he first saw me driving, now he's asking me again.

  Just two seconds before the car was about to crash into the wall, I had a burst of inspiration and shouted loudly: "Turn!"

  Xiang Yu unconsciously stepped on the brake...

  I patted my wildly beating heart and after a long while said: "Brother Yu, you can't even tell left from right, can you?"

  Xiang Yu was still puzzled and turned the steering wheel, saying: "Why is the direction opposite? When riding a horse, if you want it to go left, of course, you should turn the horse's head to the right?"

  Geez, I didn't think that one through, almost a slip-up of epic proportions. Luckily, I managed to rein him in and he slammed on the brakes instead of yanking the wheel down.

  After getting familiar with it for a while, Xiang Yu was already able to ride it around everywhere. I took a look at my watch and said: "Brother Yu, let's stop here for today, I still have something to do."

  Xiang Yu was very pleased with himself and casually said: "You go first, I'll head back myself later."

  "This is probably... no good..." I stammered, letting him drive back and forth, or else we'd end up like the characters in "Thelma and Louise" - dead.

  Xiang Yu stopped his chariot and said impatiently, "If you want to leave, then leave quickly. Don't you trust my horsemanship?"

  I don't believe it, someone who hasn't even learned to shift gears or reverse, how can I trust him? But I saw he was eager to give me a push, so I quickly got out of the car and forced myself to say: "Then you drive slowly on your way back, stop at the bottom of the building and shout for Baozi."

  Xiang Yu suddenly said: "Do you want me to drive you?" I shook my head like a rattle drum.

  Xiang Yu ignored me again, slammed the car door shut and drove away in first gear.

  I walked back with a worried face, rode my motorcycle to the bar. It was just past 9 o'clock, not yet peak hour. None of Zhu Gui's group were there. Li Jing Shui and Wei Tiezhu had already woken up, hiding in the manager's office, too afraid to come out. The women wearing ultra-short skirts with cleavage, flirting with Kai, scared them stiff, thinking that even looking at them was against military discipline. I asked Sun Si Xin to take them to a corner to slowly get used to it, then asked Little Sun where Zhu Gui and the others had gone. Sun Si Xin said: "The 'Reformers' have already arrived, Manager Zhu is discussing something with them."

  I let out a sound and headed towards the private room area upstairs. Sun Sixin called out from behind me, "Qiang Ge, they're not in the private room."

  "Where is it?"

  "In the back of the bar."

  I felt hairy as soon as I heard it, the bar was facing the back of a residential building next door, which is just an alley, except for occasional migrant workers going in to pee, that's absolutely one person.

  Place, in other words, it is also a good place for killing people on a dark and windy night.

  I hurried out, Sun Sixin shouted: "Qiang Ge..."

  I stopped and looked at him.

  "Change direction, they came with over 20 people, our side only had Manager Zhu bring him here, are you going to call all the big brothers from that day again..."

  "I exclaimed, 'This is even worse.' If he had come alone, Zhu Gui and the others might have still treated him as a person of importance. Now that he's leading so many people here to cause trouble, it's likely to end in a fight. I walked to the door, then remembered something and turned back to Sun Si Xin, saying, 'From now on, you'll be the second deputy manager here. You take care of the bar.'"

  Little Sun seemed a bit emotionally unstable, but he controlled it well, nodded vigorously at me and smiled: "Don't worry, Qiang Ge."

  I ran to the back alley of the bar and took a look, saw Zhang Qing and Yang Zhi hugging each other chatting, then looked inside the alley again, it made me so angry that my soul flew away: I only saw Zhu Gui squatting on the ground with his head in his hands, being beaten by more than ten rascals, and there were several little hoodlums standing around, Huang Mao was among them.

  I didn't have time for anything else, and was searching everywhere to rush in, when Zhang Qing pulled me aside and said: "Zhu Gui said he wants to handle it alone."

  I calmed down and looked at Zhu Gui, who was both angry and amused. This guy truly lived up to his nickname "Drought Land Hooligan". He had thick skin and only used his arm to block the punches and kicks, looking like he wasn't feeling any pain or itchiness. His eyes glanced upwards as he spoke, saying: "Everyone's working hard, let me ask, who's the leader?" At this time, he saw me and even took a moment to greet me: "Xiao Qiang has arrived?"

  I felt relieved and smiled: "You mind your own business."

  The little rascals felt insulted and intensified their punches and kicks. At this time, a person pushed through the crowd, holding an awl in his hand, and stabbed it viciously into Zhu Gui's back, cursing: "I'll make you poor!" My heart tightened: even the toughest person couldn't withstand this blow.

  Zhu Gui suddenly dodged to one side and looked at the man saying: "You are Jiaozhi?"

  "I am!"

  Zhu Gui let out a loud "Hey!" and suddenly grabbed Zhang Tie's hair, yanking it downwards with one hand while clenching the other into a fist, throwing a punch straight at him.

  The thugs originally thought he was a coward, but no one expected him to be so ruthless and quick when he struck back. A large handful of hair was pulled out, blood beads seeped out, and his face was also covered in bruises.

  A thug pulled out a steel pipe and frantically smashed it towards Zhu Gui's thigh. Zhu Gui dodged nimbly, kicked Tian Xing's thigh fiercely, then dragged him to a corner. The thugs only reacted after that, surrounding Zhu Gui again and beating him up. Every punch they landed on him, he would add one more to Tian Xing. When someone kicked him, he didn't bother with the kicker, instead kicking Tian Xing back. Tian Xing was pressed down by Zhu Gui's efforts and couldn't get up. At this time, Huang Mao took off the chain from his waist and whipped it at the wound on Zhu Gui's buttocks. Zhu Gui gritted his teeth in pain. Without saying a word, he picked up Tian Xing who had fallen to the ground and stabbed him in the buttocks, then added another big kick to the wounded area. Tian Xing screamed loudly in agony.

  Zhu Gui's nose and eyes were bleeding, but he didn't care at all. He kicked the door with his feet, laughing coldly: "Your subordinates hit me like this, I'll hit you like this!"

  At this time, a rascal pulled out an iron pipe as thick as an egg and hit Zhu Gui's back with all his might. Zhu Gui was slightly slow to react and didn't dodge in time, so he was hit and let out a groan, but fortunately, his strong physique kept him from falling over. Zhu Gui grabbed the rascal's arm, took away his iron pipe, and jumped up high to strike him back with the same force. All that could be heard was a "ka" sound, like something had broken. Zhu Gui wiped away blood, grinning fiercely: "Isn't this fair enough? Even the force is the same."

  I threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it, then asked Zhang Qing, "Shouldn't we mind our own business?"

  "It's all right, it will be over soon."

  "Stop... stop hitting..."

  Zhu Guizhen said: "I didn't hit you, those were all blows from your own people."

  At this time, most of the thugs had already been stunned and stopped their hands. As a result, one little thug couldn't hold back his hand for a moment, and a slap landed on Zhu Gui's face. He stared at the people around him who had already retreated, but Zhu Gui didn't even touch him, just smiled at him with a mouthful of blood. He picked up the awl, swung it in a circle, and slapped the little thug with a super-large palm. After a loud noise, the awl flew out, spitting teeth and blood. Zhu Gui held him against his chest, pointing at the little thug and saying: "Look, this slap was given by him, don't blame me."

  He was so angry and suffocated, he didn't even think about it, he just slapped the little rascal in the face, hitting him so hard that he was stunned for half a day, suddenly wailing and running away.

  Yang Zhi couldn't help but laugh and said: "This move of Zhu Gui's is too vicious."

  Zhu Gui carried a soft and fluffy hammer, circling the arena, and whenever he came to a stubborn person, he would stick his face up and say provocatively: "Come on, hit me! I want to fight back, you're my grandson!" The hammer shouted loudly: "No hitting allowed, no hitting allowed!"

  I saw this and didn't know whether to be happy or sad, it was only then that I truly understood the meaning of the nickname "Drought Land Ruthless": You see Zhu Gui usually smiling all the time, but when it comes to times like these he's even more ruthless than a crocodile, and bloodthirsty.

  At this time, one of the thugs on the periphery, estimated to have reached his psychological limit, pulled out a small knife that had not been used from his collar and rushed towards Zhu Gui. Zhu Gui didn't even look at him, stood with his belly out, and whispered in Er Miao's ear: "Wherever he cuts me, I'll cut you!"

  Gai Cong was so scared that his soul was gone, and he didn't know where he got such a big strength. He grabbed the stick from someone's hand beside him and blocked it in front of Zhu Gui. The rascal probably had a desperate determination, so he rushed forward with his eyes closed, not seeing that the person in front had changed, nor did he dodge, being knocked to the ground by Gai Cong's stick. Gai Cong pointed at him viciously and scolded: "You damn bastard, obviously trying to kill me and become the boss yourself." Then he quickly turned back to smile apologetically at Zhu Gui.

  Zhu Gui kicked over the altered cone with one foot and said: "With a boss like this, are you still willing to follow?"

  A hoodlum threw the steel pipe in his hand on the ground, took a look at the changed cone, and quietly asked Zhu Kui: "Can we leave?"

  Zhang Qing slowly said, "Do you think my brother really wasted his effort? Let's leave something for everyone." Yang Zhi pulled him and said, "Forget it, these people are more sensible than Niu Er."

  Zhang Qing shook his head helplessly and said to those people: "Get out."

  A group of thugs scattered like they had received a great amnesty, only Huang Mao didn't leave. He followed Zhu with a face full of admiration and said "Big brother, from now on I'll follow you"

  Zhu Gui waved his hand impatiently: "Get lost, take off the trash on your head and be a decent human being. Scram!" Huang Mao had no choice but to walk away in disappointment.

  Zhu Gui stepped on Gai Qian's head, and Gai Qian screamed in terror: "Big brother, big brother, you said you wouldn't hit me!" His butt was kicked again, and he probably had less than 5 teeth left in his mouth. This was still nothing; the bones on his shoulders were also broken by Zhu Gui, and he lay on the ground like a half-dead toad.

  "Don't hit me, can you tell me where Liu Xuan is?"

  "I don't know Liu..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Zhu Gui kicked him in the face, and blood spurted out with a splashing sound. Yang Zhi shook his head repeatedly as he walked closer, saying: "Let me kill him instead, I couldn't bear to see this." I hastily grabbed hold of him, and eventually Yang Zhi sighed and left.

  Zhang Qing said: "Brother Yang Zhi is just too softhearted..."

  "Shut up, or I'll trample your head into the ground. Don't say you don't know someone with the surname Liu."

  "I know I know... but I only have Liu's phone number, and it's been turned off all the time. I'm really not familiar with him, he's that kind of person who looks down on me."

  "Give me your number! Otherwise, I'll crush you into the ground if you don't turn it on!"

  He took out his phone and burst into tears: the phone had been smashed to pieces at some point, of course, he wasn't heartbroken over the phone, but he saw that Zhu Gui was furious and was afraid that he would really kick him.

  I've had enough of this, so I walked up and said: "Why ask him when you can ask me?"

  Zhu Gui said in surprise: "You have it too?"

  I pointed at the wound on my face and said: "This afternoon I went to see him."

  "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Old Zhu, let's just drop it here, I've already helped you smash his head into four pieces. If you don't believe me, you can ask Li Jing Shui and the others."

  "Zhu Gui said angrily: 'Why didn't you let me go?'"

  "You're a guest, how can you be doing this kind of physical labor?" I said with a laugh.

  Zhu Gui glared at me fiercely, but knowing that Liu Xuan had already been slightly punished, his anger dissipated a lot. He stepped forward, picked up the modified cone, and asked him: "Do you know why I hit you?"

  He regretted knowing someone with the surname Liu.

  "What's more!"

  "...I shouldn't have blinded Dog's Eye to collect protection fees from Big Brother."

  "What's more!"

  "I don't know."

  "Hmm, I don't know either. Just get out of my sight - scram."

  Then Zhu Gui warmly put his arms around Zhang Qing's and my shoulders and said: "Come on, let's go have a drink."

  A stone in my heart has finally landed, and the matter of Liu Xuan can be settled. As I thought, good men know that Liu Xuan has been forced to flee his home, so they won't take it further.

  We entered the bar and saw a table surrounded by people. We squeezed in to take a look, and it was actually Yang Zhi. This guy is not only ugly, but also taciturn, how did he become so popular?

  All he saw was that he was holding a bucket, with cups and banknotes in front of him. Yang Zhi said while pouring wine into the cup: "This is the wine brewed by my own brother, you don't have to pay me."

  Zhang Qing shouted "Hey!" and only then did he see clearly that Yang Zhi was holding the bucket of "Three Bowls Can't Get Past" that they had drunk in the afternoon. The several of them had drunk almost half a bucket that afternoon. Earlier, after Yang Zhi returned, he was very bored, so he took it out to drink again. This wine has a big characteristic: its aroma is strong and intense. Very quickly, one of Yang Zhi's friends couldn't help but ask to buy a cup to try, and Yang Zhi didn't think much of it, pouring him a cup without asking for money. But this friend got more and more drunk, and didn't dare ask again, so he had to use money to buy some. Slowly, the people around were attracted over, some because they smelled the wine's aroma, others because they wanted to join in on the fun. Interestingly, since Yang Zhi didn't say he was selling it, there wasn't a fixed price. People lined up, holding their cups and waiting to buy wine. When it was their turn, some gave 100 yuan, some gave 50, the least gave 20, and among them was even a $100 bill.

  The first person paid, Yang Zhi wanted to chase him back, but the people behind urged him to pour wine. The money in front of him piled up more and more, Yang Zhi was anxious and his face turned red, even the green on his face faded a lot, he said repeatedly: "This wine doesn't need money――this wine doesn't need money――” When half a bucket of wine was left, the money in front of him almost filled the table. Those who didn't buy it protested, when they knew Yang Zhi was a friend of the bar owner, they were even more dissatisfied, saying that the bar was hiding private goods. Sun Si Xin was pacifying them, seeing me coming and telling the situation, I said: "This is easy to handle, tomorrow I'll rent a car and go to the village to fetch a water truck, won't it be done?"

  The bar was filled with a fragrant aroma, and even the customers in the corners and private rooms were tempted to drool, rising up to join the crowd clamoring for drinks.

  Sun Sixin suddenly jumped onto the stage, clearing his throat and said: "Thank you all for your presence and support. Our store has just launched an experimental product, I believe many of you have already experienced it. Now, I am announcing that from tomorrow on, this experimental product will be officially available to our customers!"

  The young man's brain is really alive, I looked at him with admiration. Suddenly, someone in the audience asked loudly: "What's the name of this wine?"

  Sun Sihin was taken aback, and hastily searched for me in the crowd with his eyes. I was also sweating profusely, and in my anxiety, I thought of this wine which was discovered by Wu Song and brewed by Du Xing, so I mouthed to him. Sun Sihin stared at my lips, looking for a long time, while the people below the stage were all silent, waiting for him to speak up.

  Sun Sixin looked at me for half a day and finally understood that I was saying four words. Then he held the microphone to his mouth and said solemnly, "This wine is called Wuxing Dusong!" I slapped my forehead.

  Is there a six-star one? How much is it per cup?

  Sun Sixin looked at me again, I thought that the usual loose wine was only one or two yuan per kilogram, this sold for 50 cents would not lose money, so I stretched out five fingers to him.

  Sun Sixin excitedly and emotionally shouted: "Our Wuyue Dusong wine, starting tomorrow, will be on sale for 50 yuan a cup!"