Poor children

Chapter 21

一
At dawn, Yun'er took the letter to the girl who brought Jiang into the house last night, gave her some money, and sent her to Baiyun Nunnery to deliver a letter to the abbot for the third lady. The girl took the money. I went happily
I walked and took a ride and arrived at ten o'clock in the evening.
The little nun in front of the mountain gate heard that he was delivering a message for the third lady, and immediately took him to see Chen.
Liao Chen heard that the third lady specially invited someone to deliver the letter, but he didn't know what it was about. He greeted the visitor with a few polite words, then took the letter and opened it, and saw that there were only five words written on the letter: "The person who delivers the letter will die."

After reading the dust, he folded the letter paper and put it into an envelope. He took it to the candle and burned it. Seeing that the letter had completely melted, he turned around and said to the visitor with a smile on his face, "Thank you for your hard work, thank you. ! The money I have is all used as a thank you gift for all the hard work. Girls, please don’t take it easy.” After saying that, he took out a few taels of silver from his arms and gave it to the girl.
"This is what we, as slaves, deserve, so why should we take the reward from the master for nothing?" After saying this, he hurriedly took it and collected it.

"It's getting late today, and the donor may have inconvenience on his way back. It's better to stay at Han Temple for now and go back at dawn tomorrow."

"Then I have to trouble Master Tai," the little girl said

"It is the time of the evening fast. Please go to the dining hall with my disciple to eat some fast food first. After dinner, I still have something to trouble the donor..."

"Yes" the girl agreed and followed the little nun to the dining hall for dinner.

After dinner, the little girl went to the dust room again to listen to orders.

"I have something that I would like to ask the girl to take to the third lady. Is it troublesome?" Liao Chen asked.

"No trouble, no trouble"

"Then can I ask the girl to follow me to the backyard to fetch it?"

After saying this, Master Tai held the lamp, and the two of them went to the secret room in the backyard one after another. The door of the secret room was hidden behind the statue of Guanyin in the Buddhist hall in the backyard. They turned around lightly to turn the incense burner and the Buddhist niche to move forward a few feet. to "Girls Please!"

There were no windows or lights in the secret room. The little girl could only vaguely see through the light held by Liao Chen. She stumbled and groped her way into the house.
Liao Chen came in right after him, and put the candlestick on the table. The little girl didn't know what to get, so she turned her head and asked her. Liao Chen pointed forward and said, "Look, girl, isn't it right there!"

The little girl looked along her fingers. Before she could see what was in front of her, Liao Chen had already taken out the hemp rope he had prepared from his sleeve and put it around the little girl's neck. The rope was around Chen's hands and he was strangling tightly. If you don't let go, in less than half a stick of incense, the person who was still clawing and kicking will stop moving.

Seeing that the man was no longer struggling, the old nun relaxed her grip. She called two little nuns who were her confidants to put the man into a sack. Taking advantage of the dark and windy night, he threw the man into a mass grave to feed the wild dogs. The little nun would not come out tomorrow. I'm afraid there will only be a pile of smooth bones left for the girl...

two

At dusk that day, the poor boy finished his work in the kitchen and went to the street.
From a distance, he saw Master Sanyang taking a nap on a chair. He knew in his heart that the master would have no money to open fire again today. The poor man quietly walked up to him, took out a bun from his pocket and put it in front of the Taoist leader's nose, saying He bites without opening his eyes, and chews for a few mouthfuls before opening his eyes.

"I didn't expect that my disciple would be so filial and know how to bring me steamed buns for my master." He finished the buns in three mouthfuls. "Do you have any more?"

"Reply to Master, poor children are only allowed to eat two steamed buns and one bowl of vegetable soup every day. This bun was secretly given to me by the cook when she left, so I only have one."

"Oh" the Taoist priest wiped his mouth and stroked his beard, "Are you hungry?"

"Master! Poor children are not hungry." He said he was not hungry but was very honest and kept saying
"Just wait." After the Taoist Master said that, he got up and walked across the street. Across the street was a drugstore called Zhong'an Tang. The shopkeeper's surname was Xu. He was a nice person and had the same temperament as the Taoist Master. There was a person who was usually troubled and narrow-minded. At that time, as long as the Taoist priest said a word, he could borrow some money from him
The Taoist priest was about to cross the street when he accidentally saw a man coming out of the drug store opposite. He was so distracted that he bumped into the Taoist priest.
"Hey! What? How do you walk? How do you bump into people?" The Taoist priest stood up and was about to step forward to argue.
For some reason, the person in front of me started crying, which shocked the Taoist priest.

"Why are you crying? You hit me so hard that I didn't even cry..." The Taoist priest was so shocked that he began to talk nonsense.
Upon seeing this, Paoer stepped forward, "Uncle, are you injured somewhere?"

"This..." The Taoist leader hurriedly shouted into the medicine shop, "Shopkeeper Xu, come and take a look!"

Shopkeeper Xu came out and checked carefully and saw some skin injuries, but it didn't look like he had fallen, so he said, "He was not seriously injured. He just took two taels of arsenic from my shop. He said it was a rat in the house, but Seeing his current situation, I'm afraid he's encountered some difficulties and wants to find fault, right?" Upon hearing this, the Taoist priest saw that he was holding a small paper bag in his hand and reached out to grab it, but the man refused to let go. When the Taoist priest saw this He wanted to grab it even more, so the man tightened his grip. The Taoist rushed up and bit and gnawed at the man's hand. The man struggled but finally let go. The Taoist grabbed the medicine and protected it tightly. When the man saw it, After the medicine was taken away, he burst into tears, attracting many passers-by to stop and watch.
three

Shopkeeper Xu and the Taoist priest worked together to move the man to a chair in the Gua Tan and sit down. They comforted him for a long time before he stopped crying.
"If you have any difficulty, please tell me. Maybe I can help you," the Taoist priest said.

"My surname is Kong, people call me Kong Liu. I live in Kongjia Village not far from the city. There is a bully in my village who bullies me for being honest. He often comes to my house to beg for money and rice. If I don't give it, he punches and kicks me. Sometimes he comes drunk. My family is frivolous towards my wife, and even my three-year-old son was severely beaten by him. My wife couldn't bear it and took our son back to her parents' house a month ago. However, Kong Liu still came to my house from time to time and asked for money. I no longer had any money to give him. I am beaten, scolded and threatened by him every day, so today I want to buy some arsenic to kill myself, so that I don’t have to suffer these anymore."

"That's unreasonable." Dao Chang slammed the table angrily, "Why are you going to die?"

"What can I do if I don't die?"

"Give him money!" the Taoist priest said, "Give him 50 taels..."

"Hey! Are you kidding me, Taoist priest? Let alone 50 taels, I can't even get out five cents now."

"Shopkeeper Xu, he has it." The Taoist priest stretched out his hand to point to shopkeeper Xu. Shopkeeper Xu pretended not to hear and quickly returned to the shop.

"Please give me the arsenic, please," Kong Liu cried.

"Master! This uncle is very pitiful, we must not let him die!" The poor boy said
"Then do you have money?" the Taoist asked.
"The poor boy doesn't have it, but the master's magic power is strong, maybe there is"

"You are sincerely disgusting as a teacher, right?"

"The apprentice dare not"

four

"I can't give you this arsenic. You go back. If that evil man comes to make trouble with you again, tell him to come back in two days and give him 50 taels. He won't fight when he hears what you say." "You are here." The Taoist priest arrived.
"What should I do after that?" Kong Liu asked

"Does your home have a toilet?"

"Have"

"You dig a big hole under the toilet, as tall as a person, and fill it with excrement..."

"Excuse me, Master, what does this mean?"

"When he comes asking for money, jump down and drown him to death, which will save you a beating."

"Hey! Taoist Master" Kong Liu cried again, "I beg you to give me the medicine quickly!"

"You go back and do as I say, I have my own reasons..."

(End of this chapter)