Chapter 35: Showing Off Before Others! (Part 1)

Two days followed.

After Lu Yuan finished his morning boxing practice and ate, he found an excuse to leave Boxiyuan in the afternoon and began wandering around the East City, searching for a target to divert his attention.

Come to think of it, having arrived in Fengyang Prefecture for over half a year, he usually spent his time practicing martial arts or cultivating, and had never truly strolled through the city.

One could see the streets bustling with crowds, the endless cries of various peddlers and vegetable sellers, full of the atmosphere of daily life.

Besides this, everywhere in the streets and alleys, one could see groups of disheveled, emaciated, and disabled beggars begging.

Passersby were pestered by the beggars; those with better tempers would merely wave their hands and avoid them, while those with worse tempers would swing their fists, causing the group of beggars to scatter.

As Lu Yuan walked on the street, several small, wretched beggars, most of whom were either missing hands or crippled, appeared from nowhere, blocked his path, and pleaded:

"Master, please have mercy and reward us with two copper coins; we are truly starving!"

"Master, don't go, please show some kindness!"

Lu Yuan swept a glance at these barely human-looking little beggars, and immediately thought of his own miserable situation when he had just transmigrated and nearly starved to death, feeling a sense of compassion in his heart.

He felt his pockets and discovered a large handful of Silver Yuan, but not a single copper coin.

It just so happened that a steamed bun shop was a few steps away, so he gestured:

"I don't have copper coins, but there is a steamed bun shop; I will buy you some food."

Saying this, he walked toward the steamed bun shop; the few little beggars hesitated strangely upon seeing this, before timidly following behind.

At this moment, Lu Yuan had already arrived in front of the steamed bun shop and said to the busy owner:

"Give me four baskets of steamed buns, how much?"

The owner was a middle-aged man with a face full of weathering; selling steamed buns was a small business, and two baskets at once was already considered a big deal, so he immediately beamed with joy:

"This master, four baskets will only cost one Silver Yuan!"

Lu Yuan tossed over a Silver Yuan and then called out to the few little beggars behind him:

"Come over and take them yourselves."

The few little beggars, having endured hunger for so long, immediately crowded forward, causing the owner to hurriedly dump the steamed buns onto the table, fearing the steamer baskets would be dirtied.

"Thank you, Master, you are a great person!"

"Wishing you great success and a long life!"

With ten large steamed buns per basket, the seven or eight little beggars each grabbed three or four, stuffing them into their mouths while shoving them into their clothes, all while thanking Lu Yuan profusely.

Under such gratitude, Lu Yuan suddenly felt through the Heavenly Book in his mind that there seemed to be an extremely faint, almost non-existent fluctuation of Qi Luck falling upon him in the dark.

The ripple flashed and vanished; although the Luck Power did not increase by even a bit, it also showed that accumulating virtue, doing good deeds, and providing disaster relief were also ways to accumulate Qi Luck.

The beggars ran off as soon as they got the buns, and the shop owner also sighed to Lu Yuan:

"This master, you are truly kind-hearted. It is fortunate you bought them buns directly; if you had given them money, these beggars wouldn't have gotten a single hair's worth of it."

Lu Yuan was naturally not an ignorant, naive person, so he raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Are they being raised by someone to make money?"

"That is exactly the case."

The shop owner said in a low voice:

"I only tell you this because you are kind-hearted; many of the beggars in this vicinity are raised by the Qinglong Gang. However, they generally only take the young and clever ones to train as pickpockets, while the stupid ones are simply crippled, so they can beg for more money on the street."

Hearing the words "Qinglong Gang," Lu Yuan immediately frowned: "Who in the Qinglong Gang is running this kind of business?"

The steamed bun shop owner asked in surprise: "Don't you rarely come to this area? It is naturally the West Hall Protector of the Qinglong Gang, Zhao Hailong. These few streets nearby are all under his protection; he is the overlord of this area."

Lu Yuan said slowly: "Abducting and maiming people is punishable by exile or even death by a thousand cuts according to the law. This Zhao Hailong is just a hoodlum, does no one care?"

Although he had joined the Qinglong Gang, he didn't know anyone except for the people in Boxiyuan.

He also understood that the Qinglong Gang, which operated in the gray zone, was by no means a benevolent organization; there were plenty of unscrupulous, disreputable thugs inside, and he hadn't expected to run into one so soon.

The steamed bun shop owner shook his head:

"This master is joking. Look at what kind of times these are; the officialdom is so corrupt, who would care about such trivial matters? That Zhao Hailong has long since fed the yamen runners in charge of these streets until they are stuffed. Let alone raising a group of beggars to beg, even if he were to commit rape, looting, murder, or arson, as long as the other party isn't some prominent figure, there will always be someone to cover for him."

This was indeed a very good target.

Lu Yuan's gaze flickered, and he asked:

"Do you know where that Zhao Hailong usually appears?"

The steamed bun shop owner was startled: "This master, what are you trying to do?"

Lu Yuan didn't waste words, took out a Silver Yuan, and tossed it in his hand: "If you know, speak quickly; this is your reward!"

The steamed bun shop owner was very tempted, and after hesitating, he said:

"Usually, this person is either holding down the fort at the gambling den or drinking at a brothel, but today he should be at the East City Yamen standing trial."

"The East City Yamen?"

Lu Yuan asked curiously:

"Why, what case is this Zhao Hailong involved in?"

The steamed bun shop owner sighed:

"You are unaware; a few days ago, that Zhao Hailong was drinking with his gang members. During the banquet, he saw a blind female musician playing for money who looked beautiful, so he took advantage of his drunken state to lure her in and sexually assaulted her on the spot. His actions can be described as worse than a beast and truly hair-raising.

After that blind female musician woke up, she jumped from the building on the spot, but luckily she didn't die from the fall. After her elderly father learned the news and brought her back, he was overcome with grief and immediately wrote a blood petition with his own blood, then went to the yamen to file a complaint. Today is the day the East City Assistant Prefect is holding court to hear this case."

Hearing of such evil deeds, Lu Yuan's tone turned cold:

"According to what you said earlier, that Zhao Hailong is an overlord in this area and has already fed the yamen runners well, so how could the blind female musician's elderly father possibly win the case?"

"That is exactly the case!"

The steamed bun shop owner sighed heavily:

"The musician's elderly father is just a destitute musician, and the whole family only has a mud hut to live in. That East City Assistant Prefect, Tian Ming, has always been muddle-headed, incompetent, and insatiably greedy. Over these years, I don't know how many powerful gentry have befriended and bribed him to escape punishment; even murder cases have been covered up.

For a villain like Zhao Hailong, a simple gift of money is enough to bribe him. Even if the musician's father writes a blood petition and beats the drum to seek justice, what use could it be? That court session will most likely just be a formality. Sigh, poor family, Heaven truly has no eyes."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan already had a plan in mind; without another word, he dropped a Silver Yuan and turned to leave.

Arriving at the side of the street, Lu Yuan casually summoned a rickshaw puller, sat down, and spoke indifferently:

"Go to the East City yamen!"

(End of chapter)