Chapter 52: Even Calling You Dad Is Useless

Luo River City is a large prefectural city with a considerable jurisdiction, so its yamen is divided into southeast and northwest, just like the Embroidered Uniform Guard Captain's Office.

Each district is assigned a Chief Constable and a Judge.

West City Office.

In a red pavilion, Chief Constable Wu Liang, who weighs over three hundred catties, holds a roasted chicken in his left hand and a flask of strong liquor in his right, eating with grease all over his mouth.

He looked pleased; the whole roasted chicken was soon cleaned to the bone, he casually tossed the bones aside, and seeing the chicken bones on the ground, this must be the fifth roasted chicken Wu Liang has eaten today.

Wu Liang frowned slightly: "Xiao Sun, what's going on? Didn't I tell you to buy roasted chicken?"

Another yamen runner sweeping the floor nodded and bowed, saying: "Chief, we've already sent someone to buy it."

"You can't even handle simple tasks—what's the yamen keeping you around for?" Wu Liang pulled out a toothpick, cleaned his teeth, leaned back, and the creaking chair groaned under his weight.

"Has that old bastard been causing trouble these days?"

The yamen runner hurried over, stood behind Wu Liang and gave him a massage: "He hasn't come since yesterday; he probably gave up."

Wu Liang looked satisfied: "Hmph, an old bastard still wants to fight the young master?"

"Moreover, with so many kids to feed, do you have anything to give them? I, the young master, sent them to a good place—this old bastard doesn't thank me but instead wants to sue us?"

The yamen runner chuckled: "Hehe, it's because our chief is broad-minded; it's that old bastard who doesn't know his place."

"But chief, that old bastard won't go elsewhere to report to the authorities, will he?"

Wu Liang showed a look of strategic calm: "Don't worry, this isn't the first time we've handled this—have you ever seen another yamen come looking for us?"

The yamen runner's face lit up with realization: "What about the Embroidered Uniform Guard over there?"

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard? You think they're good people? Who would take a thankless job like that?"

The yamen runner shook his head: "Naturally not before, but the newly arrived Captain Shen Qing in our area is a bit different—he also goes by the epithet Dushi Yanluo."

Wu Liang: "Dushi Yanluo? Is he a good person?"

The yamen runner quickly shook his head: "Not exactly, but he likes killing, is extremely arrogant, gives no face to any official—didn't he just tie up our Luo River City Deputy Magistrate Zhang Zhu and throw him in jail recently?"

Wu Liang waved his hand, unbothered: "No problem, if he really comes looking for us, we'll just give him some silver."

"No, chief, Captain Shen Qing doesn't seem short of money either—wasn't there a wealthy man in Luo River City who recently spent a thousand taels of silver on medicinal herbs? That was probably him."

Wu Liang opened his eyes: "No shortage of money? If he's not lacking funds, why would he join the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

The yamen runner scratched his head: "Maybe, maybe he just likes fighting."

Just then, a commotion arose at the yamen's gate.

"Sir, sir, who are you looking for? Should I go announce you?"

"Sir... sir... we're colleagues."

Suddenly a scholar's voice rang out: "Who the hell says we're colleagues? Where is Wu Liang?"

"I don't know."

Then came a sharp slap, followed by muffled speech.

"Wu Liang is in that red pavilion inside."

Without a hint of hesitation, after receiving a righteous slap, the yamen runner directly chose to betray Wu Liang.

Shen Qing seized the red-faced yamen runner with one hand and marched into the yamen, his eyes instantly locking onto Wu Liang in the red pavilion.

Wu Liang straightened up, instinctively trying to flee, but his huge frame got stuck in the rocking chair; he flailed helplessly, finally blasting the chair apart with a palm strike of inner force—yet Shen Qing had already closed in.

Wu Liang hastily rose and clasped his hands: "Chief Constable Wu Liang greets Captain!"

Shen Qing glanced at the chicken bones littering the ground, then at Wu Liang's three-hundred-catty belly: "You can really eat, huh? Did all that grease end up in your stomach?"

In the past, anyone who dared say that would have provoked his fury, but today he dared not retort, lowering his head with an apologetic smile.

"Captain, you're joking—do you have business with me, or are you looking for my uncle? My uncle is Assistant Prefect Wu Gang of Luo River City."

Wu Liang sensed trouble instinctively and hastily invoked his uncle, the Assistant Prefect, to intimidate the situation.

This instead amused Shen Qing; before any interrogation, he had already revealed his own family name.

Shen Qing chuckled: "I have a few questions. A few days ago, a household on Ancient Moon Street lost several dozen children and an elder—do you know about this?"

Wu Liang's face changed; he silently cursed, "That old bastard really went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard? Don't let me catch you."

He thought that, but said something else.

"I don't know, sir—I've never heard of this matter, sir, is it..."

Shen Qing didn't bother listening to the rest, lifted his leg and kicked Wu Liang in the waist and abdomen; the three-hundred-catty Wu Liang flew like a kicked ball, smashing through two buildings.

Shen Qing found a clean chair and sat down.

"Old Li, stop hiding—produce what you brought."

The scholar and others turned their gaze to Old Li, who took down the small pack on his back and pulled out a thorny vine.

It was the vine he had found while fighting wild wolves.

The scholar looked bewildered: "Why do you carry a vine around?"

Old Li gave a foolish laugh: "Isn't it being used now?"

A few Embroidered Uniform Guard members ran to the ruins, dug out the unconscious Wu Liang, and hung him right there from the eaves.

However, because he was so heavy, the Embroidered Uniform Guard needed five ropes just to hoist him up.

Old Li didn't waste words, lashing out with a single whip; with a crack, the whip struck Wu Liang's face, leaving a huge, centipede-like wound.

The unconscious Wu Liang woke instantly; the intense pain made his eyes turn red, and before he could recover, five more lashes came.

Wu Liang grimaced in pain and shouted hastily.

"I'll talk, I'll talk... I know where those children are... stop hitting..."

In fact, he had wanted to confess as soon as the first lash landed, but that first strike hit his mouth, leaving him unable to speak from the pain.

"Then speak—where did the children go?"

Wu Liang hesitated a moment, but in that very moment Old Li swung another whip and lashed him.

Wu Liang immediately sobered up and no longer dared to have any hesitation.

"All the children have been sent to the Hall of Virtuous Rectitude."

Wu Liang then explained the entire matter.

They had long had their eyes on the old woman's family, and after confirming the situation they moved in directly, abducting over ten children and sending them to the Hall of Virtuous Rectitude, with the Hall paying Wu Liang ten taels of silver for each child, and this was not the first time he had done such a thing.

"Hall of Virtuous Rectitude?"

Shen Qing recalled the name of this force; the scholar had listed it among the various factions he had gathered these past days.

The Hall of Virtuous Rectitude's reputation in the Jianghu of Yongning Prefecture was not good; in terms of fame it even fell short of the Black Water Gang.

Shen Qing also couldn't help but let out a scoffing laugh, recalling that when he first assumed his post at the West City Hundred-Household Office, the scholar had remarked that West City was uneasy and that over half of Luo River City's illicit trade occurred here; indeed, it still is.

First came the murderous Black Water Gang, then this Hall of Virtuous Rectitude engaged in human smuggling, and even the collaborating Japanese pirates transported soybeans to West City.

The scholar frowned at Wu Liang and said, "How beastly! Ten taels of silver and you ruin a family? What about that old man?"

Wu Liang's throat convulsed slightly, Lao Li frowned, raised his hand to continue whipping, and Wu Liang hurriedly shouted.

"In prison! In prison!"

The scholar, accompanied by several Embroidered Uniform Guard officers, headed toward the prison of the yamen.

Not long after, the scholar emerged with a grim face, followed by two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers carrying an old man with sunken cheeks and a sallow, thin appearance.

The scholar shook his head at Shen Qing and said, "Boss, we found the person, but he probably won't make it; he already had some illness, and likely hasn't eaten in these days."

Only seeing the old man behind him with a vacant gaze, he kept shouting, "Children... children..."

Shen Qing waved his hand and said, "Send him back to the hundred-household office and find a doctor."

Shen Qing then rose and took the rattan whip from Lao Li's hand.

Wu Liang's body trembled uncontrollably as he stammered, "You... what are you going to do? I've already confessed..."

Before his words even finished, a sound of tearing air rang out.

Bang!

The green rattan whip slammed hard into Wu Liang's body, blood spattering as his skin split and flesh tore.

"Let's see how many lashes you can withstand after extorting so much profit."

Wu Liang kept shaking his head; this lash left him dazed, murmuring, "Uncle... uncle..."

"Calling me uncle? Today you'd better not call me uncle; even calling me father won't help!"

Shen Qing raised his hand and lashed out three times in succession, each strike infused with internal energy, tearing Wu Liang's skin and flesh, the wounds deep enough to reach the bone.

Wu Liang's anguished cries echoed continuously in the yamen, causing the clerks' spines to go cold.

Gradually Wu Liang's voice grew fainter, and he realized that no matter how he begged for mercy, Shen Qing would not let him go.

Wu Liang's eyes filled with venom: "Shen Qing, even as a ghost I will not let you go..."

Shen Qing naturally had no patience to hear him finish; with a flick of the rattan-woven whip in his hand, a arc of blood traced through the air, and Wu Liang's bulky head was whipped clean off.

"Be a ghost? You can't beat me alive, and you think you can beat me as a ghost?"

Shen Qing turned and walked out of the yamen, saying to Lao Li, "Bring the remaining yamen clerks back with you; you decide the details."

"Those who remain, follow me."

"Destroy the Hall of Virtuous Rectitude."