The First Volume The Empty Spirit Chapter 3 What is a Good Heart

  A bowl of coarse grain white porridge with some peanut butter inside. Three vegetable buns, and a small dish of brown sugar, these are what Wang Yaoyu usually eats. Others who come to this stall can't get such treatment.

  Wang Yaizu didn't feel tired until now, and he started to feel drowsy. But he still had to finish his breakfast, just needed to go report for duty, then he could sleep for a while in the office. Wang Yaizu forced himself to be energetic and slowly savored his favorite breakfast.

  "Uncle, we'll have a bowl of congee." At this time, there aren't many people coming here to eat breakfast yet, so the three little beggars dare to come here and buy congee to drink. Even as beggars, they still have the right to purchase food they like.

  It's clear that the three little beggars want to share a bowl of porridge. The boss and his wife are kind-hearted people, so the boss's wife led the three little beggars to the edge of the stall. They can't sit at the table, or else other customers will be put off from eating here.

  "Give you two bowls of porridge, eat quickly, otherwise when the guests arrive, they will be unhappy." The boss collected the money and gave them two bowls of porridge. If the guests saw that there were beggars eating here, the boss and his wife would really be afraid that the guests would be unhappy. As for Wang Yaowu, something like this had happened before, but he didn't mind much.

  "Give each of them a bowl of porridge, then one more bun for each, and let them take ten buns back home. The money is on me." Wang Yaizu would often do some kind deeds when he was bored. But the little money he spent now wasn't even enough for his next bet in gambling.

  "Thank you, sir." The little beggar's voice seemed hoarse, but Wang Yaozu felt that it didn't sound quite right, as if he was intentionally making his voice hoarse. But thinking about it, it shouldn't be possible for someone to send such a small child to assassinate him, not their style, and if they really wanted to assassinate someone, the primary target should be Shi Anguo.

  Originally, there shouldn't have been any issues. After finishing breakfast, Wang Yaowu got up to pay the bill, but the couple running the stall didn't want to take his money. However, Wang Yaowu didn't care about such a small amount of money and thought that even trying to save such a tiny bit was pointless. Later on, the couple just accepted payment from him every time.

  Just then, someone in the distance was shouting loudly: "Little rabbit, don't run. Let Grandpa catch you and break your two legs first." Looking around, it turned out that two policemen were chasing a little beggar with their hands. One of the policemen was even fat, and these two policemen were so desperate to chase a little beggar today, which was really rare.

  If the adults really go all out, the children will not be able to escape. The fat policeman behind the little beggar swung his baton and hit it directly on the little beggar's leg. The little beggar who was being chased fell to the ground in an instant, seeing that he couldn't escape, the little beggar quickly covered his head with his hands. A flurry of punches and kicks came, along with the arrival of the baton.

  The two policemen who had been chasing the little beggar for three streets finally let out a sigh of relief. It's not easy to make a living as a policeman in Shanghai. The top officials are high-ranking party members, and even a soldier can beat them up on the street if they want to. If they provoke the Green Gang, it's even more hopeless - the gang can kill a policeman easily and throw the body into the Huangpu River, making it look like a disappearance. The wealthy bosses in the middle have connections with other forces, and if the police aren't careful, they might offend someone they shouldn't. If they try to bully people who appear to be wealthy without doing some background checks first, they're just asking for trouble. In the end, all the police can do is bully the ordinary citizens and small vendors at the bottom of Shanghai's social ladder, extorting money from them every now and then - it's a regular "protection fee" that has to be paid every month.

  "Brother!" Seeing his brother being beaten, Wang Ya Zu heard a mournful cry from behind him. He turned around to see that the voice was coming from the little beggar with the hoarse voice he had seen earlier. The previous cry was clearly in a girl's voice, so it seemed that the hoarse voice was just an act. This was also a common occurrence for street urchins like them. Not just in Shanghai, but elsewhere as well, people would often try to catch young girls and sell them into prostitution or other places where they could be exploited for profit.

  The little sister was crying because her brother had been beaten by two policemen, but her companion held her back tightly and wouldn't let her go over. If she went, neither of them would be spared. In this Shanghai beach, there were many pickpockets, some controlled by certain big shots, while others were small beggars who didn't want to accept charity from others and wanted to make a way out on their own. The Shanghai police station received hundreds of reports every day about stolen wallets, almost all of which were just recorded without any action taken, unless the person reporting had connections, otherwise no one would bother. Wang Ya-zu judged that this little beggar had stolen money from someone he shouldn't have.

  "That's enough, stop hitting him, he's just a kid, if you hit him again he'll die. Just let him return the stolen things and that's it." Wang Ya Zu was very bored, before going to sleep in his office, he decided to do one more good deed.

  When someone tried to persuade him, the thin policeman who was kicking people immediately got angry and turned around to face Wang Yaowu, shouting loudly: "What kind of thing are you? You dare to interfere with police business. Are you his accomplice? One look at you and I can tell you're their leader. And those three little ones over there, all come back to the police station with me for investigation."

  Scolded by a small policeman, Wang Yaowu was very angry. Lack of sleep and just full. It just so happened that he encountered such a thing, Wang Yaowu immediately decided to have a post-meal exercise. But before Wang Yaowu could act, the thin policeman had already been knocked to the ground with one punch, followed by three more slaps, and the person who took action was the fat policeman who had just beaten up the little beggar.

  "Shut up, you idiot! Do you want to get me killed? You're talking too much, you're talking too much!" The fat policeman was scolding the thin policeman with a barrage of abuse. Due to their superior-subordinate relationship, the thin policeman could only wail and beg for mercy, tightly protecting his vital parts, not daring to show any resistance.

  After a while, the fat policeman finally turned around, changing his fierce expression to a flattering one towards Wang Yaowu, while the thin policeman and the little beggar who were lying on the ground did not dare to move for the time being.

  "Mr. Wang, he's new here and doesn't know the rules, so please, Mr. Wang, be magnanimous and let this fool off easy just this once." Wang Ya-zu didn't recognize the fat policeman, but he was a local celebrity; he may not have recognized the fat policeman, but it was clear that the fat policeman recognized him.

  "This time I'll let it go, but if there's a next time, I won't mind having more lives on my hands. What exactly did this little beggar do wrong, and why are you police so unusually diligent in chasing people?"

  It's really easy for Wang Yaowu to get rid of a policeman like that, using the excuse of being suspected of being a communist bandit to arrest him and kill him in prison is very simple.

  "Thank you, Mr. Wang, for your magnanimity. You idiot, hurry up and thank Mr. Wang! This stinky beggar stole a foreign woman's purse. He didn't even have the eyes to steal something worthwhile - could a stinky beggar like him possibly steal from a foreigner? And it got us chasing after him for three streets! Mr. Wang, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

  It was clear that Wang Ya Zu wasn't someone he could mess with, so the thin policeman quickly stood up from the ground, apologized and then didn't dare to speak again.

  "Let him hand over the wallet, and return all the money inside without missing a single cent. This matter will be settled like this. These ten yuan are given to you as hard work money. Hurry up and hand over the wallet, not a single cent can be less!"

  Wang Ya Zu said, taking out 10 dollars, and the fat policeman quickly accepted it. The people around here also knew Wang Ya Zu's habit that once the money was given out, it would never be taken back. If there was a benefit to be gained, they would just take it. And the little beggar on the ground, in order to survive, could only obediently hand over the wallet he had been hiding on his body all along. The foreigner's wallet was much more beautiful, and the fat policeman quickly took it, wiped it clean, and put it away.

  Two policemen had to hurry back to please the foreigners, and the little beggar who stole money was covered in injuries, but he could still barely get up and walk a few steps. If Wang Ya-zu hadn't shouted "stop" earlier, this little beggar would probably have been bedridden for one or two months. This is almost as good as killing him.

  "Brother!" Seeing that her brother was finally okay, the little girl quickly rushed to her brother and hugged him, bursting into tears. The little girl wouldn't advise her brother not to steal; if he didn't steal, then she, her brother, and the few small beggars who followed them would really have no way to survive.

  "How much money can you save besides giving it to the big brother above? Is it enough to support your sister and other little beggars following you?" Wang Yaowu didn't leave for the time being. He wasn't interested in the gratitude of his benefactor at all. The reason he stayed was that he suddenly thought of a small plan that would benefit him.

  "Even if I steal more, it's not enough to support my sister and brothers. The landlord wants money, the police want money too. For half a month, my sister and I have to go hungry."

  The little beggar who stole money seemed to see hope, Wang Yaoyu was a person of status, following a person of status would have opportunities to rise, and it's better than the current situation where one day is no different from another.

  "Information, I want information. Valuable information can come to me for money. I usually come here for breakfast, if you have any news, you can wait for me in the morning or leave a message. Whether it's the police or the Green Gang, I have connections and can handle them, so don't worry. By the way, what's your name?"

  "My name is Xiaoyanzi. Are you Mr. Wang? Don't worry, if there's any valuable information, I'll definitely come to find you." The business of exchanging news for money was something Xiaoyanzi had heard others talk about before, but the problem was that even if you had the news, you couldn't find anyone to buy it from, so you couldn't exchange the news for money.

  "Work hard, as long as you do a good job, I'll introduce you to a newspaper delivery gig. Let's make your life a bit easier." It's not easy being a newsboy in Shanghai either. Gunsmoke Silent Volume 1 Empty Spirit Chapter 3 So-called kindness