Chapter 30

Chapter 30: This Man Was Worth Saving

As soon as Wu Xin came with seven or eight thugs, they started flipping stalls and smashing things. Chun Zhi tried to stop them but could not. A whole basket of tofu was about to be smashed all over the ground. [That was close; the tofu almost got smashed to mush.]

Just then a cane flew through the air and hit Wu Xin squarely, knocking him and a few thugs to the ground. Chun Zhi quickly pressed down the tofu basket and looked back to see Huo Zheng standing there. [Thank goodness Huo Zheng was here.]

Wu Xin clutched his chest and shouted in anger: “Who is it? Who dares hit your Grandpa Wu from the shadows? If you have guts, come out!”

Leaning on another cane, Huo Zheng walked out slowly. He stepped up and struck Wu Xin again, then pinned him with the cane as he said: “I am right here. What are you going to do?”

Wu Xin tried to get up and fight, but the wooden cane felt as heavy as a mountain. He could not move, much less stand.

Looking down at him, Huo Zheng kept his advantage. Wu Xin was like a fat pig tied to a butcher’s bench. Panicking, he yelled to his men: “What are you standing around for? Teach this cripple a hard lesson!”

Seeing they had numbers, and seeing Huo Zheng walk with a cane, the seven or eight thugs cracked their knuckles and rushed together. Huo Zheng lifted his cane at an easy pace, planted one foot on Wu Xin’s head, and without saying a word beat all seven or eight of them to the ground.

Men lay everywhere, groaning. The customers who had backed away in fear could not help cheering: “Good!”

Wu Xin had not expected Chun Zhi’s “disabled” husband to know martial arts. He had brought so many people and still got nothing out of it.

Chun Zhi stepped up, picked the fallen cane off the ground, and handed it to Huo Zheng. He took it, and before he even moved, the thugs grabbed their heads and begged for mercy, crying: “Spare us, hero! We will not dare again!”

“It was Wu Xin who called us,” one babbled. “He said this tofu workshop was left by his mother. If we helped him take it back, he would sell it at once for silver, and we would all get a share.”

“I only came to make up the numbers,” another added, sweating. “When they started smashing things, I did not touch a thing.”

These men usually bullied others because they had numbers. Now that they had met someone tough, they were ready to kneel and beg to be spared.

Seeing this, Wu Xin almost spat blood.

Huo Zheng asked Chun Zhi in a calm voice: “Report it to the authorities?”

Chun Zhi nodded and said: “I will go to the county and report it.”

Wu Xin shouted back: “Go ahead and report. This tofu workshop is mine. You are keeping it illegally. Even if you report it, you still have to return it to me!”

He acted even more arrogant because he had backing. That Chancellor’s daughter and Top Scholar’s wife had told him that Chun Zhi had no house deed or land deed. Even if she went to the county yamen, she would not get a thing.

His thugs had no idea why he was bragging like that. One tugged his sleeve and warned in a whisper: “Stop talking, or he will beat you again.”

Wu Xin fell silent at once.

“We have nothing to do with this,” one thug said as the group started edging away. “We will take our leave.”

“Wait,” Huo Zheng said in an indifferent tone.

The thugs who had been trying to slip off felt a chill down their backs. They stopped and turned around with long faces: “What else do you need us to do?”

“Pay for what you broke,” Huo Zheng said.

“That is right,” Chun Zhi added at once. “You smashed my door. You must pay for it.”

The thugs looked at each other and hurried to empty every bit of broken silver and copper coins from their pockets onto the table: “All the money we have is here.”

Huo Zheng said nothing. He only glanced coldly at Wu Xin. The thugs rushed over, searched Wu Xin from head to toe, and stripped him of every coin, even the last copper piece. They piled it all on the table: “It is all here.”

Wu Xin cursed: “We came to fight for a house, not to act like dogs!”

The thugs covered his mouth at once: “Do you want us beaten again? Shut up.”

They almost wanted to sew Wu Xin’s mouth shut. Bowing and nodding to Huo Zheng and Chun Zhi, they asked: “Can we go now?”

“Scram,” Huo Zheng said coldly.

“We are scramming, we are scramming!” They ran at once.

Wu Xin ran out with them. At the door he still shouted: “You two just wait for me! I am going to the county yamen now. Whether you like it or not, the house must be returned to me!”

Huo Zheng raised his cane as if to strike. Wu Xin’s back went stiff and he bolted away.

The customers had seen a good show. Seeing how capable Chun Zhi’s husband was, they praised him again and again. Huo Zheng kept a blank face. Smiling, Chun Zhi thanked everyone for their praise, then turned to him and said with a gentle voice: “If you do not like being praised, go inside first.”

He answered with a quiet “mm” and started inside. After two steps, he turned back and told Chun Zhi: “If you run into trouble again, call me.”

Chun Zhi smiled and said: “Okay.” [This man was worth saving. He is reliable when it matters.]

Only then did Huo Zheng go in.

The customers praised Chun Zhi for her good eye in choosing such a useful husband. He even walked with a cane, yet he drove off seven or eight thugs.

While weighing tofu and wrapping it in paper for them, Chun Zhi explained with a smile: “A few days ago it rained hard. He slipped and hurt his leg. He is using a cane for now. He will be fine in a few days.”

She made sure everyone knew Huo Zheng was not disabled. When they married, the neighbors had thought the magistrate’s office had forced Chun Zhi into a corner and she had just picked a disabled man to make do. Some even said he was good-looking, but it was a pity he was disabled.

Before today, Chun Zhi did not care and did not explain much. But when people said it again today, she could not help explaining. She did not even know why.

At first there were not many buyers, but after Wu Xin made a scene, more onlookers came. Many took the chance to buy a piece of tofu on the way out. Chun Zhi had made only one basket this morning, and it sold out quickly. She got ready to make a second basket.

While she ground the soybeans, Huo Zheng came to her side on his cane and asked: “Did you not say you would report it to the authorities?”

Chun Zhi said with a small grin: “I only said that to scare Wu Xin. I make only a few copper coins a day selling tofu. If I take a trip to the county yamen, I will work for nothing the whole year.”

“Then what will you do if they come again to make trouble next time?” Huo Zheng asked.

Turning the millstone in slow circles, Chun Zhi stopped, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, and answered with bright eyes: “You are here, are you not?”