Xuanxia

Chapter 91: Ding Mao Year
In the nineteenth year of Qianhao in Dayan, the year was Dingmao, the fifth day of March, and the day according to the sexagenary cycle was Dingsi, a suitable time for burial.

It has been more than a month since the beginning of spring, and the spring spirit is getting stronger, with new buds sprouting on the trees and a slight moisture after the rain.

Outside the government office of Wanshi Town in eastern Shu, there was a sudden deafening cry, startling a group of little birds.

"Sir! It's unfair! It's unfair! My son couldn't possibly kill anyone!"

An old woman knelt in front of the steps of the yamen, crying so hard that she was out of breath, banging her head against the stairs, her white hair disheveled and her forehead covered in blood.

There were many relatives around her who were also crying and shouting. Some men even wanted to rush into the yamen, but were held back by the cold-faced yamen runners with long sticks.

But there was no sympathy at all for the old woman and her relatives around her. There were even a few groups of people in mourning who were crying even louder in the crowd.

"Son! Did you see it in heaven? The murderer has been brought to justice!"

"He killed so many people, he deserves to be cut into pieces!"

"My Lord! Kill him! Kill him!"

While there was chaos outside the yamen, in the court, a middle-aged man with lifeless eyes and limp as mud was being carried away by two yamen runners. He was covered in blood, with disheveled hair, and seemed to have lost his soul.

In the court, the magistrate stroked his long beard, frowned, and looked at the crowd who were crying and making a fuss outside the yamen gate.

"Here comes someone."

He said in a deep voice: "The case of Zhou Lesheng's brutal murder of Wu Dachun, Li Dao, Cai Zhen and nine others has been decided. People outside the hall are not allowed to make noise without reason, otherwise they will be beaten with sticks!"

The yamen runner in the hall raised his eyebrows slightly, paused and swung his stick: "Yes!"

The magistrate stormed out amid the chaotic crying outside the hall, while the yamen runners strode out of the hall with ferocious looks on their faces.

"you!"

The leading yamen runner came to the front of the crowd and shouted angrily at the crying old woman and others outside the hall: "Leave immediately, or don't blame us for being rude!"

The old woman kowtowed until she had no strength left. She half-crouched on the stone steps, raised her head, revealed a pair of blood-red eyes, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "You want to kill my son, why not just beat me to death with a stick now!"

The relatives around her also started crying.

"How could my cousin kill someone? He just had a baby last month. There's no need for that!"

"It's unfair! It must be unfair!"

As these people started making a commotion, the family members of the murder victims in the crowd became very angry.

"What an injustice!"

Someone jumped out and yelled, "That bastard Zhou Lesheng comes to my house every day to collect debts. He beat my brother so hard that he can't even get out of bed! Zhou even kidnapped my sister-in-law and sold her! Who else could it be if he didn't kill her!"

"Well said!" Another woman echoed, "My neighbor just owed a few hundred coins, and Zhou Lesheng chased him in the street with a knife! He fell and broke his hand! He must be the murderer!"

The crowd was so excited that they drowned out the cries of the old woman and her relatives.

But the old woman was also a shrew. When she heard people talking about her son, her face changed and she turned around and yelled at the crowd, "It's only right to pay back debts!"

"They owed Master Gu money, so why don't they ask for repayment? My son is just doing things for Master Gu, what's wrong with that?"

Her scolding made the crowd even angrier, and some of the hot-tempered ones even wanted to rush up and fight.

Zhou Lesheng's relatives were not to be outdone and responded with their fists.

"Hey! What are you doing! What are you doing!"

The chief of the policemen was furious and waved his hand: "How disgraceful it is to make noise and fight in front of the hall! Beat them up!"

The killing stick came with great force and hit the back of the man who made the loudest noise, causing him to scream in pain.

Several yamen runners held sticks and walked into the crowd, hitting those who were making the most noise and the most furious with sticks. This trick really worked, and the crowd dispersed immediately. The people who were watching the fun just came to watch the show, and no one wanted to be beaten for no reason, so they turned around and ran away; the relatives of the deceased now saw the murderer brought to justice, and their knot was no longer in their hearts. They were just dissatisfied with the old woman crying out for justice for her son, so when the yamen runners came to drive them away, they also scattered.

On the contrary, the old woman and her relatives were extremely tough - when they saw the yamen runners coming to beat them, they did not retreat but advanced instead. Several men rushed forward to meet the yamen runners with sticks, as if they wanted to fight against them!
But ordinary people are ordinary people after all. No matter how cruel they are, they cannot be crueler than the yamen runners wearing police uniforms and holding sticks.

"You still dare to disrupt the government office?"

The captain was so angry that he blew his beard and glared: "Beat them all hard!"

When he shouted, the old woman in front of the steps started crying louder.

She slapped the ground, pulled at her collar, and cried hoarsely, "Son! This world is so unfair! Those people in the government office took money and want to harm us! Damn it! They all deserve to die!"

"Especially the county magistrate, he is a jerk who can give birth to a son without an asshole..."

This shout made the captain very angry.

"Dare to scold my brother-in-law?!"

He didn't care about anything else, swung the killing stick in his hand, and hit the old woman hard on the forehead!
Just as the stick was about to smash his brain and stain the government office with blood, a hand suddenly reached out from somewhere and lightly placed under the stick.

The powerful blow hit my palm, but it was like a drop in the ocean, and there was no movement at all.

The captain was startled and looked sideways.

I saw a handsome young man standing beside me, looking at me with a smile.

The young man looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, and his appearance and dress were a bit strange. He was wearing a dark blue Taoist robe, but he did not wear a Taoist bun or a Taoist hat. He even had a large wooden bow on his back. He did not look like a Taoist priest, but more like a hunter who stole the Taoist priest's clothes.

"You are..."

As soon as the captain spoke, he heard the young man laughing and said, "I am Fu Qingzhou, a disciple of Wuwei Temple. Your county magistrate asked me to help investigate this case. Don't you know?"

"What a mess?" The captain frowned: "When..."

He was halfway through his words when he suddenly saw a strange look in the young man's eyes, and a strange power seemed to spread from his pupils. However, in the blink of an eye, the captain's expression calmed down and then he smiled.

"Oh yes, yes!"

He seemed to suddenly remember something, and said in a daze: "That's right! That's right!"

"That's right." Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "Just drive these people away, stop fighting - take me to see the magistrate."

"Yes."

Everyone nodded.

It all happened so quickly that neither the yamen runners nor the people making the noise realized what was happening.

But the next moment, they all felt their minds go blank, their faces turned blank, and the fighting between them stopped, as if they had forgotten what they were doing at the same time.

Then the bailiffs put away their clubs with a friendly look and said to the rioters, "Alright, let's go."

"Oh, okay." The old woman was the first to get up, with the tears from her eyes still fresh on her face, and she was the first to turn around and leave.

The same went for the rest of the relatives. They followed the old woman, each of them walking away briskly as if nothing had happened, with bruises all over their bodies from being beaten with sticks.

The crowd not far away who were trying to eat the whole melon were all stunned.

They just watched as the two groups of people who had almost splattered blood within five steps just dispersed so easily.

As for Fu Qingzhou, who created this miracle...he had already followed the captain into the yamen.

(End of this chapter)