Chapter 25: Village bully, Li Gouer's hand chopped off!

In Wucun Township.

There was a large residence in the village, occupying a huge area.

The surrounding walls were made of yellow adobe.

A wooden courtyard gate was open.

From time to time, men would enter and exit.

Some were arrogant and happy, while others were dejected and full of grief.

Inside the courtyard, intense shouts would ring out from time to time.

Nearby, some honest villagers would deliberately avoid this place when passing by.

Today, most of the villagers in the village had gone to Jinyang City to attend the market.

But there were still some idlers who didn't like to work, known in the village as loafers, gathered inside these courtyard walls.

There is no shortage of lazy people in any era.

The current era was the same.

It seemed that in every village and every township, there were such people.

Diao Chan's uncle, Li Gouer, was one of these idlers.

And this residence, which gathered all the idlers in the village, belonged to a "hero" who was extremely famous in the surrounding ten miles and eight villages.

The so-called "hero" was not the great heroes in Jin Yong's martial arts novels.

The terms "wandering hero" and "hero" have both positive and negative connotations.

Some wandering heroes and heroes are those who value righteousness over life and love to make friends.

But the vast majority still refer to scoundrels.

That is, hooligans.

The residence in front of them belonged to the biggest scoundrel in the area, Ma San.

Ma San had many brothers, seven in total.

They had migrated here from Liangzhou in their early years.

Externally, they claimed to be distant relatives of the Grand General Ma Yuan.

Of course, the people in the village just listened and didn't take it seriously.

Liangzhou was even colder and harsher than Bingzhou.

And because it was often invaded by foreign tribes, the people of Liangzhou were exceptionally fierce.

Although Bingzhou was similar, that referred to places like Yunzhong and Jiuyuan in Bingzhou.

Although Taiyuan was also in Bingzhou, it was closer to the Sanfu area.

Although the people's lives were a bit hard, there were no invasions by foreign tribes.

So their personalities were relatively much kinder.

As a result, after the Ma brothers settled down, they immediately became the local "heroes."

Relying on the large number of brothers and their ruthless methods, they quickly gained a foothold in the vicinity.

And they gathered some wandering heroes from the neighborhood.

Usually, they would open some gambling dens and engage in some forced buying and selling.

People in the surrounding villages were angry but dared not speak out.

At this time, most of the villagers had gone to Jinyang City to attend the market.

Only the village idlers came to Ma San's house to continue gambling.

A group of idlers surrounded a chicken coop made of fences.

Inside, two fighting cocks were pecking at each other.

"Kick it, kick it, peck it!"

"Go, go, go!"

"Peck it, peck it!"

More than a dozen idlers surrounded the chicken coop, shouting at the top of their lungs with red faces and thick necks.

Four or five wandering heroes, wearing short clothes with their chests open and short swords tucked at their waists, stood with their arms crossed, watching and smiling.

Not far from the chicken coop were three rooms in a row.

Although they were also adobe houses, they were much better than Li Gouer's adobe house.

The floor inside the room was paved with wooden boards.

There were more than a dozen tables in the main hall.

The main seat was a huge table.

On the table were roasted chicken, mutton, roasted fish, and turbid wine.

Behind the table, a burly man with a scar on his face was sitting behind the desk.

Holding a chicken leg in one hand and a wine bowl in the other.

A bite of meat, a sip of wine.

Standing in front of him were two wandering heroes with short swords.

They were looking down with fierce eyes at Li Gouer, who was kneeling in front of the hall with a bruised and swollen face.

The middle-aged man who was fierce and eating meat while drinking was named Ma San.

He was the most ruthless among the Ma brothers.

Although he was the third in the family, he was the one who was truly in charge.

"Doggy, since yesterday, you have lost a total of five thousand coins at my place."

"Plus the wine money and meat money, I won't take more from you, just five thousand five hundred coins."

"Reasonable, right? Not much, right?" Ma San narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Gouer kneeling in front of him.

Li Gouer swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded cautiously: "Not much, not much."

"That's fine." Ma San smiled and put down the chicken leg in his hand: "I took one thousand coins from you, which means you still owe me four thousand five hundred coins."

"It's okay if you don't have money; I also said, I don't want this money."

"Come here, take four fingers."

"One finger is worth one thousand coins."

"The debt between us will be wiped clean."

Ma San sneered at Li Gouer and said: "Doggy, don't say I'm ruthless."

"I, your Third Master, make a living this way. If I don't deal with you today, how will I stand in the future?"

"Do it." ===== CHAPTER 27 =====