They were just halfway through dinner when there was a sudden commotion outside the restaurant. Yan Liqiang heard someone outside shouting, "The Shatu people are here to cause trouble..." Upon hearing this, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng had not yet moved, but the waiters in the restaurant had already rushed out.
"Let's go out and take a look..." Yan Liqiang said to Shi Dafeng, Shi Dafeng nodded, and the two of them followed him downstairs.
Several young waiters from the restaurant had already rushed to the kitchen, holding kitchen knives and rushed out with several cooks.
Just outside the restaurant, about fifty meters away on the same street, near the Kowloon Bridge, a large crowd had gathered. Almost all the shop assistants on the street rushed over with things in their hands, heading towards the crowded area.
Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng also ran to the side where the crowd was gathered. When they looked around, they saw a large group of Shatu people gathered at the door of a drugstore, shouting loudly. There was also a Shatu man, who was so old that it was impossible to tell his age. He was lying on a wooden board at the door of the drugstore, covered with a white cloth, with his mouth slightly open and his eyes closed. He seemed to be dead.
"Our pharmacy has never done business with you Shatu people. You are blackmailing us..." A man who looked like a shopkeeper stood at the door of the pharmacy with a red face and was very angry. He shouted at the Shatu people, "Everyone, please judge. These Shatu people brought a dead body here and said that he died from taking the medicine in our pharmacy. They want our pharmacy to compensate them with 1,000 taels of gold. How can this be justified in this world? We asked them to produce the prescriptions and medicine lists they wrote in our pharmacy, but they couldn't produce them..."
“We don’t care. The prescriptions and medicine lists have been lost. The old man died from taking the medicine from your pharmacy. We have a death. How are you going to compensate us…” A Shatu man in his thirties also shouted loudly. A group of Shatu people around him cooperated and shouted together, “Pay compensation, pay compensation, pay compensation…” A group of Shatu people started to make a fuss and smash the door of the pharmacy. A few Shatu people wanted to rush into the pharmacy, but were stopped by shop assistants from other shops who came from the surrounding streets.
Just as the two sides began to push each other, a team of constables who were patrolling nearby ran over with sweat on their foreheads and quickly separated the two sides. After asking about the whole story, a young man in the team said bluntly, "Whether this Shatu man died from taking medicine, wouldn't it be clear if we just send him to the coroner for examination?"
"We Shatu people cannot let anyone touch us even if we are dead. This is a blasphemy and insult to us!" said an old Shatu man in the group. He stretched out his hand and slapped the young constable who was speaking in the face, knocking the young constable's hat off. The young constable was stunned for a moment and instinctively wanted to pull out the iron ruler to fight back, but was held back by an old constable next to him. The old Shatu man who had just slapped the young constable shouted at the top of his voice, "The constable from Pingxi City beat people, the constable beat people..."
Seeing this scene, Shi Dafeng, who was next to Yan Liqiang, got so angry that his face turned red. "Fuck..." Shi Dafeng roared and was about to rush up, but was grabbed by Yan Liqiang.
"We can leave after beating people up, but the owner of the drugstore will be even more unlucky. He can't move his store. The Shatu people will definitely take double the revenge on him for the losses they suffered. Do you want the owner of the drugstore here to bear the consequences of our attack..." Yan Liqiang said calmly.
"So what about just watching these Shatu people bully others?"
"Let's wait and see..."
The constable arrived and the conflict at the scene did not continue. In the end, the constable took those Shatu people, as well as the owner and his clerk of the pharmacy, to the criminal arrest office.
The door of the pharmacy was closed, and most of the onlookers dispersed.
"Lao Fang's pharmacy can no longer be kept. This pharmacy has a good location and is on the east side of the bridgehead of Kowloon Bridge. Those Shatu people have been jealous of Lao Fang's pharmacy for a long time. Even if Lao Fang can win the lawsuit, those Shatu people will not give up..." The onlookers nearby talked a lot, and many of them were indignant.
"If those Shatu people occupy Manager Fang's pharmacy, all the businesses on this street will be ruined by them. We must support Manager Fang to keep this pharmacy no matter what. Let's go to the Criminal Investigation Office to cheer for Manager Fang..."
"Let's go, let's go..." A group of people from the Chamber of Commerce on this street discussed here for a while, and finally all of them walked towards the Criminal Investigation Office.
"Do you want to go and take a look?" Shi Dafeng asked Yan Liqiang.
"After entering the Criminal Investigation Office, it will take more than ten days and a half months to argue with the Shatu people. This matter will not have any results in the short term. Let's go back!"
"How come Pingxi City has been messed up by these Shatu people? We are still being bullied by them. Damn it, no wonder my father never does business with them. These Shatu people deserve to die..." Shi Dafeng was still upset.
Yan Liqiang shook his head helplessly. It had only been three days since he arrived in Pingxi City, but Yan Liqiang had already witnessed the arrogance and tyranny of the Shatu people in Pingxi City twice.
This situation is more serious than Yan Liqiang imagined. This is no longer a problem of "Huai'en Ling".
Having lived two lives, Yan Liqiang knows one thing very clearly - what is the foundation for a gang to grow in peacetime? It is not that the organization can hack, beat, and kill, but that the organization has a protective umbrella and the protection of power. The same principle applies to these Shatu people. The growth and unbridled behavior of the Shatu people in Pingxi City would have been completely impossible without the protection and connivance of those in power in Pingxi City.
Who is the protective umbrella of the Shatu people
Although this answer is a little hard to accept, combined with my experience yesterday, the highest authority in Pingxi County is the one who is most likely and capable of standing behind these Shatu people.
Yan Liqiang has always been skeptical about the so-called ethics and character of officials. Many times, power is like a magnifying glass. When someone has power, that power will infinitely magnify that person's greed, desire and ugly side.
It is actually very easy to corrupt a person.
To be honest, this discovery did not make Yan Liqiang happy, because Yan Liqiang suddenly realized that the Shatu people who clamored to take revenge on him were a real giant that was difficult for him to shake in the city.
At this time, Yan Liqiang could not find any other way to deal with the threat from the Shatu people except to quickly make himself stronger.
In the next two days, although Shi Dafeng asked him out again, Yan Liqiang did not leave the small courtyard where he rented. Except for buying some food outside to fill his stomach during meals, Yan Liqiang stayed in the basement of the small courtyard for two consecutive days, practicing Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing and Hu Xiao Lian Huan Quan over and over again...
In the blink of an eye, it was September 1st. The Pingxi County Martial Arts Academy officially opened on this day. Yan Liqiang, who was full of a sense of crisis, also welcomed his new identity and new life on this day...
(End of this chapter)