Chapter 37 Section VII

On the day Shentu Jia was sent to Princess Taiping's residence by Li Chonghuan, he encountered trouble. Because, after a contest by the Qujiang River, Shentujia became famous in the capital overnight.Although it was an era of heroes and heroes, there were not many similar opportunities for him to change from a skilled but humble cook to a famous warrior in the capital. Therefore, Shentu Jia's encounter aroused great admiration. The jealousy and repulsion of the two forces in Princess Taiping's house, one is Princess Taiping's bodyguards and the desperadoes she usually recruits; the other is Shentu Jia's colleague - the cook.

It seems that Shentu Jia's status is higher than that of the chefs, and his residence is not in the servant's room, but in the courtyard of the guards.Perhaps because the guards were on duty during the day, the courtyard was quiet and there were no idlers.Walking into his hut, there was a thunderous sound, it turned out that there was a guard living with Shentujia, who was lying on the bed and sleeping soundly. This room is very small, and Shentujia's bed is on the opposite wall of the guard.Shentu Jia didn't disturb the man, but just laid out his simple luggage, put the big iron stick and the kitchen knife and other utensils he brought with him on the side of the mat, then knelt down on the couch upright, thinking about his own thoughts .

I don't know how long it has passed, and Shentu Jia doesn't know how many times he has sacrificed his life for righteousness in his imagination, when he suddenly heard a noise in the courtyard, it must be that the guards on duty have returned. I only heard someone shouting loudly in the courtyard: "Old Hei, Old Hei, don't let his grandma sleep." Shentu Jia's roommate sat up in a daze, eyes still open, and said impatiently, "What?" Shentu Jia looked at this person up and down, and couldn't help secretly praising: "What a big stature." This guard called Old Hei was a fat man, standing a head taller than Shentu Jia, his fat body was like a door god.

The person outside the door asked again: "Is the new boy in your room?" Only then did Old Hei open his sleepy eyes, saw Shentu Jia sitting opposite him, and replied with another word: "Yes." It seemed that this Old Hei had a golden mouth that cherished words like gold, and his words were always one word. "Let him come out and show us men." Only then did Lao Hei stare at his two dull eyes that were as round as copper bells, and walked unsteadily to Shentujia's table, saying, "Let's go." Shentu Jia followed Lao Hei to the courtyard, and saw more than a dozen guards gathered in front of the door, some of them were wearing their headscarves on one side, and some had already removed their waist knives, obviously they had just been on duty.

The leader seemed to be a small boss, and he looked upright like a man, but there was an expression of malice on his face.Seeing Shentu Jia with his head held high and his chest upright, he was probably angry, and he pointed his finger at Shentu Jia's nose and said, "Are you that idiot who hit a pumpkin with a sledgehammer?" This question caused a burst of laughter from the crowd, and the man was very proud, and said again: "You kid thinks this is the West Market, and let you wait for a street stall to make a living? If you want to live in this mansion?" Come down, you kid has to show us something real."

After hearing what the man said, Shentu Jia couldn't help feeling a little nervous.In order to find Li Chonghuan back then, although he traveled to many places and met some capable warriors, but Princess Taiping's mansion is a place where dragons and tigers are hidden, so he dare not be careless.Moreover, he came here under the heavy trust of Li Chonghuan, let alone act arbitrarily. Thinking of this, he gave a square salute to everyone and said: "I just entered the mansion today, and I will take care of you in the future. Please stop joking." .” The leader was obviously dissatisfied, and shouted: "What's the point? Before you even entered this mansion, you became famous in Chang'an, and overwhelmed the prestige of our buddies. Since you are here today, you have to compete .Let's do this, without using force, just wrestling to see if you really have something to do."

While talking, someone had already handed over a jujube stick that was as thick as the rim of a teacup.Shentujia saw that the handshake part of the jujube stick had been worn to a purple-red glow, presumably this was their usual game. "Old Hei, come here." This old black must be the most powerful among them.He didn't answer, but just took off his coat, revealing his black flesh, reached out to hold both ends of the stick, and pushed the stick towards Shentu Jia. Shentujia had no way out now, if he did not accept the challenge, he would not be able to live in this courtyard any longer, so he bowed his hands to Old Hei, and went over Old Hei's hands to grab both ends of the wooden stick .

This action of Shentujia is a kind of courtesy.According to the rules of wrestling at that time, like Lao Hei, he held both ends of the wooden stick with both hands, and let the other party hold the waist of the wooden stick. This was called a "confrontation". let go.This is not like the usual wrestling with four hands crossed to hold the stick. It is called "wrong angle". When one party loses strength, he can let go.And in the "confrontation", the person holding the two ends of the stick will suffer more, so Shentu Jia has to reach out to hold the end of the stick.

Seeing that Shentu Jia was about to grab the end of the stick, Lao Hei waved the stick, signaling that he doesn't need to be humble, his dark face was full of disdain. This was really a contest of even strength. The two held the wooden sticks tightly, both wanting to pull the other side to their side, but neither of them thought that the other party had such great strength and such long endurance.After a stalemate for about a cup of tea, Shentujia discovered a misfortune. He was wearing a pair of extremely flimsy cloth shoes, which were different from the heavy hard leather boots on Lao Hei's feet. In comparison, not only did he not use any force, but the upper of the shoe had slowly cracked under his huge pedaling force.In this way, he would lose the match in a short while, thinking of this, Shentu Jia twisted the wooden stick with great reluctance.

Lao Hei discovered his intention.This is also a subtle skill in wrestling, which can cause the opponent to lose because of the stick's release, so Lao Hei put his hands on the two ends of the stick in opposite directions, and the two forces twisted in opposite directions at the same time. Hearing a click, the sturdy jujube stick was twisted into three pieces. Seeing this scene, everyone present was so shocked that they couldn't hold back their tongues, and then they couldn't help admiring. Lao Hei gave Shentu Jia a thumbs up. Although he didn't say a word, it could be seen that Lao Hei admired Shentu Jia very much.

Shentu Jia also crossed his hands and said to the old black man: "This brother is so strong, I can't hold it anymore." The little boss saw that there was nothing wrong with him, so he left angrily. On the first day Shentujia arrived at Princess Taiping's mansion, he made a splash and offended all the guards.