Author: Come One Dollar Moonlight

Chapter 233 People’s suffering suddenly awakens

Yongyangfang is located in the northwest corner of Yandu City. It is a very inconspicuous small square.

The people living here are basically traffickers and common people. They are not too poor, but they are far from rich.

It rained all night and the roads in Yongyangfang were muddy.

Shang Jingchuan walked hard carrying enough food for one day.

If anyone he knew saw him at this time, he would be shocked and would not dare to recognize him.

Because he was once a Shang County Sheriff who was very careful about his appearance and always wanted to stay clean and decent no matter what he encountered.

At this moment, he was unshaven, his hair was messy, and he was wearing a shabby gown. At first glance, he looked like a poor teacher.

Finally walking out of the muddy road, Shang Jingchuan came to a small inn, wiped the mud off the soles of his shoes on the doorstep, and then slowly walked in.

"Old man, you came back so early today!" the innkeeper greeted with a smile.

They are said to be waiters, but in fact there are only two people in this inn, including the shopkeeper, and they are father and son.

So this kid, who is only fifteen or sixteen years old, is also the young innkeeper.

"Well, there was no one in the market today, so I bought some food and came back early." Shang Jingchuan said as he handed over the things in his hand.

The little boy took it quickly, opened it, took a look, and then asked: "Is it still the same?"

"Well, it's the same as usual."

"okay!"

The boy carried the things and entered the kitchen.

Despite his young age, his cooking skills are pretty good.

In order to save money, Shang Jingchuan often buys the ingredients himself and then asks this little boy to do the processing for him.

Shang Jingchuan went to the counter to pour a pot of tea, sat on a chair and drank slowly.

Naturally, a small inn like this that doesn't even have a name can't afford good tea. It basically just sells the last remaining products from the tea shop, mixes them together, and sells them for takeout.

The advantage is that it is cheap, and sometimes you can buy good tea if you are lucky, but the disadvantage is that it has all kinds of flavors.

At the beginning, Shang Jingchuan also found it a bit difficult to swallow, but after getting used to it these days, he suddenly felt that this tea soup, which was like soy sauce, actually tasted good.

While I was drinking tea, the innkeeper came in from outside.

The innkeeper’s surname was Bai. I never asked him his specific name, Shang Jingchuan, so he always called him Bai.

Shopkeeper Bai is only in his forties, but whether because of poverty or something else, his back has been hunched for a long time, his hair is gray, and his face is often sad, so he looks as if he is in his sixties.

Just like the old man.

But today, Shang Jingchuan still sensed something was wrong, because shopkeeper Bai's face was even more sad than before, almost overflowing with sadness.

He hunched over and came to Shang Jingchuan. He first sat down and drank a bowl of tea soup, and then wiped his mouth.

"Old man, I'm really sorry, you can move out today."

"Move out? Why do you want to move away? I don't owe you rent money?" Shang Jingchuan asked in shock.

When he "ran away from home", he took a sum of money with him. Although it was not much, it was enough to live in a small shop like this.

"It's not that you owe me rent, to be honest, my store...can't open anymore!"

At the end of the sentence, Shopkeeper Bai spoke with a sad voice, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"What's going on?" Shang Jingchuan couldn't help but ask.

"Hey, don't ask. It won't help. I don't want the rent for the past few days. You can just move out."

After saying this, shopkeeper Bai stood up and staggered away.

Looking at his back, Shang Jingchuan was confused.

Although this small shop is dilapidated, it is still clean, and this house is the ancestral home left by Shopkeeper Bai's ancestors.

In addition, they did not hire anyone, and the father and son did everything themselves, so the expenses were very small, so even though there were not many customers, they were still able to make ends meet.

Why was it that it was open well before and suddenly it was about to close?

When I was wondering, I suddenly heard the sound of quarreling in the kitchen, and then I saw the boy rushing out of the house with a kitchen knife.

Shopkeeper Bai hugged his waist tightly from behind and advised with tears streaming down his face: "Son, you can't go. If you go, your life will be at risk."

"Father, please let me go. These people are planning to target our inn. I really can't stand it unless I say this."

The usually kind boy's eyes were red and his face looked a little ferocious.

"Why are you fighting with me? She has the support of the Four Seas Gang behind her. Okay, just accept your fate. In the worst case, we will move to the countryside." Shopkeeper Bai said with tears.

Maybe the three words "Sihai Gang" had an effect. The boy froze up, and the kitchen knife in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. Then he slowly squatted down, covered his face and cried bitterly.

Shang Jingchuan listened in confusion, but he still heard the name Sihai Gang clearly.

He didn't understand how such a small inn could be related to the Sihai Gang.

So he walked over and helped shopkeeper Bai up who was also crying bitterly on the ground.

"Old man, what's going on, can you tell me?"

"Oh, that's all. Since you insist on asking, there's no harm in telling you."

Then shopkeeper Bai briefly told what happened.

It turns out that there is a group of ruffians in Yongyangfang, led by a man named Bai Laosan.

This man bullies the market and commits all kinds of evil, but because his brother is a minor leader in the Sihai Gang, with this background, Bai Laosan is even more emboldened and no one dares to offend him.

The small shop previously run by Shopkeeper Bai had to pay a protection fee every month, otherwise there would be no hope of opening it in Yongyangfang.

If that's all it was, and he would lose money and avoid disaster, shopkeeper Bai would just endure it.

Unexpectedly, today, Bai Laosan suddenly called shopkeeper Bai over, saying that he was interested in his family's ancestral property and planned to pay for it, and the price he gave was even one-third of the market price.

Less than.

No matter how willing Shopkeeper Bai was, Bai Laosan was so powerful that he didn't care whether he agreed or not and directly gave him an ultimatum.

They were given three days to pack up everything and get out of the house, otherwise they would be beaten every time they saw them.

Then, regardless of Shopkeeper Bai's pleading, he kicked him out.

Shopkeeper Bai then returned home in despair.

After hearing this, Shang Jingchuan couldn't help but get angry.

"This is so bullying. Why don't you report it to the official?"

"Report to the official?" Shopkeeper Bai smiled bitterly upon hearing this, "Believe it or not, if I report to the official today, I will die in prison tomorrow."

"Why? Is this Bai Laosan so powerful?" Shang Jingchuan said angrily.

"For no reason, just because we, ordinary people, are powerless and deserve to be bullied."

At this time, Shopkeeper Bai had already accepted his fate.

"Old man, you should leave quickly. Bai Laosan's people may come at any time. If they see that you haven't moved out yet, you may also be implicated."

"Then what do you do?"

"What else can I do? Of course I have to move away. It's a pity that I've lost the property left by my ancestors!" Shopkeeper Bai said with reluctance.

Shang Jingchuan's lungs were about to explode with anger.

He once stood high in the temple. Although he knew that there were many injustices among the people, he thought it was just a very isolated phenomenon.

Unexpectedly, what he saw and heard in just a few days completely overturned Shang Jingchuan's outlook on life.

He discovered that injustice among the people was no longer an isolated phenomenon, but a shocking norm.

For example, in the case of the Bai family's old store, just because of Bai Laosan's words, shopkeeper Bai and his son had to pack up and leave obediently. If they resisted at all, they would be beaten to death.

And Bai Laosan, who is so arrogant, is not even a member of the Sihai Gang, he is just a gangster who uses his name to show off his power.

You can see how dark it is.

For the first time, Shang Jingchuan had a more intuitive understanding of the corruption and depravity of this great Yan.

"I'm not leaving. I want to see if these white people have three heads and six arms. Otherwise, how could they dare to act like this?"

Shang Jingchuan fell into the scholar's stubbornness again.

"Don't say that, all of Bai Laosan's men are desperadoes, and they really dare to kill people." Shopkeeper Bai said with a pale face in fright.

"Dare to kill someone? I want to see if they dare to kill me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a sneer coming from outside the door.

"Who is so bold as to dare to provoke our Third Master Bai?"

Following the words, a group of green-skinned hooligans broke into the inn.
To be continued...