Master Luo Cao

"Human?!" Fu Yunshu was dumbfounded, and after a long pause, he said, "But...but...but even with a disability, how can...would grow wool on a person's body?"

Kou Luoche said: "Let's talk in the mansion." He pulled Fu Yunshu back and returned to the county magistrate's mansion. Today the gatekeeper was Wang Xiaozhu. When he saw the two of them, he immediately came up to him from a distance, and said with a smile, "Master Fu, Mr. Kou, Did you go out to the market for a walk? Did you see that sheep? It’s so funny!"

Kou Luoche stopped suddenly, looked at Wang Xiaozhu coldly, and said, "When did that beggar and that 'sheep' appear in Jiuhe?"

Wang Xiaozhu was taken aback by the cold eyes that frightened him, and he said after a while: "Not... not long ago, probably only two days ago."

"Understood." Kou Luoche responded lightly, and pulled Fu Yunshu to go inside again.It was not until he returned to his room and closed the door with his backhand that he said: "This kind of begging is called harvesting and cutting, and it is an extremely vicious method."

Fu Yunshu was taken aback, "Picking and cutting?"

Kou Luoche sat down on his shoulders, poured him a cup of tea with a kettle, and said, "Don't we usually see some beggars with missing arms and legs? Like us, we are all healthy and normal people.”

Fu Yun was frightened and said, "You mean..."

"Cai, that is to take, raw, refers to the raw body, and cutting means cutting with a knife and an axe. Picking and cutting means to capture normal healthy people, especially children, and cut off their hands or feet. A healthy person turns into all kinds of grotesque humanoid monsters." Kou Luoche said.

"But..." Fu Yunshu stammered: "But that sheep... how to explain the wool on that person? Even if it is cut with a knife and an axe, it can't make an ordinary person grow wool?"

Kou Luoche said: "Catch a child first, then raise a sheep, strip the child's clothes and tie him up, use medicine to make the child's whole skin rot, and then pierce the whole body with needles to make it drip with blood. At that time, they killed the sheep, peeled off the sheep's skin, wrapped them on the children, made the human blood and the sheep's blood stick together, tied the chains, took them to the market, and defrauded people of money in the name of "Oriental beasts". Using this method, If you become a sheep, you can profit for a long time." After a pause, he continued: "They call them human sheep. Besides human sheep, there are also human dogs and human bears that have appeared in the world. .”

The teacup in Fu Yunshu's hand fell and shattered the porcelain pieces all over the floor.

Kou Luoche helplessly knelt down to help him pick up the broken porcelain pieces, and said while picking them up, "I won't let you drink tea when I tell you about these things in the future. I said that once I drop it once, the cups at home will be almost gone." Not enough."

"In other words, the so-called 'Oriental Beast' is actually a poor child!" Fu Yunshu didn't hear what he was talking about, stood up "teng" and was about to rush out, "Why didn't you say that earlier? ? I’m going to save people right now!”

"Wait a minute!" Kou Luoche hurriedly stopped him, "Don't be impulsive!"

Fu Yunshu looked at him in surprise, and asked, "Why? An old beggar, what other supernatural abilities do I need to be afraid of?"

Kou Luoche said: "If it was just an old beggar, I would have taken him down on the spot, and I need to take you home to talk about it?" After a pause, he took Fu Yunshu's hand and pulled him back At the table, he sat down on his shoulders again, and said: "Because of the 'Caisheng cutting method', the money came quickly and a lot. During the first emperor, countless beggars followed suit, and later they formed their own school, called Caishengmen. After the new emperor ascended the throne , Reform the law and severely punish those who harvested and cut off their lives, all of them will be put to death early, and all the family property will be punished with the family of the deceased. The gate of life is still alive." As he spoke, he patted Fu Yunshu on the shoulder heavily, and said, "Brother Fu, don't startle the snake out of impulsiveness."

Fu Yunshu said dejectedly, "I see."

Kou Luoche said: "I'll send someone to watch them and see where they go back at night."

After speaking, he hurried out, and hurried back not long after, and closed the door with a stern face, without saying a word.Seeing his solemn expression, Fu Yunshu suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

Kou Luoche frowned and said, "The beggar and the sheep are gone."

Kou Luoche assigned Wang Xiaozhu to keep an eye on people, but Wang Xiaozhu came back in a hurry to report not long after he left. He said that there was no sign of people and sheep. Not long after finishing the word, he said he was unwell, and hurried away leading the sheep.

"It's really cautious," Kou Luoche said quietly: "I just asked one more question, and then I became suspicious and ran away. No wonder I dared to do such a vicious thing under severe crackdown."

"Don't panic," Fu Yunshu said calmly, "They will definitely not be able to leave Jiuhe County in such a short period of time. I ordered people to hurry up and send an order to lock the city gate. No matter what, find these two first."

Jiuhe County has always been peaceful and peaceful despite the bandits around it. The county magistrate suddenly ordered the city gate to be sealed off. Officials rode fast horses across the long street like the wind, and the city gate slowly closed, shocking the entire county. The common people, everyone whispered to each other, wondering if the bandits on the Jindiao Mountain outside the county had some great skills?

Immediately afterwards, the police officers came to knock on the door one after another, asking each family with a stern face if they had seen the weird beggar leading a sheep.

Wang Laozhu, who sells soy milk in the east of the county, held Wang Xiaozhu's hand tightly, and asked with concern: "Son, have you eaten yet?" He patted his strong arm and lamented, "I must have never eaten." ! Why do you think you are so thin?"

"Father!" Wang Xiaozhu caught a glimpse of the smiling face of his colleague, and wanted to withdraw his hand in embarrassment, "I'm on official duty!"

"What's wrong with official duties?!" Wang Laozhu stared at his eyes and blew his beard, "Is there no food for official duties?" He brought a bowl of hot soybean milk from the stall to Wang Xiaozhu's mouth, and said, "Come on, Hurry up and drink it while it's hot."

Wang Xiaozhu couldn't resist, so he had to pinch his nose and pour down the whole bowl of soy milk like "tons and tons", then wiped his mouth, and asked with Wang Laozhu's satisfied eyes: "Father, the one that came from our county in the past two days Do you know sheep that can recite poems and write?"

"I know, that sheep looks very ugly, with sharp eyes." Wang Laozhu waved his hands in disgust, and then leaned into Wang Xiaozhu's ear and said triumphantly: "Dad, I saw it, and I didn't give you any money!"

"...Father," Wang Xiaozhu asked: "The beggar leading the sheep may be a scammer. The county magistrate wants to arrest him for interrogation. Have you seen him?"

"Hmm..." Wang Laozhu stroked his goatee and pondered for a while, and said, "I was busy selling soybean milk before, but I really didn't pay much attention to it. Now that I think about it, it seems that there was indeed an old man leading a sheep not long ago. Pass here in a hurry."

Wang Xiaozhu hurriedly asked, "Where did he go?"

Wang Laozhu pointed in a direction, "It seems to be there!"

Wang Xiaozhu and his colleagues looked at each other, "Chase!"

Seeing that his son ran away and disappeared, Wang Laozhu shouted at the top of his voice, "Son, remember to eat!"

Wang Xiaozhu waved while running, "Got it, dad!"

The two chased in the direction Wang Laozhu pointed until the sky was dark, and the yamen servant who followed Wang Xiaozhu to arrest people finally couldn't take it anymore, he put his hands on his knees and gasped for breath, "Wang Xiaozhu, is it because your father's old eyes are blind and misjudged?" ? After chasing for a long time, I didn’t even see a single wool.”

Although Wang Xiaozhu also had such doubts in his heart, his father still wanted to defend, "You are old and dim-sighted! My father's eyes are very bright! If you are weak, just say it, and I will chase it by myself." After taking a few deep breaths, He straightened up and continued to walk forward, but within a few steps, a bush suddenly swayed, and a faint voice came from inside—"Help."

The sound was very thin and light, like the last cry of a dying sheep.

The other yamen servant also heard it. At this time, the night wind was faint and creepy. He asked tremblingly, "Who is it? Who is talking?"

Wang Xiaozhu swallowed his saliva, drew out the saber from his waist, took two steps forward slowly, and gently pushed the grass away with the knife.

There was a ball of wool lying in the grass, which looked like a sheep, but had no hooves. It grabbed the grass with two human-like paws and shook it gently. When it heard the sound, it turned its face, revealing a pair of bright black and white eyes. Looking at Wang Xiaozhu for a moment, he opened his lips and said, "Help me."

When the beggar saw that the matter was revealed, he abandoned the "sheep" and fled alone.Wang Xiaozhu and another yamen servant asked nearby villagers to borrow a door panel, put the "sheep" on the door panel, and carried them back to the county yamen one after the other.

The "sheep" fell into a coma as soon as he was rescued, and his eyes were still tightly closed when he arrived at the county government.The two put it in front of Fu Yunshu, and were about to wake it up, but Fu Yunshu raised his hand and stopped him, saying: "He just escaped from birth, he must be very tired, let him sleep for a while, don't disturb him .”

Kou Luoche squatted down and gently plucked the hair covering its face. I don't know if it hadn't grown in prison yet or what, but he easily tore off a large piece of leather and fur, revealing a pitch-black patch under the wool. face.This face has a nose and eyes, smaller lips, and long eyelashes. She must have been a beautiful child before.

Seeing Kou Luoche casually tearing off a large piece of fur, Fu Yunshu was startled, and quickly slapped his hand, "What are you doing?"

Kou Luoche looked back at him aggrievedly, "I didn't use much force, I pulled it off lightly...it must be that beggar who is not skilled enough!" He immediately changed the subject and asked, "Hey, why did you put this 'sheep' Bring it back, where is the old beggar?"

Wang Xiaozhu said: "We were only three feet away from digging the ground, but we didn't even see a single person!"

Fu Yunshu nodded and murmured: "It must be too cumbersome to run with this child, so he abandoned the pawns to save the car and ran away by himself." Fu raised his head again and said: "The gate of the city is closed, he can't run far, and then Post a few more reward notices, be sure to catch people in front of me as soon as possible!"

"Yes!" The two walked away.

Fu Yunshu was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kou Luoqi's hand grabbing the poor child again, unable to bear the loneliness.

"Oh, I pulled it off again." Kou Luoche looked at the wool with fur in his hand and said, "It seems that it's really stuck tightly."

Fu Yunshu couldn't bear it anymore, he gritted his teeth and said, "Kou Luoche!"

Kou Luochao stared at the ball of wool in his hand for a long time, and suddenly said seriously: "Zhe Chen, hurry up and call some famous doctors in the county."

Fu Yunshu hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

Kou Luoche lightly rubbed the dirty wool on the child's body, and said, "Maybe he can still be saved."

The author has something to say:

For the relevant content of "picking and cutting" in the article, please refer to "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" and "Chinese Social History: The History of Beggars" (Author: Zhou Dejun)