Chapter 321 I am nine, you are one
The alley is filled with the flashing of swords and axes and the sounds of killing, while beside the alley there are the chirping of birds and red lanterns.

In the narrow Lishamao Hutong, the Heji’s sticks were a mass of black, surrounding Pao Ge and Erdao. The sticks of the fighting group were very disciplined and were not in a hurry to fight.

Brother Pao looked in front of him and then behind him.

many people.

But the more people there are, the calmer the Pao brothers become.

Erdao asked, “Brother, what should we do?”

Pao brother didn’t say anything.

Er Dao asked again: “Brother, what are you thinking about?”

Brother Pao looked at the red lantern above his head and grinned: “I want to smoke.”

At this time, the singing in the fireworks places on both sides of Li Shamao Hutong also stopped, and the patrons and dancers upstairs quietly opened half of the window and looked into the alley.

In the crowd, Erdao lowered his head and took out a welding pipe from his bag and calmly stuffed it with tobacco.

He handed the pipe to Pao Ge, and took out a lighter from his bag, and brought it closer to Pao Ge to light it. Pao Ge took a deep breath, and the tobacco in the copper pipe instantly burned red and curled, making a sizzling sound.

Under the gaze of dozens of people, Pao Ge leaned against the gray tiles and blue bricks and took two puffs comfortably. The blue smoke spread in front of him, making it impossible to see his expression clearly.

A stickman shouted loudly: “Now that the stick has been set up, don’t delay any more. If you delay any further, don’t blame us for not following the rules.”

Brother Pao responded casually: “Why are you in such a hurry? With so many of you, are you afraid that I will run away?”

He lit a stick of incense, and the gang members of Heji waited for him for that same amount of time.

Pao Ge knocked his pipe against the wall, sparks flew in the dark night: “You guys in the capital are quite serious. Unlike us in the past, we would just chop people down and not wait even a minute.”

A middle-aged man walked out from the middle of the sticks, clasped his fists and said, “The fighting industry has its own rules. Brother Pao is a guest from afar, so we should naturally show some courtesy. But swords have no eyes, so I hope Brother Pao will not blame me later.”

Brother Pao asked curiously, “Tell me what other rules you have in your business. I’ll come back in my next life and pay attention to them so I don’t get tricked again.”

A young man pointed his axe at Pao Ge and said angrily, “Are you trying to delay time?”

The middle-aged man pressed down the young man’s arm and said calmly, “Brother Pao has great wrestling skills that we all admire. He can smoke a pipe without shaking his hands amidst the flash of swords and axes. He is indeed a hero. It’s okay to talk to you about it… Let me first say four things: no assassination involving government officials, no robbery, no revenge, and no obscene things.”

“Let’s talk about the four concessions: give way. If there are colleagues who are wanted by the government, let them go and anyone who sees them must not report to the authorities; give up land. No second gang can be opened on the same street; give up profits. Even if you become famous, you must leave a living for other colleagues; give up life. If a colleague who has retired from the underworld is no longer wanted, do not disturb him and write off the past.”

Brother Pao stroked the stubble on his chin and asked: “Is it too late for me to retire now?”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, “I’m afraid it’s too late.”

Brother Pao asked, “If I beat you all down, will this Li Shamao Hutong be mine to collect peace money from now on?”

The middle-aged man shook his head: “Even if you beat us all today, there will be others coming tomorrow. Brother Pao must defeat them all so that they dare not come again.”

Pao Ge said helplessly: “Isn’t this a rogue?”

The middle-aged man laughed: “Unless you are a powerful person, it is impossible for you to establish yourself in the capital. But if Pao brothers really have the ability to establish themselves, there is no need to share the peace money from Li Shamao Hutong with Zhu Guan. He would not dare to accept it if you give it to him, as it is too hot to handle.”

Brother Pao handed the pipe to Erdao, turned to the middle-aged man and said, “Come on, I’ll show you my true abilities.”

When the stick fighters heard this, they retreated like a tide, leaving only one man standing in front of Pao Ge: “I told you I’d give you three moves, so I’ll give you three moves. This is the demeanor of our Beijing martial arts world.”

Brother Pao sneered: “Fake benevolence and false righteousness.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Pao Ge took a quick step forward and punched him in the right face with his left fist.

He tried to dodge by leaning his body, but Pao Ge suddenly changed his pace and hit him in the jaw with his right fist like a cannon. He instantly stiffened and fell backwards.

This fake move forced the opponent to dodge, but it was as if he was actively sending his head to the fist of the brother. The stick fighters had never seen such a superb and novel move, and it was different from the wrestling, it was clean and neat.

Brother Pao picked up the opponent’s axe from the ground and weighed it in his hand: “I am in the boxing ring, and no one dares to let me take three moves. I am not used to using the axe, throw me a dagger!”

The sticks looked at each other and remained silent.

Brother Pao glanced over and said, “Why, you guys in the capital city don’t have this much magnanimity? With so many people blocking me, you won’t let me use a weapon that’s handy?”

One of the men pulled out a dagger from his waist and threw it to his brother: “Brother, you are a great man. It is an honor for us brothers to see your true ability today. But the underworld of this capital city can no longer accommodate you.”

Brother Pao first held the dagger in his forehand, and then changed to his backhand: “Remember, my real name is Chen Chong, and my friends like to call me Brother Pao.”

Really loud.

The stickmen dragged their unconscious companion away from the ground, and another burly man came forward.

Pao Ge stepped forward, his body strangely hunched slightly, his hand holding the dagger backwards waving in front of him, but his gaze was like an arrow, not affected at all.

He approached the man and slashed with the dagger. The man raised his axe to block the attack, but the dagger flipped in the man’s hand and went around the axe handle to cut through his tendons.

With a clang, the axe fell to the ground.

Brother Pao said calmly: “Next.”

Another man with a stick rushed out, and Pao Ge used the same trick again, cutting him with the dagger. The man’s eyes were dazzled and his tendons were cut again.

The stickmen were startled and looked at each other, and no one was willing to take the initiative to step forward.

Now that the three-move brag had been made, they could only dodge the first three moves and not fight back, but Pao Ge did not give them a chance to see the third move. If the hand tendons of Da Xing were cut, he would be useless from now on.

At this time, another man came forward holding two axes upside down, crossed them, clasped his fists and said, “Blocking the hand gate, Liu Yu.”

Pao Ge stepped forward to attack with a knife, but was blocked by an axe. Just as he was about to change his tactics and cut the tendons in his hand, the axe in Liu Yu’s other hand suddenly chopped him down.

Pao Ge flashed backwards and barely avoided the axe blade. If he had not reacted faster than others, the axe would have probably ripped him open.

He looked down at the clothes that were cut open on his abdomen, and the thin blood line under the clothes where his abdomen was cut open, and then looked up at Liu Yu: “Boy, why are you fighting back before we’ve even fought three moves?”

Liu Yu kept silent.

Brother Pao suddenly raised his head and laughed: “That’s right, this is the world I know! I was almost fooled by you!”

After he finished speaking, Pao Ge no longer held back, and a dagger turned in his hand, suddenly slashing towards Liu Yu’s abdomen. Liu Yu used his left hand to block with an axe, but the expected sound of metal clashing did not come out. Pao Ge just flipped his wrist, and the dagger slashed through his neck, and blood splattered on the blue brick wall. Liu Yu slowly knelt down in front of Pao Ge: “Awesome!”

Pao Ge wiped the blood off his face and said, “After coming to this shitty place of yours, I have been behaving like a human being with my tail between my legs every day. I would run away at the slightest sign of danger, fearing that I would offend some of you monsters and demons, but in the end I did. This rotten world of yours really doesn’t allow good people to survive. Come on, I will kill as many people as I can, and maybe I can even go home after that.”

“Come again!”

The men with sticks came up one after another, and Pao Ge killed them step by step. When he looked back exhausted, he saw more than 20 corpses left behind him.

The thugs in the capital also tore off their disguises completely and rushed forward.

Erdao was guarding behind Pao Ge, and there were several more wounds on his body. Blood flowed down his clothes to his pants, and then dripped down his trouser legs to the ground.

Brother Pao sighed and said, “Erdao, I’m sorry for you. We can be brothers in the next life.”

Er Dao was not afraid, but asked curiously: “Who will be the elder brother and who will be the younger brother in the next life?”

Brother Pao laughed and scolded: “You still have such ambition?”

He threw away the broken dagger, picked up two axes from the ground, and roared, “Kill!”

However, at this moment, screams were heard behind the gangsters. The gangsters suddenly turned around and looked back where they came from. They saw a man wearing gray clothes, masked with gray cloth, holding an iron bar and rushing in from outside the alley.

This man was extremely strong, far beyond the ability of these street fighters to resist. More than 20 fighters were caught off guard and were beaten to the ground, leaving a gap.

Extremely fierce.

Someone with a stick yelled, “Quickly shake the man, it’s the official!”

“Quick, call the hall master!”

Amid the shouting and screaming, the masked man came to Lishamao Hutong and looked up and down at the injuries of Pao Ge and Erdao: “Can you walk?”

Brother Pao raised his eyebrows: “You can walk.”

The masked man turned around and rushed out again: “Go!”

Brother Pao looked at the masked man’s back and felt that he looked familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen him.

The masked man, led by Pao Ge and Er Dao, ran out of Li Shamao Hutong and rushed into another alley. The three of them ran wildly under the rows of red lanterns, causing the guests on the second floor of the alley to open their windows to look.

The gang leaders of Heji, wearing short black jackets, gathered from all directions. They flowed like water in the narrow alley, converging in the middle.

A man with a stick came towards the masked man and chopped him down with the iron bar in his hand, but before the iron bar fell, the masked man rushed forward and hit the man with an elbow, knocking him two meters away and knocking down the three men with sticks who came towards him!

A guest on the second floor shouted, “Good job! You deserve a reward!”

As he spoke, the guest actually took out more than ten copper coins from his sleeve and scattered them down!
The masked man took advantage of the other party’s falling and turned to sneak into a brothel. When he entered, the brothel owner with heavy makeup on his face, wearing a blue costume, was sitting in the patron’s arms and singing.

Seeing the masked man barging in, the young man jumped up from the guest’s lap in shock: “Ah! Who are you? Get out!”

But the masked man ignored him and walked through the hall on his own, breaking through the white paper window at the back and getting out, followed closely by Pao Ge and Er Dao.

Before the husband and his benefactor could come to their senses, they saw dozens of Heji’s men running through the hall with weapons in hand, scaring the husband so much that he screamed.

The masked man ran wildly all the way, leading Pao Ge and Er Dao into a clean alley.

This alley was paved with blue bricks. There were no red lanterns, but green lanterns were hung instead. There were no more chirping birds and birds on both sides of the road, only the faint sound of stringed instruments.

He looked back and saw a middle-aged man standing in the alley and stopping the stickmen: “Don’t go to Baishun Hutong and disturb the distinguished guests. Let them go.”

After saying that, the middle-aged man stood outside the alley and bowed to the three brothers from a distance: “Brother Pao is a good man, and his life should not end today. However, since you are leaving today, don’t come back. We will be together forever, and we will never see each other again!”

The middle-aged man bowed to the masked man and said, “May I know your name, sir? I will definitely report back to you later.”

Pao brother wanted to say something back, but the masked man pulled him back step by step, retreating into Baishun Hutong: “Hurry up, what if they go to the other end of Baishun Hutong to surround us? If the road is blocked, we will really be unable to leave.”

Pao brother turned around and left, following the masked man and disappearing at the end of Baishun Hutong.

The middle-aged man in the long gown was left standing outside the alley. He slowly put his hands behind his back and said to the stick beside him, “Go find the Cao Gang. If anyone wants to secretly transport this Pao brother away, tell me Heji. Search all inns, opera troupes, brothels, gambling houses, and clinics, and say that Heji paid 100 taels of silver to buy his life. Pao brother is a big shot. If he is allowed to make a comeback, Heji will have no way to survive.”

……

……

The masked man led Pao Ge and Er Dao silently through the alleys in the dark, crossing Zhangjia Bridge, walking along Chunshu Hutong, and passing Guanyin Hall.

During this time, the masked man looked around, as if he was lost in the deep alleys of the capital.

Brother Pao was a little confused. This guy… didn’t seem to be very familiar with the capital? He asked, “My dear, where are you taking us?”

The masked man replied, “The outer city is full of spies and it’s not safe. We have to enter the inner city from Xuanwu Gate. They can’t get in.”

Brother Pao was stunned for a moment: “Just now, Xuanwumen Street was only separated by an alley, but now it is getting farther and farther away.”

The masked man turned around and walked in another direction with some embarrassment: “Sorry, this is my first time in the outer city.”

Brother Pao suddenly asked, “I haven’t asked about the hero’s origins yet, so why did he lend a helping hand?”

The masked man thought for a moment and replied, “When you see injustice, draw your sword and help.”

Pao brother stopped and no longer followed the masked man.

He clasped his fists in the narrow alley and said, “If you were just passing by and saw that we were pitiful and helped us, we would be very grateful. But we can’t follow you any longer. Those thugs are all righteous on the surface, but they are all dirty businesses behind the scenes. We killed so many of them today, they will definitely not let it go. You haven’t revealed your true identity yet, so you’d better get away as soon as possible.”

The masked man thought for a long time, and then said calmly: “What if I can help you take back the business in Li Shamao Hutong?”

Brother Pao narrowed his eyes and said, “You are joking, benefactor. There are probably thousands of people in the capital’s fighting gang. There are more than 300 people scattered in the eight alleys alone. Even if you are a gang leader, you can’t beat so many people.”

“Don’t worry about that. I have my own men,” the masked man said nonchalantly, “I just ask you, can we take over Li Shamao Hutong with nine men for me and one for you?”

Brother Pao said decisively: “Okay!”

(End of this chapter)