Chapter 84: Capture Sun Erniang and Others

Lin Xu and the others, torn by indecision, turned to their leader, Lu Congyi, to make the call.

“Young Master Zhang, could you perhaps find some more evidence?”

Lu Congyi gritted his teeth and decided to stand with Zhang Jie.

He trusted his own judgment:

Zhang Jie, with his extraordinary bearing and conduct, could not be a man who spoke recklessly!

“Evidence?”

Zhang Jie smiled: “Wang Han, take a good look at the bun in your hand.”

“Oh.”

For some reason, Wang Han instinctively felt he must obey Zhang Jie’s command.

He examined the half-bun in his hand closely,

and suddenly spotted a thin strand like a hair.

Sun Erniang, Lu Congyi, and the others fixed their gazes on the half-bun.

“What is this?”

Wang Han reached out and pulled out a strand of hair from inside.

“Just a hair? What does that prove?

At most, it shows the cook was careless.”

Sun Erniang forced a laugh, feigning calm though fear stirred within her.

“Big brother, no!

This hair is stiff and short, curled and twisted—like the hair near a man’s privates!”

Lin Xu, the more educated second brother, cried out in shock.

“Could these buns… be human flesh buns?”

The fifth brother, Hu Liu, muttered to himself.

“Young Master Zhang?”

Wang Han looked to Zhang Jie for help, hoping he would dismiss the suspicion.

He’d just swallowed several large buns in one go!

“Before coming here, I heard a rumor:

At the Great Tree’s Crossroads, travelers dare not pass. Fat ones become buns, thin ones feed the river.”

Zhang Jie sighed.

This Sun Erniang was clearly one of the three female warriors from Water Margin—the She-Scorpion Sun Erniang.

For years, she and her husband, the Vegetable Garden Zhang Qing, had run a black inn at this crossroads,

secretly killing countless travelers.

Other black inns simply overcharged: items worth one cash sold for five, even one tael.

But Sun Erniang and her husband, the Vegetable Garden Zhang Qing, were like Hannibal’s “Uncle Ba”—truly, physically, devouring their guests.

At the Great Tree’s Crossroads, ingredients were always fresh—

after all, the meat you’re eating might have been standing beside you moments ago.

Men are iron, rice is steel; Sun Erniang looked at those who tried to flee—hating their weakness.

The ingredients here at Big Tree Crossroads are always fresh,

After all, the food you’re eating might have been standing beside you just moments ago.

Wang Han, imagining he’d eaten human flesh, gagged repeatedly.

What was “rice flesh”?

Flesh grown on rice was rice flesh.

Wang Han, thinking of the rice meat he’d eaten, burst into violent retching.

Lu Congyi and the four brothers exchanged glances, hearts pounding with relief.

Had Zhang Jie not warned them in time, they wouldn’t just have eaten rice flesh—they’d have become it!

Even if these buns contained no knockout powder,

once they fell asleep tonight, they’d be killed with a single blade!

Then they’d truly become dead pigs.

“Wicked woman, give me your life!”

Song Yunlong, hot-tempered, glared fiercely, raised his broadsword, and slashed at Sun Erniang.

By then, they’d become real dead pigs.

Seeing her cover blown, Sun Erniang sneered, rolled over like a lazy donkey, and dodged the Mountain-Splitting Strike.

Yet instead of fleeing toward the kitchen, she charged straight into the crowd.

Her target was unmistakable—Zhang Jie, protected by Wu Song.

Sun Erniang knew the inn’s few servants stood no chance against these burly men.

Her only hope now was a desperate gamble: seize the leader, capture the highest-ranking target—

take Zhang Jie hostage, forcing Wu Song and the others to hesitate!

Sun Erniang knew the few clerks in the inn stood no chance against these burly men.

Wu Song sneered.

Sun Erniang dared attack Zhang Jie? She clearly didn’t think him, Wu Erlang, worth a second glance.

“Villain, give me your life!”

Wu Song roared, clenched his fist, and swung his arm toward Sun Erniang.

At Wu Song’s sudden roar, Sun Erniang felt a thunderclap explode beside her ear—

her ears, even her skull, rang with a deafening buzz.

By the time she recovered, Wu Song’s iron fist was less than three feet away—there was no time to dodge.

“I’ll fight you to the death!”

Sun Erniang, no stranger to ruthless deals, summoned her own ferocity—

she ignored Wu Song’s incoming fist and thrust both index fingers straight at his eyes.

If Wu Song didn’t dodge, they’d both be crippled.

Sun Erniang, no less a ruthless soul for daring in uncapitalized trade, harbored a fierce resolve within,

Wu Song sneered—he’d killed tigers barehanded;

why would he fear Sun Erniang’s suicidal move?

CRACK!

His left hand, already prepared, shot forward and seized her fingers—

with a twist, the two fingers she’d used for her desperate strike

bent into a shape no normal finger could achieve.

His left hand, prepared in advance, struck later but arrived first, gripping Sun Erniang’s fingers,

Sun Erniang cried out in pain, her face flushed with sickly red.

For a moment, the graceful, tiger-like Sun Erniang looked almost pitiful.

But Wu Song had no pity for flowers or jade—

not only had she run a black inn, harming countless travelers,

she’d sold human flesh buns—her crimes too vast to be recorded.

Merely for attempting to harm Zhang Jie, their benefactor, she was beyond pardon!

Not only did Sun Erniang run a black inn, preying on passing merchants,

Wu Song roared again, adding three more units of force to his fist already at her body.

Sun Erniang had no choice but to weakly raise her uninjured arm to block.

But this was like a mantis trying to stop a cart—*CRASH!*

Sun Erniang was blasted several meters away, crashing down with a *boom* and crushing several tables and chairs.

What followed was mere formality—facing Wu Song, who could wrestle lions and tigers at full power,

Sun Erniang, even called “She-Scorpion,” was no match.

Even if she were a true night demon, Wu Song remained the earthly master of demons!

“Young Master, how shall we deal with her?”

Wu Song, having swiftly subdued Sun Erniang, asked Zhang Jie.

Even if Sun Erniang were a true night hag, Wu Song was still the earthly lord of demons!

Lu Congyi and the others were stunned.

Though many things had happened, they’d unfolded in the blink of an eye—

their strongest fighter, the fourth brother Song Yunlong, hadn’t even had time to intervene before it was over.

“No wonder Young Master Zhang dared travel with only one bodyguard.”

Although many things had happened, they occurred in the blink of an eye,

Even their strongest member, Fourth Brother Song Yunlong, had no time to intervene before it was all over.

"No wonder Young Master Zhang dared to go out with just one bodyguard."

Second brother Lin Xu suddenly understood.

Just now’s display—if all five of us brothers attacked together, we still wouldn’t be Wu Song’s match!

Not to mention Wu Song still looked calm and composed, clearly holding back.

“The others in this inn are surely no better either,

Brother Wu Er, go capture them all.”

Zhang Jie ordered.

All this butchering, killing, even chopping meat—

couldn’t possibly have been done solely by Sun Erniang and Zhang Qing.

“I’ll be right back!”

Wu Song clearly realized this too, and growled with murderous intent.

He applied force to each of Sun Erniang’s joints, dislocating them,

ensuring she could not resist, then strode with murderous intent toward the kitchen.

“We’ll go help too. Second brother, you stay here and guard Young Master Zhang.”

Lu Congyi ordered.

“Understood, Big Brother.”

Second brother Lin Xu swiftly stepped in front of Zhang Jie, alert and watchful in all directions.

“Let’s go help Brother Wu!”

After making arrangements, Lu Congyi picked up his broadsword

and charged into the kitchen with Fourth Brother Song Yunlong and Fifth Brother Hu Liu.

“Who are you?”

A waiter’s startled, furious cry came from the kitchen.

“The one who kills you!”

“These waiters are awfully slow, aren’t they?”

Zhang Jie began doubting the waiters’ competence.

They were engaged in a capital offense and hadn’t even heard the commotion just now.

“Then again, maybe precisely because they’re engaged in capital offenses, the kitchen’s soundproofing is too good?”

Zhang Jie speculated.

After all, whether killing or disposing of bodies, silence was essential.

“It seems my hearing is just too sharp.”

Zhang Jie looked at Lin Xu, who remained vigilant but made no other move, and reached his conclusion.

After a clatter of clashes in the kitchen, silence fell.

“Master, these are the ones!”

Soon after, Wu Song and the others dragged several bruised, swollen men—some with broken arms, some with broken legs—into the main hall.

“So tragic! So terribly tragic!”

The faces of Lu Congyi and his two brothers were grim.

The scene they’d witnessed in the kitchen could not be described as anything less than hell!

The corpses inside were piled like pigs and sheep, gutted open,

organs, bones, skulls, limbs—all neatly severed and arranged.

Clearly, in Sun Erniang and the others’ eyes, humans were no longer humans, but mere pigs and sheep to be slaughtered!

“If there truly is hell on earth, this must be one of its chambers!”

Fourth Brother Song Yunlong, recalling the scene, still trembled with dread.

“You’re the Vegetable Garden Zhang Qing?”

Zhang Jie studied the middle-aged man among them—the one with the oldest appearance, wearing a black gauze hood with a sunken crown,

dressed in a white linen shirt, with knee guards tied to his legs—and asked without expression.

“It’s your grandpa! Today your grandpa’s been caught by you—kill me or cut me up, do as you please!”

Zhang Qing spoke with defiant grit.

But his swollen, grotesquely puffed face made his words sound absurd.

Yet his swollen, bloated face made his words seem absurdly comical.

“Watch your tongue!”

Wu Song had no patience for Zhang Qing—he stepped forward and delivered a brutal slap.

Wu Song valued righteousness and admired outlaw heroes,

but Zhang Qing and his kind, who treated humans like livestock, had long ceased to be human.

After Wu Song’s slap, Zhang Qing’s face swelled even higher,

thin trails of blood oozed from his lips, pitifully.

Zhang Jie shook his head: “I heard you were once a monk at Guangming Temple—how did you learn not a single shred of compassion?”

This Zhang Qing had once tended the vegetable garden at Guangming Temple in Mengzhou, nicknamed “Vegetable Garden.”

He burned down the temple over a trivial matter and slaughtered all the monks.

Later, at Crossroads Slope, he encountered the retired bandit Mountain Night Demon Sun Yuan,

was knocked down by a yoke, taken as a disciple, and married off to Sun Erniang.

Sun Erniang learned all her father’s skills,

and together with Zhang Qing, they built grass huts outside the city at Crossroads Slope, selling wine and human-meat buns.

Together with Zhang Qing, they built thatched huts outside the city at Crossroads Ridge, living by selling wine and human-meat buns.

Zhang Qing turned his head away, silent.

“Master, how shall we deal with these people?”

Wu Song asked.

“Hmm…”

Zhang Jie tapped the table, lost in thought.

Letting them go? Impossible.

Report to the authorities? Also not ideal.

Sun Erniang and Zhang Qing had run this racket for years—

if they had no protectors, Zhang Jie wouldn’t believe it even with his toes.

“What if we kill them all?

Then kill their protectors tomorrow?”

The thought flashed through Zhang Jie’s mind.

With his martial arts, he might still face complications,

but directly eliminating those who created the problem? He was very skilled at that.

“Wait—I’m a juren now, with an official degree.”

Zhang Jie suddenly remembered his status.

Though a juren wasn’t an official, he had the qualification to become one;

round it off, Zhang Jie was effectively part of the Great Song bureaucracy.

Since he was part of the same system, he could dismantle it piece by piece,

rather than let local officials band together to protect each other.

“Tie them up. Report to the authorities tomorrow.”

Zhang Jie ultimately decided that killing entire families was too extreme.

He was a pure-hearted youth, a good citizen of Great Song!

“Young Master Zhang…”

Lu Congyi hesitated.

From his years of wandering the martial world,

he knew reporting this to the authorities would likely turn a big matter into a small one, and a small one into nothing.

“Our master is the top scholar of the Jingdong East Road’s recent examination,

with his intervention, these villains will surely be brought to justice!”

At this moment, Wu Song stepped forward proudly.

“So you’re the top scholar himself!”

Lu Congyi and the others were stunned, bowing hastily.

“With the top scholar taking charge, this matter will surely be resolved properly.”

Second brother spoke with full confidence.

Watching Lin Xu look more confident than Zhang Jie himself,

Zhang Jie could only marvel at how terrifyingly important degrees were in Great Song!

In the end, they agreed: report to the authorities tomorrow.

After final deliberation, they would go to the authorities tomorrow.

Afterward, the few who dared not eat anything from the inn ate some dried rations they had brought with them.

As for Sun Erniang and the others, they had nothing to eat at all.

At night, the few still haunted by shadows slept fully clothed in the hall.

The next day, Zhang Jie ordered Wu Song to take his official seal and report the matter to the authorities.

He himself stayed behind with Lu Congyi and the others to guard the scene,

preventing any accomplices of Sun Erniang from coming to destroy the evidence.

“I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

Zhang Jie watched Wu Song’s retreating figure, his gaze dark and distant.

If these officials still tried to suppress the case despite the irrefutable evidence, he wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter their entire families!