Chapter 79: The Cruel Merchant Borrows a Knife to Kill (5)

  Shi Jin moved a stool and sat down in the yard, but when his buttocks touched the stool, he suddenly remembered something. He pointed to the crowd of people buying water on the other side, who were all startled and jumped with fright.

  Those people were terrified. They had just seen Jin Daban ask about the murder, and now they feared Shi Jing was idle and would also ask them questions, using this to tease them.

  At this moment of their nervousness, Shi Jin suddenly shouted: "Continue fetching water!"

  Those who heard this were all stunned and feared they had misheard, no one dared to step forward.

  Shi Jin saw that the crowd was not making any noise, so he waved his hand and called over the brothers from Shao Hua Mountain to help them fetch water. As bucket after bucket of sweet well water was fetched up, and handed over to them, the crowd finally came back to their senses, reformed their lines, and one by one took out money to buy water. But who would have thought that these legendary strong men from Shao Hua Mountain not only didn't take any money, but also told people to go back and call everyone in the city to come over. This made the crowd extremely happy and excited, with cheers and applause erupting everywhere, the atmosphere suddenly became lively, comparable to the joy of Chinese New Year!

  Everyone on that side is happy, but Confucius's side is not good. Not only was his own financial path broken, but he also let Huang Er Lang torture him, and in his heart, he thought, with a sea of anger.

  At this moment, Huang Erlang's vicious face reappeared in front of Kong Ru, revealing his yellow teeth and shouting at him: "Kong Ru, you dare to be arrogant again? What are you being arrogant about now? You want the law, come on, I'll give it to you!" As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and took over the chili water from the servant, saying viciously: "The law is in my hands now, tell me, where's the grain?"

  Kong Ru stared at Huang Erlang with a pair of big eyes, as if his fierce and poisonous gaze could pierce through his internal organs.

  Huang Erlang saw Kong Ru not speaking, just staring at him with a pair of eyes that showed no mercy, and his heart was also made to stand on end by those resentful and poisonous eyes. So Huang Erlang used one hand to force open Kong Ru's mouth, and the other hand poured in the scalding hot chili water, while cursing non-stop.

  That Nangru couldn't take it anymore, just now Huang Erlang kicked him and broke his ribs, he was already in agony, now this scalding hot chili water was poured down, not to mention the blisters all over his mouth, as soon as it went down his throat, he choked with a fiery pain, as if what was pouring down wasn't chili water, but molten lava.

  Kong Ru was tortured to the point of desperation, struggling with all his might, and in agony he wished he could die immediately, but his entire body was pinned down by Huang's henchmen, while Second Master Huang laughed loudly as he poured liquor into his mouth.

  After a bowl of pepper water was poured down his throat, Huang Erlang finally stopped temporarily. Huang Erlang looked at Kong Ru's face, which was full of blood after the baptism of the pepper water, and his eyes were filled with bloodshot, although he looked more ferocious, but he no longer had the sharpness of just now.

  Huang Erlang gazed at Kong Ru's heavy breathing, with thick oral secretions still flowing from the corners of his mouth. This was Huang Erlang who had personally ruined Kong Ru's dignity, and he felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart. Huang Erlang put down the empty bowl and said to Kong Ru, "Now that you've got the king's law in your belly, shouldn't we also talk about grain and fodder?"

  Kong Rong's neck stiffened, and he spat out a mouthful of saliva, then stared at Shi Jin with a fierce gaze: "Shi Jin! You despicable scoundrel! You are simply a bandit!"

  Shi Jin listened to his scolding, but didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled faintly and said: "Mr. Kong, don't be so rude. How you were treated by Huang is between the two of your families. What I'm doing here is just to take back the grain that was 'looked after' for me. I've always been reasonable. Once I get my hands on the grain, we'll go our separate ways and not interfere with each other!"

  Kong Ruo sneered and said, "Reason? What a reasonable bandit! Alright, I'll make it clear to you. Those grains were stored for the county magistrate with my help. Now that the government office has been burned down, not even a contract is left. These grains are mine now! You said you wouldn't touch our family's money, let's see how you turn this reason around!"

  Shi Jin listened, and quietly made a hand gesture to the golden footboard on one side. [You*you] slowly got up and said: "So that's how it is, in your heart, the yamen was burned, this grain is yours, but what does this mean?"

  "Not bad! This grain is mine, you bandits want it? Then let me go right now, and I might consider it!"

  "Ah, quick, quick, you let him go first." Shi Jin said, and hurriedly signaled to the Huang family's people to release their grip. After Kong Ru got up from the ground with a wolf-like appearance, Shi Jin continued: "Boss Kong, no fight no acquaintance, don't take it to heart. But... how about we discuss the grain and fodder business now?"

  Kong Rong didn't know Shi Jin's intentions, thinking it was a delaying tactic. He thought Shi Jin was really being held back by his own twisted logic. So he put on an air of superiority again, raised his head and let out a cold snort, saying: "Negotiate? Just now we were following your rules, now we have to follow mine!"

  "Right, right, right! Mr. Kong is really a man of my generation, and his thoughts are exactly the same as mine. According to your reasoning, look at this!" said Shi Jin, pointing behind him.

  Kong Ruo looked away, and the soldiers stationed on the roof had withdrawn at some point, but inside the house was clearly on fire. At this rate, in less than half a time, the entire Kong's dye shop would be engulfed in flames and reduced to ashes.

  Kong Ru's heart was racing with anxiety, this Kong Dye Workshop was his proud enterprise, the trump card of his dominance in the business world. If it were to be burned down by a fire today, then the Kong family would find it difficult to recover.

  Kong Ruzi stared at the flames jumping and burning in all directions, he hastily rushed to Shi Jin and shouted: "Quickly save the fire! Quickly save the fire!" As Kong Ruzi himself was about to run towards the well, but before taking a few steps, he was pressed down by Huang's family members, firmly pinning him to the ground.

  Shi Jin walked over slowly and said, "What's the hurry? Isn't this exactly what you wanted? One fire and everything here, including the grain, will all belong to me!"

  "Shi Jin! You're going too far!"

  Shi Jin said to Kong Rong, "Kong Rong, do you know that the whole city is struggling with hunger and poverty? How can you still have the heart to accumulate wealth here? Your heart is so cruel! Do you think I don't know anything?! Those grains were produced by the hard work of the people, but they were collected by those corrupt officials without any conditions, and then you colluded with them to do such things!" Shi Jin became more and more angry: "I gave you many chances to hand over the grain, but you refused and instead took it for yourself! You are a treacherous merchant, deserving of death!"

  Kong Ru was completely stunned by this conversation, and the flames in the house behind him had already burned through the beam. In an instant, there was a loud crash, and the entire house collapsed, just like the pillar that supported Kong Ru's heart at this moment also collapsed with a loud noise.

  Kong Ru finally knew what it meant to be afraid, and stammered: "Shi brother, let's talk this over, hurry up and get someone to put out the fire!"

  "I'm not Shi Da Ge, I'm the bandit in your mouth! There was still room for negotiation just now, but there's no more room for it now!" Shi Jin said as he turned his back and looked at the house of the other dyeing workshop, which also collapsed with a loud noise.

  Kong Ruzi watched as the fierce flames engulfed his dye workshop, room by room, and the powerful industry that had supported him for so long gradually collapsed. The Kong family's prosperity of many years was reduced to ashes in an instant, burned away by Shi Sheng's raging fire.

  Kong Ruzi gazed at Shi Jin's back with a pleading expression, using all his strength to kowtow repeatedly, and begged bitterly: "Master Shi, Master Shi! I'll hand over the grain and fodder, just leave me half of it, please, spare my dye shop and everything can be negotiated!"

  Shi Jin heard him say this and estimated that the attack on his heart was almost over, so he gave Huang Erlang a signal with his eyes.

  Huang Erlang suddenly understood and grabbed his head, shouting: "Where is the grain?"

  "In that well!"

  Shi Jin called over Jin Jiaoban and whispered, "The fire is under control, now let's get the brothers to put it out." Jin Jiaoban felt a sense of pride after being praised by Shi Jin, and with a slight smile, he quickly turned around and directed the brothers from Shao Huashan to start pouring water to extinguish the flames. The fire was largely contained under the roof tiles, and many people came to help, grateful for the kindness they had received. In just a short while, the fire was completely extinguished, leaving only wisps of smoke.

  During this time, Huang Erlang followed Shi Jin's instructions and went down to another dry well. When he saw the neatly stacked large quantities of grain and hay, Huang Erlang suddenly realized that it was no wonder that only grain-carrying carts were seen entering, but not a single grain or blade of grass was visible; they had all been hidden underground. And this well did not turn out to be the dry well that Kong Ruping had mentioned, which had been dug open in the wrong place by Zhen Banshan, but rather an underground warehouse with excellent ventilation that had been deliberately built here. By the time he grabbed a handful of rice and was pulled back up with ropes, the fire had almost been extinguished.

  Huang Er-lang saw Shi Jin and others carrying lanterns around the well, and as soon as he climbed out of the well mouth, he happily handed the rice in his hand to Shi Jin and said with joy: "Master Shi, there is rice! There is rice! This ghost thing below is really a big warehouse!"

  "Alright! Xiao Jin, go call the brothers over, let's transport the rice!"

  Jin Zhiyuan bowed and clasped his fists, then quickly ran off to arrange the carriages. Shi Jin settled the matter of the water and provisions, feeling very relieved in his heart. Guessing that it was almost time, he had the idea of returning home, so he nodded to Huang Erlang and Kong Ruzi, changed his tone, and said politely: "Shi Jin has disturbed you all tonight, let's part ways for now, farewell!" With that, he turned around and left.

  At this time, someone behind him shouted in unison: "Mr. Shi, stop!"