Chapter 21: Struggle

  When Tang Yi arrived at the hostel, he asked for a single room as usual, which was equivalent to a standard room in a star-rated hotel. At that time, it only cost 20 yuan per night. However, the front desk sister was kind-hearted and saw Tang Yi's migrant worker attire, so she gave him the key to a four-person room on the second floor without saying a word. She even complained, "It's not easy to make money outside, can't you just save some? Isn't the four-person room good enough?" It seemed that if Tang Yi insisted any further, he would be criticized for being extravagant and wasteful. After all, Tang Yi's ID was also registered in the town.

  Helpless, Tang Yi had to move into a four-person room on the second floor, five yuan, the environment was good, with two beds on each side of the room, and there was even a small color TV on the table between the beds. However, taking a bath required going to the public bathroom. Tang Yi's whole body felt sticky and uncomfortable, but he couldn't care about being particular anymore. He took a bath together with a group of other guests who were also naked, changed into his own clothes, and lay down on the bed. Although the hostel did well in terms of hygiene, Tang Yi was still unwilling to cover himself with a quilt that had been used by others. After all, at that time, the disinfection measures in the county hotel were not yet in place.

  Today's luck is not bad, no snoring guests were encountered. The thick curtains blocked the bright moonlight outside the window, and the room was pitch black. Tang Yi couldn't sleep, thinking about the various problems he had encountered in the reform these days. The canning factory has basically gotten on the right track, there's nothing to worry about, but the paper box factory is not a problem that can be solved by simply changing the leadership team. Its equipment is too outdated and urgently needs an investment of funds to introduce new equipment, otherwise it might as well go bankrupt directly.

  The amount of money wasn't that much, just a few hundred thousand yuan, but at the time it was a huge sum. After all, in those years, having a million yuan was still the standard for being considered rich. Of course, Tang Yi could afford to pay this amount, but he didn't want his own funds and the companies under his management to be linked together in any way, lest they become entangled in the future and lead to trouble, even if it was done with good intentions.

  Tang Yizheng was lost in thought when the door suddenly creaked open with a loud bang, kicked open from outside. The people inside were startled and sat up, asking: "Who?"

  "What do you do?"

  Tang Yi suddenly sat up, only to see several black shadows rushing in from outside the door. Before he could react, those black shadows had already pounced on him. He then felt his hands and feet being tightly twisted by someone, and the light cord was pulled once, causing the fluorescent lamp to flicker, and the room immediately lit up brightly.

  Tang Yi's head was pressed firmly on the bed, unable to see what was happening. He struggled a few times, but his arms were twisted behind him and pulled upwards with great force, causing Tang Yi to gasp in pain, feeling that if the person used any more strength, his arm might be twisted off.

  "It's him, it's this little rascal who's been acting shamelessly and offending my sister!"

  His hair was suddenly pulled by someone, and his scalp hurt. He involuntarily raised his head to see several people wearing green uniforms with red "lianfang" armbands twisting him around, in front of him was Xu Zhengyang with a jealous face.

  The receptionist sister in the blue suit stood aside, holding a bunch of keys, with a tone of sympathy and suspicion: "Is it really him? I don't think he looks like that kind of person."

  "Sister, if good and bad people can be told apart by their faces, what's the point of having us police?!" A security guard with a small crew cut smiled and said to several joint defense team members: "Team leader Zhang is waiting, take them away!"

  Tang Yi looked at Xue Zhengyang with a faint smile. This kid must have seen through his own and Qi Jie's subtle relationship, and had come to pick him up with friends.

  Looking at Tang Yi's smile, Xu Zhengyang felt uncomfortable in his heart. He had thought that Tang Yi would definitely be scared and beg for mercy from him, but unexpectedly, Tang Yi seemed to be not afraid at all, instead revealing such an extremely detestable smile, making Xu Zhengyang feel deprived of the joy that a victor should have.

  Xu Zhengyang hummed and walked to Tang Yi's side, his face close to Tang Yi's ear, lowering his voice, viciously saying: "You little brat! Just you wait and see how I'll deal with you calling me Grandpa!"

  Tang Yi's face still wore that smile, and he didn't say a word, which made Xu Zhengyang feel even more stifled. His display of strength seemed to have no intimidating effect.

  The joint defense team dragged Tang Yi out the door, and before leaving, Xiao Ping's head smiled at those few trembling guests: "Sorry, you guys rest well, don't be afraid, we are serving the people, good people like you are not our dictatorship targets."

  Tang Yi smiled and shook his head, this kid is quite poor, doesn't seem like a bad person either.

  "What are you laughing at?" The person behind Tang Yi exerted force, and Tang Yi's body arched, his head lowered. The guests in the corridor retreated far away, but they all curiously watched this good show of police catching a bad guy.

  Soon, Tang Yi was dragged to the second floor service staff's rest room. It seems that this place has temporarily become an interrogation room. There were several people sitting on the sofa, and in front of the sofa there was a table with paper and pen, probably preparing to take a statement.

  "Squat down!" The joint defense officer pushed Tang Yi heavily into the corner, and Xiao Pingtou, who was sitting in the middle of the sofa with his legs crossed, said to Zhang Dui: "This is the suspect."

  "Officer Zhang, this kid is not quite honest, take him away first!" One of the joint defense team members pulled out a shiny pair of handcuffs from behind his back and prepared to cuff Tang Yi to the heating pipe in the corner.

  Tang Yi looked up and also saw the fat man sitting in the middle of the sofa, and couldn't help but smile again. He thought it was some big shot taking advantage of his position for personal gain, but it turned out to be him. How did he always manage to get himself into such unseemly situations?

  Fat Zhang's mouth was agape, staring at Tang Yi as if he had seen a ghost. It wasn't until the joint defense officer walked over to prepare for interrogation that he suddenly came back to his senses and shouted: "Wait! Wait!"

  He wasn't someone else, but Zhang Ziqiang himself. Xu Zhengyang was a distant relative of his and they would often drink together during holidays and festivals. Xu had given him many red envelopes over the years. Just as Zhang was on duty, he received a call from Xu saying that he needed to pick up someone who didn't have any background, just a street thug. Zhang didn't ask any questions and immediately brought his team over. He had just finished counting the 500 yuan in red envelopes that Xu had given him and was savoring the moment when he saw Tang Yi being dragged in. He couldn't believe his eyes and rubbed them several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he thought, "What's going on? The last time we didn't even have a chance to explain ourselves, and now I've been trying my best to curry favor with Captain Chen Da, hoping he would put in a good word for me. How did it come to this? Am I the one who's sick or is he?" He thought to himself, "He's supposed to be the town secretary, but he's clearly my nemesis!"

  Xu Zhengyang was very proud of himself. He made up his mind to let Tang Yi know what kind of person he was, and let him understand what it means to be capable, and who cannot be offended!

  "Zhang Ge, since he molested my sister, shouldn't we ask the brothers to leave and you interrogate him alone? If too many people hear about this, my sister will be unable to hold her head up." Xu Zhengyang was thinking of sending the people away so that he could take advantage of Tang Yi. At that time, the Ministry of Public Security had not yet established the regulation that two police officers must be present when interrogating a suspect, which also made it convenient for some rogue police officers to extort confessions through torture.

  "Alright, alright, all of you get out!" Zhang Ziqiang felt his legs go weak and he couldn't stand up anymore, but in his heart he knew this matter couldn't be spread around.

  The other guards all laughed and walked out. Xiao Ping looked at Tang Yi, hesitated for a moment, and finally also left the rest room, closing the door tightly behind him.

  Xu Zhengyang walked towards Tang Yi with a triumphant smile: "You little brat, you said you're something, but my girlfriend you also dare to touch! Are you tired of living?"

  Zhang Ziqiang, who was preparing to plead for leniency, almost jumped up when he suddenly heard Xu Zhengyang's words. The feeling was like a drowning person being kicked again and unable to float back up to the surface.

  Xu Zhengyang walked up to Tang Yi's side, grabbed a handful of Tang Yi's hair, and viciously said to his face: "If you kneel down for me now, call me 'grandfather' three times, and promise not to see Qiao Jie again, I'll let you off! Otherwise, today will be the day I teach you a lesson, you little brat!"

  Zhang Ziqiang was stunned, stupid, and had the heart to commit suicide. Suddenly, he didn't know where the strength came from, and with a swoosh, he jumped up like a lion and pounced on Xu Zhengyang, kicking him hard in the waist. Xu Zhengyang let out an "ah" as he was kicked into the mud. It seemed that Zhang Ziqiang had miraculously recovered his former skills from police school at this critical moment.

  Tang Yi patted the dirt off his body, smoothed out his somewhat disheveled hair, and smiled at Zhang Ziqiang: "Well done, quite impressive, quite intimidating, you're really a big shot, a formidable master!"

  He said that, and didn't pay attention to him anymore. He turned around, opened the door of the rest room, and walked out. Several security guards at the door looked at him strangely. A small head poked in and asked, "Officer Zhang, are you just letting him go like this?" Seeing Zhang Ziqiang nodding listlessly, although he was puzzled, he also turned around and waved his hand. The several security guards who had stretched out their arms to block Tang Yi's way finally let him pass.

  In the rest room, Xu Zhengyang got up with a hum and scolded: "Zhang Ge, are you crazy? Why did you kick me? Ah? I said why did you let him go?"

  Zhang Ziqiang cursed the heavens, the earth and society, and with a loud wail, he fell to the ground. Upon hearing Xu Zhengyang's words, his anger reached new heights, and with a fierce kick, he shouted: "Your mother is crazy! I think you're my nemesis!" He kicked Xu Zhengyang to the ground, but still unsatisfied, he continued to kick him repeatedly until Xu Zhengyang begged for mercy. After kicking him several more times, Zhang Ziqiang finally stopped, panting and cursing: "Do you know who he is? Tang Yi from Chenjiadun! You only know how to play with women! I'm going to kill you! I've been ruined by you!" As he spoke, he kicked Xu Zhengyang again.

  What does this chapter title mean? Two piles of feces fighting each other.