Chapter 124
January 29, 2018
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Edited by my lovely editor Namoyo
The madam cried out: "Oh great Sir, please save me!" As expected of a Qi Pract.i.tioner, she has not pa.s.sed out from the pain yet.
Upon looking at the b.l.o.o.d.y scene and hearing that she would be next, Fu Rong shouted out in alarm “Help …” However she was choked out mid-sentence.
"Stop, let go of Fu Rong!" The pavilion got rowdy once again.
Crowds had gathered along the railings of the entire building. Looking upon this rare commotion, they burst into chatter and discussion.
"Isn’t the Eagle Wolf Guard the backer of the pavilion? Why are they going against each other today!?" Walls have ears, and given the pavilion’s dirty dealings in town, the pavilion would have closed down ages ago without the protection and cover provided by the Eagle Wolf Guard. After all, people with discerning eyes are everywhere.
"That punk hit Fu Rong!"
"What? How dare he!" Many seethed with rage. To them, Fu Rong was the G.o.ddess of their dreams. Even if she was miles out of their reach, they would not let others bully her.
"Look at this! Fu Rong is currently being strangled by that punk!" This caused a burst of outrage. Fu Rong’s grimaced. Pain and suffering filled her beautiful face. The scene was heart-broking, and onlookers couldn’t help but feel a stinging pain within their chests.
"Ah Ning!" Even though Diao Fei had been smacked awake by Qing Shan and saw Fu Rong’s true appearance, he still felt somewhat confused and seduced. He fiercely bit down on his own tongue to clear his mind.
Fu Rong’s cry for help spurred into action several martial artists. Even the non-martial artists started cursing and scolding Qing Shan. A tsunami of voices raged throughout the pavilion, issuing a call to arms against Qing Shan: “Put down Miss Fu Rong, else I will not let you die a pleasant death!”
"Hmph, nothing but a group of fools!" Li Qingshan coldly harrumphed. His voice was not loud but it easily overwhelmed the raging tsunami, and echoed within the heads of all around him.
He only looked at Zhao Liang Qing: "Are you going to release her now?" The sabre (it’s more like an Odachi… but its Chinese. Should be called a long sabre but that’s quite a mouthful.) in his hand already placed horizontally against the Madam’s neck.
Zhao Liang Qing’s hands quivered as he released Qing Xiu. She rubbed her sore shoulders and quickly trotted over to Li Qing Shan’s side, carefully avoiding pools of blood on the ground. Qing Xiu glanced over at the Madam’s predicament. Despite knowing that the Madam had done many evil deeds and had caused the death of many of her sisters, she felt a pang of pity in her heart.
Looking back at Qing Shan, he showed no sign of emotional fluctuation. His lips slowly curled into a cruel grin. Since he was going to become a hero, of course he would need to have greater determination than that of normal people. Punishing criminals and purging evil was after all one of the world’s most satisfying things to do.
"Li Qing Shan, what are you doing!?" Zhuo Zhi Bo angrily rushed in, followed by Qian Rong Zhi and a handful of other Eagle Wolf Guard members. Seeing the scene at the pavilion, they were taken aback.
Zhuo Zhi Bo thought to himself that his scheme’s perfection lied in the fact that even if Qing Shan did not take the bait, he would not be blamed. He had so kindly instructed for his men to bring Qing Shan to a brothel for enjoyment. How can anyone possibly accuse him of ill-treatment? Even if Qing Shan really had some relation with Gu Yan Ying, there is no way that he could tell her that he was tricked, or something bad happened when he was visiting a brothel. Li Qing Shan would only end up walking a path to death if he fell for the trap, and even if he did not he would still have to suffer in silence. Taking all this into account, this plan could be considered airtight and nothing short of perfection.
In actuality, if not for Qing Xiu, besides slapping Fu Rong in the face, Li Qing Shan could only endure his anger and seek revenge another day. However with Qing Xiu as an excuse, he is determined to stir up a storm for Zhuo Zhi Bo. Qing Shan wanted to show Zhi Bo - since you dared to set a trap, I will tear this place down.
Zhao Liang Qing said: "Commander Zhuo, is this the way your Eagle Wolf Guard does things? If you do not pay for our services then so be it! You lot still dare to meddle into our business and seek trouble!"
"Is that so? That is simply overly bullying people!"
“Pavilion leaders, what are you going to do?"
"Quickly release Fu Rong! If you harm a single hair on Fu Rong’s head, I’ll cut you into a thousand pieces! "
Not paying for escort services? That is a lot of dirt on someone’s name. If he had to bear such a bad reputation, Qing Shan would not be able to continue living in Jia Ping City. Acting as if he was not the one who ordered Ge Jian to bring Qing Shan here in the first place. Zhuo Zhi Bo also gave a solemn look: "Qing Shan, is that true?"
"No it’s not true! They …” Qing Xiu raised her voice and tried explaining the truth while behind Qing Shan, but was slowly covered by the sea of voices.
Li Qing Shan didn’t bother spouting nonsense. With a pop, he inserted the long sabre into the Madam’s heart and then pulled it back out without a single bloodstain on it.
You scold me, I hit the madam. You hit me, I also hit the madam. You falsely ruin my reputation, then I’ll simply kill the Madam.
"You ... ..." Zhao Liang Qing became furious. Li Qing Shan then casually placed the knife on Fu Rong’s neck, and said to himself: "One down, one to go!" He then kicked the huge body down the stairs. A kill is a kill, take it while he can.
The entire pavilion knew of the madam. Who did not know of this ruthless and cunning fat woman? She operated in the city of Jia Ping for many years, from ushering to entertaining guests, she has always been in charge of operations in the pavilion, a famous person to say the least. Yet now she was just killed in one swift thrust of a sabre, becoming another corpse.
The surrounding instantly turned quiet. Everyone wanted to ask, who is this youth? Why was he so ruthless?
Zhuo Zhi Bo did not think that Li Qing Shan would dare to be so daring in front of him. He was anger filled his chest, if not considering a certain person, he would not let this be. Qian Rong Zheng grew a shred of fear in her heart. That youth that just killed whilst chatting with a smile on his face was not like the other men she met in her life, and was definitely not that easy to deal with.
When Li Qing Shan pulled Fu Rong up, Zhao Liang Qing finally could not help but cry out: "You dare?" That was his cash cow. The foundation of the entire pavilion practically lied on her body. If the madam died, a replacement could be sought. If Fu Rong died, the entire pavilion might as well close down.
Li Qing Shan turned to Zhuo Zhi Bo and said: " Commander Zhuo, this pavilion is filled with plenty of filth. Forcing young girls to become escorts! The young girl beside me is a witness, please take charge and administer justice accordingly!”
Zhao Liang Qing also looked over at Zhi Bo, seemingly to say, “Remember the volumes of medicine that I gift you every year.”
This situation gave Zhuo Zhi Bo a great headache. Amongst everyone, he was the one that dabbled into the most matters, yet afraid to harm his own interests no matter what action he took. He was originally planning on using his authority and power to peacefully enjoy his golden years. Asking him to take the risk to kill Li Qing Shan was something he would never dare to do. But if he agreed with Li Qing Shan’s views, then he would only be slapping himself in his own face and cutting off a source of wealth.
Li Qing Shan saw through his mentality, savagely giving him a check. Needless to say, The reason he dared to take such a gamble under the threat of two strong Qi Pract.i.tioners had a direct relation to his own indomitable personal strength.
Even in the worst case scenario, he could just escape with his own hidden strength. Just releasing a bit of Demonic Qi would enable him to easily escape from this place. However evidently, it seemed his concerns were excessive.
Zhuo Zhi Bo said earnestly: "Qing Shan, you are too impulsive, this case is up to the magistrate level. It’s not up to me to decide!”
Zhao Liang Qing looked at Zhuo Zhi Bo incredulously, thinking, “because of your scheme, I have lost so many, yet you brush it off as impulsive?”
Zhuo Zhi Bo immediately stared back fiercely, reminding Zhao Liang Qing that there was a difference in strength and authority between them. This left Liang Qing to swallow his own broken teeth ( idiom to represent the unwilling acceptance of one’s injuries). “What a great move by Zhuo Zhi Bo!”, thought Liang Qing sarcastically.
"This judge is here! Whatever cases you may have, feel free to speak up!”
At this moment, Zhou Wen Bin stepped into the pavilion in his bright red ceremonial clothes.
"Lord Zhou!" "Lord Zhou has arrived!"
In the pavilion, no matter the civilians or the n.o.ble guests, all kneeled before the man. They kneeled wholeheartedly. In their eyes, there was not only fear due to his power, but also pa.s.sionate respect due to his conduct.
Li Qing Shan realised only then, that Zhou Wen Bin commanded such respect from the citizens of the city. He deduced that the piece of paper that Qing Xiu had stuffed into his hand could possibly be requesting him to approach this Zhou Wen Bin for help.
Zhou Wen Bin alone earned more respect than that of Zhuo Zhi Bo and his group. He gently said: “Everyone please rise.”
Zhou Wen Bin glanced at Zhuo Zhi Bo, then looked at Qing Shan. He knew about the huge mess that occured in the pavilion at the very first moment. Not only did he know, but he even deduced clearly the sequence of events that occurred as well as the scheme that Zhuo Zhi Bo had devised. Looking at Li Qing Shan, he thought to himself: "This kid is really a genius at stirring trouble, throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel, he managed to put Zhuo Zhi Bo in a spot.”
Zhuo Zhi Bo coldly said: "Lord Zhou sure came in at the right time!"
Zhou Wen Bin laughed: "That is true, that is true!" Waving his sleeves, he seemingly floated to Qing Shan and asked despite knowing: “Qing Shan, what may you be doing?”
"She had some grievances. I wanted to take her to the county hall to meet you my lord, but I did not think there would be villains blocking the road. I thought to myself, since I am an Eagle Wolf Guard, I should be honourable, awe-inspiring and just. Purging evil, punishing these villains and serving the people should be my responsibility, so why should I be scared of these second rate thugs? Hence, I accidentally killed a few. My lord, please be the judge to this situation” Li Qing Shan then pulled Qing Xiu from behind him and pa.s.sed the note in his hand to Zhou Wen Bin.
Those idioms instantly triggered Zhuo Zhi Bo. His eyebrows twitched incessantly and he cursed and swore in his mind, wanting to do nothing but cut down Qing Shan.
"This one originated from the town of Yu Er Gou. I was playing at a riverside seven years ago when I was kidnapped and brought here…” Qing Xiu bowed respectfully and her speech became more fluent, she had obviously been rehearsing this speech numerous times in her heart.
Zhao Liang Qing said: "My lord, this is slander! We bought this girl for 20 silver, we even have a receipt as proof. She only wants to escape which is why she came up with such lies to deceive you.”
Qing Xiu retorted: "No that’s not true, I am not, you are the one lying…”
Zhou Wen Bin raised his hand to quell the dispute, "This lord will certainly investigate this case thoroughly and will neither wrong an innocent man nor let a guilty man off.”
Under his orders, 20 over men filed in orderly. Even though they were not Qi Pract.i.tioners, they were highly skilled at martial arts. Under Qing Xiu’s supervision, they went off to rescue the other girls, but after a while of searching, they returned empty handed. Clearly, the girls had long been moved away.
"My lord please oversee this matter!" Zhao Liang Qing then took a receipt from a lackey which clearly showed that Qing Xiu was bought for 20 silver by the pavilion.
On the verge of tears, Qing Xiu cried out desperately, "My lord, I did not lie!"
Zhou Wen Bin gently said: "Do not worry, I will send someone to your hometown to investigate." In his mind, he was clear that these kind places that sheltered filth and bred evil were definitely not clean. It was evident who was speaking the truth.