No taboos in the world

Chapter 33 Trading
The back hall of the governor's office.

Hong Chen sat at the table and quietly poured two cups of tea.

Opposite him, the admiral with half his face swollen looked grim, but he had to force himself to sit quietly and wait.

"I know you are unwilling, but you don't have to be angry in a hurry." Hong Chen spoke softly, without any trace of the furious look on his face.

The admiral snorted unconsciously, then glanced at him secretly again. Seeing that his expression had not changed, he felt relieved.

"Come, please." Hong Chen pushed the teacup over.

The admiral stretched out his hand to pick it up, and glanced at Hong Chen a few more times: This is my government office, why do you look more like the owner than I do?

Hong Chen seemed not to notice his gaze, and drank the tea by himself. After putting down the teacup, he said, "The admiral's tea is really good."

The admiral took a sip dejectedly and finally couldn't help it anymore.

"What do you want to say? Let me remind you first, you brought so many people here today. If things get out of hand, I might lose my position, but you won't get away with it either, and the same goes for the group of people outside."

Hong Chen nodded: "Of course, if things get out of hand, it will be a lose-lose situation."

The admiral heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. "Then you might as well have them withdraw quickly before daybreak. Not many people will know about it."

"Why do you think I asked them to come here before daybreak?"

The admiral was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "You don't want to make a big deal out of it."

"No, I never thought of causing trouble, but you have to understand that if we are bullied and we don't react at all, how can we live in the future? What's more, there are so many foreign ships from different countries docked at the port. If the foreigners from every country shoot at us, do you think we can survive?"

The admiral opened his mouth and frowned even more tightly.

When it comes to foreigners, the Qing court is extremely cautious. They are like a group of dogs that have been hurt. They dare not show their teeth to those who hit them, so they can only turn around and bully others.

"what on earth do you want?"

Hong Chen raised his eyelids slightly, his eyes grim: "I should be the one asking you this question. What do you think you should do now?"

The admiral felt a panic in his heart when he was looked at by him, and then he felt ashamed.

The person who had not even the right to see him in the past was now talking to him with such an attitude and tone. Such a reversal was really hard for him to accept.

However, if the hundreds of militiamen outside, as well as the militiamen who did not come here today, really started a riot, it would not be surprising for him to lose not only his hat, but his head as well.

After thinking for a moment, he took a deep breath and said, "The government will compensate that person, and I will also take the initiative to negotiate with the foreigners."

"How much compensation?" Hong Chen thought the latter part of the sentence was just nonsense.

"...Ten taels of silver?"

"Aren't you awake yet?"

The admiral's eyes twitched, and he said, "How about one... three hundred taels?"

"Okay, I want to see the money today."

"No problem." The admiral nodded heavily.

Seeing Hong Chen stand up, he let out another deep breath.

Hong Chen chuckled: "On behalf of that brother, I would like to thank the admiral for his generosity. But then again, it's better to compensate the people than to those red-haired people, what do you think?"

The admiral's face twitched, but he didn't want to affect the injury on his face, so he grimaced in pain.

Hong Chen shook his sleeves and threw out a white bottle, "Wipe it off, it will be gone in a few hours. No need to see me off, bye!"

The admiral held the medicine bottle and looked at Hong Chen's back, not knowing what to think for a moment.

He even prepared the medicine in advance, so he had thought about slapping me a long time ago? Huang Feihong is a gentleman. He would rather die than bring a militia to attack the government office to threaten the court ministers, but this man... Just based on the look in his eyes just now, I would believe you if you said he had killed dozens of people! Hong Chen: You are narrow-minded.
-
The yamen door.

The moment Hong Chen appeared, Huang Feihong quickly walked up to him, glanced at Hong Chen immediately, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother, how is the situation?"

Hong Chen smiled and nodded: "Brother, don't worry, it's just as planned. The government will send three hundred taels of silver as compensation today."

Huang Feihong felt relieved: "That's good. But the compensation..."

"Don't worry, brother. He won't dare to cause trouble again."

Huang Feihong shook his head and smiled bitterly with a complicated expression: "The court has been compensating this and that. Compensating the people today can be considered a good thing."

"They didn't take the initiative to do this good thing." Hong Chen looked back at the government office plaque, his eyes full of indifference: "This kind of court is doomed to fail."

"Brother, keep your voice down."

Afterwards, the militia members dispersed under the guidance of Huang Feihong, and Hong Chen and others returned to Bao Zhilin.

At noon, a group of people were having lunch, and the government indeed sent someone to deliver three hundred taels of silver.

After dinner, Hong Chen was reading a book when Yacasu came to him.

"Master...Uncle Master, yesterday yesterday yesterday..."

Hong Chen frowned and said, "Speak English."

Yaca Su was stunned.

Hong Chen: "Don't worry, I understand."

Suddenly, Yacasu's eyes lit up and he told the reason.

This guy speaks English very fluently, but he stutters when he speaks Chinese. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.

"Yan Zhendong is awake. Does he want to see me?"

"Yes, uncle!"

Hong Chen took the medical book and went with him to visit.

Yan Zhendong was placed in Baozhilin. He was half lying on the bed, his face pale and his lips chapped.

"It didn't seem so serious yesterday." Hong Chen couldn't help but frowned when he saw this.

"Master said that he had a lot of hidden injuries, so we'll take this opportunity to help him remove as many of the lesions as possible to avoid an outbreak in the future when they cannot be cured." Ya Casu explained.

The Iron Shirt is an external skill, and an extremely difficult one to practice. When practicing this kind of skill, every progress comes from active harm to the body, and is also an early overdraft of oneself.

That is why it is said that it is extremely rare to cultivate both internal and external skills. Of course you can practice external skills, but at the same time you must not forget to use internal skills to regulate the body's functional state. Only by cultivating both internal and external skills can you achieve long-term success.

In the past and even now, the cultivation of internal skills is the top priority of every school and sect. The level of secrecy is so high that it is not recorded in writing and is only passed down orally between teachers and students. It is also because of this that many internal cultivation methods of kung fu have been lost.

Hong Chen came to the bedside and said, "Master Yan, you should know your situation now. Just take a good rest and don't rush into fighting with others."

"I understand... ahem, I called you here today because I want to discuss a deal with you." The frustration in Yan Zhendong's eyes was visible to the naked eye, and the look he gave Hong Chen was extremely complicated.

"You said."

"I will teach you the Iron Shirt and I will never hide anything."

"Oh?" Hong Chen raised his eyebrows, "So, what is the price?"

(End of this chapter)