Chapter 11: Generous Reward

"My Lord, everything has been counted clearly!"

"Good, you may go!" Waving his hand, Shen Yu held the ledger and checked the items one by one, a hint of shock appearing in his eyes.

After he finished the trial of the Cai Family in the morning, Shen Yu immediately led everyone to raid the Cai residence in person. It had to be said that the Cai family's assets were a real eye-opener for a poor scholar like Shen Yu; the silver and calligraphy/paintings alone were worth nearly two hundred thousand taels.

And this was just the ready cash; adding in the land deeds, shops, and so on, the value was immeasurable. It was said that the Cai Family had once been a small, humble household, but ever since Cai Zhong became the County Assistant, the Cai residence had expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Cai Zhong's elder brother, the master of the Cai Family, was a brute who knew nothing about business, but he knew how to plunder; this craft could be called self-taught, and he only got better at it the more he played.

As long as a business was doing well and had no backing, they would muscle in. If the owners didn't agree, they would simply seize the entire property. If there were any decent-looking women in the family, they would be bundled up and dragged back together.

One could imagine how much evil the Cai Family had accumulated over these years; it could be said that every single coin was stained with the blood and tears of others. As the saying goes, subordinates follow the example of their superiors, and the servants of the Cai residence were of the same ilk.

It could be said that from the master down to the servants, nearly eighty percent of the Cai Family deserved to die!

"Master Secretary!"

"My Lord, at your command!"

"You are to immediately cross-reference the items the Cai Family has seized from others over the years and return them to the victims one by one; all the rest is to be collected into the government treasury!"

"This... yes, My Lord!" He looked at Shen Yu with surprise; he had thought this County Magistrate was going to order him to haul these things to his own home. Who could have imagined that this gentleman wouldn't take a single cent?

With so many gold, silver, and jewels laid out before them, it was hard to imagine the sheer impact of it if one hadn't seen it with their own eyes. To not be tempted by this—you must be cold-hearted. If you, the County Magistrate, don't take any, how are we, the underlings, supposed to get our hands on anything!

"How bitter!" Unable to help but sigh inwardly, the Master Secretary could already imagine the miserable days ahead. This gentleman was someone who couldn't tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes; the possibility of skimming off the top in the future was likely to be slim to none.

Ignoring the Master Secretary, who now had a face like a bitter gourd, Shen Yu nodded with satisfaction after seeing that everything had been handled properly.

"System, sign in!"

"Sign-in successful, obtained Wind God Leg!"

"Wind God Leg? What a generous reward!" Listening to the system prompt ringing in his ears, Shen Yu couldn't help but be stunned, followed by a surge of wild joy in his heart.

It seemed his guess was correct; effort and reward were indeed proportional. Toppling the Cai Family and signing in to receive the Wind God Leg—what a generous reward!

Don't look at him as a County Magistrate now; this was a dangerous martial arts World, and no one could guarantee they were one hundred percent safe.

And the blood and tears of history told him that one must have good light-foot skills to survive in the martial arts world. If your light-foot skills weren't good, you couldn't play the game at all. If you couldn't win a fight and couldn't even run away, you would likely just have to kneel.

And the Wind God Leg was precisely a top-tier Martial Learning that allowed for both attacking and running; it was fierce in a fight and fast when running. With this martial art, one of his own shortcomings had been filled, and crucially, he could easily scale walls and vault over roofs, becoming as light as a swallow.

From now on, he would never have to envy those heroes who could leap high and fly about. As long as he wished, he could do it too, and he could do it with great style.

As the system prompt faded, a ray of light surged into Shen Yu's body. In his consciousness, a figure appeared, tossing and turning, moving with unfathomable power. It felt as if a few years had passed in an instant, and yet it also felt as if only the blink of an eye had gone by.

"Good!" In just a moment, the many secrets of this martial art had been completely mastered by him; all that remained was diligent practice to achieve total control.

It had to be said that the Cai Family had given him a series of big surprises. Unfortunately, the Cai Family had now all been arrested and imprisoned; the wool on this sheep had been plucked clean, and he would likely have to find another sheep to pluck in the future.

Thinking about it, he was actually a bit reluctant!

At nightfall, a breeze brought a touch of chill. At this time, inside the Baian County jail, Cai Zhong sat on the ground, completely unmoved by the food placed to the side.

To think that he, Cai Zhong, had dominated Baian County for so long, only to end up in this state. In the end, it was because he had been too impatient. The smooth sailing of these years, combined with his contempt for the new County Magistrate, had made him forget what it meant to be cautious.

His momentary eagerness for success had led to a total loss. Even if he regretted it now, he couldn't reverse the situation of total failure. Who could he blame for this?

"Ah, it hurts! Someone, come here, someone..." Suddenly, painful screams rang out in the quiet jail. The familiar voices made Cai Zhong's whole body tremble; those were the voices of his Cai family members.

This sudden cry was like a signal; soon, the same screams rose and fell, each one so familiar. However, these sounds quickly became low, until they were barely audible.

Just at this moment, a rat ran out from somewhere and climbed into the rice bowl he had tossed aside. Immediately after, the rat also began to squeak and struggle, and in a moment, it was silent.

The scene before him filled Cai Zhong's face with bitterness. Since he had entered the jail, he had made countless plans and thought of countless possibilities.

He had originally thought that even if he had no merit, he had at least put in the hard work; no matter what, they wouldn't kill the donkey the moment the millstone was put away, right? But he hadn't expected that the final result would still be the worst kind—he had been abandoned after all!

"Hahaha..." Gradually, the bitterness on Cai Zhong's face dissolved into wild laughter, and his eyes were filled with madness.

Afterwards, as if he had made some kind of decision, Cai Zhong quickly composed his emotions, silently took off his outer garment, took the white inner shirt in his hands, and roasted it over the candle flame.

Soon, many dense, tiny characters appeared on the garment. Upon seeing these words, the previously calm Cai Zhong became manic once again.

"Kill kin, kill children, heartless and unfeeling! What a 'heartless and unfeeling'! What a Blood Killing!" Gripping the hem of his shirt tightly, his fingers turning white and deformed, Cai Zhong's eyes were filled with determination. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice!

"Live on, I must live on now. When the time comes, I will not let any of you go. One day, there will be such a day..."

"Cai Zhong! Magistrate Cai!" Just then, two men in black suddenly appeared at the entrance of the cell where Cai Zhong was held. Their faces were covered by black masks, making it impossible to see their features, but the cold murderous intent was particularly obvious in the dark night.

"Magistrate Cai, why aren't you eating such good food? You're making us brothers do it ourselves!"

"You?" Bare-chested, Cai Zhong raised his head quietly, no trace of panic in his eyes. "How much have I done for the Young Master over these years? Does the Young Master truly not care about our old ties?"

"Magistrate Cai, you said it yourself—those are old ties. The moment you entered this jail, you should have known you wouldn't be walking out. Also, you don't need to struggle, and don't waste your energy. The jailers here have all fainted, so no matter how much you call for help, it will be in vain!"

"Magistrate Cai, we brothers are just following orders. The Young Master ordered us to send you on your way. Magistrate, no offense!" As they spoke, the two men in black had already taken out a straw rope and slowly walked up.

After being arrested and imprisoned, County Assistant Cai Zhong could not bear the humiliation, first poisoning his entire family, and then committing suicide to escape punishment. What a perfect plan, what an impeccable excuse!

"Since the Young Master is heartless, don't blame me, Cai, for being unrighteous!" With a cold laugh, Cai Zhong suddenly raised his head to look at the other party, the blood-red color in his eyes flashing and vanishing.

Being stared at so suddenly, the man in black opposite him suddenly felt a bit cold. For some reason, he couldn't help but move closer to him...

"My Lord, it's bad!" In the early morning, before Shen Yu had even woken up, the Chief Constable Zhou Yuan had already rushed over.

"My Lord, something big has happened in the jail. All the Cai family members, except for Cai Zhong, have died of poisoning, and Cai Zhong himself is nowhere to be found!"

"Oh, and My Lord, there are two more men in black in the jail, but these two are already dead, and they died in a rather strange way. It seems, it seems as if all the blood in their bodies has been drained!"

"What? Let's go, follow this official to the jail to take a look!" Upon hearing Zhou Yuan's report, Shen Yu didn't say a word and immediately got up and sprinted toward the jail.

This Cai Zhong, he wasn't even honest after entering the jail. But all the Cai family members died, and only Cai Zhong disappeared—was this silencing witnesses? Or fleeing in fear of crime? And why were there two men in black left behind? Could they be amateur assassins with poor skills?

"The blood was drained? It seems the thing I've been looking for has finally appeared. It really was in the Cai Family!" After Shen Yu left, a graceful figure stepped out from the corner; it was Miss A Ru, whom Shen Yu had brought back to the yamen.

"Since that's the case, I should go too. Cai Zhong, hmph! I underestimated you. I thought my judgment was wrong, but I didn't expect you to be able to hide so well, nearly causing me to fall at the final hurdle!"

Looking at Shen Yu's retreating back, A Ru then smiled lightly, her endless charm seemingly magnified in an instant. If any man were here to see this scene, he would likely find it hard to hold back.

"Little Magistrate, one day, we will meet again! I hope that by then, we won't be enemies!"