PCJ – Chapter 49 Fighting

Liu Biao returned from outside, panting heavily, holding a piece of meat in his hand. The meat looked quite good at first glance, with thick fat, and not much bone on it. Liu Biao was also quite proud of himself, saying, “The meat seller today is my buddy. When he saw me, he gave me the best meat. Look, there’s hardly any bones on it. My classmate said this pig must have weighed over two hundred catties, and the fat is over two fingers thick.”

In those days, the quality of meat was judged by the thickness of the fat and the amount of bones. Although there was a lot of fat on the pork neck, the bubbly fatty meat was not appreciated. Lean meat was tasty, but not favored because it lacked oil. For people of that era, the presence of oil was an extremely important criterion for evaluating meat.

“Hurry up and blanch the pig skin. This morning’s meal will be sumptuous.” Liu Tongmao chuckled. Having two meat dishes for a regular family meal was indeed abundant.

“It’s a pity that there’s only meat available from the village government, and we couldn’t get any fish. Otherwise, this meal would have been complete.” Liu Biao said with some regret.

“With so many dishes, it’s such a waste. Biaozi, even if you have money, you shouldn’t spend it like this. It’s so hard to earn money now, you know?” Liu Qiaoye complained.

Zhao Lanying chuckled, “Even if it’s hard to earn money, we still need to eat. If it wasn’t for Jiaohua, let alone eating meat, we wouldn’t even know how much debt we would have to borrow. Debts must be repaid one day. If something unexpected happens to Xizix, this family will be ruined. So Jiaohua is a great hero for our old Liu family, and we need to treat him well. Jiaohua, what else do you like to eat? Tell your aunt, and let your uncle buy it for you.”

“Auntie, I just like to eat chicken legs.” Zhang Jiaohua smiled.

“Alright, both yellow chicken legs will be yours to eat.” Seeing Liu Xi about to cry, Zhao Lanying said with a smile, “Xi’er, you can eat more later. This time, slaughtering the chicken and selling the meat is all to reward your big brother Jiaohua.”

“I’ll just take half with Xi’er.” Zhang Jiaohua straightforwardly offered a favor, how could one person eat it all? Mother’s eyes were glaring at him.

“Haha, the brotherly love between you two is really good.” Liu Tongmao chuckled.

With many hands, the whole family gathered together, and this sumptuous breakfast was finally prepared.

There were two big bowls of chicken meat, two big bowls of pork, and two or three side dishes for rice. The Eight Immortals table was full.

There were exactly eight people in the family, just enough to fill all eight seats.

“Come, come, come, this chicken leg is for Jiaohua.” Liu Biao picked up a chicken leg and put it in Zhang Jiaohua’s bowl. Zhang Jiaohua was about to grab it with his hand when a hand reached over from behind and grabbed the chicken leg in Zhang Jiaohua’s bowl. Zhang Jiaohua was anxious, turned his head to look, only to find that the chicken leg was grabbed by a young man he didn’t know.

“Guo Daogui! What are you trying to do?” Liu Biao immediately stood up angrily.

“I didn’t do anything. I’ve worked hard to capture your son’s soul, but got nothing in return. Now that your son is fine, I’ve come to settle the score with you. Since it’s breakfast time for you, and I’m still hungry, I’ll eat breakfast first and then talk.” Guo Daogui stuffed the chicken leg into his mouth.

Zhang Jiaohua was furious, but he didn’t plan to get the chicken leg back. Guo Daogui’s hands were filthy, black and oily. After the chicken leg passed through his hands, Zhang Jiaohua had no appetite for it. But it was impossible to let Guo Daogui off so easily. If someone dared to snatch food from his bowl, it was intolerable. Zhang Jiaohua picked up his chopsticks and tapped the table. This tap had a certain skill to it. Zhang Jiaohua’s mouth moved slightly, and his voice was very low. Even Liu Xi sitting next to him couldn’t hear clearly.

Guo Daogui didn’t know he had committed the greatest taboo of the Daoists. It was absolutely forbidden to snatch food from other Daoists’ bowls. As soon as he took a bite, his eyes widened immediately. Accidentally, a large piece of leg meat was swallowed down his throat, and he couldn’t swallow it down or spit it out. He choked!

Except for Zhang Jiaohua, no one knew that Zhang Jiaohua had cast a spell on him. Meishan Daoists were very stingy. Not to mention if it was snatched into their own bowls, even when eating, if someone tried to snatch food from them, it would definitely get stuck when swallowed.

“Water, water.” Guo Daogui choked and rolled his eyes, rushing to Liu’s water tank and scooping a ladle of water, gulping it down, trying to flush the chicken meat down his throat. But Guo Daogui forgot a common saying: when a person is unlucky, even drinking cold water can get stuck in their teeth. As soon as this ladle of water was drunk, instead of flushing down the chicken meat, the water got stuck in his throat, making it difficult to breathe.

At this point, everyone realized something was wrong. Liu Tongmao still had some insight and immediately understood that Zhang Jiaohua had intentionally punished the other party. But he was worried that this grandson was young and didn’t know the severity, so he quickly said, “Jiaohua, don’t overdo it. Causing someone’s death is not a joke.”

“Jiaohua?” Zhang Youping and Liu Qiaoye only came to their senses at this time, realizing that it was their own son causing trouble.

Guo Daogui wasn’t stupid either. After all, he was also a quasi-Daoist. Although he didn’t have much skill, he had seen these things. He kept bowing and begging forgiveness to the people at the table. He couldn’t help but point at Zhang Jiaohua and said in frustration, “Jiaohua, spare me. I’ll go get my senior brother. You’ve crossed the line this time. Lantianxi is my territory. You actually don’t follow the rules and dare to come to my place.” Guo Daogui pointed at Zhang Jiaohua with his fingers, looking extremely frustrated.

“Here’s your territory? If you can swallow this chopstick down, then I’ve crossed the line.” Zhang Jiaohua went to the kitchen to get a kitchen knife, cut a chopstick into three pieces, and put it in a bowl of clear water.

This was the test that Meishan Daoists must pass before going out. Zhang Jiaohua could tell at a glance that Guo Daogui hadn’t gone out at all. The secret gestures he made were not recognized by Guo Daogui at all. It could only show that this Guo Daogui hadn’t gone out at all.