Chapter 38: Smashing Bowls

  Drop the bowl

  Yao Fan's cycling team marched on the dirt road in the countryside, and there were six partners who learned to ride a bike at the beginning, including He Shicheng, Zhou Di, Wang Gui, etc., as well as Li Haoniu, the leader of the construction site. The whole team had thirty-nine people, winding through the fields like a steel dragon.

  Yao Wenyin recently issued an order requiring every apprentice to learn how to ride a bicycle.

  Yao Fan spoke on the construction site, saying that any probationary worker, from the day they learned to ride a bicycle, would be considered to have ended their probation period and become an official member of the Yao family, starting to receive a monthly salary of one or two yuan. Those who had already received a salary would be demoted back to probationary workers if they failed to learn how to ride a bicycle within a month.

  When the partners clearly learned about this news, their first reaction was to learn how to drive immediately! In fact, all the partners had been envious of He Shicheng and other close partners riding cars back and forth. Now that they have the opportunity to learn for themselves, it's also related to wages and benefits, so why would they be willing to lag behind? Reluctantly, Li Haoniu divided the enthusiastic partners into several groups, learning at different times on the newly repaired playground.

  As for those class leaders, they are even more leading the way in studying hard to ride bicycles. They attach great importance to their current position as class leader, although each class has only ten people, including themselves, and the treatment is the same as that of ordinary workers. However, this is also a leadership position! Chinese people value this face, moreover, the class leaders can attend the working meeting in Mr. Yao's big house every night, and can drink the first pot of tea brewed by the master himself. This face makes each class leader feel that they are different from others.

  Once a person is willing to risk their life, there are very few things that can't be done well. What's more, it was just riding a bicycle, and in about three days, all the team leaders started receiving formal wages.

  Li Haoniu, after understanding Yao Fang's mind, regarded every word of Yao Fang as an order and executed it. In addition to his own hard training, he also supervised all the partners to conduct bicycle training according to the plan.

  After driving on the rugged road of Ganba for two hours, Yao Fan's convoy finally arrived at Zhoujiazhuang area, where scattered thatched cottages were seen in the fields, which were homes of tenant farmers.

  In the center of Zhoujiazhuang area lies the real Zhoujia Manor, inside the high walls of which there is an old opera stage. On the stage, all sorts of colorful flags and streamers had been hung up as early as last night. The local dignitaries arrived one after another in the morning and are now sitting around tables on the empty ground paved with green bricks in front of the stage, drinking tea and eating melon seeds while watching the opera.

  Yao Fansheng and his group had not yet entered the village when they heard the erhu's sound, like a bellows panting, from far away.

  He Shicheng exclaimed excitedly: "Boss, the bicycles we ride are so fast, and we arrived so early, but Zhou's family opera has already started!"

  Fourth Master shouted from behind, "It's almost noon now. Didn't we start early? If we don't let the opera troupe perform from morning till night, won't it be a waste of money to hire them for the ancestral worship ceremony?"

  Yao Fandao said: "Let's all go in and watch the play together, today we'll have a good listen, but don't overdrink, just eat more instead."

  Everyone was shocked by Yao Fan's words, so they all fell silent, their hearts racing with doubt and denial. No one spoke up, each lost in thought as they rode their bikes all the way to the entrance of Zhoujiazhuang before stopping.

  Outside Zhoujiazhuang, villagers kept running to see the novelty. These villagers, regardless of age, were all men, and their dark yellow faces with braids were all discussing: "What is this thing? Two wheels, one front and one back, can run by themselves, did the Zhou family invite a magician?"

  "But it doesn't seem like it, where can a magician's trick be as good as wearing this?"

  "I see a strange image, is this learned from Nezha's third prince? One in front and one behind, two wind and fire wheels..."

  "What a wind and fire wheel, that's a foreign bicycle!" Immediately, a specialized runner who had seen the world in the surrounding towns shouted: "This must be Mr. Yao from Qingdao Port! I heard he's a big merchant from overseas, his family has everything! What Western toys don't they have?! I heard their home is full of big and small iron wheels! Step on one, do a somersault, and you can go to the Westerner's country in the West Ocean!"

  "Wow! Right! This car must be a foreigner's toy! Look at these people riding on it, the wheels can roll forward by themselves! And they're rolling pretty fast! It's making my eyes dizzy!"

  "Really! Mother dear! Today I've really opened my eyes! This must be some sort of foreign sorcery, right?"

  "What is this Master Yao bringing so many people here for?"

  "Hey, this Old Yao is quite something, I heard that the Yao family village in Qingdao is being renovated, and they're going to build over a hundred rooms!"

  ……

  As the crowd in Zhoujiazhuang grew larger, Yao Fang was also at a loss for what to do. However, the apprentices who followed Yao Fang were excited by the attention, and one by one they puffed out their chests, looking down on the villagers around them with an air of superiority, as if daring anyone to challenge them. If Yao Fang hadn't been present, they probably would have started bragging about the wonders of this foreign rickshaw, just like they did in Qingdao.

  During this period, due to the bragging of these cycling buddies, all sorts of rumors flew around like they had grown wings, making Yao Fang seem like a living Buddha or a Bodhisattva reborn, or an omnipotent demon...

  Zhou Jia's master, Zhou Xiusheng, heard that Yao Feng had arrived and didn't dare to be slow. He hurried out to greet him, bowing his hands repeatedly from a distance, separated by the noisy crowd.

  "This must be Brother Yao! I've long admired you! I'm Zhou Xiu Song."

  Yao Fangna's tall and majestic figure, with a fair face, stood out in the crowd like a crane among chickens. On his head was a shiny black wig with a queue attached, and on his body was a brand new silk changshan (long shirt) that had been carefully made by San Jie, making him extremely recognizable in the crowd.

  As soon as he heard the other party's name, he knew it was Old Master Zhou, and hurriedly returned a courtesy with a smile: "So it's Old Master Zhou, I've long admired you."

  After the exchange of greetings, Yao Feng instructed Li Haoniu: "Haoniu, you have the men park the car and then come in." He then followed Zhou Xiusong into the Zhou family gate, with only He Shicheng following behind him.

  The steward of the Zhou family, seeing so many bicycles, was bewildered and asked Li Haoniu, who was tall and sturdy: "Sir, do these iron horses need to eat fodder? The cattle shed is at the back of the village."

  Li Haoniu said disdainfully, "These are cars, not horses. They don't eat fodder, but they also need a good place to park. If not, with so many people and messy hands around here, if something gets damaged, who's going to take responsibility? Who can afford it?"

  Then the steward of the Zhou family had to lead the crowd into the back door, park the car in the large courtyard where the Zhou family stopped the horse-drawn carriage, and ordered the servants to hurry up and send noodles, giving each person a bowl. But he was angry in his heart, thinking that Yao Fang was not a good thing, my master kindly invited him to watch the hall, but he brought a group of people over to eat for free. Originally, according to the rules, it should be one person giving two large silver coins, but Master had instructed earlier that since Yao's family had sent gifts before and they were really generous, when his servants came, each person would be rewarded with 20 large silver coins. But who would have thought that Yao Fang didn't bring just one or two people, counting the little servant who followed in, he brought a total of 38 people over!

  The housekeeper calculated that it would cost 760 taels of silver, which made him feel a sharp pain. He gritted his teeth and decided to follow the usual practice, giving two taels per person.

  When he received the noodles on Thursday of that week, he saw that only two big dumplings were given, and he didn't even pick up his chopsticks. He didn't say a word of thanks to Old Man Zhou either.

  Wang Gui didn't put down his chopsticks, and the rest of the gang who had been waiting for a long time also didn't move their chopsticks. Wang Gui glanced at the steward of the Zhou family's house, but he didn't come back. He just ordered the servant to send each person a bowl of noodles, then turned red with rage, and shouted at Li Haibao, the leader of the beggars, who was squatting down eating his noodles: "Damn it! Li Haibao, you're still eating? Don't you have any eyesight? Can't you see that the Zhou family's master is here?"

  Li Haoniu and those beggar-born class leaders immediately stopped their chopsticks, stood up from the squatting position on the ground. Li Haoniu also reacted, holding his bowl and standing up with a frown: "Damn it! This reward is not right!"

  Wang Gui grew more agitated, shouting: "From morning till now, we've walked over ten miles for what? Now you're just giving us two big sons to send away as beggars?! What kind of master is this Zhou family pretending to be?! You're ruining your own mother! Do you think we haven't eaten noodles before?! We follow the master and eat white noodles every meal, with steamed buns and pancakes galore!"

  Zhou Diyi's face was difficult, and he opened his mouth: "It can't be that for a few taels of silver, we'll make a scene, losing the face of our master... Wang Gui, you also earn two taels of silver per month, it's not worth making a fuss over a few taels."

  "Damn it! They say that when the master is humiliated, the servant dies. I still have some dignity left, starving for a day is nothing, we can't lose face in front of the master. Besides, what kind of family is this Zhou family? We used to eat together with the master in the courtyard, with tables and chairs, now they're making us squat in a corner, isn't that losing our own face?"

  Li Haoniu scolded: "What Wang Gui said is reasonable, we were brought here by the master, this face can't be lost, damn it! One bowl of noodles and they want to send us away, isn't that slapping the master's face?! I heard that the master sent several hundred taels of silver to the Zhou family as a gift just the other day, and now they want to send us away with just one bowl of noodles?!"

  As he spoke, Li Haoniu smashed the half-eaten noodles along with the bowl and chopsticks. Wang Gui, pleased with himself, followed suit and also smashed his bowl and chopsticks. Zhou Diyi thought for a moment, indeed it was a waste of food, so he also smashed his bowl and chopsticks. The young men from the pawnshop were all hot-headed, after the leader smashed their bowls and chopsticks, the remaining team leaders, although reluctant to waste the food in front of them, knew the importance of unity, quickly gobbled down a few mouthfuls and then smashed their bowls and chopsticks as well.