Siheyuan: Learning to be the sixth

Fang Zhouzi had no choice but to get up and answer the phone. He was still half asleep, but after picking up the phone...

"President, this is bad. Yesterday's members are here again, and there are more of them than yesterday."

Fang Zhouzi thought that because of Zhang Hu's shocking performance yesterday, word of mouth had spread among the members, and they were all rushing to join the club.

Fang Zhouzi was overjoyed and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Old Wu, don't rush to collect the money. I'll go collect it myself."

Hearing this, Wu Youde on the other end of the phone was also stunned. Could it be that Fang Zhouzi had drunk fake wine last night and was still not sober? Otherwise, why would he start daydreaming so early in the morning?

Looking at the aggressive crowd outside holding newspapers, without Lao Xiang who was "contributing his heart and soul", Wu Youde was afraid that he would be swallowed up by the violent crowd.

Then his eyes turned and a plan came to his mind.

"President, the members are eager to see you. You and Vice President Zhang should hurry up and come."

Fang Zhouzi also heard the noise of the crowd through the receiver and was extremely excited. He didn't even have time to reply to Wu Youde before he hurriedly hung up the phone and went to get dressed.

Wu Youde on the other end listened to the busy tone on the phone and whispered, "Lao Fang, I'm looking for you. Don't blame me if you misunderstood."

Here, Fang Zhouzi had almost rushed out of the door, but then he remembered that there was still Zhang Hu at home, and maybe he would need Zhang Hu to perform his special skills again today, so he retreated back, went to Zhang Hu's room, and grabbed him up.

Zhang Hu held his head with both hands and kept shouting:

"Uncle, I was wrong... Don't hit me in the face. I'm not a charlatan anymore. I'm the vice president. I want to save face..."

Fang Zhouzi looked at Zhang Hu, whose begging for mercy was as proficient as his own fickleness, and felt more and more that he was the chosen one and the smartest one.

"Zhang Hu, wake up, get up quickly, grab your things and follow me. Today is a big day. If you perform well today, you won't have to worry about food and drink this year."

Zhang Hu came to his senses after hearing this. Yes, he was now at Chairman Fang's house, and he was already the vice chairman, so he had to be confident.

So after getting up, he carefully tidied up his "Taoist robe" in front of the mirror. With this seriousness, I guess he believed that he was a real Taoist priest.

After going out, Fang Zhouzi carried Zhang Hu, who was heavier than him, for a distance, and secretly decided that after "fooling around" for a year, he had to get a car to drive, otherwise it would be too tiring.

When they came to the association compound again, Wu Youde shouted, "Stop arguing, President Fang is here."

In an instant, the noisy and chattering sounds of an ordinary vegetable market suddenly quieted down.

Fang Zhouzai saw that each of the members was holding a newspaper, and thought that Zhang Hu’s “miracle” yesterday was reported in the newspaper, so he parked his bicycle at the door, tidied his clothes, and walked into the yard with his head held high.

Seeing that they had nothing to do with it, Wu Youde and Lao Xiang quietly moved away from the crowd. They thought things were not going well so they could escape, otherwise they would easily be covered in blood.

The further Fang Zhouzi walked through the crowd, the more he felt something was wrong, because what he saw in their eyes was not fanaticism, but anger.

When he came to the crowd, he had no time to speak.

“Swindler, give your money back…Swindler, give your money back…Swindler, give your money back…”

Zhang Hu was frightened by the loud shout and quickly retreated one step behind Fang Zhouzi.

Fang Zhouzi didn't know what was going on, but his intuition told him that he had to hold on, otherwise he would end up lying down today.

So he pretended to be calm and said: "Members, is there any misunderstanding? Can anyone tell me what happened?"

The elderly member in the front row angrily stuffed the newspaper in his hand into Fang Zhouzi's arms and shouted: "Look for yourself, you little bastard."

Fang Zhouzi quickly caught the newspaper that was about to fall to the ground. When he picked it up and took a look, he felt a warm current rushing straight to his head.

The headline on the front page of the official newspaper with the largest sales volume in Shanghai read: "Swindling tricks, revealed: taking copper coins from a frying pan."

An entire page is used to describe in detail the process of taking copper coins out of the oil pan. At the end, it kindly reminds everyone to prevent being deceived, starting with me.

Fang Zhouzi's mind was spinning rapidly at the moment. He didn't care whether this report was directed at him, but he had to come up with a solution quickly.

Originally, the newspaper was going to report the photos taken secretly yesterday, but under Lao Cao's instructions, the photos were withdrawn.

Meng Xuhui also asked: "Old leader, what should we do if these members are being cheated?"

Lao Cao replied calmly: "Xiao Meng, for these people, if you don't make them feel pain once and make them remember it deeply, they will not change. From the overall perspective, it is worth saving most people and sacrificing a few."

"I have someone keep an eye on Fang Zhouzi's every move. They won't lose too much money."

Although Meng Xuhui felt that this was a bit cruel, it was better than them not only cheating him but also cheating his relatives and friends.

Returning to the scene again, Fang Zhouzai really had no other choice but to bet on Zhang Hu. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth is in the hands of God. He had to take the gamble.

"Members, I don't know who is maliciously slandering our association, but in order to let everyone see the results, I will let Master Zhang show his signature skills to prove his innocence."

"Since Master Zhang has many unique skills, let me discuss with him which skill is suitable for him to perform today."

It must be said that the people who were recruited as members by Fang Zhouzai were somewhat stupid. Just after his few short sentences, most of the people in the crowd began to question the official and chose to believe Fang Zhouzai.

It really proves the old saying that there must be something hateful about a pitiful person.

Fang Zhouzi saw that the crowd had quieted down a lot, so he quickly pulled Zhang Hu aside.

"Zhang Hu, besides taking things out of the oil pan, do you know anything else? You've seen what happened today. If you succeed, we can eat meat together. If you fail, you and I will be beaten to death."

Zhang Hu, who was afraid of death, thought for a moment and said, "Brother Fang, I also know how to use the rope, but I learned it secretly and only succeeded two or three times."

Fang Zhouzi didn't give Zhang Hu any time to think and made the decision right away.

"Zhang Hu, this is it. If you want to survive, you must succeed."

Zhang Hu had no choice but to grit his teeth and nod.

"Members, after discussing with Master Zhang and making some calculations, Master Zhang is going to show you the rope to heaven, which is Master Zhang's specialty."