Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

"Brother Ji, your face..." Lu Wan leaned closer, looking at the bruise in surprise.

Liu Bang reached up and touched the wound on his cheekbone, hissing softly, but a grin spread across his face: "It's nothing. That kid's in a much worse situation than me. It's not a bad deal!"

Lu Wan became even more curious and moved closer: "Who? What's going on?"

Liu Bang spat out the grass in his mouth, leaned against the counter, and slowly began to speak: "Yesterday in the back street, I saw that Zhao family brat, the one who always walks around with a few hooligans, bullying a little girl."

"The little girl was crying her eyes out. She was only five or six years old. Her face was covered in snot. She looked so pitiful. I guessed she was lost. The Zhao family wanted to kidnap her and sell her for money to buy alcohol."

Lu Wan frowned upon hearing this: "Zhao Laizi? Isn't his father a clerk in the county government? He uses that connection to bully people, even dogs would kick him if they could. I never thought he would do such a thing! Bah! Son of a bitch, what a piece of trash!"

"What a bastard, doing nothing right." Liu Bang picked up his wine bowl, took a swig, and wiped his mouth.

"How could I, your brother Ji, stand by and watch? I rushed over right then and there, and that kid even dared to look at me sideways and say, 'Who do you think you are, minding your own business?'"

Lu Wan's eyes widened: "And then?"

"And then?" Liu Bang laughed, a roguish smile on his face. "Then I'll teach him a lesson, and show him who I am."

He gestured, raising and lowering his hand: "I kicked him in the stomach first, making him scream for his mother. While I was doing that, the little girl ran away. In that moment of distraction, Zhao Laizi took the opportunity to throw a punch at me—look, this piece."

He pointed to the bruises on his face, "I didn't notice, I got hit, but then I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, and he screamed like a pig being slaughtered."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wan became somewhat worried, fearing that Brother Ji might have gone too far, and quickly asked, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing much, we just pressed him down on the ground and made him apologize to the little girl. The little girl had already disappeared, so he had no choice but to kowtow three times to the air."

Liu Bang couldn't help but laugh as he recounted this. "Later, he got up, his nose was broken, and one of his front teeth was loose. He cried out, 'Liu Ji, you wait here, I'm going to find my father!'"

"Is she a baby who hasn't been weaned yet? Still looking for a father?" Liu Bang grinned sarcastically.

Lu Wan's expression changed: "But, Brother Ji, his father works at the county government. What if we report this to the county government..."

Liu Bang waved his hand and poured another bowl of wine: "He filed a complaint. That son of a bitch filed one early this morning."

"Huh? Then why are you still drinking here?" Lu Wan slapped her thigh anxiously.

Liu Bang slowly swirled his wine bowl and said unhurriedly, "The injury on Zhao Laizi's face was from hitting a wall. I was busy all day yesterday helping to check household registrations in the county office, and I was so busy that I accidentally bumped into the corner of the table."

Pointing to the "bruises" on his face, he said smugly, "This was the medicine I got at the county government office. I didn't leave all day; how could I have had the time to beat him up?"

"Huh?" Lu Wan was completely confused, blinking her eyes. "No, Brother Ji, didn't you say..."

"Oh!" He slapped his forehead, suddenly realizing, "It was Xiao Yuan who helped, wasn't it?"

"Keep your voice down!"

Liu Bang jumped up and slapped him on the back of the head, hissing in a low voice, "What are you yelling about? As if you want everyone to know?"

Lu Wan covered the back of her head, grimacing and shrinking her neck.

Liu Bang sat down again, picked up his wine bowl, took a sip, and squinted, saying, "Hmph! That brat from the Zhao family wants to do such a despicable thing, and he even dares to sue me? I knew he would do such a stupid thing, so I went to see Xiao Yuan last night."

"I saw it clearly. Xiao Yuan went over and said a few words to them, and they slunk away with their tails between their legs, not daring to utter a single word."

"Hahaha, Xiao Yuan is really something!"

"Of course."

Liu Bang put down his wine bowl, stood up, patted his behind, and was about to leave.

"Let's go find Clerk Xiao and thank him!"

"Liu Ji! Stop right there!"

A woman in the tavern leaned halfway out from behind the counter, clutching a money bag in her hand, and shouted loudly:

"What about the bill for the drinks?! We haven't settled the score from last time, and you drank three bowls today, are you trying to put it on the tab again?"

Liu Bang paused, his smugness instantly turning into a grin: "Aunt Wu, remember this, when I become rich, I'll pay you back with interest, and you'll get a gold bar for sure."

"Give me back the gold bars? You've owed me for almost half a year, and I haven't even seen a single copper coin!"

Liu Bang walked out with a forced smile, saying, "Next time for sure, next time for sure!"

Despite calling out, Aunt Wu remained standing still. Liu Bang had already slipped to the threshold, turned back, and gave her a playful bow, saying, "Aunt Wu is kind-hearted; I remember it all!"

After saying that, he grabbed Lu Wan, and the two of them dashed out the door, running half a street before slowing down.

Lu Wan, breathless from running, clutched her knees and looked at Liu Bang, who seemed completely unaffected: "Brother Ji, weren't we looking for Xiao Yuan? Where are we going?"

Liu Bang, having seemingly picked a blade of grass from somewhere along the way, put it in his mouth and mumbled, "What's the rush? Everyone says we should thank them, so shouldn't we at least cut off a piece of flesh?"

"Sell your flesh?" Lu Wan's eyes lit up. "Brother Ji, you have money?"

Liu Bang glared at him: "If you have money, why call it cutting flesh? You call it buying meat."

Lu Wan: "..."

"Let's go find Fan Kuai." Liu Bang took the grass out of his mouth, threw it to the side of the road, clapped his hands, and said, "That guy is kind-hearted. If you ask me, that's the kind of friend you should make. Although he doesn't talk much, he's righteous, generous, and a true friend."

Lu Wan followed behind, muttering something under her breath. Liu Bang immediately turned around and narrowed his eyes.

"No, it's nothing. I just think Brother Ji is right," Lu Wan quickly waved her hand.

"Hmph, let's go."

The two turned into the market and saw Fan Kuai's dog meat stall in the distance.

Fan Kuai, his shirt open, revealing his muscular chest, wielded his knife with swift motion, causing the chopping board to thud and meat scraps to fly everywhere.

Several women waiting for meat stood far away, craning their necks to call out, "Butcher Fan, two jin, please!"

Without even looking up, Fan Kuai slashed down, and a lump of meat landed perfectly on the scale hook.

He quickly wrapped it up and handed it to the woman, and then there was another one.

Liu Bang wasn't in a hurry. He squatted down against the wall and waited until the women had all walked away with their meat before slowly standing up, dusting himself off, and strolling over to the stall.

He didn't say anything, just stood in front of the chopping board, smiling at Fan Kuai.

Fan Kuai raised his head, glanced at him, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the bruise on Liu Bang's face. He didn't say anything, but instead cut a large piece of meat, wrapped it in a lotus leaf, and stuffed it into Liu Bang's arms.

Liu Bang took the meat, weighed it in his hand, and grinned, "Kuai, shall we go to Xiao Yuan's place and have a drink with him, shall we?"

Fan Kuai was wiping his knife when he heard this. He looked up at him, said nothing, and simply nodded.

He shoved the knife into the cutting board, ripped off his apron, and quickly packed up his stall—moving the cutting board into the house, placing the chopping board in the corner, wrapping the remaining pieces of meat in a cloth, and slung it over his shoulder. Lu Wan tried to reach out to help, but he gently pushed her away.

"Let's go," Fan Kuai said in a muffled voice.

The three walked side by side toward the county government office. Liu Bang walked in the middle, humming an off-key tune. The dog meat in the lotus leaf package was still warm, and its aroma wafted into his nose.

Lu Wan stood on the left, occasionally stealing glances at Fan Kuai—this tall and burly butcher, whom everyone avoided in the market.

Fan Kuai seemed to sense Lu Wan's gaze, turned his head to glance at him, and Lu Wan quickly looked away.

In the back hall of the county government office, Xiao He was bent over his desk reviewing official documents.

He heard a folk song playing outside the door. He put down his pen, rubbed his temples, and said to the clerk beside him, "Go and fetch three jugs of wine from Aunt Wu. Put it in my name."

The clerk responded and left.

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Note: In the Qin Dynasty, there was a scale called Quanheng. Heng = scale rod, Quan = scale weight. The text simply uses the term scale for ease of understanding.

Note: Liu Bang had not yet changed his name at this time, so he was called Liu Bang by the literary and vernacular, while others called him Liu Ji.

Finally, the characters who founded the Pei County gang in the early Han Dynasty have appeared! Hooray!