start with swallowing

Chapter 555
Qingshi wanders the streets, watching people come and go, and appreciate the unique civilization and customs for thousands of years.

Turning a corner, there is a mutton restaurant. An old man with a black pipe is sitting by the table at the door. Seeing a bowl of mutton soup in front of him, the creases on the old man’s face are like blooming chrysanthemums. Beside him, he picked up the chopsticks after rubbing his hands together.

At this time, a group of people came from the other side, and a girl with pear blossoms and rain tied in the middle, with a pale face and a frightened expression, was dragged forward.

When the passers-by on the street saw their clothes, they all moved away from the left and right, feeling very afraid.

The old man who drank the mutton soup frowned, his chopsticks broke at the sound, and his face was ugly.

Qingshi glanced at it, raised his eyebrows slightly, and walked to the old man's table: "Old man, can you sit down?"

The old man nodded.

"Who are those people? How do you kidnap people in the street? Everyone else seems to be afraid of them?" Qingshi looked across and asked.

The old man withdrew his gaze, sighed, and then looked at Qingshi: "Young student, are you a foreigner?"

"How do you always know?" Qingshi knew it in his heart, but still asked.

"I can't even recognize the clothes of the servants of the Nie family, and there are only foreigners!"

"Well, I arrived in your land for the first time today. Old man, I have heard of the Nie family, who are said to be the actual power holders of Baihe County. It turns out that those are the slaves of the Nie family! The Nie family is also a century-old family with a good reputation. Why? Bind a woman in the street? People on the street are still very afraid?"

"Hush! Keep your voice down, if you are heard, you will suffer!"

"Why, can't you even say it? So overbearing?"

"Ugh!"

The old man glanced around, sighed, and lowered his head.

"Don't worry, old man, it's just a titled family, but I'm not afraid of them!" Qingshi smiled confidently, "Can you tell me about the situation of the Nie family? A century-old family is considered a great family, and it should maintain its name! How can you hear that? What you see is not the case?"

The old man just shook his head, obviously apprehensive and afraid to speak out.

"Of course that's not the case!" A very thin old man walked by, his face was wrinkled, his eyes were cloudy, his head was bald, without a single hair, and he was wearing a linen robe.

It seems that as soon as the wind blows, I will say goodbye to this world, but my steps are very steady.

After saying a word, he sat down, looked at Qingshi, and said cheerfully: "You little baby, I really don't know. If you talk about the Nie family in Baihe County, it's nothing more than a compliment. If you say something bad, you may be punished." When their minions heard about it, they took you away, or sent you to the mine to mine until you died, or caught you in the dungeon to starve to death, or fed the monsters they raised, are you really not afraid?"

Before Qingshi could answer, the old man who drank mutton soup said, "I guess, you must have no children!" He had lost interest in mutton soup, and lit the pipe again.

"No children, no worries, that's what it means?" The bald old man smiled.

"Yeah!" The old man Hanyan nodded and lowered his voice, "In Baihe County, unless you are not afraid of death, who would dare to talk about them?"

"Two old men, there is no one around, why don't you tell me about the specific situation of the Nie family?" Qingshi became interested.

"Alas!" the old man with a dry pipe sighed, hesitated to speak, and finally gritted his teeth, "There is one thing that has been in my heart for decades, and I think about it every day, it devours my mind every day, and I have nightmares every day. If I hadn't cultivated battle qi, my bones would have been buried in the loess!"

"I have a second brother!"

"He is kind and helpful, and he has never blushed with his neighbors!"

"I clearly remember the day he got married!"

"On the way the bride was picked up, a collateral child of the Nie family saw her and snatched her away in the street. After hearing this, the second elder brother hurried to argue, but was beaten to death. The bride was also beaten to death after being defiled. Feed the monster!"

"This is not enough. After the second brother's parents found out, they went to report to the police, but they were arrested in court, and the body was thrown on the mass grave the next day!"

The old man's eyes were red.

"There should be a lot of such things, very, very many!" The bald old man sighed, "The Nie family has a titled strong man, who has been operating for countless years, and Baihe County is under their control, openly and secretly. Under the power is Domineering is lawless and unscrupulous!"

"That's right, it's not just domineering, it's completely unconscionable!" The old man of Hanyandai gritted his teeth, "Nine out of ten neighbors of my family were bullied by relatives of Nie's family or evil slaves, and three or four families were ruined! Robbing men and dominating women is commonplace; destroying families is happening every day. One year, I secretly counted, that year, even in the county, hundreds of people were killed by them overtly or secretly."

"No one cares?" Inexplicably, Qingshi felt heavy in his heart.

"Care?" The old man with a dry pipe sneered, "The empire is corrupt, and the government is in cahoots with them. No, it should be said that they belong to them! There is no room for reasoning. In the county, the generally accepted truth, when you meet the Nie family, you have to bow your head If you are bullied, you have to kneel down, and if you are targeted by them, you have to accept your fate. If you really can’t survive, hurry up and hang yourself in the well to avoid suffering! By the way, you also saw the group of people just now, it’s obvious, it’s a robbery I don’t know which family of the women who came here will be destroyed again. I still don’t understand, those so-called strong men who are so high above just watch the people suffer and ignore them? Are they really treating us like ants?”

"Alas!" The bald old man sighed softly, "There is no other way!"

"Why is there no way?" The old man in the pipe was angry. "The law is the way, but they take the lead in not obeying it! The strong, who stand tall and look down on me and other ants, how can they care about our lives? They are a group of rich wolves without parents!"

"I heard a saying!" The bald old man said, "Our empire also has powerful enemies, such as monsters, who threaten our human race at all times! We have fought against them for thousands of years, but powerful monsters have always existed, and they need to be strengthened. In addition, there are evil gods who covet our territory from time to time, and they also need the protection of the strong. But the strong are the only ones, how can they take care of them? We have a large number of human races, but there are few strong ones. It doesn't matter, this may stimulate the growth of geniuses. Giving the strong some privileges is also a way to stimulate the emergence of the strong!"

"Privilege? Method?" The old man with a dry pipe showed a sad expression, "Those titles are strong, is this not a privilege? They enjoy the title, this is not a privilege? They plunder our land, this is not a privilege? That's all, we are weak, We live a little humble, but they don’t think it’s enough. They rob us of our children at will. They can kill us at will according to their mood. They can even arrange a crime for us to deprive us of our property and land. , even life. Under the peace of the empire, no, under the peace of the nobles, we are slaves to be beaten and killed! Just because we have no conditions to cultivate, because we are weak, we are born to be lowly? Empire? Those so-called Extraordinary? Pooh!"

He hates to the extreme, is also sad to the extreme, and is helpless to the extreme!
(End of this chapter)