In Tangjiang City, the heavy rain has not stopped.
The earthen wall outside Zhuangzi has had a layer of mud peeled off by the rain.
"Any news?" Sitting in the wet village, Xu Mu's expression froze.
"My boss, there is no action from the Lu family. We only know that Lu Zizhong was resting at home after being injured by having his abdomen cut off." Zhou Zun flashed into Zhuangzi and spoke in a deep voice.
"The government office also seems a little angry. They asked me to wait for the sword to be notarized and take it to the government office for another inspection."
Collusion between officials and businessmen is not a new scheme. Xu Mu is not worried about the notarization of weapons. It is written in black and white on both sides, and Liang Guanfang does not dare to do anything wrong.
The biggest worry is that with Lu Zizhong's sinister character, he will definitely not give up.
"Brother Mu, Hei Fu is here." Si Hu, who was squatting in front of Zhuangzi, suddenly shouted urgently.
Heifu is the leader of the stickmen in the Dongfang Xiaodukou area. He had previously reached a deal with Xu Mu, and he would receive half a penny of silver for every jar of Zui Tianxian sold.
In return, Heifu will bring the gangsters from the hall to help support Xujiazhuang.
"Little boss, something is wrong."
"What?"
"Several people from the Xifang side went crazy and came to the ferry to get food. There are too many people, and we really can't beat them."
As a former stickman, Xu Mu understood that crossing borders to get food was actually very rare. Basically, every stickman hall had a corresponding territory.
If several halls cross the border together, it would be even weirder.
Xu Mu smiled coldly and vaguely guessed that it was Mr. Lu's little trick to cause trouble in his wine shop.
"Si Hu, find a set of pockmarked masks to cover your face, and go help Heifu fight a few rounds."
Si Hu was stunned for a moment, then his face brightened and he stood up in a hurry.
"Zhou Zun, you go too and keep an eye on this fool."
"Don't worry, boss."
Xu Mu rubbed his forehead and said, "Hei Fu, I still say what I said. Now we are snatching food from the tiger's mouth. If it succeeds, in the future, in Tangjiang City, we will also be good people with houses and land. There is no need to continue."
Look at the faces of those rich and wealthy men."
Hei Fu's face became faintly joyful, he hugged his fists, led Si Hu and Zhou Zun, the three of them covered their pockmarked faces, put on their raincoats, broke into the rain, and hurried forward again.
In the village, Xu Mu slowly stood up, paced, and walked to the door of the village. If the weather didn't clear up, the food would not be able to return to Tangjiang.
How to make wine without food.
In ten days, it will be time for the wine market to open.
Xu Mu had many things on his mind. Not only was his personal affairs not going well, but God was also not in favor of him.
Clang.
At this time, there was a loud noise in the village, which shocked Xu Mu. When he looked back, he realized that Sister Lian suddenly lost her strength, and a pottery jar in her hand broke into several pieces.
In the pottery vat, some meat lumps that were supposed to be cooked were scattered everywhere.
"Master, I'll pick it up right now." Mrs. Lian looked ashamed and hurriedly bent down to pick up the broken pottery vat piece by piece.
"My boss, if you break it... you will deduct it from my monthly salary."
"No need." Xu Mu shook his head. In his heart, he had already regarded these people in the village as family members.
"Sister-in-law Lian, keep a big piece."
Xu Mu raised his head and looked at the sky in the distance. God knows when this unstoppable rain will continue to rain.
Without food, there is no way to make wine, and the people in the village are almost sleepy.
"What does the boss want to do?"
"Pick up a skewer..."
Xu Mu looked helpless, and the entire Zhuangzi was in an inexplicable atmosphere of slight panic due to the incident where Si Hu was forced to kill.
If it weren't for the rounds of fighting at the border that built up courage, this kind of disaster would probably scare a lot of people.
"Master, what does Lu Chuan mean?" Sister-in-law Lian paused and stared curiously.
"To put it simply, it means drinking wine and eating meat." Xu Mu explained with difficulty, "Sister-in-law Lian, go and gather all the people from the village. Today, the Japanese boss will personally take care of it and let you have a full meal."
Outside Zhuangzi, heavy rain fell.
In the village, not long after, the sound of sucking in cold air could be heard.
Xu Mu flipped the wooden stick, used half a clay pot as a frying pan, put in a can of oil, and fried the meat until the meat was fragrant.
Mrs. Lian burst into tears watching this.
"Master, it costs a lot of ointment. Now the ointment over there in Xifang has risen to thirty copper coins per jar."
"Master, I'll just give it a sniff. I'm not greedy." The man who spoke quickly wiped the corners of his mouth.
Jiang Caiwei did not persuade him, but helped him from the side.
Why didn't she understand what Xu Mu meant? The people in the village had been frightened and needed to be comforted.
"Get some skewers." Xu Mu laughed.
There were children who were already swallowing their saliva and hurriedly brought the wooden skewers. Therefore, I got the first skewer of barbecue and only took two bites. I was so greedy that I almost bit the wooden skewers.
"Senior." Xu Mu turned around and shouted.
The old scholar wailed his way through the crowd, snatched the meat skewers from Xu Mu's hand, and ran back to the corner, eating and drinking comfortably with a mouthful of meat and a mouthful of wine.
"Master, I'm not greedy."
"Master, I'll just smell it."
Xu Mu had a funny look on his face and did not favor one over the other. He handed out the meat skewers one by one.
"Everyone, just drink wine and eat. In this rainy weather, it has a special taste."
"Master, let's have a drink together."
Xu Mu raised the wine bowl in his hand, raised his head and drank it all in one gulp.
"Caiwei."
Turning around, Xu Mu just picked up a piece of fried meat and tried to eat half a mouthful, hoping to ask Jiang Caiwei to get some more ointment.
"Xu Lang, what's wrong?"
As if making a habitual move, Jiang Caiwei suddenly moved her head over, opened her little cherry mouth, and took the meat into her mouth.
At this time, not only Xu Mu was confused, but Jiang Caiwei herself was also confused.
The meat is still in the mouth, chewing and chewing makes a sound.
"Xu, Xu Lang, I think you let me eat." Jiang Caiwei raised her head, her face turned red.
When she was not escaping, she liked to play this game with Xia Shuang. One would peel the peanuts and twist them in her hands, while the other would open her mouth to bite them.
I never thought that a habit would die immediately.
"Xu Lang...it's delicious." Jiang Caiwei felt that her voice was trembling.
Xu Mu smiled slightly, picked another big piece, and handed it to Jiang Caiwei. But this time, Jiang Caiwei closed her mouth tightly and did not dare to bite it again.
"If you don't eat, you will be angry with your husband."
Jiang Caiwei had no choice but to raise her head, carefully lean over again, and bite it slowly.
The villagers present, even the youngest children, had their faces stuffed in their mouths and ran to their mother, shouting "Mom, hey, hey".
"I don't know when, my little boss will wait for me and I will have another little boss." Mrs. Lian laughed.
The villagers nearby also started laughing.
Xu Mu was so happy that he didn't bother to fight and raised the wine bowl in his hand.
"Everyone, please drink again."
"Drink with the host."
The joyful voice suddenly penetrated the ripples of rain outside.
…
"Where are dogs being killed and roasted for meat?" Si Hu wrinkled his nose in the long and narrow alley.
"Brother Tiger, don't be distracted, the stupid Xifang stickman is about to rush over." Zhou Zun stood aside and reminded him coldly.
In front of them, there were about thirty or forty figures in coir raincoats, each holding a whistle stick and walking through the puddles of water on their cloth shoes, roaring towards them.
"Have you heard of poetry? The old scholar gave it to me." Si Hu grinned, without any fear on his face.
"Brother Sihu, what poems are you talking about? You don't look like an elegant person." Heifu stood aside, looking at the crowd rushing in front, and spoke hurriedly and tremblingly.
"Walking around the entrance of Eight Halls at night with a knife in hand, no one knows that a tiger is coming."
"I, Sihu, am a tiger from Wangzhou!"
Covering his pockmarked face, Si Hu lowered his right shoulder and rushed forward.
Boom, boom, boom.
In the rain curtain, the three or four Xifang stickmen who were the first to bear the brunt were knocked to pieces and flew away.