Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

I have to say, the mutton soup in this hotel tastes really good.

Very fresh, not too strong, just the right taste.

When they were about to finish eating, the door curtain was lifted and Mr. Wu led two people in. He pretended to have just noticed them and came over very enthusiastically.

"Brothers are eating."

Yu Qiutang pointed to the table in front of him and said, "Sit down and eat together. It's my treat."

"No, no, I just ate this morning when I went out, and I haven't digested it yet. You guys eat."

"The village chief came to town so early, didn't he come to find me specifically?"

"How could that be possible? I just happened to have something to do and thought of Brother Zhang, so I came to see him."

"The village chief is really powerful. You even know what we eat here."

Wu Laokuan said with a smile: "I can't say I have great powers, but I do have some popularity. How was your rest last night, brother Zhang?"

"It's OK, just a little damp."

"That's right. We are close to the Yellow River, but not as close as you are... Oh, I forgot to ask, where is Brother Zhang from?"

Yu Qiutang glanced at him and asked with a smile: "Guess?"

"From the accent, it's probably from Qinchuan's side, right?"

Yu Qiutang smiled and neither admitted nor denied it.

"Brother Zhang, what do you think about what I told you last night?"

"What's the matter?" Yu Qiutang asked with a smile.

Wu Laokuan also smiled awkwardly, "Brother Zhang is really good at joking. We are just discussing cooperation. You are really a forgetful person."

"Oh, now that you mention it, it does seem like I did. Well, the thing is, we have just arrived here and are not familiar with your situation. It is unrealistic for you to ask me to make the decision directly, right?

How about this, let's take a look around here first, examine various factors, and then we can discuss it."

Wu Laokuan was unhappy when he heard Yu Qiutang say this, but he quickly hid his dissatisfaction and continued to say with a smile:

"That's right. Then you can go and have a look first. Anyway, we are all in the same place in these nearby places. You can go to any one you want. But since we have a destiny and we knew each other before, I still hope that Brother Zhang can cooperate with us in the end.

As for the price, it's easy to talk about. We are familiar with each other and we will definitely not let Brother Zhang suffer a loss, right?"

"Of course, of course. I can see that the village chief is a straightforward person."

Wu Laokuan also felt that he couldn't say anything for the time being, so he said a few polite words and left with his men.

Yu Qiutang whispered, "Look, they have so many people and great powers, and basically our whereabouts are under their control. If we want to do something during the day, it's basically impossible."

Yu Qiujiang and Lao Qin also nodded.

Yu Qiujiang asked: "Tangtang, what should we do now? No matter what we do, we are under their control. If we are not careful, we will be exposed to risks. It will definitely not work if we force it. I am not afraid of fighting, but the most important thing is that even if you fight, we can't find where Brother Chunsheng is."

Lao Qin nodded.

I also think this problem is quite difficult to deal with.

Problems that can be solved by force are actually not that big of a problem. After so many years of experience in the martial arts world, Lao Qin has also understood a basic truth: those who can really stir up the situation and make things unclear are often people who use their brains.

What's the use of being able to fight?

If he is not careful, he will become someone else's thug and become someone else's tool. So he admires Yu Qiutang, not only because of his high martial arts value, but more importantly, he finds that although this young man is young, he is decisive, smart, and very mature and stable, just like a middle-aged man who has experienced vicissitudes of life.

Lao Qin had heard from his predecessors that the most important thing in a man's life is how early he matures. If a man matures at a young age, then he will be relatively successful at least in the secular sense.

To put it bluntly, the whole life of a person is about how to place himself in the social group and maintain it comfortably and harmoniously.

Many people are just ignorant when they are young. They cannot see the basic rules of this society clearly. They just follow their own temperament and think that they are themselves and no one can do anything to them.

To put it nicely, this kind of thinking is idealistic, but to put it bluntly, it is stupid. Stupid people simply cannot survive in this society. They either live in poverty and have a hard time, or lose the opportunity to reproduce.

The truly powerful people are those who see through the rules of society, treat them as an objective existence, and can make good use of them to live a carefree life.

In peacetime, there is no need to show too much indignation. In fact, when it comes down to it, we are all just ordinary people.

Those who complain about others and complain about the unfairness of society also have a dark and selfish side in their hearts, but they are not capable of holding high positions for the time being.

One day, when they turn things around, they will actually be no different from those who currently occupy more social resources.

People always let their butts determine their heads.

When you don’t have something, you will think that those who already have it have become rich by grabbing social resources in an unreasonable way and reaping the dividends of the development of the times.

However, every era has its own pain.

Now that we have reform and opening up, the economy has begun to flourish and move forward, and will certainly develop even better in the future than it is now.

So it seems that people of this era will be happier than those who could not even get enough food to eat in the previous era, but maybe the country will develop better in the future.

If we cannot clearly see the development rules of this society now, in the end we will still keep up with the pace of development of this era and end up with mediocrity.

Seeing that everyone had finished eating, Yu Qiutang went over and pretended to pay. The waiter hurriedly said that the money for breakfast was already included in the hotel bill and there was no need to pay separately.

Yu Qiutang also asked his clerk if there were any places to go nearby and where would be better to go if he wanted to do some coal business.

Of course, he was mainly asking about public matters and did not specifically mention private matters.

But the guy seemed to be telling him about the public situation, but in fact he mentioned the names of several nearby villages between the lines.

The reason is that these villages are quite unique, and you can go there to take a look and take the opportunity to understand the situation here. In fact, everyone knows what it means.

What is interesting about these broken villages? What is important is what is inside the village. Yu Qiutang heard the name Yuantai Village among them.

He calmly learned about the situation of several villages, without emphasizing anything, and did not linger on any particular village for too long. Basically, he gave the same amount of attention to each village, so that the waiter could not tell which village he favored in particular.

After leaving the hotel, Yu Qiutang and the other two wandered around the streets. They first went to the real Liukou Coal Mine. On the way there, he noticed that there was someone who had been following them since they left the hotel. He should be the person who came to monitor them.

So, after chatting for a while at the coal office, they did not rush to the next destination, but just walked around the streets, looked around, and stopped to eat some special snacks. They did not do anything else in the whole morning.

At noon, they went back to the hotel to have a meal, and then slept all afternoon. During this time, the waiter came over twice and asked them if they wanted any other services, but they refused both times.

Every time the guy came to inquire, he stretched his head to look inside and saw that the three of them were indeed sleeping. He looked confused and could only leave in disappointment.

Soon, it was afternoon again, and they went downstairs to have lunch as usual, and paid for a few more days of accommodation at the counter.

When paying, they met the hotel proprietress, a middle-aged woman in her thirties.

This woman is not particularly good-looking, but she has a plump figure, the kind that can arouse a man's primitive desires.

This was the first time Yu Qiutang and his friends had met the proprietress of the hotel. Similarly, the proprietress was also very interested in them.

"How many people? How many days will you stay here?"

The proprietress leaned against the counter, looking at Yu Qiutang with a smile.

The eyes are charming, yet very sharp.

He just glanced at the three of them and finally set his sights on Yu Qiutang. This is also an ability that shop owners like this have developed over a long period of time.

In fact, if we only look at the external aura of the three people, Lao Qin will definitely have the upper hand. After all, he is older and has been in society for a long time, and has developed a calm and steady aura, which is far from comparable to Yu Qiutang.

However, they originally centered on Yu Qiutang, so whether they were standing or communicating, they maintained a posture or position with Yu Qiutang as the core, and anyone with a little experience could basically see it.

Yu Qiutang said with a smile, "That's nothing. We just arrived yesterday and are still quite interested in this place. We will continue to bother you for a while. Why, the landlady doesn't seem to be welcoming?"

"Look at what you said. Everyone who comes is a guest. How can we not welcome them? You can stay here without any worries. You can stay as long as you want.

Apart from anything else, looking at the entire Liukou Town, when it comes to eating and drinking, we are definitely the most authentic place.

If you don’t believe me, you can go out and ask around. If anyone says ours is not authentic, I won’t charge you a penny.”

"No need to ask, we have already experienced how delicious the food is in the store, otherwise why would I want to add a few more days.

However, the only problem is that we guys like quietness very much and don't like to be disturbed all the time. It would be better if you guys wouldn't knock on our door so easily in the next few days. If you knock on our door every now and then, we won't be able to sleep well in the afternoon even if we want to sleep in.

After a long journey to your place, I didn't get enough rest, so I lost my mood to do my work."

"Of course, of course, that's how it should be."

The proprietress turned around and stared at the waiter. "What's wrong with you? Customers like quiet. How can you come here again and again to disturb customers? Don't do this in the future, or I will punish you."

The waiter said hurriedly, "Because we were thinking about our distinguished guests, we were afraid that we wouldn't provide good service, so we ran a little more frequently. We will pay attention in the future and not bother our distinguished guests so easily."

"You need to be more discerning. Not all customers are the same. No matter how many times you guys tell you, you're still like this."

The proprietress pretended to be angry with the waiter, then turned to Yu Qiutang and said, "It's all because of our waiter's ignorance. Let's do this. To express our apology, all three of you will get a 20% discount on all your purchases here. What do you think?"

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, "No, no, just be careful next time. The boss lady is running a business, and she can't let you lose money."

"light and spacious."

The proprietress patted Yu Qiutang's arm and said with a smile, "By the way, I heard you guys are here to discuss business, and I happen to know some people in this field. If you don't mind, I can help you get in touch with someone."

"Really? That's not bad. If necessary, we will definitely trouble the boss lady."

"Of course, of course, that's how business is. To be honest, if I can help you make the deal, I can also get some benefits.

Similarly, my shop can only survive if you, the outsiders, come to our shop frequently, right? Business is all about mutual benefit. "

Yu Qiutang nodded in agreement.

When they returned to the room, the waiter brought them another portion of fruit and thanked them again for not pursuing the matter further in front of the landlady.

Yu Qiutang certainly knew that all of this was just acting, so he would naturally meet their demands and act along.

All his business talks were just a cover anyway. As long as they could find his brother, they would leave this place immediately.

Before that, you must not reveal your true identity, and the more powerful you appear, the better. There is no need to not offend anyone here.

After sending the waiter away, Yu Qiutang immediately went to sleep. All the pretense during the day was just to serve at night.

According to the plan, he was going to Yuantai Village tonight.

He just played a little trick outside last night. If necessary, he would sneak into the coal mine in Yuantai Village tonight.

If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger's cubs?
There is always a time to end a day's performance. If it drags on for too long, these people may become suspicious and question his real purpose.

Now these people are partly wary of the three of them, but also partly expecting them to win over. If they wait until their wariness becomes greater than their expectations, it will be like a landmine that can explode at any time, and they will be in danger.

At 11:30 in the evening, Yu Qiutang opened the back window and jumped out.

During the day, he had studied the route clearly and rushed straight to Yuantai Village.

Unlike yesterday when he carried light equipment to test the water, tonight he deliberately carried both his own and Yu Qiujiang's broken daggers with him.

There are many desperate criminals lurking in this place. They cannot be treated as ordinary villagers. They are like a group of salivating lions, waiting to tear all prey to pieces at any time.

With the dagger, he would have a way to escape if something unusual happened. (End of this chapter)