Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-Three

Ruan Dacheng didn't know Master Qi's good intentions, he insisted on getting rid of Gao Laosan and subduing Gao Laosan's power in one fell swoop - Ruan Dacheng believed that he did this not for any personal vendetta, but for Qingpu Hongmen's great cause!On the second day after leaving Qi Mansion, Ruan Dacheng explained the intention and steps of launching an offensive to Lu Niupi, Yang Laosi, Lin Sangouzi and other brothers, and agreed to start the attack that night. Unexpectedly, everything was ready, and when the attack was launched, another unexpected thing happened—three county student members on the ground in Qingpu, led by Mr. Zhu Renfu of the Longwei Escort, found Ruan Dacheng's gate. , Ask Ruan Dacheng to preside over justice.

Among the three county student members, there was a tall and thin one called He Yuanju, the second son of Father He who ran a cloth shop on North Street, and Ruan Dacheng had met him before.The other two Ruan Dacheng didn't know each other. He only knew after He Yuanju's introduction that one was called Zhang Binglin and the other was called Liu Fuzhi.Ruan Dacheng had something on his mind, and he didn't want to talk to these three sour scholars, but he still let them in to save Uncle Zhu's face. After entering the room, Ruan Dacheng asked Uncle Zhu to sit down on the chair beside the Eight Immortals table, and also asked the three sour scholars to sit on the stool, and then he listened to the three scholars talking one by one.Listen, listen, Ruan Dacheng couldn't help feeling annoyed again.

But it turned out that the incident was caused by that old man again!It happened last spring, before Ruan Dacheng came to Qingpu Town.One day, after He Xiucai, Zhang Xiucai, and Liu Xiucai got drunk, they lost a collection of Yinghe poems, which was picked up by Gao Laosan's subordinates and presented to Gao Laosan.Gao Laosan found several anti-poems in the collection of poems, and used them as a threat to demand that the three scholars pay monthly stipends of silver, five taels per month for each.After paying the money for more than a year, the three scholars couldn't take it anymore. After discussing it, they planned to pool a hundred taels of silver together to redeem the collection of poems, and Gao Laosan agreed.Unexpectedly, one hundred taels of silver was given to Gao Laosan, but Gao Laosan turned his back on them. Not only did he not return the poetry collection to them, but he also beat them up and threatened to sue the officials.Thinking back and forth, I felt that there was no way out, that He Xiucai was about to hang himself in the middle of the night - but he was discovered by Father He.Father He immediately found Uncle Zhu, Uncle Zhu pondered over and over again, feeling that with his own strength, he couldn't beat Lao San Gao, so he went to Ruan Dacheng for help.

After Ruan Dacheng listened to it, he secretly said in his heart, this youngest Gao is really not a thing!Just relying on the threat of anti-poetry to knock people's money, he should be destroyed!People in Hongmen originally took anti-Qing and restoring Ming as their main purpose, but Gao Laosan, as the head of Hongmen Xiangtang in Qingpu, did not understand the righteousness of Hongmen's anti-Qing and restoring Ming. Damn it!From this, I thought of my father who suffered a disaster because of poetry, and the resentment deepened. "This bastard really deserves to be hacked to pieces!"

When He Xiucai saw Ruan Dacheng expressed his attitude, he thought that the matter had some clues, and hurriedly responded with a nod and bowed his head: "Uncle Ruan is right, the third brother Gao can really be killed but not kept! The three of us I know that Uncle Ruan is a hero today, and he absolutely cannot tolerate such a bastard, we, we ask Uncle Ruan to make the decision!" As He Xiucai said that, he knelt down straight. "Uncle Ruan decides with us!" "Uncle Ruan, save me!" Zhang Xiucai and Liu Xiucai also followed He Xiucai's example, kneeling down with a "plop" and "plop".

Ruan Dacheng was greatly moved for a moment, and a solemn sense of mission suddenly rose in his chest like a flame.He looked down at the three hapless guys kneeling in front of him, and felt his prestige on the ground in Qingpu. He almost wanted to take out the attack that was going to be carried out tonight—yes, the end of Gao Laosan Just tonight, the three scholars no longer have to worry about it!However, when the words came to his lips, he didn't say them.He is cautious, he can't reveal the secrets in front of these three weak and incompetent scholars, and he can't let them know the secret between him and their brothers surnamed Hong!

In this way, Ruan Dacheng lost a chance to show his heroism, and Ruan Dacheng couldn't help feeling a little regretful—if he had his temperament, he would be very willing to pat his chest and take care of the world on behalf of others, besides, this was just a favor. His face was tense, his brows were frowned like a knot of knots that could not be untied, and his nostrils were panting heavily, Ruan Dacheng spoke slowly: "Three little brothers, please get up and talk!" But the three scholars were determined not to be able to do so, as if deliberately making things difficult for Ruan Da.Ruan Dacheng couldn't help feeling disgusted, he felt that Zhang Xiucai and Liu Xiucai were kneeling like two balls of meat waiting to be slaughtered, while the thin and tall He Xiucai was like a crooked prawn , They are all food for being eaten, and they are so useless that they are not worthy of knowing his Ruan Dacheng's secret!

"Uncle Ruan, you... your old heroism is known to everyone in Qingpu, we beg... Uncle Ruan, please let us know, so that the old man Gao will stop here, little one." ...You guys kowtow to Uncle Ruan to thank you!" After He Xiucai finished speaking, he took the lead in kowtowing seriously and responsibly, and Zhang Xiucai and Liu Xiucai also kowtowed enthusiastically. Ruan Dacheng got really angry, and said angrily, "Kowtow! Get up! Get up! Stand up and talk to me! Are your bird's heads so worthless! Brother Zhu, look, look, what a mess this is!" Decent? You and I will wake them up!"

Uncle Zhu sighed, and said to the three unlucky scholars: "Get up! Get up! Get up! As long as you can help, you Uncle Ruan will help. If you can't help, kowtowing is useless!" Only then did the three scholars get up, and stood aside blankly, as if they had committed a heinous crime, waiting for Ruan Dacheng's punishment. Dacheng said: "It is true that Ruan loves to make friends and donate money. As long as I can help, I will definitely help. As I said just now, the old man Gao is not a thing, and he should be worth thousands of dollars. Oh, but, you guys are really useless! Look at your appearance, you are all like bereaved dogs. If Gao Laosan doesn’t cheat you, who else will he cheat! He Gao Laosan cheats and blackmails you like this, you dare not Did you find a chance to stab him?"

He Xiucai said timidly: This... this is a matter of life and death, I will wait... I will wait... Dacheng smiled coldly and said, "Don't you dare? Do I, Ruan, dare to do what you dare not do? I, Ruan, don't even have two heads! Since you don't dare to stab him, you should pay him monthly. The money will be handed over to the bank! This is a fair thing, is this the way it is in this world!" Zhang Xiucai said: "I wait... what I mean by waiting is not that I want Uncle Ruan to stab Gao Laosan, but... I just want to use Uncle Ruan's famous name to plead for... on my behalf!"

Liu Xiucai also said: "Yes! Yes! I want to ask Uncle Ruan and Uncle Zhu to intercede on our behalf!" Ruan Dacheng said coldly: "I, Ruan, have no habit of asking for help!" Seeing that the scene froze, Uncle Zhu felt quite embarrassed, and carefully said to Ruan Dacheng: "Brother Dacheng, according to my brother's intention, the two of us can come forward and make love for them. , I still have to buy our brothers some face..." Dacheng shook his head meaningfully and said: "Brother Zhu knows too little about the details of this old man Gao! This young man has always made a living by extortion, and besides, he has a rift with me, Ruan. , he definitely won’t buy it! Maybe he’ll have to use a knife or a gun!” Zhang Xiucai hurriedly intervened and said, "If you use a knife or a gun, then Gao Laosan will definitely not be Uncle Ruan's opponent! As long as Uncle Ruan stabs Gao Laosan, what kind of repayment do you want, the three of us will be happy even if we go bankrupt!" When Ruan Dacheng heard this, he wanted to get angry again: These three scholars are holding a couple and a half baby!They think they are smart and want to kill people with a knife!They regarded Ruan Dacheng as a gangster in their hearts, and thought that as long as they had money, they could buy him to kill and steal!Pooh!Shallow and ignorant stuff! The corners of his wide and thick mouth were lifted up, and a puff of air was blown out of his thick nostrils. Ruan Dacheng gave He Xiucai a cold look, and laughed: "You three are rich and powerful! Since you are so rich, you don't hesitate to go bankrupt." , then why did you find me, Ruan, to come to my door! Isn’t it good for you to pay the money and the bank on a monthly basis! Officer, on this point, he is honest!" "But this... this... this is so useless!" Ruan Dacheng stood up angrily: "If you don't want to be so useless, you go fight with him. The three of you are defeated, and I, Ruan, will help you! If there is no guy, I will lend it to you!" With a "snap", Ruan Dacheng slapped the two swords on the table. The three scholars stared at the sword on the table, you looked at me, I looked at you, and they didn't dare to make a sound! "What! Are you scared? You don't dare to stand out in your own affairs, how can I help you?" Seeing that the three scholars were taken down, Ruan Dacheng sighed and said, "Don't imagine me as a lawless person. Although I, Ruan, have never read many poems, books and articles, the items in the laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty are I do know a little bit, and I also know the truth of killing people for life! What you dare not do, I also dare not do, what I said just now is all angry words, don't take it seriously!" "Then... then, Uncle Ruan, we... what should we do?" Dacheng blinked slyly, and said meaningfully: "Heaven has eyes, those who do many unrighteous actions will die themselves, and Gao Laosan will definitely not end well! There are too many people who have been blackmailed and bullied by him, There will be a day—maybe tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or some day in the future—someone will settle accounts with him!" "But--" "Okay! Don't talk about it! I know about your affairs. As long as I can help, I will help. Right now, I can't help!" Ruan Dacheng put on a posture to see off the guests. The three scholars looked at Uncle Zhu, seeing that Uncle Zhu didn't make any further gestures, so they resignedly left and went out.At the door, Ruan Dacheng stopped Uncle Zhu, and whispered in a low voice: "Brother Zhu, don't make any fuss about these three scholars anymore! You must never go to the third place!" Uncle Zhu was startled - Uncle Zhu didn't know Ruan Dacheng's intention to launch an offensive, so he asked, "Why?" Dacheng said: "Just now, those three scholars were in front of you, brother, it is inconvenient for me to say clearly, that Gao Laosan is full of evil, and a group of culprits have already gone to deal with him!" Uncle Zhu couldn't help admiring: "Brother Dacheng really has a city in his chest! The article has already been finished, but it is so invisible! Brother Yu admires, admires!" Dacheng smiled lightly and said, "I didn't write the article, brother, don't make wild guesses, and don't show the slightest bit of air, don't worry!" "That's it! That's it! This kind of thing is done, and whoever talks about it, it doesn't matter how many times Gao Laosan died!" After saying a few words, Uncle Zhu hurried away—uncle Zhu was afraid that the three scholars outside the door would be suspicious.After talking just now, Uncle Zhu, like Ruan Dacheng, believed that these three scholars were unreliable. At this time, the sky gradually darkened, and the sky became dark blue. The twinkling stars, like fireflies, appeared in the distant night sky, and a thin crescent moon floated slowly in the floating clouds. An ordinary night on the 18th Beach of Qingpu came...