Chapter 410: Hong Jiu, the Unenlightened
After leaving the government office, Hong Jiu was in a daze all the way. He did not feel the heat at all while walking under the scorching sun. All he could think about was the notice.
There is no doubt that once the "Beggars' Baojia System" described above is officially implemented, the beggar community in the capital will usher in earth-shaking changes. Evil beggars like the deaf boss who sit on the ground and divide the spoils will definitely get...
Will it get the biggest benefit?
After all, how could the high and mighty officials know the character and ability of a beggar?
By then, won't it be that we will just look at who has the most power and can offer tributes and curry favor, and then appoint him as the head of the village or the head of the village?
For a rich and powerful man like the Deaf Boss, as long as he is willing to spend money to smooth things over, the beggar headman of Shanxi Lane will be as easy as pie in his pocket, right?
The deaf leader had been bullying everyone by relying on his force. If he was given an official status and became a real beggar leader, wouldn't little beggars like me be at his mercy in the future? !
Although the original intention of the government seems to be to prevent evil beggars from causing harm to the people through the baojia system, there must be requirements in this regard when appointing baozhang and jiazhang - but the question is, can beggars be considered ordinary people?
Anyway, every time the capital city counted the population, beggars were never counted - since they were not even counted as people, the officials naturally didn't bother to care about the bad things where beggars bullied each other.
Thinking of this, Hong Jiu felt as if something was blocking his heart, and he felt extremely depressed and uncomfortable.
"Ninth Brother! Ninth Brother!"
"Brother Jiu, you are finally back!"
In a trance, he suddenly heard two shouts of surprise. Hong Jiu looked carefully and found that he had returned to the City God Temple where he usually lived in a daze.
This City God Temple is extremely small, with just one main hall. Because a pregnant woman who was abandoned by her husband once hanged herself in this temple, resulting in two deaths, it has become a well-known haunted temple and has been abandoned for many years.
Now there are only Hong Jiu and three other little beggars. Since they have nowhere else to stay, they have to bravely live among them.
But seeing Erzi and Heitou rushing out from the City God Temple with joy on their faces, Hong Jiu couldn't help but feel warm in his heart - at least there are people in this world who truly care about him.
"Don't worry."
Hong Jiu grabbed one of them with one hand and said with a smile: "I am just..."
“It’s incredible!”
Unexpectedly, the two little beggars rushed to say, "Brother Jiu, you just went out for a short while and the girl got hurt!"
"Yes, the girl was bleeding a lot. I don't know what bit her. She couldn't explain it clearly. She just kept crying!"
"I said I wanted to help her check her wound, but she scolded me instead..."
Hearing what the two little beggars said, Hong Jiu's face suddenly changed. Without thinking too much, he rushed into the dilapidated temple, but almost bumped into a young girl.
This girl was exactly the girl that everyone was talking about. She was about thirteen or fourteen years old, and was slightly taller than Erzi and Heitou. Her eyes were swollen like peaches, and her face was black and white from being washed by tears, as if she had a mask painted on it.
"Brother Nine!"
Seeing Hong Jiu coming in from outside, Niu'er called out with both joy and grievance. She was about to throw herself into Hong Jiu's arms and cry, but suddenly she remembered something, and hurriedly stopped and clamped her legs tightly together.
Hong Jiu saw the blood between her legs and was extremely anxious. He quickly pulled her to ask with concern, "Girl, how did you get hurt? Were you bitten by a snake? Or..."
After guessing several times, the girl just shook her head and said nothing.
Hong Jiu became more and more anxious and kept asking what was going on.
Niu'er couldn't stand the pressure, so she glared at Erzi and Heitou shyly. After the two men moved away from each other, she tiptoed close to Hong Jiu's ear and said something hesitantly.
Hong Jiu was stunned for a while, then he said with emotion: "Our girl has grown into a big girl."
After he finished speaking, seeing that the three people all looked puzzled, he quickly pulled the girl aside and gave a rough explanation of the menstrual period - he himself only had a vague idea about it, so naturally he didn't explain it clearly enough.
Fortunately, this girl was raised by him and he trusted her the most. When she heard him say that it was something that all women would experience, she felt relieved.
After comforting Niu'er, Hong Jiu tried hard to recall the taboos about menstruation that he had overheard while doing the book, and then hurriedly ordered: "Erzi, Heitou, the two of you go get some water and put it outside to warm it up. Later, you can let Niu'er wash her hands and face. She can't touch dirty things or cold water right now."
After Erzi and Heitou left, he searched through the rotten clothes and torn mattresses, and barely picked out a piece of white cloth that looked relatively clean. He then went to the nearby area to get some fresh soapberries, and put them all in the wooden basin, preparing to wash them carefully several times before giving them to Niu'er to use.
"Ninth Brother."
He had just finished his work when the girl suddenly came up to him and stammered, "I...I'll just wash my hands, or...I'd better not wash my face."
Seeing her like this, Hong Jiu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
How can a girl of this age not love beauty?
Two years ago, Niu'er would wash her face clean every day before going out to see people.
But in the past two years, not only did she grow a lot taller, but her originally yellow face also showed some color - if it was a girl from an ordinary family, this would be considered a good thing, but for a female beggar, it was like "a three-year-old child carrying gold in the market", which would easily attract the envy of others.
So after experiencing a dangerous experience, Niu'er tried her best to dress sloppily and never dared to show her face in front of others. Even Hong Jiu, who was both her brother and father, had not seen her true appearance for a long time.
Seeing her panicking and fearing that something bad might happen, Hong Jiu felt even more distressed. He pretended to be heroic and said, "Don't worry, girl. It won't be convenient for you to go out to beg for food these days. I am here to watch over you in the temple. Is there anyone who dares to take you away by force?"
After saying this, Hong Jiu suddenly felt something was wrong. Others would not come to this dilapidated temple, but the deaf boss's men might. If those evil beggars saw how pretty the girl was...
So he quickly added: "But if someone comes to the temple, you must hide well!"
The girl nodded obediently, her black and white eyes showing some eagerness and anticipation, as if as long as she showed her true face, it would be enough to make her happy even if she could only stay in a dilapidated temple.
But the more this happened, the more frustrated Hong Jiu felt.
In the past, he was always complacent, thinking that he was able to raise several children and also ensure that he could eat meat from time to time, so he should be considered the best among beggars.
But a few days ago, he was pressed to the ground and rubbed by the deaf boss. Now he realized that he couldn't even make the girl wash her face and meet people...
He suddenly realized how incompetent he was.
Such an incompetent person actually dared to covet the beauty of Xu not long ago. How pitiful and ridiculous!
Alas~
Hong Jiu sighed dejectedly and tidied up the girl's messy hair. He thought of the girls he saw on the street, all with playful and cute headdresses on their heads, while the girl had been with him for five or six years, but was left with only a head of dead branches and grass debris. He couldn't help but feel guilty.
So he casually said, "I'll buy a hairpin for our girl tomorrow when I get some money, okay?"
But the girl shook her head like a rattle and said, "How can we have so much spare money? Besides, didn't Brother Nine give us several treasures?"
Several treasures?
Hong Jiu's body froze for a moment, then he suddenly raised his head more than three feet high, slapped his head and said, "Damn it! I was so frightened that I completely forgot about the 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' thing!"
As he said this, he hurriedly asked Niu'er if the shells he gave her at the beginning of the year were still with her.
Seeing that his breathing was heavy, Niu'er knew that the shell must be something important, so she hurriedly dug out a small package from the hole behind the City God's butt.
After turning over the three layers of rags, a lot of colorful things were revealed, including small stones of gorgeous colors, half a faded ribbon, and a thigh stone made of sheep bones...
Almost all of them were junk picked up by Hong Jiu and others. I didn't expect that she would preserve them so preciously.
However, Hong Jiu had no time to sigh at this moment. He reached out and took out the gold shell from inside. He held it in front of his eyes with trembling hands and looked at it carefully with his eyes wide open.
Words, words, words...
There must be words!
As long as it is the legendary top-grade 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei', then he will no longer have to worry about being bullied by the deaf elder, let alone leading three children to live such a precarious life!
At this moment, Hong Jiu's heart was extremely eager.
However, after searching for a long time, he still did not see any golden patterns that resembled words.
I really thought too much...
Hong Jiu sighed dejectedly and was about to put the shell down when he suddenly noticed four big eyes with tears rolling around, also staring at the shell and hitting it - it turned out to be Erzi and Heitou who had come back from fetching water.
"Ninth Brother."
Blackhead asked curiously, "What's so good about a broken shell? You looked like you were going to get into it."
The second son followed suit and asked, "Could this thing be something valuable?"
"this……"
Hong Jiu was originally feeling very disappointed, but then he thought, even a mid-grade gold shell is worth a lot of silver, so what is there to be disappointed about?
So he laughed and said proudly: "You are right, this shell is not simple, it is a 'Taozhu Golden Shell' from the Western Regions, which can bring prosperity and wealth. Just this one can be sold for eight taels and six cents of silver!"
Then someone questioned, "Is this thing really worth eight taels and six cents?"
"How could it be false? I have inquired carefully..."
Hong Jiu was feeling very proud, but suddenly he felt something was wrong, because the questioning voice did not come from the beggars around him, but came from outside, and the voice sounded very familiar, as if...
"Deaf ... Deaf Boss?!"
Just as Hong Jiu screamed, the deaf boss had already rushed in with five or six of his men, snatched the shell, looked at it in his hand, and sneered, "Since you made a small profit for me today, I will be merciful and only break two of your fingers!"
Even if he showed mercy, he would still break two of my fingers. If it weren't for this shell, wouldn't I be beaten to death by him? !
Hong Jiu said anxiously: "Deaf Boss, you...what are you doing this for? I haven't offended you in the past few days!"
"for what?"
The deaf boss grinned, put his face close to Hong Jiu, and said with gritted teeth: "Look for yourself, open your dog eyes and take a good look!"
In fact, without looking closely, Hong Jiu had already discovered something strange. The deaf boss's face was abnormally red and swollen, and there seemed to be several palm prints on it.
Who is so bold as to slap this person?
Hong Jiu was just wondering when he was suddenly pushed against the wall by the deaf boss's shoulder. He grabbed his neck and sneered, "You bastard, you dared to bring the Shuntian Prefecture's police officer to my house, causing me to suffer so much. Tell me, how can I not repay you for your kindness?!"
It’s bitter!
The Shuntian Prefecture officials could have investigated, but why did they beat up the deaf boss? Isn't this asking for trouble? !
