Zhong Ziqi watched him by his side all night long. However, Zhao Zhengâan showed no sign of waking up, but after drinking the medicine, his face was slightly better, but still pale which was unbearable to look at.
The sun was just rising in the east when Zhao Ningâs family and Uncle Huangâs family arrived at the medical center.
âHow is it?â Zhao Amu asked anxiously.
Zhong Ziqi shook his head sadly, âNot too good, hasnât woken up.â
âThese days,things are just getting better, how can this happen again? !â Huang Amu said with the same sadness.
âWho is it? Is it Chang Shun?â Uncle Huang asked. The others frowned as they all knew about Chang Shun restaurantâs matter. They didnât quite believe it when Zhong Ziqi said that he had settled the matter but now something bad had happened.
âIt must be them, theyâre the only ones who always make life difficult for us.â Zhao Ning said furiously.
Zhao Sheng frowned as he shook his head, âIt may not necessarily be Chang Shun, our business is so âhotâ. We have taken away a lot of customers, it must have caused others to hold a grudge, it is not impossible if it is another trader.â
Zhong Ziqi nodded his head,he felt that what Zhao Sheng said also made sense, it seemed that it was necessary for him to make another trip to Jin Hua.
After staying in the medical hall for half a day, Zhao Amu and Huang Amu did not dare to mention the fact that Zhao Zhengâan was unconscious, afraid that Zhong Ziqi would be sad. After the visit, everyone went back one by one. Zhao Ning wanted to stay to accompany Zhong Ziqi, but Zhong Ziqi refused.
After the people left, Zhong Ziqi sat on the edge of the bed holding Zhao Zhengâanâs rough hand for a while, before saying goodbye to the old doctor and going out.
He had gone to Jin Hua before, but now he was considered as a valuable guest of Jin Hua. Because his four-course recipe had made the Jin Hua restaurantâs business more and more prosperous,the shopkeeper had to be polite when he saw him.
âXiao Geâer, what brings you here? Is there something wrong?â Jin Sheng was puzzled, mainly because Zhong Ziqi wouldnât really come here unless he had something to do. He thought this ger was quite nice, so he wanted to make friends, but unfortunately the person didnât have the heart.
Zhong Ziqi didnât hide anything and told him about the attack on Zhao Zhengâan.
Jin Sheng frowned, he couldnât imagine that something so vicious would happen : âSo what do you mean?â
Zhong Ziqi said with a haggard look on his face :âHelp me find out who it was. I wonât let you help unconditionally.â
Jin Sheng was not the type to take advantage of the situation, otherwise he would not have paid a high price for Zhong Ziqiâs recipe to help him get out of trouble when he was at his witâs end.
But this little ger is like a treasure that canât be dug up. Moreover the person is very affectionate, so he (JS) is sure that he (ZZq) wonât do anything that would destroy the bridge after crossing the river.
lit. to destroy the bridge after crossing the river (idiom) / fig. to abandon oneâs benefactor upon achieving oneâs goal]
âOkay, Iâll find out about this for you as soon as I can. Your family, that one â now, how is he?â Jin Sheng asked. The regulars at Zhong Ziqiâs stall, including the restaurant businessman that paid attention to him, no one didnât know that Zhong Ziqiâs husband was a fool. Regarding this matter, many people privately laughed and regretted, thinking that it was a big loss for such an excellent ger to marry a fool.
He (JS) heard that someone had even secretly hinted to Zhong Ziqi that this someone had a crush on him, but he turned it down, which added to the good feeling of others towards him.
If Zhong Ziqi knew about this he would have said innocently, how come he didnât know who had hinted at him? Refused? Thatâs even more ridiculous, but there was an Amu who advised him to remarry but he refused âŚ
When Zhong Ziqi saw that Jin Sheng had agreed, he didnât stay any longer. He was so worried about Zhao Zhengâan that he hurried back to the medical clinic. When he saw that Zhao Zhengâan still hadnât woken up, Zhong Ziqi rushed home again. The medicine Zhao Zhengâan had been drinking over the past few days was of the highest quality. Since the one hundred wen or so that he had earned yesterday had been taken away so the rest was definitely not enough. He had to hurry back to get some, just in case.
When he arrived at home, he saw Da Hei and Xiao Hei running over to him immediately after he opened the door, surrounding him, barking non stop, just then,he remembered that he hadnât fed them yet, but he didnât have time to be at home: âGood boy! Zhengâan is sick, so I have to go and stay with him. You guys, be good at home!â
After he finished talking,he went into the bedroom. There was a ânothing out of ordinaryâ small crack on the top side of the bed where the bed curtain was blocked. Zhong Ziqi put his hand inside, felt for a cloth bag, which contained his ten taels of silver. He put the five taels of silver inside his sleeves, then he put the bag back where it belonged.
Before leaving, Zhong Ziqi went into the kitchen to feed the starving two dogs and chicks. After that, he went to Zhao Amuâs house to give them the key, let them help him look after the house.
Only then did he hurry back to the town.
The shop owner, Jin Sheng, moved very quickly.The next day the news was delivered to him by the same shop attendant called Xiao Qin zi.There were three attendants at the Jin Hua Restaurant but this one was obviously one of Jin Shengâs trusted confidants. Xiao Qin Zi recounted the results of his investigation to Zhong Ziqi.
It turned out that there was really a Chang Shun Restaurant behind this. On that day, after the gloomy man gave the order, another man beside him was particularly cautious not to take action directly.Instead, he provoked a few stall owners on the pier who were particularly unhappy with Zhong Ziqi and friends. That man was a very shrewd person. At first, he talked to the bosses as if he was an ordinary diner. In an appropriate manner,he provoked them a few times before soon, some of them took the bait.
All of them had been robbed of their business by Zhong Ziqi. One of them was the owner of the noodle stall on the pier where his business had once been very popular. He took the lead,approached the townâs rascal man. These roque would do anything as long as they were given money. Soon, thatâs how the scene came along.
Xiao Qin Zi looked carefully at Zhong Ziqiâs expressionless face after he finished speaking, but from the flicker in his slightly narrowed eyes, he could still see his anger: âThe boss has sent word to ask, what âyouâ want to do. Do âyouâ want us to help âyouâ teach them a lesson?â
[âYouâ in honorific you, very polite]
Zhong Ziqi was surprised by this move of Boss Jin.It was good enough that he could help him with the investigation,yet he didnât expect he would continue to help him to the end.He thought he had nothing to be coveted, so why did he help him once and again, again and again, as a businessman who only wanted to make a profit?
Zhong Ziqi couldnât figure it out, so he simply didnât think about it. The only value he had now was the popular âchinese breadsticksâ. If he (JS) wanted the recipes, he could give it to him for nothing.
Even if he knew that someone was behind it, there was no way he could teach them a lesson, so he might as well let Jin Hua help him out. Let people know that he had Jin Hua as his backing. Although he was definitely tied to Jin Huaâs chariot. In the future, anyone who went against Jin Hua would definitely have to come after him. He could do nothing more now, especially since Chang Shun was really out of his league.
He is powerless. At this time, he was really confused. It was like a house without support, anyone kicked it, it would fall to the ground. Being bullied yet he does not have the ability to resist.
Zhong Ziqi sighed,his moods were extremely low again. There were times when he thought what was the point of living like this? But after all of this was over he would still spend his day happily. If he canât stand the slightest suffering then he would be the same as the real ger! As a man who was powerful and domineering deep down inside his heart who liked to hide his abilities (not fond of showing off) âŚHow can he cry just because he has suffered a little? !
âYou go back to tell Master Jin that I thank him, Iâll trouble him with this matter.If in the future, if thereâs anything he wants, just ask! As long as I can do it.â Zhong Ziqi said while he narrowed his eyes, who told them to bully his people? He could not sleep or eat without taking this revenge.
On the third day, Xiao Qin Zi came to the doctorâs clinic again and told him that the matter had been settled. He didnât say exactly how it had been resolved, but he believed that no one would come after him in the future, as the whole pier knew that he was backed by Jin Hua. Those people who had caused trouble had also gone home.
On Chang Shunâs side, Jin Hua had already put pressure on the County Magistrate of Feng Yang City. He believed he would not ignore it as long as his brain was not damaged.
Just as Xiao Qin Zi had said, the magistrate of Feng Yang City was a middle-aged man with slightly white hair.
He flew into a terrible rage and burst into a fury.He hadnât been so frustrated since he took up the position of the magistrate, because Feng Yang City was far away from the imperial city. There were no big powers in the area, even the rich families had to give him face.But this Jin Hua, who has always kept a low profile,gave him a hard time (meet rejection). He had no way to resist since he could not afford to mess with the person behind Jin Hua.
[大çźéˇé /dĂ fÄ lĂŠi tĂng: to be furious,
çŤĺä¸ä¸ /huÇ mĂ o sÄn zhĂ ng: burst into a fury/ to get really angry]
So he took it out on the two brothers who were causing trouble.It had only been a few days since they had settled down. Being visited again for the second time so now the middle-aged man scolded this concubine from the Chang family and gave him the cold shoulder, warning him that if his little brother caused any more trouble, he should just go away.
The Ger from Chang Family was confused, he went from heaven to hell in one fell swoop.He cried and screamed but no one cared. So he turned to his little brother, the culprit. It was all his fault.He had told him to stay out of trouble, but why did his words fall on deaf ears?
He was certain the news would soon spread that he had fallen out of favour. Previously he had offended many people by being favoured but now that he had lost it, many people would surely âthrow stones at him who already fell down a wellâ. It will be a difficult time.
[č˝äşä¸çł : luò jÇng xiĂ shĂ
to throw stones at sb who fell down a well (idiom); to hit a person who is down]
The gloomy man hadnât expected it would come to this. He was terrified, at a loss for words as he was slapped several times by his older brother. It was the first time he had seen his brother so angry; His brother used to dote on him the most.
They had a large family. Since they had become prosperous, all their uncles and other family members, all had taken advantage of their familyâs wealth as they wine and dine; dishes with generous amounts of meat and fish. All the money, apart from what his brother took back at the beginning, the rest of the money was the income from the restaurant. Even his brother sometimes had to take money from it, so the restaurant was the familyâs lifeblood, so as long as it was still there, everything was fine. They didnât want to go back to the old days of poverty, in the words, âItâs easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but hard to go from extravagant to frugal.â
Only â was it all as good as he thought it would be?