Chapter 38: A Little Trick! Let’s Go!

Liu Yongfu and the others weren’t very interested in what Sima Tai called a “little trick,” especially after seeing Sima Tai and Liu Suiyun’s indifferent expressions. They lacked enthusiasm but didn’t want to refuse either—“It’s fine to take a look.”
Jingshiyi and Sima Tai were both extremely proud people; neither liked the other stealing the spotlight. As soon as they met, tensions arose. Now, Jingshiyi deliberately wanted to show off: “Fellow soldiers from Xiliu Camp, let me demonstrate something to broaden your horizons.”
Colonel Jeken beside him encouraged the crowd, “Come and take a look!”
Although Jingshiyi was lively by nature, he had an excellent mind and learned quickly. Sima Tai had learned six to seven hundred characters in just over three months, which was already quite good, but Jingshiyi had mastered over 1,500 characters, leaving Sima Tai far behind.
What pleased Colonel Jeken even more was that Jingshiyi was naturally interested in and talented with machine guns and similar devices. He had only taught Jingshiyi for a week, and the latter could already operate the lathes independently. His interest and talent in firearms were even greater.
By now, a crowd had gathered, but everyone seemed accustomed to Jingshiyi’s performances.
Liu Yongfu and the others regretted their decision—it was just a half-grown boy, even younger than Liu Suiyun. They were more interested in Colonel Jeken beside them.
However, Colonel Jeken was always surrounded by his signature wine bottle, though now he switched to locally brewed yellow wine. His strong smell of alcohol disappointed Liu Yongfu and the others.
From Sima Tai and the others’ reactions, it seemed this “little trick” wasn’t very appealing either. Everyone gathered quietly, showing little interest.
Just as Liu Yongfu was about to leave, the performance began.
It was another Remington rifle, which even made Yang Zhenen angry—were there so many rifles in Xiliu Camp that they couldn’t keep them all?! Even children had one each.
Then, he became interested again. He saw Jingshiyi set down the rifle and take out a black cloth to wrap around his head several times. What was he doing? He glanced around quickly. The people of Xiliu Camp were doing as usual, showing no signs of discomfort. Sima Tai even wore a mocking expression as he took out a rare pocket watch, seemingly to time Jingshiyi’s actions.
Liu Yongfu also didn’t understand, but he was now intrigued and watched every move of Jingshiyi.
After wrapping his head with the black cloth, Jingshiyi picked up the rifle and began disassembling it—something everyone in Xiliu Camp had seen countless times. His movements seemed faster than yesterday. The complex Remington rifle was slowly taken apart piece by piece in his hands.
He removed the bolt, earning no cheers, but several officers from the Black Flag Army were astonished—could a Remington rifle be handled like that?
His movements were smooth, but in the eyes of the people in Xiliu Camp, they didn’t seem any different from yesterday or the day before. They paled in comparison to Liu Yu’s astonishing skills.

It went smoothly—the Remington rifle had been disassembled into its parts. Liu Yongfu and Liu Chengyong exchanged glances, then took another close look at Jing Shiyi. He was indeed still just a child! By his appearance, he seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen years old. Everyone around him appeared indifferent, so no wonder they might have been mistaken. Wu Fengdian and Yang Zhenen were completely stunned; they couldn’t believe that the seemingly innocent Jing Shiyi could pull off such a feat. What followed left them even more astonished—Jing Shiyi began assembling the rifle parts by feel, his movements smooth, as if he had practiced countless times, even smoother than Colonel Jackon’s performance. This truly shocked Liu Yongfu to the point of numbness. He watched Jing Shiyi assemble the rifle step by step. Although his speed gradually slowed down, not a single mistake occurred. Good heavens! What kind of genius was this? No one in the Black Flag Army had ever done this with a Remington rifle—how deep must his understanding of rifles be? Without hundreds or thousands of attempts at disassembling and reassembling it by hand, how could he do this? Looking around again, everyone remained calm, showing no reaction, as if what Jing Shiyi was doing was completely normal. He took a deep breath, looking at the rifle parts on the ground, thinking, “It gets harder as it goes on. He definitely won’t make it in the end.” He expected to be utterly disappointed. Although Jing Shiyi’s speed slowed more and more, sometimes taking a long time to complete the disassembly and assembly, in the end, not a single part was left out, and the rifle was fully reassembled. The audience didn’t even applaud. There was nothing to do—after seeing it so many times, they had become completely numb. Ever since Jing Shiyi learned this skill, he practiced it every day to show off. At first, everyone was very interested. But when Roosevelt invited reporters to eat sandwiches, the first thought was one of honor, the second was reluctant acceptance, and the third was difficulty swallowing it. Jing Shiyi had performed this at least twenty times, every day, and no one took it seriously anymore. Especially once when Liu Yu demonstrated disassembling and reassembling a Remington rifle in just one minute, while Jing Shiyi, despite practicing for so many days, still couldn’t break the ten-minute mark. It wasn’t that he lacked talent; it was just that Liu Yu had practiced this so much in his past life that he had an instinctive reaction as soon as he got hold of a rifle—purely due to familiarity. Moreover, this skill wasn’t monopolized by Jing Shiyi alone. With enough practice at disassembling and reassembling rifles by hand, a few others could also manage to do it roughly, after all, with thousands or tens of thousands of repetitions, any ordinary person could master this skill. Sima Tai beside him was full of gossip. He checked his pocket watch and said to Jing Shiyi, who was removing the black cloth, “It’s a full minute slower than the fastest time ever recorded. There’s nothing worth seeing. Let’s go.” Over there, Jackon was still holding a bottle of wine, desperately trying to attract attention for Jing Shiyi: “The best part is yet to come. If it’s not impressive enough, I’ll buy everyone drinks.” “Let’s go! What’s the use of such a trivial trick?” But Liu Yongfu and the others couldn’t move. They had only one thought: Was this really considered a trivial trick? What would the best part be? They absolutely had to see it!