The hanging arrest documents made Wu Sheng calm down a lot, but he still did not move rashly. He was not familiar with the place in Yingdu, so he hid in place for two days and looked for an opportunity before leaving the city.
Returning to Bailong Pond, still under the stone bridge, Wu Sheng hugged the meat breast and started chewing it until his mouth was full of oil. After eating, I fell asleep where I was, but my sleep was very restless. I would wake up immediately if there was any disturbance.
In the afternoon, a group of Chu guards suddenly came to Bailongchi. Looking at it, they seemed to be stationed here.
This group of guards was small in number, only about twenty, but it forced Wu Sheng to stay no longer. He finally stayed up in a corner of a certain wall until dark, and quickly climbed over the wall to get out.
There was really no place to go, so I could only temporarily stay in a firewood shed of a family in Guorenfang. While getting into the haystacks to keep warm, I had to watch all directions and listen to all directions. It was really hard.
Suddenly I heard someone shouting outside: "Caught! Caught..."
Immediately, many people poured out from various houses: "Have you caught the assassin?"
Wu Sheng was so excited that he hid in the haystack motionless.
Just listen to the noise outside: "Where? Where?"
"Is it an assassin?"
"I saw it first..."
"We saw it together, do you want to smear my share? You are a black-hearted person..."
"Go and call Fang Jia..."
Wu Sheng probably understood that he had not exposed Xingzang, but that someone had been caught in the workshop, so he carefully pushed aside a few straws and looked out through the gap.
Sure enough, I saw an unkempt man kneeling on the street not far away, surrounded by a bunch of Chinese people from my village, each carrying a knife, a stick, and a wooden rake.
Not long after, Fang Jia came over: "Caught another one? Do you see clearly?"
"It should be, that's right."
"There are still injuries on the back. Didn't the notice say that the assassin was injured?"
The people of the country said one after another.
Fang Jia grabbed the man's hair and dragged him to the foot of the Fang wall. He shined a torch on his face and compared it with the portrait on the notice. After looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what was going on.
Someone next to me said: "Yes, yes, it's very similar!"
Another person said: "Send it to the temple first and then talk about it. What if it happens?"
Another person said: "Even if he is not, he is still a savage or a slave. Savages are not allowed to stay in the city, and slaves are not allowed to escape privately. They are all against the law, and there will be rewards for retribution."
The man struggled to himself: "I'm not an assassin, I'm not an assassin. Don't accuse me..."
However, his pleas were of no use and he was dragged away by the group of people.
Wu Sheng in the haystack thought about it carefully. From what he heard, Nanfang had already captured more than one "assassin", and there must be many elsewhere.
Since so many assassins have been captured...
Wu Sheng's eyes lit up.
After thinking about it for a long time, he emerged from the haystack, his body covered with grass roots and buds, and his hair was messed up, and then he swaggered outside.
I randomly selected a house, climbed over the low earthen wall, and looked up to see strings of dried meat hanging from the eaves. I couldn't help but sigh to myself, the people of Yingdu are so rich.
I happened to be very hungry, so I picked a bunch. After picking, I sat in the small courtyard and ate.
The door opened, and a hunting bow came out with an arrow on it. The person holding the bow was an old man. Behind him was an old woman, holding a rolling pin in her hand.
Wu Sheng stuffed the meat into his mouth in two mouthfuls, wiped the oil stains around his mouth, and raised his hands: "I'm sorry, old man, I'm really hungry. I ate a piece of meat. I'll let you be beaten or punished. Of course. I suggest it’s best to send me to court.”
The two sides faced off for a while, and the old woman suddenly shouted: "Here comes someone, the assassin has been caught! There is an assassin!"
The surrounding neighbors immediately opened their doors, and many people came here.
Wu Gao raised his hands and turned around in a circle to show harmlessness: "I don't have a sword on me..."
Before he finished speaking, he was hit with a rolling pin on the back of his head and fell down immediately.
I heard the old woman shouting: "I'll catch you, I'll knock you out, I'll take the bulk of the reward!"
Wu Sheng was in a semi-dazed state and did not dare to get up. He just protected his head with his hands and kept arguing: "Don't fight, don't fight. I don't have a sword and I won't hurt anyone..."
Two young and strong men lifted him up and dragged him under the wall of the square. Wu Sheng tried his best to raise his head and exposed his face, the left side of his face and the right side of his face, so that they could recognize him clearly.
In a moment, Fang Jia arrived again, muttering: "I just sent it to the temple, why is there another one? I already sent five of them today."
The question of whether Wu Sheng's appearance was similar to the portrait once again triggered a debate. The result of the debate was naturally fruitless. In any case, Fang Jia made another trip and sent Wu Sheng to the Tingsi.
A group of people in the temple were busy. After Wu Sheng was brought in, someone immediately came up to strip him naked to see if he had any wounds and whether he matched the wanted notice.
Afterwards, he was given water to wash his face to see if there were tattoos on his face. If so, he was a runaway slave. Each family's tattoos were different, so he would be sent back to whichever family he belonged to. There was a high chance that he would be executed after being sent back.
After the inspection, it will be registered by the temple official.
The clerk who made the registration was numb and asked: "What is your name? Where is your home?"
Wu Sheng replied: "The villain Ji Bai has no family and wanders around the city begging for food."
Calling himself a villain means that he is not a Chinese, but a savage; saying that he is homeless means that he is not a native of Yingdu, but a refugee among the savages.
The clerk agreed with this, wrote down something on the bamboo slip, and then asked Fang Jia: "What is it for?"
Fang Jia said: "Still an assassin."
The clerk shook his head, without further explanation, and asked again: "Is there any other crime?"
Fang Jia said: "He stole the meat from Liushe Lao Yangtou's house and got it."
The clerk nodded: "I understand, let's wait for disposal."
Fang Jia asked: "Is there any reward?"
The clerk said: "Report the barbarian's stay in the city, twenty coins. I'll pick it up in a few days."
Fang Jia nodded, but still felt a little unwilling: "Not an assassin?"
The clerk sneered: "If he is really an assassin, can he be captured by the old sheep head?"
Fang Jia sighed and left gloomily.
The prison cell was located in the southwest corner of the temple. A large pit was dug in a square shape, about ten feet deep. Prison cells were divided into cells with wooden stakes, and the tops were sealed with logs.
Wu Sheng was sent down and put into a cell, where he suddenly felt a pungent smell.
There are more than ten people in this cell, all of them "assassins" caught in the past two days. In addition to this cell, the ones on the left and right are also "assassins". With so many people eating, drinking, and eating in one place, how can it taste better?
However, for Wu Sheng, entering here means safety.
According to convention, savages and refugees would be driven out of the city after receiving certain punishments. The next step Wu Sheng had to do was to wait.
The food in the prison was really unpalatable. There were two spoonfuls of paste in a broken earthen pot, and I couldn't tell what it was. There was only one meal a day.
Wu Sheng's ability to adapt is quite strong. He couldn't eat anything on the first day, but he finished it on the second day. On the third day, he started to compete with other prisoners for food - and won, but the other prisoners refused to accept and started to fight fiercely. He wrote a letter of challenge and asked him to fight again tomorrow. The winner will get the food!
It's a pity that the battle failed to come true. Assassins kept being sent in, and the prison couldn't hold any room.
Early in the morning, a monk came to Ting Temple to check the pulse of the prisoners who were arrested as "assassins" one by one.
When it was Wu Sheng's turn, the monk grabbed his wrist and let him go after a stinging pain.
Wu Sheng, who had no cultivation skills, was sent to another thatched cottage, knocked down on the spot, and whipped.
Punishment of whipping: The barbarians stay in the city, three whips, one piece of meat stolen, five whips, a total of eight whips.
The eight whips were so painful that one of Wu Sheng's souls left his body and two souls ascended to heaven. When he was beaten, he seriously regretted it. If he had known better, he would not have eaten that piece of meat. The five extra whips were too painful. It hurts!
