Chapter 4.23 Face to Face (Extra)

Chen Pi hid Qinhuai Murderer in his pocket and looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. He saw several people smoking under a tree, but they weren’t paying any attention to him. He lowered his head, hunched his shoulders, and walked out.

There were many rules in cockfighting. The dead rooster’s head and claws should be sent back to the original owner so they could make a tonic out of it. Rooster tonics—especially the ones made from famous roosters— were hard to come by. Although this was a gambling pit that was run differently from ordinary private cockfights, they still weren’t allowed to sell the dead roosters. First, many of the roosters looked the same but had different decorations, so the bookies sometimes took advantage of this to cheat and arbitrage (1). Second, the roosters were often fed strong drugs if large bets had been placed on them, and they might be eaten if they were sold.

Chen Pi didn’t know all of this. He strolled around, sat down at a nearby stall, and then asked the man, “Hey, do you have soup here?”

The man looked at the rooster in Chen Pi’s pocket, gasped in surprise, and then furtively looked around, “Sir, did you steal a rooster?”

Chen Pi slapped the guy on the temple so hard he staggered back and bumped into the corner of the table. Two of the leaders of the three gangs and five factions on the side turned to look at Chen Pi and then turned back to continue drinking with Changshan. One said: “Hurry up and bring the tofu.”

Changshan took a bite of salted vegetables and touched the back of his neck. The white fat man said to him, “I remember this Chen Pi is a beggar. What business does Huang Kui have with a beggar?”

Changshan looked up and said, “See? Even you’ve heard of him. Have you ever seen a beggar so famous?”

The white fat man grinned, and Changshan continued, “You haven’t seen him. I’m a water locust, but I saw a big bandit in Hunan once. He killed thousands of people without batting an eye. That Chen Pi is exactly the same as him. His face is filled out by human life. Madam, I say this from the bottom of my heart. Use the best people you have.”

The madam turned pale, but refused to look at him. Changshan smiled and shook his head, “Why so angry? Just know that it’s a good thing you’re still alive. This kind of thing won’t come to pass if you recognize Huang Kui.” With that said, he poured some wine for the madam. Her tears were flowing and she was trembling so much that she couldn’t even pick up the glass.

Changshan drank by himself and then shook his head again, “Unfortunately, no matter how carefree this Chen Pi was before, today is his day of reckoning. In other words, I know how to deal with him. We just have to snuff him out directly. Don’t say anything, don’t give him a chance, just calmly and steadily approach him. Otherwise, once he runs away, you’ll be out of luck and won’t know when he’ll strike.”

Chen Pi was sitting nearby and looked at the table full of people who appeared to be talking about him. It seemed that they were from Huang Kui, but he didn’t care about them right now. Instead, he stood up and went to the stall’s back kitchen, which was just a simple brick stove off to the side that was heating brine. When Chen Pi came in, he poured it out, then lifted a bucket and filled it with water from the jar sitting nearby. The stall owner, who worked in the kitchen, stood there dumbfounded for a moment before he picked up a kitchen knife and came over. Chen Pi flicked his left hand and a nine-clawed hook flew out, skimmed over the stall owner’s head, and then landed behind him. Once it grabbed the bowl of spices at the top of the cabinet, Chen Pi pulled it back.

Not a single grain spilled from the bowl of spices as it flew over and landed in Chen Pi’s hand. Chen Pi poured it into the water and then glanced at the stall owner holding the knife.

Beggars seldom got to eat chicken, so now Chen Pi was solely focused on spicy stewed chicken.

The stall owner put the knife back on the shelf, slowly passed by Chen Pi, and walked out to the table with the three groups and five factions’ leaders. Although the diners were talking attentively, all their buddies had seen the scene just now and were stunned.

Chen Pi skillfully chopped the onions without washing them first and then threw all the seemingly good ingredients he could find into the pot. As he stirred everything, he suddenly saw something covered in a rotten mat. He went over and lifted it and found the little girl whose neck has just been broken.

He paused. The little girl had turned blue, which had to be a result of the cold weather. He touched her body and looked under her, but didn’t find any more food, so he put the mat back.

When he got up, he saw that the leaders of the three groups and five factions were standing around him. Changshan’s eyes lit up as he looked at Chen Pi with great interest. He had obviously never dreamed that he would see Chen Pi here, but he couldn’t let the people around him know that.

Chen Pi secretly stuffed the rooster into the crotch of his pants, thinking that he had been discovered by the people watching the cockfighting pits. Changshan opened his mouth and said, “Little Brother Chen Pi, let’s sit together and talk.”

Chen Pi looked at the salted vegetables on the table, spit in contempt, and patted his crotch disdainfully. There was a big bulge there, which made Changshan’s face instantly turn red. He remembered Shuixiang and thought, damn it, is this Chen Pi telling me he touched my woman with that thing?! And why is it so big?

Changshan tried to suppress his anger, but two spring-loaded needles slowly dropped down from his sleeves. He didn’t attack immediately, because he saw that Chen Pi also had something in his hands. He knew that even if he suddenly attacked, he would still be slower than Chen Pi. And Chen Pi didn’t fall for his trap. Since they met each other by accident, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance at this distance.

“Have you received those thousand coins?” Changshan asked. “Those were from me. I heard you’re looking for someone in Huang Kui. I can help you.”

<Extra 4.22> <Table of Contents><Extra 4.24>

****

TN Notes:

(1) Arbitrage betting is an activity in which you go on placing bets at the same time on all potential results of an event at chances that assure profit, whatever the outcome of the event will be.

****

Lawd Jesus, Chen Pi and this rooster are killing me lol