Chapter Eighty Meng Du's Cunning Plan

  Shi Jin heard their unanimous persuasion, and his body paused before turning back. He saw one standing and the other kneeling, which made Shi Jin somewhat perplexed for a moment, unable to understand. If Huang Er Lang was standing and Kong Ru was kneeling, Shi Jin could still follow the logic of the situation. But now, the situation was exactly the opposite. According to reason, a person's posture and attitude in their heart, as well as their circumstances, are all interconnected and reflected in each other. However, the current situation was not something he could infer.

  At this time, Huang Erlang, who was kneeling on the ground, clasped his fists in front of his chest and said firmly: "Master Shi! Since I was born, I have never really obeyed anyone except my father, but..."

  "Stop, stop, stop! This is too much for me. Moreover, don't be so sentimental, we're all grown men. If you have something to say, just say it!" As soon as Shi Jin heard Huang Erlang's words, he knew that the next thing would be flattery, and this was exactly what annoyed him.

  Kong Ru looked down at Huang Erlang, who was kneeling on the ground, with a heart full of disdain. Seeing him flattering to the point of shamelessness, he felt as if he had caught something cheap and was gloating over his misfortune, which also served to vent some of his own anger.

  Huang Erlang was reprimanded by Shi Jin, and his head slightly lowered three points. He twisted and turned the words in his mouth for a while before finally spitting them out: "Big brother, I think... I want to follow you!"

  "Ah, so that's what this is all about." Shi Jin finally understood what Huang Er Lang meant, but what about the other one? So Shi Jin turned to Kong Ru and asked: "Then why are you standing there?"

  Kong Ruzi saw that Shi Jin didn't respond to Huang Erlang's request, but instead came to care about his own affairs, and he was delighted again, as if he had won over Huang Erlang once more. He secretly glanced at Huang Erlang, and the tall and proud man kneeling down looked particularly humble. He had long said that if one doesn't respect oneself, how can one expect others to give you face? At this moment, these words were perfectly verified, and Kong Ruzi felt even more that he and Huang Erlang were like a sage and an uncouth fellow, one in heaven and the other on earth.

  He thought to himself, straightened his back, and forced a faint smile on his face, enduring the intense pain in his mouth. He modulated his voice to perfection, striking a balance between being polite and persuasive, and slowly changed his tone: "Brother Shi, shouldn't you instruct the brothers about my half-cooked rice..."

  "Heh heh, what about your half of the grain? The whole city is starving now. Even if I distribute all this grain, each person can only have half a bowl, and it will only last for two days. Tell me, in this situation, I don't even dare to keep half for myself. What about your half, can you afford to keep it?"

  Kong Ruzi was chilled to the bone by Shi Jin's words, and seeing his sinister gaze, he knew that this half-cooked rice would not be given to him. This meant that overnight, he would fall from being a member of the upper class in the entertainment industry to struggling with poverty. Kong Ruzi had deeply ingrained feudal hierarchical thoughts, and Shi Jin wanted to share food equally among everyone; this was unacceptable to him. He hastily advised Shi Jin: "The grain is already scarce, your brothers guarding the city can't eat their fill for several days, why must you do this? If you give food to those surnamed people, will they fight on your behalf? No! Once the city falls, they'll still be law-abiding citizens of the Song Dynasty. That would truly be a waste of resources! It's better..."

  "Shut up!" Shi Jin didn't want to hear him say any more, interrupting his words: "I think giving you food is a waste of good things! Come on, pass the word down, all the grain here will be moved away, not a single grain can be given to the Kong family!" After that, a small guard from Mount Shaoxing ran off quickly to spread the word.

  "Shi Jin! You're taking my kindness for granted, you won't listen to me and now you'll have to wait for the city to be breached! I knew you'd regret it after crossing the river and burning the bridge!"

  "Did I agree? That half-cooked rice, I never promised you." Shi Jin looked at Kong Ru, his eyes flicking towards Huang Erlang's direction before continuing: "He asked you and you told him, it has nothing to do with me."

  Kong Ruzi only then realized that Shi Jin had tricked him again, and in a fit of rage he couldn't get the words out: "Shi Jin, you...you!"

  Shi Jin originally wanted to let Kong Ru off the hook, but now he still has this insatiable greedy look on his face. Especially with his attitude towards distributing food just now, Shi Jin not only dislikes him but also has a lot of misgivings about him. However, one sentence from Kong Ru reminded him that the government troops are still stationed outside the city walls, and this external threat cannot be eliminated for the time being. But internal worries must be eliminated completely. No matter who will eventually own this city, think about it in the long run. After the war, when it comes to rebuilding and restoring the economy of Huayin County, following Kong Ru's mindset would definitely lead to a lot of trouble. It is better to get rid of him now for the sake of the people, so as to avoid him exploiting the people's money and food in the future.

  Shi Jin made up his mind and said to Huang Erlang, "You go first. This old master Kong has come to this point today, but he still only cares about his own private interests, regarding the lives of others as mere grass and weeds. I think he's suffering from a disease that harms heaven and reason. Go to the thatched cottage and fetch a few doses of medicine for him to take, let's see if it can cure him."

  "What a terrible and unjust thing!" Huang Erlang was still somewhat at a loss when Shi Jing helped him up.

  Shi Jin saw his puzzled face and winked: "Actually, just one dose of medicine is fine, it's also used to treat that chirping thing!"

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak, isn't that referring to mice? And there is something for treating mice... Huang Erlang thought to himself and suddenly had an epiphany: 'Oh! I get it, it's arsenic...'"

  Huang Erlang hadn't finished speaking when Shi Jin interrupted him, saying: "It's all right if you know in your heart, Mr. Kong. I'm leaving it to you now. You must take good care of him!"

  Huang Erlang understood as soon as he heard this and bowed his fist again, saying: "I will definitely take good care of you!"

  Here is the translation:

  As Shi Jin and Huang Erlang exchanged questions and answers, Kong Rong's heart felt empty and hollow, as if he had fallen off a cliff. He heard that Shi Jin had handed him over to Huang Erlang, and although he was uneasy at heart, it seemed that as long as Shi Jin left, the interests of the two families would be fine, and everything would be okay. However, what awaited him was not a bowl of scalding hot pepper water, but a dose of highly toxic mercury. And just now, Huang Erlang, who had been so greedy for life and afraid of death, was no longer a wealthy and lustful young master. As Shi Jin's cruel joke unfolded, it seemed that a lighthouse had risen in Huang Erlang's heart, giving him direction. His admiration for Shi Jin was something he didn't have time to express, but his inner thoughts were deeply changing due to Shi Jin's every move and word.

  Just as Shi Jin had arranged everything on this side, and the golden plaques began to distribute food from door to door, a sudden urgent horseshoe sound echoed on Yuanbao Street, getting closer and closer. After a while, it stopped outside Fengshui Gate.

  Before Shi Jin could turn around, someone rushed in and said: "Big brother, something's happened!"

  Shi Jin's heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard the voice, and he hastily looked around to see that it was indeed Shi Qian. Shi Jin quickly rushed over to greet him, and just then, Shi Qian whispered in his ear: "It's not good, Brother Chen Da has broken through but suffered a defeat, and now he's badly injured by an arrow. You'd better go take a look, the government troops have already attacked the city once, and with such a big mess, Wu Sanlang is probably unable to hold on!"

  Shi Jin had just managed to sort out the situation inside the city and was about to take a breather, but things outside didn't let him rest. Chen Da was seriously injured, which made Shi Jin worried sick, and he couldn't help but want to fly to Chen Da's side immediately to avoid this anxious torture. As a result, Shi Jin also brought a slightly reproachful tone and hastily said: "Didn't we agree to break out together? What's the hurry?"

  "Big brother, it's not that he was impatient, but rather, Yang Chun led the troops to rescue us in a hurry. Brother Chen Da saw an opportunity and also launched a surprise attack from inside, but unexpectedly those government soldiers were too cunning, they avoided Brother Chen Da's vanguard and arranged five small groups of cavalry to split our troops into several segments..."

  Shi Jin said less and less, but in his heart, he had already roughly guessed about 70 or 80% of the outcome.

  "Just now the government soldiers attacked the city, and I and Wu Sanlang barely repelled them. Now we urgently need Big Brother to return and take charge!" Shi Qian said, already planning to leave immediately.

  Shi Jin looked at the urgency, entrusted a few words to Kong Ji's dyeing workshop, and then came out with Shi Chuan, took over the reins from Xiao Si's hand, turned over and rode straight to the West City city building.