Chapter 13 Give Me a Chance

In the early morning, a loud knocking on the door seemed to strike at one's heart. Startled by the sound, Fan Xiaoxiao sat up, quickly dressed, and went outside, just in time to bump into Uncle Wang and Old Zhao, who were also heading out. The three exchanged a glance and went out together.

Who is it?!

"Open the door! Old Zhao! Open the door right now!"

Old Zhao knew the intruders were up to no good as soon as he heard their voices, and he shrugged at the two men behind him with a bitter expression.

"Damn it! Old Zhao! Open the door for me right now!"

"Hey, hey, I'm here."

Old Zhao sighed and took a few steps forward to open the door. He'd only opened it a crack when the person on the other side was so strong that he stumbled. Luckily, Uncle Wang and Fan Xiaoxiao caught him quickly, preventing him from falling badly.

"Damn it! Why did it take so long!"

The man who entered was a lean man of about thirty-four or thirty-five. He was dressed in an oddly matched brown robe and wore a black turban. What was most striking about him was that his two front teeth were rather long, giving him a pointed and monkey-like appearance. His eyes had been looking around with ill intent ever since he entered.

"Hey! Old Zhao, are these two new here? Why didn't you go to the mayor's house to report for duty?"

"Could it be that you're trying to evade taxes?"

The following sentence was spoken by the man behind the lean man. That man was short and fat, with a fat head and big ears, and a full beard that was so dirty it was all twisted together.

Old Zhao hurriedly waved his hand and said anxiously, "Oh dear, Third Master Hou and Second Master Zhu! How could this old man dare to do that! These are my relatives from out of town. They came last night on short notice. I was planning to report to them this morning, but I didn't expect you two to have received the news first."

Hou San narrowed his eyes, glanced at the gray-clad man peeking in from outside the door with a shifty look, and said meaningfully, "Oh? Is that so?"

Uncle Wang suppressed his anger and said with a forced smile, "Third Master Hou, there are five of us here, including my three-year-old grandson. We thought that since it's the town magistrate's breakfast time right now, we didn't dare to disturb him. We'll really be there in a little while!"

Zhu Er scoffed, "Hmph, you're quite sensible. Let me tell you first, the night tour tax and town entrance tax for your family of five total ten taels of silver! If you can't come up with that! Ha!"

Zhu Er didn't say anything more, but instead leaned closer to the three of them and shook his fist, which was as big as a sandbag, the threat of which was self-evident.

Fan Xiaoxiao reached out and tugged at Uncle Wang's sleeve out of sight. He nodded imperceptibly, then cleared his throat and said, "Hai, I know, but I don't know if we can use goods instead of silver here?"

Hou San snorted and was about to say something when Uncle Wang hurriedly said to Fan Xiaoxiao, "Girl! What about the things I asked you to prepare yesterday!"

"Oh, oh, oh, yes, yes."

Fan Xiaoxiao responded and quickly turned around to go inside and bring out a pair of ornamental walnuts, which she gave to the two brothers. These walnuts were quite old, with an oily reddish-brown shell. One of the walnuts was even carved with a pattern, clearly a valuable item. This was exactly what the bandit had brought from yesterday's package.

"Gentlemen, these are a pair of walnuts passed down through my Wang family for generations. They're quite old, and I don't know how much they're worth, but consider them a small token of our respect. To be honest, we're new here and don't have much money on us... so, please consider..."

Hou San glanced at the item in his hand and exchanged a look with Zhu Er. He then casually put the walnut into his pocket before coughing and saying, "It's not that it's impossible. How about this, since you're so sensible, we can put in a good word for you and maybe the town mayor will give us some face. Tell me, what is it?"

Uncle Wang smiled gratefully after hearing this and said, "One, a covered boat."

(End of this chapter)