Chapter 71#
Chapter 71: Drinking the First Soup (1)
The place to eat was in a small alley in the Donglin District of Sangzan City.
He Hailou led Gu Chenzhou through the spiderweb-like alleys, turning here and there. After a long while, they finally found an old shop of about fifteen square meters that had obviously been open for some years.
The tables and chairs in the shop were made of wood. Because of their age, the paint on them had peeled off a bit, and the surfaces of the tables and chairs were covered with a layer of oily sheen, but when touched by hand, there was no sticky feeling or dust.
Gu Chenzhou rarely came to such small shops to eat, and He Hailou probably didn’t come often either. When he brought Gu Chenzhou in, he looked at the shop and the surrounding environment again and again. It wasn’t until the Hui shop owner greeted them in simple Chinese that he led Gu Chenzhou to sit down at a table near the door.
“What would you two like to eat?”
As soon as Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou sat down, the owner in Hui clothing turned his head and shouted inside. The chubby proprietress, who wasn’t wearing ethnic clothing, walked out from inside while wiping her hands, introducing with a kind smile: “Are you two tourists from out of town? We have haggis soup, hand-grabbed meat, pita bread soaked in lamb soup, cut cake, flour tea, and also rice, which can be served with stir-fried dishes—”
He Hailou looked at Gu Chenzhou.
Gu Chenzhou asked with some interest: “How did the proprietress know we are from out of town?”
The proprietress laughed: “This place is relatively remote, and we recognize the faces of regular customers. Would you two like to try butter tea? Outsiders who come here all try it for the novelty.”
“Is it authentic?” Gu Chenzhou asked.
He Hailou immediately associated this with what the other party had said when inviting him out earlier, and couldn’t help looking at Gu Chenzhou—although he had been looking at him all along.
“Of course it’s authentic, my husband is Hui!” the proprietress said.
“Just bring some Hui specialties.” Gu Chenzhou said, finally responding to He Hailou’s gaze, “What about you?”
“The same.” He Hailou replied, adding, “Bring two bowls of haggis soup first.”
“Alright!” The proprietress agreed, turned her head to talk to her husband in the Hui language, and at the same time opened the big pot on the stove, quickly serving two bowls of haggis soup.
The steaming fresh soup aroused the gluttons in the stomachs of the two people who hadn’t eaten dinner.
Gu Chenzhou scooped with his spoon, unable to identify which part of the sheep was in the bowl. Then he took a sip and felt…
“Tastes good,” He Hailou, sitting opposite Gu Chenzhou, chimed in.
…Hmm, Gu Chenzhou, who was half a beat slower, thought to himself, it is indeed not bad.
For the time being, they were the only table of guests in the shop, and the food was served quickly. The two grown men chatted idly. Just as they finished half a bowl of soup, lamb skewers, pita bread soaked in lamb soup, and cut cake were served respectively. The proprietress explained with a smile: “These are all specialties here. Customers who are used to eating them say they taste good.”
Gu Chenzhou had just nodded when a group of people in Hui clothing poured in from the shop entrance. The leader shouted something loudly to the shop owner in the Hui language.
The shop owner also answered loudly, but the proprietress standing beside Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou looked a bit cold. She didn’t say anything more to Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou, walked to the cupboard, took out a stack of bowls, filled them with soup, and handed one to each of those Hui people.
At this moment, He Hailou suddenly leaned into Gu Chenzhou’s ear and said: “Look at those people’s clothes and trouser pockets.”
Gu Chenzhou didn’t need He Hailou’s specific reminder. As early as when this group of people came in, a person close to him inadvertently revealed a section of a flat, oval knife handle with circle patterns on it—obviously, not a kitchen knife handle used by ordinary households.
Gu Chenzhou revealed a smile and replied in the same low voice: “That’s why the proprietress said ‘you two are from out of town’.” Only outsiders would walk into this shop because they didn’t know the specific situation in this area.
“It is said that a few people in this area have very wide connections.” He Hailou threw out the second bait of this trip.
Gu Chenzhou’s eyes flashed. People who didn’t understand the inside story certainly wouldn’t understand, but for Gu Chenzhou, who had learned some things from Gu Xinjun only this morning, there was no obstacle: A few people in this area have very wide connections. This was straightforward enough—a certain organization that contacted foreign countries and incited riots was an organization in this area, or had direct contact with organizations in this area.
With a direction, it would be easy to investigate… Several thoughts spun around in Gu Chenzhou’s mind, and then he heard He Hailou say: “Almost done.”
Gu Chenzhou looked up and found that the Hui people sitting at several surrounding tables were peeping this way. He nodded directly: “Let’s go.”
He Hailou called the proprietress to settle the bill. The other party came over to calculate, a total of 42 yuan.
Gu Chenzhou happened to have small change, so he paid it directly.
The lights in the alley were not particularly bright, making the moon and stars in the sky appear brighter in contrast.
He Hailou led the way when they came, and he also led the way when they left. It was already ten o’clock. The alley, which didn’t have many people to begin with, was even quieter. They walked a small part of the way back and didn’t see many people; instead, stray cats and dogs occasionally darted past their feet.
“Footsteps, quite a few people.” He Hailou, walking in front, suddenly stopped, waited for Gu Chenzhou to take a step forward, and whispered when they were side by side.
Gu Chenzhou didn’t speak, only nodded slightly. Following He Hailou around the corner of the alley, they saw a small group of five or six people walking towards them, part of the group they had just met in the small shop.
Neither side stopped. Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou slowed down slightly and moved towards the wall of the alley to avoid them, but when they crossed paths, the two still “inevitably” collided with the group walking towards them.
One or two cries of pain rang out. The two Hui people bumped by Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou clutched their arms and retreated several steps with exaggerated movements. The rest of the people immediately started clamoring, some shouting “Watch where you’re going,” some shouting “You hit someone,” and others simply cursing directly and involving the two’s elders.
Gu Chenzhou glanced at He Hailou beside him. The other party’s gaze was moving around, scanning the bulging pockets of the people opposite several times.
Was he thinking about running away or thinking about beating people up?
…Most likely the latter.
Gu Chenzhou held the other’s hand imperceptibly, then changed to a smiling face, stepped forward to ask about the other party’s injury while taking out his wallet—then it was snatched directly by the person standing in front of him.
Gu Chenzhou simply took a step back and looked at the few people in front of him. There was quite a lot of money in his wallet, about five or six thousand, which should be enough for ordinary blackmail and robbery.
Those people took the wallet, opened it, and counted. Obviously feeling it was okay, only one person spoke up asking for Gu Chenzhou’s watch and mobile phone.
Gu Chenzhou frowned and then relaxed, took off his watch and threw it to the other party while saying: “I didn’t bring my mobile phone with me.”
The person who received the watch shone it against the light and nodded to the others.
The group of five or six people estimated it was about enough. They didn’t pester Gu Chenzhou, but turned their eyes to He Hailou.
He Hailou glanced at them, actually revealed a smile too, and then threw his watch and wallet to the other party.
The person who received the wallet and watch also shone them against the light, counted the money, nodded to each other, and finally closed the encirclement, looking ready to leave. Just as they were leaving, a Hui person who walked to the outermost edge, standing right next to He Hailou, glanced at He Hailou, and actually picked up the wallet to slap He Hailou’s face, saying something in the Hui language at the same time—
The black wallet traced an inconspicuous and not particularly fast trajectory in the dim light.
He Hailou stood against the wall, hands still in his pockets, probably not expecting the other party to do this, only having time to turn his head sideways when the wallet was about to hit his face.
But the moment before the black wallet hit He Hailou’s face, Gu Chenzhou, standing beside He Hailou, with a cold face, kicked the person holding the wallet down from behind with force. At the same time, he pulled out the knife from the other party’s pocket with a smooth motion and stabbed directly at the shoulder of another person approaching him!
“Ah!” A real scream rang out in the alley.
A trace of a smile appeared on He Hailou’s face. Gu Chenzhou had retreated when he handed over the wallet and watch. They stood very close. The robbers probably didn’t hear it, but He Hailou heard clearly that Gu Chenzhou said a sentence very softly at the moment he kicked the person:
“Simply shameless when given face.”
In just a few dozen seconds, one person was kicked down, one person was stabbed. The group of people robbing Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou fell into a brief chaos.
He Hailou took the opportunity to grab the trash can lid by his feet and slapped it directly on the head of the person just kicked down by Gu Chenzhou—this was much more terrifying than the other party slapping He Hailou’s face with a wallet. He Hailou slapped down on the other party’s head with the raised edge, and then kicked heavily on the back of the head of the person who fell down again. The other party lay directly on the ground and couldn’t get up.
The few people who came out to rob finally woke up from the sudden conflict. One of them shouted loudly, and the remaining three uninjured people, including the Hui person clutching his injured shoulder, all took out short knives or sticks from their pockets and smashed towards Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou!
The dim alley was no more than three meters wide. It was fine to pass through usually, but it seemed particularly narrow with five or six people fighting together—but this was good news for Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou. The two stood back to back tacitly. One waved a knife at the people rushing over, and the other still held the trash can lid, either blocking knives and sticks or taking the opportunity to slap the lid on the wound of the person stabbed by Gu Chenzhou—not to mention anything else, just the filthiness of this lid, the wound hit would definitely get infected.
At this time, a person outside withdrew from the battle group, took out a mobile phone to make a call, and shouted a few sentences in Arabic—anyway, it wouldn’t be calling an ambulance.
The two had changed from back-to-back posture to back-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder posture. Seeing the other party on the phone at the same time, Gu Chenzhou and He Hailou looked at each other. Gu Chenzhou just wanted to speak when a stick hit towards him from the side.
Gu Chenzhou lowered his shoulder and tilted his neck back slightly at the same time, dodging this stick. The stick followed the predetermined trajectory and smashed towards He Hailou beside Gu Chenzhou.
The trash lid in He Hailou’s hand was blocking the machete in front of him. He saw this stick coming out of nowhere at the same time. Whether he was a beat slow or felt it unnecessary, he didn’t dodge or withdraw the iron trash lid in front of him.
At this moment, Gu Chenzhou’s lowered shoulder rose with the momentum, his arm raised, and a knife slashed straight from the side of the other party’s chest across the armpit and then up to the arm.
The man holding the short stick screamed and fell down almost instantly.
The man hacking at He Hailou with a short knife stood close to the one with the short stick. He didn’t see clearly what happened, but seeing the other party covered in blood, he couldn’t help turning his head sideways.
It was at this moment that He Hailou smashed the trash lid in his hand forcefully onto the other party’s wrist holding the knife. While knocking off the short knife, he threw the trash lid onto the other party’s head, took the opportunity to squat down, pick up the short knife, and stabbed it into the other party’s calf!
From the start of the fight until three of the five people lay on the ground and one had an arm injury, it took no more than five minutes in total. The remaining three people paused, didn’t step forward again, turned around, and ran quickly towards the depths of the alley.
Having undergone special training in this area for two years abroad, Gu Chenzhou knew the strength of his attacks. He only looked at the person slashed by He Hailou, then bent down to pick up their watches and wallets from the people on the ground—both watches and He Hailou’s wallet were there, but Gu Chenzhou’s wallet was on the few people who ran away.
“Let’s go.” Gu Chenzhou gave the things to He Hailou, said a concise sentence, and walked quickly out of the alley holding the short knife.
He Hailou didn’t throw away the knife he snatched either. He followed Gu Chenzhou silently. When they reached a fork in the road, he grabbed the other’s hand and chose another direction. The two went from walking fast to trotting, then from trotting to running, turning through countless narrow, long alleys that seemed to have no end—finally, when they turned another corner, they saw the road with endless traffic outside.
But at this time, messy footsteps had already sounded from behind.