Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 454, Section 453: The Bald Turtle and the Mute Jin

Feng Xiuhu nodded silently. The price was fair; there was no overcharging.

That makes sense. The whole village was set up temporarily, and the porridge stall was probably only for short-term business. They just set up the stall because they saw that the place was bustling recently. Most of the customers were from the same village as Mingshui County. They would run into each other all the time. If they deliberately raised prices, they would only attract curses.

This also proves that the owner of the soup kitchen is an honest person.

Having figured this out, Feng Xiuhu carried his bowl toward the porridge stall, with Shunzi following behind.

The owner of the porridge stall was an old man with gray hair.

As Feng Xiuhu approached, the old man glanced at the bowl of porridge in his hand and asked, "Not to your liking?"

Feng Xiuhu shook his head: "I want to inquire about something."

The old man felt relieved and squatted down to add two pieces of firewood to the stove: "Want to cross the river?"

Feng Xiuhu asked, "How did you know?"

The old man grinned—revealing a missing front tooth in his mouth.

He said, "You look unfamiliar. What can a stranger like you ask here?"

Feng Xiuhu suddenly realized what was happening.

The old man pointed to the crowd still standing in the distance: "Don't even think about it, it's hopeless. Even we locals have been stopped from going into the river to fish these past two days, let alone you."

Feng Xiuhu asked curiously, "The bridge construction was a job undertaken by foreigners, and they even received support from the government. Your Mingshui County is so stubborn; aren't you afraid of being punished later for going against them?"

The old man scoffed, "Tch, what's so special about the government office? Don't you even know who's leading that group? That's the bald turtle! He's the one who works for the monks of Jiangliu Temple. Rumor has it that he's the reincarnation of the river patrol yaksha under Lord Jiangliu's command. He's incredibly vicious."

Feng Xiuhu is now quite worldly-wise and doesn't care much about such nonsense circulating in the streets. He waved his hand and said, "He's just a tax official. He can only scare ordinary people at most. So you mean that this trouble was actually orchestrated by Jiangliu Temple? That makes sense. Without the temple backing him up, a tax official like Lai Tou Yuan wouldn't dare to provoke the government."

The old man looked Feng Xiuhu up and down again, then cupped his hands and said, "Judging from your opinion, sir, you must be no ordinary person. But please take my advice: do not presume to interfere. It is best to stay out of this matter."

Feng Xiuhu raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

The old man lowered his voice: "To be honest, both sides are in a hurry to get things done, and things shouldn't have gotten so tense, but now that things have escalated, the situation has changed."

"Now that you know that the Jiangliu Temple is behind the bald turtle, where does the bridge-building team get the audacity to compete with the temple?"

"Little did they know, behind the bridge-building team, besides the Jin Di City government office, was the Black Night Church from the west!"

Feng Xiuhu asked in bewilderment, "How is bridge construction related to the church? Were they hired by foreigners to back them up?"

The old man waved his hand: "It's not that we invited them specifically to boost morale, but rather that we need to rely on them to build the bridge."

He pointed to the wide Tianpu River in the distance: "I heard that the priests of the church have a magical ability to freeze the river. So when the bridge-building team set off, they had already invited the priests to board the boat. The original plan was for the priests to use their magic to stop the river first, and then the workers would go down into the river to build the piers."

Feng Xiuhu suddenly realized—the spells under the "freeze" authority were also the Night Church's specialty, so building the bridge really couldn't be done without them.

The old man sighed and shook his head: "That's why we're in this situation now. No matter which side backs down, it will damage the reputation of the Temple Church, which is why neither side is willing to back down." Feng Xiuhu roughly understood the cause and effect, thanked the old man, and then strolled to the outer edge of the confrontational crowd with his bowl in hand—he was watching the show.

Two people stood facing each other in the center of the crowd.

A man dressed in coarse cloth and shorts, with a bald head covered in sores, was undoubtedly the sores-covered turtle.

The other man, dressed in a long gown and mandarin jacket, appeared calm and composed, possessing a scholarly air; he must be the head steward, the mute Jin.

The bald turtle muttered curses, "Enough nonsense. You foreign lackey, stop making a fool of yourself. If you can't make the decision, then let your foreign master come out and talk to me."

Dumb Jin remained expressionless, showing no anger even as the toad-headed turtle spit in his face. He simply said, "Mr. Tang, my words are Mr. Abbott's meaning, and he doesn't need to repeat them to you. Secondly, if I may be frank, you are not qualified to see him."

Feng Xiuhu slurped up a mouthful of porridge and exclaimed in surprise, "So, Dumb Jin isn't mute after all!"

The person next to him glanced back and explained, "What a joke! If he were really mute, what would he be doing here, just staring blankly?"

Feng Xiuhu stared at him: "Did I ask you before you started talking?"

The man sneered, "Tch, I wouldn't even bother saying that!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shunzi lifted him off the ground from the other side: "How dare you talk to my older brother like that?"

Only then did the man notice that Shunzi, such a fierce and valiant warrior, was standing next to him. He was so frightened that he quickly begged for mercy: "I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Feng Xiuhu gestured for Shunzi to put the man down, then patted the wrinkles on his clothes for him: "Then continue, why is the mute Jin called that?"

The man answered honestly: "Jin the Mute's real name is Jin Ke'an. He was originally the second-in-command of the Jin Di City shipping guild. He had already made a name for himself as 'Jin the Mute' in his early years. This is because he usually speaks very little, but he is exceptionally good at business. Whether it is negotiation or business dealing, the shipping guild relies on him. 'When the mute speaks, a bushel of gold is won't be lost.' This saying was widely circulated in Jin Di City in the past, and it refers to him."

"Later, the boat gang was destroyed, and the gang members either died or scattered. The foreigners took a liking to Dumb Jin's verbal skills and recruited him. From then on, Dumb Jin became the foreigners' lackey."

Feng Xiuhu nodded in understanding.

From the crowd, they heard the bald-headed turtle sneer: "Dumb Jin, have you lost your mind? We only gave you some face and called you 'Master Jin' because of your past status in the underworld. Did you get so happy that you really think you're still as glorious as ever?"

"Pooh!"

The bald-headed turtle spat on the ground: "You're nothing but a lackey now! You dare to talk to me about qualifications? I'm a respectable tax official, and what are you to dare to talk back to me?"

Dumb Jin's expression remained unchanged. He bowed to the bald turtle and said calmly, "The tax official is indeed powerful. In that case, why not just take my head off now and save us from further words? If I, Jin, utter a sound, I am no man."

The toad-headed turtle squinted its eyes but did not make a move.

Feng Xiuhu, watching from outside the crowd, was anxious: "Get him! He's already asked for it, how can he resist?"

The toad-headed turtle's expression changed, and it turned around to yell, "Who the hell is talking! Do you think I need you to teach me?"

(End of this chapter)