About a quarter of an hour later, Wang Wenzuo began to hear the faint crows of many fighting cocks in the distance. And as he approached a moor, the incredible chorus of cries became louder and louder; he smelled the scent of wine and the many horses and donkeys tied to stakes, snorting, snorting, and stampeding. and wagging their tails, and many people were chatting.
"We're here, right here!"
Jin Renwen jumped off the horse with great interest to relieve the stiffness and numbness in his knees. Wang Wenzuo looked left and right, and he could see the poor man in ragged clothes and the young man from Wuling wearing bright clothes and angry horses, but at this moment they were mixed together, and there seemed to be no difference, while the cries of hundreds of fighting cocks seemed to be in a show There was a screaming contest, and the air was filled with the spicy smell of illegally brewed alcohol.
"Don't just stand there, little guy! Come and help these chickens relax and rejuvenate their bones!" shouted an old man in civilian clothes who had just stopped the carriage. The young man on the side hurriedly opened the chicken coop and handed the fighting cocks that were pecking and crowing angrily to the old man. He then massaged the feet and wings of each chicken. After taking the last chicken, the old man said: "Go quickly and get some good corn to give these fighting cocks their last meal."
At this time, the old man happened to see Wang Wenzuo looking at him, smiled at Wang Wenzuo, and immediately shouted to the young man: "Don't be lazy!" He shouted loudly, "You are cheating on the cockfighting now, and the cockfighting is on I lied to you!”
"This old man must have come all the way from afar and is a good player!" Jin Renwen asked with a smile: "It seems that today's visit was not in vain, Sanlang, do you want to play a trick too?"
"Playing two hands? I don't have a fighting cock!"
"I mean betting!" Jin Renwen said with a smile: "When the cockfight starts later, we can all bet!"
Wang Wenzuo looked around, and everywhere he looked there were excited faces. There were dozens of chicken coops beside each carriage, containing various types of fighting cocks with feathers ranging from snow white to carbon black, and even more colorful. The variety of colors is unimaginable.
There was a large circular square in the center of the crowd, with a depression about two feet deep in the middle, surrounded by soft cushions. A small circle was drawn in the center of the solid red earth tamping platform, and a straight line with equal distance was drawn on both sides. That's the cockfighting ring! Noisy people are looking for seats on the slopes of the outer ring, and many people are exchanging wine bags in their hands. A man in brown clothes nearby shouted loudly: "Everyone, everyone, please sit down, the game will officially start in a quarter of an hour!"
People were sitting down and it was crowded. The two found a place to sit down and saw two people walking out of the field, each holding a fighting cock in their arms. Suddenly, there were shouts and shouts from the audience: "Red chicken, ten strings!"... "Follow!"... "Yellow chicken, twenty strings!"... "Follow five strings!"... "Five more!"..."Betting is over!" When the clamor became louder and more rhythmic, Wang Wenzuo saw two chickens being weighed on the scale, and then the referee declared that the two chickens were The difference in weight is no more than two taels.
"Why is this?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"For the sake of fairness!" Jin Renwen stared at the fighting cocks in the field with interest: "If the weight difference between the two chickens is too big, it would be unfair. Only chickens whose weight difference does not exceed two taels can be compared!"... ."This cockfighting competition is really regular, and there are actually weight classes!" Wang Wenzuo thought to himself.
"Get your chickens in place and everyone else out!" someone yelled from the side of the cockfighting ring. Then he and the other two people sat cross-legged outside the racing pen, while the two chicken owners squatted in the circle, holding their chickens tightly in their hands, allowing them to be close enough to each other to try pecking for a while.
"Get ready!" The two chicken owners each retreated, then pressed the chicken to the ground, preparing to fight the other side with all their strength.
"start!"
At the command, the two chickens immediately rushed towards each other with great force, causing both chickens to bounce back. But less than a second later, they came back again. They jumped up, clawing at random in mid-air with their feet covered with steel bars. After they both fell to the ground, they flew up again to fight. Suddenly, the entire cockfighting ring was filled with flying feathers.
"The red one is injured!" someone yelled loudly, and Wang Wenzuo watched with bated breath as the two chicken owners grabbed their chickens, inspected them quickly and then put them back. The injured and desperate red gamecock jumped a little higher than his opponent, and suddenly, his scissor-like feet stabbed the blue gamecock's head with a steel spat. The blue chicken immediately fell to the ground, flapped its wings convulsively for a few times and then died. Amidst a mixture of excited cheers and rough curses, Wang Wenzuo heard the referee’s final announcement: “The winner is Wang He’s chicken!”
Wang Wenzuo could hear the rapid breathing coming from beside him, and he suspected that Jin Renwen was not so nervous on the battlefield. He saw that the next duel was over even faster, with the chicken owner angrily throwing the bloody body of his defeated chicken aside as if it were a rag. "Once a chicken dies, it becomes nothing." Someone behind him sighed. When the seventh game ended, one person shouted: "Li Shangwen's chicken!"
Wang Wenzuo saw an old man in civilian clothes walking into the arena with a chicken in his arm. It was the old man who had just told the young man to massage the cockfighting. The old man and his rival were weighing the chickens next to the cockfighting ring, and then putting steel bars on the cocks amidst a loud noise of betting.
After the "Start!" command was given, the two chickens collided head-on; after being thrown into the air and then falling to the ground, they began to fight furiously, luring the enemy into feigning attacks, and twisting their necks like snakes. Take advantage of the weakness and attack. They surged upward again, beating each other with their wings - and then both hit the ground. The old man's fighting cock was shaking unsteadily, and it was obviously poked by the steel spur! But a few seconds later, there was another hurricane-like sprint in the air. The old man's fighting cock pressed down its steel span and dealt a fatal blow to the opponent.
The old man grabbed his chicken, which was still crowing triumphantly, and ran back into the crowd, back to his carriage. Wang Wenzuo only vaguely heard: "The winner is Li Shangwen's chicken." Then he saw the old man grabbing the bleeding fighting cock, his fingers quickly exploring its body for injuries, and then he put his lips to it and puffed out his cheeks. Use all your strength to suck out the blood clots from the injury. Suddenly, he pushed the chicken in front of the young man who was traveling with him and yelled at him: "Pee on it! It's right here!" The panicked young man did as he was told, and his urine not only covered the chicken's body, but also covered the old man's hands. Same goes for above. Then the old man placed the chicken gently among the soft straw in a bamboo basket. Then he said to the young man: "Boy, catch that chicken, the one in the orange basket!"
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Chris Webber reminds you: Remember to collect after reading this