Dinner was only half done before there was a sudden clamor outside of the restaurant. Yan Liqiang heard someone yelling outside, "Some Shatu people have come to cause trouble!!" Upon hearing this, before Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng could even move, the waiters of the restaurant immediately rushed out of the restaurant.
"We should go and have a look too…" Yan Liqiang told Shi Dafeng. He nodded at his suggestion before both of them also followed the rest downstairs.
A few young waiters from the restaurant had already rushed into the kitchen before charging outside alongside the other few chefs with kitchen knives in their hands.
By now a huge crowd of people had already gathered in the same street where the restaurant was, somewhere fifty meters away close to the Nine Dragons Bridge. Most of the workers from the stores along the entire street came out with something in their hands and were making their way toward the crowd.
Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng also rushed to the crowd of onlookers. The moment they scanned the surroundings, they saw a group of Shatu people gathered at the entrance of a medicinal store, shouting loudly. There was another Shatu man who was so old that one couldn't tell his age, and he was lying on a plank in front the medicinal store entrance. His body was covered by a piece of white fabric. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes were closed, looking like he was already dead.
"Our medicinal store has never done any business with you Shatu people! This is simply an extortion!!" A person who appeared to be the shop owner of the medicinal store stood at the store entrance with a red, anxious face. He was furiously shouting at those Shatu people. "Everyone come and listen to this! These Shatu people have carried a corpse here! They claim he passed away from consuming the medicine from our store and are making demands to reimburse them with a thousand taels of gold! What kind of logic is this!? We requested to have them to show us our store prescription and receipt, but they aren't able to provide any!"
"We don't care! We've already thrown away the prescription and the receipt! This old man passed away after taking the medicine from your store. How are you going to compensate our loss?!" A Shatu man in his thirties was shouting in an equally loud voice along with the crowd of Shatu people around him. "PAY UP! PAY UP! PAY UP!" They shouted in unison and started to pound against the door of the medicinal store. A few of them even wanted to barge into the medicinal store, but were stopped by the shop owners from other stores who had rushed from the neighboring streets.
When both parties started shoving each other, a team of bailiffs who were patrolling nearby ran over and their brows were beaded with sweat. They hurriedly broke the two parties apart. After fully understanding the whole story, one of the young bailiffs spoke his mind. "I'm pretty sure a coroner will know if this Shatu person died from consuming medicine after an investigation."
"Us Shatu people shall not be easily touched by others even in our deaths. Such action is blasphemy and an insult to us!" One of the older Shatu men in the crowd said this and then extended his hand to slap that young bailiff's face so hard that his hat fell off. The young bailiff was taken aback for a moment before he reflexively drew his iron ruler [1] to retaliate. However, he was quickly held back by another older bailiff beside him. The old Shatu man who had just slapped the young bailiff immediately started yelling at the top of his lungs. "THE BAILIFF FROM PINGXI CITY HIT SOMEONE, THE BAILIFF HIT SOMEONE!!"
Upon witnessing the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes, Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng's faces flushed with anger. "DAMN IT!" Shi Dafeng bellowed in rage and was about to rush up there before Yan Liqiang held him back by grabbing his arm.
"We can simply leave after hitting a person, but the owner of this medicinal store will be in a bad position. He cannot move his store. These Shatu people will definitely make him pay double for what they have suffered. You want the owner to take the consequences of our actions?" Yan Liqiang calmly reasoned.
"So we are just going to stand here and watch these Shatu people bully them?"
"We'll see how it goes…"
The bailiffs had arrived, and the conflict at the scene didn't continue on. In the end, the bailiffs brought the few Shatu people along with the medicinal store owner and his assistants back to the Law Enforcement Office.
The medicinal store was closed, and more than half of the crowd of onlookers dispersed.
"Old Fang won't be able to keep this medicinal store. This medicinal store is at a good location and is also east of the Nine Dragons Bridge. The Shatu people have been hostile toward this medicinal store for a very long time. Even if Old Fang's lawyer wins this case, those Shatu people will not leave the matter at that…" A discussion broke out among the onlookers in the surroundings. Quite a few people felt indignant at the injustice.
"If the Shatu people really take over Manager Fang's medicinal store, then every business on this street will definitely be ruined by them. Regardless of what happens, we will need to support Manager Fang in keeping this medicinal store. Come, let us all go and support Manager Fang at the Law Enforcement Office from the outside!"
"Let's go, let's go!" The business owners on the street had a brief discussion for before they made their way towards the Law Enforcement Office altogether.
"Are we joining them?" Shi Dafeng asked Yan Liqiang.
"Now that this involves the Law Enforcement Office, the dispute with the Shatu people will not simply last for only ten days or half a month. Anyhow, the verdict of this case will not be released any time soon. Let's head back!"
"How do the Shatu manage to put Pingxi City in such turmoil? Not only that, we are even bullied by them. F*ck! No wonder why my father never wanted to make business deals with them The Shatu people are really wretched!" Shi Dafeng still found it hard to stay calm.
Yan Liqiang could only shake his head in response. He had only been in Pingxi City for less than three days and he had already experienced the arrogance and unreasonable overbearance the Shatu people had within Pingxi City twice.
These circumstances were much more serious than Yan Liqiang had imagined. This no longer had anything to do with the 'Writ of Grace'.
As a person who lived two lives, Yan Liqiang was very familiar with the reasoning behind the foundation of organized crime syndicates that empowered them in the peaceful era. It wasn't so much that the organization was capable of cutting down, beating up, or killing anyone. It was because these organized crime syndicates were under a protective umbrella that had the authority to shield them. The same logic could be applied to the Shatu people. If they didn't have the protection and connivance from a powerful authority within Pingxi City, it was completely impossible for them to be this powerful and unbridled.
Just whose protection were these Shatu people under?
Although the answer to this question might be a little difficult to accept, based on yesterday's experiences, the person with highest authority in the Pingxi Prefecture was most likely the individual who was capable of supporting the Shatu people's back.
Yan Liqiang had always doubted the integrity and moral standings of government officials. More often than not, the power of authority was like a magnifying glass. When such authority was bestowed upon someone, it would greatly zoom into that person's greed, desire, and ugly side.
It was actually very easy to corrupt someone.
To be honest, Yan Liqiang wasn't too pleased about his discovery. This was because he suddenly realized that the supporter of those Shatu people who were hooting about taking revenge on him in this city was true, colossal figure in an unshakable position.
At times like these, apart from quickly becoming powerful, Yan Liqiang couldn't find any other methods that could be used to respond to the Shatu people's threats.
In the following two days, although Shi Dafeng came to invite him out, Yan Liqiang never left the little courtyard that he rented again. Apart from going outside and buying some food to fill his tummy during meal time, Yan Liqiang stayed in the basement of his small courtyard for two consecutive days, repetitively cultivating the Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing along with the Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique...
The first day of the ninth lunar month arrived in just the blink of an eye. It was officially the opening day of Pingxi Prefecture Martial Arts Academy. Yan Liqiang, who was filled with a sense of nervousness, welcomed his new identity and life today…