Chapter 2 Kill them all, leaving no one alive
The guards of the Huo Gang are all selected from among the best families. They have been taught by famous teachers since childhood and have been carefully taught martial arts.
The Huo Gang has been established for over 200 years, and this is the first time they have recruited outsiders.
This is like the imperial examination, which recruits the top scholar and then recruits illiterate people;
After hiring a chef, the imperial kitchen of the palace also hired a cook to boil water.
This was such a shocking and bizarre event that all the martial artists in Yancheng, except Yun Chen, came to join in the fun.
Martial artists crowded into the large square in front of the government office, all of them rubbing their hands and looking eager to try.
Hundreds of yamen runners were busy maintaining order among the crowd, setting up barriers, and separating the only open space at the yamen gate.
On the steps in the center of the open space, two rows of guards with swords stood solemnly.
Looking around, one can see the uniform black satin eight-piece combat uniform with gold thread, auspicious beast arm guards, pointed-toe combat boots, and a belt with the Huo Gang's iconic lion mark tied in the middle.
These guards were all well-dressed and had extraordinary bearing.
One of them looked the most steady and experienced, and his uniform was more exquisite than the others. He should be the leader of the guards of the Huo Gang.
Whenever he said something, the yamen runners beside him responded respectfully and promptly, saying in a very servile way, "Master Ye Yan is absolutely right." (Yan, same as "qun")
In addition, the fact that they chose the recruitment location right at the gate of the government office shows how powerful the Huo Gang is.
This scene made the martial artists below envious:
"As expected of the Huo Gang, the richest man in Nan Country. Look at the style of their guards, they are even more impressive than the palace guards!"
"Nonsense, what a position the Huo Gang held! In the previous dynasty, they fought alongside the emperor and pacified the four directions. After their triumph, they became the dominant force in the Nan Kingdom within just a few decades!"
"Oh, it would be great if I could join the Huo Gang as a guard. That would be respectable, that would be rich, wow, just thinking about it is beautiful!"
"Come on, he's certainly impressive, but he's also deadly! The Huo Clan's current head, the young master, is ruthless and overbearing, making countless enemies. He's been the target of hundreds of assassination attempts over the years, and his guards have perished in droves. He can't even make it past the age of twenty-five."
"Yes, yes, I heard that among the Huo Gang's guards, only one or two out of ten survive, and the other one or two survive."
"What about the other 80% or 90%?"
"There's a queue at the entrance to Yama!"
Everyone sighed after hearing this.
They said "It's too dangerous, the Huo Gang guards are not worthy of it", but in fact no one left.
After all, the two words "Huo Bang" represent infinite wealth and rapid success.
Compared to the life of a martial artist who has no food to eat and relies on luck to get a job, this temptation is too great.
“Dongdongdong——”
Soon, the bailiffs struck heavy drums, quieting the whole place down.
At the signal from Ye Yan, the leader of the Huo Gang's guards, a yamen runner stepped forward, unfolded a more detailed recruitment notice said to have been written by the Huo Gang's young master, and began to read:
"The Huo Gang is hiring. Requirements:
Male, from the south, between sixteen and thirty years old, five to five feet three inches tall, weighing about one hundred pounds, good at night travel, skilled in Qinggong (light kung fu), able to step on tiles silently, skilled in flying kicks, and loves small animals... If anyone meets the requirements, please come forward and sign up."
The yamen runners at the front kept on reading, while the martial artists below were whispering to each other:
"Are you recruiting or looking for someone? It sounds like a wanted poster."
"The Huo Gang is recruiting guards. Are the requirements so...precise?"
“Which comes first, the people or the jobs?”
After the bailiff finished reading, the whole audience fell into a discussion.
The martial artists looked at each other to see who met the requirements, and people began to sign up one after another.
Because the recruitment conditions were too restrictive, in the end, less than twenty people came forward to sign up.
The bailiff scanned the room, "Are there any more people who would like to sign up? If not, please line up and go to the Huo Gang for the interview."
"Wait, we have another brother! Coming right up!"
In the small team of less than twenty people, Xun Yan and Xiao Liu, who had already registered, shouted in unison and looked anxiously into the distance.
A martial artist in the crowd jokingly said:
"Who are you waiting for? Yun Chen? He's probably busy helping a cat, no, helping an old lady cross the street. He doesn't have time to come!"
"Hahahaha..." The crowd laughed in good faith.
The yamen runner said "No more waiting" and ordered the small team to set off.
At this moment, the sound of a cane hitting the ground was heard, and an elderly voice came from behind the crowd:
"Wait! There's someone signing up!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.
Not far away, a large group of men, women, young and old were "escorting" the reluctant Yun Chen towards them.
The leader was an old lady on crutches, the ones twisting Yun Chen's arms were two young men, and there was a little kid holding a cat.
Following behind were Aunt Li, who sold tofu pudding, Brother Zhang, who sold hot soup noodles, and the young widow, Mrs. Sun...
As they pushed Yun Chen forward, they kept muttering earnestly:
"Yun boy, you stole two hundred eggs from this lonely old woman of mine and chopped two rooms' worth of firewood, enough to last me half a year. Now you have to sign up to earn a living!"
"That's right! My father came to me in a dream late at night, saying that my brother and I have been away from home for the past few years, and it was all thanks to Yun kid who helped him pull the weeds on his grave. My father said that he has used all the connections in the underworld to ensure that you can become a guard of the Huo Gang!"
"You built a sturdy roof, and I can now sell noodles normally. Stop taking care of us all day long and take care of yourself!"
"Oh - Brother Yun is the bodyguard! Buy me some candied haws!" Miaomiao, the little kid who had just reached Yun Chen's knees, hugged the black cat and danced with joy, making the cat in his arms roll its eyes.
This weird combination of the three generations of old, middle-aged and young people, plus Yun Chen's look of despair, made everyone in the audience laugh.
Finally, after being hit with two crutches by the old lady and threatened by her words "If you don't go, I will lie on the ground now", Yun Chen had no choice but to join the small team.
Seeing Xun Yan and Xiao Liu grinning with faces that looked like they had succeeded in their evil plan, Yun Chen knew that this matter was closely related to those two guys.
They must have told the neighbors one by one that their "good boy" Yun Chen was only concerned with helping others all day long and had thrown away good opportunities for a bright future, which led to the current scene.
"Brother Yun, hurry up!" Xiaoliu pulled Yun Chen into the team, "I've estimated for you, you completely meet the recruitment requirements!"
"The three of us are of one mind. Let's go for wealth and glory today!" Xun Yan put his arm around Yun Chen's shoulders. "Everyone else is rushing to join the Huo Gang, but you're not willing to do it. This is your future, not the bed of the Red House lady. Be obedient and don't play the game of half-heartedly accepting!"
Xiao Liu reached out and hooked the old rope chain around Yun Chen's neck, took out the silver coins on it, shook them slightly, and said with a smile:
"I know why Brother Yun doesn't want to go. He's thinking about finding his white moonlight!"
"Fuck the moonlight! If you keep going on like this, you'll waste your whole life!" Xun Yan squeezed Yun Chen's shoulders and said solemnly:
"Ah Chen, listen to me. Whether you're a martial artist, a bodyguard, or even a palace guard—in our line of work, we've already been consigned to hell. Loyalty is precious, but it's also the most important thing. How much are the two words 'gratitude' worth?"
After saying that, without giving Yun Chen a chance to refuse, Xun Yan and Xiao Liu pushed her and set off with the small team amid the envious whistles and cheers of the other martial artists.
The guards of the Huo Gang also immediately came from the side and surrounded the small team.
The posture looked like they were detaining a prisoner, as if they were afraid that someone would run away.
After more than an hour, the team arrived at the suburbs.
In the bamboo forest that blocked out the sun, a luxurious and elegant house stood quietly. It was the Huo Gang's villa.
The area was full of guards from the Huo Gang on duty, and there were patrol posts at high and low levels not far away. It looked like there was an important person in the mansion.
The small team for the interview formed two lines and walked into the house under the watchful eyes of the Huo Gang guards.
Yun Chen was walking at the end of the team. From her perspective, the gate of the house was tall, wide, deep, and endless, like a cold giant beast with its mouth wide open into the abyss.
The people were like tiny ants, being swallowed whole one by one.
For some reason, Yun Chen suddenly felt like backing out.
Hearing the whimpering of the wind and the rustling of bamboo leaves in her ears, as if whispering to her not to go in, she felt an inexplicable sadness and fear.
"Brother Gou, Xiaoliu, I'm going to pee." She made up an excuse and turned to leave.
Xun Jian and Xiao Liu were queuing up impatiently to enter the gate and didn't hear anything at all.
However, the guard leader Ye Yan noticed it and came over to stop her:
"What's your name, brother? If you have anything to say, please wait until you meet my young master."
"My name is Yun Chen. I'll be back soon after taking a piss." Yun Chen said as he tried to walk around Ye Yan, but the latter stopped him and asked with a smile:
"Are you sure you're not going to never come back?"
"No... yes..." Yun Chen blushed instantly when her thoughts were seen through. She had never been good at lying to people's faces.
Ye Yan saw it clearly, but he was not annoyed. Instead, he smiled kindly and took off his guard token and handed it to Yun Chen:
"Then go ahead, Brother Yun. Take my token so it will be easier for you to enter the main gate when you come back."
Yun Chen took it in a daze.
I thought to myself that the token of the leader of the Huo Gang guards must be very important.
Is it so easy to give it to me?
Faced with the stranger's sudden trust, she felt embarrassed and ran away.
I could only pretend to find a place to pee, hesitating as I walked:
Let's go. She feels sorry for the neighbors who forced her to pursue her career, she's not kind enough to Xun Yan and Xiao Liu, and she's unworthy of Ye Yan's token.
If she didn't leave, she would feel inexplicably anxious, and had a strange premonition that once she stepped over the threshold of the Huo Gang's mansion, she would be separated forever.
After much deliberation, she decided to escape.
But she didn't run far. She just lay there nearby and waited for Xun Xun and Xiao Liu to come out safely. She returned the token before leaving.
Having made up her mind, she avoided the patrolling and standing guard guards of the Huo Gang and jumped onto a clump of thick bamboo to close her eyes and rest.
She didn't know how long she had been lying there when she suddenly heard a deliberately quiet sound of footsteps coming from the surroundings.
It seemed like many people were quietly approaching the house.
She thought it was the guards of the Huo Gang again. It was normal for a wealthy family to have so many guards.
But then, "Shua——"
The clear sound of a blade being unsheathed made her eyes open suddenly.
Hundreds of killers appeared from nowhere, crouching down, running quickly past her nose, and approaching the house.
"Kill them all, leaving no one behind!"
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