Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 341: Salted Fish Shows Off Its Power, Rewards Money to Clear the Way
Zhu Ying subconsciously stretched out her foot and almost kicked the lecher who suddenly got on the car without saying a word, but the next moment she recognized that the person was Zhang Chen, so she retracted 70% of her strength and only kicked Zhang Chen's knee symbolically. Even so, Zhang Chen still couldn't help but stagger. If Zhang Shou hadn't helped him, he would have almost fallen directly into the car.
"You rushed to the car without saying a word. Are you trying to surprise or scare people?"
Hearing Zhu Ying's coquettish voice, Zhang Chen rubbed his knees with a wry smile. He saw that Zhu Erlao, Xianyu and Xiaohuasheng were sitting neatly in the room over there, and there was no room for him to sit down. Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying were sitting together over here. He immediately wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was neither up nor down. He finally understood why Zhu Ying kicked him just now.
Because once he comes up, where will he sit?
Although Zhu Er didn't like Zhang Chen - he, the acting abbot of Banshan Hall, had been dissatisfied with Zhang Chen, the formal abbot, for a long time, and the man had also coveted his sister in the past - however, he could see that Zhang Chen, who raised his sleeves to wipe the sweat off his face unnaturally, seemed to be here for serious business. He glanced at Lao Xianyu and then gently pulled Xiao Huasheng.
"He wants to discuss serious matters. Let's get off the car and make room for him."
Zhu Er hurriedly got off the bus with Xiao Huasheng, and Lao Xianyu could no longer sit still. He laughed dryly and got off the bus as well, but he still carried his tattered basket covered with a piece of blue cloth. Zhang Chen saw that the seat opposite him was empty, so he quickly moved over and sat down, then smiled and said, "Ah Liu motioned me to get on the bus, and I didn't think much about it. It really wasn't intentional..."
"Okay, stop talking nonsense." Zhu Ying was impatient. She patted the board to signal Zhang Chen to shut up, and then said, "I won't ask you about what you and the Jiang family kid went to do. That's Ah Shou's business. Besides, I don't believe you don't even have this ability. But there's so much noise outside, and you're in a hurry to get in the car. What's going on?"
Zhu Ying was indeed a little anxious. She had personally planned the disturbance last night. With the help of that cunning old salted fish and the respected Xu Weng, everything seemed to be under control. Zhu Tingfang, the general who was in charge of Cangzhou affairs, came out and everything calmed down. But the situation was different now... Who organized these people?
Zhang Chen glanced at Zhang Shou, and seeing that he didn't say anything, he knew that what Zhang Shou wanted to know was the same as Zhu Ying's. He lifted the curtain and looked out, then said solemnly: "I hurriedly got on the car for this matter. General Zhu is not in the Changlu County Office at the moment, and he will probably be gone for less than two quarters of an hour. I heard that there was news from the East City that the city gate was on fire..."
When Zhang Chen said the words "fire at the city gate ", he knew it was ridiculous, but he still said, "Because it is unclear whether it was arson or fire, there happened to be a warehouse nearby with grain, so General Zhu led his men over. At that time, the kid from the Jiang family and I happened to come back, but not long after, these people suddenly surrounded us from all directions!"
Zhang Shou nodded in understanding: "So, you think this is a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain?"
"Yes!" Zhang Chen nodded heavily, "It's not such a coincidence! And today I heard from the kid from the Jiang family that his father told him that he didn't stop the horse and complain yesterday voluntarily, but was coerced by someone... That person said he was the eldest prince's confidant, and then asked his father to write down this statement. The kid from the Jiang family felt strange when he heard it before, why would the eldest prince's confidant let him blame the eldest prince?"
After Zhang Shou met Mr. Jiang this morning, he didn't say a few words to him and just handed him over to Zhang Chen without asking any more questions. After the incident last night, he knew that among the families, the Jiang family was barely considered to have relatively clean means - of course, this clean means that Mr. Jiang has good personal ethics and acts more cautiously, but in the business world, he still uses all means possible.
But just like what Young Master Jiang said, using strong funds, manpower and connections to squeeze others' living space is commonplace for these families, and they don't think it's wrong at all. But the Jiang family at least left a way out for others, and Young Master Jiang's slightly foolish filial piety made him choose to pick the tallest among the short ones and pick Young Master Jiang to take the lead and do something.
After hearing what Zhang Chen said, he thought of what Ah Liu said last night when he came back about the father and son cursing at each other in southern accents, and couldn't help but sneer: "So that's how it is . Regardless of whether he is a loyal servant of the eldest prince, it seems that his determination is quite commendable. When the eldest prince was held hostage, he remained silent, but he showed up afterwards, and his method of clearing his master's name is very strange."
Zhang Chen quickly added, "Jiang Siyuan also said that his father had seen this man with the eldest prince, and someone had written evidence that they had worked with the eldest prince to make profits, and they were threatened with the lives of their entire family, so they had no choice but to submit. His father said that since the evidence fell into someone else's hands, he had to admit his guilt, and he was hoping that he would blame the eldest prince."
Well, the original intention was correct, but I didn't expect that the richest man in West City would choose the same life-threatening approach as Xian Yunhe. If he hadn't met the quick-eyed and quick-handed Ah Liu, the scene at the city gate would have been the best warning to himself and Du Heng!
Thinking of this, Zhang Shou patted his forehead lightly, then nodded to Zhang Chen and said, "Okay, I know everything. You wait here, I'll get off the car and take a look. Don't worry about any open or secret attacks, we have Ah Liu."
After saying this, Zhang Shou was about to get off the car when someone suddenly grabbed his sleeve. Seeing Zhu Ying looking at him with sharp eyes, he smiled and comforted her, "It's okay. Although I haven't seen too many storms, I won't do anything that I'm not sure of. Besides, even if you don't trust me, you should trust your eldest brother. Is he so easily lured away by others?"
Zhang Chen watched Zhu Ying let go, Zhang Shou got off the car, and then he saw through the gap in the curtain that Ah Liu, who was originally the driver in front, seemed to be following closely. He looked at Zhu Ying with an angry look on his face and whispered, "Young Master is right. Given Boss Zhu's personality, this is indeed very likely a trick to play hard to get. And Young Master is very capable, there is really no need to worry."
"Even though I know I shouldn't worry, I'm still worried! When you have a crush on someone in the future, you'll know how it feels!"
Zhu Ying rolled her eyes at Zhang Chen, not noticing how badly he had been hit, and got off the carriage without a care in the world. Seeing Xiao Huasheng standing there at a loss, Zhu Er and Lao Xianyu were gone, and then seeing Zhu Hong and the other three who had followed him out today were also still there, she couldn't help but ask Xiao Huasheng in a distracted manner, "Where are your uncle and my second brother?"
"Uncle asked Second Master Zhu to quietly follow Dr. Zhang and Sixth Brother, and asked me to tell the eldest lady..." Peanut was embarrassed, and felt that his uncle was really doing things unexpectedly. "Uncle said that with him around, Dr. Zhang would never get into trouble."
How could he let Zhang Shou make any mistakes? He had many questions that were directed at Zhang Shou!
Old Salted Fish had such a simple and direct idea in mind. He held Zhu Er in one hand and carried a basket in the other, following closely behind Ah Liu and Zhang Shou. Fortunately, they were now moving along the wall, so even though there were many people in front of them, their pace was not slow. When they were about to reach the gate of the county government, he heard someone shouting loudly.
"We have been petitioning for so long, but the imperial envoy in the county government has not even shown up! The eldest prince is the son of a noble family, but he has joined those treacherous merchants and evil gentry to oppress the common people. Now Brother Xian and others are imprisoned in the palace. Is this fair? Are we common people really worthless compared to a Cangzhou scholar like Mr. Xu?"
Haha, the truth is revealed! The word "Qian Shou" is only used in writing nowadays. Which common people would use these two words in a literary way?
Zhang Shou had just been able to move forward with Ah Liu leading the way, and now hearing this loud shout, he couldn't help but be amazed. He shouted without thinking: "Ah Liu!"
Although it was just these two words, Ah Liu understood what he meant. However, the person who spoke out to suppress the crowd before Ah Liu was the other person behind him. The voice was like a thunderclap in everyone's ears, suppressing all the chaotic noise in an instant: "Bullshit!"
The next moment, Zhu Er felt a pain in his thigh and shoulder, and was dumbfounded when he came to his senses. But because Lao Xianyu actually used his thigh and shoulder to gain leverage, he flew over the crowd like a cloud, stepped on the shoulders of several people, and then fell straight into the air, landing steadily on the stone lion at the gate of the county government!
If this was a circus, he would have applauded loudly, but now he was being used as a stepping stool, and he was really furious. What made him even more angry was undoubtedly that although he had tried his best to think highly of this old man, he still underestimated him. Based on the skills that Chu Er showed, most of the family soldiers he and Zhu Ying brought with him were no match for him.
Of course, Zhu Hong, who was taught by Hua Qi himself, might be able to compete, but Ah Liu... that guy who was simply a cheater doesn't count!
After descending from the sky as if to show off, Lao Xianyu shouted condescendingly: "Where is the man who always calls himself Brother Xian? Get out here! Compared to the famous Cangzhou Xu Weng, you are nothing but a coward!"
His loud shout just now made many people's eardrums buzz. Now that he appeared and shouted again, those who didn't know the truth were just amazed and naturally didn't say anything. As for those who had something to hide and were fanning the flames, they were timid at this time and dared not come out rashly.
"Brother Xian? Oh, I know everyone that Xian Yunhe knows. I am his uncle, so how come I have never heard of your voice?"
"He is staying in the palace just fine, and I and his adopted child can go to see him. Is it necessary you to gossip and stir up trouble outside? Those profiteers and evil gentry have harmed countless people, but you idle people are pretending to be victims!"
As Lao Xianyu spoke, he pointed at them one by one: "Isn't this Han San, the guy who hangs around at the docks and drinks the blood of the laborers all day? Why are you yelling that the people of Cangzhou have been victimized for so many years?"
"And you, Li Mazi, you spend all day either in the Nevernight Palace or pimping for others in Changchun Courtyard, and you keep complaining about being exploited? Don't people see you selling those boys and girls to make a lot of money from the second son of the Qi family?"
Old Salty Fish pointed at them one by one, and soon he had already pointed out four or five people who were either bullies or eccentrics. For a moment, the onlookers who had gone from watching the fun to blindly following were shocked. The people he named were furious, and no one knew who was the one who shouted out in anger.
"You dead salted fish, you better be careful with your shabby shop from now on!"
"Be careful? Hey, how do you want me to be careful? Are you trying to tell me that if I don't know what's good for me, I'll be like Yunhe and those unlucky spinners before, whose houses were burned down, and they were forced into a desperate situation and had to rise up in rebellion? Do you think I, an old man, can't find out who burned down the house? Don't think you can get away by just crouching down, I've seen through you!"
As Old Salted Fish jumped up and down and yelled, Zhang Shou had already noticed that the endless shouts from the crowd gradually died down. He glanced at Ah Liu, who was holding a short bow with a look of regret on his face. He couldn't help but smile.
While the old salty fish stopped talking and looked at him, and the crowd was quiet, he came to the gate of the county government office and raised his voice calmly and said, "Someone just said that you guys have been making a fuss for a long time, but no one from the county government office came out to see you. Compared with the scene when Mr. Xu led the team last night, it seems that the imperial envoy really only cares about the voices of Confucian scholars and does not care about the lives of ordinary people."
Zhang Shou's voice was naturally not as loud as Lao Xianyu's, but the noise just now had been suppressed by Lao Xianyu, and now his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"But of course those who are shouting won't say that the reason they gathered in front of the county government office to demand an explanation is because they took advantage of General Mingwei going to check on the fire at the city gate and I went to the palace to check on the eldest prince and Xian Yunhe, and deliberately came to the county government office to cause trouble!"
He took a deep breath and then shouted loudly, "Listen carefully, whoever can escort those thugs and ruffians forward will be rewarded with a full amount of money. I will not break my promise!"
As soon as these words came out, the crowd suddenly made a huge commotion. Ah Liu, who was originally ready to catch someone behind Zhang Shou, suddenly relaxed and muttered in a low voice: "Young Master is so cunning!"
Lao Xianyu, who also had a geographical advantage and was about to rush into the crowd to capture someone, stopped his thoughts and stared in amazement at the people on all sides shouting and chasing him. The shouts of fighting and killing were even louder than his own shouts. At that moment, he instinctively thought of eight words: A big reward will always bring out brave men.
And immediately afterwards, he heard the voice of Zhang Shou scolding Ah Liu.
"Things that can be solved with money are all small matters. Why do we have to go and fight and kill ourselves?" Zhang Shou glanced at Ah Liu and said earnestly, "If others incite the people to cause trouble, then use the power of the masses to bring them to justice. If paying a few dollars can make most people happy, why not do it? Even if the county government has no money, the Jiang family, the Qi family and others will be happy to pay for it."
It's great to have money! Old Salty Fish muttered to himself again, and then he heard the joyful shouts from all around. He was also sure that the Jiang family and other families should be willing to pay this money - they were all clamoring to confiscate their property, so who wouldn't be willing to spend money to avoid disaster?
