Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 187 - 59: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_1

Chapter 187: Chapter 59: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_1

At the doorway of Granny Dazui’s house, a group of young lads were shouting and hollering, preparing to move a large stone by wrapping rope around it on the big stone slab.

With this lively group of men working, they soon attracted the neighborhood. It was evening when everyone was at home, and in no time a crowd gathered.

Seeing the crowd, Heizi stopped working. He came out from the crowd, and after standing still, he raised his fists in a circle and began to shout, "Ladies and gentlemen! This big stone, Brother Yan commanded us to move! You all know what this means, I won’t say much. In a few days, when Brother Yan hosts his engagement dinner, everyone is invited to share a celebratory drink!"

There were immediately onlookers who joined in, hollering, "Great! We want to meet such an awesome guy like Brother Yan!"

The crowd burst into laughter.

This was all just pomp, no one took it seriously. An engagement party was mainly attended by close relatives of the two families with a few important personalities as witnesses. Unlike a wedding, which was a grand feast open to all, it wouldn’t be appropriate for others to attend.

Just as they were discussing this, Ma Yongming barked out an order, and amidst the crowd’s cheering, there was a bang as the large stone slab fell to the ground.

When Heizi saw this, he rushed to the front of the line, bent over to support a pillar, and then the other seven young men took their positions. Under Ma Yongming’s shouting, they exerted their strength together.

There was a thud, followed by exclamations mixed with blame.

These unskilled young men, all relatively young with less robust bones and muscles, may look physically strong but still lacked the labor force. The stone slab was barely lifted off the ground before it fell again, causing the sound.

This made Ma Yongming quite embarrassed, he yelled at these boys to move aside, then borrowed some wood from the families nearby and readjusted it into a sixteen-person structure.

This time it worked, even the nerdy fellows like Jiao Bing and Yang Qian got involved. The stone slab was trembling as it lifted off the ground and slowly began to move.

Only then did someone remember to ask, "Brother Heizi, where is this stone supposed to go?"

Heizi was stunned for a moment, then after thinking, his eyes lit up and he shouted, "Guys, how about we take it back to the cattle yard and put it at the entrance? How does that sound?"

"Nice idea..."

"Yeah, it would look so grand! Everyone passing by will see it..."

There was a cacophony of responses. Only Ma Yongming remained silent, prompting Pang Fa to ask, "What’s up? You don’t want to carry it back?"

Ma Yongming gazed scornfully at the group, "I’m not stopping you from moving it back, I just doubt you can make it!"

With that, he immediately sparked a counterattack from the group.

Without Ma Yongming saying a word, the group stood tall and sighed after the retaliation, acting all haughty and majestic, full of awesomeness.

"Heizi, lead the way, take the main road. Can you take the trail with so many people carrying something?" At the crossroads, Heizi was about to return via the route Yan Fei took, but was stopped by Ma Yongming.

There really were a lot of people watching the fun. Sixteen people carrying one large stone, covering the entire road, forcing the onlookers to stand against the wall.

The more spectators they had, the more spirited this group became, holding their heads higher and higher.

"These young people these days! They’re just getting worse. One young lad can carry as much as ten or more of them and they still can’t measure up to him." A careless comment from an old man on the side elicits angry glares from a dozen people. Scared, he hurriedly pretends as if nothing happened, as if he didn’t make that comment.

It was easier walking on the main road, but everyone was truly tired. Driven by their youthful vigor, no one wanted to admit defeat, so they all carried on.

As the group chit-chatted, the topic of conversation always circled back to Yan Fei. Heizi became more and more proud, and began to recount a story about dumplings in a pond.

"Back then I was thinking, how could Yan Fei be so bold? There were seven or eight people on the other side. I was prepared for a bloody scene. Guess what? I didn’t even make it to the other side before..."

A brief skirmish was turned into a thrilling narrative by Heizi, inciting a wave of excited chatter.

Ma Yongming didn’t mind them, they had apparently satisfied their vanity; if he didn’t feed their pride this way, they would have abandoned the block on the side of the road.

If they were going to transport it, then they better do it neatly. Discarding it near the road for passing people to see would be inappropriate.

"You all should be thanking God! Luckily, this isn’t a damn shit pit!" Heizi concluded with a deliberately heartless tone, his words causing a stir of amazement among the crowd.

"Speaking of shit pits! I heard a few days ago! You know the Zhang brothers from near the Cattle Market? Only two are left now, and one recently perished. Do you know what happened?"

It was a young man, apparently well-informed, who was energized to share the gossip: "Those who know, don’t speak. Let me tell it. I was the first to get the news."

However, this young man didn’t have the eloquence of Heizi, and the story sounded rather dry: "Laowu Zhang just got out of jail, right? He wanted to impress a few girls. Unfortunately, he picked a fight with someone far too skilled. He was kicked and flown several meters, poor guy! As soon as he hit the ground, he was no longer breathing. The Zhang family’s third brother offered 5000 yuan for anyone who can find the man who killed his brother. The announcement went out during the day, and by nightfall someone had tossed him into a shit pit, drowned."

After finishing, the young man smacked his lips, lamenting: "That’s the thing about experts. They like to keep a low profile. Like our Brother Yan, he doesn’t show off. But when trouble comes, he shows his true skills. The Zhang brothers were done dirty, just because this expert likes to lay low. If they’d known, they’d have stayed clear of him."

"What’s wrong with being low-profile? Unlike you, always bragging about being a big shot?" Someone nearby objected. "Look at Brother Yan, he never starts trouble. A couple of cattle thieves last time, the Si brothers the time before, he never started those fights. He only shows his real skills when he has to."

"Exactly, that’s a true expert! They would never show off like us, wishing the whole world knew."

"Makes sense..." The conversation was again met with a chorus of approval.

Only Heizi was muttering to himself, feeling something was off. He quietly asked the young man who’d just recounted the story, "Hey, when did you say the Zhang brothers died?"

"What’s it to you? Planning to find this expert and apprentice under him? I think you’d be better off learning a couple of moves from Brother Yan..."

"Just tell me, why are you asking so many questions?"

"I can’t remember exactly, probably the day after my younger cousins started their vacations."

"Oh..." Heizi flatly responded.

Now the young man was curious, he chewed on his words, and suddenly had a flash of insight. He whispered, "Don’t tell me you think Brother Yan did it? I know he goes to the same school as my cousin..."

"Nonsense..." Startled, Heizi abruptly halted his steps. This created chaos in the line, leading to discontent and blame from everyone.

After everybody had regrouped and started walking again, Heizi nonchalantly said to the curious young man, "What a busy cattle farm, why would he go to town for no reason? What baffles me is how there are so many hidden talents in our area..."