Chapter 1514: Lending a Hand
Chapter 1514: Chapter 1514: Lending a Hand
The man was not only cheated out of his silver coin by Elder Chen, but he was also trapped in the inn and couldn’t leave, which filled him with rage. Now seeing Elder Chen siding with Housekeeper Yang, he decided to oppose him.
Other guests staying at the inn who were also cheated out of quite a bit of silver by Elder Chen started to join in: "Yeah, Elder Chen, how can you help the Yang Family? Isn’t this openly aiding the Yang Family in using private punishment?"
Elder Chen was furious and shouted: "Everyone shut up! Do you have any say in government investigations? Get out of the way quickly, or I’ll have all of you arrested!"
Mr. Chi chuckled, "Constable Chen, quite the authority you have there. May I ask, what rank are you?"
Then he asked Xu Damin: "This Lord, you seem fair, so please tell us, is it right for Constable Chen to help the Yang Family use private punishment? If the government office really lets the Yang Family escort good register citizens back to their house for private punishment, won’t the Yang Family be able to use the same means on other citizens in the future?!"
Mr. Chi was a capable troublemaker, and his words twisted sharply, directly putting the Yang Family and the government office in a tough spot.
Xu Damin was in a difficult position; he didn’t want to offend the Yang Family, but publicly escorting good register citizens to the Yang Family was indeed inappropriate.
Housekeeper Yang shifted his gaze, glanced at Mr. Chi like he was looking at a dead man, and quickly retracted his gaze. He said to Xu Damin: "Lord, the Yang Family is a lawful household, let’s escort these two thieves back to the government office for trial."
Arguing here would only be detrimental to the Yang Family, first leaving Huang Inn, and then taking a detour back to the Yang Mansion.
Housekeeper Yang still wanted to get Er Ping and the others back to the Yang Family, no matter if they were real thieves or not; if they infiltrated the Yang Mansion, they deserved to die!
"Housekeeper Yang is right, take these two thieves to the government office!" Xu Damin breathed a sigh of relief and instructed the officials to escort Er Ping and the others to the government office.
Housekeeper Yang gave the Yang Family’s servants a look, and they released Er Ping and Xiao Erliu to let the officials take over.
Er Ping and the others were escorted out of the inn.
Mr. Chi followed them out, shouting, "Constable Chen, you’re not going to divert halfway to the Yang Family to let them use private punishment on registered citizens, are you?"
These words caused another uproar in the street.
"What? These thieves are registered citizens, not vagrants? Does the Yang Family want to take registered people to their house for punishment?"
"Didn’t the Yang Family report to the officials? The officials caught them, so they should be sent to the government office for trial, right? Why send them to the Yang Family?"
"The Yang Family has money, uses some silver, and the officials obey, this isn’t something new."
Beicang Prefecture was a chaotic mix; it was so disorderly that corpses could be seen every few days in the alleys in the city and the grasslands outside, so the people of Beicang Prefecture weren’t moved at all by the death of two thieves.
But Mr. Chi could stir things up and said, "Today the Yang Family can capture registered thieves and take them home for private punishment, will they then be able to do the same with good register citizens of the city?!"
It was this sentence again.
Even someone as calm as Housekeeper Yang couldn’t help but be enraged by these words.
But the General had instructed not to cause a scene outside, to deal with the thieves after returning to the mansion, so he disregarded these words and continued to lead people toward the government office.
The onlookers couldn’t ignore these words; they lived in the city, and what if one day the Yang Family didn’t like the look of them and dragged them into their house to kill them and dump their bodies outside the city?
Outside Beicang Prefecture, the government ignored dead bodies, after all, times were chaotic and death was common.
And business people worried that the Yang Family would target their businesses, kidnap them into their house, kill them, and take their shop.
Other families feared that their daughters and granddaughters, as beautiful as fairies, might be snatched into the Yang Family to be harmed.
In any case, everyone was scared by Mr. Chi’s words; with their own interests at stake, everyone started clamoring: "Let’s go, let’s follow them, we can’t let the Yang Family escort them back to their house halfway!"
"Right, let’s follow them, we can’t let the Yang Family harm anyone!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Damin got a bit angry and shouted, "What are you all clamoring about? These two are thieves, thieves, they’re bad people! Is it appropriate for you to be so united, full of justice, speaking on behalf of a thief?"
Though it was wrong for the Yang Family to want to escort them to their house for private punishment, the crowd siding with the thieves wasn’t very righteous either.
The onlookers said, "Lord, we’re not siding with the thieves; we’re just afraid that if this sets a precedent, those of us without the Yang Family’s wealth will suffer."
Someone else shouted, "Right, we’re good people, we don’t want to help thieves!"
Bullshit, the Northwest had been chaotic for years, and there wasn’t a single true good person in Beicang Prefecture; they were all ruthless people trying to survive and make a living.
Housekeeper Yang was infuriated but had to change his plan and have the officials escort Er Ping and the two to the government office.
Seeing that Er Ping and the others were not escorted to the Yang Family, the townsfolk left satisfied.
Housekeeper Yang looked at their dispersing backs and silently sneered: Ha, a bunch of fools, do they think this is the extent of our capabilities? Even if they enter the government office, there are still ways to torture these two thieves, then reasonably have them killed!
"Sir, those two thieves are probably not going to make it. The Yang Family clearly has someone in the government office; we just don’t know who it is."
Mr. Chi, hearing this, smiled and said, "We also have someone in the government office."
Ma Wu frowned, "Does Sir mean to save those two thieves?"
Indeed, after investigating for so long without finding any issues with the Yang Family, these two thieves accidentally exposed the Yang Family, which greatly helped them. Saving their lives could be considered as a reward.
Mr. Chi shook his head: "Whether they live or die is none of our concern... We still have business to attend to. If we act to save them now, it will alert the Yang Family and make them suspicious of our identity. We need to keep a low profile."
Ma Wu found it hard to disagree: "The way you made a splash today, the Yang Family will definitely investigate us."
Mr. Chi said, "Let them investigate; we’re just small traders from elsewhere. Even five generations back, we have names and homelands; can they find the truth?"
They’re quite skilled at hiding identities.
"Let’s go, deliver the message to Lord Ghost and see when they plan to take action and dismantle this nest?" Mr. Chi turned and left. Upon passing a mutton shop, he went in to buy two mutton cakes to eat.
Ma Wu ate the cake, unable to resist asking again: "Are we really not going to save them?"
If they didn’t save them, those two would surely die.
"They seemed capable, walked in and out with valuable things in a bundle, just suffered some injuries, but train them for a few years, they’ll be good hands."
Ma Wu thought it would be a pity for such skilled youngsters to die.
But Mr. Chi didn’t want to save Er Ping for this very reason: "Someone with such skills, could they really be ordinary thieves? If you lead them back without fully investigating, who knows if they’ll bring trouble and get us all killed."
Ma Wu was taken aback, thinking it over carefully, nodded, "Sir is right, I wasn’t thinking thoroughly."
Although it’s a pity, it’s better not to save them until everything is clear.
Mr. Chi nodded, giving half of the mutton cake he was eating to a little beggar by the roadside, then returned to Huang Inn.
Beggars in the city were great for gathering and delivering information, and this little beggar was one of theirs.