My Daoist Life - Chapter 49

Chapter 49 – Scramble for fish

Seeing others catch fish, Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong were also unable to hold themselves back.

“Run Run Run, Run upwards run!” Huang Shulang was anxiously running towards the upward reaches of the river.

Ma Jindong also promptly chased after.

“Teacher Lin, you run slowly, falling down into the river isn’t a joke.” I was worried that Teacher Lin would fall down into the river, therefore I didn’t dare to run too quick, and kept holding on to Teacher Lin’s hands.

“You be a bit careful yourself. I won’t fall down into the river.” Teacher Lin didn’t appreciate the sentiment. Being shown consideration by a child, this was something that didn’t feel good.

“Ai! Do you want to snatch it? This is what I saw first!”

From afar, Huang Shulang’s voice could be heard, sounding as if he was having a dispute with others.

“Who’s snatching, this river is not your family’s. Do you believe that I won’t press you down into the river till you drown to death?”

A very ruthless voice could be heard. Also from the voice, it could also be ascertained, that this person was older than us.

“Teacher Lin, fatty is quarrelling with others, I will go ahead and take a look, you walk slowly, don’t fall down into the river.” I released Teacher Lin’s hands.

“Go, Go.” Teacher Lin said.

It was not just the Ba Jiao village that existed besides the Dama river, on the opposite shore there was a village called Sanjiaotang. Ba Jiao Village, for the most part, were surnamed Huang, while on the side of Sanjiaotang, there were mostly surnamed Luo. Therefore Sanjiaotang was also called Luojiatang. People of the Ba Jiao Village didn’t dare bully Huang Shulang, not only out of fear of Huang Shulang’s father Huang Kui but also afraid of his master, me. This person is probably from Luojiatang. I was worried that Huang Shulang and Ma Jintong would be at a disadvantage.

“Yo! You two brats really have big guts, dare to snatch I, your father’s, fish! Hurry up and put the fish into my basket, otherwise, you both will end up humiliated.” The one who spoke earlier was this man.

“This fish is from the Dama river, you a big grown-up want to snatch the fish of us children, not able to tell us off, not able to snatch from us, but still want to act as hoodlum!” Ma Jindong said with an air of conviction.

“You people of the Dama river really have guts, two brats also dare to speak to me like that. How about your father here gives you a bit of makeover, you don’t even know how many eyes Horse God grew!” [TLNote: According to Chinese folklore, Horse God is supposed to be really fearsome, and there is an old folklore saying, that “You know Horse God, his three eyes are not to be trifled with”. Supposedly he had been given great visual acuity by Jade Emperor or something like that]

I came running over quickly, seeing from afar, could only see a man covered in mud wearing just underpants, slowly approaching Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong.

Ma Jindong couldn’t understand what the man said, so he turned to Huang Shulang and asked: “Senior disciple, Horse God grew several eyes?”

“How should I know? We’ll ask Master on our way back.” Huang Shulang gave it a thought, but his thoughts ended up in a ball of fog.

That man’s thoughts were laughable and ridiculous, as he rushed towards Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang wanting to slap both of them.

Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang practice martial arts together daily, the practice didn’t end up in vain. Before the man could come near, they both suddenly moved, and rushed quickly to that man’s side. Ma Jindong on the left side, Huang Shulang on the right. Ma Jindong extended his right foot, Huang Shulang extended his left foot, as soon as they reached that man’s side, they both simultaneously swept their legs around that man’s ankle area.

Even though Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang were both children in the first grade of primary school, but they had been diligently studying and practising hard under my pressure every day. At this time, their kungfu was quite amazing. Moreover, I would use Primordial Qi daily on their bodies for recovery, and in the process of recovery, their bodies would also get strengthened. Furthermore, that man from Luojiatang was extremely negligent. He simply didn’t expect that two brats would dare to strike first and gain the upper hand.

That man’s legs were hooked, and under the pressure of inertia, he directly fell head-first into the Dama River. Near the Dama River bank, there was a thick pile of leftover sludge. That man planted himself headfirst into that pile of sludge. Although, he didn’t receive any injury, but his entire head was actually buried under the sludge.

That man hurriedly pulled his head from out of the sludge, his eyes, nose, ear were all covered in sludge, leaving it difficult to distinguish from front and rear.

After Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong had tripped the man, without even looking at the outcome, they immediately cried out at the top of their lungs: “Save us! A Luojiatang person is bullying the children of Ba Jiao village. A grownup of Luojiatang is stealing the fish caught by Ba Jiao Village children.

The two villages had some grudges, hearing the shouts of Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang, the nearby Ba Jiao Village people immediately came rushing. The people of Luojiatang also caught up quickly.

I just simply stopped not far away to watch the spectacle. The Ba Jiao Village people came rushing, and saw the two brats standing there complacently with not even a single hair damaged, rather it was the Luojiatang person was battered and exhausted.

“Huang Shulang, what’s the matter?” Our village’s Huang Mingge asked as he came forward.

“Ma Jindong and I discovered a fish, he came over trying to snatch it from us and when he didn’t succeed, he want to hit us. Luckily we dodged quickly, otherwise us two would definitely have been pushed into the mud.” Huang Shulang pointed at the bald man who was still disoriented.

“Serves him right! Huang Shulang, you hurry up and return along with Ma Jindong. Call the people from the village. Luojiatang people dare to go so far, if they are not punished, they won’t learn their lesson.” Huang Mingge was worried that the children would get caught up in the middle.

Luo jia Village people running over, and began screaming on one side: “So many you Ba Jiao Village people hitting a single person, bullying too much?”

“I spit! This time you Luo Jia village people are distorting facts really fiercely. This baldy had hit our village’s children. Resulting in him falling into the mud pile by himself. Ha ha ha, this is really retribution, ah. Although those two children didn’t suffer anything, but this thing needs to be accounted for.” Huang Mingge said smiling cruelly.

“You still want to calculate what, the one who suffered is our person. It is good enough if we don’t seek redressal from you!” The people of Luojiatang knew the disposition of this baldy, moreover, many people had heard what the baldy had said a moment ago. Therefore, they were speaking diffidently.

“If you Luojiatang people are being unreasonable, naturally there remains nothing to account for. However, no matter how big the world is, the truth is bigger. Your Luojiatang’s three feet tall grownup, bullied our village’s children, snatching fish, beating them up. This time he wasn’t able to hit, rather he himself suffered a loss. However, what if our village’s two children hadn’t dodged a moment ago, causing them to get hit? How would this be redressed?” Huang Mingge was pointing at Luojiatang people’s nose.

If it were usual, and Huang Mingge had done like that, then he would have already gotten beaten up. However, the person of Luojiatang was in the wrong. This kind of bullying a child is pleasant to hear, but unpleasant to say. Moreover, that baldy in usual times hasn’t done any less amount of misdeeds in the village. Several of Luojiatang also want him to get out.

The two villages were quite near to each other, a lot of people knew each other. Although there were some grievances between the two villages, but many of the families are actually relatives.

“Since the children of your village haven’t suffered a loss, let the matter be ended here. Anyways, he also had a collision. Lowering the head cannot see, Raised head can see. Let the matter be settled.” The one who spoke was Uncle Luo Dachao from our village.

“Luo Dachao, who are you? You say the matter is settled, then the matter is settled? Your father, I, have suffered such big loss, and you consider the matter finished?” The baldy after washing the mud from his head spoke crudely. At long last, he was finally able to speak out.

“Dachao, I feel you should better stay out of this. Other people are not accepting your sentiments!” Huang Mingge laughed coldly. He wasn’t afraid of baldy today. I didn’t know at that time, this Baldy was actually known in Ba Jiao Village, as an idler, his actions were also dirty. Not only did he imitate the dog and steal chickens, he didn’t let anybody off even in Luojiatang. Therefore, people of the Luojiatang also disliked him. [TLNote: Imitating Dog, Stealing Chicken = Idiom for dallying with women, having affairs]

“Luo Kai, if it were not for you being of the same village, I wouldn’t bother looking out for you. Since you cannot differentiate between good and bad, then do as you like.” Luo Dachao smiled coldly, and immediately stood to one side.

“Where are you two going?” I asked as Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong arrived by my side.

“We had returned to the village to call people, ah!” Huang Shulang said.

“You two had run away, what would have happened if Uncle Mingge were to suffer any loss? By the time you called people from the village to come, the daylily dish got cold.” I said.

“Then what to do?” Huang Shulang asked.

“If you dared to hit that baldy, then you two together finish accordingly, I will see who dares to come help!” I pushed forwad Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong.

“He is an adult, how are we two children going to go up and beat him?” Huang Shulang asked wailing.

“Are you an idiot? Who asked you to go empty fist, empty hand? Don’t know how to pick up stones?” I kicked Huang Shulang.

“Master, and you?” Ma Jindong picked up a stone, then turned his head to ask.

“A very minor petty thief, you two will suffice. Not worthy for me to get into action. You rest assured if his village’s people dare to interfere, I will come out and finish them.” I boosted the morale of Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong from the side.

Teacher Lin came running over panting with rage: “Huang Jingyang, what are you making them do?”

“Just letting them get back at whoever bullied them.” I said thoughtlessly.

Resultantly, I was hit on the head by Teacher Lin: “You this scoundrel, not afraid to get into big trouble. A few days of doing boxing, and you consider yourself a martial arts expert, ah? You are letting two first grader children go fight with a grownup, what to do if they were to get injured? Will you compensate?”

“Ah! Who, Who! Who was it that smashed a stone at me, I……..!” Luo Kai had barely come to the shore, and was just preparing to go teach a lesson to Huang Mingge, when he was greeted with two egg-sized pebbles.

Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong’s daily martial arts practice was not in futility. They wouldn’t miss a target in this dozen or so meters range. It had accurately smashed onto Luo Kai’s head. [TLNote: Raw said that it hit Huang Mingge, but I found it to be just silly so I changed it keeping the context in view]

Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong simply didn’t stop, and kept throwing the pebbles incenssantly like targeted missiles.

Luo Kai tried to hide here and there, but each time he was accurately hit by Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong. Finally, he missed a step, and rolled down into the river, landing into the quagmire. Fortunately, this time it was feet first.

Only, Luo Kai could possibly have been wishing to land head first, because the pebbles also kept hitting continuously.

“You two children came back? Weren’t you going to the village to call people?” Huang Mingge caught sight of Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong annoyingly stay put.

“Master made us two come help you.” Ma Jindong said pointing to the place where I stood.

Upon seeing me, Huang Mingge at once became quiet. Who in the village didn’t know of the matter of me hitting Liu Tailong on that day? Even many of the people from Luojiatang also know. Upon seeing me come, unexpectedly the people of Luojiatang started dispersing slowly. Only Luo Kai remained in the quagmire as he cried for mother and yelled for father.

“Let it be, Let it be, you two hurry up and stop. If you hit again, you will kill him.” Teacher Lin hurriedly ran up to stop Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong.