Chapter 16: Don't Cheat Old Man Poor (Part 2)

  Xiao Si left the imperial city and did not return to Liu Yuan, but went straight to Dongshi, gritted his teeth and spent over 100 taels of silver to buy a large package of "Xiangnai Zhai" water powder rouge, and then went to "Hongyueju" to carry two jars of good wine, riding a horse to go to Wenxiang Building to find Li Jing and Hong Fu.

  Having entered the imperial palace once, not only did I fail to gain any benefits, but I also wasted my money and energy. Moreover, my life was inexplicably controlled by someone else's hands, which made me feel extremely depressed.

  Although Princess Jincheng said that even Li Jing couldn't solve the "Hei Yang Fu Long Wan", it's best to listen to the expert's opinion, and also ask Hong Die about this little girl's background.

  Xiao Si didn't believe it, every golden branch and jade leaf living in the depths of the palace would raise a tiger as a pet, and have such terrifying cultivation and methods that make people's hair stand on end.

  Just then, Li Jing and Hong Zhu were about to have dinner, Xiang Xiao Si sat down without hesitation, presented the gift and said: "Hong Jie, the ordinary powder of Xiang Nai Zhai is not worthy of you, unfortunately, I came too hastily this time, next time I will bring some better ones."

  Hong Fu smiled and said: "Fourth brother, you wouldn't come to the Three Treasures Hall for no reason. What brings you here?"

  Xiao Si's four arms said: "Of course, I came specifically to thank Hong Jie. If it weren't for your reminder, we might have fallen into the hands of that old scoundrel Duan Zhen Tian."

  Hong Fu said: "Is this all you're thanking me for?"

  Xiao Si's eyes widened in surprise, and he suddenly realized: "Could it be that you invited the two princesses to help the escort agency out of trouble?"

  Hong Bu smiled and said: "Only this once, don't make it a habit."

  Xiao Si stared at Hong Bu in shock and uncertainty: "You... how did you recognize them?"

  Hong Zan said with a smile: "I used to be the adopted daughter of Yang Su, Duke of Yueguo, and I have known Princess Nanyang since childhood, that's all."

  "Is it Yang Su of Yueguo?" Xiao Si asked in surprise: "Why did Hong Jie..."

  Hong Zan knew what Xiao Diao wanted to ask and shook his head saying: "It's hard to say in one word, let's not talk about it."

  Xiao Si nodded slightly, and then Hong E heard continuing: "However, being able to invite out the Princess of Nanyang is not entirely due to my face. Do you know that she is the fellow disciple and sister of Chi Yuan, the Red Venerable Swordsman?"

  "What, is Nanyang Princess not a disciple of the Kunlun Yao Tai Palace?!" Xiao Si was greatly surprised and thought to himself: "No wonder she has been so friendly and helpful to me on our journey, it turns out she's doing it for the sake of Chi Da Ge."

  Hong Zan replied: "Her cultivation is probably not much inferior to that of Chi Da Ge, it's just that she never easily takes action."

  Xiao Si's mind flashed with thoughts, and he asked: "What about Princess Jincheng? Which school did she come from?"

  Hong Zan shook his head and said: "I only know that her cultivation is extremely high, but her master's origin is suspicious, she should be from the demonic sect."

  "Have you ever suffered at her hands?"

  Xiao Si snorted and said: "What a joke, can a little girl like you make me take medicine?"

  Hong Du stared at Xiao Si, smiling but not speaking. Xiao Si smiled bitterly: "Alright, I admit that I was just deceived by that girl. But I'm still proud and unyielding, and I even earned back a six-grade Dao symbol."

  Li Jing coldly said: "Stop beating around the bush, what exactly are you looking for us about?"

  Xiao Si said: "I'm not hiding it from you, Third Brother, I've come to make a bet with you."

  Li Jing calmly asked: "Have you been poisoned?"

  Xiao Si shook his head and said: "If you can tell me its origin, I'll give you ten more jars of good wine."

  Li Jing didn't make a sound, reached out to gently press on Xiao Si's right wrist pulse, closed his eyes for a moment, and said: "It's not poison, but a kind of elixir that stimulates the true yuan. It's just that the medicine is fierce and when it takes effect, it doesn't stop until it's done, showing some toxicity."

  Xiao Si listened to him and suddenly said the characteristics of Hei Yang Fu Long Wan, and a glimmer of hope rose in his heart: "Can you solve it?"

  Li Jing withdrew his hand and replied decisively: "No!"

  Xiao Si was greatly disappointed and resorted to using his "Forcing the Way" technique: "I'll go to Mount Zhongnan to find that old thief, Lao Dao, and force him to bring it out."

  Li Jing said with a sneer: "I won't do it, and he's even less likely to."

  Xiao Si frowned and said, "Who's going?"

  "The person who gave you the medicine."

  Xiao Si let out a dejected sigh and leaned back in his chair, rolling his eyes at Li Jing as he said, "Indeed, you are truly insightful!"

  Li Jing ignored him and continued to drink wine leisurely. Hong Fu had already guessed the general situation and said, "The princess is making trouble again, I'll go to the palace tomorrow to find her."

  "Never mind, Hong Jie," Xiao Si said with a wave of his hand. "This girl clearly knows that I have a life-and-death friendship with Xiao San Ge, but she still did this, which means it's intentional. Even if you go, it might not work, and who knows, maybe I'll be played even worse."

  Li Jing glanced at Xiao Si and said discontentedly, "Who says we have a deep relationship?"

  "Who says otherwise, we were brothers who fought and bled together in Tiger Gorge Village. Now we're going to work together to take down Old Hawk, a bond of sworn enemies through thick and thin."

  Xiao Siyi drained the wine in his cup in one gulp, let out a sigh and said: "I'll go back to sleep first, after I've rested and regained my spirits, I'll think of a way to deal with that little girl."

  He walked out of Wenxiang Building with a lack of energy and mounted his horse to head towards Liuyuan.

  He did not reveal the transaction content between him and Princess Jincheng to Li Jing and Hong Er, not that he didn't trust these two people, but because this matter was too strange, it's better to keep his mouth shut before figuring it out, so as not to bring unnecessary trouble.

  As I walked into Yong'an Square, I could hear the sound of people chattering and drums beating loudly from afar, as if someone was giving away their daughter in marriage.

  As I walked closer, I found that the gate of Liu Garden was closed tightly, and outside the garden, there were about 180 beggars gathered together. On one hand, they sang "Lian Hua Luo", on the other hand, they knocked broken bowls with chopsticks. Some guys got tired from the commotion, and actually squatted at the corner of the wall to relieve themselves, the stinky smell spread far away for eight hundred miles.

  Xiao Si's mood was extremely poor, and he lashed his whip, making a loud cracking sound as he shouted: "Get out of the way! A good dog doesn't block the road!" He rode his horse forward.

  A group of beggars immediately swarmed up, surrounding Xiao Si in a circle, stretching out their black and dirty broken bowls and shouting: "Good sir, have mercy, spare some food for us to eat..."

  These four are not of one mind, I thought they just came to make trouble in the willow garden, it's fine if they can give Xia Peiheng a headache, but how can they hit me with a bamboo stick, this is simply unreasonable.

  He had just thrown away a few thousand taels of silver, but his body was filled with even more anger and resentment. Who could he vent to? Yet this group of good-for-nothings didn't know when to stop, and actually dared to entangle themselves with him for no reason at all.

  At that time, the little four jumped off his mount and scowled at them: "You guys, who among you is poorer than me? I just blew up the Ganlu Temple in the Imperial City and owe 97,536 taels of silver. Who's going to do a good deed and donate some money to me, and also give me a meal?"

  He spoke and his hands moved, not being polite at all. He swept the copper plates from the broken bowl empty, then, still unsatisfied, he stripped an old beggar of his clothes and put them on himself. He pushed through the crowd and walked towards the main gate.

  A group of beggars were suddenly stunned and shouted in unison: "Robbery! Someone is robbing the beggars!"

  Only a few beggar-like men came forward to block Xiaosio's path, saying: "Friend, what you're doing is not quite right, is it?"

  "Whoever sent you here to cause trouble, it's none of my business. Be smart and get out of the way before I lose my temper."

  Those thugs saw that Xiao Si was just a 15 or 16 year old kid, and one of them laughed and said: "Little rabbit, who are you trying to scare?"

  Xiao Si shook his head, suddenly launched a Qinglong Claw to snatch the broken bowl from the beggar, and slapped it on his face with a "slap".

  That rascal's face lit up with a big smile as he loudly shouted: "This little brat doesn't want to live, beat him to death for me!"

  Beggars around him, some with wooden sticks, others with bricks, and some even used bowls to smash, surrounded Xiao Si and beat him up in a flurry of punches.

  Xiao Si let out a loud roar: "In the past, Zhao Zilong of Changshan charged in and out seven times among Cao Mengde's million-strong army, beheading high-ranking generals as easily as reaching into his pocket. Look at me today, Xiao Si, with my lone horse and whip, I'll kill over a hundred beggars until they cry out for their fathers and mothers." He swung his whip to take on the crowd alone, and clashed with a group of beggars in a chaotic melee.

  The commotion and fighting outside the door awakened the people of the Liu Garden Escort Agency, Xia Peiheng, Yu Linglong, Geng Shaohua, Yi Bo and others led more than a dozen escorts to open the gate and rush out, wanting to rescue Xiao Si from the siege.

  These people were blocked by the thugs for half a day, unable to enter or exit, and had been suffocated with unexplained anger, immediately punching and kicking without mercy.

  Yi Bo exchanged blows with the beggar while shouting towards the crowd: "Fourth Master, Fourth Master——"

  Suddenly, Xiaosan unfolded his Thirty-six Heavenly Body Technique, turning left and right in a circle, slipping out from the seam of people's clothes, with two dog-beating sticks still tucked under his armpits.

  Yi Bo was overjoyed to welcome him, but unexpectedly Xiao Si suddenly turned around and rushed towards the crowded area, shouting: "Those who come, report your names! Fourth Master's whip will not spare nameless ghosts!"

  A group of beggars with dull minds shouted in unison: "I am Chen Ergou from Tianshui Dacun Village!" "I am Zhang Xiaofan from Zhugezhuang, Nanyang!" "Lady, I am Xi Hongshi!" "My nickname is Tudou, and Xi Hongshi is my wife!"

  Yi Bo couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, asking: "Fourth Master, what are you doing?"

  Xiao Si burst through the crowd and charged into the formation, loudly responding: "I'm going to kill him seven times in and out, this is only the second time I've finished, there are still five more times!"

  Yi Bo was lucky not to have fainted, fortunately others were not as boring as Xiao Si, a fierce charge sent over 100 beggars fleeing in disarray, only refraining from taking lives out of mercy.

  Those beggars are afraid of the strong and bully the weak. Seeing that things were not going well, they scattered in all directions. Only after running dozens of yards away did they turn their heads and point at Xiaosan: "You little brat, return my clothes to me! Do you have no shame stealing from a beggar?"

  Everyone was stunned, and when they looked over, they saw that Xiao Si's four legs were piled high with spoils of war, including broken bowls, sticks, erhus, suonas, clothes, hats, and even a few pairs of tattered grass shoes that had been dropped in the chaos.

  He took off the clothes he had just snatched, revealing the tattered rags hanging from his body: "Whose clothes are more tattered than mine? Whose wounds are more numerous than mine? Whose face is more swollen than mine? Are you a donkey or a horse that's been dragged out to beg for money? Who's shameless here?"

  A group of onlookers stared at Xiao Si's tattered clothes and battered body, and suddenly felt a sense of superiority.

  Xia Pei Heng walked up to Xiao Si Dao: "Director Xiao, you've finally returned. How did you end up injured like this?"

  "Being bitten by a mother tiger is nothing."

  "Wan'er was startled and said: 'Are you okay?'"

  Xiao Si shook his head and pointed at the fleeing beggar: "What's going on here?"

  Yu Linglong smiled wryly and said: "Most of these people are from the Chang'an gang who came to stir up trouble for us."

  Xiao Si let out an "oh" and didn't ask any more questions. He had just messed around and done a good job, feeling much more comfortable in his heart. As for what the Chang'an Gang or the Short An Gang should do, it was up to Xia Peiheng to figure out, who made him the leader anyway? If he didn't take charge, who would?

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