The stout man was stubborn. When he saw that Dong Cheng was the deputy chief of the Shenping Sect, he knew that he was a great figure in Pingyang City.
So regardless of the young man's obstruction, he stopped and told Yang Jin and the others the cause and effect in one breath.
The stout man's surname was Zhang Mingfang. He was originally a clerk in the shop of the young man who was beaten, but now he also works as a helper.
The young man who was beaten was named Zhang Jin. A year ago, his family was well off, his parents were living in high places, and his family even opened a butchering and selling shop.
Zhang Fang originally worked as a butcher in Zhang Jin's shop.
Zhang Jin's father used to be a member of the martial arts world, but he withdrew from the martial arts world after accidentally limping a leg while walking in the martial arts world.
After that, he married a wife and had children in Pingyang City, and lived a stable life as an ordinary person.
Although he was lame in one leg, Zhang's father still had martial arts skills. He relied on his skills and property from traveling in the rivers and lakes to open a butchering and selling shop in Dongshi.
He makes a living by killing pigs and selling meat every day, and his business is pretty good.
Zhang Fang was originally a beggar in the city. He was met by Zhang Jin's father. Seeing how pitiful he was, he stayed in the shop and worked as a butler butchering pigs and selling meat. The name was also given by Zhang's father.
Zhang Fang is not only a clerk of the Zhang family, but also an apprentice of Zhang Jin's father.
Besides killing pigs and selling meat, he also learned some martial arts from Zhang's father, so he was very close to the Zhang family on weekdays.
Zhang Jin suffered from a strange illness as a child and was physically weak. He was not very qualified in martial arts training.
In addition, I listened to the screams of pigs being killed every day, and I couldn't see the bloody scene, so I didn't like to practice martial arts since I was a child.
His parents were also disabled because Zhang's father was disabled when he was walking in the rivers and lakes in his early years. In addition, his body was weak and he was not suitable for martial arts training.
So I don’t want him to get involved in the martial arts business of licking blood at the tip of a knife.
So he was encouraged to study wholeheartedly, hoping to gain a good reputation, enter the court, and live a prosperous life.
Therefore, Zhang Jin has been studying poetry and books at home for these years, preparing to win the first prize in the examination room.
But there are unforeseen circumstances. A year ago, Zhang Jin's mother suddenly suffered from a strange and serious illness, which could not be cured no matter how hard it was treated.
After a lot of painstaking efforts to seek medical advice, not only the decoctions continued every day, but also precious medicinal materials were needed to replenish the body from time to time, but the condition never improved.
The money was spent like water, but the condition never improved, and he could only maintain it with mediocre decoctions every day.
In less than a year, Zhang Jin's father spent half his life savings trying to raise money to buy medicine for his wife.
Even the shop on which he relied for his livelihood was borrowed with high interest rates to treat his wife's illness and was mortgaged.
But even if I try so hard, God still won't open my eyes.
Zhang's father's efforts were ultimately futile, and Zhang Jin's mother passed away a month ago.
More than half a month ago, Zhang's father, who had buried his wife, went out to do errands in the rain at night in order to pay off the high-interest debt as soon as possible and redeem the shop.
He said that there was a way to raise money to redeem the shop, but not only did he not get the money, but he accidentally contracted the cold.
As a result, the disease was unbearable, and finally it was difficult to cure it with medicine and stone, and he passed away five days ago.
During this time, Zhang Jin first lost his mother and then his father. The house leaked and it rained all night, the boat broke and there was a strong wind.
Due to his mother's illness, the originally prosperous family became impoverished. Now, in order to pay for the funeral and bury Zhang's father, they are even more in debt.
Especially now that his father has died of illness, and the family's backbone is gone, life has become very difficult.
Naturally, he could no longer read his book, so he wanted to find a job to support himself.
Zhang Fang was forced out of the Zhang family's butcher shop and had no way of making a living.
He didn't want to drag down the Zhang family. He moved out of the Zhang family's shop a year ago and became a helper because of his youth and strength.
After he helped Zhang Jin bury Zhang's father a few days ago, he saw that Zhang Jin was struggling to make a living and owed a lot of debt to other people's families.
Moreover, Zhang Jin had been studying before and did not know how to make a living. Although he could read and write, he had been studying for too long and was a bit pedantic.
Zhang Fang was worried about letting him work alone, so he took him as a helper.
I plan to let him practice with me for a while, and then let him go out to do things alone after he gets to know some ways of the world.
In this way, the two people supported each other, and Zhang Fang took him to work with him when there was work.
In this way, he can be regarded as repaying Zhang's father's nurturing kindness and being able to take care of his master's descendants.
This afternoon, Zhang Jin took Yang Jin's silver book and went to Dongshi to buy things with Zhang Fang.
Unexpectedly, he met Zhang's father's former creditor in Dongshi. The creditor was a well-known local rogue.
He usually bullies men, dominates women, and behaves tyrannically, but he is the brother-in-law of the third boss of a big gang nearby.
There is a backer behind him, so everyone dares to be angry with this guy but dare not speak out.
Today, the rogue Liu Er was in the East Market and saw a lot of money in Zhang Jin's hand to buy things, so he became evil and snatched the money away.
Zhang Fang said angrily: "...originally, in order to raise money for his wife's medical treatment, my master agreed to give 800 taels of his shop to that person, with a monthly interest of 4 cents.
If the principal and interest are paid off within three months, the shop will still belong to the Zhang family. And if he fails to pay it back within the time limit, the shop will be his.
Originally, the three-month period had passed, and the Zhang family had no money to pay back to that person, so the shop was given to that person, and the money and goods were both gone. The Zhang family had nothing to do with him in the future.
Unexpectedly, Liu Er was the brother-in-law of the third head of the Black Tiger Hall in the east of the city. With the Black Tiger Hall as his backer, he usually bullied men and dominated women. He was very bad!
Today I saw that my brother, who was carrying money, went back on his word and talked nonsense.
He insisted that my master owed him a lot of money in addition to the eight hundred taels that were mortgaged for the shop during his lifetime.
Now that my master is dead, my father's debt must be paid by his son. The two ingots of silver my brother's son gave him can be used to pay off his debt.
My brother thought that the money was given to him by the young master to do things. When he saw that the money was being snatched away from him, he naturally refused and wanted to get the money back.
Liu Er relied on his skills and the strength of the crowd to beat my brother like this on the street.
When he returned home, he was in so much pain that he was even more worried about how to tell the young master about it.
My brother is a thorough scholar, and he will never be greedy for other people's money.
Not only did I fail to handle the young master's affairs today, but I also lost my money. This is even more uncomfortable than killing him.
He, a good-for-nothing, had encountered many difficulties during this period, and today's money was robbed. He couldn't think about it for a moment, and even thought about jumping into a well, but I stopped him firmly.
But somehow, the man who robbed us of the money actually led people to chase us to where we lived after dusk, and returned the money in small pieces.
However, although the man came over and paid back the money, he threatened us not to tell the young master what happened in the afternoon.
This brother of mine is only thinking about the things that the young master wants him to buy. When he has money, he asked me to help him go to Dongshi to buy all the things and bring them to the young master..."
Zhang Fang looks rude, but he is careless and careful, and he also speaks clearly.
At the end of his speech, he knelt down and said to Dong Cheng: "Master Dong, please be sure to uphold justice for us!
My brother now owes no money to Lu Quan, the third boss of Black Tiger Hall, and his brother-in-law Liu Er.
They may let my brother go now because of the Lord and this young master, but they will still be entangled in him in the future.
This Liu Er is nicknamed "Skinny Dog" because he is a dog-skin plaster. Once it gets on it, it can't be shaken off.
In the past, my master was not afraid of him because of his martial arts skills, but this brother of mine has no strength and I am no match for them with my low martial arts skills.
If you continue to be bullied by him like this, your life will really be unbearable.
I hope Master Dong and this young master will take pity on my two lives and take pity on my brother's difficult life, so that he can act righteously and save our two brothers.
We are willing to work as slaves and maids in the young master's house to repay the kindness of the master and this young master! "
As he spoke, he pulled Zhang Jin to kowtow to Dong Cheng and Yang Jin, but Zhang Jin did not kneel down, but stood upright.
Not only did Zhang Jin not kneel down like Zhang Fang, but he bowed apologetically to Dong Cheng and Yang Jin.
He said: "Dong Baotou, this young master, don't laugh at me!
My eldest brother may have been a little too nervous and worried after seeing me being beaten so badly today!
You don’t need to take what he just said to heart. It’s really too much to ask you two to take action over such trivial matters!
However, there is no need for you two to be embarrassed. This matter is not as serious as what my elder brother just said, it is just a minor trouble.
That "mangy dog" Liu Er said that I owed him money, there was no real evidence at all.
The reason why he falsely accused me of owing him money today was because he saw that I had money in my hand and wanted to make trouble and rob him.
In the future, I will learn from today’s lesson and just hide away after seeing him.
I think he knows I have no money, so he won't trouble me again in the future.
We brothers are helping out in the east part of the city. If the master wants to help out in the future, just give us an order and give our brothers a bowl of rice!
It's getting late today, so we won't bother you any more and say goodbye! "
"etc!"
Yang Jin stood up and saw Zhang Jin pulling Zhang Fang to leave, so she asked them to wait for a moment.
He walked up to the two of them and said, "Speaking of which, today's incident is all because of me. You have been beaten so many times and suffered such serious injuries. These coins should be used as medicine for your injuries..."
As he spoke, he took out a sweat towel from his arms, wrapped up a two-to-three taels of silver and more than a hundred copper coins on the corner of the table and handed them to Zhang Jin.
“Young master, you don’t have to be like this!
As the saying goes, there is no reward for no merit. The young master does not blame me for delaying the time and deducting the money for my work. I am extremely grateful and I will never ask for the money for the medicine for my injuries. "Zhang Jin insisted.
"That's not bad!"
Yang Jin laughed, "But I still advise you to accept the money, even if it is just as a loan from me now.
Don't worry, I will never charge interest.
Now you have to work to make a living, how can you do it with injuries? "
Zhang Jin hesitated for a while, then finally accepted the money, bowed to Yang Jin and Dong Cheng, and left.
"Wait, I still have something to say.
I heard that you have been studying hard for many years and don’t know this word. Do you recognize it? "
