Chapter 22: Combat Power

Zhang Chuyang's mind seemed unchangeable, and he looked at Lu Qingjiu with a subtle look in his eyes until he left. Lu Qingjiu gave up defending himself and let him go.

After breakfast, Lu Qingjiu drove Zhang Chuyang and Zhu Miaomiao to town in his minivan, and the three of them said goodbye to Lu Qingjiu.

"Mr. Lu, can I come to you if someone else has a problem with this?" Zhang Chuyang, with his long hair tied at the back of his head, looked like a wandering artist, holding Lu Qingjiu's hand tightly, hesitating to let go, "Yes. Mr. Lu"

Lu Qingjiu's hands were red from the grip, and he said helplessly, "Yes, you can."

Zhang Chuyang is now reluctant to let go of his hand.

Zhu Miaomiao also persuaded Lu Qingjiu, but she wanted him to go back to his old company. Lu Qingjiu knew she meant well and was worried about her, so she listened with a smile on her face, but had no intention of changing her mind.

Zhu Miaomiao knew that he could not persuade Lu Qingjiu, so he sighed and said, "Well, you are always welcome back.

"Thank you." Lu Qingjiu is grateful for the care Zhu Miaomiao has given him over the years at the company.

After watching the two men board the train, Lu Qingjiu turned around and left the station.

He didn't rush back after leaving the station, but went to the town to buy some daily necessities and food for the family. With Bai Yuehu as a big eater, the meat for every meal was certainly indispensable, and for convenience, Lu Qingjiu always bought a few dozen catties to freeze.

After he had finished his shopping, a text message came up on his mobile phone alerting him that 200,000 yuan had been added to his bank card. Lu Qingjiu counted the money twice to make sure he had read it correctly and then called Zhu Miaomiao to ask what was going on and whether Zhang Chuyang had made a mistake.

"No, I couldn't stop him, he had to give you two hundred thousand." Zhu Miaomiao sounded helpless, she didn't know how Zhang Chuyang's attitude towards Lu Qingjiu had changed so much after one night.

Lu Qingjiu said, "You give him the phone."

As a result, Zhu Miaomiao had just handed the phone to Zhang Chuyang when the caller said, "Mr. Lu, you deserve this."

Lu Qingjiu: "Wait"

Zhang Chuyang said quickly, "I've never seen anything so miraculous, I slept for one night and actually grew a head of hair, my goodness, this is incredible, this money can only express my gratitude for less than one ten thousandth of one percent, please accept this money". Lu Qingjiu was left speechless with his mouth open.

Yes, for a man in his thirties who was balding, to have such dark, shiny hair was like a new parent, and with the mysterious atmosphere of that night, Lu Qingjiu had become the man in Zhang Chuyang's heart who could not be offended.

Lu Qingjiu, the tall man, gave up debating with Zhang Chuyang altogether, flung a few dozen pounds of pork onto the van and drove it home to cook.

It had been raining for the last few days and the roads were particularly slippery, but the minivan was not affected at all, it was going at the same speed as usual, except slower and very stable, without Lu Qingjiu having to worry about it at all.

Lu Qingjiu parked the car in front of the house and gave it a few compliments by touching its headlights.

Lu Qingjiu enters the courtyard with the meat, but there is no sign of Bai Yuehu, who used to lie in the courtyard, nor of Yin Xun.

"Lu Qingjiu looked all over the courtyard and saw no sign of them, since they were not there, they must be doing something.

The ribs we bought today are so fresh and good that Lu Qingjiu is planning to have them for lunch. We'll make sweet and sour pork, make a dry pot of pork ribs, and make a pot of winter melon and pork rib soup. Bai Yuehu is not a picky eater at all, he eats almost everything, his only preference is for meat rather than vegetables.

Lu Qingjiu has chopped the ribs into small pieces to remove the blood, and is in the process of cutting them for the dry pot when Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu return. Both of them were dragging a large bag, which left a long water stain on the ground, seemingly because the contents were wet. The bag also twisted every now and then, apparently containing something alive.

Lu Qingjiu was still holding a spatula and preparing to cook, when he saw the bag his eyes immediately went straight, he imagined a million horrific images of a murder and whispered, "Yin Xun, what's in the bag?"

"Fish." Yin Xun's answer relieved Lu Qingjiu, who noticed the look in his eyes and immediately burst out laughing, "What do you think it is, the unfortunate drowned body of a passing tourist?"

Lu Qingjiu: ""The possibility cannot be denied.

Yin Xun reached down and untied the bag, revealing its contents. It was indeed a huge black fish, only it was a bit strange looking, with pale markings on its body and red lips, looking like a carp overall, but different in detail. The fish had two wounds on its back and was gurgling red blood, yet instead of being weakened by these two wounds, the fish was very much alive and bouncing around in the bag.

"What kind of fish is this?" Lu Qingjiu froze at the sight of the fish, "I've never seen it before." It said it was a carp, but some of its features didn't match those of a carp, so was it a mutant ornamental carp?

"Carp." Bai Yuehu, standing behind Yin Xun, replies to Lu Qingjiu's question.

It's really carp, but there are a lot of ornamental carp, Lu Qingjiu said: "Then let's eat tomorrow."

"We'll eat it tonight." Bai Yuehu said, "The fish is wounded and won't survive."

Lu Qingjiu said, "That's fine, then you can help me kill the fish, I'll get the ribs done first, and for the fish, I'll make a pickled fish."

Bai Yuehu nods with satisfaction.

This fish is big and the meat should not be very tender.

It might be a bit fishy, but it's perfect for pickled fish. Lu Qingjiu worked on the ribs while Bai Yuehu killed the fish and filleted it as Lu Qingjiu had instructed.

Bai Yuehu's knife work was excellent, gutting the fish and then splitting it open from the stomach and slicing it cleanly along the grain. As Lu Qingjiu watched, he noticed that the fish was much more tender than he expected, and there seemed to be no small thorns other than a backbone.

As soon as Lu Qingjiu saw the structure of the fish, he knew that Bai Yuehu must have lied, the fish was definitely not carp, which had many spines.

Bai Yuehu winked at Lu Qingjiu and two words spilled out of his mouth, "Wen ray."

Lu Qingjiu: ""Never heard of it.

"It's not poisonous, it's delicious." Bai Yuehu said, "It goes well with sauerkraut." As he said this, he watched Lu Qingjiu's expression, as if he was worried that Lu Qingjiu would dislike a fish he had never even heard of.

Lu Qingjiu thought, "Forget it, I don't care if I've heard of it, it's good enough to eat, and the flesh of this fish looks really good, I should have known better than to use it as pickled fish.

The two reach some sort of consensus in silence, Bai Yuehu happily filleting the fish and then watching Lu Qingjiu cook a large pot of pickled fish.

The sauerkraut is Lu Qingjiu's own. It hasn't been around long enough for it to have enough acidity, so a little extra is put in. The fish rolled in the sauerkraut and the rich aroma filled the kitchen.

Lu Qingjiu is cooking in the kitchen, while Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu stand outside ready to come in and serve the food.

"It's ready." Pouring the fish from the pan into a specially bought stainless steel basin, Lu Qingjiu announces like a kindergarten aunt that the meal is ready, "Let's eat."

Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun enter the kitchen and start serving, while Lu Qingjiu unties his apron, takes a breath and drinks a glass of water before sitting down at the table.

Because of the unexpected fish, Lu Qingjiu only made a dry pan of ribs and put the rest of the ribs in the fridge for later in the evening. Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun didn't move, waiting for Lu Qingjiu to make the first chopsticks, which was the default rule in their house, as Lu Qingjiu was always the hardest cook, so they both had to wait until he made the first chopsticks before they started eating. Lu Qingjiu has said this to them a few times, but since they don't take it seriously, he has to let it go.

Lu Qingjiu picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth, then his eyes showed a look of amazement and he said, "This fish is really delicious." The fish was incredibly smooth and tender, with a strange sweetness that blended with the sourness of the sauerkraut after it had been cooked in it, making it very appetising.

"Uh-uh-uh." Yin Xun nodded heavily, his chopsticks not stopping at all.

The most pleasant thing about the fish was that there were no thorns at all, and the meat was so fatty that you could not even taste the fishy taste of the fish. Even Lu Qingjiu, who has little interest in fish, couldn't stop eating it.

The fish was warmly received by all, but Bai Yuehu didn't let go of the dry-aged pork ribs that were served alongside, and he clearly has a taste for meat.

When Lu Qingjiu was cooking, he thought that two fish would be too much, but when he saw Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu, they didn't have too much at all. In the end, Yin Xun collapsed first, rubbing his round belly and saying that he was going to give birth and that Lu Qingjiu should be responsible for him.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Your belly was made by the fish, so what responsibility do I have?"

Yin Xun :""

Bai Yuehu's fighting power was never on the same level as Yin Xun's. Yin Xun's stomach was big, but he was still fighting, and the fish seemed to go into his mouth as if it were a bottomless pit, and he was not full at all. Lu Qingjiu looked at his belly and felt no change.

So it became Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun sitting next to each other, watching Bai Yuehu eat all the pickled fish in one go, including the soup, and the dry-aged pork ribs next to them were left with some onions and other side ingredients, and he stood up consciously afterwards, ready to wash the dishes.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Bai Yuehu, are you full?"

Bai Yuehu said, "Almost there."

Lu Qingjiu: ""When I think about it, it seems that Bai Yuehu never said he was full when he was eating, and even when he asked him, he just said, "Almost done.

Lu Qingjiu wondered if he would ever see Bai Yuehu full again.

After dinner, each one goes to his own home and mother.

Lu Qingjiu took a shower and sat down in front of the computer to play a game for a while, but as he was playing, he suddenly thought of something and opened the search bar and typed in the word wen ray. Then he saw the record of this kind of fish in the Shanhaijing: "It is a fish like a carp, with a bird's wing, a pale text and a white head, and a red beak.

It probably means that the bird looks similar to a carp, has a call similar to that of a luan chicken, tastes sweet and sour, and can be eaten to cure the disease of insanity.

Lu Qingjiu fell into silence as he watched this passage, then recalled the taste of the pickled fish this evening and felt that this Shanhaijing was still quite reliable.

Speaking of the Shanhaijing, Lu Qingjiu vaguely remembered that it seemed to contain many interesting creatures, so he thought about it for a moment and simply bought one online, intending to read it some time.

Lu Qingjiu has been sleepless since he arrived at Shuifu Village, and every day he falls asleep on his pillow.

Tonight was no exception, and Lu Qingjiu lay down on the bed and put a small blanket on his stomach. It was getting hotter and hotter, and in a couple of days he would be able to put the mat on. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep to the sound of insects.

However, in the middle of the night, Lu Qingjiu, who was still asleep, heard the harsh screams of a human being, and woke up in a daze.

But when I came to my senses, I listened carefully and realised that the voice was not Zhang Chuyang's at all, but a very unfamiliar one.

"Who is it? Who's out there?" Lu Qingjiu rushed out into the courtyard in his pyjamas.

The moon was covered by thick clouds and Lu Qingjiu could barely make out what appeared to be two people lying in the courtyard of his house, while the gate was wide open and appeared to have been broken by someone from outside. Lu Qingjiu was startled and immediately realised that the house had probably been burgled. He grabbed a stick that had been left by the wall to build a grape arbor in the courtyard and scolded, "Who's there?"

Lu Qingjiu did not dare to lean over, so he turned to the corridor and turned on the light in the courtyard.

The light bulb glowed, illuminating the entire courtyard, and Lu Qingjiu was able to see clearly what was going on in the courtyard.

The two young men were seen collapsed on the ground in his yard, their faces stained with blood, faint moans coming from their mouths, while not far from them were actually two blood-stained daggers thrown around them, which should have been carried with them.

Lu Qingjiu didn't know what was going on, but his first reaction was to call the police, who, after asking about the situation on the phone, said they would come over immediately and asked Lu Qingjiu to check the condition of the two men and call an ambulance for them if necessary.

Lu Qingjiu said hello. He finished the call, grabbed the wooden stick and carefully walked over to the two men, finding them covered with small, dense holes, as if they had been pecked out by something, and the two men were so painfully unconscious that they fell to the ground moaning.

Lu Qingjiu's eyes swept around the yard and found some blood on the ground, which he followed, his feet finally stopping at the entrance to his family's chicken pen.

The chicken pens in the yard are never locked and are left open for the chicks to move around.

Lu Qingjiu opened the chicken coop and saw that there was blood everywhere, but that was not the point. At first Lu Qingjiu thought they had been injured, but after grabbing them and examining them one by one, he found that they were all in good spirits and did not look injured at all. So the blood on them was from the wounds of the two thieves. Lu Qingjiu figured it out and slowly turned his head to look at the two who were still lying and screaming in pain.

Bai Yuehu was also awakened at some point, leaning lazily against the doorframe and watching the scene in the courtyard.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Good evening."

"Good evening." Bai Yuehu whispered back.

Lu Qingjiu knew he knew exactly what was going on, so he slowly walked over to Bai Yuehu and pointed to the two fallen men, "I've called the police, these two are not in danger, are they?"

Bai Yuehu shakes his head.

Lu Qingjiu said, "They can't be."

He was only halfway through his hesitant sentence when Bai Yuehu nodded very seriously, "It's exactly what you think."

Lu Qingjiu: ""Damn, it's really pecked by a chicken

"So those aren't chickens at all," Lu Qingjiu said, "what are they?"

Bai Yuehu said, "Something to eat."

Lu Qingjiu :""

Yes, in Bai Yuehu's eyes, the world is probably divided into two kinds of things, one edible and one inedible

Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment and asked, "Is that good?"

Bai Yuehu said, "It's delicious." When he said the word delicious, his eyes curved up in a subtle arc, obviously in a good mood, and he wondered if it was because he remembered the taste of those chickens.

Since the people in the yard were not in danger, Lu Qingjiu didn't bother to call an ambulance for them. He took a wet towel, walked over to the chicken pen and started wiping the blood off the chickens, asking Bai Yuehu in passing, "They won't peck me, will they?"

"No." Bai Yuehu said, "They recognise their owners."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Is there a spirit?"

Bai Yuehu replied decisively, "No."

Lu Qingjiu :""

Bai Yuehu said, "No really, they are nothing but delicious."

Lu Qingjiu was in tears, but the chickens did behave themselves in his hands, not pecking at him, and as he wiped them he asked, "Can I beat these chickens?"

Bai Yuehu said, "Well"

Lu Qingjiu looked back at him, "What do you mean?"

Bai Yuehu said, "I'm calculating the battle between you and Chicken Boy." He was quiet for another moment before saying, "Ten to one."

Lu Qingjiu said with surprise, "I can hit ten of them."

Bai Yuehu: "You can beat one out of ten."

Lu Qingjiu :""

When Bai Yuehu saw Lu Qingjiu's expression was not right, he added, "It's okay, I'll slaughter you while you eat."

That was hard work, Mr. Lu, who was watching the whole thing, said he was really hurt. But looking around the yard at the two little thieves who were in so much pain and had no fatal injuries, he decided not to challenge his own chicken to a fight.

At about 4am, the police arrived and saw the two thieves, who were on the verge of passing out from the pain, and Lu Qingjiu, who was sitting in the courtyard, dozing.

"Hey, Lu Qingjiu." The policeman who came was a familiar face, the same Hu Shu who had last investigated the body of the woman in Lu Qingjiu's backyard, and he said, "Why you again?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "I also want to know how I got so unlucky that these two men broke the lock on my compound and tried to come in and steal something."

"So what's with the wounds on them?" Hu Shu asked.

"I don't know." Lu Qingjiu said, "They were already on the floor as soon as I came out, ask them if you don't believe me."

The two men were too distressed to answer the police's questions, but after looking at their faces, Hu Shu realised that they were fugitives from the city, wanted for murder and robbery a week ago, but they had come to Lu Qingjiu's house. On reflection, it's possible that Lu Qingjiu's boozy meat-buying spree in town today has caught their attention.

"OK, I'll take him away first." Hu Shu said, "You remember to come to the police station to make a statement."

"Why do I have to give a statement again? I don't know anything." Lu Qingjiu was helpless.

"I can't say." Hu Shu said. Hu Shu said, "They have so many wounds and you are the only one in the yard, if you didn't do it, did your chickens do it?

Lu Qingjiu: ""Damn, it's really the work of his chicken. But he couldn't say anything, no one would believe him, so he could only give Hu Shu a sultry look.

Hu Shu shuddered at the look in Lu Qingjiu's eyes and said, "Don't stare at me like that, although I know you may be innocent, we still have to go through the procedure."

"Okay." Lu Qingjiu compromised.

"That's right." Hu Shu asked in a whisper before leading the two away, "Nothing more happened to that well behind your house, did it?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "No, I don't think so."

Hu Shu: "Why do you talk so hesitantly"

Lu Qingjiu said, "Maybe it was something in that well that did this tonight."

Hu Shu shivered and said, "Really?"

Lu Qingjiu blinked, not really saying or denying that it was false, and it seemed to him that Hu Shu wanted to say something, but was very hesitant, as if he was wary.

There was a moment of silence between them before Hu Shu couldn't resist and he said, "Are you very good at these things?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "What is it?"

Hu Shu said, "It is the matter of ghosts and gods."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Not really, it's the first time I've seen it."

Hu Shu, with doubt in his eyes, said, "Really."

Lu Qingjiu nods seriously.

When Hu Shu saw that Lu Qingjiu had no intention of letting go, he opened his mouth, but said nothing and turned around and walked away. Lu Qingjiu looked at his back and felt as if he had a lot to say, but for some reason it didn't come out. Lu Qingjiu looked at his chicken pen and sighed. The blood on his chicks had not been wiped off yet, so he should take a towel and wipe it off again, otherwise the whole yard would probably smell like blood tomorrow.

Author's Comment: Lu Qingjiu: I can't even beat my chicken, am I the lowest fighter in the house?

Bai Yuehu said: It's okay, although you are the least combatant, you are the most delicious.

Lu Qingjiu: Is this comforting or scolding me?