Chapter 181

As soon as the screams rang out, the customers nearby hurriedly scrambled to escape but found themselves blocked by the wall of people in front of them, turning back with wide eyes.

In the Central Plain, where knife fights were part of everyday life, the strategy was to run first and then stand back at a safe distance to watch as a spectator.

If you avoid watching a fight, can you really call yourself a martial world individual?

In the hastily cleared open space, Qing stood firmly clutching a man’s wrist.

“Ahhh!”

“Look at your hands! Anyone who steals from others deserves to lose a wrist. The national law is strict, you know. Is that right? Huh?”

He spat it out so smoothly, but honestly, I have no idea if that’s actually the law in the Central Plain.

Qing turned to Pang Dae-san for confirmation.

Pang Dae-san shook his head.

“There’s no such law.”

“Oh. Come on! If only you had said that a bit earlier. It’s already halfway cut off!”

Once Qing let go, the man kept screaming, holding onto his ragged wrist.

He tried to grasp it tightly but touched it, causing a surge of pain that left him hopping around, looking quite pitiful.

Should’ve just lopped it off clean.

Now he was left with just a string of skin hanging on below, having turned his wrist to mush.

With a hint of sympathy, Qing said,

“Want me to just chop it off completely? If it’s too painful, I can do that.”

“What… what is this? Why, why!”

“Because you were fiddling with someone else’s bag. Hey, miss? I saw this guy groping through your bag. You should be careful.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve never done such a thing—”

“Quiet!”

*Bang!!* Out of nowhere, the Magic Flute came crashing down on the pickpocket’s crown.

The sheer authority of that blow left the pickpocket’s eyes rolling back, gazing somewhere deep inside his own skull.

“Now, where are we?”

Qing skillfully rummaged through the now-unconscious corpse and pulled out a pouch tied to the man’s waist.

Inside was a fancy headpiece adorned with petite pearls and rubies.

It was what Qing had seen the guy snatch.

“Isn’t this from your belongings, miss? I saw this guy take it.”

But the woman’s reaction was odd.

Her pupils were shaking violently, and her complexion had gone pale as she couldn’t take her eyes off the headpiece, staring at it blankly.

“Miss?”

“It… it’s not mine.”

“Huh? But I saw him take it. Unless… are you scared it might be damaged or something?”

“Ha! So you intend to insult me? Gongson Yo-ye of the Gongson family lies out of fear? Is that how you see it?”

The woman suddenly gripped the hilt of her sword, her voice cold as if she were actually ready to draw it.

“No, that’s not it. I was just saying I clearly saw him steal it, and since you said it’s not yours…”

“I told you, it’s not mine! Before being a woman, I am a martial warrior; such ornaments are for weak women!”

Certainly, her plain martial attire and completely unadorned face showed that the only styling she had was a simple string holding her hair back, with no decorations to speak of.

But she was pretty.

They say a plain-faced beauty is a true beauty, after all.

However, she didn’t quite fit the image of someone who would own something as extravagant as the headpiece.

“I must have seen it wrong. How odd.”

“Just throw away that worthless thing; it has no owner.”

“No, we have to find the owner first before discarding it.”

“Then you can do as you please. Either way, it’s not mine, so I’m leaving.”

And with that, she walked off nonchalantly.

As Qing stood there in disbelief, Pang Dae-san asked,

“Are you sure you didn’t missee anything?”

“I didn’t! I clearly saw it. When someone takes something this fancy, it’s gotta be valuable.”

At that moment, the pickpocket shouted angrily.

“You! You! You’ve dared to ruin the arm of an innocent person! National law, huh? Fine! Let’s do it by the law! Go for it!”

“Ha! This punk suddenly got all cocky. What did you do right as a thief to act like that? You should’ve had your head smashed!”

“Oh! This girl is accusing an innocent person! Ahh! My arm! Patrol officer! Patrol officer!”

Qing couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’s this? A thief calling for the patrol? And I’ve never seen a guy looking for patrol officers while living in the Central Plain. Pang, have you ever seen a patrol do their job?”

It wasn’t a genuine question of curiosity.

It was more like a continuation of his laughter.

In a world where the five lowest professions were well-known, it was openly said that even the officials above them were just milking life for easy profits without doing anything.

“At least the patrols do exist.”

“Exist?”

“The patrols here are something.”

Pang Dae-san, shaded by his straw hat, wore a smug smile.

“What’s that? What are they doing?”

“In Gaebong, even patrols are respected. Didn’t I tell you, they worship the shrine of the great patrol officer?”

No sooner had Pang Dae-san finished speaking than soldiers clad in black uniforms with “patrol” boldly emblazoned on their backs surged through the crowd, surrounding them and raising their spears.

Qing scanned the faces and realized that the highest crime rate among them didn’t even exceed thirty points.

“Miss, this is real.”

Just then, a man in similar clothing and a golden belt stepped out from among the patrol officers.

“What’s all this ruckus?”

“Sir! It’s unfair! This woman suddenly sliced my wrist and is bullying me into being a thief. How can such an injustice happen in this world?”

“No, this thief—”

“Enough. Hmm. How did you injure this innocent person? If you say he’s a thief, do you have any evidence to prove it?”

“I clearly saw him stealing it!”

“Lies! Everyone heard and saw! That was a treasure I saved up to give my wife!”

“No, that guy is just lying—”

“Stop it. If you say you saw it, where is the owner of the lost item?”

“Huh? That is…”

Qing hesitated.

The real owner had already claimed it wasn’t hers and stormed off.

How strange to have such a person about.

Just because she had a decent face, she thought she could act all above it.

As Qing stammered, the man in the golden belt shook his head.

“I will arrest you for robbery and assault. If you have grievances, you can explain them at the station later. Are you willing to come along quietly?”

“Come along” referred to the thick, red-dyed rope used to tie up a prisoner’s arms.

If the prisoner behaved, only the arms would be tied; if they resisted fiercely, they might even be dragged away with it around their necks.

In short, by asking someone to come quietly, it meant that if they didn’t want to see that, they should comply without putting up a fight.

Pang Dae-san stifled a laugh as he spoke.

“If it’s about the Gongson family, it’s not hard to find them. They’ll come, so you just stay put and wait. Well, even if things go sideways, you’d just get a beating or two.”

Pang Dae-san’s warm words of comfort to Qing, who had just been shackled, were anything but comforting.

Qing gritted his teeth.

Pang, this guy, that’s why you have no friends.

—-

His surname was Po, his name was Jeong, and his courtesy name was Hee-in.

So, he was called Po Jeong or Po Hee-in, a past famous prime minister, known for his integrity and fairness.

He was revered as the greatest virtuous official in Chinese history, held in lasting respect, and the shrine honoring him was a place every official had to visit at least once to aspire to his ideals.

That shrine was set to burn under the red people’s collective will in the future, but even after the flames, it would remain an undeniable enigma in the hearts of the Chinese people.

How could a person dealing with state affairs be so incorrupt? Were they a lunatic, or just a fool?

That’s why people called him Po Cheong-cheon.

Cheong-cheon refers to a clear sky with no clouds, symbolizing how Po Jeong’s administration was said to be transparent and pure.

But was Qing troubled by this? Not really.

Unless it’s a treason charge, all punishments under national law could be exchanged for money.

This process was called “sokhyeong,” which meant washing away sin with cash.

They could even replace a death sentence with a pile of gold.

That’s exactly why Pang Dae-san made that little joke as Qing was being dragged off.

After all, all you had to do was pay up, and if you had the financial strength like that of a martial family, it wasn’t even a heavy price to pay.

“Your companion has paid the fine, so you’re free to go.”

The young man who had dragged Qing in, the Gaebong District Patrol Officer, opened the prison door and said.

“What was the verdict? How much was it?”

“Five lashes and sixty coins.”

“No way, that’s really cheap.”

For having rendered a man’s wrist absolutely useless, the fine was surprisingly low.

After investigation, the man had been found guilty as a pickpocket, and since he was also guilty of a serious crime, that made the verdict reasonable.

The lashes were a mild punishment involving a sturdy bamboo stick that would smack the butt for a good whack.

For men, they’d strip down to their underwear and whack away at the back, but for women, they didn’t take it that far.

Five lashes would leave ten lines on each cheek and that was it.

The public shame of being beaten in front of onlookers was far more punishing than the pain itself.

“Please try to restrain yourselves from now on. No matter how wicked the opponent is, if individuals take matters into their own hands, how will the laws of the country uphold themselves?”

“Humph, is there a law anywhere in the Central Plain other than here? It’s no wonder they say martial individuals act as thugs to maintain order.”

Qing replied sharply after being locked in a cold cell for two nights.

He was angrier about the miserable meals rather than his captivity.

According to national law, prisoners got two meals a day, but the portions were scant and tasteless, with no extras allowed.

“Ahem. Not every official is like that.”

The Patrol Officer coughed uncomfortably as he said this.

Even as he spoke, it was a feeble excuse.

Once outside, Pang Dae-san grinned.

“Perhaps letting it go would have been better?”

“Sixty coins is pretty much what I have! Miss, who on earth was that woman? Why did I even help her?”

If that woman from the Gongson family had just stated the truth, Qing wouldn’t have needed to spend two whole days in jail.

“Still, you did get a nice headpiece out of it. The pearls and rubies are genuine without a single fake mix, it’s quite the treasure. Having snagged that in just two days was quite a deal.”

Pang Dae-san said this while tossing the headpiece up in the air.

When Qing caught it and looked it over, it was indeed beautiful.

Still a bit too flashy for his master.

Should he take it to Jang Myung instead?

“Ugh. I’m starving. Even as a criminal, this isn’t right! Why serve food that no dog would eat?”

“You probably licked your plate clean.”

“Ha, were you watching? You got it spot on! Next time, sneak me some dumplings instead.”

Sadly, Pang Dae-san’s inner strength wasn’t quite famed enough to accomplish that.

This body is, after all, the recognized horror show, acknowledged by the mighty Je-gal Lee-hyun, the legendary figure known to create debates that leave everyone in awe.

Saying that, “You debate like a dog,” is actually a compliment.

It’s the maximum respect a loser can give the winner during a debate.

As they merrily bantered back on their way to the tavern, they encountered quite a surprise.

Dogs bark when you call their name, but the muscle-bound Je-gal and Tang Nan-ah sprinted over as if they’d just been summoned.

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