Although Lin Zhen was protective of his children, he was no bully.
He had only come to scare Xu Damao.
And Xu Damao had been beaten into submission by Silly Zhu since childhood.
He was good at mouthing off and pulling dirty tricks, but when it came to actually fighting, he did not have the guts.
That strike from Lin Zhen, using his max-level martial arts, nearly scared the soul out of Xu Damao.
His legs went weak, and he was about to drop to his knees.
Lin Zhen smiled faintly.
The rolling pin came down, then thrust forward, pressing against Xu Damao's chest.
"Grandson, if you ever blindly insult my sons again, I'll geld you. Believe that?"
"I believe you! I absolutely believe you!"
Hearing there was still room to back down, Xu Damao nodded frantically.
"Get lost!"
"Right away!" Xu Damao felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He shoved his bicycle and ran.
"Hahaha..." Silly Zhu laughed so hard at the doorway that he could not close his mouth.
Qin Jingru stared wide-eyed, looking at Lin Zhen with a face full of admiration.
She thought, City people really are different. Is he some kind of martial arts master?
"Lin Zhen, not bad. Want to spar sometime?"
Watching Lin Zhen scare Xu Damao away, Silly Zhu suddenly felt the itch to fight as well.
Silly Zhu had been the troublemaker of the entire alley since he was little.
Not only did he refuse to be controlled by the Three Elders, he did not even take the neighborhood office seriously.
Fighting had been a regular occurrence, and Xu Damao had been beaten by him from childhood into adulthood.
Yan Jiecheng, Liu Guangtian, and even boys their age from other courtyards—
They had all been beaten by Silly Zhu when they were young.
He had become more restrained after growing up.
But he still bullied Xu Damao and looked down on Yan Jiecheng and Liu Guangtian.
His fighting skills had even earned him the title of Siheyuan War God.
But in Lin Zhen's eyes, that was nothing.
To Lin Zhen, whose martial arts had reached max level, Silly Zhu was a complete weakling.
But Lin Zhen had never shown off his martial arts.
Among his four sons, only five-year-old Lin Guo and Lin Jia had learned a little kung fu from him.
Mainly so they could beat up Bang Geng.
That was why Silly Zhu had no idea Lin Zhen knew martial arts.
Today, seeing Lin Zhen wield that rolling pin so cleanly and efficiently, he could no longer suppress his urge to fight.
He urged, "Spar with me, spar with me. Come on, let's push hands. Just for fun!"
Lin Zhen said disdainfully, "I don't have time to play with you. I'm going to the market."
"Why are you in such a hurry? Let your wife, Lou Xiao'e, go. It's rare to have a day off. Let's spar, brother. I haven't had a chance to beat Xu Damao for the past two years, and my hands are itching."
The moment Lin Zhen's four sons heard that their father was going to practice martial arts with Uncle Silly, they clapped excitedly.
Bang Geng also ran out to watch the excitement.
Seeing that, Lin Zhen had an idea.
He smiled. "Silly Zhu, do you really want to compete?"
Silly Zhu tossed his padded coat onto the ground and grinned. "I really do!"
"What would it look like for two grown men like us to fight? If the Second Elder in the rear courtyard finds out, won't he seize the chance to lecture us both and indulge his official addiction?"
Silly Zhu scratched his head. "That's true. That official fanatic. But it's fine—we'll make it quick."
Lin Zhen gave a wicked grin. "Forget it. I have a better idea."
Silly Zhu's eyes lit up. "What idea?"
Lin Zhen pointed toward the Jia family's door, then at Lin Guo and Lin Jia.
He smiled. "See that? We have people who can take our place. You teach Bang Geng, and I'll teach my sons. Whenever we want to compete, we'll have them fight each other. Don't worry, in a proper match, it won't be two against one."
Silly Zhu was delighted when he heard that. "Hey! Just what you'd expect from an educated man. That's a good idea—let's compete through our successors. You stole my cooking apprentice, Ma Hua, and I've been feeling stifled over that. Bang Geng, come here!"
Bang Geng hurried over. "What is it, Uncle Silly?"
"I'll teach you how to beat up Lin Guo and Lin Jia. Want to learn?"
Bang Geng secretly glanced at Lin Guo, Lin Jia, Lin Dong, and Lin Liang, feeling both hatred and fear.
Hearing Silly Zhu say that, he quickly nodded. "Thank you, Uncle Silly. I'll learn!"
"Good! Go ask for permission inside first. Don't let them say I'm fooling around later."
Jia Zhangshi, who was sitting inside, had heard everything.
She resented how Lin Zhen's four sons kept ganging up on Bang Geng.
She could not have wished more for that fighting maniac Silly Zhu to teach him a few moves.
Before Bang Geng could even run inside,
Jia Zhangshi nodded repeatedly and winked at him.
"Good grandson, learn well. Adults can't interfere when children fight. Once you learn from Uncle Silly, beat up those four little brats every day!"
Bang Geng nodded. "Mm! I'll make them all cry!"
Though Jia Zhangshi and Bang Geng spoke quietly inside,
Lin Zhen heard every word clearly. His hearing had reached the point where he could hear leaves falling ten meters away.
Hearing Jia Zhangshi say that, Lin Zhen found it amusing.
From now on, no one could criticize his four sons for beating up Bang Geng.
When Bang Geng cried again, he could only blame Silly Zhu for being a poor teacher.
This gave his sons a perfectly legitimate reason to beat up Bang Geng.
Silly Zhu immediately took Bang Geng inside to teach him, even closing the door so Lin Guo and Lin Jia would not see.
Lin Zhen laughed. "Silly Zhu, when will we hold the first match?"
"We can compete tonight!"
"Great! Teach him well. I'm off to the market!"
Ever since Lin Zhen had been promoted to engineer, his family had not properly celebrated at home.
Since he was off work today, he planned to cook something delicious.
"Lin Zhen, I'll go buy the groceries. The tea is ready, so just rest at home."
Lou Xiao'e had already wiped down the bicycle and brewed a pot of tea.
Every Sunday when they were off work, she could not bear to let her husband do more chores.
"You go on weekdays. I'll go on Sundays. I like going to the market."
As he spoke, Lin Zhen hopped onto his old-style bicycle and sped away.
Lou Xiao'e smiled warmly.
"What's so fun about wandering around the market? I really don't understand my husband."
Every time Lin Zhen came to the market, he marveled at how clean the ingredients of this era were.
The vermicelli was guaranteed to be one hundred percent sweet potato starch, without any glue added.
Freshly slaughtered live chickens were guaranteed never to have eaten feed, and they were all free-range chickens.
The pork was uniformly fragrant local pork, raised for more than half a year before slaughter.
Wild fish and shrimp were easy to buy, and the water they grew in was certainly clear and unpolluted.
There was no need to worry about pesticide residue on vegetables, either.
Buying groceries and cooking in this era was simply a pleasure.
Of course, only Lin Zhen, who had traveled here from the future, felt that way.
And only Lin Zhen knew how precious these ingredients were.
Lin Zhen exchanged meat coupons for one jin of pork belly and two jin of fatty pork.
Using his food ration card, he bought half a jin of dark soy sauce and half a jin of white sugar.
He spent one yuan on a large rooster.
He spent another eighty cents on some seasonal vegetables and twenty cents' worth of sweet potato vermicelli.
Finally, he spent ninety-two cents on a two-jin carp.
When he returned to the Siheyuan, Third Master Yan Bugui was drying peanuts in a winnowing basket at the entrance.
The moment he saw Lin Zhen return carrying fish, meat, and a large rooster, his eyes immediately turned green with envy.
"Oh, Lin Zhen, what's this? Celebrating the New Year early? Ah! I know—you're celebrating your promotion to engineer, right? Heh! Third Master forgot all about that. Don't blame me, don't blame me. I'll bring a bottle of liquor to your place tonight. You brat, you've got your eye on the good liquor I've been saving!"
Lin Zhen wanted to give him a hard slap across the face.
You were a people's teacher, yet you could actually say something like that.
Was he scheming for his liquor, or was Yan Bugui scheming for his food?
"Third Master, you're joking. I do want to drink your liquor, but not today."
"Why not?"
"Today is a small celebration for our family of six, not a banquet. If I were hosting several large tables, then of course I'd invite you! Yan Jiecheng will be getting married in just over a month, and the whole courtyard is watching you. See that? At the very least, your table needs chicken, fish, and meat like mine today. If you can't see clearly enough, why not come sit at my place now?"
Yan Bugui pursed his lips and said awkwardly, "No, I won't. I still need to grade homework later."
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