Life in siheyuan era

At 6:45 PM, a brawl involving teenagers occurred on Yong'an Street.

This was the time when people usually came out for a stroll after dinner. The weather was getting warmer, and the sky was a clear white. Families finished their meals and stepped out of their homes, leisurely walking from the courtyards towards Yong'an Avenue. They greeted acquaintances and stopped to chat with friends they got along with, the topics of conversation casual and random.

With the warmer weather, people's evening activities returned to strolling, chatting, and playing chess on the streets, greatly increasing the foot traffic on Yong'an Avenue.

Yong'an Avenue was already a bustling area, usually filled with people coming and going. The evening activities of the local residents made the street even more lively. In the crowded throng, stepping on someone's foot or bumping into them was commonplace.

But when such things happened between two teenagers, it was a different story.

Tonight, Zhang Quanyi was hosting a banquet for the entire Quanyi Gang at the Yuanhang Restaurant. As the leader, he had to frequently treat his brothers to food and drinks.

During the meal, the eleven teenagers ate and chatted boisterously. They would gulp down a mouthful of baijiu and then let out a "Hah!" to show their manly spirit.

They also continued their discussion from the park meeting: "How to challenge Zhou Zhiyuan?"

Listening to everyone's discussions, Zhang Quanyi, fueled by a few sips of baijiu, slammed his hand on the table and roared, "Issue a challenge this Friday and defeat Zhou Zhiyuan on Sunday!"

This roar was extremely imposing and immediately drew the attention of the surrounding diners.

Seeing everyone turning to look, the teenagers instantly felt their blood pumping and shouted in unison, "Issue a challenge this Friday and defeat Zhou Zhiyuan on Sunday!"

This perfectly synchronized shout clearly demonstrated that the Quanyi Gang had a mandatory subject in their activities: chanting slogans.

The slogan left a deep impression on the diners, but it also brought confusion. One diner whispered, "Who is this Zhou Zhiyuan?"

"I don't know, but he sounds really awesome." The responder had a strong understanding; hearing the slogan, he knew that Zhou Zhiyuan was a big deal.

His answer was logical. If Zhou Zhiyuan wasn't a big deal, these teenagers wouldn't be chanting slogans, and that tall, burly teenager wouldn't look so unsure of himself.

The responder was very accurate. Zhang Quanyi shouted the slogan loudly, but in his heart, he was worried, "Will Second Brother beat me up when he hears this?"

He wasn't sure about this question. This morning, Zhou Zhiyuan had given him a training session that had benefited him greatly. Could practicing kung fu really form offensive and defensive images?

Zhang Quanyi was skeptical, but Old Hua Tou praised it repeatedly and told Zhang Quanyi to keep it a secret.

Old Hua Tou's affirmation gave Zhang Quanyi great confidence. It wasn't easy to find a good teacher, and it was even rarer to find a good teacher who had created a unique training method.

Zhang Quanyi recognized this teacher and wanted to find a way to complete the tasks assigned by the teacher and get Old Hua Tou's support. He took out fifty yuan to teach him a method.

Zhang Quanyi started acting according to this method, but chanting slogans wasn't something Old Hua Tou had taught him.

Zhang Quanyi's idea was simple: fighting wasn't a good thing, so he would first remove Zhou Zhiyuan from the equation.

This was because he had a guilty conscience. No one outside knew about Zhou Zhiyuan's arrangements, but he wanted to prevent anyone from finding out. The fight was his business, not Zhou Zhiyuan's instigation.

After doing this, he prepared to enter the main task, occasionally looking out the window. When he saw a burly figure, he immediately stood up and said, "Going to the restroom."

Liu Guangfu immediately responded, "Boss, I'll accompany you."

The two of them got up and walked out. When Liu Guangfu was about to walk towards the back, he heard Zhang Quanyi shout, "Stop!"

Hearing the shout, Liu Guangfu turned around and was puzzled to see Zhang Quanyi running out: "Who is the boss chasing?"

He was puzzled. Besides Zhang Quanyi running, the people in front all turned around to look, but Zhang Quanyi overtook them and continued to run forward.

Seeing this scene, Liu Guangfu immediately made a deduction: "The boss has encountered a master of lightness kung fu." Then he saw the teenagers running over at the sound.

At this time, Zhang Quanyi had already caught up with the burly figure and shouted again, "Stop!"

The burly figure turned around and, seeing Zhang Quanyi, immediately thought he was coming for him. The Iron Head Society had fought with the Quanyi Gang several times, and the two sides disliked each other.

Under this premise, the burly figure had a bit of a headache. Zhang Quanyi charged head-on in fights and was also a tough, thick-skinned guy who couldn't be knocked down.

He didn't want to provoke Zhang Quanyi, but if Zhang Quanyi came for him, he couldn't back down. He turned around, stood firm, and prepared to face him head-on. He was confident; Zhang Quanyi was alone, but he had five people around him.

The burly figure prepared for battle, and the five brothers around him also formed a formation. Just as people were looking over in surprise, they heard Zhang Quanyi shout, "Don't block the way, catch the thief!"

This shout caused everyone to look forward, wondering who the thief was. Zhang Quanyi had already bumped into the burly figure.

This was the result of the shout. The burly figure heard that they were catching a thief, knew it had nothing to do with him, and wanted to step aside, but he didn't expect Zhang Quanyi to suddenly speed up. Before the burly figure could move out of the way, Zhang Quanyi had already crashed into him.

Thump... The burly figure lost his footing and stumbled back a few steps, landing on his butt. The five teenagers around him immediately took action without thinking, but Zhang Quanyi didn't chase after the thief and immediately fought back.

Then the burly figure jumped up and charged into the battlefield, followed by the Quanyi Gang teenagers who came to expand the battle. Before they could win by numbers, more than a dozen teenagers ran over to besiege them.

This battle was in full swing. The Iron Head Society and the Quanyi Gang had to fight to the death. This was a battle at their doorstep; losing would be a loss of face.

The Iron Head Society teenagers wanted face, but their strength was lacking. On the battlefield, Zhang Quanyi charged head-on, and after knocking down six teenagers, the Iron Head Society completely retreated.

But Zhang Quanyi would never let them go. He shouted, "They are in cahoots with the thief!" and took the lead in chasing after them. Zhou Zhiyuan's training session wasn't for nothing; in a fight, you must make yourself stand on the side of justice, whether it's a fact or a frame-up.

This was bringing the fight to their doorstep. The burly figure and the teenagers couldn't stand it, and the adult men couldn't stand it either. The adult men who were at home came out to argue, and the adult men who went out for a stroll rushed home.

Finally, the adult men took action. The Quanyi Gang was bullying them too much, insisting that the burly figure was the thief and must be arrested. Protecting them meant they were accomplices to the thief.

This attitude made the conflict between the two sides irreconcilable. The adult men wanted to drive these teenagers out of the courtyard, and the teenagers wanted to arrest the thief. A conflict was inevitable, and the two sides immediately started fighting.

Then the battle expanded. The adult men from another courtyard rushed out to gang up on the teenagers, and even the service staff from the Anxin Hotel joined in.

Fortunately, this battle didn't last long. More than a dozen policemen arrived in time. Just as everyone put down their sticks and bricks, Zhang Quanyi suddenly fell to the ground with a thud.

So this matter blew up. All the Quanyi Gang teenagers were injured, and they insisted that they were catching a thief, while Zhang Quanyi was unconscious, as if he was about to die.

Seeing this situation, the police quickly split up their manpower, sending Zhang Quanyi to the nearest military hospital and taking away all the teenagers, plus more than twenty men.

This news immediately reached Bai Wenming's ears. Bai Wenming was shocked and quickly got up to leave, forgetting to say hello to Zhou Zhiyuan in his haste.

But Lou Xiaoning came over to inform Zhou Zhiyuan.

Zhou Zhiyuan asked in surprise, "Do you need help?"

"It doesn't seem like it's needed for now. I'll tell you if I need it." Lou Xiaoning left some room for maneuver and then said, "I'll go take a look."

He was about to leave, but Zhou Zhiyuan volunteered, "Brother Lou, I'll send my brother and Sister Qin back later, and then I'll go to Room 515 of the military hospital to take care of my comrade. If you need anything, go there and tell the guard on the fourth floor."

He spoke very impressively, as if the military hospital was opened by his family.

Lou Xiaoning nodded and hurried out.

Zhou Zhiyuan sighed and said, "These teenagers are still young and reckless! They should be better disciplined."

Hearing his sigh, Zhou Zhining looked at him and said in a deep voice, "You should take care of yourself first."

Hearing this, Shen Lanyin pursed her lips, and Qin Huairu chuckled.

Zhou Zhiyuan retorted, "When have I ever been reckless? I was humble and cautious as a teenager, and I'm still humble and cautious as a young man. You tell me..."

He stopped here because he couldn't ask Zhou Zhining this question, so he turned to Shen Lanyin and whispered, "Lanyin, tell me, am I right?"

He asked Shen Lanyin, and Shen Lanyin replied seriously, "Yes, you are a humble and cautious good young man. There is no one more humble and cautious than you."

Was there emotion in her words? Zhou Zhiyuan heard it, so he immediately shifted direction, took out a wad of money from his upper pocket, handed it to Zhou Zhining, and whispered, "Brother, this is my salary for this month. Take it back to Mom."

This had to be done in front of Shen Lanyin to show how strict the Zhou family's rules were: salaries had to be handed over, and the parents decided how much pocket money to leave.

But as the eldest brother, Zhou Zhining could represent the parents and make a decision on the spot, giving him two ten-yuan RMB bills.