20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 770 Intuition
This was a wake-up call, and the entire store fell into complete silence.

The man in the felt hat was lying on the counter, half of his face soaked with blood. He groaned and panted for a while before moaning, "Fellow villagers, everyone has seen it. Nan Ji... Nan Ji beat people up!"

Everyone looked at each other, and suddenly hesitated.

After a while, the man in the cotton robe came over and said kindly, "Sir, let's not be impulsive. If someone dies, it will be very difficult to deal with."

Others nodded in agreement.

In a major murder case, whoever sees it is involved, and no one wants to go to the government office for nothing.

Li Zhengxi refused to give up. He turned around, glared at him, and asked loudly, "Why, do you still have a share here?"

"Ah?" The man in the cotton robe took a half step back and quickly explained, "No, no, I'm here to buy food. I don't know him at all!"

"I think you two are in the same group!"

Li Zhengxi looked around, and wherever his eyes went, there was a hint of murderous intent: "Is there you, you, and you?"

Justice suddenly turned into personal grudge, and the scene suddenly calmed down.

Upon seeing this, everyone stepped back and hurriedly distanced themselves from the matter.

"No, no, no, I've never heard of this guy, Lao Dou!"

"Who is Lao Dou? Do you know him?"

"I don't know. I'm from East City. If there's any hatred between you, don't get me involved."

The situation suddenly reversed, and in the blink of an eye, the grain store crisis was quietly resolved, and everyone actually felt a little like a spectator.

After all, everyone wanted to break into the grain store just to seek justice, and if there were any personal grudges here, they would not want to get involved.

At this time, the man in the felt hat suddenly groaned again and said, "No, I, I don't know you either!"

"Bullshit, how dare you say you don't know my father?"

Li Zhengxi dropped the weight and pulled out his pistol, immediately putting the muzzle against the man's head wearing a felt hat.

Seeing this, everyone was frightened and turned around and ran towards the door of the grain store in a hurry.

There were a few cowards who had just relied on their courage and power to shout and yell in the store, but now they were also depressed and kept muttering, "It's bad, it's bad..."

However, the people in the house wanted to rush out to avoid the disaster, while the people outside were afraid of missing out on the excitement, so the two sides crowded together and the scene suddenly became chaotic.

Because Xifeng's sudden move involved the combination on the line, the brothers who were in charge of watching the scene outside the store did not dare to be negligent and quickly separated the crowd to prevent any fish that slipped through the net from escaping. In an instant, shouts came one after another.

At the same time, there was a crisp "click" sound suddenly heard by the ear of the man wearing the felt hat.

Li Zhengxi took off the safety of his gun and threatened: "If you say that again, do you dare to say that you don't know me?"

"I know him, I know him..."

The man in the felt hat was scared, and his tone sounded a little tearful.

Li Zhengxi frowned and exchanged a glance with Yang Lazi and the others. They all knew the details, but they just put away their guns silently and asked again:
"Where are the old man and the others hiding? Tell me now!"

"I don't know this either!"

The man wearing the felt hat had trembling legs and said softly, "I know my father, but he didn't ask me to do this..."

"Fuck you, you still dare to quibble!" Li Zhengxi kicked him away and raised his hand to shout, "Beat him to death, I want to see how stubborn this little bitch is!"

Following the order, the shop assistants immediately rushed forward and beat the man in the felt hat with fists and feet until he couldn't even scream.

Yang Lazi and others did not take any action, and there was no need for them to do so. They just watched silently, while being wary of other customers in the store.

Everyone saw the man in the felt hat curled up in the corner of the counter, bleeding profusely. They could only take the beating in silence. They were worried that someone would be killed and they would be the ones to suffer the consequences. So they rushed to the door of the store, eager to leave this place of trouble. However, they were pushed back again and again by the Jiang family brothers.

The people on the street did not know the truth and immediately ran around telling others what they heard.

"Killing! Killing!"

On this side, Li Zhengxi was not idle either. Seeing that the customers in the store could not rush out, he shouted loudly: "Don't block the way there, get the hell out of my way!"

When the brothers heard this, they turned aside and the customers in the store immediately rushed to the street like a flood.

However, after they rushed out of the grain store, they did not go far, but ran to a place they thought was safe, formed a semi circle from a distance, and waited to watch the excitement.

If someone came over and asked about the situation in the store, they would say with certainty: "He's dead. The guns were pulled out. How could there not be a death?"

"real or fake?"

"No, I saw it with my own eyes. The blood was all over the floor. What a jerk!"

"You are really a ruthless person. You dare to go ahead with this?"

"Oh, what's that? I've seen a lot of people in the underworld. This time it was my uncle who sent someone to cause trouble on purpose. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with us!"

"Who is that old man?"

"Tsk, Dad, you haven't even heard of it. It's just that so-and-so, that so-and-so. Anyway, you won't understand even if I tell you. Just stay quiet and watch!"

Everyone was talking about it, and for a moment they forgot about the price of food.

More and more spectators gathered, including rickshaw pullers, herbal medicine sellers, and idlers, all of whom came over to stare and look.

Soon, Li Zhengxi came out of the grain store, surrounded by Yang Lazi and others. He stood under the plaque, looked around, and asked loudly, "Who else is your accomplice?"

There was a moment of silence, and no one responded.

"What's the matter? You dare to do it but not take the responsibility?" Li Zhengxi said again, "If you are a real man, you should stand up and practice in front of the elders and fellow villagers instead of secretly disgusting others!"

Everyone looked at each other, but still no response.

"No?" Li Zhengxi snorted coldly, "If you don't have any, then get out of here right away and stop messing around here!"

After saying that, he turned and left.

Unexpectedly, just as the door of the grain store was about to close, a burst of shouting suddenly came from outside the crowd.

"Get out of the way, everyone, get out of the way. I want to see what's going on. What are you all doing here?"

Li Zhengxi was stunned. He turned around and saw that the crowd suddenly made way for a passage and several old men from the yamen strode over with their arms swinging.

Hearing the sound, the shop door that was about to close suddenly opened again. Wang Zhengnan leaned out from inside, looked up, and then walked down the stairs with a smile on his face.

"Oh, who was it? It turns out to be Inspector Du. Thank you for your hard work!"

"Oh, it's Master Wang, Master Li is here too. Are you two all well?"

"Okay, okay, I'll be surprised if something goes wrong with you taking care of me here!"

Wang Zhengnan clasped his fists and bowed, smiling apologetically.

Although Li Zhengxi also greeted him, he was more confused and frowned even more. Du Xun was tall and walked to the door of the grain store unsteadily. He clasped his belt with both hands and patted his gun box nonchalantly. Lao Chai, who was accompanying him, shouldered his rifle and glanced at the onlookers on the street in a cocky manner.

"Second Master, what's wrong with you?"

Captain Du said that he was patrolling nearby and heard someone shouting "Murder" on the street. As part of his duty, he had to come over and inquire about the situation.

Wang Zhengnan smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay. Who doesn't have trouble when doing business? It just made a fuss for a while, but it's settled now. I dare not trouble Captain Du to ask about it. Come on, come on, brothers, please come in and have a seat. Have some tea and warm yourself up."

Captain Du said, "Second Master, don't be polite to me. You have the best relationships with people in South City. If anyone dares to act wildly here, I will be the first to say no!"

After saying this, he turned around and challenged the onlookers.

"Who was causing trouble here just now? Was it you, you, and you?"

Seeing the collusion between officials and businessmen, the onlookers dared not take any risks. They immediately spoke in unison, pointing to the inside of the store and saying, "Sir, the troublemakers are inside the house, and they have nothing to do with us!"

"Stop talking nonsense! If it has nothing to do with you, what are you doing here?"

Captain Du took out the handcuffs, waved them in front of everyone, and said, "There has to be a reason for the trouble. Tell me what it is! If you don't tell me now, I'll tell you at the government office!"

Seeing this, everyone didn't dare to make any excuses and quickly repeated the whole story in detail.

After hearing this, everyone just woke up from their dream, and suddenly remembered that the food problem had not been solved, so they took the opportunity to start clamoring again.

"Nan Kee Grain and Oil Store deliberately hoarded goods and raised prices. Doesn't the government office do anything about it?"

"Shut up!"

Captain Du shouted, "Is this something you ordinary people should worry about? It's not your turn to check whether they have surplus food or not. If everyone does this, it will be a mess. What are we doing as officials?"

Everyone was angry but dared not say anything. They just stared at the officers and stood there in silence.

"How about this," Inspector Du suddenly suggested, "I'll go in and check for you to see if Nanji has any surplus food. The government will definitely give you an explanation!"

Having said that, he turned around again and said, "Second Master, please lead the way!"

Wang Zhengnan did not say a word and quickly stepped aside to make way. As long as he invited the official into the room and closed the door, everything could be discussed.

Although Li Zhengxi was a little dissatisfied, he didn't say anything. He instructed Yang Lazi and others to be on guard outside the door, and then he stepped over the threshold.

When Captain Du walked into the store, the man in the felt hat was still dying in the corner.

He saw it, but turned a blind eye and went straight to the backyard with two trusted men.

Just as he reached the backyard, he suddenly stopped and said with a smile, "Second Master, do you think we should go to the warehouse to have a look?"

"Captain Du, you must be joking. Now that we are here, how can we not go and take a look?"

Wang Zhengnan quickly grabbed Captain Du's hand and dragged him towards the warehouse door.

Captain Du felt his palm swell up, and when he opened his hand, he saw an extra stack of banknotes. They were not Fengpiao, but gold yuan notes from the Bank of Korea. He was overjoyed and pretended to refuse, saying, "Second Master, we are old friends. Don't I believe what you say? Why should we ruin the harmony between us because of those unruly people?"

"We must check, we must check!"

"Hey, are you deliberately making fun of me? I won't watch it, whoever wants to watch it can watch it!"

The two men pretended to fight for several rounds, and finally smiled and waved their hands to stop.

Captain Du was very satisfied. He smoked a cigarette in the backyard and then walked out of the store. He had intended to announce in public that Nan Kee had no surplus food. However, as soon as he went out, he found that more than half of the onlookers had disappeared without him noticing.

The common people were disheartened and left one after another, knowing that the officials could not find out anything.

The remaining people, perhaps because their families did not have enough food or even emergency supplies, held on to the last glimmer of hope and stood there waiting for good news.

There is no good news.

Captain Du announced loudly: "Nanji has no surplus food and is waiting to be transported. Everyone, please come early tomorrow!"

After saying this, he patted his butt and left.

The accompanying Lao Chai dispersed the crowd and shouted at them with his gun: "Get out, get out, don't gather here. If you don't get out, I'll torture you all!"

Yang Lazi and his men were still on guard outside the gate. Seeing this, the people had no choice but to leave reluctantly, hoping to buy food as soon as possible tomorrow.

Inside the grain store, Cheng Fang said nothing more. She should have made a lot of money by raising grain prices today, but in the end, she gave all the profits to the officials. In the end, it was all in vain.

Fortunately, Nan Feng did not blame him too much. He waved his hand and whispered to comfort him: "Forget it, forget it. Things have come to this. There is no point in regretting. Ask someone to clean up the store and carry this kid out of the backyard. Don't think too much. Just listen to my arrangements next time."

Cheng Fang nodded.

The girl from a merchant family knows how to do business and how to stockpile goods, but she doesn't have the skills to handle chaos.

Nanfeng and Xifeng walked out of the shop, stood under the plaque, and looked at the people who were gradually going away.

"You see, the price keeps going up, but who are they raising it for?" Wang Zhengnan sighed, "This money is in my pocket today, but I don't know whose pocket it will be in tomorrow!"

"Second brother, didn't my family notify the government office? How dare Du take advantage of you?"

"Alas, the city is in chaos now! My eldest brother once said that the King of Hell and the little ghosts all have backers. Think about it, the more chaotic the time, the more truth there is in this saying!"

"You'd better call your sister-in-law as soon as possible!" Li Zhengxi urged.

"Goodbye," Wang Zhengnan shook his head and said, "My elder brother and his wife are busy enough now, so we can't bother with such a small matter. Besides, we are not young anymore. We can't take charge of things on our own, but we have to think of ways to deal with problems and handle them ourselves."

"Oh, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about my father!"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, I'm glad you're here today, but why did my father send someone to my place?"

Wang Zhengnan had heard that there had indeed been some conflicts between Lao Dou and Xifeng's men in the past, but this was the first time that they came to him to cause trouble.

Li Zhengxi pondered for a moment and said, "The man wearing the felt hat is indeed the newcomer brought by Lao Dou, but he doesn't seem to be sent by Lao Dou."

Wang Zhengnan thought about it, nodded and said, "That's right, if you want to send someone, you can't send a novice!"

"Hiss, second brother, I always feel that what happened today is a little awkward, but I can't put my finger on it. I just have this feeling..."

Li Zhengxi has done a lot of dirty work involving fighting and killing, and although he is sometimes blinded by anger, over the years, with more experience, he naturally develops a certain intuition, which may not be accurate, but can help prevent problems before they happen.

Wang Zhengnan was in the business world, so he was naturally not as good as Xifeng in this aspect, so he said: "Let's not speculate here. I'll call my sister-in-law and control my father first, and then we can think of other plans..."

Before he could finish his words, the shop assistant suddenly came out.

"Boss, the fifty kilograms of sorghum rice prepared for the Third Master have been packed."

"Oh, leave it there first!" Wang Zhengnan said quickly, "Xifeng, go out the back door later, so that no one can see you!"

Li Zhengxi was a little embarrassed, "Then the second sister-in-law...you two should not quarrel over this matter."

Wang Zhengnan waved his hands and whispered, "Well, don't worry about her. How can I let you go back empty-handed? What do you know, you bitch? You know what my status is in the family!"

(End of this chapter)