Chapter 103

"This elder brother, may I ask what happened ahead?"

Zhang Zhang Jie casually grabbed a man selling pears who was about to run past him.

"Who are you?"

The pear-selling man, whose escape was blocked, was a little angry.

What time is it now, why is there still someone who doesn't know the severity?

Don't you know that the bullying Street-Cleaning Tiger Niu Er has come?

"Hey!"

He used force all of a sudden, wanting to break free from Zhang Zhang Jie's grasp.

As a result, it was useless.

"Hey, hey!"

He used force again, only to find that the person holding him was still standing motionless.

He felt that the hand holding him was like an iron shackle, shackling him.

Instead, his own hand was made painful by his struggle.

"Where did this man come from, so ignorant?"

The pear-selling man, thinking that the person who stopped him was a martial artist, stopped while cursing.

But when he turned his head and saw Zhang Zhang Jie, who was wearing a simple green shirt,

but whose appearance and temperament were extraordinary,

the dirty words that surged to his throat were instantly swallowed back into his stomach.

He didn't take a martial artist very seriously,

after all, no matter how high the martial arts, could he kill him on the street?

Is there no law in the Great Song?

At worst, he would just go sell pears elsewhere in the future.

And seeing Zhang Zhang Jie's appearance, it was clear that he was either from an extraordinary background,

or had a degree, and his attitude changed drastically:

No matter which one of these two, he, a commoner, could not afford to provoke.

The pear-selling man's face, which had just been full of anger, instantly squeezed out a smile:

"I don't know why this young master stopped this humble person?"

Well, he was in a hurry to run away just now and didn't hear Zhang Zhang Jie's question clearly at all.

"This elder brother, please. I am Zhang Zhang Jie,

and seeing such panic ahead, out of curiosity, I stopped you."

Zhang Zhang Jie smiled gently and cupped his hands to explain.

Looking at Zhang Zhang Jie's calm demeanor and gentle smile,

the pear-selling man felt the panic in his heart gradually disappear.

"Young master must be visiting these streets for the first time, right?"

The pear-selling man, whose mood had calmed down a bit, asked knowingly.

"I just entered Bianliang yesterday, so it is definitely my first time here."

Zhang Zhang Jie nodded in acknowledgment.

Hearing Zhang Zhang Jie's answer, the pear-selling man instantly had a bottom line in his heart.

Coming to Bianliang recently and dressed as a scholar,

this young man must be here to participate in the spring examination.

And those who participate in the spring examination are all provincial graduates with degrees, so it's no wonder Zhang Zhang Jie is so calm.

Plus, Zhang Zhang Jie is so young and has already passed the provincial examination,

so he is either a prodigy in the imperial examination rarely seen in decades, or he has a deep family background.

However, the pear-selling man guessed that Zhang Zhang Jie probably had both.

With Zhang Zhang Jie as a bottom line, the pear-selling man was completely unpanicked, and he sighed and said:

"The reason why the people ahead are so panicked is because the Street-Cleaning Tiger Niu Er has come.

This Niu Er is the leader of a group of hoodlums, and he leads a group of hoodlums to bully the market every day.

Doing business here, not only do you have to pay him protection money every month,

but he also occasionally patrols the street and will snatch away anything he likes."

"It was fine a year or two ago, just taking a part, but in the past few months, his appetite has grown even larger,

and he has already taken away most of the family property of several vendors."

"What's more excessive is that he doesn't even let go of everyone's tools for making a living,

and wants the people he targets to spend a high price to redeem them.

Everyone, in fear, can only flee in panic when Niu Er comes to the street."

This made Zhang Zhang Jie a little interested: no matter how slack the Great Song is,

it shouldn't be governed like this in the dignified capital of Bianliang.

A mere group of hoodlums, how can they have the ability to do this?

Zhang Zhang Jie shook his folding fan lightly and asked:

"Niu Er bullies the market like this, doesn't the Jingzhao Prefecture care?"

"Care?"

The pear-selling man smiled bitterly upon hearing this:

"This Niu Er is just a hoodlum, but behind him stands a sky-high figure!"

"I would like to hear the details," Zhang Zhang Jie said, cupping his hands.

The pear-selling man, whose desire to vent had risen, told the story from beginning to end:

"This Niu Er was originally just a rascal, doing some petty theft every day to survive.

When he gathered other hoodlums to start collecting protection money, everyone didn't care.

Until in a protest against protection money, Niu Er didn't know the severity of his actions,

and beat a man who took the lead in resisting into serious injury."

"How could that man's family let it go?

They immediately filed a lawsuit against Niu Er to the Jingzhao Prefecture, wanting him to face a lawsuit.

The Jingzhao Prefecture got the news and immediately sent two Gao Yamen runners to take Niu Er."

"Hmm."

Zhang Zhang Jie nodded upon hearing this: this is indeed the normal process so far.

Although for conflicts among the people, as long as there is no loss of life,

the Great Song government has always followed the principle of 'the people do not sue, the officials do not investigate';

but if someone sues to the government office,

the government must in any case take some action to show their role.

The pear-selling man's face became miserable, and he continued:

"But things took a big turn when they got to the government office.

The masters inside actually used the excuse that it was the man who made the first move,

and Niu Er was just counterattacking as a last resort,

not only did they not punish Niu Er, but instead made that man give Niu Er twenty taels of silver as compensation."

"That man couldn't take it, and vomited blood and died three days after returning home.

That Niu Er, even hypocritically said that since the man was already dead, he didn't want his compensation."

Zhang Zhang Jie couldn't help but be silent about the tragic encounter of that leading man.

The pear-selling man continued:

"Everyone couldn't take it, so they tried to find out through various connections,

who exactly was the sacred figure standing behind Niu Er in Bianliang City."

"Finally, according to a distant relative of a vendor who worked in the government office,

the one standing behind Niu Er is the son of Marshal Gao Qiu, Gao Gao Yanei!"

"How could that Gao Gao Yanei be someone we commoners can provoke?

Since then, everyone can only endure it, and live one day at a time."

Zhang Zhang Jie was speechless.

He didn't expect that behind a mere Niu Er was Gao Gao Yanei, the adopted son of Gao Qiu.

Although this Gao Gao Yanei is named as Gao Qiu's son,

in fact, he is not Gao Qiu's biological son.

Gao Qiu doesn't know if he was born without fertility,

or if he played too hard when he was young and hurt his root.

This led to the fact that after he was appreciated by Emperor Huizong, who was still Prince Duan,

even though he was not short of beautiful wives and concubines, he had no offspring, not even a daughter.

After Gao Qiu tossed and turned to no avail, he had to accept this fact.

And at this time, Gao Gao Yanei, who was originally Gao Qiu's distant cousin, stood out,

saying that he was willing to recognize Gao Qiu as his father, to continue the lineage for Gao Qiu,

and to provide for Gao Qiu's old age and wear mourning clothes after a hundred years.

Gao Qiu, who thought he would be a lonely person in the physical sense from then on, was overjoyed,

and loved Gao Gao Yanei, this cheap son who voluntarily lowered his generation, very much.

Since then, Gao Gao Yanei, who was originally a hoodlum like Gao Qiu,

and had bad habits, exposed his true nature and did countless kinds of dissolute things.

And Gao Qiu, who felt guilty for Gao Gao Yanei and had high hopes for continuing the incense, could only repeatedly wipe Gao Gao Yanei's butt.

After Prince Duan was promoted to Emperor Huizong, Gao Qiu, who was appreciated by him, also rose with the tide,

and became the Marshal of the Palace, controlling the 800,000 Imperial Guards.

Even Cai Jing, Prime Minister Cai, who covered the sky with one hand in the outer court,

had to give three points of face when facing Gao Qiu, who was deeply favored by the Emperor.

After having such a powerful father as a backer,

Gao Gao Yanei became even more unscrupulous and arrogant.

"Young master, the matter has been told, I will take my leave first."

The pear-selling man carried his basket of pears and left in a hurry.

'It seems it's time to act on behalf of heaven.'

Zhang Zhang Jie's eyes were deep, and he chose to go against the flow of people.

A scumbag like Niu Er deserves to die under his palm.

"Huh! Isn't this..."

Walking past the street corner, Zhang Zhang Jie saw a person he had never seen before, but was very familiar with.

I saw that at the other end of the street, when everyone was fleeing in panic,

there was a person holding a knife, standing straight.

This person was tall, with a gloomy look on his face, clearly frustrated and unsuccessful.

There was a straw stuck on the knife in his arms, and one could tell at a glance that he was selling the knife.

The "sticking a sign to sell one's head" in the mouth of Guan Erye in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was just like this.

But the most impressive thing was the blue mark on his face that almost covered half of his cheek.

That mark was located in the area of his left cheekbone,

almost occupying the entire half of his face, looking exceptionally eye-catching.

Because he was holding a knife in his arms and looked a bit ferocious, there was no one within a few meters around him.

Other vendors would rather squeeze with others than get close to him.

"Blue-Faced Beast Yang Zhi!"

Zhang Zhang Jie looked at the man dozens of meters away and recognized his identity at once.

'It seems I don't need to take action now.'

Zhang Zhang Jie stood quietly on the side, ready to watch a good show.