Chapter 404: Pleasant
It was daybreak.
Hong Jiu squatted in the ditch near Shanxi Lane. He didn't care whether the stream water that flowed through thousands of households was dirty or not. He stretched out his arms and scooped up one scoop after another with a broken clay pot, scrubbing it from head to toe.
His skin was nearly broken from rubbing so much, and looking at the reflection of the emerald green water, he tidied up his messy hair. Feeling that he looked like a decent human being, he straightened his back with satisfaction.
Of course, this only satisfied him. In fact, no matter how much he washed his shabby clothes, he could not get rid of his identity as a beggar.
That's right, Hong Jiu is a beggar, and a 'famous beggar' at that - one of the most famous beggars around Shanxi Lane.
The reason why he became a "famous beggar" was that although he was more lazy than others, he could always make good profits with his eloquent mouth and live a hundred times more comfortably than others.
"Ninth brother, ninth brother!"
At this moment, two little beggars came running over. Before they got close, one of them, about fourteen or fifteen years old, held up the broken bowl covered with a wooden board in his arms and said proudly, "Brother Jiu, listen to this voice, it's definitely festive!"
"Caught?!"
Hong Jiu was overjoyed when he heard this. He strode towards the two of them, staring at the broken bowl with burning eyes, as if he was looking at some treasure pot.
"Of course! Brother, if I take action, can you still run away?"
The little beggar boasted to himself as he carefully opened a crack in the bowl. He saw a magpie sticking its head out of the bowl, calling "dregs, dregs" non-stop.
"It's all there!"
Hong Jiu laughed, stretched out his hand to grab the magpie from the bowl, tied it up with a straw rope and held it in his arms, raised his hand and said, "Come on, Brother Jiu will take you to please others!"
"Let's go and please each other~!"
The two little beggars were cheering and followed Hong Jiu through the streets and alleys until they arrived at the gate of an inconspicuous courtyard.
Hong Jiu stopped and made a gesture to keep quiet. He took out the magpie from his arms, stroked its feathers, and said, "My good friend, you have to work hard today. Otherwise, if Jiu Ge can't get the wedding money, he will have to use you as a snack."
As they were talking, the two little beggars were already squatting side by side in the corner. Hong Jiu was not polite either. He stepped on their shoulders and climbed to the top of the wall. He placed the magpie on the wall and pressed the straw rope tied to the magpie under the tiles.
After setting up the mechanism, he leaned over the wall and looked inside for a few times. He saw a few red double happiness pictures on the window of the inner room. He jumped down happily and said with a grin, "Second son, you are really a good boy. You are getting married today!"
The second son rubbed his shoulders and showed off proudly: "Of course not, I heard it from the old woman myself, how could it be false?!"
The little beggar next to him also competed to show off his achievements, saying, "What's your achievement? If I hadn't discovered that there were two beautiful girls hiding in this house, and that a high-ranking official would come to visit from time to time, would you have come here specifically to inquire about the news?"
"But you insisted that it was the 'outer house'. If I hadn't found out, then my sister would have been a concubine to be married, wouldn't I have missed it..."
"alright!"
Seeing the two quarreling, Hong Jiu scolded impatiently: "This magpie didn't even make a sound, but you two scumbags are making endless noise!"
The two little beggars quickly stopped talking.
But after a while, they heard some rapid and loud creaking sounds from the top of the wall.
Hong Jiu's eyes lit up as well, and he gestured to the two little beggars to move aside. Then he took out a pair of bamboo clappers , and after the magpie chirped a few times, he came to the door and started beating the bamboo clappers and singing Lotus Falls:
"When I hit the bamboo board with a clanging sound, I am praising the family that has accumulated good deeds. If you want to say that this family is not simple, there will be magpies chirping long ago - when this magpie opens its mouth, good things will definitely happen!"
He sang in a rhythmic way. A woman inside heard the noise and opened the door a crack to look out. She saw a pale-faced beggar standing outside. She couldn't help but wonder, "You beggar are so ignorant. How can you come to beg for food before dawn?"
Hong Jiu slumped his shoulders, smiled and sang flatteringly: "The magpies chirping on the branches must mean that the nobleman is going to make a fortune. It is better to make a fortune sooner rather than later, and it is even better to congratulate him as soon as possible!"
Today was originally a big day for the family, and Hong Jiu was full of auspicious words, so the old woman didn't want to force him to leave. She was thinking about whether to give him some leftovers when she suddenly heard someone inside ask, "Auntie Wu, who's here?"
Aunt Wu hurriedly said respectfully, "Madam, it was a beggar who said he heard the magpie calling at our house and came to congratulate us."
As he was talking, a neatly dressed middle-aged woman came out and looked at Hong Jiu in surprise. Before she could speak, Hong Jiu started to sing happily: "Look at the door of the room splitting left and right, a blessed person walked out, with a full forehead, longevity and endless blessings; a round chin, endless wealth and glory!"
The lady couldn't help but burst out laughing when she heard his sweet words. Moreover, she finally got what she wanted today and married her daughter to a rich family. So she went back to the house for the first time, took out more than two taels of silver, threw it to Hong Jiu and said, "I'll give you a reward for these auspicious words!"
Hong Jiu took the silver in his hand, and couldn't help but smile. He knelt on the ground with a plop and said crisply, "Thank you for the reward, Madam! If you do business, your warehouse will be filled with gold and silver; if you get married, you will have children!"
The latter part of the sentence, however, hit the spot in the wife's mind, so she smiled and said, "What a sweet mouth he has - Aunt Wu, give him the half pot of chicken soup that was left over from yesterday, and give him a few steamed buns made of white flour!"
Having said that, he went back to the yard.
"Thank you, madam, for the reward! Thank you, madam, for the reward!"
Hong Jiu kowtowed twice with joy, holding the broken pottery jar , and waited for the old woman to give him half a pot of chicken soup and a few large white steamed buns dotted with cinnabar, and then he thanked her profusely again.
"Brother Jiu, we are really rich this time!"
When Aunt Wu returned to the yard, the two little beggars came up happily, staring at the clay pot of chicken soup with shining eyes, drooling uncontrollably.
"Look at what you two have accomplished!"
Hong Jiu glared, raised his hand and said in high spirits: "Let's go back to the temple and ask Niu'er to heat up the chicken soup. Let's have some meat!"
The two little beggars shouted happily and were about to escort Hong Jiu away, but Hong Jiu suddenly stopped, looked back at the corner and said, "Wait a minute, since Que'er has helped us, we can't not..."
"Hong Jiu!"
Before Hong Jiu could finish his words, someone suddenly shouted coldly from the side. Hong Jiu looked in the direction of the voice and saw four beggars suddenly appearing from the alley in front of him. The leader was a burly man holding a wooden stick, and his left ear was missing half.
This man was none other than the most powerful deaf beggar boss living near Shanxi Lane!
Bad luck!
Why did this guy block my way? !
Hong Jiu cursed his bad luck in his heart, winked at the two little beggars secretly, and laughed happily: "Hey, isn't this the deaf boss? What brings you here?!"
As he said this, he seemed to be about to go forward to meet them, but he turned around and ran away with the two little beggars !
After running just two steps, Hong Jiu discovered that there were five beggars blocking his way behind him with a fierce look in their eyes.
Seeing that he was being attacked from both sides, Hong Jiu knew that he was doomed, so he simply turned back, pushed the chicken soup bun forward, and said loudly: "Deaf Boss, I, Hong Jiu, admit defeat today. You can take the things. It's my filial piety to you as a brother!"
The deaf boss sneered and said disdainfully, "Young lady, you are playing tricks on me. How can you think I didn't see the silver?"
After a pause, he sneered again: " I looking for you today for money, but to set some rules for you, so that you know who is the boss of Shanxi Lane!"
As he spoke, he raised the mallet in his hand and said, "Brothers, teach this grandson a lesson!"
At this command, the nine beggars immediately surrounded Hong Jiu and the other two. Sticks rained down, chicken soup flew everywhere, and a few steamed buns rolled back and forth on the ground...
Although Hong Jiu was eloquent and quick-witted, he was notoriously weak. He was not even a match for his opponent in a one-on-one fight, let alone the fact that the opponent was outnumbered?
In a blink of an eye, he was beaten to the ground, but he still protected the two little beggars, gritting his teeth and not saying a word!
“That’s enough!”
Seeing that the fight was almost over, the deaf boss called for his men to stop, then crouched down and took the silver from Hong Jiu's arms. He then said smugly, "You thief, I'm going to teach you a lesson today. When you get silver in the future, remember to give it to me - I don't want all of it, I'll just split it 80%!"
As he said that, he stepped on Hong Jiu's spine again, lowered his head and sneered: "If you don't want to pay tribute to me, that's fine. I'll break one of your fingers every time I find out. When all ten fingers are broken, I'll cripple your dog claws that are good at stealing fish!"
After he finished speaking, seeing Long Jiu lying on the two little beggars with a bloody head and still not saying a word, the deaf boss couldn't help but get annoyed again.
After giving a wink, one of his men immediately stepped forward and pinned Hong Jiu's left hand to the ground.
The deaf boss raised the club in his hand and said with a fierce smile: "Even if you have broken the rules for the first time today, I will leave a mark on you so that you will remember it for a long time!"
The two little beggars were so scared that they started crying and pleaded in a shrill voice, "Master Deaf, please have mercy and spare our Ninth Brother this time!"
“Pah~!”
The deaf boss spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on Hong Jiu with disdain, cursing: "Who the hell is he? How dare he call me Brother Jiu in front of me?! Just for this, I have to leave a mark on him!"
As he said that, he swung the stick in a circle, and was about to hit Hong Jiu's little finger!
Crash~
At this moment, Aunt Wu suddenly pushed the door open and saw the mess outside. Hong Jiu was pinned to the ground again. She shouted, "What are you doing? What are you doing? Let that guy go!"
If it were an ordinary beggar, he would have been scared out of his wits after being scolded like this.
Unexpectedly, the deaf elder was so arrogant that he turned around and pointed his stick at Wu Ma and yelled, "Old hag, whose pants weren't tied tightly, letting your old thing out?!"
When the beggars around heard this, they all burst into laughter.
Seeing that they were outnumbered, Wu Ma subconsciously shrank back at first, but then she remembered something, straightened her back and jumped out, with her hands on her hips, scolding: "What a blind dog! My second daughter is going to marry Master Sun today. If you disrupt this happy event, Master Sun will skin you alive!"
When the deaf elder heard the words "Lord Sun the God", his spine immediately weakened and he dared not shout anything anymore. He apologized carefully, apologized a few times, and ran away like the wind.
His men, however, were reluctant to part with the spoils on the ground. They scrambled to pick up the steamed buns and chicken, and then followed them in running away.
At this time, Hong Jiu also climbed up with the help of his two younger brothers, and bowed to Aunt Wu and said, "Auntie, I will never forget your life-saving grace."
"You sound like an educated man, but why do you insist on being a prostitute?"
Wu Ma grumbled. Seeing his bloody head, she couldn't bear it, so she went back to get a few steamed buns and sighed, "The good chicken soup has been wasted. Now I only have these steamed buns for you."
Hong Jiu thanked her profusely again, and when Wu Ma returned to the yard, he was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he gritted his teeth, climbed to the top of the wall, released the magpie, and then limped away.
