As soon as Du Xinwu spoke, Chen Zikun felt his breathing quicken. Finally, someone who knew his true identity had appeared. He hastily said: "Sorry to keep everyone waiting, let's talk inside the house. Du Xiake, please, and this uncle and... female hero, please."

  A female knight's shout made Xia Xiaoqing's bones go soft, and she felt light all over. Just as she was about to take a step, Master Xia spoke up: "Today's events have been quite offending, we won't disturb you further, farewell."

  After finishing speaking, he bowed his head and was about to leave, but saw his daughter clinging to the nest and refusing to move. Xia Shifu's face sank as he said, "Xiao Qing!"

  It's hard to disobey one's father, so Xia Xiaoqing could only pout and look at Du Xinwu with pleading eyes.

  Xue Pingshun, although not a martial artist himself, was after all the boss of the Purple Light Car Factory, and he was more skilled in social etiquette than Chen Zikong. He mediated by saying: "We didn't know each other before we fought, but now we're like family. What's with the formalities? You've come from so far away, can't even have a cup of tea together?"

  Du Xinwu also smiled and said: "Please stay, it just so happens that I have something to discuss with Master Xia, why don't we borrow Xiao Chen's place to talk?"

  The great hero of the North and South has spoken, Master Xia cannot refuse, so he nodded in agreement: "Please."

  A few people walked towards the main house, Chen Zikun deliberately fell behind and whispered: "You're Xia Xiaoqing, right?"

  "What's wrong, you have an opinion?" Xia Xiaoqing glared at him.

  "There's no 'no', this name sounds pretty good." Chen Zikong said with a smile.

  Upon entering the house, they took their seats as host and guest. Wang's mother served tea, and after some small talk, Du Xinwu first said to Xia Shifu: "Old Xia, I'd like to take your daughter on as an apprentice, what do you think?"

  Xia Shifu was stunned on the spot, and after a moment of daze, he shook his head and said, "Thank you for Du Dajie's kindness, we appreciate it."

  "Dad!" Xia Xiaoqing stamped her foot anxiously.

  Let's not mention her, others are also getting anxious. Du Xinwu is a famous martial artist in the country, a pioneer of the revolution, and it's said that he doesn't easily accept disciples. It's a good thing that ordinary people can't get, but Xia Shifu flatly refused him. If he were an ignorant rustic bumpkin who didn't understand martial arts, it would be one thing, but he is also a master, so everyone is puzzled.

  Rejected, Du Xinwu didn't get angry, but instead smiled faintly and changed the subject, saying to Chen Zikun: "Ten years ago I saw you, at that time you were just a 7 or 8 year old kid, brought by adults to find me as your master, do you still remember?"

  Chen Zikong shook his head and said, "To be honest with you, Brother Du, I suffered a brain injury and can't remember anything from before. Can you please tell me in detail who took me there? Was it my parents? And where was the place?"

  "Ah, I see. So that's how it was. The Guangfu Society's Tao Chengzhang brought a few people to visit me at my Tokyo residence in Japan, and among them was a young boy who looked similar to you, with the same eyebrows and eyes. I don't know his name, but I suppose it must have been you. At that time, Tao asked me to teach you martial arts, but I declined because I had other matters to attend to."

  "What's next?" Chen Zikun asked with a look of urgency.

  Du Xinwu spread his hands: "There's nothing more."

  "Then... where is Tao Chengzhang now?" Chen Zikun continued to ask.

  "Seven years ago, he was assassinated in Shanghai."

  A moment of silence.

  After a long time, Chen Zikun finally said: "Du Daxia, ten years ago you didn't accept me as your apprentice, probably not because of other important matters."

  Du Xinwu smiled and said, "That's right, that was just an excuse. At the time, the Guangfu Association and our Tongmenghui were not on good terms, plus I thought your foundation wasn't very solid, so I didn't accept you as a disciple. But now it seems I misjudged you, you're indeed a promising martial arts seedling."

  Chen Zikong said: "Thank you, Grandmaster Du, for your praise. I am a self-taught person and have been practicing blindly."

  Du Xinwu said, "You're not blindly practicing either. If I'm not mistaken, Tao Chengzhang and the others took you to search for famous masters all over the world. Your kung fu combines Shaolin Tongzi Gong, Huang's leg technique from Baozhilin, and Jingwu Men's Mitzongquan. Perhaps you have other kung fu skills as well. These different schools of martial arts are integrated and applied at will. For nearly ten years, I've been paying attention to young people learning martial arts... haha, finally found two."

  Chen Zikun and Xia Xiaoqing exchanged a strange look, as if to say that Du Daxia had gotten into the habit of taking in disciples, having just been rejected by one, he was already looking to take in a second.

  "Du Daxia, I'd like to ask, what is your purpose in accepting disciples?" Chen Zikong asked.

  "You asked a good question, I accept apprentices to promote national arts, promoting national arts is to revitalize China, making our people strong and healthy, with strong bodies, the country will also be strong." Du Xinwu said with enthusiasm, but Chen Zikun did not respond, only shaking his head: "I don't want to be your apprentice."

  This time everyone was even more shocked, and even Xia Shifu felt somewhat unexpected. He carefully examined Chen Zikun's eyes, this kid is really hard to see through.

  Chen Zikong pulled out two heavy boxes from behind his waist and slammed them on the table, saying: "If Du Daxia is taking disciples for this purpose, I'm afraid it's impossible to obey, because our ideas are different. Now is not the era of cold weapons, but the 20th century, the era of machine guns and cruisers. No matter how good your martial arts skills are, you can't stop this. National arts can only strengthen the body, but cannot enrich the mind. The country's prosperity ultimately depends on education and science and technology."

  Du Xinwu did not expect his opponent to come up with such a profound argument, but he couldn't help but admire him. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and chuckled: "Although it's a bit biased, it's also quite insightful. Such young people are rare these days. Alright, I won't insist on taking you as my apprentice either. Here's my address, come visit me when you're free and we can exchange ideas."

  Chen Zikong bowed with his fist: "I dare not disobey."

  Du Xinwu stood up and bid farewell, Xue Pingshun and Chen Zikong tried to persuade him to stay but he left, seeing him out the door. Summer Master and his daughter also took the opportunity to bid farewell. Chen Zikong said: "Uncle Xia, your all-purpose glue is very useful, do you have any more? I want to buy a few hundred bottles to repair tires."

  Xia Shifu looked at his daughter with a suspicious gaze, and Xia Xiaoqing lowered her head in silence. Her father understood that she had secretly sold the universal glue on the street, so he said: "To be honest, this thing is a family heirloom secret recipe, made from a kind of insect glue, and the quantity is limited. I'm afraid it's not enough for you to use."

  He spoke politely, but in his heart he was secretly scolding. The special adhesive configuration for their family's exclusive use was meant to bond high-end ceramics and jade, yet this kid bought it to repair tires, what a waste of good material!

  "What a pity." Chen Zikun's face was full of regret, but Xia Xiaoqing secretly spat: "Pfft, wanting to get close to me and not even coming up with a decent excuse."

  Xia's father and daughter also bid farewell and left, the Ziguang Factory returned to calmness. Xue Ping said: "Dakuizi, I really didn't expect you to understand so much, when you have time, teach Baoqing and a few others, China lacks people like you who understand reason."

  Chen Zikun said: "Actually I don't understand anything, these words are all heard from them at Peking University, I'm just parroting."

  Xue Ping managed to catch his breath and changed the subject, saying: "Today's matter, I think there's something not quite right about it. Our two families have no grudges or grievances against each other, and the people from the sewage plant wouldn't go to such great lengths for no reason. Perhaps there's been some kind of misunderstanding."

  Chen Zikong said: "Maybe they think I want to take over the business of selling feces, so they made a big fuss. Apart from this, I can't think of any other reason."

  "This is it, the Qi Tian Wu Guan and the police station are all stirred up. It seems that the Shi Chong factory has made a big effort. If this misunderstanding continues to be stirred up, neither of our families will end up well. How about this, I'll get an acquaintance to pass on a message and ask what they really mean."

  "Alright, Uncle Xue, I'll do it your way."

  ……

  Ziguangche Factory is reflecting on this, and the sewage treatment plant is also reflecting. Yu Deshun thought about the cause and effect of this matter, feeling that he had acted too rashly, without communication, making a big fuss, knocking on doors, resulting in a defeat, wasting money, losing people, and not gaining any benefits.

  Just as he was about to ask a friend to go and probe the other party's intentions, Ma Lao Wu, Ma Xun Guan, came to the door, wearing a police uniform, with two soldiers following behind him. He threw his hat on the table and scolded: "This Chen kid really has connections in high places, I don't believe we can't take him down, Old Yu, I have a plan that will definitely get rid of him."

  Yu De Shun forced a smile and said: "It's better for enemies to part ways than to stay together, Fifth Master, I've been thinking..."

  The speech was cut off: "Old Yu, it's not me who said you, the King of Feces is about to show his domineering air, isn't he trying to snatch your Feces Way? Let him snatch it, and let him have all the business on that street, see how he can handle it."

  Ma Lao Wu's intention is very clear to Yu De Shun. Although shoveling manure seems simple, it is actually a complete industry chain: shoveling, transportation, drying, and sales. Each link is closely connected. If one only occupies the manure path but does not have their own manure workers, manure factory, or channels for selling fertilizer, then the manure path would be a burden. After several days of accumulation, thousands of catties of manure would pile up; can't they just be piled at home?

  Actually, Ma Lao Wu has another meaning that hasn't been said, which is to use the residents' dissatisfaction to suppress Chen Zi Kun. You asked Du Xinwu to come and assist, didn't you? No matter how powerful Du Xinwu is, he can't withstand the scolding of thousands of people. If one street doesn't clean up its feces for half a month, who can bear it? When hundreds or thousands of people rush to the Ziguang Car Factory to scold, who can bear it?

  Yu De Shun thought for a moment and said: "This idea is good, but I'm afraid that Old Li and Old Sun will not cooperate."

  Ma Lao Wu patted his chest and said: "Leave it to me, whoever dares to help Chen's family sell their goods, I'll settle the score with him. If people in the neighborhood ask, just say that the Zi Guang Car Factory won't let you dig up the manure anymore. After making a big fuss, report to the authorities and they will definitely detain a few people."

  With this sentence, Yu De Shun finally put his heart at ease. Since Officer Ma was willing to help, he might as well give it a try. After all, the job of shoveling manure wasn't any different from others. Whether you shoveled or not, the manure would still be there; it couldn't grow legs and run away, nor could it transform into something else. So, he didn't worry about it at all.

  "That's settled, then. I'll do it as Marshal Ma instructed. Thank you so much." Yu De-shun's face was full of gratitude, but in his heart, he knew that Old Ma was only using this matter to avenge his personal grievances and wasn't considering his own well-being at all.

  "Haha, that's right, who are we to each other? You're busy, I'll be off." Officer Ma said something nice, but didn't intend to leave. Yu De Shun immediately understood, this is about money, the 500 yuan lost at the brothel's gambling table yesterday still hasn't been paid back.

  "Uncle Wu, I'm a bit short on cash lately, bear with me for a few days and I'll definitely send it to your place." Yu De Shun nodded and bowed, he wasn't stupid, if things didn't go as planned, where would the money come from?

  Ma Lao Wu didn't bother with him either, just chuckled and got up to leave.

  In the late afternoon, a familiar neighbor came to find Yu De-shun and tactfully told him that Ziguang Factory had no intention of snatching business, it was all a misunderstanding.

  Yu De Shun coldly said: "It's not that kind of meaning. Then the person who hit me, smashed my night soil cart, what does it mean? Sending off a guest."

  The neighbors shook their heads and left. Yu De Shun's wife came out and said, "Head of the household, it's not easy to have a chance for reconciliation, why don't you leave some leeway?"

  Yu De Shun said: "You're just a housewife, what do you know? If I don't get back my face, how can I have any authority in the future?"