The 18th episode of "Young Tigers in the Imperial Court"

  Ximen Qing had just walked into the gate of Qinghe County when he immediately caused a sensation.

  "Look, isn't that young Master Xi Men? Has he returned from his studies? Ah, look at young Master Xi Men, he's getting more and more handsome! Tsk tsk, if I had a daughter, I'd definitely marry her off to him! What's that? A head, or are there three?" a loud-mouthed fat woman shouted.

  Immediately, the murmurs of the people around also started to rise.

  "Yes, how could anyone be so cruel? The young master has killed someone? Quick, let the young master leave, the young master has done us a favor, we absolutely cannot let him be caught by the authorities!"

  "Huh? Wait a minute, isn't that the heads of Shan Zei Wang and his three brothers? Haha, it's really them! They were actually killed by Young Master, heaven is just, heaven is just!"

  "Yes, yes, indeed! Long live the young master, long live! He actually helped us get rid of the scourge of Qinghe County. What a blessing for our Qinghe County!"

  ······

  The people around suddenly started discussing, and then they all surrounded Ximen Qing, sticking up their thumbs to praise him. At that time, the city gate was blocked, almost causing the most tragic stampede in Qinghe County in ten years.

  Ximen Qing held up the head, bowed to the surrounding villagers and said: "Uncles, aunts, I have killed three mountain bandits, Wang Er and others, for fellow villagers to remove the roots of disaster, from now on fellow villagers can travel freely, no longer afraid of being robbed by mountain bandits and losing property or even life! However, I would like to remind you that Qinghe County has no mountain bandits, but other places are not so sure, so it is still necessary to pay attention to safety!"

  The onlookers were excited, and one of them, an old man with white hair and a grey robe, exclaimed: "Young master, it's our good fortune that we have someone like you in Qinghe County who is willing to help us. It's the greatest blessing for our county! Please come with us to the county government office, we want to petition together for your reward. You mustn't decline, this is the sincere wish of all of us common people! Please accept!"

  In order to get rid of the Wang Yishan bandit group, the Qinghe County magistrate had sent troops to attack them before, but because the Bald Mountain was too steep and easy to defend, it had never been successful. So the Qinghe County magistrate issued a notice saying that if someone could behead Wang Yi and his two followers, the magistrate would issue a reward of 100 taels of silver and an honorary flag. Although the reward was only a paltry 100 taels, and the honorary flag didn't have much significance, it was still issued by the magistrate, and in this small place called Qinghe County, it was a symbol of honor.

  Ximen Qing did not decline and nodded his head, saying: "Then I'll trouble Uncle Zhang and everyone to take their seats!"

  "No trouble at all! Not at all!"

  "It is, it's our honor, honor..."

  In recent years, the society of the Song Dynasty has become increasingly chaotic, and the number of people who have turned to banditry has also increased. In the past, there were no mountain bandits in the vicinity of Qinghe County, but now they are rampant. The appearance of the mountain bandits not only disrupted the lives and travel of the people of Qinghe County, but also made the entire county anxious and uneasy all day long. They hoped that one day someone would eliminate the Wang Yi mountain bandit gang and bring peace to Qinghe County. Now, with Ximen Qing's help, their wish has come true. At this time, these common people were so overjoyed that they wanted to carry Ximen Qing around the city three times to express their joy.

  Ximen Qing and his entourage arrived at the county yamen just as a trial was being held.

  In order not to disturb the law, Ximen Qing stood with everyone in front of the yamen waiting and took the opportunity to see what kind of case Sun Chengzong, the corrupt county magistrate, was wrongly judging again and what evil he was creating.

  Looking at the county magistrate sitting on the old armchair, Ximen Qing's heart felt very uncomfortable. In these two years, this damned county magistrate had been making things difficult for the Ximen family too many times. If he wasn't afraid of harming him and causing unfavorable influence to the Ximen family, Ximen Qing would have secretly gotten rid of him long ago, so as not to be bothered by him and harm others.

  Speaking of this Sun County Magistrate, it was on the day when the Aggregation of Virtues opened for business that he, with a pretentious air, wanted to take revenge on Ximen Qing from the wine tower across the street. This bald-headed man, although being the county magistrate of Qinghe County, is actually a complete scoundrel. Even Ximen Qing thought of killing him, it can be imagined how bad his character was.

  Everyone in Qinghe County has been resentful of this county magistrate for a long time, even children can't help but spit at him. Because this guy is too inhumane, every day he just thinks about being greedy, and wants to take the entire Qinghe County back home, only his words count. This situation made Sun County Magistrate not dare to go out alone, because if he goes out alone, he doesn't know when he will be beaten by outsiders and die on the street. So usually when he goes out, there are several catchers guarding him, which makes Sun County Magistrate even more arrogant and bully people.

  Compared to Sun County Magistrate who was despised by people, Ximen Qing's relationships with others were much better. In the past two years, although Ximen Qing went out to learn martial arts and gain experience, the people of Qinghe County never forgot him. Every time he returned, many commoners would eagerly come out to greet him and present him with small gifts and snacks.

  Because Ximen Qing was too popular, Sun County Magistrate had been annoyed with Ximen Qing, resenting Ximen Qing for snatching the fame that he should have owned. After harboring hatred, Sun County Magistrate thought of ways to make things difficult for Ximen Qing and his family. Fortunately, there were people who supported the Ximen family, which made Sun County Magistrate's conspiracy unsuccessful. As time went by, the relationship between this county magistrate and the Ximen family became even more contradictory.

  This time Ximen Qing is willing to come to the county magistrate to receive the reward, just to tease this defeated old bald donkey.

  Only to see the county magistrate Sun sitting high on a chair, his body slanted and glancing at the few people kneeling below. Sun Pangzi stood in front of County Magistrate Sun with a complacent face, coldly observing with a contemptuous look, that mouth could be pouted all the way up to the sky, as if the old heaven was his father.

  There were four people kneeling down. A young woman, over thirty years old, looked pretty good, but due to the wear and tear of time, her face was a bit haggard and weathered. A young girl, not yet twenty years old, was very beautiful, although she wore rough clothes, her looks were like those of an immortal fairy, making people feel that she was not poor, but rather pure. At this moment, the girl's face was covered with tears, and she was lightly crying, leaning on the young woman, looking extremely sorrowful. As for the other two, they were two boys. One boy had a strong back and waist, looked exceptionally robust, all over his body were sturdy muscles, only fifteen or sixteen years old, but looked even more robust than a twenty-year-old youth. The last boy was somewhat strange. He looked seventeen or eighteen years old, but he was only about 1.3 meters tall, and his figure was a bit fat, looking so strange and ugly. Moreover, this boy's face was ugly, his skin was dark, and there were some acne on his face, looking like he was aging prematurely.

  At this time, the two young men were furious, staring at Sun Baozi, as if they wanted to swallow him alive.

  At this time, County Magistrate Sun spoke up: "Li, the woman who committed a crime in the hall, you owe Sun Fu one thousand taels of silver and have not repaid it to this day. If you cannot produce the silver right now in court, I will throw you into the large prison!"

  The young woman under the hall said with a face of helplessness and indignation: "Please, sir, be clear-sighted. The three pieces of porcelain in Sun's house were not broken by me, but by Mr. Sun himself who framed me! Please, sir, do justice for me!"

  "Bang!" County Magistrate Sun slammed his hand on the table and angrily said: "You dare to be stubborn! There are witnesses in the Sun Mansion who can testify that you broke the vase, and you still dare not admit it. Do you think I'm easy to deceive? Bring him here, give him ten heavy blows!"

  The young woman was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she hastily kowtowed, saying: "Master, spare my life! Master, spare my life!"

  At this time, the sturdy young man next to the young woman was furious, stood up and pointed at Sun Hou, shouting: "Corrupt official, it's clear that this dead fat man himself broke the vase and framed my aunt, but you actually turned around and framed her, really muddle-headed and tyrannical. Believe me or not, I'll punch you with an iron fist until you don't know east from west? Dead fat man, pig-like thing, wait for me, one punch will kill you, hum!"

  The robust young man was very angry and arrogant, shouting loudly, scaring Sun Fubao's body shrinking back, seemingly intimidated by the robust young man's fist.

  The robust young man let out a loud shout, and the young woman, the girl, and the short young man immediately rushed to pull him, wanting him to kneel down, fearing that they would provoke the county magistrate's anger.

  But at this time, Sun Hou was already angry.

  He thought that as the county magistrate of Qinghe County for decades, he was a local emperor, and his words were always authoritative. Except for Ximen Qing, who else dared to be so disrespectful? Now he was being insulted by a young whippersnapper, how could he tolerate it?

  "Bastard, how dare you look down on the county government's main hall! Come here, take him away and prepare for severe punishment!" Sun Hou stood up, furious and shouting, his eyes wide with rage.

  After finishing, Sun Hou looked at the young woman and the girl again, saying: "Shrew, now I give you two choices. One, you and your daughter sell yourselves to the Sun family. Two, you and your daughter go to prison, hum, owing one thousand taels of silver, enough for you to be exiled! By then, both of you will be old and worn out, hum, even if you want to sell yourselves, no one will want you, haha..."

  "You dare to be corrupt, I'll beat you to death!" The sturdy man who was being pulled by the young woman was very angry and directly roared with anger. He then struggled free from the young woman's grasp and raised his iron fists at Sun Hou.

  His fist was as big as a mountain, and he only hit Sun Hou. The fist wind overflowed, directly forming a whirlwind in the yamen, majestic and intimidating, scaring Sun Hou to sit paralyzed in his chair, shouting: "Come on, come on, take him down for me!"

  In front of the government office, Ximen Qing looked at the robust young man with narrowed eyes, a hint of a smile on his lips: "Luohan Fist? What an overbearing boxing style, the pinnacle of martial arts, with profound internal strength. I didn't expect to find such a genius in Qinghe County. He must be a lay disciple of Shaolin Temple. I should help him out, otherwise it'll be troublesome!"

  After finishing speaking, Ximen Qing's two feet heavily stomped the ground, and then the three human heads on his right hand were directly thrown out, smashing towards the robust young man's guard. Ximen Qing's body transformed into a flying snowflake, flashing several times, and in the situation where everyone couldn't catch up, he had already arrived in front of the robust young man, and then stretched out his right hand to directly catch the young man's Arhat fist!

  Suddenly, a powerful force hit Ximen Qing's right hand, causing his body to retreat three steps backward before stopping.

  "Good heavens, born with divine strength? He's just like me, but his fist power is greater than mine. If my cultivation wasn't higher than his, it would be really hard to catch this punch!" Ximen Qing exclaimed in surprise and delight.

  The sturdy man was staring at Ximen Qing with a look of great surprise, and immediately his surprised expression turned into anger, asking: "Who are you? Why did you stop me?"

  P.S: Do you know who this sturdy young man is? Haha, I know, you already have the answer in your heart!

  Emphasizing again: Although this work borrows characters from Water Margin, many details are not similar, so please do not compare it with the plot of Water Margin.