Chapter 18: Misunderstandings and Miscommunications (Part 2)

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  They continued drinking, and the two didn't discuss any heavy political topics, but instead talked about their experiences abroad. Often some interesting little things would elicit exclamations of surprise and curiosity from the beautiful woman beside him. They took turns speaking, amidst bursts of laughter, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

  Just as they were drinking and chatting happily, a sudden noise came from outside the courtyard gate. Yang Du, who had drunk several cups of wine, immediately frowned unhappily and called over Qing, the qin player, to go and see what was going on.

  "Grandfather! Grandfather! You can't just barge in here, Yu Yun and Lan You are receiving a noble guest today, oh my goodness..."

  A loud slap in the face, followed by a person with a swollen tongue shouting unclearly: "What kind of noble guest! Who dares to call themselves noble here today?"

  "Blind your dog's eyes! Aren't you going to call over Yun Yu and Lan You to keep our master company?" This voice sounded like a follower, and the words came from far away, causing Yang Du, who was sipping his wine, to suddenly change color.

  "It's no use, Master...Master!" A faint cry of persuasion came from the old procuress who had just been slapped.

  "Hum! I'd like to see who dares to be so presumptuous? Is there no king's law? Go! Bring that madman over and let me take a look at what kind of deity he is!" Yang Du slammed his wine cup down heavily, saying with great displeasure.

  "Who is this? How dare you be so arrogant? Do you think you can just laugh it off and not worry about getting tongue-tied? Which little brat accidentally exposed you today? You've got a lot of nerve, daring to compete with our boss for women! You're really asking for trouble!" As soon as Yang Du finished speaking, the followers on the other side immediately jumped out, kicking open the courtyard door with a loud crash, and in an instant, two burly men rushed in.

  "Bastard! Get out!" Yang Du had never suffered such humiliation in his life. He was so angry that he grabbed the wine cup and jug on the table and smashed them at the two people who were rushing over.

  With a splash, the one who rushed to the front was immediately drenched in wine and water. Cursing loudly, he jumped over and grabbed Yang Du's collar with one hand. Before Fang Zida could get up to stop him, the man slapped Yang Du with two loud slaps, making him stumble.

  "Damn it! A stinky bookworm, dressed up like a human being, dares to fight with me? I'll skin you alive today!"

  "Stop!"

  "Stop!!"

  Two voices shouted in unison, one was Fang Zida and the other was a guy who rushed up slightly later. The guy looked at the scene with a terrified face, hastily rushing forward to pull his companion who had caused trouble back, while Fang Zida had already supported Yang Du who had been beaten until he was dizzy, looking down at the five-fingered red palm prints on Yang Du's face which were gradually turning purple, and even the corners of his mouth were oozing out threads of fresh blood.

  "What kind of people are you?! Come on, come on! Catch these two madmen for me!" Fang Zida was both angry and anxious, hastily shouting loudly. Yang Du was suddenly slapped in front of him, although he didn't have time to stop it, but this slap not only landed on Yang Du's face, but also on Fang Zida's face. In his life, he had never suffered such a great loss, let alone being hit by Yang Du.

  "Hey! You dare to shout for people to catch me? You're really tired of living!" The guy who was hitting him hesitated for a moment, rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush towards Fang Zidao, but his companion desperately hugged his waist and refused to let him go.

  "Brother Wang, what are you doing? Let go! Quickly let me go! Today I'll make them know how many eyes the Horse King has!"

  "Despicable!" The one surnamed Wang was so anxious that he was covered in sweat, and he tightly hugged him, whispering: "Liu Zi, you little scoundrel, you've made a big mistake today!"

  "What's the big deal? With our master in this capital, what chaos can't be settled? Humph!" The guy who was yelling at them didn't care and curled his lip, struggling to move forward to continue teaching Fang Zidao and Yang Du a lesson.

  At this time, the person who spoke first at the gate of the courtyard said with great dissatisfaction: "What's going on? Where are Yun Yu and Lan You? Why haven't you called them over for me yet?"

  "Grandpa... grandpa..." The one with the surname Ma hastily turned his head and shouted.

  "Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa's fart! Can't even handle such a small matter, do I have to take care of it myself? What a waste of raising you all!" Amidst the scolding voice, a lame man appeared, walking with an uneven gait, with an ivory cigarette holder in his mouth.

  He stormed into the yard, and this cripple's first glance fell upon one of Wang's men desperately pulling another man. Enraged, he let out a few more curses, but when he saw Wang's man frantically signaling to him, he felt puzzled. Borrowing the light from the lamp, he turned his head to glance at Fang Zida, and who would have thought that this one glance would make his eyes widen in shock, his mouth agape, and even drop his pipe without realizing it.

  "This...this...Yang...Uncle Yang...how could it be you!" After his initial shock, the cripple rubbed his eyes vigorously and then hastily ran a few steps forward, half-kneeling down to stare at Yang Du, who had been beaten to a pulp. His hands trembled as he wanted to help but didn't dare to, avoiding Fang Zida's angry and somewhat puzzled gaze. He suddenly turned his head and looked back.

  "You... you scoundrel!"

  The cripple raised the civilized stick in his hand and rushed to the guy who called himself "Liu Zi" and beat him savagely, causing the guy to jump around wildly while dodging and shouting: "Grandpa! Why are you beating me?"

  "Hit you? I'm going to kill you!" The cripple was furious, and with a few sticks, he knocked the pear seller to the ground, still not satisfied, he kicked him several times.

  At this time, Yang Du slowly came back to his senses, shaking his head as if he had sobered up a bit.

  "Ah...... Ah! Yangming, help me up......" As he spoke, Yang Du felt his cheeks throbbing with pain, and with Fang Zida's assistance, he finally managed to stand up.

  "Yang Shu, this... You see today... Today's matter..." Seeing Yang Du wake up leisurely, the cripple didn't even care about the pear tree lying on the ground wailing and crying, he hobbled over with a smile that was more awkward than anything.

  Look carefully at the face of the cripple, Yang's forehead suddenly bulged with blue veins, and he pointed at the cripple, gritting his teeth: "Good! Good! Good! So it was you! It was you!"

  "No, no, no! It's not me, it's not me!" The cripple was sweating profusely and hastily explained, pointing at the lychee on the ground: "It's him, it's him!"

  "Is he not your man?" Yang Du asked coldly, and the cripple immediately fell silent, glaring at him fiercely. Yang Du said nothing more, let out a cold snort, and turned to leave with a flourish of his sleeve.

  "Yang Shu... Yang... Ah!" Watching Yang Du leave like that, the cripple's expression was both regretful and infuriated. Turning his eyes to see Liu Zi still lying on the ground wailing in pain, a surge of nameless anger suddenly rose up.

  "You! Tie him up for me!"

  "Yes!"

  Old Wang didn't say a word, pulled out his belt and was about to take action. The pear (a term of endearment for the person being addressed) hadn't figured out what was going on yet, and shouted in shock, fear, and struggle: "Master! Master, what are you doing?! Old Wang, Old Wang, how did this happen?!"

  "Brother, don't blame me for being ruthless. Who told you to be so reckless and get into big trouble?" With a sigh, he didn't wait for Liu Zi to speak again, and stuffed the dirty cloth into his mouth, adding more force to his hands, and in no time at all, had tied up the terrified Liu Zi securely.