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Chapter 24: 䜎萜 (Gloomy)
Translator: LittleYen
“Alright, don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.” Zhong Ziqi’s usual gentle and elegant smile, without a trace of sorrow, as if nothing could be difficult for him, made the others believe it unconsciously.
“Well, that’s it for today, there aren’t many people around either so let’s go back!” After the little incident just now, the vendor booth was surprisingly ‘no one came to inquire or buy’ so many of the peddlers, looking at them with the look of ‘rejoice in other people’s misfortune’, felt that they had lost a formidable opponent.
It was also good to be like this, Zhong Ziqi took this opportunity to close the stall, as he was in no mood to continue.
“Huh? Why are you back so early today?” Huang Amu asked these few people in confusion. Uncle Huang also came out of the room when he heard the sound.
“Ah, something came up so I planned to go back early today, here’s today’s rent money.” Zhong Ziqi handed Huang Amu four wens, his smile did not show any trace of difference, only Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng smiled reluctantly.
After sending the four away, Huang Amu turned around,said to Uncle Huang with a serious face, “These children are not quite right, is something wrong?”
Uncle Huang also frowned. They are all very clever, how could they not see it? Zhong Ziqi hides it well enough but Zhao Sheng and Zhao Ning can’t hide anything at all, everything is written on their faces.
“I’ll go and ask around!” Uncle Huang flicked his clothes then he opened the door to go out. There were a lot of people at the docks who he knew, so it was easy to find out.
Huang Amu waited anxiously at home, always feeling restless. In a short while Uncle Huang came back, his face not looking good with a hint of sadness.
“Well? Is something wrong?” Huang Amu asked anxiously, hoping that he was thinking too much.
“I heard that the Chang Shun Restaurant has come to look for trouble.”
“What? What
 What can we do? Poor Children! Although everything just went well recently !!” Huang Amu was stunned, for those living in the town, they knew too well regarding the power in the town.
The Jin Hua Restaurant is the largest restaurant in town, the power behind it is so mysterious that people dare not mess with it. On the other hand, the Chang Shun Restaurant is the only one that is as good as the Jin Hua Restaurant.They are also backed by a powerful force. The county magistrate(County Grand Master) of Feng Yang City is the power behind them.
Feng Yang City is the city around Qing Shui Town.It was some distance from Qing Shui Town, to get there, one had to travel by water.The Chang family is a small wealthy family there.The reason why they dared to be so reckless was that the Chang family had a ‘lovely as a flower’ (èČŒçŸŽćŠ‚èŠ± = beautiful looking) ger. Was it an exaggeration? They don’t know, but this ger was chosen by the County Grand Master to be his little concubine, he was very much doted on, to be on an equal footing with his first wife.
The ger’s favour was so great that he used to take a lot of gold and silver gifts from the family, which led to the Chang family becoming more and more arrogant. The ger’s younger brother, who is also a smart one, although a bit trashy, but still relies on his sibling’s subsidies, opened a restaurant, which is located in Qing Shui town, this restaurant, if you ask why not open in Feng Yang City? The first reason was that Feng Yang City relatively full with restaurants, the second reason is that the county governor’s first wife in Feng Yang City is also a bit powerful, so they opened a restaurant away from Feng Yang City, in order not to collide with the other side.
Nowadays, this Boss Chang is also a relative of the Chang family whose personality is ‘happy to partake but not prepared to do any work’. Now that the family is more powerful, he has started to act in a tyrant manner (æ©«èĄŒéœžé“). However, Chang Shun Restaurant has become the second largest restaurant in Qing Shui Town was not without strength, as many of its specialties, in addition to its signature dishes, have been robbed this way.
[ć„œćƒæ‡¶ćš: hĂ o chÄ« lǎn zuĂČ
happy to partake but not prepared to do any work (idiom) / all take and no give]
[ æ©«èĄŒéœžé“ hĂ©ng xĂ­ng bĂ  dĂ o : to oppress / to rule as a despot / to tyrannize]
The restaurant was particularly an enemy to Jin Hua Restaurant because it could even be said that Jin Hua Restaurant monopolizes the restaurant’s business in the whole town. Although Chang Shun Restaurant is still the second largest restaurant but only they know the difference between them.
This has led to the fact, each and every thing that Jin Hua Restaurant was interested in, the Chang Shun Restaurant will, of course, try to steal it. This was also due to the reason that the people behind the Jin Hua restaurant were not always present. The usual conflict,view each other as an enemy, small-scale fights are nothing, But when it comes to the real fight, they don’t dare. This kind of vagueness makes people fearful.
Nowadays, the Boss of Chang Shun restaurant can be said to be walking around the town with no one not afraid of him, no one is not scared of him.This time Qi Ge’er was in trouble if he messed up with him.
The journey back to Zhao Jia’s village was silent. Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng wanted to go to Zhong Ziqi’s place to think of a solution, but he refused: “I know what to do, you go back and tell Zhao Amu, don’t collect the vegetables! The rest of it, leave it at your place first! ”
Zhao Ning and Zhao Sheng had a bad feeling in their hearts and finally went home.
The smile that Zhong Ziqi had maintained all day was slowly withdrawn.
“Don’t be unhappy, wife! Zheng’an will protect you.” Zhao Zheng’an looked worriedly at his wife who was feeling depressed . He wasn’t scared at all, only worried.
“Hn. I trust you.” Zhong Zizhi smiled absentmindedly and walked all the way home.
Zhao Zheng’an cautiously gathered around Zhong Ziqi, he did not dare to make a sound to disturb him. Zhong Ziqi saw him in such a state yet did not feel amused, stroking his head, his heart was a bit troubled, for the first time he realized the horror side of these evil forces.
In modern times, there are laws that restrict people from being so high-profile, whereas in ancient times, when ‘the mountain was high, the emperor far away’ the common people had no power. With a little money and power, they could trample people underfoot and make people have no place to turn back.It was the first time he felt so powerless, the first time he felt the heartache of being a nobody.
[ć±±é«˜çš‡ćžé : shān gāo huĂĄng dĂŹ yuǎn
The mountain is high, the emperor far away — it is difficult to get justice.]
But he would not surrender to this. He did not want to be a millionaire but a lifetime of prosperity was always possible, and he would find a way to remove all obstacles.
“Hungry, are you? I’ll go and cook! ” With that thought in mind, Zhong Ziqi got up in spirit and walked into the kitchen.
“I’ll help you, wife.” Zhao Zheng’an followed suit and got up.
Da Hei and Xiao Hei came running from outside the house wagging their tails. They also wanted to follow them into the kitchen but Zhao Zheng’an stopped them, his wife said they were not allowed in the kitchen, since they would mess up the food.
“Oooh woof.” Xiao Hei called out with its big, watery eyes.
“You can’t go in oh, my wife won’t let it. You guys go play in the yard ba! ” Zhao Zheng’an took out a big bone from the cupboard, threw it at them. Da Hei and Xiao Hei immediately stopped pestering the kitchen and ran away happily with the bone in their mouths.
At noon, Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Zheng’an were in no mood to eat so Zhong Ziqi simply made two bowls of cold noodles, boiled two eggs, put them inside, and ate them very well.
After eating, Zhong Ziqi cleaned up the dishes then he stood in the bedroom, thinking for a while. He began to rummage through the cupboard.
Zhao Zheng’an was startled,asked nervously; ” Wife, what are you looking for, Zheng’an will help you find it!”
“You stand there!”
Zhong Ziqi took out the clothes he had brought over from the last time they split up the family, mainly the torn clothes of Zhao Zheng’an. Since the stall started, besides the one that Zhong Ziqi had bought one piece of clothing for each of them at the beginning,he had forgotten about it since then. He hadn’t bothered to throw away the torn clothes in the past few days, so now they were just right for use.
He tossed one of it to Zhao Zheng’an: “Change into it!”
Zhao Zheng’an took the clothes as he obediently changed into them without asking. Zhong Ziqi turned his back and changed into his own. He wanted to go into the city again, but this time he had to keep a low profile in order not to let anyone recognize him.
But only after he had put on the clothes, Zhong Ziqi could feel how worn the clothes were, especially the sleeves and the hem, which were worn from rough work. He looked like he was a heavy manual worker.He couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pain in his heart, but there was no time for him to think about it. After putting on another good piece of clothing, Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Zheng’an went out.
The two of them went to Zhao’s second uncle’s house in the village first, Zhong Ziqi did not want to care about these few wen of money so he decided to take a horse-drawn carriage into the town for a blitzkrieg strategy.
[速戰速æ±ș : sĂč zhĂ n sĂč juĂ©/ a blitzkrieg strategy (idiom) / to resolve sth in the shortest time possible / to get sth done quickly]
One of the sons in the Zhao Er Shu’s family had married. The child was three years old.Their family was in harmony. The family was sitting at the table eating when Zhong Ziqi went there. After hearing Zhong Ziqi’s intention, Zhao Er Shu finished the last bite of rice in his bowl then he got up to set up the carriage.
“Qi Ge’er,have you two eaten yet? Eat something here?” One member of Zhao Er Shu’s family greeted them warmly, as their vegetables were the first to be bought by Zhao Amu so they were particularly grateful when they heard that Zhong Ziqi had collected their vegetables, thinking this child was good.
“No need, Amu! We’ve just finished eating, you all eat ba! It’s already late noon, I’m sorry to bother you.” Zhong Ziqi smiled shyly.
“What’s so disturbing about it? If you have time, come and talk to my Ling zi.”
Ling zi was his family’s son’s wife. He smiled coyly at Zhong Ziqi, the fat child in his arms also showed a dimple to melt Zhong Ziqi’s heart. ( to make Zhong Ziqi think the child is adorable or moe)
“Yes, definitely.”
By now, Zhao Er Shu had already set up the carriage, Zhong Ziqi and Zhao Zheng’an said goodbye to them before they got into the carriage.