Chapter 111: Tying Up Loose Ends (Begging for Monthly Tickets!)

Even two xiucai households had fallen victim to their brutality. The Prefect of Xuzhou and the county yamens of every county had all issued sea-arrest warrants, posting sketches and descriptions for their capture, and their portraits were plastered on every city gate.

During several of their arson, murder, and looting sprees, survivors had hidden in vats or cellars and escaped the slaughter, witnessing some of these men's distinguishing features. When the militia and village braves fought them, they had also observed certain characteristics.

All of this had been compiled in the yamen's case files. The constables had read them, but none had ever truly wanted to make the arrest — no one was willing to provoke trouble with such vicious criminals. Yet today, upon seeing the bodies' distinctive traits, they quickly remembered.

One by one, the identifying features were matched, and it became increasingly certain that these men were the so-called "Man-Eating Leopards." Watching this, Chen Sheng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He turned to look at Zhao Jin, only to find Zhao Jin's expression grave. Chen Sheng couldn't resist asking quietly, "There's no more trouble from the authorities, so why do you still look like that?"

"There's no need to worry about the officials' side of things, but our troubles aren't over yet. Have you thought about who exactly has the power to make such desperate outlaws set an ambush for us?" Zhao Jin said coldly.

Chen Sheng's face also turned solemn. Zhao Jin did not continue on that topic, instead turning to Liu Yong beside him and saying, "When we charged out, there were still several dozen men waiting on the street. It seems they were a reserve ambush force. Once things here are settled, go and find out whose men that group was. They aren't these dozen or so Leopards — they live right here in Xuzhou city, they operate in Xuzhou city!"

Liu Yong nodded gravely. Zhao Jin gave a cold laugh and muttered to himself, "Yan Blackface — if he had that kind of power, Chief Cheng's gambling den would have been shut down long ago!"

"Get some men to carry all the corpses out of here, and summon the people nearby for questioning," Chen Wu shouted with authority, and someone immediately went to carry it out.

Zhao Jin noticed that both Chief Constable Chen Wu and his own father, Zhao Zhentang, wore expressions of relief. The two men were finally walking over in their direction.

Chen Sheng was ordinarily quite bold, but seeing his father approach, he grew somewhat nervous. Unexpectedly, Chen Wu did not seek him out first. Instead, he smiled at Zhao Jin and teased, "Xiao Jin, you're truly remarkable — the things you do just keep getting more and more impressive."

Zhao Jin paused for a moment, then bowed and said politely, "It was all thanks to your help, Uncle Chen."

Chen Wu nodded, then stepped forward and yanked Chen Sheng over in one motion, saying through gritted teeth, "You little brat, are you trying to overturn the heavens? Should I chain a leash around your neck? You wretched thing, do you have any idea how much trouble you've stirred up?"

Chen Sheng's face was full of bewilderment, thinking: You smile at someone else's son, so why treat your own son like this?

Zhao Zhentang walked up to Zhao Jin and stood in silence without speaking. Zhao Zhentang was very tall, but Zhao Jin had trained diligently in martial arts and tempered his body, developing quickly. Father and son now stood at roughly the same height, and the two simply gazed at each other.

For some inexplicable reason, Zhao Jin felt a twinge of guilt, because he knew how much his parents cared for and cherished him. Charging recklessly into battle and killing like this — he had no idea how worried they must be.

Zhao Zhentang looked at Zhao Jin, his brow furrowing, the anger on his face growing heavier. He suddenly raised his hand. Zhao Jin flinched instinctively, thinking he was bound to take another slap. He hadn't expected Zhao Zhentang's raised hand to stop mid-air. It hung there rigidly for a long moment before he let out a deep sigh, placed his hand on Zhao Jin's shoulder, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Xiao Jin, are you hurt anywhere?"

"N-no... I'm not hurt..." Zhao Jin stammered in reply. He suddenly felt a sting in his nose and couldn't bring himself to face his father, Zhao Zhentang.

Zhao Zhentang sighed again, raised his hand to pat Zhao Jin's shoulder, and said, with a hint of helplessness, "You've truly grown capable. A battlefield like this, and not even a scratch on you."

After saying this, Zhao Zhentang turned toward Chen Wu, who was sternly berating Chen Sheng, and spoke: "Chief Chen, for that official status, Old Zhao here owes you a favor."

Chen Wu was gripping Chen Sheng by the front of his clothes, demanding loudly, "Are you hurt? Did any blade cut you?"

Chen Sheng shook his head with a bitter face. Only then did Chen Wu release his grip in exasperation, turning his head to say to Zhao Zhentang, "No need for such polite talk. The two of us are in the same boat now."

After saying this, Chief Constable Chen Wu pointed at Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng and cursed angrily, "You two wretched brats! It's a good thing Old Zhao and I gave you advance notice and made you both official runners in white, or else today would have brought a whole lot more trouble."

Concealed within the elders' harsh words and stern expressions were concern and affection. Zhao Jin understood this principle. Chen Sheng perhaps did not, but being scolded was never pleasant, and both of them stood there with their heads lowered.

Yet the expected shouting and cursing did not come. After saying that one line, Chen Wu fell silent. Zhao Jin looked up in surprise and found that both the Chief Constable and Zhao Zhentang were watching them thoughtfully.

"From today on, I'm afraid even the two of us old men won't be able to control them anymore," Chen Wu remarked with inexplicable emotion. Zhao Zhentang nodded slowly and also said, "What's the point of talking about control now? It'll be good enough if they don't bring disaster down on us."

After saying this, Zhao Zhentang spoke in a deep voice: "You wretch, explain everything in detail, now."

There had been no real scolding, no real beating or cursing. Zhao Jin had no idea what the current situation was. The earlier charge and killing, the post-battle arrangements — none of it had been as hard to endure as this moment. Hearing those words, Zhao Jin felt as if he'd been granted a great pardon and hurried forward to explain.

Chief Constable Chen Wu had originally been about to return to the other constables, but after listening to a few lines of Zhao Jin's account, he stopped in his tracks and stood there, listening with rapt attention.

Zhao Jin not only laid out the events thoroughly, but also explained his deductions and follow-up arrangements very clearly. For him, once it was confirmed that these blade-wielders were the wanted outlaws, everything became much easier to handle.

Even if there were eyewitnesses in the courtyards on either side, even if some of the men he and Liu Yong had brought were unreliable, what all these people had seen was those desperadoes killing the thugs first, and then Zhao Jin and his group fighting back.

In effect, they had first witnessed a murder, then acted righteously to eliminate a menace for the people. Not only was this no crime, it was actually a meritorious deed. As for Big-Head Huang and Cowlick — since Cowlick's entire family was already dead, Big-Head Huang's testimony became the sole account. He could only say that he had been tied up, and that Zhao Jin and his men had come to rescue him.

Calculated from every angle, despite such a massive loss of life, everything could be accounted for on all sides, with a reasonable explanation for each.

Chief Constable Chen Wu nodded repeatedly as he listened. Zhao Zhentang, however, asked in return, "The surface-level matters can be smoothed over, but what about what lies beneath? Do you think there will be no consequences after this?"

"If they can be killed once, they can naturally be killed a second time!" Zhao Jin's reply was very calm in tone, but utterly resolute.

Zhao Zhentang fell silent again. He stared at Zhao Jin for a moment, then turned and walked away, waving his hand as he went and saying, "From now on, make your own decisions about your own affairs. I can't control you anymore!"

Chief Constable Chen Wu quickly strode after him, laughing as he said, "This boy of yours is truly remarkable. He understands the ins and outs of these matters even better than us old hands in the public office. He's arranged everything so thoroughly. I was originally worried my eldest would just stir up trouble following him, but now I see he can learn quite a lot. In the future, you'll have to have this boy of yours look after mine more."

Zhao Zhentang turned his head to glance at Chen Wu, sighed again, and said nothing at all.

Chen Sheng, standing off to the side, was somewhat dazed and couldn't help asking, "Is it over, just like that? Is the matter settled?"

Zhao Jin curled his lip in a slight smile and said, "The official side of things is settled. What comes next is our own business."

From there, more constables and runners in white were dispatched to Cowlick's home. Cowlick's and Big-Head Huang's neighbors were all called out for questioning. Big-Head Huang's testimony was taken on the spot. Chen Wu and Zhao Zhentang kept glancing over at Zhao Jin and the others, because everything was exactly as Zhao Jin had said beforehand.

Zhao Jin and his group did not leave in a hurry, but instead helped with collecting the corpses. What surprised Zhao Jin was that the constables and runners in white were all excessively polite to him. Before, the constables of the arrest hall had treated Zhao Jin entirely with the attitude of uncles toward a nephew, while the runners in white had behaved like servants meeting a young master from another household — polite, but not particularly deferential.

But now it was completely different. Every single person wore a smile. Whenever Zhao Jin tried to lend a hand, each one told him it wasn't necessary. When they spoke, not only did they have smiles on their faces, but their backs unconsciously bent at the waist — entirely the attitude of a subordinate meeting a superior: deferential, respectful, and fearful.

After being refused several times when he tried to help, Zhao Jin stood to the side in puzzlement. Zhao Zhentang walked over with his hands clasped behind his back and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Father and son watched the bustle on the street. After a moment of silence, Zhao Zhentang spoke first: "Do you know why they're so respectful toward you?"

Without waiting for Zhao Jin to answer, Zhao Zhentang answered his own question: "These Man-Eating Leopards were true desperadoes. A dozen or so of them once routed over a hundred soldiers. The Peng family of Pei County kept more than fifty household guards, and these men broke in and slaughtered the entire household. Against such desperate bandits, the arrest hall here at the Xuzhou prefectural yamen didn't dare move against them. Chen Wu had already privately contacted several manors outside the city to prepare — if it ever came to making an arrest, those manors would send their household servants and village braves to assist."

Xuzhou had a flourishing martial tradition and fierce folkways. Armed feuds between clans and powerful families were intense, and they maintained household servants and village braves. The combat strength of these private soldiers was quite formidable — even the hereditary soldiers in the guard battalions and the runners of the various yamens were no match for them. And within Xuzhou's jurisdiction — the one prefecture and four counties of Xuzhou, Feng County, Pei County, Dangshan, and Xiao County — the men around the prefectural city of Xuzhou were the most valiant of all.

He had never imagined that capturing these few desperate bandits would require mobilizing such force. But then, thinking back to what Chen Sheng and Liu Yong had said earlier — that these outlaws had already killed quite a few village braves — deploying such a large formation did seem reasonable.

Zhao Zhentang continued: "Such troublesome and terrifying criminals, yet you led men and slaughtered them to the last. Wolves eat men, and men fear wolves. But tigers eat wolves, and men fear tigers even more. Now they fear you. They see you as a tiger."

Was he really that fearsome? Zhao Jin didn't know how to respond. Zhao Zhentang seemed very relaxed, laughing as he said, "Your old man truly can't control you anymore. Even without me to lean on now, you can still rampage unchecked through Xuzhou city."

"Father, this matter isn't that simple. The mastermind behind it still hasn't been found..." Zhao Jin felt this entire conversation was very awkward and wanted to take the initiative to explain a bit.