Gu Xiao Qiong was stunned, he looked at him and said, “Fourth Master, this is not cool. What kind of price raising is this?”
Fourth Master Qi yelled, “Go cool your mom! You guys are trying to take my brother’s business and I should be cool with you?!”
Gu Xiao Qiong was being cursed out. He bit his teeth and spoke to Ning Que, “This is a one time deal! Five hundred silver coins! To be honest with you, I am giving all of the money I earned from the last two shops in this. I cannot give you any price higher.”
Fourth Master Qi laughed coldly and mocked, “Look at you cheapskate. Is this how Iron Head Song teaches his subordinates? You do things without generosity. Let me show you how to give a price.”
He turned to Ning Que and said proudly, “Young owner, if you are willing to continue opening your shop on this street, then as long as I, Fourth Master Qi, lives, then no one will take your rent pay……”
The last phrase “-ment” wasn’t even out of his mouth yet and Ning Que waved his arm to stop him. Ning Que smiled warmly and asked, “Fourth Master, previously you said you will rent the shop to me for free for a year?”
Fourth Master Qi was stumped for a second and answered, “Yeah.”
“Then it’s a deal,” Ning Que turned already and bowed to Gu Xiao Qiong and his crew. He smiled kindly and said, “I am really sorry, but I have decided to continue my business in this shop. Please return.”
After hearing this, the crowd circled around the Old Brush House was stumped. The reason why they were stumped wasn’t because of Ning Que’s choice, but rather because he accepted the previous offer before Fourth Master Qi could make a better offer which would basically give him the entire shop for free.
Fourth Master Qi didn’t respond for a long while but then, the expression on his face turned serious. He put his hands together and greeted properly. His voice was powerful, “Although you are young, your way of doing things is generous and respectful. Just because of your words, if you have any trouble later, just say my name. I won’t promise anything much but you can walk all over the eastern district without problem.”
Gu Xiao Qiong just stood there for a long time without knowing what to do. His confused eyes switched from Ning Que to Fourth Master Qi and then back. He thought back to his boss, Iron Head Song’s yelling before he left, and thought back to how the boss of his boss slapped his boss, and then thought about the final date that the background of the boss of his boss gave. Instinctively, he turned his head around and looked at the two policemen under the tree.
Tonight gangs were gather around the Forty Seventh street. Although they were talking, it never evolved into a physical fight. The two policemen under the tree never interfered with anything which is already a fault on their part. Only until they see the seeking eyes of Gu Xiao Qiong did they cough and walked to the Old Brush House holding the swords on their waists.
Fourth Master Qi looked at the two policemen and remembered some sad event that happened in the past. His eyes turned cold but furious and he said to Ning Que with a chilling voice, “Young owner, did I tell you earlier that you can walk all over the eastern district?”
For some reason, Ning Que decided to choose this moment to tag into the conversation. He laughed and agreed while Fourth Master laughed coldly, “I’ll show you today that I dare to say such a thing.”
“Why are you guys gathering around here? You want to start some riot?” The policemen walked toward the crowd and yelled sharply.
“Yes.” Fourth Master answered lightly and waved his hand, “I’m actually starting a riot, and I want this riot to be big. Brothers, go greet these two police officers nicely.”
Just when he finished the sentence, the men wearing green s.h.i.+rts, green pants, and green boots all gathered around the two policemen. It was unknown who threw the first punch, but moments later punches were landing endlessly on the two men of the government of Chang An. Earlier, the two policemen were yelling and showing their ident.i.ty while wanting to draw their swords, but they were kicked down by the crowd and started to bleed just moments later. Their arms wrapped around to protect their head as rolled around on the floor. They couldn’t even yell anymore but rather, they were moaning painfully on the ground. Even the two swords that represented the authority were thrown out by the crowd.
Ning Que thought earlier that the gangs of Chang An had their own rules and att.i.tude. Now looking at the two official swords that got thrown out of the crowd, he then knew that the gangs of Chang An were real. They don’t mess around when they are doing business, even if the people standing in their way are from the government.
He watched the messy fight outside of his shop surprisingly and saw the two bleeding policemen. He was so shocked that he couldn’t even speak. Gu Xiao Qiong and the gangs from the southern district were also impressed by this action.
After stepping into the Forty Seventh Street, they never really fought against the power of the eastern district. Only now did they know their enemy was so arrogant!
“Alright, stop fighting.” Fourth Master Qi, who was standing and watching this fight on the side coldly, spoke again. The greenly dressed men scattered around and he walked toward the two policemen and said chillingly, “If you dare to stab my brothers in the dark, don’t blame me if I’m ruthless.”
The younger policeman stared furiously at his face and said, “You dare to fight an official? Just wait to be decapitated. You should just kill me right now and make it a worthy deal.”
Ning Que lamented; the people of Chang An sure are proud and brave. Even a small policeman dared to talk back in such a bad situation.
Fourth Master Qi squatted down and slapped his face lightly, “Don’t use those words to scare me. We are all dogs raised by the powerful figures. You two are just dogs who wears one more jacket than I do. Of course, your jackets are fancy, so I wouldn’t dare kill you. But let me ask you, if dogs are biting dogs on the street, will those powerful figures care?”
After saying his sentences, Fourth Master Qi turned around and bowed to Ning Que. He then he led his group of men out of the street. Gu Xiao Qiong and his southern gang gathered around and discussed this matter. They then went up and carried the two wounded policemen out of the street. No one looked at Ning Que and his maid again because everyone knew, since Fourth Master Qi already sealed the deal, they could do nothing but embarra.s.s themselves if they bring trouble to Ning Que before shutting down Fourth Master Qi.
The dispute on Forty Seventh Street ended just like that, there was no continuation. Just as Fourth Master Qi said, these kinds of dog-bite-dog events wouldn’t enter the eyes of their owner. But Ning Que still had some confusion about this whole thing.
————-Although policemen are not exactly powerful, their uniform and swords represented the face of government, pride of the empire. Even if the boss behind Fourth Master Qi – that middle aged man who hid in the shop to avoid the rain was extremely powerful, it would still be violation of law to hit an official of the government. Especially since Fourth Master Qi never touched the gangs of southern district but hit the policemen of Chang An for no reason. This makes no sense.
Unless the two sides held a great grudge against each other.
Thinking about his prediction and thinking back to that event, his eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and then relaxed. His goal today was to visit the Red Sleeve Club and shop to release some pleasure from his first sweet revenge. The troublesome but must-be-resolved new grudge will be left to think about in the future.
There was a significant distance between the Forty Seventh Street to the Red Sleeve Club. Usually Ning Que always rode the two cent carriage to get across the city, but today Sang Sang was with him. This meant that they wouldn’t get bored on the way and so, they chose to walk. These two never thought much about the previous clash of the two gangs because Ning Que was used to b.l.o.o.d.y and dangerous scenes while Sang Sang never put anything in her head unless it was extremely important. Their mood while shopping was actually pretty nice.
They visited the needlework shop, book store and shopping street. They bought a bowl of cheap lotus leaf rice and traveled across Phoenix Street quickly. Then they found a lively place where dozens of Chang An citizen were following the lead of an elder Taoist to bow and kowtow before an altar. Ning Que asked a random person who was also observing this scene and knew that the Southern Sect of the Way was trying to do some blessing ritual to move the spring rain of Chang An to some drier terrain in the north.
The elder Taoist beside the altar had gray long hair. His Taoist robe was waving with the wind. He seemed to actually be a spiritual being of some sort. The wooden sword in his hand started to vibrate and several talismans were shaking at the tip of his sword. Suddenly, a red mark appeared and a moment later the wooden sword flew into the sky and rushed down into the altar. The talismans were burned to ashes and they flew with the wind. They then mixed with the sand on the floor when they landed.