Ordinary people can also be extraordinary

So the two of them lived in Dong Xiangchun. Most of the people who came to Dong Xiangchun were rich sons of wealthy families. Seeing them living a life of debauchery and squandering money, Zhang Chen and Sima Feng were not used to it. They both came from poor backgrounds and could not enjoy it.

However, they were not idle either. They learned a lot of information from those people and had a good grasp of the situation in the capital. Finally, three days later, the manager personally handed a secret letter to Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen learned the details of the war through the content of the letter. It turned out that the war had fallen into a stalemate. According to Dong Xiangchun's speculation, the war would most likely end by the end of the year because high-ranking officials of the royal family had already received the information and there was no need to send more troops.

"Is this information worth fifty taels of gold?"

Sima Feng looked at the information in the letter with an unhappy look on his face. The caravan they had met outside the capital before had said something similar.

"It doesn't matter. Since the war is about to end, that's a good thing. We can go back now. We need to think carefully about what we should do next."

After Zhang Chen finished reading the letter, a ball of fire appeared in his palm and burned the letter to ashes.

So they left Dongxiangchun, and just when they were not far from the door, they met a little boy about ten years old, dressed in dirty clothes. He came in front of them and immediately bowed and prayed.

"Uncle, please be kind and give me something to eat. I haven't eaten for several days."

The boy looked timid and glanced at Dong Xiangchun from time to time, as if he was afraid of something?

Zhang Chen couldn't bear the sight of him, so he took out a silver ingot and gave it to him.

The little boy looked at the heavy silver in his hand in disbelief, and quickly bowed to thank the two men. Then he happily ran to the alley, muttering to himself:

"Mom, you are saved. We have money to buy medicine."

Watching the little boy leave, both of them shook their heads. The people in Dongxiangchun were enjoying delicious food and fish, while there were people outside who were hungry and cold. It was really sad.

But before the two had gone far, a scream was suddenly heard, and Zhang Chen and the other man immediately stopped.

"It seems to be the voice of the little boy just now."

Sima Feng looked at Zhang Chendao with an anxious expression, and ran towards the place where the sound came from.

Zhang Chen followed closely behind them and came to the alley behind Dong Xiang Chun. When he turned the corner, he saw three men dressed as Dong Xiang Chun employees stepping hard on the little boy. At the same time, one of them was prying the little boy's hand apart, as if trying to snatch something from him, and cursing:

"The little bastard's grip is still pretty tight."

Then he kicked a few more times before he took the silver ingot from the little boy's hand. The three of them smiled at each other and turned around to leave.

"What are you doing?"

Sima Feng looked at the motionless child lying on the ground with his eyes blazing with fire.

"Who are you? Stop meddling in other people's business."

One of the three looked at Sima Feng with disdain.

Zhang Chen quickly walked past several people and came to the little boy. He saw that the little boy was bleeding from his mouth and nose, his eyes were wide open, and his hands were still clenched. He was already dead.

"I'm sorry, I hurt you."

Restraining the anger in his heart, Zhang Chen stood up and walked in front of the three men, looking at one of them still holding the silver ingot that Zhang Chen handed to the little boy.

"You beat him to death just to steal the silver. Are you still human? Don't you have any children?"

"How dare you teach me a lesson, you think you are a nobody?"

One of them looked at Zhang Chen with contempt.

"Who stole his silver? He stole it from our Dong Xiangchun. We are returning it to its original owner. How could a beggar like him have such a large silver ingot?"

Another person echoed.

"Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

Zhang Chen said lightly, seeing that they had no remorse in their hearts, his eyes were cold, as if he was looking at a dead person. The dead were not worth getting angry at. Seeing Sima Feng's fierce eyes, he couldn't help but take action, so he quickly signaled with his eyes to stop him.

"Retribution? Haha..."

"Who does he think he is? The Emperor?"

"I'm afraid he's a bumpkin who just came to the city."

After hearing this, the three of them immediately burst into laughter and looked at Zhang Chen as if he were an idiot.

Then several people left, talking and laughing, and faint words could be heard about where they were going to go that night. It seemed that what had just been killed was not a person, but a mouse.

"Why won't you let me kill them?"

Sima Feng looked at Zhang Chen while questioning. If Zhang Chen hadn't signaled him, he would have beaten those people into a pulp.

"Let their necks stay on their shoulders for a little while longer."

Zhang Chen's eyes were cold, and he looked at the backs of those people leaving, filled with murderous intent.

Then he turned around and looked at the body of the little boy. Zhang Chen walked over, picked up the little boy, and walked along the path he was going to take before. Zhang Chen knew that his relatives might be nearby.

After walking for a while, through the alley, Zhang Chen saw a dilapidated house with two ragged men outside the house. When Zhang Chen approached, they saw the person Zhang Chen was holding and exclaimed in surprise.

"Isn't this a little fruit? What happened?"

Zhang Chen was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer, but he still told them what had happened.

"Uncle, does he have any relatives?"

Zhang Chen saw the uncle in front of him recognized the little boy and asked.

"Relatives?"

The two of them looked inside the dilapidated house at the same time, then looked at Zhang Chen holding the little boy and said:

"Ah, life is so miserable. It's better to die, so that you can suffer less."

Zhang Chen carried the little boy into the dilapidated house. The house was drafty on all sides and the tiles above were broken. There was almost nothing in the house. Zhang Chen saw a woman lying in the corner, who looked to be in her forties, so he walked over.

As if the mother and child were connected by heart, the unconscious woman suddenly opened her eyes, and her thin and pale face slowly turned to look at Zhang Chen.

"who are you?"

Then she saw the little boy in Zhang Chen's arms. After seeing the boy's appearance clearly, the woman was shocked. She tried her best to get up, staggered to Zhang Chen and picked up the little boy.

"Oh, my son, what's wrong? How can I live like this?"

The woman touched the already cold little boy and wailed in pain.

Zhang Chen really couldn't bear to watch it, and just when he wanted to comfort her, he saw that she had fainted while holding the little boy and crying. He quickly carried her to where she had slept before. He wanted to take the boy's body away, but she was holding him so tightly that Zhang Chen had to give up.

So he and Sima Feng came to the outside of the dilapidated house, and looking at the scene, they were both heartbroken.

After talking with several people outside, I found out that they all fled here from outside. Because the imperial court has increased taxes a lot in recent years, they were overwhelmed and had to flee.

The same thing happened to Xiao Guozi's family. Xiao Guozi's father was drafted into the army. The court plundered them again and again, so they had no choice but to live on the streets and beg for a living.

Just then, a scream came from the dilapidated house.

"not good."

Zhang Chen and Sima Feng rushed into the house quickly, while the two people outside seemed to have known the situation in the house for a long time, and they both sighed and shook their heads.

When Zhang Chen and the other person came into the house, they saw that the woman had died after hitting her head against a pillar. She was holding the little boy in her arms with a faint smile on her face. At this moment, the sunlight just happened to shine through the gap in the roof and onto them, as if trying to give them some warmth, but it seemed particularly ironic.