20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 15

Jiang Xiaodao's stomach was churning, and he couldn't help but take two or three steps back.

It was obviously a very cold day, but my whole body was instantly soaked with sweat.

After being shocked, a figure flashed in the backyard, and someone called softly: "Trail!"

Jiang Xiaodao turned sideways and took a closer look under the dim moonlight. It turned out to be Lao Cui.

"You don't sleep at night, what are you doing here?"

Lao Cui spoke in a very soft voice, crept over and grabbed Jiang Xiaodao's wrist: "Go back to the house with me quickly!"

Jiang Xiaodao raised his hand and pointed to the window in a daze, and said tremblingly: "In that room..."

Lao Cui immediately covered his mouth and reprimanded in a low voice: "Don't speak if it's none of your own business. Come on, come back with me!"

Jiang Xiaodao was completely lost and frustrated at this moment. Like a puppet on strings, he was forcefully dragged back to the Datong Shop in the west wing by Lao Cui.

When he opened his mouth to say something again, he was interrupted sharply by Lao Cui: "Don't ask, don't look, don't listen, go to sleep! If anything happens, we'll talk to you tomorrow morning!"

Even so, Jiang Xiaodao had already lost all sleep.

After tossing and turning, Lao Cui finally pulled him up until dawn and walked out of Mrs. Feng's house.

It's time to do business.

The two started from Nancheng, begging along the streets, and walked all the way to the boundaries of Beicheng.

Lao Cui has a sharp tongue and never drafts a lie. One moment, Jiang Xiaodao is his seriously ill son, and another moment he is an orphan he picked up. All in all, he is just crying and pretending to be pitiful.

After a busy morning, no more, no less, two older boys were about to arrive.

Jiang Xiaodao was absent-minded and hadn't said a word since he woke up in the morning.

"Xiaodao, are you hungry?" Lao Cui put the money he wanted in his arms, "It's almost time, let's go, I'll take you to beg for two bowls of rice!"

"What does Mrs. Feng do?" Jiang Xiaodao asked coldly.

Lao Cui smacked his lips and said, "Ouch! There are so many trades in the world of martial arts! Everyone cares about their own lives. Why do you always care about others?"

"If you don't tell me, then I'll leave."

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find my dad!" Jiang Xiaodao pretended to leave.

Lao Cui glared: "Hey! Boy, you want to sue me, right?"

"Then tell me quickly!"

Lao Cui naturally did not dare to offend Jiang Chenghai. After thinking about it, he could only sigh: "Oh! Let's talk while we walk!"

After careful questioning, I found out that Mrs. Feng started her career as a matchmaker in her early years, and later joined a scumbag business and did business in an important door.

Ordinary matchmakers are said to be matchmakers and matchmakers, but there is another type of matchmaker who specializes in helping wealthy families renew their strings and extend their family line.

Some people have young minds, or their sons are crooked, stupid, and unable to find a wife. Mrs. Feng specializes in helping them find young and beautiful girls.

However, how can there be so many young girls willing to be tortured?
As time went by, Mrs. Feng came to Zhanzixing to have her hands slimmed down.

People from Zhazi Hong go around abducting children and selling them to wealthy families through an intermediary. As an intermediary, Mrs. Feng naturally takes a cut of the profits.

Later, when she had some money of her own, she also bought some children. She wanted to be a madam in a brothel, but firstly, she didn't have enough capital, and the children she bought had some problems; secondly, that business had already begun to spread in the city. Someone did it, and there was no place for her.

So Mrs. Feng simply became cruel and chopped off the child's hands and feet, or burned the child's face, and then severely trained them to go out to beg, which turned them into what they are now.When Jiang Xiaodao heard that among these children, there were many orphans like him, he suddenly felt angry.

"What a beast! Doesn't the court care about it? Abduction is a serious crime!"

"The imperial court?" Lao Cui sneered, "Xiaodao, do you think the government doesn't know that Mrs. Feng is doing this? How could she have been safe and sound for so many years without official acquiescence?"

"What a bullshit court!"

"Hey!" Lao Cui quickly covered Jiang Xiaodao's mouth, "Little ancestor, don't talk nonsense! Let me see, if it doesn't work, just go home tonight. Out of sight, out of mind."

"But I've already seen it!"

"Then what can you do? Go sue the official? Come on, come on, the shopkeeper looks kind, let me go and take a look."

After Lao Cui finished speaking, he walked into the door of a restaurant and said plaintively: "Old shopkeeper, please do a good job. During the war last year, Mao Zi burned down our house. Now we have to go north to join our relatives and pay a lot of money." All the money was spent, and my son was bitten by a dog again..."

The owner of the restaurant waved his hand impatiently, turned around and shouted: "Huzi, go to the backyard to get two cakes and a bowl of vegetable soup."

Lao Cui took the alms and ate them with Jiang Xiaodao.

The two of them walked all morning and were both a little tired now. After eating, they leaned against the wall to bask in the sun.

Not far in front of you is a black white tower.

It is said to be black because the top and bottom of the tower are scorched by smoke and fire; it is said to be a white tower because its name is indeed called the White Tower.

This octagonal solid brick tower is [-] stories high and was built in the Liao and Jin Dynasties. It has a relief Buddha statue below and a pearl wheel on the top. It was originally a wind chime hanging at the corner of the eaves and a bronze mirror between the eaves.

Next to the White Tower, there is a large open space. Even if it is covered with snow, you can still vaguely see several scorched marks on the ground.

There used to be a magnificent temple there called Guangyou Temple.

There was a Boxer riot the year before last, and this place became a gathering place for the "elder brothers". Later, Mao Zi conquered this place, burned it out, and turned it into a scorched earth.

The white pagoda was also blackened at that time, and the wind chimes on the eaves of the pagoda were melted by the high temperature. Now only the few stone Buddhas are left, silently watching the maozi clanging to the west to build the railway.

"The temple fair will be held there in a few days." Lao Cui looked at it from afar and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "The temple has been burned down, so why do you call it a temple fair?"

As he said that, Lao Cui turned his head and asked Jiang Xiaodao: "Xiaodao, I was not here the year before last year. I heard them say that the day Guangyou Temple caught fire, it burned for a day and a night. Did you see it?"

Jiang Xiaodao nodded.

That night, the fire shot into the sky and the city of Liaoyang was as bright as day.

"It burned well!" Jiang Xiaodao pointed to the White Tower again, "It's a pity that it is made of stone. If it were made of wood, it would be better to burn it together!"

"Oh my God!" Lao Cui quickly clasped his hands and prayed to the sky, "Buddha and Bodhisattva, this kid is young and doesn't know the heights of the sky. Don't blame him."

Jiang Xiaodao snorted coldly: "What Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? If they were really spiritual, Old Mrs. Feng shouldn't be still alive! Those idiots shouldn't still be showing off their power here!"

While he was talking, a tall young man suddenly walked out of the restaurant behind him.

I saw this man taking steps and muttering words such as "Hahaha Shao" and "Gusna".

He must have just finished his meal and was in a good mood. He stood on the steps outside the door, with his hands on his hips, looking forward to Zixiong, and loudly chanted a poem:

"The white pagoda is so big. There is a Bodhisattva on the white pagoda!"

"Bodhisattva protects me as a high official, but if it doesn't work, I will be blasted to pieces!"

(End of this chapter)