Tuesday 1 August 2023

WLAEF 39




Chapter 39


It turned out that on the way here, Jiang Yun Zhu asked one of the big fellows who seemed to be easier to talk to on what happened.

Seeing that she was a pretty girl and that she spoke nicely, the big fellow was afraid that there might be some misunderstanding. So he told her the whole story.

They were members of City’s east’s Fengyuan Armed Escort. The strong man in front was their business owner, surnamed Li.

Escort Head Li's youngest son was ill since birth and had been weak since he was a baby. His family protected him like a pearl. A few days ago, Li Yan suddenly became interested and rode the escort service’s mule out for a stroll.

Walking to Hexi Street, an old lady suddenly rushed out and bumped into his mule.

Li Yan was only thirteen years old and rarely went out. Immediately, he was frightened.

At this time, a few people came out, pushing and shoving him. They said how can he hit someone like that. They robbed his mule and stripped him of all valuables before throwing him to the side of the road.

Li Yan returned home in shock and fell ill that night. The family asked him what had happened and he told them.

Escort Head Li and the others traveled all over the world. What had they not seen? They immediately realized that he had been scammed and were furious.

For the past two days, these people have been checking people and mules in the county town. They happened to see Jiang Cheng leading their mule into the city, so they naturally regarded him as the prepatrator.

After Jiang Yun Zhu heard it, she felt ‘the old lady bumping into the mule’ sounded so familiar? Suddenly, she remembered that Mrs. Liu once said that an old lady bumped into her carriage and then she met Wei Kang Ping.

How could she not understand. This was a group of habitual offenders. That's why she just said that sentence, "We may have all be deceived."

Everyone looked at her and she immediately recounted the whole story.

She spoke clearly and everything and every detail was correct. Escort Head Li and the others hesitated. Was that so?

Jiang Cheng finally understood that it turned out to be like this. He immediately gritted his teeth angrily, the surname Wei was really not a good person!

Mrs. Liu's reaction was the biggest. She opened her eyes wide and couldn't believe her ears. Wei Kang Ping lied to her? Then her money... She entered the room like crazy, picked up the wooden box on the table and threw it on the ground.

The wooden box was broken in half, exposing the house deed and land deed inside.

She rushed into the courtyard with those house deeds and land deeds. As if she was saying to everyone as well as to herself, she uttered, "No, he left all the house deeds and land deeds with me. He’s not a liar."

She was so agitated that a house deed slipped from her hand and landed in front of Escort Head Li.

Escort Head Li took a glance, "I know the owner of this house is surnamed Qian. Not Wei. Moreover, the seal of the yamen seems to be..." It seems to be fake.

He didn't finish, but everyone understood what he meant.

Immediately, all the house deeds and land deeds in Mrs. Liu's hand fell to the ground. She sat there, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't say a word though.

There were some clues. For example, Wei Kang Ping never let her go to his house. For example, he asked her about money a few times. It's just that she pondered too deeply before. Now that she thought about it, they were all flaws.

Seeing her crying like this, Escort Head Li believed that she was deceived.

Gu Yong De was still relatively steady. He asked the people next to him, which yard did Mrs. Liu live in?

A middle-aged woman squeezed out from the crowd and said that an old lady rented the yard from her and had only paid one month's rent. It was about to expire soon.

All the truth came to light. The old lady was in cohort with them.

What should they do now? Only by catching Wei Kang Ping can they give everyone justice. Jiang Yun Zhu asked Gu Yong De, "In your opinion, this matter?"

She wanted to report to the yamen, but she didn't know the situation in Wuling County Yamen. So she wanted to hear Gu Yong De's opinion .

"Report to the official!" Gu Yong De said after a little pondering.

A group of people went to the county yamen.

The county magistrate of Wuling County was surnamed Meng. At this time, he just finished his breakfast and was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, a servant came in, holding something the size of a palm in his hand.

"Master, someone asked me to give this to you." The servant bowed.

"What?" Magistrate Meng looked into the servant's hand and suddenly slid off the chair like noodles.

"Master!" "Master!" The maids and servants rushed to help him, only to find that Magistrate Meng's body seemed to have no bones. His whole body was limp.

With great difficulty, Magistrate Meng was helped back onto the chair.

Magistrate Meng touched his neck first before jumping up and grab the token in the servant's hand.

Qilin Guards's token. There was no mistake!

He only heard a few days ago that General Wang and others were captured by the Qilin Guards and taken to the capital. Now the capital was bleeding like a river. A while ago, the officials of Changfeng Mansion were almost all killed...

Now the token appeared in his hand, "Where is he?" He asked in a trembling voice.

The servant was illiterate, he didn't know what was written on the badge. Nor did he understand why Master suddenly became like this. That person casually threw the token to him. If it wasn't for that person's outstanding looks, he wouldn't bother to pay attention to him.

"Gone." The servant replied. After throwing the token, the man left.

"Gone?" Magistrate Meng ran out in a hurry. When he ran outside, there was no one there. He stood there in a panic.

At this moment, someone in front of him was beating a drum. The sound of the drum seemed to hit his heart.

In trial hall, a group of yamen runners stood on both sides, while Magistrate Meng sat in the middle.

It was the first time in Jiang Cheng's life to attend a trial. Before the yamen runners around could shout, he knelt down on the ground, feeling apprehensive.

The others weren't any better. They were all terrified.

However, the most nervous person in the hall was Magistrate Meng. He looked around and found no suspicious person. However, he always felt that someone was staring at him. As long as he was a little careless, he would be doomed.

Then everyone discovered that Magistrate Meng was extra cautious when asking about the case today. In the past, he would slap the gavel, scold everyone, and hit people with the board. But today he only slapped the gavel twice. He was picking it up high and dropping it gently.

Jiang Yun Zhu had already sorted out the whole story for everyone. Since Magistrate Meng was amiable, Jiang Cheng and the others explained the matter very smoothly.

When Magistrate Meng heard that there were such villains in his jurisdiction, he immediately sent constables to search for them.

It was just that no one can be found. At this time, Wei Kang Ping had already led people out of the county.

Magistrate Meng was frustrated. Since they couldn't catch anyone, it indicated he wasn’t efficient at handling cases? Search! All the constables had to go out to capture them for him. If they can't catch those people, they will all be punished.

The constables knew that Master was serious, so they didn't dare to be negligent. All headed out to arrest people.

Jiang Yun Zhu couldn't help being a little surprised to see Magistrate Meng act so resolutely. There were not many officials like him these days. The ancient technology was was behind. It was impossible to draw a portrait. To successfully capture... she initially didn't hold much hope. But now she felt that she can look forward to it.

No one could be caught in a short while. So Magistrate Meng asked everyone to go back first. As for the mule, it was regarded as evidence and had to be left in the county yamen for now.

After leaving the county yamen, Jiang Cheng was extremely depressed. The money he saved with great difficulty was gone.

"Father, you can make more money when money run out. As long as we’re fine, all is good." Jiang Yun Zhu comforted him.

"Yes!" Gu Yong De also comforted Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng forced a smile. He was fine.

While someone wasn’t, "Are you seeking death? Didn't see the vehicle." A man yelled.

He was driving an ox cart when Mrs. Liu bumped over like a walking dead and almost hit his cart.

The man scolded Mrs. Liu. However Mrs. Liu stared at the wheel as if she didn't hear him.

Jiang Cheng looked worried. With the way she was, it was better that nothing happen. But there were some things that he can't say as a man. He turned to Jiang Yun Zhu.

Jiang Yun Zhu understood. She took Mrs. Liu's hand and coaxed, "Auntie, the yamen will capture that man. Think about Lu Yuan."

At the mention of Lu Yuan, Mrs. Liu's eyes finally became a little brighter. She looked at Jiang Yun Zhu and tears suddenly fell down like a waterfall.

It was all her fault. A lowly person like her coveting things that didn't belong to her and ended up with nothing.

She had even wondered if Jiang Yun Zhu had misunderstood earlier. Well, she was the stupidest person!

She herself was deceived and even implicated the Jiang Family to be deceived. She originally wanted to repay their kindness, but now she have harmed them.

It was all her fault!

Fortunately, Jiang Yun Zhu was not bullied by that person, otherwise she would die and still not be enough to atone for her sin.

Heartbroken and in despair, she sobbed. Jiang Yun Zhu knew that no matter how much words could be used to comfort her, it would be useless unless Wei Kang Ping could be caught and the silver returned.

But that was difficult.

Across the street, Shen Feng Ming and Yang Sheng stood there. Yang Sheng took in the scene at that side and remarked angrily, "Sure enough, we can't count on those constables. If our people are here, they would have been arrested."

"When will our people arrive?" Shen Feng Ming asked.

"Wait another two days." Yang Sheng replied. The two’s horses were fast, so the guards were left behind again.

Shen Feng Ming nodded.

Yang Sheng looked over there again. After waiting for two days, he promised to make those people regret coming to this world.

Jiang Cheng, Gu Yong De, and Jiang Yun Zhu returned to Changshi Village.

Jiang Cheng thanked Gu Yong De. Gu Yong De waved his hands again and again, expressing that he didn't help much. Then he went home.

Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yun Zhu went home. When they told Mrs. Chen about it, Mrs. Chen covered her mouth and choked up.

Jiang Yun Zhu persuaded Mrs. Chen. In her opinion, it was really just a few liang silver. As long as everyone was fine, it was good.

Her attitude comforted Mrs. Chen. If not, she would have fallen seriously ill.

"Let's make lunch." Jiang Yun Zhu said. They still have business to do.

Mrs. Chen nodded quickly and got busy.

At this time, someone knocked on the door.

Jiang Yun Zhu was in the courtyard. she went to open the door.

The door opened and she stood there in a daze. The two people outside... Was she seeing things? Looking carefully, it was really Shen Feng Ming and Yang Sheng. She immediately turned pale.

She pondered whether Wuling County’s fengshui bad. First, there was such a catastrophe, and then there was someone like Wei Kang Ping. Now, the god of death has come to visit again.

It was quite unlucky lately.

She thought about moving out of this place once she earned some more money.

Yang Sheng: ...Why did he have the feeling of being disdained again.

At this time, Mrs. Chen poked her head out from the kitchen and saw Shen Feng Ming duo. She was taken aback for a moment, "You two sold out the grain you bought last time?"

Yang Sheng: ...conflicted, he nodded.

"I'm afraid the village has no grain to sell to you." Mrs. Chen told. There were many mountains around Changshi Village, so there was little grain production in the first place. The price Yang Sheng given for the collected grain last time was high. All the grain that the village wanted to sell had already been sold to him.

"We're going to visit other counties this time. We just passed by here and came to see you." Yang Sheng didn't lie. The case they wanted to investigate was in another county. As he said that, he took out a bunch of food like a magic trick. There were citrus, snacks, candied fruit and so on.

Just passing by, Jiang Yun Zhu raised her eyebrows.

Mrs. Chen was both pleasantly surprised and a little worried. The surprise was of course that these two merchants passed by and dropped by to see them. The worry was due to Wei Kang Ping matter. Now she looked at everyone like they were bad people.

She knew she shouldn't think like this. So she immediately invited Shen Feng Ming duo in.

Arriving at the familiar side room again, Yang Sheng feltl a little emotional.

It was noon. Since the two of them came to see Jiang Cheng and the others and brought so many things, they were guests. Jiang Yun Zhu cooked a table of dishes and Jiang Cheng accompanied them. Everyone sat and ate together.

"This Gentleman." Jiang Cheng said.

"Don't call me Gentleman. I’m called Yang Sheng. He..." Yang Sheng turned to Shen Feng Ming. How should he introduce him?

Jiang Yun Zhu looked at Shen Feng Ming and suddenly held her breath. What if he said his name was Shen Feng Ming? If not all Xia Dynasty, more than half have heard of his name, Commander Shen Feng Ming of the Qilin Guard.

If Jiang Cheng and Mrs. Chen heard that his name was Shen Feng Ming...

"Shen Yu Yu." Shen Feng Ming said. His name was Shen Feng Ming, his name was written Yu Yu. Few people know this.

Hearing what his response, Jiang Yun Zhu breathed a sigh of relief for some reason and continued to eat with her head down.

The Jiang Family no longer did the breakfast business. It was cold in winter, so they went to bed early.

The night was deep and there was a north wind blowing. Suddenly, Shen Feng Ming opened his eyes.

Next to him, Yang Sheng was a step slower than him. Still, he woke up.

"There’s someone." Yang Sheng stated.

"En."

The two got up quietly, followed the sound, and came to the backyard of Jiang’s house.

There was a mountain behind Jiang's house. At the foot of the mountain, several people were standing there in shivers.

"Why isn't Boss here? Didn't he say that he would leave Wuling County after taking the girl captive." The person who spoke had mischievous eyes and a knife in his hand. He was the one who followed behind Wei Kang Ping yesterday.

The county yamen was trying to capture Wei Kang Ping like crazy. Wei Kang Ping didn't dare to stay in Wuling County anymore. But he didn't want to leave just like that.

They were a group of people who have always scam if they could. They couldn’t or got exposed, they will do anything.

Wei Kang Ping decided to take Jiang Yun Zhu captive tonight.

He knew that the Jiang Family only had one young and strong man, Jiang Cheng. There were six people on their side. They sneak into Jiang's house, drug them with scented incense, and it’ll be however they wanted.

But before he left, he had one more thing to do. He hid the silver he got in Wuling County in a hidden place.

He went to get the silver first. Then he’ll group back with the few people at the back door of Jiang's house.

Standing on the high wall, Yang Sheng nudged his arm at Shen Feng Ming. Fortunately, they came early, otherwise Miss Jiang would be...

The result was his arm came up empty.

Shen Feng Ming had already jumped off the high wall.

"Woo..." The people below didn't even have time to scream.

"Keep two alive." Yang Sheng said urgently in a hushed voice and quickly jumped off the wall.

There was another sound of bones breaking. Finally, Shen Feng Ming stopped, standing in the night like Shura.

The remaining two people, an old lady and a thin man, were so frightened that they peed on their pants.

Yang Cheng pinched his nose. Now that they knew to be afraid. What were they doing earlier? Out of all people, they messed with this killing god.

He kicked the skinny man, "Get up, I have something to ask you."

Of course, it was to ask where the guy surnamed Wei went.

Also, there was so much blood on the ground. What to do if the Jiang Family finds it tomorrow and got a scare?

The thin man and the old lady didn't know where Wei Kang Ping had gone. They only knew that he had gone to the west.

Then, the two began to move the corpses and clean up the scene.

The two suspected that they had encountered a ghost and didn't dare to raise their heads or speak.

Shen Feng Ming and Yang Cheng stood there, looking into the distance as they waited for Wei Kang Ping to come.

As a result, after waiting for more than half an hour, the ground had been cleaned and still no Wei Kang Ping in sight.

The two looked at each other and decided to investigate in that direction.

Yang Sheng tied the skinny man and the old lady to a tree. Then he followed Shen Feng Ming to the west.

After walking for about a half a kilometer, the two of them discovered a bundle on the ground.

Open it and it was full of gold and silver jewelry.

This, it couldn't be Wei Kang Ping's? Where’s his person?

The two continued to move forward with the bundle. But they didn't find anyone. So they had to turn back with the bundle.

"This is Boss's bundle." The skinny man recognized some silver in the bundle. They were obtained by defrauding Liu.

"Then where did he go?" Yang Sheng asked.

The skinny man didn't know either. It stood to reason that Wei Kang Ping wouldn't give up his money and left by himself. Unless...

"Interesting." Yang Sheng remarked. He looked at Shen Feng Ming and said, "Do you still remember the case I showed you? The magistrate of Yuming County disappeared like this and was only discovered a month later. Tsk tsk, how miserable."

"The first one to disappear was Vice Minister Cao from Lu Prefecture. Three years ago, when he keeping vigil for a funeral at home and went to offer incense in the temple, he disappeared." Shen Feng Ming pointed out.

"Was there such matter? I thought Yuming County was the only one who died." Yang Sheng asked.

Shen Feng Ming glanced at him. If it was only a county magistrate in Yuming County, how could the emperor agree to let the two of them leave the capital. He had consulted with many files and found that this matter wasn’t that simple.

"Then, the murderer may have come to Wuling County now?" Yang Sheng asked.

"Not sure." Shen Feng Ming replied. there was too little information.

"I hope so." Yang Sheng said, This way, they don't have to go to Yuming County. What’s more, if Wei Kang Ping falls into the hands of that person, hope he can enjoy it.

At this time, in a dark cave. Wei Kang Ping was woken up by a scoop of cold water. He looked at the person opposite him with a fierce expression on his face. Unexpectedly, he hunted geese all day long and today he was pecked in the eye by the goose.

He wanted to get up, but found that he was tied to a big rock and couldn't move at all.

"What do you want?" he asked.

The man didn't answer. Instead, he stretched out his hand to untie his belt.

Wei Kang Ping froze for a moment. Then he suddenly smiled, "Let go of me, I promise you..."

Then he saw the thing in the man's hand and his face was filled with horror, "What are you going to do? Let me go!"

The screams like a slaughtered pig can be sounded endlessly.

As soon as the city gate opened the next day, Constable Head Hu led the people out of the city gate with a limp.

Since no one was caught yesterday, Master had them hit five times each. There were still five boards on hold. Because he was afraid that they would not be run the errand, those five were on pause.

If they couldn't catch the person today, it will be ten boards.

These constables’ eyes were red. They decided that they must find out those damn liars today.

At this moment, two figures ran towards them with a bundle on their backs, shouting as they ran, "Help, help!"

Constable Head Hu immediately drew out his sword and put on a posture. He wanted to see who was so bold as to commit trouble at the gate of the city.

At this time, a constable next to him said, "Boss, why do these two people look so familiar?"

Don't they look familiar? Yesterday they were looking for an old lady with a mole on her nose.

The constables were overjoyed, feeling like a pie had fallen from the sky and quickly sealed off the road to prevent these two people from running away.

Then they realized that it was unnecessary. These two people didn't want to run away at all.

When they got close, they ducked directly behind the constables, as if some terrible thing was chasing after them.

All the constables quickly looked over. There was nothing there!

"Help, help." The two grabbed a few constables officers and seemed to only know these two words.

Constable Head Hu quickly took the people back to report to duty.

At this moment, Magistrate Meng was pacing around anxiously in the room. He didn't sleep well last night and got up very early this morning.

When he heard that they had been caught, he was both surprised and delighted. He immediately went to interrogate. Then he asked Constable Head Hu where he caught him.

Constable Head Hu was embarrassed, "At the gate of the city."

"What's going on?" Magistrate Meng asked.

Constable Head Hu recounted the matter. Fearing that Magistrate Meng wouldn't believe it, he got the constable next to him to speak at once. In fact, the scene was too weird.

Of course Magistrate Meng believed his words. Where Qilin Guards was, it wasn’t surprising that anything could happened. He was only worried about whether he performed well enough!

Early this morning, a constable came to Jiang's house and knocked on the door, telling them that they had caught two suspects and asked them to identify them and collect money.

Recognizing people was fine. But get money? Jiang Cheng and Mrs. Chen were overwhelmed with surprise and asked the constable one after another, can they really get the money?

It stood to reason that it wouldn’t be fast. Even if the stolen money was found, the stolen money will not be returned to the victim until the case is over. But Magistrate Meng in a hurry and decided to sort everything as soon as possible.

This time Jiang Cheng, Mrs. Chen, and Jiang Yun Zhu went to the county together. In front of the county yamen, they met Mrs. Liu.

Mrs. Liu was in a terrible state. Her eyes were swollen like peaches. It was unknown how many times she cried yesterday.

Originally, Mrs. Chen was somewhat angry with her, thinking that if it wasn't for her, their family would never have gotten into such matter. Now seeing her like this and knowing that the money had been recovered, she felt sympathetic toward her.

"Elder Sister-in-law Chen, I'm sorry." This was the first thing Mrs. Liu said when she saw Mrs. Chen.

"Drop it. You didn't do it on purpose." Mrs. Chen sighed.

Mrs. Liu couldn't cry anymore even if she wanted to. She had shed all her tears she could yesterday.

At the side, Escort Head Li and others came. Next to Escort Head Li was a young man. His face was very pale. His facial features were exquisite and had a sickly and weak feel.

Jiang Yun Zhu knew that this was probably Li Yan.

"I was the one who was too impulsive yesterday." Li Escort was a direct and open guy. Knowing that he had wrongly blamed Jiang Cheng and the others yesterday, he immediately apologized.

"It's okay, you were anxious." Jiang Cheng responded.

The two men looked at each other and wiped away their grudges with a smile.

Everyone entered the county yamen’s hall together.

Constable Head Hu dragged the thin man and the old lady out for them to recognize.

Mrs. Liu immediately recognized the old lady as the person who bumped into her carriage that day.

Apart from knowing the old lady, Li Yan knew that the skinny man was the one who blackmailed him that day.

After the signing and pledging, Magistrate Meng made a verdict on their matter. The mule and Li Yan's robbed items were all returned to the Li Family. Nine liang silver were given to the Jiang Family. And the seventy-five liang silver belonging to Mrs. Liu were returned to her.

Coming out of the county yamen, everyone had smiles on their faces.

"It's a pity that the one surnamed Wei hasn't been caught yet." Escort Head Li angrily remarked.

"Ain’t that right." Jiang Cheng's mood relaxed a lot.

Escort Head Li looked at him and suddenly asked, "Do you want to buy the mule?"

Jiang Cheng was puzzled.

Escort Head Li patted the mule, "Almost hit the wrong person. How about this, for nine liang silver, this mule will be sold to you. It can be regarded as an apology to you. This mule share a fate with you."

"How can this do?" Jiang Cheng quickly refused.

Escort Head Li glared at him, "Why not? Let's do it!" As he spoke, he shoved the mule's reins into Jiang Cheng's hands, not giving him a chance to refuse.

Escort Head Li led the men away, while Jiang Cheng held the mule, still unable to react.

Mrs. Chen became happy and rubbed the mule. She felt that Escort Head Li might be right. This mule indeed shared a fate to their family. After some twist and turn, it went back to their family.

The family led the mule back home and told old Mister Chen about the matter. Unlike yesterday, when the whole family was depressed, the atmosphere at home became cheerful today.

In the side room, Shen Feng Ming and Yang Sheng looked at each other. Yang Sheng folded his arms and his face was full of smiles.

Though Shen Feng Ming didn't smile, his eyes weren’t so cold anymore.

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2 comments:

  1. And the scammer got the fate he wanted to give to others. fitting

    ReplyDelete