From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 30 Bullying
Zhao family residence.

White lanterns were hung under the eaves, and paper wreaths were placed against the corners of the walls. All that could be seen were black, white and grey, making the scene look extremely bleak.

The main door was open.

Zhao Shuai was wearing plain clothes and a white hat. He knelt on a mat in a trance, facing the mourning hall of his family.

There was a sound of footsteps approaching from far away.

Xu Xiaogou was holding a wooden lunch box in his hand. He didn't knock on the door, but pushed it open and walked in.

A few days ago, he and his friends helped the Zhao family finish the funeral. For such a tragic incident, there was no grand ceremony, only a simple coffin and burial.

These days, he came to accompany Zhao Shuai from time to time, worried that the fourteen-year-old boy would be depressed.

"Second handsome, it's time to eat."

He walked to the door of the mourning hall and called out softly.

"Oh, thank you, Brother Gou."

Zhao Shuai stood up stiffly. He had been kneeling for several hours without realizing it, and his legs were numb.

He stuffed the food into his mouth and swallowed it casually, not knowing what he was eating or how it tasted.

After a while, someone else came.

Li Mo held a jar of wine in his hand and said, "Look what good stuff I brought."

"liquor?"

Xu Xiaogou's eyes lit up. He had never drunk alcohol before because his mother said he was still young and would be punished if he dared to drink secretly.

"I brought this back from the city. They say a good drink can make all your worries go away. Let's try getting drunk."

As Li Mo spoke, he opened the lid of the wine jar, and immediately the aroma of wine filled the air.

Xu Xiaogou brought a low table and placed it in the yard, and brought out a bowl of water. The three of them sat in the yard and drank.

"Can this thing really solve all my worries?"

Zhao Shuai only drank a small sip of wine when his brother got married. He was only ten years old at the time. He only remembers the sore throat and no other impression.

"You'll know when you're drunk. Come on, do it!"

Li Mo had good intentions in helping Zhao Shuai ease his grief and distract himself. As for whether alcohol could help alleviate his sorrow, he didn't know.

The three of them imitated the adults, clinking their bowls and drinking. After a few bowls of wine, their faces were red.

----

"Squeak~~"

The door of the Zhao family's house was pushed open again.

The three thought that another friend had come, so they looked towards the gate and found that it was Liu Hongtu who came in.

"Hey, are you drinking?"

Liu Hongtu knew Zhao Shuai, so he came to check on the Zhao family's situation.

His two elder brothers told him that if he could make contributions, they would give him some of the land they had seized from the Zhao family pit, depending on the situation.

"How did you come?"

Xu Xiaogou spoke in a bad tone. They had no friendship with Liu Hongtu at all, but instead disliked each other.

Liu Hongtu didn't come when Zhao Shuai's family held the funeral, so why did he come now?

"What the hell is your business? This is not your home."

Liu Hongtu was a man of bad words. He practiced martial arts in the city and looked down on people like Xu Xiaogou who practiced martial arts in the village. He thought they were poor people who had no money but wanted to practice martial arts.

"I'm here to talk to Zhao Shuai about something serious. Zhao Shuai, it's time to pay the rent for your land. Considering your family's situation, if you no longer want to rent the land or can't pay the rent, we'll take the land back."

Land rent?

Zhao Shuai looked puzzled. Although he didn't pay attention to the situation of his family's farmland, if his family rented land, he should know about it.

His family has one hundred acres of land, and I haven't heard that any of it was rented from the Liu family.

"My family has a lease signed by your father, with his signature and fingerprints on it. Are you trying to renege on the debt?" "Could this be a mistake? When did my family rent the land?"

General Zhao was skeptical.

"Your father didn't tell you about the lease from twenty years ago? You weren't even born then, so of course you didn't know. If you don't believe me, you can come to my house and take a look, or you can bring out your land deed."

Liu Hongtu's primary purpose was to check whether the Zhao family had a land deed.

If there is no land deed, then they can say whatever they want, right?
"I am searching."

Zhao Shuai got up and went to the room to look for the land deeds. However, he soon despaired. His house was robbed and all the banknotes, land deeds and paper documents were stolen.

“It seems to have been stolen…”

"Stolen? Is it that your family doesn't have the land deed, or was it stolen? You need to produce evidence."

Liu Hongtu was very proud. As long as the Zhao family didn't have the land deeds, the rest would be easy to handle.

Li Mo and Xu Xiaogou couldn't stand it anymore, even though this matter had nothing to do with them.

"Hey, the land deeds are registered at the government office. We can find out who owns the land just by checking."

"Liu Hongtu, you are so inhumane. Can't we talk about this later? You have to rub salt into other people's wounds."

Xu Xiaogou had just drunk some wine and his blood was rushing to his head.

"Who are you scolding? You want a beating, don't you? I've disliked you for a long time. You have only a few skills, yet you still have to fight in the forest farm. Aren't you ashamed?"

Liu Hongtu is used to being domineering in the village. No one dares to talk back when he scolds others. When has he ever been scolded by others?
"That's better than you, you're always arrogant and domineering in the village. If it weren't for your father, you would have been beaten eight hundred times."

If it were the Xu Xiaogou of the past, he would have endured it.

I don’t know if it was because he drank too much today, or because he had been feeling depressed for a long time and had no place to vent, but Xu Xiaogou vented his dissatisfaction with Liu Hongtu.

"Fuck, even without my father, I'm already a mid-level warrior who's almost reached the second level of Zhuang Gong."

Liu Hongtu rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach Xu Xiaogou a lesson. He had fought many people in the village, and even if they were bloodied, he would just pay them some money. He had no idea of ​​Xu Xiaogou's true fighting ability.

"Calm down, calm down, both of you."

Li Mo stood between the two of them and came up with a plan: "Liu Hongtu, I heard that your county also has actual combat competitions when practicing martial arts, and they are even bigger in private?"

"Oh, I'm afraid you can't afford it. We call it gambling, and if you lose you have to pay money."

Those who practiced martial arts in the county town were either village landlords or merchants, and quite a few of them were wealthy. They were generous and arrogant, and even in a fight they would add a prize.

Li Mo winked at Xu Xiaogou and urged him, "Then have a fair fight, and don't get angry if you lose."

"Come on, play for at least one or two taels of silver."

Liu Hongtu took out a tael of silver and threw it aside, then took off his shirt. He was not doing this to win money, but just to have a legitimate reason to teach Xu Xiaogou a lesson.

He practiced martial arts in the city. His master was better than Du Hai, and he had no shortage of nourishing herbs. He was also two years older than Xu Xiaogou.

It doesn't look like they're going to lose.

"Let me make it clear first, fists and feet have no eyes. Don't break a leg or an arm and go home to complain to my parents that I bullied you."

He added.

Xu Xiaogou was waiting for these words: "Okay, let's have a fair fight, I'll accept the loss if I lose!"

“Boundary of what?”

"What boundaries are needed? In our city, gambling fights are fought until one side admits defeat."

Liu Hongtu was determined to beat Xu Xiaogou until he cried for his parents and begged for mercy on his knees.

Xu Xiaogou also took off his shirt. The fabric couldn't withstand the sparring between them and was easily torn to pieces.

The strong and muscular physique made Liu Hongtu feel a little worried.

Xu Xiaogou was only fifteen years old, so even if he practiced the Bear and Tiger Posture, he wouldn't be so strong.

Liu Hongtu thought about the many big fools he had fought against and dispelled his doubts.

(End of this chapter)