Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 441: The Habitual Criminal Who Fraudulently Accuses the Good of Being Lowly
These two sentences, almost without any particular order, immediately made the women around Zhang Shou at a loss. On one side, several big men were shouting to catch the escaped slaves, while on the other side, the newly built gorgeous teahouse was calling for Dr. Zhang? What was going on?
Zhang Shou, who was distracted for a moment, finally came to his senses at this moment. He casually looked at the people around him, nodded slightly to the young girls and wives, and did not look at their blushing faces or their happy expressions. He looked directly at the men who were retreating stealthily, and suddenly sneered.
"You just said that there is a runaway slave in the master's family? Whose master is it? Where does he live in the capital? When did he run away? Have you reported the case to the Shuntian government office?"
Before he even finished asking a series of questions, he saw the guys who had just squeezed in turned around and ran away. But their plan to get away was stopped halfway.
Because in just a moment, their way was blocked. When they found that the people blocking their way were ordinary people, the big men rushed over without thinking twice, trying to force their way through the blockade. However, they were quick to act, and the others were not slow either. Several guys who looked like ordinary people also rushed over at the same time, and the two sides were fighting each other in a moment.
The difference in fighting skills between the two sides was immediately apparent. The men who were planning to attack Zhang Shou were timid, while the civilians who tried to stop them didn't care about being punched and kicked, and only focused on knocking down their opponents. In the end, even one of the guys who pulled out a dagger when he saw the situation was not good had his dagger taken away in one round and was thrown to the ground like a broken sandbag.
Seeing this scene, the women who had gathered to see the handsome man were shocked. Some of the more attentive ones realized that the handsome young man in simple green clothes was no ordinary person, so they hurriedly stepped back. When they took the lead, the others followed suit, and soon a path was cleared.
Until this moment, Zhang Shou calmly followed the path they had made and came straight to the men. Seeing that the "righteous" people who had just tried to stop them had already grabbed the men, he suddenly closed his folding fan and hit several men hard on the head, even the guy who had rolled his eyes and seemed to have fainted.
Sure enough, after these fierce blows, the guy who had fainted actually screamed in pain, which was clearly a fake faint. As for the others, they all realized that they had hit a wall, not to mention that they were just hit so hard, even if their heads were broken, they dared not say a word, and their only hope was that the other party would let them go.
At this moment, another hearty voice came from the upstairs of Xinglong Tea House: "Dr. Zhang, these blind guys can just be sent to the South City Army. Why dirty your hands?"
After hearing this, several men breathed a sigh of relief, but the guy who had just pretended to be unconscious but was "woken up" twitched his face. After calling him Dr. Zhang twice, if he still couldn't tell who this young boy was, he would have a pig's brain!
That was the future son-in-law of the Duke of Zhao, a favorite of the emperor! He only thought about the special needs of a certain family a few days ago, so he was blinded by his greed and thought that the person was a fat sheep, intending to falsely accuse him of being a runaway slave and take him back to sell. This time he really caused a huge disaster! Even if the South City Army and Horse Division, which had always taken countless benefits from them, would they be willing to give them a break this time ?
Thinking about it, the man who had been thrown half to death felt so heartbroken that he couldn't breathe - if he wanted to impress those guys in the South City Army, he might not be able to make up all the money he had earned in the past few years! The master behind the scenes might even kill him!
Anyone could be trafficked these days if you're not careful, but the problem is that you have to do it perfectly so that no one can find out... It is said that the predecessors in their line of work in the Song Dynasty once trafficked a daughter of a royal family. Of course, during the Lantern Festival, when they were trafficking the son of a minister of rites, they were discovered by a child and caught red-handed.
But most of the time, they would also carefully observe the situation before they made their move, such as a young man without an entourage, a young lady who ran away from home, a well-looking child who ran out to play, a stranger who had just arrived in the capital and was unfamiliar with the place... For example, Zhang Shou was a teenager with a top-notch appearance but only a few half-grown children around him. He was actually planning to take those half-grown children away as well!
Teenagers of this age are the best sellers!
Zhang Shou ignored the big men. He looked up at the second floor of Xinglong Tea House and saw that it was Weinan Earl Zhang Kang who was leaning on the railing. He nodded at him with a half-smile. He said loudly: "Weinan Earl, what you said is wrong. They are not only blind and offend me. I now suspect that they lied about escaped slaves, falsely accused innocent people of low status, and trafficked people. Moreover, they are habitual offenders!"
When he said this, he glanced at the women around him and said, "If someone else had encountered this today, they might not have been able to defend themselves and would have been succeeded by these guys! I would like to ask those heroes who see injustice to escort these people to the outer city and parade them around the streets so that everyone can identify them. Have these people ever accused others of being runaway slaves and kidnapped them in the past?"
As soon as the voice fell, the faces of the men changed drastically, and suddenly a burly woman in the crowd shouted loudly: "I have heard that people in the outer city often catch escaped slaves for wealthy families. They must be these dogs who specialize in human trafficking! If it weren't for Dr. Zhang, I might have been the one abducted... Oh my, I'm scared to death!"
Seeing the man covering his chest with his hands and making a terrified expression like Xizi holding her heart, all the men and women around him hurriedly stepped back several steps, and even Zhang Shou couldn't help but twitch his face.
With your strong build, who would dare to kidnap you? Aren't you afraid of being slapped away by your palm like a palm leaf fan?
But just like this interruption, the people who were originally watching, as well as those who heard the noise and gathered around curiously to watch the fun, gradually started chattering.
In the outer city, because the cost of living is much cheaper than in the inner city, in addition to the locals, there are all kinds of outsiders living there. No matter which corner, few people will care if there are a few less people.
However, all kinds of urban legends are also very popular in such places. Especially after that sturdy woman suddenly shouted like this, I don't know how many people remembered similar rumors. Suddenly, someone suddenly said, "It is said that people in the outer city often catch runaway slaves, and most of them are good-looking girls, women and young men!"
"I don't remember if it was these people, but last time I saw a pretty girl who was kidnapped. She initially claimed that she came to the capital to look for her relatives, but she was knocked unconscious. People insisted that she was a girl who stole something and ran away. I was afraid of causing trouble, so I didn't dare to intervene!"
On the second floor of Xinglong Tea House, Weinan Earl Zhang Kang, who was sitting by the window, listened to the uneven voices below. The playful look on his face, which had originally been somewhat relaxed, gradually disappeared, and his eyes gradually became sharper.
Today, it would be more accurate to say that he was here at the emperor's order rather than being invited by Lu Sanlang to support the cause. Although the emperor even revealed to him that, at Zhang Shou's request, he had sent a number of imperial attendants to disguise themselves and hide among the crowd in preparation for any emergency, he still did not take it seriously at first.
So many top figures in the political and business circles gathered here, and there were probably hundreds of guards and followers alone. These people were not qualified to enter the Xinglong Teahouse, which had three floors in total, but only two floors were open today. If they were allowed to stay outside, would any case happen?
But the fact is that a group of flower photographers actually regarded Zhang Shou, who came to watch the fun on a whim, as an easy target, so they started to have evil thoughts, but they seemed to be subdued by the imperial attendants who were mixed in the crowd. That's not all. After Zhang Shou accused these people of being habitual kidnappers, some people actually revealed that they had been rampant in the outer city!
Although Weinan Earl Zhang Kang was a Mongolian, he was a naturalized Mongolian who regarded the late Ruizong as a true god greater than the Eternal Heaven. While in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau, he also fostered a puppet richest man like Wan Yuanbao in accordance with the arrangement of the emperor - in fact, mainly the previous emperor Ruizong. However, in essence, he was most concerned about military and political affairs rather than the people.
Therefore, he really didn't care much about the lives of ordinary people in the capital, or the outer city which was separated by a city wall and also belonged to the emperor. Until he heard about it now, he gradually recalled his days on the grassland.
Those herdsmen, those horse thieves, those nobles... the life where the strong prey on the weak and one can only survive by transforming into a wolf instantly reappeared before him, but soon, he turned back into the tough and cold imperial noble who was already in his sixties.
"It seems that if Dr. Zhang hadn't acted up, this group of evildoers would have been at large!" Zhang Kang clenched the wine glass tightly and was about to throw it down subconsciously. He called for people to tie up the flower-shooting gang and parade them in the streets, but then someone grabbed his wrist. He looked up in shock, but found that the one who stopped him was none other than the little fat man from the Lu family.
"Weinan Lord, please don't break the cup. It might hit the people downstairs, or even the flowers and plants! Of course, breaking the cup is not good for your image. Haven't you heard about the well-known incident in Beijing where a son broke a cup to deceive his father?"
What a mess! Zhang Kang was both angry and amused, but he only saw Lu Sanlang saying seriously: "You know, the prefect Huang of Hejian who was just dismissed a few days ago was tricked by his son who only thought breaking a cup was very cool and had blood all over his face."
"His son first spoke rudely at Maliu Mountain in Cangzhou and was punished by Miss Zhu. Then he spoke nonsense in a tavern and threw a cup from the second floor, injuring someone. He also allowed the accompanying legal advisor to frame Mr. Zhu and my teacher. He was punished for multiple crimes. This time, he was not only beaten with a stick, but also stripped of his official title and was said to be sent to exile. However, Prefect Huang was overjoyed."
Although Lu Sanlang spoke in a serious tone, Zhang Kang could taste some of the meaning as he listened.
Is this a hint for me to stay out of this matter and just let Zhang Shou have his way?
Just as Zhang Kang was persuaded by Lu Sanlang, Liu Zhiyuan, who had just seen Zhang Shou upstairs and greeted , had stopped looking at the scenes downstairs. He said to everyone in a deep voice: "There are such scums rampant in the outer city of the capital, which shows what the situation was like in the past. During this grand event, everyone should also take more care and let the followers listen carefully and watch in all directions."
As soon as these words were spoken, whether it was Fourth Master Hua, Wan Yuanbao, other club leaders, or businessmen, they all agreed.
Some guys are so arrogant that they dare to take action in such an occasion. How can they not let their subordinates stare at them? Petty thefts are harmless, but if there are cases of human trafficking, fighting and injuring people, how can the imperial chef selection competition continue? If something goes wrong, they will lose face!
In an instant, a group of people in bright clothes hurried downstairs, but they did not immediately call their followers to give them instructions. Instead, they negotiated with each other and divided up the several alleys and streets near the Xinglong Tea House. Everyone was in charge of a section, and then they called their people to start distributing the tasks.
Mr. Hua Si took this opportunity to quietly leave Xinglong Tea House, and saw that the men who had caused such a big disturbance had disappeared without a trace, as if they had been tied up and paraded by those "enthusiastic and righteous" people who saw injustice. As for Zhang Shou and his group, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, on the stage behind the curtain, Shier Yu's "Jinling Yan" came to a temporary end. The person who returned to the stage opened his mouth with a line from "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" that he was very familiar with.
"The Emperor of Han was obsessed with beauty and wanted to conquer the country, but he could not get her after ruling for many years. The Yang family has a daughter who has just grown up, but she is kept in the inner chamber and unknown to the world..."
After resolving the incident, Zhang Shou allowed a large number of people who were either angry, shocked, or just watching the fun, and who had already filled their stomachs with all kinds of delicious food, to follow the brave man to parade the traffickers through the streets. Only then did he realize that Peanut was missing. When he asked Xiao Cheng, Yang Hao, and Zheng Dang, he found that the three of them were all stunned by the sudden incident and did not notice the disappearance of Peanut at all.
Zhang Shou was almost mad at the thought that he had caught a group of flower-shooting gangs kidnapping women and children, and that someone might have secretly kidnapped Peanut. But thinking about how many eyes and ears were hidden in the crowd today, and how clever Peanut was, he felt that this guess was unlikely, so he simply didn't go into Xinglong Tea House, and started looking for someone with Sanxiao.
When he got to the other side of the curtain, he was suddenly amused. It turned out that Peanut was standing there in a daze, mumbling to himself, repeating the lines in the movie. Looking at this scene, he probably had no idea what had just happened!
Moreover, when the play was changed on stage, the lines of "Jinling Yan" turned into the lyrics of "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". He thought that Xiaohuasheng might be at a loss, but he didn't expect that the person also switched very quickly and was actually humming along with the famous actor in the play.
If he didn't know very well that the Tang poems that Xiaohuasheng could recite definitely did not include such a long poem as "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", he would have thought that the boy had already memorized this famous poem by Bai Juyi!
It was not until the song "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" was finally finished that Zhang Shou came behind Xiao Huasheng and asked calmly, "Do you want to stand on the stage one day and charm everyone with just one appearance and one mouth?"
