The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 5: There’s no blood on my clothes, right?
The two took a carriage back to Chinatown and called Qiao Niang and Zheng Wu to have dinner together.

After returning to the hotel to rest for a while, Chen Zhengwei, dressed in a gentleman's suit, a top hat, and leaning on a walking stick, went to Chinatown with Chen Zhenghu.

The main thing is to find out the routes and environment of the group of people in that area.

At this time, some shops in Chinatown will hang lanterns at their doors. Apart from that, you need the moonlight and the faint light of oil lamps and candles in the nearby windows to see the road clearly.

Outside Chinatown, the road is brighter.

There is a gas lamp hanging above the lamppost on the roadside. Although it is not as bright as an electric light, with the moonlight, it can maintain a certain visibility.

After a walk around, it was only eight or nine o'clock in the evening. There were almost no pedestrians on the road, only occasionally some people who were leaving work walked quickly by.

About thirty or forty meters ahead of the two men, there were two men in coarse clothes walking quickly. They were two Irishmen.

The Irish are alcoholics, irritable, hostile to reading, but they are eloquent and have strong agitation skills. Although most of them are low-level workers, their status in the United States is much higher than that of the Chinese.

Then I saw the two Irishmen suddenly quicken their pace and drag a man into the alley.

"Not good!" Chen Zhenghu's face changed.

His view was previously blocked by the two Irishmen, but now he could see clearly that the man being dragged in was wearing a Chinese mandarin jacket.

The two quickly rushed to the entrance of the alley and heard painful whimpers from someone with their mouths covered and the sound of a hammer hitting bones.

Then I saw two Irishmen wearing coarse clothes and with fierce faces pressing a young Chinese man to the ground, and one of them sat on him and held his arms.

The other man covered his mouth with one hand and swung a hammer down.

"Stop!" Chen Zhenghu's eyes turned red, but this shout did not stop the other party at all. He watched helplessly as the hammer hit the Chinese man's head and blood splattered everywhere.

Then the two Irishmen looked towards the alley entrance, with violent and sarcastic expressions on their faces: "Two more bastards!"

Chen Zhengwei reached out and touched the gun at his waist, but gave up after a moment of hesitation. The noise would be too loud and would easily attract the attention of the Investigation Bureau's police, alerting the enemy.

After all, his target is the boss of this group of Irish people.

He immediately walked towards the two Irishmen with a murderous look in his eyes and holding a cane. Then he suddenly jumped up, used the cane as a spear, and stabbed one of them directly in the face.

The man reacted quickly. He turned his head and reached out to grab the cane. However, Chen Zhengwei let go of the cane and rushed into his arms. Suddenly, a dagger appeared in his hand, and he stabbed the man's stomach and heart five or six times.

The other man had a fierce look in his eyes, cursed, and swung a hammer at Chen Zhengwei's head.

Chen Zheng dodged the hammer with his head lowered, then kicked the opponent on the knee, and the opponent immediately fell to the side.

Chen Zhengwei rushed over again and stabbed the other person's neck with a knife.

Only then did he let go of his hand and stood up, gasping for breath.

This kind of street fighting is very stressful and physically demanding.

These few short strokes just now made him feel a little tired.

He took out a silk scarf from his shirt pocket and wiped the blood off his face. He turned around and saw Chen Zhenghu still standing there in a daze.

Chen Zhenghu was actually frightened by the scene of Chen Zhengwei suddenly killing someone.

"Come here!" Chen Zhengwei waved at him, picked up the hammer from the ground and handed it to Chen Zhenghu, then pointed at the Irishman who had been stabbed five or six times and was lying on the ground groaning but not dead yet, and said: "Go and hammer him to death!"

Seeing Chen Zhenghu standing there and not daring to make a move, Chen Zhengwei looked at him fiercely, but did not attack. He rolled his eyes and said:

"Forget it. I've seen that you're a coward and have no courage at all. You don't dare to fight back when you're bullied, and you don't dare to take action even when you see your compatriots being beaten to death."

"Just two words, coward! But who told us that we are a family? Even if you are such a coward and can't accomplish anything... From now on, as long as I have something to eat, you won't starve! Okay, I'll do it myself!"

These words were like thorns piercing Chen Zhenghu's heart.

Chen Zhenghu's eyes turned red. He gritted his teeth, swung the hammer and smashed at the opponent. With just a few hits, he killed the opponent. He then stood there gasping for breath, as if he had used up all his strength.

Chen Zhengwei then wiped the blood off his hands and nodded with satisfaction. This was more like what he was doing.

"Come, help me check if there is still blood on my face? Is it stained on my clothes?" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile, as if nothing had happened.

Chen Zhengwei's nonchalant attitude after killing someone made Chen Zhenghu feel a little cold.

"This guy seems to still be breathing!" Chen Zhengwei kicked the Chinese man with his foot. Although his head was broken and bleeding from being hit by the hammer, he was still breathing and was not dead.

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhenghu immediately squatted down to check. "He's not dead, but he's seriously injured."

Chen Zhengwei picked up the hat from the ground, patted off the dirt on it and put it on his head. He then rummaged through the two men's bodies, found more than three pieces and threw them to Chen Zhenghu.

He ordered: "Go back and find a carriage, a reliable one!"

"I know who to go to. I have to call him my cousin. He is a decent man and keeps his mouth shut. He will definitely be able to do it."

Watching Chen Zhenghu leave in a hurry, Chen Zhengwei called him back: "Calm down. You look like that and it's obvious that there's something wrong with you! Relax a little and pretend nothing happened!"

After saying that, he waved and let him leave.

The San Francisco Bureau of Investigation does not have many staff members, only about 300 people, so the chance of encountering a copper button is not high.

Chen Zhengwei stood in the shadowy corner against the wall, wanting to smoke.

This body clearly has no addiction to smoking.

After waiting for about thirty minutes, I heard the sound of horse hooves on stones and wheels rolling on the road. A horse-drawn carriage with goods stopped at the entrance of the alley, and the outside of the carriage was covered with a tarpaulin.

"Zhengwei?" Chen Zhenghu poked his head out and called out.

The coachman was a man in his thirties, but he looked like he was in his forties. He looked around vigilantly.

In the darkness, Chen Zhengwei walked out with a cane, wearing a gentleman's suit, a white shirt underneath, and a top hat on his head.

Looks like a businessman.

"Uncle, this is Zhengwei, he has to call you uncle!" Chen Zhenghu introduced in a low voice.

"I'll introduce them when we get back. First load the people and the bodies into the car!" said Chen Zhengwei.

The three of them loaded the body and the Chinese man into the car. It was mainly the two of them who did the work, as Chen Zhengwei was afraid of getting his clothes dirty.

After finishing the work, Chen Zhengwei asked the two to wait at the entrance of the alley, and he unzipped his pants and urinated to dilute the blood on the ground.

He didn't know how much use it would have, but it was better to do it than not to do it.

The three of them rushed back to Chinatown, knocked on the door of a pharmacy and sent the Chinese man in. Chen Zhenghu said, "Mr. Lin, do you think he can be saved?"

Doctor Lin was in his forties, not tall, but strong and full of energy. He looked like he was beating someone, not saving someone.

And what's rare is that she doesn't have braids, but has short hair.

Mr. Lin checked the Chinese man's condition, frowned and asked, "How did you do that?"

Chen Zhengwei took five dollars and put it on the counter, then said casually:

"I found him on the street. I'll save him if I can. Whether he can survive depends on his fate! Who made me a good person?"

Doctor Lin checked the injuries, mainly the severe head injuries, and said, "I'll do my best!"

Leaving the pharmacy, Chen Zhenghu asked in a low voice: "What should we do next?"

Chen Zhengwei originally wanted him to find two boxes, cut off something, and send it to Huang Baoru tomorrow! This would prevent him from finding excuses to deny it later!
But then I thought, if Huang Baoru dared to embezzle my money... is there such a good thing in the world?
"Uncle, right? I'll leave these two guys to you. See whether you should bury them tonight or tomorrow morning..." Chen Zhengwei took out two five-dollar green bills and stuffed them into the driver's hands.

On the way back, Chen Zhengwei learned the driver's name, Chen Fengyu, who was also from Wencun.

In this place, blood ties and hometown ties are very important ties.

Chen Fengyu held the two five-dollar bills in his hand and said, "Leave it to me!"

You have to know that this ten yuan is his income for half a month.

"Don't let the news leak out!" Chen Zhengwei patted Chen Fengyu on the shoulder.

If he hadn't been afraid of alerting the Irish group, he wouldn't have gone to so much trouble and left it to Copper Buttons to clean the floor.

Then Chen Zhengwei embraced Chen Zhenghu and said, "Go back and wash yourself, then change your clothes. I'll take you out for some entertainment!"

Although Chinatown is dark at night, it is not deserted.

Every so often you can see foreign stalls and gambling dens soliciting customers, and you can also see skinny chain smokers going into opium dens.

Because there are very few women in Chinatown and the male-to-female ratio is as high as 10:1 or even 20:1, the Chinese here often spend time in gambling dens after work.

In addition, Cantonese people love gambling.

After finding a grocery store that was still open, Chen Zhengwei went in and said, "Boss, give me a pack of cigarettes."

I glanced around the grocery store and found that there were a wide variety of things here.

Cured duck, dried mushrooms, nuts, candied fruit, dried shark fins, tea, Chinese medicine, incense and candles, teapots, clothes, pipes... and even opium paste.

Almost everything that Chinese people need can be bought here.

A pack of cigarettes costs 15 cents, which is a little more expensive than a pound of steak.

At that time, cigarettes were still hand-rolled, without filters. Following the sound of a match, Chen Zhengwei lit one and coughed repeatedly because of the pungent smell.

"Damn, this thing is so fucking hard to smoke!" Chen Zhengwei frowned and cursed while smoking.

When Chen Zhenghu came back wearing a relatively decent long gown and jacket, Chen Zhengwei waved his hand.

"The best brothel, you lead the way, I'll treat you!"

　A reader mentioned "Warrior" in the book review section. I do recommend watching this American TV series, which can give you a more intuitive understanding of some of the social environment.

　　This book refers to two scenes in "The Warrior", one is entering the rural party through the middleman after getting off the ship, and the other is the attack by the Irish.

　　After all, I've only watched two episodes, so I'll finish watching it when I have time.

　　When writing this book, I referred more to the clan wars in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the social environment at that time.

　　There is a related record book called "Tang Dou". Interested readers may also take a look at it, but it is a bit boring.

(End of this chapter)