Chapter 17: The Era of Picking Dads (Part 1)

  That night, after dinner, everyone gathered in the hall to continue discussing the recruitment of personnel and the opening ceremony of the escort agency. Xiao Si listened for two sentences before dozing off, taking advantage of the excitement of the conversation to quietly slip back into his own room.

  He lit the lamp and closed the door, spreading out on the table the scroll given by Princess Jincheng. He only looked at it for a short while before his head became dizzy. The scroll depicted a set of formation change deduction diagrams, including the five elements transformation, seven star numerology, eight trigrams phase, heaven stem earth branch mystery, which can be described as formations within formations, changes hidden in changes, linked together with thousands of variations. Even the slightest variation requires hundreds of calculations to arrive at a result.

  Around this nameless array diagram, dense and full of vermilion small regular script steps and some inexplicable strange symbols. From the handwriting, it looks strong and powerful, and should be from a man's hand.

  Xiao Si faintly felt that he had been taken advantage of by Princess Jincheng, and thought to himself: "If I want to completely decipher this formation chart, I'm afraid even if I don't eat or drink for ten days and nights, and don't sleep or rest, there might be a slight chance of barely succeeding. What the heck, just to exchange it for a 6th-grade Dao symbol? Is my worth really that low?"

  He pushed the chessboard to one side and climbed onto the bed, saying: "Why hasn't that old blind man come back yet? This matter can be handed over to him. I'm busy, no time to play guessing games with this little girl."

  He concentrated his mind and sat down to contemplate the star array, and soon entered a state of complete absorption.

  As usual, Xiao Si didn't fall asleep until the next day when the sky was about to brighten. He felt that he had gained a lot of insight into the River Luo Sixty-four Hexagrams Star Array during this period, so he slept particularly soundly.

  Before I knew it, the sound of drums and wailing outside grew louder, making it impossible for me to rest.

  What's even more outrageous is that in a little while, someone actually started setting off firecrackers, with one after another going off with a bang, boom, and rumble, seemingly endless.

  He first covered his head with a quilt, then plugged his ears with cotton balls and silently encouraged himself: "Calm down, go to sleep, don't take it seriously, if you take it seriously, you will lose."

  At this moment, the quilt was suddenly lifted, and Yuanner stood by the bed, gesturing at him.

  Xiao Si stared at Lao Ban for a long time but still didn't understand what she was doing, and couldn't help but shout: "Speak up! I'm not deaf!"

  As soon as the words came out, I suddenly realized that my ears were stuffed with cotton balls, and the firecrackers outside were deafening, so I couldn't hear Yuanyu's voice just now. Hurriedly cupping my hands around my ears, I said: "Speak louder, I can't hear!"

  Wan'er reached out and pulled out the cotton ball from Xiao Si's left ear, then brought her cherry-like mouth close to his ear, fearing that even so, Xiao Si might still not hear clearly. She took a deep breath and spoke in a loud voice: "Can... you... hear... me... now?"

  Xiao Si suddenly felt a burst of thunder in his ears, the golden drum beating in unison, his head buzzing and trembling as if it was about to explode. He couldn't help but roll his eyes back and grab Wan'er's arm, shaking her desperately.

  Wan'er misunderstood Xiang Xiao Si's meaning and added two more successful forces in his ear, shouting: "Now, is it?"

  Xiao Si's face turned purple as he let out a loud shout, sat up with a jerk, his eyes bulging green as he stuck out his tongue, panting heavily and wailing: "Heavens, just strike me dead with lightning!" But it was just wave after wave of tinnitus and dizziness, and he really couldn't hear anything.

  After a long time, he vaguely heard Yuanyu say: "Get up quickly, something big has happened outside again."

  Xiao Si's face turned red with rage as he shouted: "Nothing big will happen unless I haven't slept!"

  Wan'er didn't care at all, and dragged Xiaoxiao Si out of bed, rushing to the female wall on the west side of Liuyuan Gate. As soon as they climbed up the female wall, they saw that Xiabei, Yulinglong couple, and Yi Bai had already arrived, each with a solemn expression looking outward.

  Xiao Si rubbed the sleep from his eyes and took a glance outside, only to be shocked by what he saw. The entire Liu Garden was surrounded by thousands of beggars, all of whom were shouting slogans and waving their arms in agitation. Some were even banging gongs, beating drums, setting off firecrackers, and blowing whistles. Further away, hundreds of neighbors from the surrounding streets had gathered to watch the commotion, occasionally cheering and jeering.

  Outside the gate, a stretcher was placed, on which an old beggar lay with a pale face and motionless, as if dead. Next to him, dozens of people who looked like his family and friends were crying loudly and wearing mourning clothes.

  Behind these people, there were also many shabbily dressed little beggars holding up banners with blood-red characters that read: "A life for a life, a debt repaid; hand over the murderer and return justice to me!" "Bullying others with power, heaven will not tolerate it!"

  The most desperate ones are yet to come, the beggars who participated in yesterday's brawl in front of the gate, either with legs tied up and crutches or lying on the ground with no strength, groaning and wailing, coordinating with their companions' righteous indignation and angry roars, it is truly a scene of heaven and earth turned upside down.

  Xiao Si watched with his scalp exploding, deeply feeling that Zhao Zilong of Changshan was not a normal person who could be followed.

  "Wan'er asked: 'Dad, you went to the county government office for help just now, what did Bao Daren say?'"

  Geng Shaohua sighed and said, "I only saw Master Gongsun, who said that Magistrate Bao was very busy and had no time to see me. He asked him to convey to us that we must handle this matter properly and avoid making a big fuss, otherwise the county government will be in trouble."

  "How can this be? I'll go find him and reason with him. If he angers me, I'll kill this corrupt official with one slash of my knife!"

  Xia Peiheng hastily said: "Director Yi, your green forest habits need to be changed. Our Tong Bureau has always been loyal and law-abiding, making a living in harmony, and absolutely cannot engage in killing officials and rebelling."

  Yi Baihe snorted and said: "In your opinion as the leader of the escort, how should we handle the situation at hand?"

  Xia Peiheng hesitated and said: "We might as well talk to these beggars, give them some money and let them disperse."

  Mrs. Geng asked: "Who will go out and negotiate with them? Looking at the situation, they will fight as soon as they disagree."

  Everyone fell into a moment of contemplation, and their eyes all turned to Xiao Si at the same time.

  Xiao Si was stared at by them until he felt uneasy, and warned: "A great man would rather be a shattered jade than an intact tile, how could I, an old man, bow my head to this gang of stinky beggars and admit defeat? Absolutely impossible!"

  Yu Linglong said: "Fourth brother, if we continue to be at an impasse like this, things will only get bigger and more chaotic, it's not a good outcome."

  Xiao Si said: "Yu Zongbiao's words are reasonable, and it's fortunate that we have many talented people here. In terms of intelligence, no one surpasses you; in terms of martial arts skills, few can match Xia Zhixu and Yi Zongbiao; in terms of prestige and reputation, Xia Zhixu is naturally the first to be mentioned. And then there are Lady Geng's kindness and virtue, and Wan'er's elegance and beauty, all of whom are renowned far and wide. With all of you here, why worry about a mere thousand or so stinky beggars? Why bother with unnecessary worries? I'm ashamed to be in the way, so I'll just go back and take a nap."

  After finishing speaking, he threw down the stunned crowd, stretched his waist and walked towards the female wall while yawning and reciting: "Heavenly spirit, earthly spirit, my family has a night crying boy; ghosts don't cry, gods don't howl, sleep until dawn!"

  He stumbled back to his own room, only to find Yi Bai following closely behind, asking: "Fourth Master, aren't you afraid that Xia will sell you out to the beggars to avoid trouble?"

  Xiao Si came to the desk, picked up his pen and wrote two lines of characters on the paper with a flourish, along with a golden arrow, and handed them over to Yi Bai: "Old Yi, you're just in time, think of a way to help me deliver this letter to that little girl in the palace."

  Yi Bo looked at the contents of the letter with curiosity, muttering in a low voice: "There are thousands of beggars outside the door, making so much noise that I couldn't sleep well."

  He asked in confusion: "Fourth Master, this letter——"

  Xiao Si patted Yibo's shoulder and said: "Just hand it over to her, I'm going to sleep."

  Yi Bai nodded and said: "Fourth Master, rest assured, I will not disappoint your orders!" He put away the letter and golden arrow, turned around and walked out the door.

  Xiao Si gazed at Yi Bo's back, sneering in his heart: "Little girl, I won't let you get away with it either!"

  Just then, Yi Bo had just left and Fang Xuanling entered the house, saying: "Brother Di, I heard that there is a group of troublemakers outside the garden who are causing trouble, making it difficult for your security bureau to handle?"

  Yu Hongjiao's injury had not healed, so she stayed in the willow garden for two days to rest and recover. Fang Xuanling also moved in with her, spending his days reading books and painting without leaving the house.

  Xiao Si let out a soft sigh, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night. He sat down beside the bed and said, "Don't worry, Brother Fang, I guarantee that within half an hour, you'll have nothing to worry about and everything will be peaceful."

  Fang Xuanling smiled slightly and said: "It turns out that Brother Diao has a plan in mind, and I was worried for nothing. However, I have an impolite request, and I hope Brother Diao will agree."

  Xiao Si suddenly thought of Chao Tianjiao and laughed: "Could it be that Brother Fang thinks I can still pass as a matchmaker, to propose to Cheng Furen on your behalf?"

  Fang Xuanling's face turned bright red as he waved his hands repeatedly, "Xiao brother misunderstood, I was thinking of going out to reason with the leader of the troublemakers outside the garden, using reasoning and emotions to persuade them, and if that doesn't work, using the law to intimidate them. With my silver tongue, I can convince them to retreat."

  Xiao Si blinked his eyes and said, "Brother Fang, this is not a play. As the saying goes, 'a scholar meets a soldier, with reason that cannot be explained', you'd better go back to your room to write and paint."

  Fang Xuanling said: "In my humble brother's opinion, beggars are usually very reasonable, do you want to make a bet?"

  Xiao Si saw this book and felt a surge of anger, even nine-headed cows couldn't hold him back. He shook his head and said: "I don't have time to accompany you in your foolishness."

  Fang Xuanling was not discouraged and said calmly: "Since that's the case, I'll just go by myself."

  Xiao Si glared at Fang Xuanling and said: "Are you trying to show off or looking for death?"

  "You don't know what Mencius said: 'Even if there were a multitude of people, I would go forward!'"

  Xiao Si was also half asleep, and suddenly his head heated up and he slapped the table saying: "Alright, I'll go with you!"

  Two men came out of the house and went straight to the gate of the willow garden. Listening to the hubbub outside, Xiao Si couldn't help but ask: "Fang brother, how do you plan to persuade that beggar?"

  Fang Xuanling smiled and said: "I just want to tell them: I am very angry, the consequences will be severe."

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