Chapter 3: Quick Hands Wear Like This

  "Halt!", a loud shout came from beside, the fatty was startled and turned his head to see that it was the person who had been sitting under the tree earlier, tall and big, holding a stick, already standing beside him. Judging by his clothes, he looked no different from the local farmers, but his skin was as white as a rich family's young master.

  Chen Xinyi saw the knife scar and fell to the ground, his mind moved, and he immediately got up, grabbed the little beggar, ran to the side of the horse carriage, and blocked the fat man.

  "I am the official of Ji Zhou, and you, young master, incited a beggar to fight and injured someone's life. You think you can just walk away? But when I, Chen Xin, have no one in Ji Zhou?" Chen Xin immediately insisted that the scar-faced man was dead.

  The fatty indeed fell into the trap, and still stubbornly said: "You're just a small official, how dare you come to arrest me? Moreover, this person wasn't even killed by me. I was kind enough to give them alms, but they themselves started fighting and injured someone. Can't blame an innocent person, can it?"

  Chen Xin smiled slyly, "Empty words won't work here. Everyone saw you incite the beggars to fight and rob, they're all witnesses. Officer Liu, take a look at that dead person again."

  Liu Min had always hated this fat guy, and now was the perfect time to deal with him. He pretended to examine the scar on his nose and check his breath, then suddenly shouted: "He's really dead! Quick, grab him, don't let him get away!"

  Fatso was so scared that his legs went soft, and just as he was about to go and feel for himself, Chen Xin wouldn't let him think twice, grabbing his bright red clothes and slapping him several times, hitting Fatso until he was dizzy and staggering around, cursing wildly: "Inciting murder, taking lives, guilty of the same crime, according to the Great Ming Code should be sliced to death!"

  The boy beside him was so frightened that he let out a series of shrill cries, Chen Xin dropped the fat kid, who fell to the ground with a thud, panting heavily.

  Chen Xin pointed at a group of beggars and scolded: "You all go around begging, but have you ever registered as beggars? You don't even have a beggar's permit, yet you fight and brawl, everyone has a share, and now you're all being taken back to the yamen." The group of beggars hastily knelt down to plead for mercy. They were from Liaodong and had wandered here, where would they have registered as beggars? Moreover, the matter of beggar registration was originally established in the early Ming dynasty, but after the mid-Ming period, all sorts of systems fell into disarray, and no one managed the beggar registration anymore. These beggars hadn't even heard of it.

  Chen Xinkan ignored those and pointed to the store again: "A life was lost right at your doorstep, and it's the same as taking it back to the county government office. At the very least, you'll be sentenced as an accomplice."

  The shopkeeper's legs went soft and he knelt down, repeatedly kowtowing: "Please spare my life, sir. You saw it with your own eyes, I only sold buns and didn't instigate anything."

  "Your shop's reputation is built on human lives, you instruct people to kill and don't stop them or report to the authorities, thinking you can quietly bury it. This is simply trampling on human life!"

  The shopkeeper had never seen such an unreasonable person. As soon as the knife scar fell to the ground, Chen Xin jumped out. He wanted to report to the authorities, but it wouldn't be that quick.

  A group of people around were frightened by Chen Xin's few words, all kneeling down and kowtowing to Chen Xin. Chen Xin looked at the situation and relaxed his tone: "However, I also saw the situation earlier and won't wrong a good person. You are all involved in this matter, but the main culprits are only these two, the fat man and the little beggar." The crowd nodded in agreement.

  Chen Xin said, looking at the young beggar beside him again. The boy was still eating with relish. A little girl from his group came over and pulled on his sleeve, crying. Tears streamed down her dark face, creating white streaks. The boy handed the remaining half of his bun to the little girl and smiled foolishly at her, not saying a word.

  Chen Xin nodded in approval and continued, "If you two become witnesses and testify that the fat man and the young boy committed murder, you can both be exempt from punishment. As witnesses, you'll even get to eat, are you willing?"

  Everyone shouted in unison, "Agreed! Agreed! Thank you, parents!", "It was this fat guy who instigated it, he's the murderer!!" Hearing that they could be innocent, who still cared about this despicable fat guy.

  "Wait, what kind of parent are you? Are there adults who wear clothes like yours? And what kind of official are you, you're clearly just a cheating farmer." The book boy asked in a shrill voice.

  Chen Xinxin said that things were going badly, and had hit the fat man dizzy, but had overlooked this little demon. Just as he didn't know what to do, the shopkeeper spoke up.

  "Oh, you're still asking? Of course, it's someone sent by Governor Tian to investigate! In this rural area, even the guards and prisoners wear similar clothes. And which farmer isn't weathered from the sun and wind, how could they have a face as refined as yours? Farmers don't know anything about the laws of the Ming dynasty, what does a little kid like you understand?" The shopkeeper, in his anxious state, had already seen Chen Xin as his only hope to escape punishment, so he wouldn't allow this child to question him.

  Chen Xin secretly let out a sigh of relief, and then climbed up the pole, laughing loudly: "The shopkeeper has good eyesight, and Governor Dian Shi is my uncle. I'm also quick-handed, and today I'm on a mission from Governor Dian Shi to investigate in disguise. You little servant are very arrogant, you're just the accomplice of the fatty." After that, he went over and kicked the small book boy several times, kicking him into loud wails, and at the same time scared the car driver into hiding under the table. Chen Xin estimated that he wouldn't dare to speak recklessly again, and only then did he return to the fatty's side with a satisfied heart.

  Chen Xinyi grabbed the fatty and dragged him under the tree, continuing to intimidate him: "The evidence is all here, what else can you deny? With your fat body, if I don't torture you for three days, you won't die."

  "Ah! You... you... dare to catch me, do you know who my uncle is?"

  Chen Xin gave another two slaps, and then whispered in the fat man's ear: "I don't care who your uncle is, even if he's the king of heaven, but since he's not here today, believe it or not, I'll bury you in a sandbag tonight. With all the evidence and witnesses around, I can hang you with this broken belt, or say you died from accidentally hitting your head while hiding, and it will be ruled as suicide due to fear of punishment."

  The fat man's eyes widened, and he had heard rumors about the sandbags. Looking at Chen Xin's temperament and demeanor, he was completely convinced that this was not a farmer. He immediately softened up and knelt down on the ground, begging Chen Xin for mercy: "Sir, spare my life! Sir, spare my life! Please show me a way to survive!"

  Chen Xin squatted down contentedly, blocking the view of the crowd behind him, and whispered to the fatty: "You see, if we had done it this way earlier, everyone would have been spared a lot of trouble. You're also from a wealthy family, why bother being a beggar and getting into trouble with the authorities? This life is in the hands of the young master, just depending on whether he's sincere or not. If he's sincere, then this matter will be settled by this little beggar alone."

  The fatty's luck wasn't bad, he hastily pulled out his money bag and poured out a pile of loose silver coins, holding them in both hands to Chen Xin's face. "This is all the subordinate has, please spare my life."

  Chen Xin took it, shook his head and smiled: "Young master, are you also taking me for one of these prostitutes? This is a matter of life and death. The county magistrate and the history books don't need to be mentioned. This little beggar must be caught. Once he's in prison, can he not talk nonsense? Which one doesn't want a share of the profits - the jailer, the gatekeeper, or the warden? Young master, it's better to keep this silver in prison to buy food. I guarantee you'll have enough to eat until you're executed." Chen Xin was pretending to be familiar with the officials, estimating that the jailer and others were all in charge of the prison, and saying so made him seem like an insider.

  Fatso took a look and couldn't avoid it, so he quickly grabbed Chen Xin's hand and said: "Sir, wait a minute, I just forgot that I still had some silver with me when I came out. Look at my memory, sir, don't blame me." After saying this, he rummaged through his chest again and pulled out several large pieces of silver. Chen Xin didn't know how much it was, looked at Fatso, grabbed a handful, and also put it in his chest like Fatso did.

  Fatty saw Chen Xin and looked at him, then said timidly: "Is that really all? If the master still thinks it's not enough, I'll take little Qi away. He's a good singer, I just bought him last year..."

  Chen Xin cut him off with a sharp tone: "You can keep it for yourself, I'm not interested."

  Chen Xin estimated that it was about enough, and once again snatched the fat man's money bag, put the silver pieces into his pocket, stood up, and shouted loudly: "Originally you are a person from Yunhe, seeing that you also have good intentions, your crime is reduced by one degree. Today I won't arrest you, you can go to Yunhe to surrender yourself, so that when the time comes, I won't have to take you there."

  Liu Minyou hurriedly walked over to grab the young beggar, Chen Xin turned around, winked at Liu Minyou, and loudly said to the crowd: "This young master has confessed his crime and agreed to go to Zunhua to surrender. The main culprit of the murder is this little beggar, and the others don't need to testify. Except for this little beggar, no one else is guilty!"

  The owner of the tea house heard that he didn't have to go to the government office, and his heart relaxed. He no longer questioned Chen Xin letting the fat man go, and instead loudly praised Chen Xin's wisdom and bravery.

  Fatso got up, rolled and crawled, took the book boy onto the horse cart, didn't dare to go to Jizhou again, followed Chen Xinyi's hint, turned around and fled towards Maxian Bridge.

  Chen Xin watched as the fatty walked away, let out a sigh of relief, and tossed a small piece of silver to the shopkeeper, saying: "This dead fatty didn't even pay for his tea, I forgot, so I'll pay for him instead."

  The shopkeeper weighed it, and the weight was worth one or two coins. He said: "You don't need to pay so much silver, five miscellaneous grain cakes plus tea money is only a dozen or so coins, even if it's fifty cakes, it's not worth one coin of silver."

  Chen Xin waved his hand generously: "Give the rest to these beggars to eat some biscuits, it's a pity. We officials must always remember the sufferings of the people. But you are all related to this matter, and you are not allowed to go to Ji Zhou again. Otherwise, let me catch up with you, and I will take them together."

  The crowd again thanked loudly, Chen Xin did not dare to stay long, pulled up the little beggar and left.

  The shopkeeper saw Chen Xin wanting to leave and hastily asked: "Sir, what should be done with this corpse?"

  "Leave it there, don't move. Someone will come to collect it later. Don't touch it, whoever touches it will be caught." Then he beckoned to Liu Min with a wave of his hand, "Liu officer, let's go."

  Liu Minyou didn't see Chen Xin taking the money, but he had a good guess. The reason Chen Xin found to let the fat man go was also ridiculous and could only deceive these farmers and beggars. Moreover, Liu Minyou knew that Knife Scar hadn't died, so he was more anxious than Chen Xin and quickly picked up his bundle and followed him onto the official road.

  Two men grabbed the little beggar and ran quickly, with the little girl following closely behind. The other two beggars in their group were quite righteous, they didn't even care about getting pancakes, and followed far behind.

  Chen Xin was afraid that Knife Scar would wake up and cause trouble, so he hurriedly drove away Fat Sheep and didn't allow him to go to Ji Zhou. This way, even if Knife Scar woke up, the others wouldn't know that Fat Sheep had given him silver coins, and then left some benefits for the others, making the beggars busy eating buns and having no time to think. Now that he was far away from the scene, he felt even more at ease. Touching the silver in his pocket, Chen Xin happily hummed a tune "Today is a good day..."

  They walked straight for three miles before slowing down, and Chen Xin let go of the little beggar, walking ahead with a flick of his hand. Liu Min came up to ask Chen Xin, "How much did you swindle from him?"

  Chen Xin took out several large silver ingots and handed them to Liu Min, who looked at them in surprise: "So many!"

  "How much is this?"

  "I don't know, it's not written here. Looking at the store owner, these few big pieces, eating buns should be able to last for a long time."

  Liu Minyou was delighted, and he thought it was great that they had cheated the bad guy out of his money. He turned around to see the little beggar and the little girl still following behind them foolishly, and asked Chen Xin: "What's going to happen to these two?"

  Chen Xin turned his head and looked at the little beggar, beckoned him over, and asked: "Little boy, what's your name?"

  "My mother calls me Haigouzi."

  "Are you from Liaodong?"

  "The Tartars are coming, father and mother took me running into the pass, ran halfway and died, I entered the pass myself."

  Liu Min let out a sigh and asked him: "We're letting you go, you don't have to go to jail. Are you happy?"

  "I'd rather go to jail, at least they'll feed me there."

  Liu Min angrily said: "You also dare to eat that beheaded rice? Go, I'll let you off."

  The sea dog saw Liu Min get angry, but still smiled foolishly at him and said: "Dare to eat."

  Chen Xin burst out laughing and patted him on the shoulder, saying: "You can't stay in this prison anymore. Are you willing to follow me? I'll take care of your meals."

  The little seal nodded repeatedly, "You give me food to eat, and I'll follow you."

  "I'm a murderer and an arsonist, what about you?"

  The little sea dog didn't hesitate at all. "I can do it, my parents were robbed of food on the road and starved to death. If others can do it, I can too."

  Chen Xīn nodded and said: "Alright, you follow me, I won't let you go hungry. You come with those few, but I can't bring that many."

  The beggar had a way out and wouldn't have to go to jail. The little girl was so happy that she clapped her hands repeatedly, but when she heard Chen Xin wanted to drive them away, she burst into tears again.

  Liu Min couldn't bear it in his heart, took out the dried meat and gave it to the girl. Watching her eat, he then asked: "Big brother isn't really a government official, we don't even have a place to live, following us may not necessarily be good."

  The little girl knelt down, crying and kowtowing: "I'll do anything, I can chop wood, cook, and wash clothes. Big brother, take me with you, I'll wash your clothes and feet every day, and only eat one meal a day. I'll definitely listen to you... Waaah..."

  The puppy also knelt down and kowtowed. Liu Min turned to Chen Xin, probing "Why not bring them along? At worst, we'll just eat a little less."

  "Having a kind heart again? If we had a place to stay, it wouldn't matter if we brought them along. But now we're wandering around everywhere, and it's not just about eating. If we bring a few kids along, with food, clothes, and shelter, I'm worried this little bit of money won't last long. Unless..."

  "What if?"

  "Unless we do something today for these school dropouts, it's called Hope Project, you have to help."

  "As long as they're bad people, I'll help out; bringing a few more helpers along is fine, isn't it?"

  "Alright, bring them along."

  The little girl jumped and ran to the back, calling out to two others. When they arrived, Liu Min took out dried meat and shared it with them, and several people immediately regarded the two as their reborn parents.

  Division line.

  Just now, inside and outside the teahouse, a group of beggars were eating with great relish. The boss brought out dozens of pastries, and tea was plentiful. One beggar suddenly stopped, looked at the scar on his cheek, sat up straight, raised his head, and gazed blankly at others. Everyone exchanged glances, and after a moment, they all went back to eating their own food. The shopkeeper turned around as if he hadn't seen anything.