Chapter 256: Is Mr. Hong There?

The tall man rushed to the pharmacy next, grabbed a dose of medicine, and the doctor on duty said that the old medicine was ineffective, so he should change to a new prescription and take it for ten days to see. The new prescription was more expensive, and he didn't have enough money, but he could only nod and say okay.

Ahead was the butcher shop; he didn't want to get close and specifically took a long detour home.

As soon as he entered the alley, there was cursing. Mr. Hong turned his head and saw the neighbor at the entrance of the alley holding her child and crying sadly, the furniture in the courtyard was overturned, as if it had just been turned over by someone.

Could it be? His heart tightened, and he strode towards home.

Along the way, the crying and scolding of neighbors were endless.

Mr. Hong rushed home in two steps, pushed the door open, and saw the stools in the courtyard overturned, the bundles of firewood piled in the corner were gone, and the house door was wide open.

He rushed into the house and saw his wife and the quilt rolled on the ground; the items in the house had all been turned upside down, and even the bricks in the corner of the wall had been pried open—

He had hidden some emergency loose money inside, and now it was gone too.

"Are you okay?" He held his wife, who was paralyzed from the waist down, onto the wooden bed. "Who dared to come in and grab things?" That was how he asked, but he understood seven-tenths in his heart.

His wife's lips were white, and she gripped his arm tightly, but she still said fluently: "The soldiers came in to grab grain and even said we had to return the grain. I said we hadn't taken any grain, and as a result, they grabbed everything!"

She was a weak woman who couldn't move; suddenly several big men broke into the house to search, and even threw her on the ground. She hadn't been scared to faint or cry loudly, which was already very strong.

Mr. Hong's mouth pursed into a straight line.

Yes, after the three boys who were beheaded stole military grain earlier, they distributed it to the townspeople everywhere overnight, thinking they were chivalrous thieves helping the poor.

Naive!

Now that they had been caught and beheaded, the military grain distributed to the town became the best excuse for soldiers to grab grain from door to door!

Is military grain something you can touch? Hand it over!

Mr. Hong's grain was hidden in two halves, half in the kitchen and half under the bed; now both were gone. Also, anything in this house that could be sold for a price, even a tiny bit, was looted by the soldiers along the way, such as the bundle of firewood in the courtyard.

There was nowhere to complain about the bitterness.

Although he was blocked in his heart, he still had to comfort his wife in a low voice: "It's okay, originally there was nothing valuable in the house, and they couldn't grab anything. By the way, I got my wages today; I'll go cook some porridge for you to eat."

His wife laughed with a "pfft," a bitter laugh. "Where's the porridge?"

After Mr. Hong finished saying this, his own face also collapsed.

The rice had been grabbed; where would the porridge come from? Drinking the northwest wind was about the same.

A surge of resentment rose from the bottom of his heart. In the past... in the past, when he was high-spirited and ambitious, when had he ever suffered such grievances?

His wife's eyes were a little red, but she held back from crying, instead comforting him: "I'm not hungry; you rest for a while and smooth your anger. Even if the soldiers didn't come to grab, the old woman next door would come to steal things."

Mr. Hong saw her sallow and thin, still forcing a smile, and couldn't help but feel sour in his heart. In the past, he had made up his mind to give her a good life.

But she hadn't enjoyed a few days of happiness from beginning to end.

Mr. Hong fed her some water first and was looking for a way to get something to eat from outside when "clatter," the half-covered courtyard door was violently thrown open, and noisy footsteps sounded outside.

Just after wrapping his wife with the quilt, he saw three bailiffs walk in, looking him up and down. "Are you Hong Chenglue?"

Hong Chenglue stood up slowly. "What is the matter, three bailiffs?"

The bailiff in front tilted his head to his two colleagues. "Take him away!"

The two shook the chains in their hands and were about to step forward to lock him up. Hong Chenglue waved his hand. "Wait, say clearly what law I broke first!"

"The higher-ups just found out that your entry registration certificate is forged!" The bailiff sneered. "I don't need to say more about what time it is now! Be sensible and follow us, and you can suffer less!"

The Great Yuan prohibits the free movement of commoners. If you want to go to other places to register and live, you need a document issued by the original place of registration to prove consent, called a "certificate." Now the war has started in the north, and Xiazhou has become a war zone. The prefecture office ordered a strict investigation of spies, first starting from the account books.

Just at this critical moment, Hong Chenglue's certificate was found to be fake; what kind of outcome could there be?

Based on his understanding of the urine nature of the local government, if he were really locked up, then being thrown into the prison and doing hard labor would be considered a light punishment. The most likely thing was to be caught as a strong man to join the army.

A few days ago, the Xiazhou Mansion's recruitment order was posted in White Deer Town, and each township had to produce five hundred soldiers to go to Dunyu to be trained as state troops.

The salary given in the notice was quite high, and Hong Chenglue was tempted at the time, but thinking that his wife was bedridden and needed someone to take care of her, he dismissed this idea. Not to mention, how many examples were there of the Haotian Township officials not keeping their word? How much of the salary issued could truly fall into the hands of the military household's family members?

But if he were locked up by the bailiffs now, he would likely be directly sent to join the army, without getting a single cent.

Hong Chenglue was expressionless. "My wife has been bedridden for many years and cannot be left alone. A few bailiffs, please be kind and pretend you didn't catch me."

Heh, hehe, a tiger falling into the flat plains. He moved his right hand, making a few cracking sounds.

Among the three bailiffs, one looked at the empty house before him and showed intolerance, while the other two were indifferent. "In these times, who doesn't have unspeakable difficulties? Go, don't dawdle!"

The chain rang and was put on Hong Chenglue's neck.

Bailiffs often used it to take people, just as skilled as herdsmen roping horses. Just like that, one set, one lock, and it was very difficult for the suspect to break free.

But Hong Chenglue reached out, and somehow grabbed the chain and pulled it back.

The bailiff couldn't stand firm and was pulled over along with the chain; the other party was as easy as catching a chicken. Before he could react, Hong Chenglue's five fingers were like eagle claws, pressing lightly on his neck.

Crack, the Adam's apple was shattered.

Another bailiff subconsciously drew his blade and was about to shout, but Hong Chenglue threw the chain and pulled him close. It was too late to call for help now; the chain tightened more and more on his neck, and the cervical spine became more and more painful...

With a light "ka" sound, the cervical spine broke.

The last bailiff standing in place was stunned. You must know that they wore official badges at their waists and had Yuan power protection; ordinary strong men were no match for them at all. But this thin and tall man...

It wasn't until Hong Chenglue's gaze swept over that he realized and turned to flee.

Hong Chenglue hesitated slightly; he didn't want to deal with him.

However, this bailiff had just fled into the courtyard when he suddenly flew back, dancing and waving his hands, and with a "bang," he directly smashed against the foot of the bed, his head blooming.

From beginning to end, he didn't even shout.

Watching the red and white matter overflow the ground, Hong Chenglue frowned and stepped back two steps to block the house door.

Outside, someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard door. "Is Mr. Hong home?"

The courtyard door was open, and this person knocking on the door at this time was both polite and strange.

"Who is it?" Mr. Hong went out to look. The visitor was forty-plus years old, with a round face and round nose, looking like a person who was harmonious and made money, and he was carrying a bundle on his back, looking like a traveling merchant.

But it was such a person who threw the official bailiff back and smashed him to death.

He turned to close the door, bowed to Hong Chenglue, and said solemnly: "The small person is named Wu Qing, entrusted by another Master Hong before his death to hand over his relics to you!"

Hong Chenglue narrowed his eyes. "Another... Master Hong?"

"He is your own brother, but his name is a taboo, so I won't mention it. This is something he entrusted to be handed over to you." Wu Qing took down the bundle on his back and offered it with both hands.

Hong Chenglue opened the bundle and saw that there were not many things inside, only a thin leather box, a stack of talismans, a folding fan, and a letter sealed with fire lacquer.

The drawing on the talismans was very familiar; it was indeed from his brother's hand.

He opened the box first, and inside were ten folded banknotes, of different denominations, but any one of them was enough to get him out of poverty and promote him to a small prosperous standard of living with fields and houses. There were also a few profound crystals in the box, with colors ranging from deep green to slightly red.

This was the aggregation of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, a treasure that couldn't be bought even with money. Even the new administrator of Xiazhou, who had just taken office, couldn't compare his family background to these few profound crystals.

But Hong Chenglue poured them to one side and didn't even look at them, because there was a toad carved from wood pressed on the banknotes, just a little bigger than a fingertip, with exquisite knife work, even the small bumps on the toad's back were carved out.

He stretched out his index finger to pick up the wood carving and looked at it for a long time, as if in a trance.

Wu Qing didn't disturb him.

Hong Chenglue looked enough before closing the box.

His wife in the inner room hadn't heard any sound for a long time and was a little worried. "Hong Lang?"

"Here." He responded. "My brother entrusted someone to bring some things over; wait a moment."

The inner room then had no words.

Hong Chenglue then picked up the letter, broke the fire lacquer seal, and spread it out in the courtyard.

The handwriting was very familiar, indeed from his brother who hadn't been seen for a long time. And the letter was also written in secret code, which only the two brothers could understand.

When he first unfolded the letter, his heart was filled with mixed feelings; after all, the last time they met was ten years ago, but now they were only "seeing the letter as seeing the person," separated by heaven and man. But the more he read, the more his heart surged.

The signature on the last page of the letter was two characters when parsed by secret code:

Xiangqian!

And on the side of the name, a toad was drawn with cinnabar, vivid and lifelike.

Hong Chenglue still remembered when he was a child, his brother took him to play by the river; he liked catching dragonflies and shrimp the most, but his hands were clumsy, and in the end, he could often only catch toads...

"Still saying you follow the destiny of heaven? Heh!" He giggled and sighed deeply again: "Do you know the content of the letter?"

Wu Qing shook his head. "Only you in the world know."

"My brother is dead; who is your master now?"

Wu Qing bowed to the ground, not daring to straighten his waist.

Hong Chenglue's gaze turned sharp. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Before telling the truth, please spare my life, Mr. Hong."

Hong Chenglue didn't get angry but laughed. "Good, good, tell me."

"I came from the north and was ordered to serve by Master Hong's side for three years."

From the north? Hong Chenglue looked at him more carefully. "Are you under Nian Zanli?"

Wu Qing shook his head, his expression actually having two points of arrogance. "What is Nian Zanli? Just a small character who doesn't even enter the stream!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 257 =====