Chapter 8: The Farmer's Courtyard

  Tang Xiaofeng was bored after finishing his shift, flipping through the newspaper at the triage desk. The patients he was responsible for had already stabilized in terms of vital signs and had been transferred to orthopedics that afternoon. After two days of internship in the emergency department, he was almost familiar with everyone.

  After flipping through the newspaper for half an hour, "slap" sound, Tang Xiao Feng subconsciously looked up and saw Guo Zhi Cheng walking in with a smile on his face, saying: "Let's go." Tang Xiao Feng glanced at the clock on the registration desk and smiled: "You're really punctual." The two laughed and walked towards the Audi 100, Guo Zhi Cheng politely opened the car door for Tang Xiao Feng, then got into the driver's seat. The two drove away, leaving behind the nurses in the registration desk who were discussing and gossiping.

  In the car driving on the highway to the suburbs, sitting in a soft seat, Tang Xiao Feng smiled and said: "Mr. Guo found me for something?" Guo Zhi Cheng revealed a friendly smile and said: "I came this time specifically to thank you! Yesterday I was having dinner with my girlfriend at Quanjude, it was supposed to be a happy occasion, but unexpectedly in the middle of the meal I received a phone call. I have a bad temper, when things happen I get anxious and can't calm down, so...". "This illness should pay attention to avoiding overwork and tension."

  Guo Zhicheng parked his car at a place called Sanlihe, where there was a large courtyard surrounded by a wall with seven or eight thatched cottages inside. Outside the yard were parked over ten cars, mostly high-end vehicles, including several with license plates from the provincial capital. Guo Zhicheng drove into the yard and stopped, while Tang Xiaofeng jumped out of the car first and carefully looked around the small courtyard, noticing that on the front gate was written in red paint: "Rural Family Courtyard".

  Guo Zhicheng locked the car door and walked over, smiling: "How's that? The scenery is quite elegant, isn't it?" As they entered the small shop in the courtyard with Tang Xiaofeng, they found the hall was already full. The boss hastily called for a waiter to set up a temporary small table in the yard for them. Guo Zhicheng ordered two kilograms of lake crab, one serving of spicy stir-fried snails, and Tang Xiaofeng ordered one serving of casserole chicken and one serving of casserole fish. Because they had to drive, they also ordered a crate of beer. Before long, the small table was filled with dishes. The waiter who served them told the two that the chicken and fish were raised by the boss himself without any additives, and the flavor was exceptionally delicious. Tang Xiaofeng and Guo Zhicheng both praised the food to no end.

  The two of them hit it off immediately. They chatted quite congenially, and in the conversation, Tang Xiaofeng learned that Guo Zhicheng's father was the director of the Tengyang City Procuratorate, and he himself had been arranged by his old man to have a desk job at the procuratorate due to poor health. Unlike other high-ranking officials' sons, Guo Zhicheng did not have an arrogant air about him. His capacity for liquor was also impressive, and before they knew it, the two of them had already finished off a whole case of beer. Tang Xiaofeng thought that since he didn't have anything to do tonight, and hadn't met someone who could keep up with his drinking, he got excited and ordered another case from the waiter.

  At this time, three more tables were added next to them. One table had a man and two women, all young people. Judging from their clothes and demeanor, they seemed to be wealthy people from good families. The man was about 25 or 26 years old, handsome in appearance, and exuded an air of nobility with every move. The two girls next to him were also exceptionally beautiful. Although the three of them ate, they ordered over ten dishes, filling the table completely.

  The other two tables were all some 21 or 22-year-old rascals, the dishes were not particular, and the two tables added up to only a dozen or so dishes. However, their voices were the loudest. Those young people ate and drank while looking at the two girls next door. It's said that those two girls were really beautiful, belonging to the kind of role that turns heads on the street. Even Guo Zhi Cheng couldn't help but take a few more glances, whispering to Tang Xiao Feng: "They're also very pretty, but still can't compare to my girlfriend."

  Tang Xiaofeng said: "Don't look at what's not proper, don't you understand? What you're saying is obviously trying to cheat Old Wang out of selling his melons."

  But many people in this world still don't understand the principle of not watching what is not decent. Those two tables of hoodlums, after drinking a few cups of wine, were even more lecherously staring at those two girls, and one of them, a driver with a red face and thick neck, said: "Damn it! What kind of world is this? Good women are all being taken by dogs!"

  Tang Xiao Feng and Guo Zhi Cheng slightly furrowed their brows, exchanged a glance, and from each other's eyes, they knew that this group of thugs was obviously looking for trouble.

  The young man over there also heard the provocation of the little rascal, he didn't say a word, drank the wine in his cup, pretended not to hear it, and continued to say to the two girls: "It's too noisy here, let's change places to eat." The two girls nodded immediately, and the young man shouted: "Boss, calculate the bill."

  At this time, a long-haired man in a black denim shirt stood up from the next seat and walked towards the two girls, saying: "The two little sisters are really cute, brother invites you to watch a movie." As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and touched one of the girls, who let out a sharp cry and dodged to the side.

  Kuo Chih-cheng stood up at this point, furious and shouted: "You'd better leave quickly, I am..." Just then, the young man suddenly stood up, taking advantage of Kuo Chih-cheng's angry shout to distract everyone. He grabbed a wine bottle from the table and smashed it heavily on the long-haired face. His move was so sudden that even Tang Xiao-feng did not expect that this seemingly refined and courteous man would be so ruthless. Kuo Chih-cheng was shocked, his eyes wide with surprise, and he swallowed hard, unable to speak.

  That long-haired guy didn't even have time to dodge, and was suddenly hit on the head with a wine bottle by his opponent. Blood splattered everywhere. He also had no chance to dodge, who let his attention be on Guo Zhi Cheng just now. Two girls screamed and ran away.

  This is getting troublesome, the ten or so young hooligans at both tables all stood up. The young man didn't think it through before acting and now that he sees them all standing up, he's starting to feel a bit scared.

  The two girls with him were even more frightened, one of them ran into the store to pick up the phone and call the police, but was stopped by two thugs who pulled out the telephone line.

  The young man shouted angrily: "What do you want to do? I tell you, I am..."

  The long-haired man who was beaten suddenly covered his head and stood up, with fresh blood constantly seeping out from between his fingers. He gritted his teeth and said, "It's you." After that, he rushed forward and punched the young man in the face. The young man obviously wasn't used to fighting and didn't even know how to dodge, being knocked to the ground by the long-haired man's single punch.

  Those little rascals thought they could come and bully others as usual, but when they all went up to beat that young man, punching and kicking him, the young man painfully hugged his head and curled up on the ground.

  Tang Xiao Feng didn't want to get involved in this matter at first, but when Guo Zhi Cheng stood up and roared with anger, he knew it was impossible not to intervene. Now seeing the other side outnumbering them, he already felt a sense of injustice in his heart. Moreover, seeing that man crouching on the ground with his head in his hands, being beaten without any ability to fight back, although he had been ruthless earlier, now he only had the share of being beaten. If he didn't step forward to stop it either, he was afraid that this group of thugs would beat him to a pulp.

  At this point, I just wanted to stand up and drive away those thugs so that they wouldn't beat the young man to a pulp. After all, I was one of the parties involved in the scene, and it would be troublesome if the police came to investigate later on.

  Only to see that long hair suddenly turned around and pointed at him and Guo Zhi Cheng, saying: "Paralyzed, there are still those two, they are in cahoots with each other, get them for me." Tang Xiao Feng thought to himself, what is this paralyzed guy doing, or is it really his mother pig running into the butcher's house - a group of goods delivered to the door.

  More than a dozen thugs saw Zhang Ma talking like that, and a group of people rushed up with their fists and feet.

  Tang Xiaofeng grabbed an empty beer bottle he had just drunk, and shot at the horse before shooting at the person. He didn't pay attention to the thugs who rushed up, kicked away two thugs who blocked his way, and quickly ran to Zhang Ma's front, raised the bottle and hit him "slap" for the second time.

  Tang Xiao Feng patted Zhang Mao's back, pinning him to the dinner table from earlier. He stepped on Zhang Mao's back with one foot and held the remaining half of the beer bottle against Zhang Mao's lower body: "My heart condition can't take frights. If I get startled, my hand gets nervous and starts stabbing randomly."

  Chang Mao was dazed, but was suddenly awakened when Tang Xiao Feng kicked him in the back. He heard Tang Xiao Feng say loudly: "Everyone stop, everyone stop..." Chang Mao thought to himself: You still have a bad heart, and you're afraid of getting stimulated, yet you dare to provoke me? Chang Mao isn't stupid, a good man doesn't take advantage of someone who is already at a disadvantage. Besides, that broken beer bottle was still stuck there.

  Those hoodlums saw the long-haired one being subdued and stopped in their tracks one by one.

  Tang Xiao Feng glanced at the stopped thugs, and suddenly stretched out his left hand to grab Zhang Mao's left index finger. "You know, I'm a medical student," he said. "I can accurately tell you that the human hand is composed of 29 bones, connected by 123 ligaments, pulled by 35 strong muscles, and controlled by 48 nerves."

  "Big brother... spare me..." The long-haired face turned pale with fright.

  "Oh, right, I haven't seen you today, how could I possibly let you off." Tang Xiao Feng's left hand exerted a bit of force.

  "Right, right, I haven't been here today." "What about these dishes and the damaged table and chairs?" "We'll pay, we'll pay." "I didn't force you, it was your own words, let the boss calculate it for him." With that, he kicked Long Mao off the table with one foot.

  The boss of the farmhouse courtyard, Li Ma, ran over with a smile all over his face: "How can that be? The small shop is treating you to food and drink, it's all on the small shop." The boss thought to himself, how dare I let him pay, they're all local thugs, and immediately his smile turned into a crying laugh.

  Tang Xiao Feng saw the boss like this, and he understood seven or eight parts in his heart. This mixed-up guy is just messing around here. He immediately shouted at Zhang Mao: "Still not rolling away!" Zhang Mao thought to himself that he was waiting for these words, and he didn't dare to continue lingering around. He muttered a sentence and then ran away with his men in a dejected manner.

  Kuang Zhi Cheng ran over and circled Tang Xiao Feng a few times before saying: "You've practiced martial arts before, right?"

  Tang Xiao Feng chuckled and said: "I've practiced it." Guo Zhi Cheng curiously leaned forward and asked: "What martial art?" "The Great Axe Technique." "Chop."

  At this time, the young man walked up to them with a smile and stretched out his hand: "Hello, I'm Kong Jianjun!"

  Tang Xiaofeng politely shook hands with him: "I'm Tang Xiaofeng, and this is my friend Guo Zhicheng!" The two girls finished their phone call and also came over to greet them. Tang Xiaofeng was not impressed by the two pretty girls, they had too much makeup on, still looking more comfortable with light makeup, but Kong Jianjun was really something, actually having two girls at once, thinking back he didn't even have a date himself.

  Kong Jianjun smiled and said to Tang Xiaofeng and Guo Zhicheng: "Later when people arrive, let's change places and I'll invite you guys for a few drinks."

  Tang Xiaofeng took a look and said, "No, we're in a hurry to get things done."

  Kong Jianjun didn't insist, and the three of them exchanged pager numbers. Today's matter had Kong Jianjun owing Tang Xiaofeng a great favor, but Tang Xiaofeng hadn't thought about it that way at all. He left his pager number with Kong Jianjun and then drove away with Guo Zhi Cheng.