The Mystery of Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 13
Inside Cheng'an Gate, a carriage passed by, and beside the road, Zhang Xiaojia and his younger sister Zhang Xiaopei were looking for the target.

Suddenly the corner of the clothes was pulled by someone, Zhang Xiaojia looked at his younger sister, who was winking at the front left.

Zhang Xiaojia looked, and saw a fat man walking in front of him waving a delicate paper fan, which was really funny.

After staying in the capital for a long time, Zhang Xiaojia saw at a glance that this fat man was a businessman who came to Kyoto from other places, and he was the target he could strike.

The two siblings looked at each other and made up their minds.Zhang Xiaopei took a few quick steps to catch up with the fat man, but suddenly slipped and fell on top of the fat merchant.

With a sound of "Ouch", accompanied by Zhang Xiaopei's exclamation, the fat merchant hurriedly helped her with his hands, and when he took a closer look, there was a young girl with a very delicate face in his arms. People take it off lightly.

Zhang Xiaopei apologized to the fat merchant in a panic on purpose, but the fat man didn't care at all, and even took Zhang Xiaopei's hand with some concern and asked her name and address.

Looking at the perverted look in front of him, Zhang Xiaopei felt nauseated for a while, thanked him hurriedly, turned and left, leaving behind the merchant with a nympho face.

Zhang Xiaopei turned the corner of the street and saw Zhang Xiaojia was weighing the money in his hand. It was obvious that the merchant just now had a lot of money. This ticket brought in at least three taels of silver, which was enough for everyone to spend for a long time. Zhang Xiaojia had a proud expression on his face.

Zhang Xiaopei almost died of anger when he saw his brother's financial obsession, and scolded: "Good Zhang Xiaojia, you are busy counting the money, I almost can't get away, you know?"

Zhang Xiaojia said without raising her head: "It's okay, it's okay, my sister is so smart, how could she be caught by a foreign merchant."

Zhang Xiaopei said fiercely: "The man grabbed my hand just now, and it took me a lot of effort to break free."

Zhang Xiaojia put the money in his pocket, then raised his head and said with a smile: "That's all right, I'll marry him at the worst, and I will have a rich brother-in-law, so I won't have to live a life like this in the future, and worry about it every day. "

Zhang Xiaopei became angry, and her voice rose three octaves in an instant: "What did you say?" He stretched out his hand to greet his brother's face, Zhang Xiaojia hurriedly backed away, made a grimace and said, "What? Did it come to your heart?"

Zhang Xiaopei became impatient and wanted to beat Zhang Xiaojia when he caught up. The two siblings ran into the city laughing and cursing.

In less than a moment, Zhang Xiaojia and his sister came to a dilapidated compound in the south of the capital with a large bag of things. When they opened the door, a group of ragged children surrounded them, "Brother Jia, sister Pei, what delicious food do you bring?" I'm back." He stretched out his hand and was about to grab it.

Zhang Xiaojia hurriedly protected the things in his hand: "Go, go, don't grab, all line up."

The children were very obedient, and they calmed down immediately. Zhang Xiaojia gave a bag of food to his younger sister, shared it with the children, and walked towards the courtyard by himself.

The people in the courtyard were all in tattered clothes, and Zhang Xiaojia took out the things in his arms as he walked in, "Grandma, this is the medicine for you." I said." When I got to the innermost part, there was nothing left in my arms, and a middle-aged couple came up to greet me.

Zhang Xiaojia put down the burden in his hands and said, "Father, mother, there is still some harvest today. This is the grain I bought."

The middle-aged woman hurriedly took the burden and put it inside the house.

Zhang Xiaojia entered the dark room, picked up a wooden ladle, scooped up a bowl of water and drank it.

The middle-aged man looked at Zhang Xiaojia, and said with a sad face: "Xiaojia, don't go to the street to steal in the future, in case you are caught and beaten up like last time, what should I do."

Zhang Xiaojia said nonchalantly: "It's okay, dad, I will be careful. Besides, these days, there are a lot of people who are rich and unkind. The businessmen who come to the capital have a few good things, and they are not just gold and silver squeezed from the hands of ordinary people." , I use their money to support the people in our courtyard, which can be regarded as doing good deeds for them."

Father sighed and said nothing more.The people in their courtyard have a special status, they are all untouchables of the Xia Kingdom.Untouchables are different from civilians in that they are descendants of prisoners and have no household registration, that is, legal status.They have never been officially recognized and protected. They can neither be admitted to office, nor can they do business, or even work in shops.Many descendants of the untouchables, the men became beggars or illegal workers, and the women, who were somewhat beautiful, could only go to the secret door for prostitution, and their lives were extremely miserable.

Zhang Xiaojia and his younger sister grew up in such an environment, and saw too many tragedies of family ruin and death. In order to keep the family and even the people in the yard alive, he and his younger sister started stealing, targeting merchants from other places. His sister covered him, and he took the opportunity to attack.When merchants from other places find their purses stolen, they usually choose to swallow their anger. It is difficult to enter the Yamen in Kyoto, and very few people will pursue it.

Zhang Xiaojia was lost in thought, Zhang Xiaopei rushed in, out of breath, and said, "Brother, Huang San and others are going to take Jinmei away."

Zhang Xiaojia stood up and rushed to the front yard with his younger sister.

The front yard was already full of chaos, and a man with a face full of meaty butchers was grabbing a little girl and trying to walk out the door. Next to him was a crying woman and a submissive man.

Zhang Xiaojia rushed forward and grabbed the little girl: "What are you doing?"

The man who looked like a butcher was named Huang San. He was a thug in a black gambling house in the west city. He had dozens of minions under him. He was arrogant and domineering. People in the yard were often bullied by him.

Huang San shouted: "Oh, Zhang Xiaojia, are you here to meddle in business again?"

Zhang Xiaojia protected Jinmei behind him, and said to Huang San, "Are you here to rob people in broad daylight?"

Huang San took out a piece of paper, waved it in front of Zhang Xiaojia, and said loudly: "You can see clearly with your dog eyes, his father owes us 15 taels of silver in the gambling shop, and he can't get the money, so he has already given her daughter to us." The casino is gone, I'm just here to collect the goods."

Jin Mei's father is the submissive man just now. This man's name is Hou Laoshi, who is addicted to gambling. He owes gambling debts and cannot repay them, so he can only sell his daughter to a gambling house.

Zhang Xiaojia glared at Hou Laoshi, and Hou Laoshi lowered his head, not daring to look at Zhang Xiaojia.

Zhang Xiaojia said angrily: "I will pay his gambling debts for him, but you can't take him away."

Huang San smiled: "You pay it back? Come, come, give me the money, and I'll leave right away."

Zhang Xiaojia fumbled into his bosom, the silver he stole today has already been spent, and there was only two taels left, so Zhang Xiaojia threw the two taels to Huang San: "Give you the two taels first, and I will return the rest tomorrow." superior."

Huang San held two taels of silver and said with a smile: "Two taels? Honestly Hou owes us 15 taels of money in the gambling house. What are you sending beggars for two taels of silver? Come on, get me back."

The gangster brought by Huang San stepped forward to catch Jinmei, Zhang Xiaojia waved to block it, but he didn't expect to use too much force, and knocked the gangster to the ground with one palm.

Huang San was stunned, this kid has skills.

When he came back to his senses, Huang San shouted: "If you dare to go against your third master Huang, kill him." After speaking, he led the gangsters and greeted Zhang Xiaojia.

Zhang Xiaojia did have kung fu. When he was a teenager, there was an old man in the yard. It was said that he was an officer of the frontier army who committed a crime. When Zhang Xiaojia was free, he practiced martial arts with him.

But two fists can't beat four hands, and Zhang Xiaojia is not a peerless master, so he soon lost the wind. Huang San punched him in the face, and there were stars in his eyes, and blood flowed.

"Ah..." Huang San, who was about to kill Zhang Xiaojia, felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. It turned out that Zhang Xiaopei and the children in the yard smashed a big wooden stick two people high, and the stick swept across, beating the gangsters. Unable to hold back, they all retreated outside the courtyard.

Standing outside the courtyard, Huang San cursed bitterly: "Zhang Xiaojia, wait for me, I will demolish your large courtyard tonight, and no one will be left in the courtyard." After speaking, he took the gangsters and ran away.

Zhang Xiaojia returned the golden sister to her mother, looked at Hou Laoshi with hatred, and took the younger sister back to his home.

Zhang Xiaojia's father watched his daughter bandage his son's wound, and said worriedly: "Xiaojia, now that you have offended Huang San, I'm afraid it will be troublesome."

Zhang Xiaojia was helpless: "Then what should I do? Let them take Jinmei away like this? If they take Jinmei away today, they will definitely be sent to the secret door by the river at night. Jinmei is only fifteen, I'm afraid It's not going to live to be sixteen."

Father knew he was right, but the consequences of offending Huang San were also very serious. Uncle Wu's son was beaten to death by gangsters just because he stole Huang San's money. Now that his son beat Huang San, I'm afraid It's hard to be kind.

Mother also came over and said: "Huang San is not so easy to provoke, I'm afraid something will happen today, his father, why don't you go and ask Master Ning?"

Master Ning is Ning Mingyuan, the boss of the gambling house, and also Huang San's master.

Father sighed: "Now that things have come to an end, this is the only way to go. I will go to Master Ning to intercede in a while."

Zhang Xiaojia wanted to persuade his father, but although his father was honest, he was also very stubborn, and he couldn't think of a good way, so he could only watch his father go out.

　The male lead has appeared, and a shocking murder is waiting for him in the next chapter!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)