Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou looked at everyone with cold eyes, but the corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a sinister smile, and said: "I gave you a chance, but you are useless. You have reached this point, and you still threaten me like this. You really don't know how to live or die.\nOkay, since that's the case, I'll help you."

As soon as these words came out, all the constables were horrified, really afraid that Li Ergou would go crazy and directly end them.

A constable who looked quite old quickly said: "This young master, please don't be impulsive. According to the laws of Da Xia(Da Xia: name of a dynasty), once a member of the government is killed, you will be wanted nationwide, and it will be a never-ending pursuit.\nNot only that, but your family members will also be punished."

"I see that you are not from an ordinary family, young master, don't bring trouble upon yourself and do such crazy things. Our lives are worthless, but you have to consider your own life and the lives of your family, right?"

Li Ergou couldn't help but sink into thought upon hearing this. The man, seeing that this method was effective, felt a little fortunate in his heart, but then he heard Li Ergou suddenly say: "I almost forgot, I'm a single dog(单身狗: single dog, slang for someone who is single), who am I afraid of?\nAt worst, I'll use my life to exchange for the lives of you all. It's worth it. If I let you go today, you'll just give me a random crime after you go back, and I'll still die anyway."

The crowd was dumbfounded upon hearing this. Why? For no other reason than that a single dog really has no weakness. If this guy really risked his life, they would have no way to deal with it. These people were most afraid of this kind of single dog, unattached, unrestrained, even gods and Buddhas couldn't do anything about it.

For a time, everyone began to tremble again, hating Zou Tao(邹涛: name of a person) to death in their hearts.

Li Ergou drew out the Leng Que Knife(冷雀刀: Leng Que Knife, name of a knife) with a whoosh, and saw him come to Zou Tao, gently stroking Zou Tao's face with the tip of the knife. The sharp blade instantly cut a long gash on his face, and blood gushed out.

The cold blade made Zou Tao truly experience what it felt like to be on the verge of life and death.

He immediately became honest. Although there was resentment in his eyes, his mouth was tightly closed, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, and his whole body trembled inexplicably.

Just at that moment, as Li Ergou raised his hand and the knife fell, when the cold light was about to fall on Zou Tao's neck, Zou Tao unexpectedly hugged Li Ergou's thigh and said: "Young hero, spare me, spare me, I was wrong, I was wrong, this young master, young hero, please spare me, spare my dog's life."

"Don't worry, after we go back, we will definitely forget about this and never pursue it."

At this moment, Zou Tao was nothing like he was at the beginning, with snot and tears smeared on Li Ergou's thigh, looking extremely embarrassed.

Li Ergou kicked him away, with a look of contempt in his eyes, and snorted coldly: "I thought you were really a hero, but I didn't expect you to be a spineless person in the end. Where is your arrogance, where is your bottom line?"

At this moment, life and death were at stake, who cared about face? Once a person dies, everything is gone, what's the use of face? Zou Tao immediately begged: "Yes, I am a mean person, I am spineless, I am greedy for life and afraid of death, I have no bottom line, just treat me as a dog that bites people randomly, spare my dog's life."

When the constables saw this, they immediately said: "Yes, yes, we guarantee not to pursue your responsibility, okay, young hero, young master, spare our dog's lives."

Li Ergou glanced around, taking in everyone's expressions, and couldn't help but snorted coldly: "Hey, I'm just soft-hearted, forget it, if you can really do it, it's not like I can't let you go, after all, we don't have any deep hatred, do we?"

When everyone saw that there was hope, they immediately begged: "Yes, yes, we have no grievances in the past and no hatred recently, young hero, it's all a misunderstanding, why bother to kill us? We all have eighty-year-old mothers above us and several children below us to raise, young hero, just let us go."

Li Ergou showed a helpless look and said: "Forget it, it's not easy for you all, and I can't do such crazy things, but your words are not enough, you need to provide evidence."

"Write me a certificate stating that this attack not only caused me a lot of physical harm, but also caused a lot of psychological harm, especially to my maid, who suffered physical and mental trauma, and you all have to compensate for it."

"How about this, each of you give us another thousand taels of silver as compensation, and this matter will be settled."

Hearing this, everyone was dumbfounded. A constable said: "Young hero, a thousand taels, why don't you just rob us?"

Li Ergou's eyes flashed with cold light and killing intent again.

The first old constable immediately said anxiously: "Don't talk nonsense, give it, we'll give it, but we came out in a hurry and didn't bring any silver at all, young hero, it's not that we don't want to give it, but we don't have it."

When the constables heard this, they nodded in agreement, and admired the old constable in their hearts, thinking that old ginger is still spicier. (姜还是老的辣: old ginger is still spicier, an idiom to describe older people are more experienced)

Li Ergou didn't care and said: "It doesn't matter, you can give me an IOU(打借条: write a IOU)."

"Write an IOU!" The constables were dumbfounded, thinking that this kid was stupid, or was he crazy about money, and even asked them to write an IOU.

But in this situation, as long as they didn't have to take out real money, even ten thousand taels would be fine.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Li Ergou immediately took out paper and pen and had Jing'er write the IOU, and had everyone sign and fingerprint it. Then, he wrote a letter of understanding for the fight caused by the misunderstanding.

Li Ergou was doing this for a living, and the clauses were written very clearly. In the future, as long as he took out this waiver, he would not be afraid even if these people sued him to the state government.

After a series of operations, Li Ergou took the eight IOUs and was happy in his heart, not wanting to make a fortune when he first came to Fish City.

Don't look at these things as paper now, but in the future, they will all be real gold and silver. If these guys dare to go back on their word, hehe, then let them know how many eyes Lord Ma(马王爷: Lord Ma, a deity) has.

Jing'er looked at the scene in front of her, and couldn't help but admire Li Ergou's methods even more. She had seen many men, but this was the first time she had seen such a bad and rogue man. She had never known that a person could be so rogue and bad.

Li Ergou naturally didn't know Jing'er's thoughts. He casually threw ten taels of silver to the teahouse owner as compensation, and then asked Black Beard Goat to carry him and Jing'er away.

Looking at Li Ergou's back, a constable looked worried and said: "What can we do? Where can I get a thousand taels of silver? Damn Zou Tao, you have to pay for this money."

Someone echoed: "Yes, I'm not worth a thousand taels even if I'm sold."

Everyone started to complain.

The old constable's expression changed and said: "Shut up, that's just a piece of waste paper. If he really dares to come to our door to ask for it, we can just catch him."

"Once he's in our territory, we'll let him know what it means that a strong dragon can't suppress a local snake(强龙不压地头蛇: a strong dragon can't suppress a local snake, meaning powerful outsiders can't beat the locals). Once he comes to my Fish City, if he's a dragon, he has to curl up for me, and if he's a tiger, he has to lie down for me. A fierce dragon crossing the river, hehe, he doesn't know our methods yet."

"I'm not afraid of him coming, I'm just afraid he won't come. Damn it, I've been a constable for so many years, and this is the first time I've been so aggrieved. Damn it, you just wait."

When everyone heard this, it was really the truth, and they admired the old constable again, sighing that having an old man in the family is like having a treasure(家有一老，如有一宝: having an old man in the family is like having a treasure, meaning old people are wise). The old constable is really cunning.

Li Ergou didn't know what happened after he left. On the back of the Black Beard Goat, Jing'er stretched lazily, looking charming and looking at Li Ergou with stars in her eyes and said: "Young master, you are really getting more and more admirable. You don't know, you looked so handsome just now."

Li Ergou curled his lips and said: "Don't give me those useless things. After entering the city later, you quickly buy a veil to wear, so as not to cause me trouble. Fish City is not like my small county town."

"KuShui(苦水: name of a place) County is like a small ditch, there are only a few big fish in it, and at most they are a few big crucian carp, of course, I am one of those few. In KuShui County, who dares to provoke me."

"But this Fish City is different, it's like a small river, there are so many fish in it, and if one jumps out casually, it may be a big crucian carp, maybe it's a big black fish, a big catfish, a big dog fish, those are all fish-eating existences."

"Where the water is shallow, there are many turtles(水浅王八多: Where the water is shallow, there are many turtles, meaning there are many bosses in small places), everyone is a boss, we can't afford to provoke them, so let's be low-key, low-key, low-key is the king."

Jing'er said: "No, I think you are a strong dragon, a dragon crossing the river, didn't you see those guys being cleaned up by you? Don't increase other people's ambitions and destroy your own prestige."

Li Ergou didn't think so and said: "A strong dragon can't suppress a local snake, when you are under other people's roof, you have to bow your head(强龙不压地头蛇,人在屋檐下不得不低头: A strong dragon can't suppress a local snake, when you are under other people's roof, you have to bow your head, meaning know your place). Don't pretend to be forceful, pretending to be forceful will be struck by lightning, even though you are older than me, you are still a little tender when it comes to social ways."

When Jing'er heard this, she couldn't help but chuckle and said: "You make it sound like you are an old master, how old are you? Humph, the salt I've eaten is more than the rice you've eaten, and you still say I'm tender."

Li Ergou didn't think so and said: "Aren't you afraid of being salted to death?"

Jing'er: "..."

Talking and laughing, making noise, unknowingly, a huge city wall appeared in front of them. The city wall was towering and tall, and people were constantly entering and exiting the city gate.

On the city gate, there were two big characters written in vigorous calligraphy, "Fish City".

Li Ergou was happy in his heart, after walking for a few days, he finally arrived.

"Magnificent, look, this big city is different, it's much more magnificent than KuShui County," Li Ergou couldn't help but sigh.

Jing'er didn't think so and said: "Humph, a small border town. You haven't been to a real big city. A real big city, not to mention anything else, just the city wall has to be hundreds of meters high, which is extremely spectacular."

Li Ergou was slightly surprised, and couldn't imagine what a hundred-meter-high city wall would look like.

But who was he? In order to hide his embarrassment, he immediately snorted and said: "What's the use of being so tall? For drying cabbage? Don't make those useless things, but you, I still don't know, where were you from when you were alive?"

Hearing this, Jing'er fell into memories, and a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes and said: "Hey, I used to be a lady from a wealthy family. Our family lived in Dragon City, one of the four major cities. Dragon City is huge, with a population of tens of millions. During festivals, the Dragon River is really crowded."

"But my father was upright and offended the emperor, so he was exiled here."

"At that time, he was ill, and he died before he arrived. Then, we encountered a group of bandits, and the whole family died."

"And I was favored by Old Ancestor Jin Chan(金蟾老祖: Old Ancestor Jin Chan, name of a person), who used a special secret method to stabilize my soul, and also taught me the art of ghosts. It can be said that Old Ancestor Jin Chan is also half of my master."

"But that old guy saved me with ill intentions, and asked me and San Niang(三娘: San Niang, name of a person) to seduce those passers-by to satisfy his wishes. Once San Niang and I didn't obey, we would be beaten up by him. Hey, those are all past events, just thinking about it makes me sad, let's not mention it."

Li Ergou sighed in his heart, not knowing what to say. But he heard Jing'er say that San Niang protected her, not letting her get too much sin, and San Niang did all the dirty work of killing people, never letting her kill a single person. San Niang always treated her like a sister and took special care of her.

Therefore, Jing'er was also very, very sad about San Niang's death. Fortunately, she knew that if San Niang was alive, she would not want her to be like this. She also slowly adjusted her emotions, not only living for herself, but also for San Niang.

Li Ergou didn't ask any more, but changed the subject and said: "Let's go, let's go into the city and have a look. Although Fish City can't compare to the Dragon City you mentioned, it's much bigger than KuShui County. I'm looking forward to seeing what Fish City looks like."

Unexpectedly, just as the two of them arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by the soldiers guarding the gate.

The gatekeeper was surprised to see such a big goat under Li Ergou's body, but in Fish City, even strange things were not too rare.

After all, there were always many passing cultivators in Fish City. He had also seen big geese taller than people. These were all ordinary things. The real powerful cultivators had very powerful mounts.

There were fairy cranes with wingspans of a dozen feet, unicorn cubs that were several feet tall, and countless other mounts of various kinds, which were not surprising.

The gatekeeper questioned him for a while. When he saw Li Ergou's waist card, he didn't care too much. After all, in the eyes of these gatekeepers, the identity of a small county constable was not as useful as that of an ordinary constable in Fish City.

This was just a chain of contempt from top to bottom.

The gatekeeper's tone was cold, with a bit of contempt in his eyes, and he charged Li Ergou five copper coins for the toll.

Li Ergou naturally didn't care, paid the copper coins, and took Jing'er into the city. As soon as he entered the city gate, Li Ergou saw a straight road ahead.

This road was all paved with thick bluestone slabs that were a foot thick, and was about seven feet wide, which could accommodate eight carriages passing through at the same time. The streets were crowded with people and very lively.

The gatekeeper saw Li Ergou's country bumpkin-like appearance and immediately felt a natural sense of superiority, only feeling that these constables from small places had really never seen the world, but that was all.

For a time, his small waist straightened up even more, and his head was raised unconsciously, and his nostrils were almost facing the sky.

Li Ergou naturally didn't care about other people's thoughts. He led Black Beard forward, and in the blink of an eye, he merged into the crowd.

At this time, a gatekeeper seemed to remember something, and immediately took out a portrait from his arms. He looked at it, and the person on the portrait was exactly the same as Li Ergou who had just entered the city.

At this moment, a hint of joy appeared on his brow, and he immediately put the portrait into his arms and quickly walked into a room behind him.

After a moment, he heard a gloomy voice in the room saying: "Li Ergou, you've finally come. Someone has been waiting for you for a long time."

You're just a country bumpkin, completely ignorant of your place. How dare you oppose us? If we don't teach you a lesson, you'll never learn your boundaries.

This time, we'll make sure you understand the price of offending us.