Chapter 57: Fighting

This young man was a worker in this shop. Li Si knew him. His name was Zhang Shaocong, and he was also Zhang Jingcheng’s son.

Zhang Shaocong was about fifteen or sixteen years old. His skin was somewhat dark, and there were three scars on his face, running from his nose across his cheek to his neck, which counted as having disfigured him.

From the original owner’s memories, Li Si knew that these marks had come from when Zhang Shaocong was little and teased a cat. He had cornered the cat in a room, and when the cat was forced into desperation, it became furious and clawed fiercely across his cheek, leaving these three scars from then on.

Actually, at his age, he should have been preparing for marriage, but many girls in the city knew that Zhang Shaocong was disfigured, and none of them were willing to marry him.

Of course, there was another reason too. The Zhang family could only be considered moderately well-off, not some great household. Because Zhang Jingcheng’s family had opened a pharmacy for generations and kept prices affordable, they earned relatively little. They could only live somewhat better than ordinary families.

This was also why Li Si had only shaken his head and smiled at Zhang Jingcheng’s lie earlier, without taking issue with it. Although Zhang Jingcheng had some petty cleverness and a loose tongue, he was absolutely not a bad person.

At this moment, Zhang Jingcheng also walked over and smiled at Li Si. “Scholar Li, I have wrapped up your medicine for you. There are nine doses of medicine here in total, one dose each day. If you feel much better, stop taking it. The small jar contains blood wound ointment. Just apply it to the wounds. Remember, it is best not to let the wounds touch water today.”

“Many thanks.” Li Si smiled and thanked him. After receiving the medicine, he walked out the door and headed toward home.

He looked at the sky. It was currently exactly noon, so he prepared to go to a restaurant and eat a few small dishes. He was already somewhat ravenous now.

As Li Si was walking toward the restaurant, he suddenly heard a noisy commotion.

“Hit him!”

“Yu Hu, use more strength!”

“Put in more effort!”

“...”

Li Si raised his eyebrows slightly. These voices sounded young, quite childish.

Curiosity rose in his heart, so he followed the sound and searched over. Finally, in a remote alley, he saw the people whose voices he had just heard.

He saw a group of children surrounding the area, constantly shouting, while in the middle, a little fatty and a thin, weak child were fighting.

However, these two children were currently locked in a stalemate, because both of them had tightly locked their arms around the other’s throat. Only, the little fatty among them was clearly stronger, and the thin, weak child’s face had already turned bright red.

Li Si knew both of them. That little fatty was Yu San’s son, Yu Hu, the one who had fought with Xiaoduan. As his name suggested, he was very tigerish and often caused trouble.

As for the other one, his name was Sun Zhi. He was a child from a nearby farming household, and had also studied at Li Si’s home.

At this moment, some children had already seen Li Si. They immediately signalled to one another with their eyes and all fell silent.

Unfortunately, Yu Hu and Sun Zhi were still grappling fiercely and had not noticed anything unusual.

Only when two hands respectively pinched the ears of the two of them did they react.

“Oh, fighting quite intensely, are you? Why don’t you two separate and fight again properly? What is the point of choking each other like this?” Li Si pinched both of their ears and spoke in a teasing tone.

Hearing Li Si’s voice, the two of them immediately shuddered in fright. They quickly released each other and stood up, not daring to break free from Li Si’s fingers.

“Not planning to fight anymore?” Li Si swept his gaze between the two of them and asked.

“Not fighting anymore.” The two glared at each other and spoke in unison.

Li Si laughed softly, released the two of them, and found a stone to sit on.

After sitting down, he beckoned for the two of them to come over, then asked Yu Hu, “Tell me, why were you two fighting? Yu Hu, you speak first.”

As soon as Li Si asked this, Yu Hu immediately became somewhat angry. He pointed at Sun Zhi and said furiously, “He said my family’s pork is sold very expensively! My family has sold pork for decades. How could we possibly sell it expensively?”

“Oh?” After Li Si heard this, he looked toward Sun Zhi and asked gently, “Did you say that?”

Seeing Li Si ask him, Sun Zhi became somewhat nervous and stammered, “I... did say it.”

But Sun Zhi immediately added, “My father said it.”

Li Si stood up, stroked Sun Zhi’s head, and said with a smile, “Sometimes, you should not think something is right just because you heard someone else say it. You also need your own thoughts. You can compare the price of Yu Hu’s family’s pork with the price of pork sold nearby, then come to a conclusion.”

Afterward, Li Si looked toward Yu Hu, glared at him, and said coldly, “Is fighting very impressive? Do you want to try fighting me?”

After being lectured by Li Si, Yu Hu immediately became somewhat timid and did not dare answer.

“Hold this.” Li Si handed the medicine beside him to Yu Hu and said, “Help me carry it home.”

He had just felt a little pain in his internal organs again, so he simply found someone to help him carry his things.

Yu Hu immediately took the medicine and instantly beamed with joy.

Li Si then said to the group of children, “You do not need to come to my home these next few days. I need to rest properly. Notify one another.”

After saying this, he left with Yu Hu, leaving only the group of children looking at one another.

On the road, Yu Hu kept talking to Li Si.

“Teacher, the pork my father sells really isn’t expensive.”

“Mm.”

“Teacher, do you want to go to my house to buy pork?”

“No. I don’t want to eat it right now.”

“Teacher, I can give it to you. I won’t take money.”

Li Si’s footsteps paused, and he turned to look at Yu Hu.

At the same time, Yu Hu also looked at Li Si, delight appearing in his eyes. He secretly thought, Could Teacher be about to accept my family’s pork? Then can I become Teacher’s disciple?

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He had even begun imagining the admiring gazes his companions would give him after he became Teacher’s disciple.

“I do not need pork. If I want to eat pork, I will buy it myself.” Helplessness appeared in Li Si’s eyes. This Yu Hu looked like a little tyrant among his peers, so why was he so slippery when he was with him? Just like his father.

And blue had even come from indigo and surpassed it. He was even more long-winded than his father.

“Do you like fighting?” Before Yu Hu could continue speaking, Li Si immediately asked.

Hearing Li Si ask this, Yu Hu was immediately somewhat speechless and stammered, “I... don’t like it.”

“You don’t like it?” Li Si looked into Yu Hu’s eyes, revealing an expression that was half a smile.

Seeing Li Si’s expression, Yu Hu immediately panicked even more and instantly changed his words. “I rather like it.”

After saying this, he secretly glanced at Li Si with his eyes. This expression looked somewhat comical on this little fatty.

“Then why do you like fighting?” Li Si smiled, stroked Yu Hu’s head, and walked toward home.

“Because I want to become a wandering hero. A wandering hero can fight ten people alone.” Seeing Li Si stroke his head, Yu Hu immediately seemed encouraged and spoke excitedly.

“So that is why you often fight?” When Li Si heard Yu Hu say this, he immediately could not help laughing. This child liked fighting for this reason.

“Yes, Teacher. I can already fight two people alone now.” Yu Hu spoke somewhat excitedly, as if he felt this was extremely glorious.

“Then do you know what a hero is?” Li Si continued asking.

Yu Hu was stunned, then asked Li Si, “What is a hero?”

Afterward, the two continued walking toward Li Si’s home. At the same time, Li Si also told him what a hero was, and told him ideas like “the greatest hero serves the country and the people.”