Chapter 2: Huā Zǐ

  In a thatched hut teahouse by the side of an official road, a fat man sat with his feet cocked up on a table. He wore a crimson satin jacket with a lion embroidered on it, and had a red silk cord tied around his head. A jade-studded leather belt was wrapped around his waist, from which hung a perfume sachet. On his feet were a pair of square-headed shoes, and in his hand he held a silk handkerchief with which he was wiping the sweat from his oily face. Several drops of sweat clung to the end of his chin whiskers, and his face was painted with powder, but the sweat had caused it to run, so that he looked like a clown. Beside him stood a handsome young book boy holding a golden folding fan with which he fanned his master, who was so hot that he made others feel the heat just by looking at him.

  Inside the teahouse, there were also three to five local farmers sitting, who saw the fat man's luxurious clothes and showed a respectful expression, only daring to glance at him with the corner of their eyes. Outside the thatched hut, more than ten men and women beggars crouched, each with disheveled hair and emaciated bodies, their faces blackened except for the whites of their eyes. They were staring blankly at the fat man's groom holding a handful of soybeans to feed the horse.

  Under another big tree, Chen Xin and Liu Min sat on the roots of the tree. Chen Xin was looking at the fat man with great interest. The two had walked a few miles and stopped to rest when they saw this new human being.

  The fatty still didn't realize what was going on and sat down, loudly saying: "Shopkeeper, bring tea, bring several more bowls, and give that horse a bowl too."

  The shopkeeper hesitated and said: "One bowl is fine, but... if Ma Ru uses this bowl, how will others eat afterwards?"

  Fat boy slammed the table and said, "That bowl is bought together with this one, don't talk nonsense anymore. If young master doesn't have money, even this set of clothes I'm wearing is worth several tea shops." After saying that, he pulled on his satin robe, "See? Satin! What's the name of this color? Dongfang Xiao! If it weren't for me, young master, you wouldn't be able to see it in your lifetime."

  The shopkeeper hastily said: "Yes, yes, young master is rich and noble, we are just small people who can't compare. With your words, it's settled. Here, let me feed the horse for you."

  "Wait, what's this place called? Is it still far from Ji Zhou?"

  "This place is called Hengmen, and ten miles away is Jizhou. The young master will definitely arrive by horse-drawn carriage today."

  "Hmm, is there anything to eat?"

  "This one only has pancakes and steamed buns, I don't know about the gentleman..." Under the brilliant light of Fatty's wealth and nobility, all the shopkeepers felt that their own products were inferior.

  "Then bring five pancakes, and try them first."

  The shopkeeper hastily brought over several bowls of tea and a plate of pancakes. The fat man picked one up, took a bite, spat it out on the ground, and cursed, "I said we shouldn't go to Zunhua, but my uncle insisted I come. This is terrible, not even a decent meal in months. When we get back to Beijing, I'm going to eat my fill." He carelessly tossed the pancake onto the table.

  This commotion immediately energized the dozen or so beggars outside, who were intimidated by the fatty's aura and didn't dare to come forward to ask for food. Those sitting down all crouched up, staring at the pancake in the fatty's hand with eager eyes.

  Fatso asked the little servant behind him: "Does Little Seven want to try some?"

  That young fellow twisted his head and pouted, saying: "Young master said that today we would arrive in Ji Zhou to eat jade-like millet, but now you're telling me to eat this coarse rice cake - what's the point of filling my belly with this?"

  Chubby chuckled and nodded, "Indeed, I almost forgot, luckily Little Qi has a good memory." His fat hand casually patted the fan in Little Qi's hand.

  Liu Min saw this and whispered to Chen Xin: "Is this book boy or girl? Is the new human still a glass?"

  "Most likely a boy, look, he has an Adam's apple. If it were a girl, she'd be a beautiful young thing, only 14 or 15 years old. This dead fatso is really something else, raping a young boy."

  Chen Xin saw the glint of thievery in the fat boy's eyes, looked at the pastry again and then at the beggars outside, pulled Liu Min's sleeve and said: "This little guy is going to give us a good show."

  "What's so funny?" Liu Minyou asked strangely, and as soon as the words fell, Pangzi gave Liu Minyou an answer.

  "Hua Zi, where are you guys from? Where are you going?" Pang Zi asked with a mischievous grin to the group of beggars outside.

  An older beggar said to Ba Ba, "We are all from Liaodong, we escaped into the pass a few years ago and can only make a living by begging. We're on our way to the capital."

  Fatso shook his head and sighed: "Liaodong's, pitiful sight, all homes occupied by the Tartars. I'm glad to meet Master, do you want to eat some buns?"

  A group of beggars immediately scrambled to kowtow to the fat man, shouting "Want to eat, want to eat!"

  "Long live the young master for a hundred years!" "May the noble lord's legacy last for ten thousand generations!"

  Chubby chuckled: "Wanting to eat is fine, but you can't just eat for free, give me some entertainment."

  The beggars thought they were starving, and nodded hastily.

  "Fourteen of you, I have five buns here. Each time I throw one out, whoever grabs it gets to eat it. Only one person can eat each bun, and once you've eaten, you're done and can't come back for more. When we're finished with these, that's it." He paused, then added, "If the competition looks good and the young master is in a good mood, I might buy a few more buns. But if it doesn't look good, these five buns will be fed to the horses instead of you lot."

  Liu Min's face turned red with rage, he stood up, but Chen Xin pulled him back and advised: "Don't bother, if a fight breaks out, if the fatty feeds the horse buns, not even a beggar will get to eat, and later we'll be the ones who have to take responsibility."

  Liu Min rebuked Chen Xin angrily: "How can you trample on others' dignity like this? Although he is a beggar, he is also human, not some domesticated animal raised by someone else."

  Chen Xin's face was all smiles as he pulled Liu Min down to sit, saying: "So that's why I said human life is cheaper than grass earlier. Let's calm down and not be a hero for now. Do you have money to buy these people some buns?"

  Liu Min's face was completely red, and he still didn't get up again. He looked at the fat man with a furious expression, and at this moment, this new human being in his eyes was no longer novel, but hateful.

  Chen Xiwang looked at Liu Minyou and said, "This evil fatty is very cunning. He knows that these beggars are all in the same group, so he lets them fight one by one to prevent them from sharing their food. Each time, he eliminates the strongest one, leaving the others with hope, and they will fight even more fiercely later on."

  Liu Min stared at the fatty and said: "You're wealthy but not benevolent, truly detestable. No wonder so many people want to rebel."

  Chen Xin continued, "Actually, the fat ghost hasn't thought it through. It should be two people per group, divided by physical strength, with one pancake per group. The teams should be evenly matched, making the competition more intense. Then we can buy a few more pancakes and have a playoff to determine the champion."

  "Are you... even more twisted than that fat guy?"

  "Never mind, this fat guy looks like he's either rich or noble. I think if I share this idea with him, maybe I can get a chance to eat along with him, it's an opportunity."

  Liu Min pointed at Chen Xin with his finger, exasperated: "Do you still have a sense of right and wrong? If you want to go, then go! I'd rather..."

  "Come on, come on, I've been nurtured by the Party and the country for many years, how could I do such a thing? Look, the show is starting."

  Liu Min stared at Chen Xin for a few moments before turning his head to look at the other side of the field.

  That fatty, despite sweating profusely, enthusiastically drew a circle on the ground with his foot. The beggars looked at each other, still hesitant, but had already split into several groups. Chen Xin estimated that this group of beggars was also temporarily assembled together and would disintegrate as soon as they encountered benefits.

  Fourteen beggars were divided into three groups. The largest group had four men and two women, the four men seemed to be stronger than the other male beggars, and the leader of them had a scar on his face. The second group consisted of four men, who were not strong. The last group was made up of four children in their early teens, three boys and one girl, all of whom were thin and gaunt, one of whom was still smiling foolishly with his mouth open, just looking at his expression, it would be impossible to know that he was living a difficult life.

  "Get the pancake, and you can eat it as soon as you get out of the circle!" Fatso finally completed the arduous task of drawing a big circle and loudly announced.

  A group of male beggars put down their dog-beating sticks and walked in one after another, with several groups already separated and on guard against each other. Scarface glared at the other two groups of beggars and said fiercely, "Know your place!"

  Those beggars all showed a fearful expression, only the little beggar still grinned foolishly. The farmers and horsemen in the teahouse rushed out to watch, their faces excited, except for the owner of the teahouse, who kept muttering "Don't fight inside my shop."

  "Get out of here!!"

  A pancake with a missing corner fell into the circle with a loud slap, and the two beggars' eyes lit up. They didn't care about the scar-faced man's knife anymore and rushed forward together. One of the beggars from Scarface's group pounced on the pancake, pressing it under his body. The other two groups stretched out their hands to grab it, and a group of heads gathered together, colliding with each other. A small beggar was still sitting on that man's back. The man on the ground couldn't even get up, let alone leave the circle, and was trampled more than a dozen times in an instant. The other few people were pulling his hands hard, trying to drag the pancake out from under him.

  "Good, good!" Fatso watched the smoke and dust rise in the arena, excitedly waving his hands and feet. The several spectators beside him also cheered repeatedly, but only Shu Tong's mouth curled up, seemingly not very interested.

  At this moment, the scar-faced man shouted loudly: "Looking for death!", rushed to the side of the crowd, pulled up the other two beggars, and beat them indiscriminately. As soon as he took action, the other two beggars were usually afraid of him, and now they saw him coming, got beaten again, and quickly dodged away.

  Scarface smiled with satisfaction at the sight, but didn't go get the pancake. Instead, he pulled up the beggar from the ground and said, "Go eat outside."

  Chen Xin whispered to Liu Min: "This knife wound itself doesn't take the cake, leaving it inside, this is going to snatch all five cakes."

  Liu Min nodded slightly.

  Like this, Scarface robbed two more buns. Fatty felt it wasn't exciting enough and said to the other two gangs: "There are only two buns left."

  Scarface and his gang had already finished eating their pancakes, with only Scarface still in the circle. The other two gangs of beggars looked on as others ate, their mouths watering, but their eyes blazing with anger. The foolish-looking young man's face also began to twitch.

  "Good things come in pairs!"

  The fourth pancake flew into the circle, Scarface kicked away a beggar who pounced on him and grabbed the pancake. The two little beggars in the smallest group looked at each other, and the bigger one suddenly pointed behind Scarface and shouted loudly: "A dog is coming!!!"

  Beggars are often bullied by dogs, constantly reminding each other. Scar's conditioned reflex immediately turns around, seeing no dog, knowing it's not good, just turning his head back, two little beggars one on each side pounce over, grab his hand and bite, Scar is caught off guard, both hands held down, bitten and yelling loudly, three accomplices outside are anxiously running around.

  “Bang”, a knife scar crashed into the face of the little beggar who had bitten him, and the little beggar's nose bled profusely as he fell backwards. The knife scar opened his right hand, dropped the pancake on the ground, pressed another little beggar to the ground, and punched wildly, about to knock that little beggar unconscious. Suddenly, a gust of wind was heard by his ear, and when he turned his head to look, a stick rapidly enlarged in front of his eyes.

  "With a 'bang' sound, it was that silly smiling boy who had been standing still on one side, now seizing the opportunity, took a stick from outside the circle and heavily swung it in a circular motion, hitting Knife Scar's forehead with great force. Knife Scar let out no sound as he fell to the ground, fresh blood flowing from his head, motionless."

  The fat boy let out a loud "ah" and the beggar boy, without caring, hit several more times on Knife Scar's body. After seeing that Knife Scar was not moving, he picked up the pancake and rolled out of the circle before another group of people could pounce on him. As soon as he came out, he stuffed the pancake into his mouth frantically, with a big bulge appearing at the corner of his mouth. The little female beggar in his group cheered repeatedly.

  A group of onlookers saw the knife wound and blood, fearing trouble would befall them, three farmers didn't make a sound, hastily retreating in disarray. The boss was stunned, others could run but he couldn't, momentarily losing his composure, muttering to himself: "What's to be done, what's to be done."

  The fatty was also frightened at a glance and did not expect this little beggar to be so fierce. He threw the remaining pancake and wanted to run away with his horse cart.