Chapter Thirteen: The Story of Loyalty and Righteousness

  After feeding Feng Zhongliang an apple, Zhang Luohui wiped his mouth for him. After cleaning up, Zhang Luohui moved a chair to sit at the head of Feng Zhongliang's bed. "Big Brother Shantu, why don't you tell me some stories about your Zhongyitang?"

  Feng Zhongliang gazed at the infusion bottle above his head, as if he had fallen into deep thought. After a long while, he said to Zhang Luohui: "It's all things from very long ago..."

  Three years ago, a man came to Chunfeng's mutton restaurant and ordered the "tyrant's meal". He looked like he was 27 or 28 years old, with a refined face and elegant demeanor. After entering the restaurant, he ordered two kilograms of mutton and a pot of strong wine, and after eating his fill and drinking enough, he spread out his hands to the shopkeeper and said he had no money.

  Jia Chunfeng may not be a Jianghu person, but after all, he is a distant relative of the Jia family's wealthy clan, and no one has dared to eat at his mutton restaurant for over ten years. The manager of Chunfeng Mutton Restaurant is Jia Chunfeng's younger brother-in-law, who is a scholar but has a bad temper. As soon as he heard that someone had finished eating and said they had no money, he immediately got angry and called on the staff to take action.

  Among them were several of the Thirteen Heroes, led by Feng Zhongliang, also known as Down-the-Mountain Tiger. At that time, he was still not called Down-the-Mountain Tiger and his name was not yet Feng Zhongliang but rather Feng Daliang.

  Six or seven partners should be enough to deal with one, but after a chaotic and noisy struggle of over ten minutes, the partners were unable to knock down that freeloader, on the contrary, they themselves ended up with bruised noses and swollen faces.

  Things have gotten out of hand.

  Jia Chunfeng's younger brother-in-law was very resourceful and, seeing that they couldn't subdue the guy, had already arranged for someone to go to Jia's house to fetch reinforcements.

  After making a fuss with the guys, that person didn't plan to leave, but instead kept explaining that he didn't want to resort to violence, it was all forced upon him. In fact, he still wanted to resolve this matter peacefully, for example, he could work in a restaurant, washing dishes and sweeping floors, as long as his belly was full.

  After a round of nagging, Hu Chunfeng's younger brother-in-law neither opposed nor agreed, it was clear that he wanted to delay the time, waiting for Jia's reinforcements to arrive before making other arrangements.

  Jia family Wang is so big, the people of Jia's house are not many, and they have already arrived. Because of the grandeur, only one junior brother who can't even rank in the top twenty came with two small followers.

  That junior brother is also a half-baked goods, relying on the prestige of the Jia family, thinking that he is invincible in the world, and coming up to fight with that idle person. As a result, he was thrown into a dog-eat-shit situation with just one move.

  Things have gotten even bigger.

  Jia Men's master Jia Yun Gui learned of this matter, and determined that the person was here to challenge Jia Men. He then sent out his top disciple, Zhan Jin Biao.

  Zhan Jinbiao was practicing the tiger-crane double form of Xingyiquan, and it's said that one of his tiger pounces could snap a tree trunk as thick as a bowl in two at waist height. Zhan Jinbiao arrived at the mutton shop and saw that the white-eater had actually moved a stool to sit calmly by the door, waiting for him. Suddenly enraged, he couldn't help but strike out with a tiger pounce, charging forward immediately.

  It was a fierce battle and also a stalemate. After several minutes, both of them stopped fighting, they knew very well that continuing to fight would only lead to mutual destruction.

  "Brother, great skill, leave a big name!"

  "My name is Ye Tu Fei, Ye as in leaf, Tu as in journey, and Fei as in flying."

  Jia Chunfeng and Ye Tufei became bosom friends because of his broad-minded and tolerant personality, which he had developed over the years as a businessman, and also because Ye reminded him of an old friend from his youth.

  That day, when Ye Tufei and Zhan Jinbiao were fighting to a draw and had no choice but to start talking, Jia Chunfeng arrived. His first sentence after arriving was: "Isn't it just a meal? Is it worth making such a big fuss?" Then he said to Ye Tufei: "This young brother, if you're really short of money, don't worry, you can stay and eat as much as you want. If you came here to challenge the Jia family, I can only advise you that you've come to the wrong place. This old man is just a businessman, he only knows how to cook meat and brew wine."

  Ye Tufei's face was really thick, his face didn't blush and his heart didn't skip a beat, he said to Jia Chunfeng in a carefree manner: "I'm really broke, my stomach is hungry too. If not, I'll stay here and teach your men some self-defense skills. You can provide me with three meals a day, we won't owe each other anything, isn't that great!"

  If it were another businessman, he would definitely say: What a load of nonsense! Businessmen are after wealth, and yet they invite some useless scholar over to teach their apprentices, who get free food and drink without doing any work, and on top of that, delay the others from getting things done. Who would be happy with this kind of losing business?

  Jia Chunfeng was delighted and replied to Ye Tufei: "Indeed very good!"

  Ye Tufei stayed at Jia Chunfeng's mutton shop for nearly half a year. During this time, he occasionally taught the apprentices some basic moves, spent a small part of his time exchanging blows with Jiamen and Jia Yungui to hone their skills, and the other half of his time was spent drinking and chatting with Jia Chunfeng.

  On the fifteenth of August, everyone finished their work and gathered in the courtyard to eat mooncakes and admire the moon. Suddenly, Ye Tufei said he was leaving for Shanghai. He had just mentioned it the night before, and by early next morning, he was preparing to depart. As he was about to leave, he told Feng Daliang that if Jia Daguo needed his help with anything in the future, he should go to Shanghai to find him, and he would definitely return.

  Feng Daliang is very kind-hearted but a bit foolish, and asked Ye Tufei, Shanghai is so big, how can we find her? Ye Tufei only replied with two words: Post an ad.

  Less than three months after Ye Tuofei left, Jia Chunfeng really had an accident.

  A group of bandits calling themselves "Sitting Mountain Tigers" kidnapped Jia Chunfeng and demanded a ransom of 10,000 yuan. Jia Yungui personally intervened and negotiated with some underworld figures to reduce the ransom to 5,000 yuan. Just as Feng Daliang was about to deliver the 5,000 yuan to rescue Jia Chunfeng, he was unexpectedly released unharmed. Although this was suspicious, everyone was relieved that Jia Chunfeng had returned safely and didn't think much of it. However, two days later, government officials arrived at their doorstep, accusing Jia Chunfeng of colluding with the bandits on the grounds that there was no precedent for bandits releasing a hostage without receiving a ransom.

  Jia Chunfeng and his family of five were all locked up in the big prison, and his mutton shop and wine workshop were also sealed by the government. At a critical moment, Jia Chunfeng's younger brother-in-law kicked again, and this guy actually took away all of Jia Chunfeng's money and ran away. For a time, the Jia brothers, led by Feng Daliang, fell into a predicament.

  At this time, Jia YunGui stretched out a helping hand. He first gave Feng DaLiang 1,000 yuan to smooth the way in and out of prison, at least ensuring that Jia ChunFeng's family would not suffer in prison. Then, he used all his social connections to facilitate communication with the authorities.

  A month later, the government office sent out a message saying that if they could come up with 20,000 yuan, they would guarantee the safety of Jia Chunfeng and his family. The 20,000 yuan was exactly the amount of money that Jia Chunfeng's younger brother-in-law had embezzled.

  There was no way out, so I had to ask Jia YunGui for help. Jia YunGui also found it difficult and said that his coal yard business has not been good recently, with too much money tied up, and in a short period of time, he could only raise around 18,000 yuan at most. This amount was absolutely insufficient, so I had to think of other ways.

  Fortunately, Jia Yungui had many connections and soon found a way out. One of his friends from the Xu State Government had tasted Jia Chunfeng's mutton and wine, and was full of praise for his craftsmanship. When he heard about Jia Chunfeng's situation, he immediately offered to help him wholeheartedly, with only one condition: after Jia Chunfeng came out, he would open a branch in Xu State Government, and even invest some funds as shares, just so that he could enjoy the delicacies at his convenience.

  Next is the issue of money turnover. Jia YunGui's friend said, helping is helping, but involving money, it's better to follow the rules. What rules? There must be collateral. Feng DaLiang took out the contract for the mutton restaurant and wine workshop, Jia YunGui's friend laughed and said that without Jia ChunFeng, those things are worthless.

  What can be worth tens of thousands of dollars?

  Jia Chunfeng's secret recipe for braised lamb in fermented soybean paste and wine!

  To dispel Feng Daliang's doubts, Jia Yungui's friend proposed a plan to put the secret formula in a box and seal it with red lacquer paper. The three of them would sign their names on the red lacquer paper, and Jia Yungui would act as an intermediary, keeping the secret formula with him. Once Jia Chunfeng came out and repaid the money, they could naturally retrieve the secret formula from Jia Yungui.

  This is indeed a reasonable plan.

  The three parties quickly reached an agreement. Jia Chunfeng handed over the secret formula.

  Three days later, Jia Chunfeng and his family came out of the big prison. They didn't walk out, but were dragged out on a flatbed cart. The explanation given by the prison was: Jia Chunfeng and his five family members committed suicide by poisoning themselves.

  From then on, Feng Daliang finally understood that all these things from beginning to end were a conspiracy!

  After Jia Chunfeng's death, more than thirty of his disciples scattered, leaving only thirteen hot-blooded men who vowed to avenge their master. However, although these thirteen individuals each had their own strengths, none of them could bear the weight of leadership.

  Then, Feng Daliang thought of Ye Tufei.

  A week later, Ye Tu flew back to Jiajiazhuang.

  After learning about the whole thing in detail, Ye Tufei told those thirteen bloodthirsty men that Jia Chunfeng had a favor for him and he would definitely avenge Jia Chunfeng. However, this matter was not trivial and would result in loss of life. Ye Tufei advised everyone to stay out of it, otherwise they would be heading down a path of no return.

  Ye Tufei's vow to avenge his master moved the thirteen men, but Ye Tufei's persuasion only made them more angry. The thirteen men expressed their stance one by one, saying that this matter cannot be shouldered by Ye alone. They all thought it through and decided that even if they lose their heads tomorrow, as long as they can avenge their master, they will have no regrets.

  Ye Tufei was moved by everyone's determination and loyalty, so he yielded to their opinions. He only made a request that from now on, they should not call him "Ye Ye" (which sounds like "grandfather"), but instead call him "Ye Ge" or "Ye Di". However, the crowd did not agree. Ye Tufei had no choice but to retreat and said, "I'm the sixth child in my family, you can call me 'Ye Liu Ye' or 'Liu Ye'."

  Fourteen people made a blood oath, electing Ye Liu Fei Ye as the big boss. The fourteen men took "loyalty and righteousness" as their motto, so they decided to call themselves "Zhong Yi Tang". Feng Da Liang and thirteen other brothers changed the generation name in their names to "Zhong", calling themselves the "Thirteen Arhats of Zhong Yi Tang". From now on, any new members who join will be given the generation name "Yi".

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