Chapter 40: Drilling into Camps and Making Speculative Investments in Search of Gains

  As soon as they got off the bus, except for Dan Yong, the other three were stunned. This scene was really unprecedented. Looking closer, it was even more spectacular.

  The donkey pen was surrounded by an iron fence that was almost as tall as a person, and the number of people who came to drive the donkeys was increasing. With small pipes in their mouths and big whips in their hands, they drove the donkeys to the village entrance, where the donkey herd grew more magnificent. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that it was a sea of donkeys, with their heads bobbing up and down. From time to time, some of the donkeys would get excited, either competing to eat the grass or using their noses to harass the smaller, prettier donkeys in the group. Some even tried to misbehave, but whenever this happened, the donkey drivers would hear the noise, turn around, and with a loud crack of their whips, scare the naughty donkeys away.

  Shan Yong explained that this was for the top chefs from all over to select ingredients, all of which were freshly caught and slaughtered. Although there seemed to be a lot, one order would almost clear out the entire stock. Lei Da Peng watched with great interest, occasionally pointing and gesturing. He wasn't just good at eating; he could even name over a dozen types of donkeys, more clearly than reciting poetry.

  The village entrance was getting increasingly crowded, with a constant stream of luxury cars with local and out-of-town license plates driving in, finding parking spots, and then making phone calls. Before long, someone would arrive to greet the guests and invite them into a large courtyard in the center of the village that was at least half an acre in size. The courtyard was lavishly decorated, with three four-story buildings that resembled a luxurious villa estate. Needless to say, it must have been the residence of the wealthy Shi family.

  For the four of them, the most familiar place was the quiet school environment. It's so noisy here that it's a bit unbearable. With the trunk open and carrying two boxes, Danyong is very familiar with this place, walking towards the north of the village to several simple large tents. At this moment, Simu Xian found something wrong, it seems that Danyong didn't come for the gift at all, otherwise why wouldn't he even enter the host's door? This question was quietly told to Leida Peng, and Leida Peng asked while chasing after Danyong: "Hey, Egg Brother, you're not going to the main house, where are you going?"

  "Do you think anyone can recognize Old Man Shi? Just because of us, they would entertain?" said Shan Yong, walking while speaking.

  "What? You don't know him?" Lei Dapeng was stunned. Even Wang Huating was surprised, having boasted all the way, it turned out they didn't know each other at all.

  "Is it? I didn't say I knew him?" Dan Yong retorted.

  "Who are you and what do you want?" Lei Dapeng got angry.

  "What else can you do besides giving gifts and eating for free?"

  Got it, Lei Dapeng understood. This is to prepare a hot face to kiss someone else's cold ass, and it's not even sure if you can kiss it or not. He said with a grin: "I thought you knew him, and followed you to mix and eat. The guy doesn't know you at all, what's the point of coming? The host doesn't even treat you... Besides, can't run tens of kilometers just to eat a donkey meat fire and come back? Can't even get the gas money back."

  Whenever the lock is opened, the first dish added to the menu is donkey meat fire roast. The group of donkey drivers are treated to this fire-roasted dish, with four-sided buns stuffed full of donkey meat. Those men eat with relish, but for Leigang, a renowned foodie, such commoner's food is naturally beneath him. He complains to Shanyong, who remains unruffled and smiles, saying: "What's the hurry? The real feast will be served at noon. This year, it's Shi family's son who opened the lock, I heard that Old Man Shi combined the orders and opening gifts together. Every year during the ordering meeting, they invite famous chefs from Luoyang and other provinces to come to the donkey garden for a grand banquet lasting three days. More than half of these master chefs have their roots in the donkey garden, and even if they're not from here, they wouldn't miss this opportunity for horizontal exchange. So, the real donkey meat extravaganza is here."

  "Oh, so that's how it is. The rich have distant relatives in the deep mountains, and it's not a lie at all. This scene is really big." Wang Huating commented.

  "What's the point of pretending to be a big shot, you don't even recognize me?" Lei Dapeng listened with a mixture of envy and skepticism, grumbling to himself.

  "I didn't ask you to come, but you insisted on coming." Danyong said, a sentence that made Leida Peng speechless. On the contrary, Simu Xian saw it and pulled the unhappy Da Peng to comfort him: "Don't be depressed, the boss must have a way, otherwise he wouldn't bother with this trouble?"

  "Hey, you're not better than anyone else. You definitely won't do a losing business." Leida Peng thought of his own neglected problems, but looking at this unfamiliar village and the bustling crowd, he felt disheartened again, and muttered: "No matter how capable you are, it's useless if you don't know people and they don't entertain you. This isn't something that can be solved by spending money."

  "Lao Shi, I really don't know him, that big shot, a buyer who doesn't spend tens of millions in a year, nobody entertains you." Danyong said, stopping his steps and smiling wryly, "However, although I don't know Lao Shi, today's birthday boy Xiao Shi I do know, what do you say, do I have a way or not?"

  Shan Yong's mysterious smile made Lei Da Peng laugh, and he nodded his head in surprise: "That seems to be the case. The younger one is always easier to coax than the older one."

  Wang Hua-ting, however, didn't understand the ups and downs of these two brothers, and directly said: "It's nothing, Shanyong, you don't have to eat it if you don't want to. Come and play, broaden your horizons, it's not bad either. I really haven't seen such a magnificent view before."

  With a mindset of taking a break and relaxing, Wang Huating didn't care much about whether she could experience the legendary Donkey Banquet or not. In fact, it was quite comforting to have Single Courage's company, but unexpectedly, Single Courage gave a mysterious smile, stood up straight, and seemed to be confident and prepared.

  "Hehe... if we can't eat, it's all for nothing." Danyong put down the box, touched the phone, and warned everyone before calling: "Don't talk nonsense, don't be surprised by anything you see... especially you, Leidaipeng, if you talk nonsense, you won't get to eat!"

  Lei Dapeng knew that Shan Yong had come up with a solution, and nodded in agreement. However, it wasn't anything special - Shan Yong just made a phone call, addressing someone as "Xiao Bao Gui" and "Young Master", saying things like "the goods have arrived" and bringing over a few friends. After exchanging a few words, they hung up the phone. These people seemed to understand that this was not a congratulatory gift, but rather an attempt to directly bribe Young Master Shi. What confused everyone was that this was supposed to be an open and aboveboard matter, yet it was being handled in a secretive and mysterious manner, like smuggling or trafficking.

  Before he could ask another question, the person arrived. A loud motorcycle sound came from a distant barn, and a four-wheeled motorcycle with wide tires and an off-road style emerged. The roaring engine startled the donkey group into chaos. The car drove straight to where Single Courage and others were standing, stopped, and Lei Dapeng's eyes widened in shock. That kid was tall and sturdy, with a wide mouth, big ears, and a thick nose, about the same height as Single Courage. Don't say thirteen, even thirty would be believable, but that face... any donkey from the group behind him looked more handsome than he did.

  This young master seems to like Shuang Yu very much, as soon as he came up and hugged him, asking if Shuang Ge was good. He stretched out his hand: "Shuang Ge, where's the thing you brought for me? You promised, don't try to coax me."

  "Don't tell your sister that I gave it to you." Zhanyong reminded him.

  "I see, they can't control me anyway." Shi Shao Ye crouched down, looked at the box, turned around and pulled out a few inches long short knife from the car, scaring Lei Da Peng and Si Mu Xian. It turns out that this kid had been carrying a tool with him all along. After prying open the box, Wang Hua Ting, who was standing next to Shan Yong, stared at him discontentedly, no wonder this guy was being mysterious, it seems like nothing good.

  It's a crossbow, a mechanical crossbow, with a black body and a lacquered stock, steel wires for strings. Young Master Shi's eyes lit up, he quickly assembled it, and once assembled, Shan Yong helped him open another box, which contained several short arrows about the length of a foot. This was perfect, Young Master Shi stepped on it, pulled the string, loaded an arrow, and tested the thing out.

  Not bad, holding a bow and arrow about the same height as him, a young rhinoceros looks up at the moon, turns around and shoots straight up, with a loud thud, the arrowhead shoots up to the top of a tall poplar tree, ten or more meters high, and is nailed to the branches, leaving only a red tail in everyone's eyes. This little guy may not be big, but his movements have already taken on the bandit-like quality of the men from Shijia Village.

  "Good fellow." Shi Shao Ye laughed. He picked it up and put it in the off-road vehicle, turned his head to look at Dan Yong, pointing to a large tent not far away: "Follow me."

  Driving the car rumbling straight to that direction, at this moment, not to mention someone speaking nonsense, they were all shocked and didn't dare to speak. Only after the person left did Lei Dapeng tentatively ask: "Brother, with your attitude, you're still teaching me how to mislead others?"

  "This thing is much more powerful than a slingshot, its range can reach over 100 meters. Lei Dapeng may not know about other things, but this one he's very clear about. If you put it in the hands of these little brats, who knows what kind of trouble they'll get into." Wang Huating also whispered complaints: "Shan Yong, this is a bit too much, isn't it?"

  "Are you following me to accuse me? Whoever doesn't want to stay can leave. In this house, guns can be taken out, let alone a broken donkey." Dan Yong was furious this time, and explained in a low voice: "This kid is like this, it's not our fault, if we're not bandits, we'd be wasting our talent. Whoever wants to leave, I won't stop you, hurry up and go."

  Lei Dapeng definitely didn't want to go back, saying that as long as he could eat, it was fine. Simu Xian followed the two brothers' footsteps. Wang Huating had no choice but to follow the three of them, and after walking for a short distance, they arrived at an empty lot in the village, which had been set up with tents. It seemed that this was a temporary reception area. At the entrance of a large tent in the middle, Young Master Shi was talking to a group of people in charge, and everyone was listening with pleasure. The young master pointed at Shan Yong and said:

  "Look, my sister is getting along well with him. In the future, he will be my brother-in-law... Hurry up and first arrange a table of the full banquet we made today for my brother-in-law to entertain his friends. Brother-in-law, you guys eat now, my mom still wants me to go kowtow in a bit."

  The young master spoke, and the several shopkeepers smiled all over their faces, directly inviting Single Courage and others into a tent. The unremarkable tent was entered, but it made people's eyes light up in front of them. The lighting was sufficient, with large eight immortal tables, flowers arranged around, and jars of old wine on the table. The shopkeeper first poured tea for each person himself, saying to wait for a moment. As soon as he went out, Single Courage, who had mixed in, said: "Don't look at the simple conditions here, genuine ingredients plus top-notch chefs, when it's served later you'll know... what's called stunning the four seats... Eh? What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

  Those three, with unusual eyes looking at Dan Yong, still Lei Dapeng's quick mouth, uncertainly asked Dan Yong: "Just now that kid called you brother-in-law, right? I said Egg Brother, okay, you hooked up with the Shi family girl, this is awesome, soft rice for a lifetime can't be finished."

  This remark made Dan Yong choke, as if he had eaten a piece of indigestible raw donkey meat. At this moment, Wang Huating also cast an unpleasant and unusual glance, as if needing to re-recognize him.

  This made Shan Yong slap his chest and say, "Brothers, do you think I'm easy to mess with? To bring you guys here for this meal, not only did I spend over 2,000 yuan on a lame horse, but I also sacrificed my dignity by being treated as a cheap son-in-law... However, Da Peng, I'll tell you the truth, there's a girl in the Shi family who is two or three years older than us. She's already in charge of half of the family business! Old Man Shi has even made a promise that whoever marries his daughter will get half of the family property as dowry."

  "Is it? Then she must be a millionaire!" Si Mu Xian laughed and said.

  "It's true, a wealthy sister with a net worth of millions is a real deal. Even if she doesn't bring any dowry back home, it's still a good bargain. That sister is awesome, she can do more than ten or eight men combined. Whoever marries her will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their life. Otherwise, I'll introduce you to her, Big Peng?" Single Yong teased Lei Da Peng.

  "Oh, this can be considered, but..." Lei Dapeng was moved, but thinking of Shi Jia Shao's annoying appearance, he immediately woke up and glared at Shan Yong, saying: "Are you kidding me? The sister of that kid, her looks are not much better than his?"

  "You're so shoddy, and yet you're complaining about others? Otherwise, why would I have to give up half of my family's property for you?" Dan Yong teased. Lei Da Peng shook his head like a drumstick, muttering that it wouldn't work, afraid of being tricked again.

  A few jokes, Wang Huating's facial expression changed a lot, but one thing was certain, she also saw that Shan Yong was just messing around, except for eating and drinking, nothing else was serious.

  It's strange, at this time Wang Huating heard these two brothers making such jokes, and her heart actually felt relieved. Just like when she just heard that young master Shi call out "brother-in-law" and her heart suddenly tightened up, it was tight for no reason, and relaxed for no reason.

  Laughing, the four people who were originally just passersby at the village entrance suddenly became honored guests at Shi's table. Even Wang Huating didn't change out of her identity for a while. Xian Yong was again quietly instructing his brothers to eat with their mouths open, but absolutely not to speak carelessly. Wang Huating watched as the three men conferred in a thieving manner and couldn't help but feel amused. However, she also had to admit that when these three rascals got together, anything could happen.

  The half-bowl of tea's craftsmanship, the curtain opens and people come. These four subconsciously sit upright with dignity, really like they're distinguished guests. As for Dan Yong, he sits in the master seat with a proud air, as if he's the son-in-law who married into a wealthy family.