As soon as there was a sudden movement, Chang Geng and Zeng Ba immediately protected Zhao Mengqi.
A disheveled man rushed out of the alley and almost bumped into Chang Geng, who was already on full alert.
He was only three or four feet away, but he suddenly turned away and dodged to the side, shouting, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."
Chang Geng had already taken out the knife, but seeing this situation, he quietly took it back.
This man avoided Chang Geng, but he didn't expect that there was a hawker pushing a chicken cart in the direction he was dodging. Now he couldn't avoid it, so he bumped into it and fell to the ground.
"Now let's see where you run!"
A man chased out of the alley and ran over waving a stick, hitting the man on the ground with a slap in the face.
"I'll beat you to death!" "Thieves, run away!" "Look, you still dare to steal!"
The man swung a wooden stick as thick as an egg and hit the man with a loud bang. The force was so strong that it hurt others to watch.
But the man didn't resist or cry out in pain, which attracted Zhao Mengqi to look curiously.
I saw the man curled up, with one hand protecting his head and face, taking the beating, and with the other hand he was grabbing a few big steamed buns and stuffing them into his mouth.
"How dare you eat! I will be reincarnated as your mother's starving ghost!"
The man beat him with a stick until he was so angry that he stepped on the man's head, crushing half of his face into the dirt.
The man raised his hand and pushed the man's feet away. He swallowed hastily and continued to put the bun into his mouth.
The man was pushed so hard that he staggered and almost fell. He couldn't help but become more angry and kicked the man's hand that was grabbing the bun.
Half of the bun fell to the ground and rolled far away.
The man roared like a wild beast in his nasal voice, kicked off his bare feet, and rushed after the steamed buns while rolling and crawling!
With his free hand, he grabbed the steamed bun that was already covered with a layer of soil, and stuffed it into his mouth with the one in his other hand, completely ignoring the man who was chasing him and beating him severely.
Damn it, this is really going to kill me!
Zhao Mengqi had never seen anyone look like this before. He was stunned for a long time, and only now did he react, "Zeng Ba, save people!"
Zeng Ba rushed forward without hesitation and kicked the stick in the man's hand off with one kick, "That's enough. Do you want to beat someone to death!?"
The man looked at the broken wooden stick in his hand and was stunned for a moment, then immediately cursed back, "It doesn't matter if I beat him to death, it's none of your business! I want you to take more care of the mother-in-law!"
Originally, he thought that this man was the victim of the theft, but Zeng Bacai didn't say hello to him. Seeing that he actually dared to scold him, he slapped him away and said, "Pah!"
"What a thief, your brain was kicked by a donkey!? I'm trying to save you! How dare you bite Lu Dongbin?"
Blinded by this slap, the man threw the broken stick on the ground, covered his face, looked at Zeng Ba angrily, and muttered something unknown.
Zeng Ba thought he was still scolding him, "I really don't cry until I see the coffin..." He pretended to go up and beat him.
"Officer...don't...it's my fault."
The man on the ground got up quickly, swallowed his last mouthful, and stopped Zeng Ba, "I stole his steamed buns. He should hit me."
"Young man can resist being beaten!" Zeng Ba was surprised. Seeing clearly that this gray-faced man was actually a young man, and finding his behavior quite interesting, he couldn't help but joke, "He just beat you to death, you don't want to Revenge?...Oh, by the way, judging from your appearance, you were actually able to fight back just now, right? Have you practiced?"
The young man grinned innocently, showing his big teeth, "The poor are poor, so as long as they don't starve to death, it doesn't matter if they get beaten with a stick a few times."
The man calmed down, covered his face and muttered, "That's right, this hozen should be beaten. He has been stealing my steamed buns for half a month, and I finally caught him today."
At this time, Ban Zhi, who was following behind, and the other five, except for the driver, all caught up. Seeing that Zhao Mengqi was fine, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Then they walked over surrounded by Zhao Mengqi. When the man saw this formation, he immediately panicked, "You...you guys, don't mess around, or I will sue the police."
"You commit murder in the street, and you still have the guts to sue the officials?" Zhao Mengqi said with a smile, "Isn't it just a matter of a few steamed buns? As for beating people to death?"
As soon as the man saw Zhao Mengqi's temperament, he knew that he was someone he couldn't afford to offend, so he hurriedly explained, "Yameni, you can't say that. He has stolen a lot in the past half month, and today's total is eighty-seven. He makes forty-three cents, and I can’t even earn that much even after working so hard all day long.”
"Okay, wait until I ask clearly, and I will compensate you for him."
Zhao Mengqi also knew that the people at the bottom were having a hard time at this time. If they worked for nothing for a day, their families might starve, so it was not appropriate to be harsh.
He turned to look at the young man and saw that his clothes were in tatters, with several big holes in them. You could directly see his skinny body. There were many cracks on his feet. He probably hadn't worn shoes for a long time, so It was cold weather, so I don’t know how he didn’t freeze to death.
"May I have your name?"
The young man scratched the head of the henhouse. Although his face was covered with dirt, you could tell that he was embarrassed, "My name is Wu Qiong."
"I am poor? What a good name. If you are not poor, who is poor?" Zhao Mengqi couldn't help laughing.
"No, it's not!" The young man was a little anxious and hurriedly differentiated, "It's Wuwu, Wang Jingqiong!"
"Huh? How old are you and can you read?"
"I am fifteen this year. I, Aweng, have taught me for several years and I know some words."
"You're only fifteen, and you look several heads taller than me. Well, let's not talk about it for now. Let me ask you, you must be a refugee from Taihu Lake."
The reason why Zhao Mengqi asked this was because under normal circumstances, people of unknown origin could not enter the city. After all, Lin'an was also the capital of the country.
"Yes, I came with them." Wu Qiong answered honestly.
"Didn't Lin'an Prefecture provide relief for you? They also built resettlement houses for you. Why don't you go to work? You look like you have some strength. But is there any hidden reason why the officials are depriving you of the relief?"
"There is no deduction. I receive the same porridge as everyone else, but I don't have enough to eat. It's not that I don't want to go to work. It's because I'm not old enough, and besides, I don't have a household registration..."
"No household registration?" Without household registration, not only will the government not accept employment, but even private individuals will not dare to hire them, at least not in Lin'an.
"I'm not from the Song Dynasty, no, Aweng said that we are from the Song Dynasty, my hometown is from Xuzhou, and my hometown can't survive, so Aweng took me and ran south, first to Xiangyang, and then to Changzhou... "As he said this, Wu Qiong seemed to think of something sad and choked up.
It turned out that he was a refugee from the North. Hearing his short words, he must have gone through countless hardships. Zhao Mengqi sighed in his heart, "Okay, I understand, by the way, then why did you only steal this man's steamed buns?"
Wu Qiong glanced at the man sheepishly, then scratched his head, "He was the only one in his stall. In fact, I didn't steal. I just took it and ran away when I saw him busy. I thought, he shouldn't He left the stall and chased me. In fact, if my legs hadn’t been weak from hunger today, he wouldn’t have been able to catch me.”
After hearing this, the man became very angry, "I've been angry for half a month. If I couldn't bear it anymore, could I have thrown away the stall? I don't know what would be left if I turned around. You This hozen is really bullying people!"
"Okay, okay, I'll pay you, Huang Gou, give him ten guan." Zhao Mengqi thought Wu Qiong was quite interesting. When he was in a good mood, he would open his mouth and give him ten guan.
Good guy, how can a broken stall selling steamed buns be worth ten dollars? This Ah Lang really doesn't regard money as money. Huang Gou was nagging in his heart and angrily slapped the ten dollars into the man's hand.
The man handed over the money with both hands, and read it under the light for a long time. Finally, with a mouth full of yellow teeth, he said happily, "Thank you Yameni, Yameni is so grand..."
"Okay! You can go!" Zhao Mengqi waved his hand and drove the man away.
At this time, the cart vendor, who had been watching for a long time, came over timidly and asked weakly, "Yanei, the villain's cart was knocked over, and all the carts were broken. Do you think , can you..."
Okay, send the Buddha to the West, a good person will do it to the end, "Huang Gou, compensate him."
Huang Gou found a piece of banknote and handed it to the hawker. The hawker took it and looked at it, and suddenly became unhappy, "Why are you so consistent?"
"No? Come back!" Huang Gou didn't like him, so he stretched out his hand to ask for it, "You clay figurines are worth at most two hundred coins, and you won't be happy to give them to you!? Don't be too greedy!"
"I'm glad! I'm glad! I'm glad!" The hawker quickly put the money in his arms, picked up the car and ran away.
Wu Qiong stared blankly at Zhao Mengqi losing money, never understanding that the trouble he had caused was actually worth eleven dollars. He was not a young lady, so even if he sold himself, it would not be worth so much money!
Zhao Mengqi looked at him with a smile, "Please, I will help you solve it, and I will pay the money for you. From now on, just hang out with me."
"Ah!?" Wu Qiong jumped back as if he had been stung by a wasp, trembling and hugging his chest, "I am not a slave! Aweng said, even if you starve to death, you cannot sell yourself into slavery!"
Zhao Mengqi was amused, "But you owe me eleven points, how are you going to repay it?"
"How to pay it back?" Wu Qiong was dumbfounded and clapped his fingers, "Eleven Guan, eleven Guan! I may not be able to save eleven Guan in my life! How can I pay this back? How can I pay it back..."
This silly boy is really lucky. His Highness has chosen him, and he will not be able to achieve great success in the future? Still struggling here, I am so blessed that I don’t know how to be blessed!
Chang Geng, Zeng Ba and others looked at Wu Qiong with extremely complicated expressions on their faces.
After talking about it for a long time, Wu Qiong couldn't think of a way to earn eleven dollars, so he could only grit his teeth and said, "Ya Nei, I can't afford it, or I'll give you my life."
Zhao Mengqi was so happy that he squinted his eyes, "Why pay with your life? ...That's fine!"
"Okay, I'll give it to you now." As he said that, Wu Qiong looked around, then picked up a fist-sized stone and was about to hit it on his head.
"Stop!" Zhao Mengqi was afraid of shouting slower, but this kid really sent it, "Who told you to die? I mean, you will follow me from now on. Don't worry, I won't let you be a slave, and I will give you a registered residence." ."
"Really!? I'm very good at eating!"
