At this time, Ma Gongzi only heard a voice in his ear: "Shopkeeper, what do you say to do with these people?" Immediately afterwards, I heard someone say, "Why don't you let it go first, it's troublesome enough to investigate this matter." At last I heard a voice say, "I have my own way of doing this, you go and rest first, and leave only three of you." Then there was a sound of footsteps and the door closing, and when he was puzzled, he felt a white light in front of him, which turned out to be his own blindfold being removed, and he saw that the person sitting above him was the person who had beaten him before, and his heart was a little timid. Tremblingly, he said, "Who are you?" Why are you bringing me here? Before the words fell, he only heard a "snap", and he was slapped in the face. The strong man who shot still didn't understand his hatred, and was just about to fight again, only to hear the young man dressed as a businessman on the side say: "Ali, stand down!" ”

"Yes!" The strong man answered, and although he was reluctant, he still bowed and retired. At this time, the young man who could only hear the head sitting shouted, "Someone! After a while, there was a sound of footsteps, and two strong men flashed into the room, each holding a wooden stick as thick as an arm, and when he saw him, he pressed him to the ground, and then he was beaten with a rod, until the boy could not stop wailing. While fighting, he said: "You dare to do something to my young shopkeeper, looking for death!" As he spoke, he beat harder, and under the battering, Ma Gongzi turned from the initial abuse and threats to pleading, and his voice weakened after a while.

Seeing that Ma Gongzi was almost beaten, at this time, the young man dressed as a businessman slowly stood up and stopped the beating. Then he ordered someone to wake up the Ma Gongzi, and when the Ma Gongzi saw that the situation was not good, he lost the arrogance just now, and answered Duan Xing's questions, and repeatedly called himself the fourth king, and he was pretending to be Ma Gongzi to deceive. Duan Xing glanced at him contemptuously, then ordered the two soldiers to drag him down, and prepared to escort him back to the county office tomorrow. Duan Xing looked at all this and thought to himself, Lord Hai Rui is still powerful, but I used his method of punishing Hu Zongxian's son, how will the history books be written in the future? That's it, I don't want to think about it yet.

Subsequently, Duan Xing asked the store for a pen and paper inkstone, took the pen and wrote a letter to the county magistrate, telling him what had happened, and called Zhang Yi and said: "I have a letter asking you to go to the county magistrate in person tomorrow to hand it over to the county magistrate Ma in person, you go down to rest first, and you will take the guy on the road early tomorrow morning." ”

"Yes, the subordinates retired." Zhang Yi bent down and took the letter with both hands and withdrew.

After Duan Xing waited for Zhang Yi to leave, he called another soldier and said to him: "You go and find the father and daughter quickly, I have something to say." The soldier answered, and immediately went out to find the father and daughter.

After about two quarters of an hour, Duan Xing heard the sound of the door, and hurriedly opened the door to see, and saw that it was the soldier and the father and daughter who had arrived, and hurriedly welcomed them in. After Duan Xing heard this, he was just about to order the soldier to move the chair and invite the father and daughter to sit down, but the old man was about to kneel down, Duan Xing was taken aback, and was about to reach out to help the old man up. I only heard the old man say: "Thank you for the great grace of the strong man today, the little old man is unforgettable." "After that, I have to pull my daughter and say goodbye. Duan Xing hurriedly picked up the old man at this time, and said, "The old man, please get up, this is a torment for the boy, and please ask the old man and the girl to sit first." The old man hurriedly summoned his daughter to thank the benefactor, and Duan Xing hurriedly waved his hand to let the father and daughter sit down.

After Duan Xing sat down with the father and daughter, he asked about the situation of the two. It turned out that the old man's surname was Liu, and everyone called him "Liu Laoshan", and the girl next to him was his only daughter, named Xiu'e, who said that his family lived in Liu Village in the west of the city, and had a wife, but he died of illness four years ago. A few days ago, Ma Countyling's son came here, and when he saw his daughter, he was going to marry him as a concubine, and the old man was unwilling, but Ma County's son was strong and powerful, and he and his daughter were helpless, what should I do? So the scene at the door of the inn happened before. After the old man finished speaking, he said again: "Dare to ask the strong man's surname?" Who? Duan Xing bent forward and arched his hand: "In the lower Duan Xing, he is young and has no appearance, and he is originally from Ningshan. Not long ago, my father was seriously ill, so he and his buddies came here for business. I saw that the villain was going to be rude to the two of them, so he came to help, and he needed some trivial things, and the old man didn't have to thank him. Listening to Duan Xing's words, the old man was silent.

Duan Xing asked: "My husband has land, why don't he go back home to farm, but make a living here?" When the old man heard this, he sighed and said, "The land is occupied by the barbarians in the township, and there is no way to make a living, so I have to sell my art here." ”

When Duan Xing heard this, his heart suddenly became vigilant, so he said to the old man: "In this case, please tell the old man in detail, I would like to hear the details." ”

Note: "Barbarians" generally referred to the Yi, Yao, and Miao in the Yunnan-Guichuan region of southwest China at that time

minority