??300: Chapter 300: Beggar Old 3
300: Chapter 300: Beggar Old 3
Old Liu, his face covered in pockmarks, coughed into his hand.
“Earn so virtue with your words, will you?
No matter what, Lady Sun is a pitiful person.
Old Sun has been dead for several years now.
She’s rather decent these days, why must you incessantly dredge up her past…”
“Pah!
What do you an, ‘incessantly dredge up her past’?
That young woman is naturally promiscuous.
Since Old Sun died, how many n do you think she’s had?
Everyone knows.
The line of n at her back door each night is probably not shorter than the one at Auspicious Fabric Store.”
Upon hearing this, the won one by one frowned in disdain, while the n’s smiles carried a hint of lewdness.
Among them were many who had been guests in Lady Sun’s chamber.
Rembering how seductive she could be, they couldn’t help but get excited again.
Just then, from a corner of the crowd, a destitute beggar in rags suddenly dashed to the front of Liu Ji Baozi Shop.
While everyone was distracted, he reached out his filthy hand, grabbed two large at buns, and bolted.
His movents were exceedingly quick.
The owner of the baozi shop, Old Liu, grabbed a rolling pin and charged out: “Stop right there!
Where did this stinking beggar co from, gutsy enough to steal from your master Liu…
Stand still for !”
He hurled insults as he gave chase.
Those who had been doing business in this area for years, had seen many such incidents.
Jing County flourished in river trade, with all kinds of mountain goods passing through here.
All sorts of people converged in this place, including plenty of gambling dens.
Countless rchants arrived flush with cash, only to be stripped of every last penny in these dens and left on the streets.
For those truly driven to desperation by hunger without a penny to their na, what choice did they have but to steal or rob?
Business owners in the vicinity, especially those who sold food, had all been victims of theft or robbery at so point.
Thus, when Old Liu bellowed, the other nearby shopkeepers grabbed whatever tools they had at hand and joined the chase in a shared fury.
A crowd experienced in chasing after such thieving beggars quickly caught the one who had stolen the buns.
The beggar seed quite practiced himself, stealing buns and shoving them into his mouth as he ran.
Now caught, the remaining half bun left in his hand was stuffed into his mouth without a second thought, as people surrounded him.
He choked on the bun due to his rushed eating, his eyelids flipping wildly, but he did not stop.
Old Liu Tou watched, fuming, as the six copper coins’ worth of at buns disappeared in the blink of an eye.
God knows, these breakfast vendors worked from dawn till dusk for their ager earnings; that six copper coins was still money.
Infuriated, he kicked the beggar.
“You filthy beggar, stealing my buns!
Think it’s fine just ’cause you swallowed them?
You may have ingested them, but I’ll punch you until you vomit it out!”
The beggar, at Old Liu’s kick, not yet fully struck, rolled on the ground and started wailing.
“Ow, it’s murder!
Soone’s getting killed!
It was just a couple of bites of a bun, and I didn’t say I wouldn’t pay—why beat
to death?
Ouch, my fellow villagers, save !”
Soon, a circle of onlookers gathered to watch the commotion.
Old Liu tried kicking a few tis, missing each ti, and with people murmuring and pointing, he beca frantic.
“Alright, since you say you’ll pay, then give
the money.”
The beggar then sat up from the ground, brushing back the long hair that covered his face, revealing a grimy visage.
He was of an age strong and sturdy, with regular features, yet his brows and eyes were filled with the unruly air of a scoundrel, careless and slack in his deanor.
“Are they not just two at buns?
Six copper coins, right?
To be so vicious over this?
I might not have money, but my second brother’s family is loaded.
My second brother lives in Jing County, by the Academy, as a teacher.
It’s possible your children are students under my second brother, so don’t look down on people…”
Old Liu spat, saying impatiently, “Who is your second brother that teaches at which Academy?
What’s his na?
Being a teacher still requires paynt!”
“Well, pay attention then, my second brother’s na is Wang Yongan, and he’s taught in Jing County for many years.
I’m here to seek refuge with my second brother; everybody faces difficulties…”
The beggar, with his rogue’s appearance, was gloating as he spoke, when suddenly soone spat out a mouthful of phlegm, almost landing on his face.
“Pah!
Wang Yongan!
I know him; he’s the one who swindled my mother’s coffin savings, sold all the family land.
He’s the heartless wretch that left my parents and siblings, nieces, and nephews out in the cold at ho…”
“Right, I rember too.
So ti ago, people from his old ho ca looking for him only to find out he had sold the house and gone off to live the good life as an official, leaving our father with a stroke bed-ridden, completely neglecting our disabled elder brother, heartless as a beast with no family morals, still acting as a teacher at the Academy, utterly misleading the youth.”
“Exactly, he’s beco quite the celebrity in Jing County now, hasn’t he?
So he’s your second brother?
Are you from the Old Wang Family?”
…
The beggar Wang Yonggui was dumbfounded.
He had dropped Wang Yongan’s na, thinking it would compel the proprietor to seek out Wang Yongan, who would then have to settle his account, unwilling to disown his own younger brother in front of others, right?
By then, he could potentially ask for so extra travel money to get ho.
He had thought that as soon as he ntioned it, soone would naturally go find him, and he could lazily wait for it to happen.
But listening now, it seed like things weren’t quite right?
Wang Yonggui had spent the past year gallivanting outside, squandering all his money until he was broke.
After a tough journey of begging and wandering, he finally made it back to Jing County.
He went to Wang Yongan’s residence, intending to scrounge so money for travel expenses to return to Qilidun.
But when he arrived at where Wang Yongan was supposed to live, he discovered that the person who ca to the door was not Wang Yongan’s father-in-law or mother-in-law but a stranger.
After asking just a few questions and ntioning he was looking for Wang Yongan, the stranger sicced a vicious dog on him, chasing him for miles and biting him several tis.
Bewildered and starving, he walked a few steps and was enticed by the sll of stead buns.
Unable to resist, he conjured up a plan that would kill two birds with one stone.
After stealing two buns, he finally felt his spirit return.
Thinking of his second brother, who didn’t co to the door when his own brother arrived and instead let a vicious dog bite him…
He truly was despicable.
Under normal circumstances, he might still protect his second brother’s reputation since he was the hope and mainstay of their family.
He couldn’t afford to tarnish his second brother’s reputation outside, letting others know his second brother had such a brother.
But since his second brother was cruel, he could not be blad for being unrighteous.
He might as well let everyone know he was Wang Yongan’s brother and see what they would say about his second brother, undoubtedly criticizing him for living well while his own brother lacked even the money for buns.
He had hardly ntioned Wang Yongan’s na when such news reached his ears.
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