The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 117 Don’t eat people

"Are you awake?"

The young disciple of the Canal Gang slowly awoke to a joking voice beside him: "Congratulations, the surgery was a success! You're a girl now!"

He turned his head in a daze and saw the gang leader from Yangzhou sitting in front of the campfire, stirring a small pot intently, with the sound of food bubbling inside.

"hiss……"

He struggled to sit up and immediately felt a pain in the back of his head. He reached out to touch it and found a lump the size of an egg on the back of his head!

Meanwhile, the gang leader from Yangzhou was still sitting by the campfire, rambling on and on: "Young man, you should stay up less and exercise more. Look at you, a grown man, you just fainted like that, and we couldn't wake you up. You're lucky you ran into me. If you had met those bad guys, they would have chopped your kidneys off..."

The young member of the canal gang said helplessly, "Brother Tiger, you can do what you're supposed to do, but why knock me unconscious? We're all family, am I supposed to report you to the authorities?"

Wang Wen turned to look at him and chuckled, "See, that's why I knocked you out... If you were smart enough, you would have just continued what I was saying and pretended nothing had happened. Now that you've laid it all out on you, what am I supposed to do?"

The young member of the Canal Gang paused for two seconds, then suddenly felt a pang of panic. He forced a smile and said, "Brother Hu, what you're saying is unacceptable. We're all family. Even if I knew, I would definitely keep it a secret!"

Wang Wen just looked at him and smiled, then suddenly asked, "How many people are in your family?"

Upon hearing this, the young member of the Canal Gang immediately became wary. He subtly shrank back while pleading urgently, "Brother Tiger, I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old male prostitute. Please don't harm me!"

Wang Wen glanced at the boy's hands behind his back, his divine sense clearly seeing the dust in his hands, and sneered, "What are you thinking, kid? If I really wanted to kill you to silence you, would I have waited until now?"

"It's just that the case your brother Tiger committed in Hangzhou this time is a bit too big. If you don't keep your mouth shut and let it slip, I might not be in any trouble, but you're definitely not going to make it. You should pack your bags and come back to Yangzhou with your brother Tiger. Your brother Tiger has some influence in Yangzhou. As long as you work hard, I guarantee your whole family will be able to make a living!"

The young member of the Canal Gang looked on with suspicion: "Brother Tiger, we're all family, you're not trying to fool me, are you?"

Wang Wen took the small, smoking pot off the campfire with his bare hands and placed it on the ground. He slowly stirred the meat porridge inside. "It's still early. If you don't mind the trouble, you can go back to the city and find out what major events happened last night. I'll wait for you for half an hour. If I don't see you in half an hour, I'll set off on my own..."

The young member of the Canal Gang: "Really?"

Wang Wen's divine sense looked at the two handfuls of dust that were already tightly clenched behind his back, shook his head with a chuckle, and pointed to the gate of the dilapidated temple: "The gate is over there."

The young member of the Canal Gang stared intently at him, then slowly backed away until he reached the entrance of the dilapidated temple. He then got up and ran, quickly disappearing from sight…

Just then, Hei Erniu, who was lying in the corner, spoke up disdainfully: "What a clueless idiot, why do you care about him, sir?"

Wang Wen smiled faintly and said, "You can't say that. From his perspective, he didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, we don't seem like good people no matter how you look at it."

After pondering for a moment, Hei Erniu grinned and said in a dog-like manner, "It's all thanks to your magnanimity, Master!"

Wang Wen turned his head and glanced at this guy: "I've noticed you're getting more and more of a sycophant!"

Hei Erniu feigned ignorance: "Master, I'm not a dog, I'm an ox!"

Wang Wen chuckled: "I can see that now, you're quite the master at playing dumb!"

Seeing him smile, Hei Erniu squinted and chuckled along...

Fifteen minutes later, just as Wang Wen extinguished the campfire and packed his bags, the young members of the Canal Gang rushed into the dilapidated temple at top speed.

Seeing him covered in sweat and panting heavily, Wang Wen jokingly said, "You're late! If you had come earlier, there wouldn't have been any left for you!"

The young Cao Gang disciple gasped for breath, unable to utter a single word. Finally, he knelt down on one knee with a thud, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and loudly proclaimed, "My life, Hu Dachuan's life, belongs to you, Brother Tiger!"

"joke."

Wang Wen helped him up with one hand: "I'm not short of life myself, what do I need yours for? Alright, let's get to the point and set off!"

"Hey!"

Hu Dachuan rubbed his hands together excitedly: "I'll lead the ox for Brother Tiger!"

He strode over to the black ox in the corner and reached out to pull its reins.

Hei Erniu slowly stood up, glanced at him sideways, and said, "Do I need you to lead me? Call me Brother Erniu first!"

Hu Dachuan suddenly opened his eyes wide, staring at Hei Erniu with disbelief, and then fainted with a "ga".

Hearing the noise, Wang Wen turned around and stared at the innocent-looking Hei Erniu, saying speechlessly, "Why did you scare him for no reason?"

Hei Erniu: "I didn't expect him to be so bold... If I had known he was so easily frightened, I wouldn't have hit him last night."

"trouble……"

Wang Wen muttered to himself, strode over, picked up Hu Dachuan, and threw him onto the cow's back: "Let's go."

……

Two days later, the news spread like wildfire from Hangzhou to Yangzhou, and it immediately reached Huang Xingde's ears.

When Huang Xingde heard that the outlaw known as "Zhang Mazi" was wielding a large spear, he immediately thought of his unfilial son who had just traveled south along the Grand Canal to Hangzhou a few days earlier.

He was both shocked and horrified. On one hand, he comforted himself by saying, "That unfilial son doesn't have such high martial arts skills," but on the other hand, he couldn't help but think, "What if this case really was done by that unfilial son?"
At the same time, his mind was like a slideshow, rapidly scrolling through the famous ancient temples and Zen monasteries of Jiangnan, as well as the renowned martial arts masters of the Ming Cult.

For a moment, the old man felt his scalp tingle and his legs tremble!
"Leizi, Leizi..."

He paced anxiously back and forth in the lobby, shouting like an ant on a hot pan.

"Sir, did you call me?"

"Go, go to the Demon Suppression Bureau and bring Xu Wu back to me!"

"Xu Wu? Oh, you mean Brother Er Gou?"

"Stop talking nonsense and get going!"

"okay!"

A moment later, Xu Wu appeared outside the main gate of the hall, covered in sweat.

He deftly unfastened the sword from his waist and tossed it to the guard at the main gate. Then, disregarding all martial ethics, he grabbed the guard's sleeve, wiped the sweat from his brow, and, under the guard's speechless gaze, flashed a cheerful smile before quickly stepping over the threshold and briskly heading towards the main hall. Before even entering the hall, he called out with a beaming smile, "Sir, you called me..."

Huang Xingde appeared at the gate and waved to him, saying, "Come in and talk!"

"Hey!"

Xu Wu nodded and walked into the hall. Just as he stepped over the threshold, the door slammed shut with a loud bang, startling him.

Huang Xingde turned around and grabbed Xu Wu by the collar, dragging him into the hall: "Let me ask you, what did your elder brother go to Hangzhou for?"

"what?"

Xu Wu was stunned for a moment, then feigned ignorance and replied, "This... how would I know!"

Huang Xingde suddenly turned hostile, his voice low and menacing as he roared, "Stop trying to fool me! You two are inseparable, like a scale with a weight on it. What is he doing in Hangzhou? Nobody else knows, and you don't know either?"

Xu Wu swallowed hard and protested, "Uncle, I really didn't know. We didn't even see each other before he left. The last time we met was when I came back to tell him the good news. He even promised to go out for drinks with me that night... Didn't you tell me he went to Hangzhou?"

He became more and more self-righteous as he spoke, until he suddenly realized his mistake at the very end.

Huang Xingde paused for two seconds, realizing that it seemed to be true, but how could he admit it? "I don't believe it. It's one thing for others to say they don't know, but you, Xu Wu, also say you don't know? Who would believe that?"

Xu Wu tried his best to explain, "Grandpa, I really don't know. He's so tight-lipped! If he doesn't want to talk about something, no one can pry it out of him even with a crowbar..."

Huang Xingde stared expressionlessly at his attempt to evade the issue, then suddenly asked, "Was your elder brother responsible for the case in Hangzhou?"

Xu Wu replied without hesitation, "It wasn't him, it was..."

He suddenly snapped out of his daze, looked up at Huang Xingde speechlessly: 'You, a grown man, actually tricked me?'

Huang Xingde's mind sank, and he felt a chill run down his spine, but his overall state calmed down.

He loosened Xu Wu's collar, smoothed out the wrinkles on his clothes, and then slowly walked to the hall and sat down. He gestured for Xu Wu to sit down as well: "I know you've all grown up, and you always report good news but not bad news. But your eldest brother this time... was really too impulsive. Tell me everything you know, and I need to think of a way to make amends for him."

Xu Wu sat down hesitantly, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. After a long pause, he finally said in a low voice, "Uncle, you don't need to worry too much. My brother may seem to act haphazardly and recklessly, but he actually has a sense of justice... Look, this time he used the alias 'Zhang Muzhi,' didn't he? Apart from those of us who know him, who could guess that he was the one who did this?"

Huang Xingde calmly shook his head and said, "There are no secrets in this world. He can hide it for a while, but not forever!"

Xu Wu slowly shook his head: "It can't get any worse. He has offended a lot of people this time, but he hasn't won over many hearts either... You may not know that there is the shadow of Buddhism behind the decisive battle at Huangshan. Even if the high-ranking officials of the court can't do anything to Buddhism due to the situation, they are probably very annoyed with Buddhism. This time, my brother has caused such a big incident, and who knows how things will develop!"

As Xu Wu spoke, he observed Huang Xingde's expression. Seeing that Huang Xingde remained calm and silent, Xu Wu knew that his master was not as ignorant as he had imagined.

He had no choice but to continue, "Even if we take a step back and say that the imperial court is trying to trick you, with your current martial prowess, how many people can do anything to him? He even killed Fang La!"

"You may not know how powerful Fang La is. I witnessed it during the great battle at Huangshan. That guy fought against three sect leaders from the three talisman sects for almost half an hour without being at a disadvantage!"

"Our elder brother has even managed to kill Fang La. Most people would be too afraid to even avoid him. Who would dare to confront him head-on?"

Huang Xingde was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly realized what he meant and thought to himself, "That's right!"

He was so preoccupied with figuring out what terrible trouble his unfilial son had gotten into this time that he didn't even realize what it meant that his son had killed Fang La...

'Doesn't this mean that the unfilial son is now even more powerful than the eldest brother?'

The old man was startled and moved, and suddenly had a more intuitive understanding of his unfilial son's martial arts skills.

"To be honest, what we should be most worried about right now is your safety."

Xu Wu caught a glimpse of the emotion on the old man's face and knew that his words had worked: "Once the news leaks out, I'm afraid those scoundrels, unable to do anything to you, will turn around and try to take advantage of you... You're an old hand in the world, and you know better than I do about those underhanded tricks."

Huang Xingde frowned, then said coldly, "Don't worry, nothing will go wrong here!"

Before Xu Wu could ponder what kind of trouble the old man was referring to, he continued, "Has there been any word from your yamen?"

Xu Wu: "The government offices are also discussing who did this big deal. Most of them are just looking forward to seeing him make a fool of himself... As of now, the people who know that my brother went south are still concentrated at home. I kept an eye on the government offices beforehand and didn't mention that my brother had gone south. They all still think that my brother is still at home."

Why would he be so cautious?
Naturally, he had long anticipated that his elder brother's trip south would definitely cause a big stir!
After all, his older brother's temper these days is sometimes hard to describe...

He felt more than once that his elder brother was sometimes naive and upright, just like those bookish pedants who had become stupid.

Isn't this how the world has always been?

It's just that before there were no demons or monsters, it was people eating people. Now that there are demons and monsters, it's become a situation where demons and monsters eat people together.

Everyone else can stand it and live with it, so why can't he stand it and live with it when it comes to his older brother?
Xu Wu couldn't understand it.

But Xu Wu felt that this might be why more and more people admired and followed him from the bottom of their hearts. Even his enemies, like Li Heng, would only say that he had a foul mouth and a bad temper, but not that he had any problems with his character.

Xu Wu... I really want to be like him.

Huang Xingde pondered for a long time before speaking: "Find a brothel. Tonight, in your elder brother's name, invite the brothers from the yamen to go have some fun. Make a big fuss and cause some trouble, it doesn't matter."

Xu Wu understood immediately, patted his chest and said, "Leave it to me, I'll definitely handle it perfectly!"

Huang Xingde nodded: "Take three thousand taels to spend first, and come back for more if needed!"

Xu Wu grinned and said, "Grandpa, you're not treating Er Gou like family. If I dare to take this money, my brother will break all three of my legs when he gets back."

Huang Xingde couldn't help but laugh and curse, "You worthless wretch! Whose money is mine? It's all your little bastards' money! Listen to me, take the money, make a big show of it, make sure half of Yangzhou knows that Erhu went to a brothel again today..."

Xu Wu nodded excitedly and said, "Don't worry about it. We're all experts in this craft... Er Gou will go back to the yamen to make arrangements now. If you need anything, just call Er Gou back. He'll be there whenever you call!"

After saying that, he clasped his hands together and retreated towards the gate. Once the gate was open, he took off running.

Huang Xingde waved his hand, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, he suddenly reacted, stood up and shouted, "You son of a bitch, get back here! You didn't take the money! You didn't take the money!"

Xu Wu's voice drifted from afar: "Please keep this for us first, and we'll come back for more when we run out of money!"

(End of this chapter)