A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

"you……"

Zhang Mingliang stared intently at Zheng Xuan, his eyes filled with resentment, but this only lasted until Zheng Xuan's gun was pressed against his head.

He fell silent when the golden revolver was pressed against his head.

Zheng Xuan said, "Robbery on the road, according to the laws of the Great Jing Dynasty, is punishable by death regardless of whether one is the ringleader or an accomplice!"

"Sending you to the yamen is the same as being beheaded anyway, so I might as well waste a bullet to send you on your way and save you the trouble of getting there."

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan pulled the hammer of his revolver back, knowing that a light pull of the trigger would be enough to blow Zhang Mingliang's head off.

"Junior Brother Zheng!"

Seeing Zheng Xuan preparing to fire, Zhang Mingliang was so frightened that his voice trembled, and he quickly shouted.

"I am Zhang Mingliang, Master's third disciple. We just met at Master's house!"

Zhang Mingliang immediately shouted, tearing off the black mask covering his face to reveal a smiling face.

"Hmm~ Senior Brother Zhang?"

Zheng Xuan frowned, feigning great surprise, then his face turned cold as he said, "No, this is the middle of nowhere. Senior Brother, you're dressed as a thief, and you attacked me. Senior Brother, do you intend to kill me?"

As Zheng Xuan spoke, he pressed the revolver in his hand against his head again.

"Junior brother, no, no, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

Zhang Mingliang immediately begged for mercy. Zheng Xuan looked at Zhang Mingliang and said, "Senior brother, you can't only call me junior brother when you can't win! You didn't call me that at Master's house!"

"Junior brother, you've misunderstood, you've misunderstood."

Zhang Mingliang pleaded repeatedly, "Junior brother, you can't kill me!"

Zheng Xuandao asked, "Why?"

Zhang Mingliang said, "There are two reasons. First, my brother Zhang Mingde knows I've come looking for you. If I die, or if I don't hear from you for a few days, he will definitely come looking for trouble. He's stronger than me."

Zheng Xuan frowned slightly upon hearing this, but still pointed the gun at Zhang Mingliang's head and asked, "Can your brother take a bullet with his bare hands?"

Zhang Mingliang replied, "He can't, but you'll always be distracted sometimes. If you kill me, it will be an irreconcilable feud. My brother will seek revenge on you no matter what, even if it means offending our master."

"On the contrary, if I live, this is at most a misunderstanding, and we can just keep to ourselves from now on. He has a bright future ahead of him, so there's no need for him to risk his life to offend his master."

Zheng Xuan pondered for a moment after hearing this, then looked at Zhang Mingliang and said, "That reason makes some sense, but it won't save your life."

Zhang Mingliang said, "The second one is my master."

Zheng Xuan frowned and asked, "What does this have to do with Uncle-Master Song?"

Zhang Mingliang said, "If I die, my brother will know the cause of death, and the truth will no longer be hidden. If my brother goes to our master to seek justice, what do you expect our master to do? Will he execute you to avenge me, or will he not punish you and break my brother's heart?"

"Master is counting on my brother to help him pass the martial arts examination. Besides, Master knows you harmed your fellow disciples. What will Master think of you? I believe that even if Master believes you, he will still harbor resentment, right?"

Zhang Mingliang said to Zheng Xuan, who sneered and said, "What you say makes a lot of sense. Killing you would indeed cause a lot of trouble, but if I don't kill you, what if you come looking for trouble again?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingliang said, "There's an old Chinese saying, 'A wise man submits to circumstances.' You have foreign guns; would I be crazy enough to retaliate against you?"

"In the world of gangsters, harmony brings wealth. I didn't know you existed before, and I thought you were easy to bully. Now that I know you can kill me, I don't need to fight you to the death, right?"

Zhang Mingliang spoke as if afraid Zheng Xuan wouldn't understand.

"If you really don't believe me, I swear on the blood of my Zhang family ancestors for eighteen generations, shall I?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said, "No need. If swearing an oath were effective, there wouldn't be so many problems in this world."

"Then how can you make me believe you?"

Zheng Xuandao said, "I still think that only the dead are the safest."

Zhang Mingliang said, "Are you crazy? I've made myself perfectly clear, and you still want to kill me? What good will my death do you?"

"If I die, you'll offend your master, and even more so, my brother. We brothers depend on each other for survival. If I die, my brother will give up all his wealth and hire assassins on the black market to kill you. Do you hear me? I beg you, please don't kill me!"

Zhang Mingliang started off very tough, but as he spoke, he began to plead. He was genuinely regretful; he had been bewitched to come looking for trouble with this living devil.

This time, when he escaped back, he wasn't going to provoke him again. He told him, "In the world of gangsters, harmony brings wealth. If you can bully someone, then do so. But if someone has a gun and you still provoke them, then you're asking for trouble."

Now that he saw that this living devil was unwilling to let him go, he pleaded, "Tell me, what will it take for you to spare my life?"

These words stumped Zheng Xuan. He had originally intended to kill Zhang Mingliang, but his analysis was correct. Song Jin'ao was targeting the Zhang brothers for the martial arts examination, and if he were to quarrel with them, he would definitely suffer.

Moreover, Song Jin'ao values ​​chivalry above all else. If Song Jin'ao finds out that I harmed a fellow disciple, even if he doesn't break ties with me, he'll never teach me anything real again.

These older generations are just that stubborn.

Furthermore, as Zhang Mingliang said, if he kills Zhang Mingliang, Zhang Mingde will definitely fight him to the death. It would be better to release Zhang Mingliang, so that both sides would have some reservations and could live in peace.

But it feels a bit unfair to just release Zhang Mingliang like this.

As Zheng Xuan spoke, Zhang Mingliang seemed to see through Zheng Xuan's thoughts. At this moment, he hurriedly took out money from his pocket: a silver dollar, a pocket watch, a brothel girl named Xiao Taohong's original-style bellyband, and Qi and Blood Pills.

"Junior brother, I don't have much to offer you, so please take all of this."

Zheng Xuan looked at the items on the ground. There were about ten silver dollars, and the French brand pocket watch from Hengdali was worth fifty or sixty silver dollars. As for the Qi and Blood Pill, it goes without saying that you can't necessarily buy it even if you have money. As for this bellyband...

Zheng Xuan used his gun to lift up the bellyband, which was embroidered with mandarin ducks.

"Senior Brother Zhang, you have such refined tastes!"

Zhang Mingliang chuckled and said, "That's all I'm good at."

Zheng Xuan said, "Alright, for the sake of Uncle Song, I'll spare your life. I'll accept everything except this undergarment."

Zhang Mingliang said, "Junior brother deserves it, he deserves it."

Zheng Xuan said, "As for today's matter, I will talk to Uncle Song. If you stop causing me trouble, we can move on. But if you dare to do something bad again, my bullets don't have eyes, and you won't be able to explain it to Uncle Song."

"Understood, understood."

Zhang Mingliang nodded in agreement. Zheng Xuan used his gun to hand the undergarment to Zhang Mingliang, saying, "Keep this for yourself, Senior Brother. By the way, Senior Brother, are you able to walk? Should I call you a car?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingliang immediately replied, "No need, Senior Brother can do it, he can do it."

Zheng Xuan said, "Then I, your senior brother, will not take care of you anymore."

With that, Zheng Xuan turned and left. However, instead of going home, he returned to the city and found Song Jin'ao.