Rock Springs, Wyoming, 1881

The town is small, and more than a decade ago it was a small carriage station, but since the discovery of the coal mine, more people have settled here. Most of them were miners, as well as merchants who provided them with food, clothing, shelter and transportation.

You can find everything you need in a late 19th-century western town, from grocery stores, police offices, pubs, and even girls who provide "special services" to miners.

At this time, the night has covered the town, but the tavern in the center of the town is brightly lit.

"Who's next?"

The big man with stubble on his face pulled out the sharp dagger stuck upside down on the table with one hand, and took all the money on the table to his side with the other.

Blood was dripping from the dagger, and the owner of the blood was clutching his fingers as he walked out of the hotel, and he had to try his luck at the grocery store in town, or else a few dollars would be a small loss, and tetanus and wound infections would soon kill him.

What they just did was a game called "Knife Insertion".

"Johnny, your wine." The tavern owner walked around the bar and handed a glass of whiskey to the big man, "It's almost enough to make extra money, there's no one here to match you." ”

The white miners were staring wide-eyed, no one wanted to get up, but a few were whistling and heckling.

Johnny took another sip and began to sweep his gaze unscrupulously over the tavern, eventually stopping at a few Chinese miners in the corner.

There are even more Chinese than whites in this town, but they work longer in the mines. And, during the short rest period, they prefer to stay in their own quarters with their compatriots. Even when they came to the tavern occasionally, the Chinese miners were reluctant to speak too loudly, and often just sat silently in the corner, chatting about their topics.

At this time, the current performance of these Chinese miners is obviously in line with Johnny's consistent cognition.

They stared blankly in Johnny's direction, their eyes vacant.

"Johnny, you're not going to even ask for money from these 'yellow mules', are you?" Behind Johnny a white miner spoke in tongues and laughed rudely.

Johnny snorted dismissively.

The Chinese miners bowed their heads. Except for one person.

A young miner stood up, his upper body almost naked, clad only in a coal-stained, half-black linen vest, his well-proportioned and muscular figure, glowing with a bronze glow in the light of the tavern's light.

He picked up a sack and turned to walk towards the door.

The laughter of everyone behind Johnny was even more unbridled.

"Hey! Hey! That one! Johnny was disgruntled and shouted at the young miner.

The young man ignored it and continued to walk towards the door. A white miner rushed up and tried to grab the young man.

But the young man suddenly froze, his body slightly off, and the miner suddenly threw himself into the air, and his head hit the doorpost.

"Sir, I'm going back to pancakes, and I don't have time to play with you." A sentence came from standard English, gentle and polite, and it didn't even quite match his image.

Johnny was stunned for a moment, but quickly returned to his original expression: "Boy, come and play, soon, if you don't have money, you can take credit, after all, you are used to it, hahahaha!" ”

The cloth bag was rested on the table, and the young man had already turned around at this time, with sharp facial features, eyebrows like sword sharpening, a torch in his heart, and a light in his eyes.

"Uncle, take care of my wheat flour for me." The young man whispered.

"Jianqiu, don't go!" The white-bearded old man at the table shook his head at the young man with a cigarette pouch in his hand, and said in Chinese, "This man came from the south, and it is said that he used to be a well-known cowboy, and now he is a gunslinger under Sheriff Morris, and no one has ever played with a knife for hundreds of miles." ”

Chen Jianqiu didn't seem to hear the old man's instructions, he walked straight to Johnny's table and sat down.

Johnny pulled $10 out of his arms and slapped it on the table.

"Boy, win me, and the $10 will be yours."

The eyes of the people behind him were straight, and some people couldn't help but swallow their saliva, and the miners' monthly salary was only 40 US dollars.

Johnny spread one hand out on the table, and the other hand held the dagger and stabbed it towards the table. The tip of the dagger dances back and forth between the fingers, like a butterfly through a flower, which is dizzying.

There was a pocket watch on the table, and the second hand was ticking.

The dagger stopped and slammed into the table.

"20 seconds!" A group of white miners behind the table exclaimed.

Chen Jianqiu's expression didn't change much.

He fumbled in his arms for a while, and slowly pulled out a twenty-five cent coin and placed it on the table. The other hand pulled out the dagger, the tip of the dagger hesitating between the fingers, as if unsure of which way to start.

The crowd around the table erupted in laughter and gruff language.

"Little chick, you haven't taken a knife, have you?"

"'Skinny pig', let's go home and play your XX, ahhahahaha!"

"I'm going to add it too, hahaha"

The dagger fell, between the thumb and forefinger, then slowly lifted and moved behind the thumb.

The laughter was wilder and harsher. The Chinese miners sitting in the corner weighed their heads even lower, they had become accustomed to all kinds of insults since they came to the United States, and they chose to continue to endure.

Johnny's eyes narrowed, he first looked at the pocket watch on the table, 10 seconds had passed, and he thought that it would be more interesting to humiliate the young man in front of him later.

Chen Jianqiu's neck moved, and he loosened his shoulders.

Suddenly, the muscles in the arm in which he held the dagger began to throb, and the dagger moved suddenly. The crowd didn't even see his movements clearly, only the sound of the tip of the knife nailed to the wooden table.

By the time everyone came to their senses, the dagger had been stuck upside down in the center of the table.

The tavern fell silent for a moment, until someone staring at the pocket watch on the table reported the time of the operation.

"Fifteen seconds!"

Everyone was stupid.

"No way, this kid cheats!" A white miner stepped forward, leaned on the table and began to observe, but the few knife marks on the table proved that Chen Jianqiu's shot was not only swift but also accurate.

Chen Jianqiu didn't seem to see any expression on his face, he stood up, picked up his own coin on the table, took the $10 from Johnny's face, shook it at Johnny, and put it into his coat: "Thanks, brother." ”

Johnny's face, I don't know if it was because of the strength of the wine, or because of the annoyance, swollen and red, he grabbed Chen Jianqiu's wrist.

"Dude, do you want to play another game?"

Chen Jianqiu was stunned for a moment, he glanced at Johnny and the somewhat unconvinced white miners behind him, and then at the pocket watch on the table.

Suddenly laughed.

"Alright then, sir, but I can't delay too long, I have to go back at 9 o'clock to prepare tomorrow's breakfast."

Johnny reached for the dagger on the table, but suddenly felt a tightness on his wrist, it turned out that his hand was firmly grasped by the young man in front of him, and he couldn't move at all.

The smile on Chen Jianqiu's face became more and more obvious: "Otherwise, let's make a more exciting bet." ”

"Let's take a gamble."

Johnny only felt the figure in front of him flicker, and another dagger was inserted on the table, and he subconsciously glanced at his waist, where there was only an empty dagger sleeve.

Chen Jianqiu pulled out the dagger and swung it with a knife, adding an extra piece of cloth to his hand as if he was doing a trick. The original owner of the cloth was the white miner who had just come up, and now he looked at his empty cuffs, and dared not speak angrily.

The young man blindfolded himself with strips of cloth, put his left hand on the table, picked up the dagger with his right hand, and thrust it into his fingers, quickly and accurately.

After the two knives had passed, Chen Jianqiu played a flower knife, threw the dagger high, and pulled out another dagger on the table with his right hand, continuing his performance.

The daggers were inserted faster and faster, and everyone only felt that the two daggers on the table were only remnants, flying up and down, which was very beautiful.

Everyone froze until two daggers "thumped" in front of Johnny.

No one paid attention to the time on the pocket watch anymore, but Chen Jianqiu took off the cloth on his eyes and made a "please" gesture to Johnny.

By this time, Johnny's face had turned the color of pig liver, and he trembled to pull out the dagger in front of him, and picked up the cloth and blindfolded him.

A few seconds later, a muffled grunt was heard, and sure enough, the dagger was stuck in Johnny's hand, leaving blood from the wound.

The young man stood up, grabbed another dagger on the table, walked up to the white miner who was shouting just now, and stared at him: "Just now, you said you wanted to increase the size, right?" Or are you calling me a 'yellow mule'? ”

The white miner shook his head like a rattle, but he suddenly felt a flower in front of him, and there was a big opening on the back of his hand.

The miner clutched his hands and began to wail.

Chen Jianqiu didn't look at them again, he picked up his bag of wheat flour, whistled in the shock of the crowd, and walked out of the tavern door, but no one stopped him.

There was a hazy mist on the streets of Shiquan Town, and the air was filled with the smell of dust.

Chen Jianqiu, who was carrying a cloth bag, stood at the door of the tavern, thinking about how to spend the $10 he earned, but he was suddenly hit by someone behind him.

He jerked his head back and saw a black man in miner's clothes shaking his head drunkenly. Seeing Chen Jianqiu turn his head, the black man straightened up very embarrassedly, straightened out the waistcoat that had been knocked a little crooked for him, and then patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, brother, I drank too much and didn't see you in front of me."

Chen Jianqiu smiled and showed that he didn't mind, and the black man continued to walk out staggeringly.

But within a few seconds, Chen Jianqiu suddenly felt that something was not right, and he put his hand into his arms.

Really! The $10 was gone.

", don't run!"