Chapter 87: The Bully Kills

The reason Zhu Gaoxu came to the tavern to drink was entirely to taste the flavor of ancient alcohol for himself.

Just as the rumors said, the alcohol content was indeed not high.

Having tasted the high-proof spirits of later generations, he felt it was about the same as water.

But because he was still too young and his body was still growing, Zhu Gaoxu did not dare to drink too much at once.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhu Gaoxu originally intended to leave, but as soon as he reached the first floor, he discovered a commotion in the main hall.

Following the sound, Zhu Gaoxu saw a crowd gathered in a circle, watching the spectacle.

Ada and the others sensed Zhu Gaoxu's curiosity, so they squeezed out a path for him, and Zhu Gaoxu successfully reached the innermost circle to see the situation clearly.

He saw an old man holding a pipa, kneeling before a burly man with a little girl, begging bitterly for mercy.

Zhu Gaoxu did not speak immediately, but instead pricked up his ears to listen to the crowd's discussion.

"Sigh, this Wang Laotou is unlucky; of all people to provoke, he had to provoke that bully. Who in all of Jingcheng doesn't know that Wan Saner never pays for listening to music?"

"Sigh, that's right. Now it's a mess; not only did this Wang Laotou not get any money, but now he even owes this Wan San a string of cash."

"..."

After listening for only a moment, Zhu Gaoxu understood the gist of it.

This old man had brought his granddaughter to this tavern to perform for a living.

During this time, the bully was drinking in the tavern, saw the old man performing, and told the old man to play a tune.

Who would have thought that this Wang Laotou played five tunes in total, and the bully didn't want to pay a single cent.

When Wang Laotou asked the bully for money, the bully, annoyed, directly claimed that the tunes the old man played were extremely unpleasant and had soiled his ears, demanding that he pay compensation.

Zhu Gaoxu understood the sequence of events and narrowed his eyes slightly.

This bully really knew how to play the game; this was probably the earliest form of emotional distress compensation.

It was just that the bully was clearly being unreasonable and making trouble.

At this moment, the bully looked at the onlookers without the slightest fear, and instead became quite smug.

The bully said to Wang Laotou in a haughty manner: "You old immortal, this matter isn't over today. Your tunes were already extremely unpleasant to begin with. I, your master, took pity on you and wanted to let you off, but who knew you old immortal didn't know how to be grateful and actually wanted to ask me for money? Since that's the case, you first give me a string of cash to clear my ears."

When Wang Laotou heard this, he almost burst into tears.

Kneeling before the bully, he said mournfully: "Master, this old one knows he was wrong. This old one doesn't ask for your money, I only ask that you spare the two of us, grandfather and granddaughter."

"That won't do. You say you don't want it, so you don't want it? I don't care about your pittance, but before that, you must first pay me."

As he spoke, the bully Wan San kicked the old man down, then looked at the onlookers and laughed heartily.

Seeing her grandfather fall to the ground, the little girl cried out in terror and hurriedly helped her grandfather up.

The old man had clearly been kicked hard; after coughing twice, he said tremblingly: "This master, it is I who had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, but I am only a performer, how could I have money to compensate you? I beg you to show mercy."

Hearing Wang Laotou say he had no money, the bully smiled, finally revealing his ugly face.

"If you have no money, that's easy to fix. I see your granddaughter is quite pretty; although she is young, she is a beauty in the making. I know a place where we can sell your granddaughter to pay me back."

As he spoke, the bully stood up, walked to the little girl's side, and reached out to grab her.

The little girl screamed in terror and retreated repeatedly, while her grandfather hurriedly tried to block him.

"You old immortal, you dare to block me!"

The burly man roared, then raised his foot again, this time kicking the old man away directly.

The little girl was clearly very filial; seeing her grandfather kicked away, she didn't even have time to be afraid, and ran crying to her grandfather's side.

"Grandfather, are you alright?"

But the grandfather had been kicked twice in a row, and the bully had clearly used his full strength on the last kick, plus the old man was advanced in age.

Just as Wang Laotou wanted to open his mouth to speak, a mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed out.

Seeing her grandfather vomiting blood, the little girl became even more panicked, and her tears could not stop falling.

The grandfather clearly no longer had the strength to speak; he tremblingly reached out his hand and wiped the tears from the girl's face.

Then he forced the pipa he had been clutching tightly into the girl's arms, and finally, his neck went limp, and he completely lost his breath.

All of this feels like it took a long time to describe, but it all happened in the span of two sentences.

The crowd hadn't even reacted yet, and Wang Laotou was already dead.

Seeing this scene, a surge of rage rose fiercely in Zhu Gaoxu's heart.

And the bully, seeing that the old man had actually been kicked to death by him, was also stunned for a moment.

But soon he thought of something, and then said to the crowd: "This old man was courting death himself, getting in the way of my foot landing; he deserved to die."

"You all saw it too; this old man owed me a string of cash, and now that he's dead, his granddaughter belongs to me."

As he spoke, the burly man walked toward the little girl.

Although the onlookers were angry in their hearts, not one of them stepped forward to stop him.

Looking at her dead grandfather and then at the cold-eyed onlookers, a sense of despair rose in the little girl's heart.

And just as the bully reached the little girl's side and was about to make his move, Zhu Gaoxu spoke up.