Immortality begins in Goose City

Chapter 21 Aren't you bullying an honest person?

"What did you say?" Ba Qing's expression changed drastically. Before Zhao Laowu could finish speaking, he suddenly raised his foot and kicked Zhao Laowu hard in the shoulder!

"Ouch!" Zhao Laowu cried out in pain, staggered a few steps after being kicked, fell to the ground, and the land deed flew out of his hand.

Ba Qing dismounted, stomped his boot on the land deed, grabbed Zhao Laowu by the collar, half-lifted him from the ground, his face almost touching Zhao's, a threatening glint in his eyes, and said in a low voice, word by word:

"Zhao, Lao Wu! Think this through before you speak! Have you forgotten... your beautiful daughter at home?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Laowu was struck dumb, his face turning deathly pale, and his eyes filled with immense fear!

He opened his mouth, making a "hoarse" sound in his throat. He looked at Ba Qing, then looked at Huang Shujian for help, but he couldn't say a word. All that was left was boundless pain and struggle.

At this moment, Hu Wan, who had been standing behind Huang Shujian, suddenly jumped out.

He pointed at Ba Qing and shouted in a shrill voice, "Young Master Ba! What do you mean by this?"

"Zhao Laowu is an honest, simple blacksmith. You forcibly dragged him from his home, threatened him with his daughter, and forced him to change his story!"

"Isn't this blatant bullying of honest people?"

"Is there no law anymore?!"

Ba Qing suddenly turned his head, glaring fiercely at Hu Wan. Then, he raised his rifle and pressed the dark muzzle directly against Zhao Laowu's temple!

"The law?" Ba Qing shouted sternly. "Zhao Laowu! Tell me, are you an honest man?"

With the cold muzzle of the gun pointed at him, Zhao Laowu was terrified and could only nod frantically, tears streaming down his face.

"If you're an honest man, tell me the truth!" Ba Qing's voice rose, almost roaring, "Tell everyone, who owns this land?!"

Huang Shujian's eyes turned completely cold as he watched this scene.

He took a step forward, his voice not loud, but it clearly pierced through the tense atmosphere in the room:

"Pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the forest of gun barrels standing behind him, a cold smile curving his lips:

"You have a gun, right?"

"Who...doesn't have a gun?"

As he finished speaking.

"Snap! Snap! Snap..."

All the servants of the Huang family pulled back their bolts in unison, and the sound of bullets being chambered filled the air!

Dozens of gun barrels, all pointed horizontally, locked onto Ba Qing!

A chilling atmosphere permeated the mountains and forests!

Zhao Laowu was caught in the middle, with a gun barrel pressed against his temple on one side and a chilling barrage of gunfire on the other.

His face was deathly pale, his whole body was trembling like a leaf, his eyes were desperately shifting between Huang Shujian and Ba Qing, his lips moved but no sound came out, as if he was about to faint at any moment.

Seeing this, Hu Wan's eyes darted around, and he spoke loudly again:

"Zhao Laowu! Don't be afraid! All the Huang brothers here, and the elders and folks of Goose City, will stand up for you and your family!"

"Speak up! Whose land is this?"

As Zhao Laowu listened to Hu Wan's words and looked at the silent yet powerful gun formation behind Huang Shujian, the fear, struggle, and pain on his face finally turned into a desperate, all-or-nothing kind of despair.

He abruptly closed his eyes, and with all his might, screamed out, his voice distorted with fear:

"It belongs to the Huang family!"

"This land! I, Zhao Fumin! sold it to the Huang family five years ago for one hundred silver dollars!"

"The land deed... I forgot to give the land deed to Master Huang!"

"Today, I'm here to deliver the land title!"

After shouting, he seemed to have all his strength drained away, and he collapsed. If Ba Qing hadn't been holding onto his collar, he probably would have already collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

The mountains and forests were deathly silent.

Only Zhao Laowu's heavy, desperate breathing could be heard.

Ba Qing's face instantly turned ashen. He stared intently at the limp Zhao Laowu, then looked up at Huang Shujian, who had a calm expression on his face.

"Good...very good!" Ba Qing squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, his voice dry and filled with resentment. "Young Master Huang, your Huang family is quite capable!"

He wanted to say a few more harsh words, but he swallowed them back down.

"Walk!"

Ba Qing let out a low growl, mounted his horse, turned it around, and never looked at Zhao Laowu on the ground again. He spurred his horse hard and, with his dozen or so followers, galloped back the way they came without looking back, raising a cloud of dust. His back view revealed a sense of panic and disarray.

"Pah!" Hu Wan spat fiercely in the direction Ba Qing had left.

"Young Master, look at Ba Qing! What kind of trash is he! He dares to act tough in front of our Huang family? He'll be tucked under his tail and run away soon enough!"

Wu Zhichong also walked over: "Damn it, if you hadn't stopped me, young master, I almost wouldn't have been able to hold back and had killed this son of a bitch!"

Huang Shujian ignored their shouts and focused his gaze on Zhao Laowu on the ground.

Zhao Laowu groped around on the ground, trembling, and finally picked up the trampled land deed.

He struggled to kneel down, holding the land deed in both hands, and began to kowtow repeatedly to Huang Shujian, his forehead hitting the gravel ground, drawing blood quickly.

"Young Master Huang! Young Master Huang, please have mercy!"

"Please, save this old man, save my poor daughter!" he cried, his voice hoarse and pitiful.

"Young Master Ba... he won't let me go!"

My daughter went to her uncle's house today and will be back tomorrow...

"Young Master Ba has lost face so badly, he'll definitely take it out on us!"

"Please, young master, have pity on us and give us a way to live!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Wan's eyebrows immediately shot up, and he pointed at Zhao Laowu, cursing, "Hey! You old bastard! You don't know what's good for you, do you?"

"Young Master already chased that Ba fellow away for you, and you're still pushing your luck?"

"Who do you think you are, to dare trouble the young master to clean up your mess? Get lost! If you utter another word, believe me, I'll..."

"Hu Wan," Huang Shujian said calmly, interrupting Hu Wan's reprimand.

Hu Wan was taken aback and quickly stopped talking, looking at Huang Shujian with a puzzled expression.

Huang Shujian didn't look at him, but simply raised his hand to Zhao Laowu, signaling him to stop kowtowing.

Then, he tilted his head slightly and stretched out his hand toward the carriage.

Xiuer, who had been anxiously watching from the carriage window, immediately understood. Like a nimble kitten, she jumped off the carriage, ran over, and handed the exquisite leather wallet to Huang Shujian with both hands.

Huang Shujian opened his wallet and took out a silver dollar note with the words "One Hundred Yuan" printed on it.

The blue ticket with its exquisite print shines brightly in the sunlight.

He placed the hundred-yuan silver dollar note in Zhao Laowu's muddy hand.

Then, he picked up the dirty land deed that Zhao Laowu was clutching tightly in his other hand, casually blew off the dust, and handed it to Xiuer next to him without even looking at it.

Xiuer obediently took the land deed, carefully folded it, and put it into her small purse.

Zhao Laowu held the light yet incredibly heavy silver dollar note in both hands, completely dumbfounded.

He rubbed his cloudy eyes in disbelief, examined the ticket carefully, and after confirming that it was correct, he suddenly raised his head to look at Huang Shujian. His lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word; only tears flowed silently.

One hundred silver dollars!

He might not be able to save up this much money even if he worked as a blacksmith his whole life!

Even if this land deed were to be sold, in a place like Goose City, it would fetch at most twenty silver dollars!

Hu Wan, watching from the side, nearly popped his eyes out and exclaimed anxiously, "Young Master! What...what are you doing?"

"That Zhao Laowu is just a useless old blacksmith. A dollar or two would have been enough to get rid of him; why would he need a hundred?"

"This...this is too much! Does he deserve it?"

As he spoke, he subconsciously reached out to snatch the silver dollar note from Zhao Laowu's hand.

"Hu parted his hair."

A crisp voice rang out, tinged with displeasure.

Xiuer puffed out her little chest and stood in front of Hu Wan, her round, doll-like face showing an unusual seriousness:

"That silver dollar note was used by the young master to buy his land deed!"

"You're going to try and steal it? Do you want to ruin the young master's reputation?"

Hu Wan pulled his outstretched hand back abruptly as if he had been burned.

His face flushed red and then paled, and he awkwardly took a step back, muttering, "I...I didn't mean that...I just felt it wasn't worth it..."

Huang Shujian ignored Hu Wan's mutterings, looked at Zhao Laowu, and calmly spoke:

"Old Zhao, this money is for buying this land deed from you."

"Take it, it's yours, and no one can take it away from you, understand?"

Zhao Laowu nodded blankly, clutching the silver dollar note tightly to his chest as if it were his lifeblood.

"As for your daughter..." Huang Shujian continued, "Bring her to the Huang family tomorrow morning."