Chapter 411: Accidental
Hong Jiu was secretly complaining in his heart, but the deaf elder was impatient to argue with him anymore, and ordered in a gruff voice: "Two people come over here, hold this grandson down for me."
As soon as he gave the order, two of his men came forward and pinned Hong Jiu against the wall.
"Brother Nine!"
"Let go of Brother Nine!"
Erzi and Heitou shouted in panic and wanted to rush forward to stop them, but they were already held down by the other men with sticks and could not get close at all.
At this time, the deaf boss took out an iron hammer from his arms and said with a fierce smile: "I was slapped three times. I was going to break three of your fingers, but for the sake of the shell, I will spare you one!"
As he said that, he pulled Hong Jiu's left hand and pressed it against the wall .
How could Hong Jiu be willing to submit obediently?
He clenched his fists tightly and refused to stretch out his fingers.
Seeing this, the deaf boss rubbed the hammer on Hong Jiu's face and said with a sinister smile: "Since you are clenching your fist, I can only start from the bottom - if your palm is injured, don't blame me for being unfair!"
As he said this, he took the hammer and measured it at the joints where the fingers and the palm met. He swung it up and was ready to smash the bones and tendons with one blow!
"Wait, wait a minute!"
At this moment, Hong Jiu suddenly roared.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The deaf elder laughed out loud, gave him a sidelong glance, and sneered, "Why? You want to give in to me, the deaf elder - but it's too late!"
As he was speaking, the iron hammer had already been swung up!
Unexpectedly, Hong Jiu shouted again: "I want to see the official!"
Bang!
There was a dull sound, and the hammer hit the wall hard. However, at the last moment, it deviated slightly from its direction and hit the wall. Dust flew everywhere, and a large piece of wall fell off!
"What did you say?"
The deaf boss put his face close to Hong Jiu's forehead and said fiercely, "You bastard, have you gone insane? The officials are all busy with their work, how can they have time to see a lowly thing like you? Besides, even if you see an official, do you think he will care about what kind of conflict has happened between beggars?"
Although Yi'er spoke with extreme disdain, he did not dare to swing his hammer at him. Apparently, after suffering at the hands of the yamen runners, he became more afraid of the government.
"The deaf boss misunderstood!"
Hong Jiu endured the disgusting taste in his mouth and forced a smile, "It's not that I want to go see the official, but the murder case has not been concluded yet, and the official asked me to go there again in the evening. Although the official may not care about us beggars, I am afraid it will be difficult to explain if I go there with blood on my body."
After hearing this, the deaf boss looked at him with half belief and half doubt, and finally took a half step back.
But just when Hong Jiu breathed a sigh of relief, he grinned again: "Hong Jiu, don't think you can scare me with the official! I'm warning you, if you dare to talk nonsense in front of the official, and make me suffer, I will repay you double!"
As he said this, he turned around and glanced at Erzi and Heitou, then suddenly pointed at the girl and said, "I'm going to take this little girl back as a guarantee. If you dare to have any bad thoughts, I'll take her first!"
Hong Jiu's heart suddenly rose to his throat. This deaf old man was famous for his lust for women. If the girl was brought home, there was no guarantee that her true colors would be revealed. Then...
So he said anxiously: "Master Deaf, I'm afraid this won't work!"
"No?"
The deaf boss pretended to be surprised and opened his mouth wide. Then he slapped Hong Jiu hard on the face, pinched Hong Jiu's cheek, and sneered: "You blind dog, when is it your turn to call the shots here?!"
Hong Jiu was beaten so hard that he saw stars, but he still shouted loudly: "That's not what I meant. I meant that she just had her period, which is really unlucky. I'm afraid it's not convenient for her to visit you!"
After hearing this, the deaf boss glanced at the girl's crotch and saw that it was indeed a bright red color. He cursed inwardly a few times, and then his eyes fell on Erzi and Heitou.
But before he could designate a candidate, Heitou stood up without hesitation, patted his chest and said, "I'll go back with you!"
The second son was a step slower, but he also said quickly: "No! Let me go!"
"Yo ~"
Seeing the two fighting for the prize, the deaf elder shouted exaggeratedly, praising them in a pretentious tone: "These two little bastards are quite loyal to their friends."
Then he waved his hand and said without question: "Since you all want to go, let's go together!"
Having said that, he left three of his men to keep an eye on Hong Jiu, to prevent him from escaping without any sense of loyalty. Then he took the two little beggars and left the City God Temple in a haughty manner.
"Deaf elder, deaf elder..."
Hong Jiu chased for two steps, but was surrounded by the three evil beggars. He could only watch them go farther and farther away.
"Everyone's gone, what are you still looking at?! Go away, stay safe inside!"
When the deaf boss left, the three evil beggars were like having their backbones removed. They drove Hong Jiu into a corner, and then sat limply in front of the door.
One of them even took off his straw sandals, picked up a white cloth in the wooden basin, and rubbed his two old feet covered in oil and mud.
Seeing the white cloth he had found with great difficulty being ruined beyond recognition, Hong Jiu was so angry that his throat was boiling. Just as he was about to ignore the matter and argue with these evil beggars, a soft body suddenly leaned on his back.
"Nine...nine brother."
Turning around and seeing Niu'er's face full of concern, Hong Jiu felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured on his head - if he had a conflict with these three evil beggars in the temple, wouldn't he be implicated by Niu'er for nothing?
That's all~
Let’s lead them outside first!
Having made up his mind, Hong Jiu immediately whispered a few words into Niu'er's ear, asking her to hide somewhere else after he left, and to meet up at the temple when he returned with Erzi and Heitou.
Then Hong Jiu suddenly shouted, "Everyone, get up and follow me to see the official!"
The three evil beggars were all stunned when they heard this. One of them said in surprise: "Didn't you say in the evening..."
"I can tell from the look of it that you are a person who doesn't know how to handle things."
Hong Jiu looked at him with disdain and sneered, "Since the official has summoned us, lowly people like us shouldn't rush over early and wait for him, right?"
Although the beggar was dissatisfied with his tone, he also felt that what he said made sense.
So the three of them surrounded Hong Jiu and left the dilapidated temple of the City God under Niu'er's worried gaze.
No conversation along the way.
But when he arrived outside the gate of Shuntian Mansion, Hong Jiu was already covered with a dense layer of smelly sweat. Half of it was due to the unbearable heat, and the other half was purely due to nervousness and panic.
He said he wanted to come and see the official, but he was just trying to appease the deaf boss out of desperation. Who would have thought that the deaf boss would actually send people to monitor him closely - he was forced into a situation where he had to do something stupid, and what could he do?
Seeing two officers standing in front of the gate with knives in their hands, Hong Jiu's calves felt cramped. He was more than twenty steps away and didn't dare to move forward.
"how?"
The three evil beggars became suspicious when they saw this and sneered, "Didn't you say you were going to see the official? Go over and tell us your name!"
But why would Hong Jiu move?
He just said stubbornly: "It's still an hour or so before dusk, so it's better to wait here for a while."
However, since the three evil beggars had become suspicious, how could they believe his excuses?
First they started to stir up trouble, then they just pushed and shoved him, forcing him to go and make himself miserable.
“What are you doing?!”
Hong Jiu was struggling desperately when he suddenly heard an angry shout. When he looked up, he saw a yamen runner rushing towards him with big strides, both hands on his sword, as if ready to hurt people at any time!
The three evil beggars were so scared that they fled in panic. It was not that Hong Jiu did not want to run, but the old wound on his leg had not healed yet, so he could not escape in time.
So he had to force a smile and said servilely, "Sir, please don't misunderstand me. I just..."
Before he could explain clearly, the bailiff asked, "Is your surname Hong Jiu, beggar?"
Hong Jiu was stunned and asked in surprise: "How did you know my name?"
"Come with me."
The bailiff refused to explain to him. Instead, he waved his hand without questioning and walked towards the gate of the government office.
Hong Jiu was very nervous, but he didn't dare to disobey the officer's order, so he had to follow behind timidly.
The yamen runner did not stop at the government office, but led Hong Jiu inside. After a few turns, he found a small side room and called out, "Boss Zhao, the beggar named Hong Jiu has come to our door as expected."
There was no sound from inside until the yamen runner shouted a few more times, then a murmur was heard, and then the door was pushed open from the inside, and a horse-faced man came out with bare arms, looked at Hong Jiu with sleepy eyes, and suddenly laughed: "Good boy, you are really courageous, it's not in vain that our master taught you!"
As he spoke, he reached out and patted Hong Jiu's shoulders lightly twice.
With just these two hits, most of Hong Jiu's bones were softened - it was not that the horse-faced man used any sinister tricks like the Bone-Dissolving Palm, but that Hong Jiu had already recognized his identity!
Shuntian Prefecture's Chief Constable Zhao Wuwei!
Although in Sun Shaozong's eyes, Zhao Wuwei was just a lackey, and a relatively inconspicuous one at that.
But in the mind of a beggar like Hong Jiu, Zhao Wuwei, who is in charge of thousands of runners in the capital (even the unpaid runners in the county government), is undoubtedly a luxurious figure!
Hong Jiu had only experienced being patted on the shoulder and praised by such a big shot in his dreams before. Now that he encountered it in reality, how could he not feel weak all over?
Zhao Wuwei was a straightforward person. He dismissed the gatekeeper and immediately said to Hong Jiu, "Wait for me to put on my clothes, and then we will go to see the master."
Having said that, he went back into the ear room.
"Please...please see the Master?"
Hong Jiu swallowed his saliva outside the door and asked tremblingly: "Could it be... Could it be Master Sun Zhizhong?!"
Although I have met the judge in court before, that was during a trial - how can I, with my lowly status, be willing to meet with Master Sun in private? !
"Of course it's our Master Sun."
Zhao Wuwei's ears worked well, and he answered casually: "Since you have the courage to recommend yourself, this great opportunity is sure to come!"
Recommend yourself?
A great opportunity?!
Hong Jiu chewed these words over and over again, and suddenly an idea came to his mind!
Could it be that...
Mr. Sun reminded me to read the notice in the hall, actually he wanted me to recommend myself and take up the position of the beggars' village chief? !
