With his skills, he, Fang Zichen could get by anywhere.
Whoever dared provoke him, he'd beat one who came, making them enter standing up and leave lying down.
Hao Desheng throwing silver on the ground for him to pick up was a form of humiliation.
Before Han Xin achieved fame and status, he could endure the humiliation of crawling between another man's legs.
[Han Xin (韩信): a brilliant military strategist and general who served Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, famously enduring the humiliation of crawling between another man's legs in his youth before rising to become one of China's most celebrated historical figures.]
Fang Zichen... compared to Han Xin, fell slightly short, couldn't measure up, but he wasn't someone to be bullied either.
An eighteen-year-old youth didn't even know how to write the word 'endure'.
Hao Desheng, just because he knew a few characters, acted like this. Back when Fang Zichen was first in his grade, beating the second place by over a hundred points, he never looked down on people like that.
Some people are no good at studying, dozing off as soon as class starts. But there are three hundred sixty trades, and every one has its master.
If you're not good at this, there's always another line.
In life, you shouldn't compare your own strengths to others' weaknesses and then mock them for it.
He himself never looked down on or mocked academic underachievers.
What right did Hao Desheng have to look down on him?
Hao Desheng, being cursed at so rudely again by him in public, and already badly injured, actually vomited blood on the spot.
Fang Zichen was completely unharmed, not a single hair out of place. Looking at him, no one could tell he had just been through a bloody and fierce 'battle'. He resembled a dignified young master sitting properly drinking tea, possessing both temperament and looks.
The street was bustling with people coming and going. Seeing Hao Desheng's group crawling out of Zuixiao Restaurant, they were intensely curious.
However, people naturally had sympathetic hearts. Hao Desheng's group looked utterly miserable, causing onlookers to frown immediately.
Fang Zichen, hands on his hips, voice loud and clear, blaming the victim, scolded: "Damn it, looking at your group, all dressed up and impressive-looking, and you call yourselves scholars? You actually dared to try and eat a meal without paying?"
Oh ho!
The crowd's gaze towards Hao Desheng's group instantly changed.
Trying to eat without paying at Zuixiao Restaurant? What kind of place was that?
A simple plate of stir-fried greens cost over a hundred copper coins. A group like this probably ate a lot, easily several taels worth!
If they had some alcohol too, they couldn't get away with less than ten or twenty taels.
That much money, of course they'd beat you!
If it had been some street-side stall, not paying might have been let slide. It would not have amounted to much, and the other party were scholars. Even if they were not successful now, after being apart for three days, one must look at a person with refreshed eyes. Who knew what heights they might have reached in the future.
[士别三日，当刮目相待 (shì bié sān rì, dāng guā mù xiāng dài): lit. After being apart for three days, one must look at a person with refreshed eyes; fig. People can change and improve rapidly, so one should not judge others by their past but recognize their ongoing growth and progress.]
Best to avoid trouble if you can.
But Zuixiao Restaurant was different. The owner had backing. Going there to eat without paying? Consider yourself lucky if you weren't beaten to death.
Hao Desheng's group, being pointed at and criticized, were furious. They opened their mouths to refute, saying things like the other party overcharged, the food was unclean, the waiters were handsy, the bookkeeper bullied others relying on his power.
They said a whole lot, but no one believed them.
Zuixiao Restaurant had been open for decades. There had never been such rumors, nor had any other guest been beaten before.
Why did other guests go in to eat and not get beaten, but you did?
It must definitely be because you didn't pay.
Besides, the restaurant had a good reputation.
Leftover food and dishes from the shop that the guests couldn't finish were sorted and placed by the back door for the beggars in town to eat.
They wouldn't do things like that.
This was exactly how the incident started, unfolded, and concluded.
Afterwards, Fang Zichen was called to the third floor by Yang Mutao, who shut the door and lectured him.
Yang Mutao rapped his knuckles on the desk, once, twice. "Why were you fighting?"
Fang Zichen put on an honest face, shaking his head and waving his hands. "I don't know either!"
"...You don't know?" Yang Mutao almost laughed. The main person involved in the fight actually didn't know why they were fighting?Who was he trying to fool?
"I just don't know," Fang Zichen said, very innocently, lying through his teeth. "He bullied me first, so I warned him, 'That's enough now, or I'll hit you.' Then that guy said, 'Go on, hit me then, I dare you to hit me.' He told me to hit him. The customer is supreme, it's a request I simply had to fulfill!"
Yang Mutao: "..."
Yang Mutao's hands itched terribly. His chest heaved violently. Yang Mingyi glanced up at Fang Zichen. Seeing the other look back at him and even smile, he poured a cup of tea and handed it to Yang Mutao. "Father, have some tea."
Yang Mutao gulped down a large mouthful. The anger coiled in his chest finally eased a little.
"You brat, tell me the truth!"
Everyone in the shop knew about this incident. Fang Zichen pursed his lips, became honest, stopped causing trouble, and explained everything clearly from beginning to end.
"Why was he deliberately targeting you?" Yang Mutao asked curiously.
He had a very clear understanding of Fang Zichen's nature.
The people in the shop didn't know his background, but Yang Mutao had already investigated thoroughly.
This fellow talked big, but his character was actually very good.
He didn't go around looking for trouble.
"You ask me, who should I ask?" Fang Zichen himself was perplexed. But like poles repel, opposites attract. In the natural world, male animals are always incompatible, like fire and water.
"Was he jealous of me?" Fang Zichen suddenly said.
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