36: Axe Gang

Yang Yun stared at the man in green, shocked, "Could it be..."

Li Xiaosan quickly shielded Yang Yun, watching the man in green and his group warily.

Chen Haonan, seeing this, said with a look of disdain, "West City, East City, one street, go ask around who's the daddy!"

"Calling for people, are you? I'll show you what a 'King of Calling People in the Capital' is like!"

He turned and yelled at his subordinates behind him, "Go back and tell the brothers to grab their tools and hurry over!"

Several subordinates quickly ran off in different directions.

The man in green saw Yang Yun's terrified expression and assumed he was scared witless. He shot Yang Yun a mocking glance.

Then, he said coldly to Chen Haonan, "Do you really not know who I am?"

Chen Haonan still had his fearless demeanor, "I don't care who you are! You'd better pray that more of your people show up!"

"Hmph hmph hmph."

"Alright."

"Alright."

The man in green nodded repeatedly with disdain.

The surrounding commoners, seeing the situation, dispersed, though some bolder ones squatted in corners to watch the show.

Before long, a dense crowd gathered behind the man in green from all directions. Yang Yun looked and estimated there were nearly a hundred people, and... they were actually holding axes.

Chen Haonan had started to panic, his body trembling. The subordinates behind him also looked at the black-clad crowd in terror, stammering out a few words, "Axe... Axe Gang."

At this moment, Scarface, leading a group of thugs, swaggered into the crowd, "Who the hell is bullying my brother?"

When he saw the dense, axe-wielding black-clad men in front of him, Scarface was instantly stunned. He looked at the trembling Chen Haonan beside him and asked in a low voice, "Hao... Haonan."

"What happened?"

Before Chen Haonan could answer, the man in green stepped forward, grabbed Chen Haonan's collar, and smirked, "It seems you really don't know me."

"Let's reintroduce ourselves. I am the son of the Axe Gang's leader. My name is Lu Xiaodong."

Scarface quickly forced a smile, "Oh... so it's Brother Dong. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Our Haonan is ignorant. Please, as an important person, don't stoop to his level and don't bother with him."

"Slap!"

Lu Xiaodong violently slapped Scarface across the face, "Who the hell do you think you are, that what you say goes?"

Then he sneered, looking at Chen Haonan, "Bumpkin, remember, there's always someone better, and there's always a higher power."

Chen Haonan trembled violently, nodding repeatedly, "Bro... Brother Dong, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Lu Xiaodong patted Chen Haonan's face and smiled, "If apologies were useful, what would we need the Yamen for?"

"I won't torture you. I'll just chop off one of your hands with an axe. That's all."

"This request isn't too much, is it?"

"Ah? Hahahaha!" Lu Xiaodong laughed maniacally.

Yang Yun cleared his throat and stepped forward, saying, "This might be a bit much."

"Oh?" Everyone's gaze followed the voice. It was the two people who had been vying for the spot with Lu Xiaodong.

Lu Xiaodong slowly walked up to Yang Yun, examining him with interest, "Then how about I chop off yours, huh?"

Li Xiaosan was about to make a move but was stopped by Yang Yun, "Lu... Xiaoxi, right?"

"Heh heh," Lu Xiaodong wasn't annoyed, as he already considered Yang Yun a dead man.

"My name is Lu Xiaodong, the Young Master of the Axe Gang."

"Oh," Yang Yun nodded, smiling at Lu Xiaodong, "How about this, why don't we have a one-on-one fight? I'll even let you have one hand."

"Hahaha," Lu Xiaodong looked at Yang Yun as if he were an idiot, saying dismissively, "Are you very good at fighting?"

"What's the point of being good at fighting? When you're out here, you rely on power, you rely on connections."

"Which Dao are you from?"

Yang Yun laughed, "You can just call me Prince. I can handle it."

"Hmph," Lu Xiaodong snorted, "So, a little nobody."

Just as Li Xiaosan was about to make a move.

Just then, a large group of constables surrounded everyone. The red-robed official at the head of the group came before them and angrily shouted, "How dare you! You dare to stir up trouble right under the Emperor's nose! Don't you know where this is?"

Lu Xiaodong, seeing this, quickly went up to the official, smiling obsequiously, "Isn't this Lord Song? I'm Xiaodong!"

With that, he pulled out two silver notes, each worth ten thousand taels, from his pocket and slipped them into the red-robed official's hand, "Thank you for your hard work, Lord. Buy the brothers some wine."

The red-robed official glanced at the two silver notes in his hand. Seeing their high denomination, he quickly softened his expression, "Oh dear, so it's Xiaodong! What's going on, so many people?"

Lu Xiaodong glanced at Yang Yun, then stared at Chen Haonan and the others, "Lord Song, there's a group of ruffians here who actually publicly insulted me in broad daylight."

"I had no choice but to call dozens of brothers to show some support!"

"Hmm..." The red-robed official nodded, "So that's how it is."

"Then... leave it to me to handle."

Lu Xiaodong was delighted and quickly nodded, "Leaving it to Lord Song to handle is naturally the best."

"I also ask Lord Song to give this humble one justice!" He then pulled out two more ten-thousand-tael silver notes from his pocket and slipped them into the red-robed official's hand.

The red-robed official, seeing this, smiled so widely his mouth couldn't close. He quickly patted his chest, assuring him, "Don't worry, I will definitely give you justice, haha!"

Lu Xiaodong cupped his hands, pointed at Chen Haonan, "Then I'll leave it to you, Lord. Please make sure to 'take good care' of that person."

The red-robed official looked at Chen Haonan, then waved his hand at the constables behind him, "Arrest these ruffians and send them to prison for strict interrogation!"

"Ah!"

"It's a miscarriage of justice!" Chen Haonan and the others cried out, kneeling helplessly on the ground.

Yang Yun stopped Li Xiaosan, who was about to resist, and smiled, "We have to play the part fully, don't we?"

Afterward, he obediently accepted being escorted by the Yamen officers.

Yang Yun and the others were taken to prison by the constables. Chen Haonan and the others looked at the torture instruments with terrified expressions, their bodies prickling as if with thorns, trembling violently.

Meanwhile, Yang Yun and Li Xiaosan looked around with curiosity, as if they were sightseeing, even occasionally pointing at the torture instruments and asking the constables what they were for.

Before long, Yang Yun and the others were sent into a cell. Yang Yun, Li Xiaosan, Scarface, and Chen Haonan were all locked in the same one.

Yang Yun looked at the two trembling men and smiled, "Brother Nan, I have to say, you're truly loyal."

Chen Haonan, hearing this, had long lost his initial high spirits. He slumped onto the straw mat, crying, "Wuwuwu, if I had known they were from the Axe Gang, you couldn't have killed me to make me stand up for you!"

"Hmph," he snorted, then added, "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been caught and brought here!"

Chen Haonan began to blame Yang Yun, glaring at him with wide, angry eyes.

"Oh~"

Yang Yun nodded, "Haha, so it's selective loyalty. This time, I've really troubled you."