Chapter 148 Fighting

They say that men remain boys until the day they die, because the moment they truly set their minds to doing something, they throw themselves into it with the boundless enthusiasm of a youth! No matter how formidable the obstacles, they charge forward against the wind and waves, never resting until they achieve their goal!

To finish the love nest for the newlyweds as quickly as possible, Chen Liang only hastily shoveled down a few bites of food at noon to make do, tossed his bowl aside, and went out to press someone into forced labor.

Little Bastard, who possessed a hereditary mason's craft, was right in the middle of his workday when Chen Liang snatched him away. The two of them first smashed the kitchen chimney and reconstructed a brand-new flue.

Then, after digging thirty centimeters deep into the floor against the wall of the utility room, they built a simple stove out of blue bricks. Once it was just the right height to hold the bathing tub, they shoveled all the displaced earth back and filled the space level.

By the time the two of them finished all this work, it was already dinnertime. Chen Liang looked at the crude heating setup for the bathing tub before him and nodded with satisfaction. "All right, Little Bastard, you and your grandfather get on home. Come back tomorrow morning and help me pave the floor over with cement!"

Poor, miserable Little Bastard had been press-ganged by Chen Liang to slave away all afternoon without even scoring a single meal. You have to admit, Chen Liang, that grandson of a bitch, is utterly ruthless!

"Well, I'm heading back then. But Brother Liang, cement is such a precious commodity; why on earth do you insist on paving the floor with it? What a waste!"

Right before leaving, Little Bastard couldn't help voicing his heartache over wasting cement on the ground.

"Adult matters—you're just an unmarried greenhorn, so stop prying. You wouldn't understand even if I told you," Chen Liang retorted with an eye-roll, mocking him mercilessly.

"Fine! So being unmarried gets in your way now! Brother Liang, if you don't think it's a waste, I'll come back tomorrow morning and pave it for you!" Little Bastard slung his jacket over his shoulder, baring both arms as he swaggered off.

After Chen Liang used a damp towel to give himself a thorough sponge bath, he brought Xiao Yu along, pushed his bicycle, locked the door, and prepared to head back to the Chen family home for dinner.

This was an arrangement he had made with his parents: unless there were extraordinary circumstances, dinner had to be eaten at home.

Just as he pushed his bicycle out of the alley entrance, he saw the main street buzzing with activity. A large crowd had formed, and a fight seemed to be breaking out in the middle.

Entertainment was genuinely scarce in this era. Aside from sitting out in the cool evening air to listen to storytellers recount salacious unofficial histories of the Empress Dowager Cixi during the Qing dynasty, the only other pastime was gathering under the streetlights to play Chinese chess.

Therefore, a street fight was a rare and major spectacle well worth watching while eating melon seeds. Chen Liang parked his bicycle, craned his neck, and eagerly pushed forward to join the excitement!

As soon as he took a glance, however, his expression changed drastically. Abandoning his bicycle entirely, he reached out, shoved aside the crowd in front of him, and charged right into the center.

Then, he let out a thunderous roar: "Stop right there!" With a flying kick, he sent soaring into the air a man who was holding a brick and preparing to launch a sneak attack on Little Bastard from behind.

Rushing to Little Bastard's side, Chen Liang saw blood streaming from a wound on his head, matting over his eyes and blinding him. A surge of fury rushed straight to Chen Liang's head.

"Are you all tired of living, or what? How dare you beat up a security officer from the Red Star Rolling Mill right out in broad daylight!" Chen Liang pinned a severe charge on them without a second thought.

Then, fueled by vengeful rage, he struck out with real intent—throwing three punches and landing two kicks that instantly laid out all five men who had been fighting Little Bastard, leaving them sprawled on the ground vomiting bile.

Only after knocking everyone down did Chen Liang pick up Little Bastard’s scattered clothes to stem the bleeding from his wound, asking, "How is it? Are you okay?"

Spitting out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, Little Bastard replied in a muffled, nasally tone, "I'm fine, Brother Liang. Damn these grandsons, outnumbering us like that. I only took a brick to the noggin, but damn it, they loosened one of my teeth!"

Hearing the robust tone in Little Bastard's voice, Chen Liang finally set his mind at ease. He turned to the surrounding onlookers and said, " Neighbors, I am Chen Liang from Wenhe Alley, deputy chief of the security department at the Red Star Rolling Mill. Could one of you go notify the security department so they can dispatch someone immediately?"

"Someone's already gone to report it! Chen Er, you really are something else. Wow, just like that, in a flash—I didn't even see clearly what happened, and you dropped the whole bunch!" Chen Liang recognized this person; he was a neighbor living on the same street, a familiar face though his name escaped him.

"Exactly! I'd heard you were a fighter, but this is just too insane. There probably isn't a better fighter in the entire capital!"

While exchanging pleasantries with the neighbors, Chen Liang hoisted all six men who had beaten Little Bastard and tossed them into a corner of the wall, forcing them to kneel.

"All of you, kneel down properly and behave! I've already memorized your faces. If any of you dare to run, I'll bring people over to wipe you out tonight!" After delivering this fierce threat, Chen Liang finally turned his attention back to Little Bastard with concern.

Yet looking at Little Bastard's bruised and swollen face, the gash split open on his head with blood smeared everywhere, and his wincing grimace of pain, Chen Liang felt a headache coming on and couldn't bring himself to scold him harshly.

"Tell me what happened. You just stepped out of my house and immediately got into a brawl? You're always stirring up trouble!"

Hearing Chen Liang's words, Little Bastard puffed out his chest and said proudly, "Brother Liang, don't wrong me. I was acting out of chivalry..."

After listening to Little Bastard recount the sequence of events, Chen Liang realized he had misunderstood him.

Scanning the crowd with his eyes, Chen Liang spotted an oval-faced beauty weeping hysterically, while his own precious Xiao Yu stood beside her offering comfort.

Oh! It looked like Xiao Yu knew her. Chen Liang walked over with Little Bastard and said, "Hello, comrade. I'm the deputy chief of the security department at the Red Star Rolling Mill. Later on, I might need to take a statement from you. I hope it won't inconvenience you too much."

Xiao Yu was busy wiping away the tears of the oval-faced beauty. "Older Brother, this is my junior high school classmate, Li Xiaoxia. You absolutely cannot let those bad guys off lightly; they are just too wicked!"

After saying this, Xiao Yu turned to Li Xiaoxia with a hint of boastful pride in her tone: "Xiaoxia, this is my beloved, Chen Liang. Don't worry, he'll never let those hooligans off easy! Right, Older Brother?"

Looking at Chen Liang, who possessed the legendary allure of all the five classic archetypes gathered in one body, stepping closer and speaking to her, Li Xiaoxia's mind had already drifted off to goodness knows where. Yet the moment Xiao Xia finished her final sentence, Li Xiaoxia's heart filled with bitter anguish.

Ah! Why is heaven so unfair, making me meet the man of my dreams right here, only to find he's already taken? And Xiao Yu—she has that foreign look, so by what right did she win the favor of the man of gods? I refuse to accept this!

Such an utterly charming—cough, such a strikingly handsome man of gods—how could Xiao Yu have the heart to monopolize him? The man of gods clearly belongs to everyone!

"Comrade, are you listening to me?" Chen Liang asked with a smile, noticing that Li Xiaoxia's gaze had clearly wandered off to parts unknown.

Good heavens, a man this devastatingly attractive is actually smiling at me! Subconsciously, Li Xiaoxia clamped her thighs tightly together.