The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

The thin man's shoulder stiffened for a moment under Jiang Shaosheng's palm, then he twisted sharply, trying to break free.

But it couldn't break free.

Jiang Shaosheng's hand gripped the man's body like an iron clamp, slowly and deliberately, his five fingers slightly clenched, causing half of the man's body to go numb.

"What are you doing?"

The thin man turned around, a hint of anger on his pointed face, but his eyes darted nervously to the side.

"I've already apologized, and I didn't mean to crowd people. What more do you want?"

As he spoke, he struggled again, but still couldn't budge an inch.

The surrounding crowd began to slow down, and some people stopped to watch the spectacle.

Jiang Shaosheng ignored him and turned to look at Shen Xiangjun.

"Auntie, check if you've lost any money."

Shen Xiangjun was taken aback and subconsciously reached for her waist.

Before leaving home this morning, she divided the silver dollars and banknotes she was carrying into two portions, stuffing one portion into her inner pocket and sewing it tightly shut.

The other allowance was placed in a small cloth bag and tucked at the bottom of the bundle.

She first touched her inner pocket, and it was still there, hard as a board, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she squatted down, opened the bundle on the ground, and reached inside.

empty!

Her expression changed instantly. She turned the bundle upside down and then looked through the other bundles as well.

No.

The small cloth bag is gone.

Inside were three silver dollars and some small change, which she had prepared for use on her journey.

"Shaosheng".

She looked up, her face turning pale.

Jiang Shaosheng saw her expression and already knew what was going on.

He lowered his head, looking at the thin man in his hand, his gaze calm yet somewhat eerie.

"Take it out."

The man's eyes flashed, then he straightened his neck and raised his voice.

"Take it out? Take out what? What do you mean? Are you saying I stole your things?"

As he spoke, he twisted his body forcefully, finally breaking free from Jiang Shaosheng's grasp. He took two steps back, pointed at Jiang Shaosheng, and shouted:

"Everyone, please be the judge! I bumped into someone and apologized politely, but this person grabbed me and won't let go, even falsely accusing me of stealing!"

"I, Li Laoliu, have been in Tianjin Port for so many years, when have I ever done such a despicable thing?"

His voice was high-pitched and thin, like a chicken being slaughtered, which attracted the attention of everyone around him.

The crowd grew larger and larger, eventually forming a circle and pointing at the group of people.

"What happened? What happened?"

"They said they were catching a thief."

"Did you catch them?"

"I don't know, they're arguing right now."

Shen Xiangjun stood there, still clutching the empty bundle in her hand.

The two children clung tightly to her side. Chen Wangfei stared wide-eyed at the man with the pointed face and monkey-like features, while Chen Xueting bit her lip and glared at him hatefully.

Jiang Shaosheng took a step forward.

The man immediately took a step back, still shouting.

"Don't come any closer! I'm telling you, this is a train station, a place where the law applies. Try and lay a hand on me!"

Jiang Shaosheng stopped and glanced past him, looking out of the crowd.

He had just noticed that there was a man wearing a vest standing over there.

Sure enough, the person was walking this way.

"Make way, make way!"

A man in his thirties pushed through the crowd and walked in. He was wearing a blue cloth vest with words on the front and back. The front read "Jin Gang Station" and the back read "Station Servants".

He held a tin whistle in his hand, tied to his wrist with a thin rope.

"What's going on? What are you all doing here? Don't you know we're checking tickets?"

He had a loud, gruff voice and a businesslike demeanor.

The skinny man's eyes lit up when he saw the newcomer, and he quickly went over to him.

"Boss Liu, you've come at the right time! You be the judge!"

He pointed at Jiang Shaosheng, looking aggrieved.

"This man won't let go of me, insisting that I stole his things. I was just crowding around his aunt when there were too many people around, and I apologized politely, but he still won't let it go."

"I, Li Laoliu, have been hanging around here for so many years, you know me. When have I ever done such a thing?"

The guard sized him up and down, then glanced at Jiang Shaosheng, a flicker of something in his eyes that he quickly concealed.

He walked up to Jiang Shaosheng and shook the whistle in his hand.

"You say he stole something, do you have any evidence?"

Jiang Shaosheng looked at him and said slowly:

"My aunt lost her money; he just bumped into her."

"Squeezing in is stealing?"

The man standing there glanced back at the thin man, then turned back again.

"Okay, I'll search for it."

As he spoke, he walked up to the thin man, reached out and patted him haphazardly a few times—his chest, back, and cuffs—as if dusting him off, without even turning over his clothes.

Then he turned around and spread his hands.

"no."

A buzzing sound arose from the surrounding crowd.

The guard looked at Jiang Shaosheng with a hint of impatience on his face.

"Alright, there's nothing on you. You've made a scene enough. It's time to check your tickets. Hurry up and go, don't delay things."

Jiang Shaosheng stood there, his gaze slowly sliding from the face of the man standing there to the face of the thin man, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

That smile was faint, yet it inexplicably made the soldier feel a little uneasy.

"Brother."

Jiang Shaosheng spoke.

"Your search method is quite fast."

Zhan Ding's expression changed.

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

Jiang Shaosheng took a step forward, and was only two steps away from the soldier.

He was a head taller than the soldier, standing there looking down at him.

The man standing there instinctively took a step back, then realized he had retreated. Feeling embarrassed, he stepped forward again, stiffening his neck, and said:

"What do you think you're doing? Let me tell you, this is a train station, not a place for you to run wild."

Shen Xiangjun watched from the side, feeling increasingly uneasy.

She wasn't stupid; how could she not see the way the soldier and the skinny man were exchanging glances?

But she looked down at the two children beside her.

Then she thought that it was because she hadn't paid attention, and she couldn't let her nephew be dragged down.

She gritted her teeth, took a step forward, and tugged at Jiang Shaosheng's sleeve.

"Shaosheng, forget it."

She whispered, "The money is gone, but at least everyone's alright. The train's about to leave, let's go."

Jiang Shaosheng turned around and looked at Shen Xiangjun.

Jiang Shaosheng understood what she meant.

What she didn't know was that those three silver dollars were almost half a month's worth of food for her uncle's family.

Moreover, if this matter is left unresolved, then everyone will be able to side with the aunt and think that this family is easy to bully.

The journey is still long, and he cannot be sure whether he will encounter such a situation again.

Jiang Shaosheng gently patted Shen Xiangjun's hand and whispered, "Don't worry, Aunt, I'm here."

The voice was steady, and as Shen Xiangjun listened, her unease subsided somewhat.

Jiang Shaosheng turned around and took another step forward.

The man standing guard was forced to take another step back, this time even further than before, almost bumping into the onlookers behind him.

His face flushed red, and he gripped the whistle tightly in his hand: "What...what do you want to do?"

"I don't want to do anything."

Jiang Shaosheng looked down at him.

"I just wanted to ask, who were you looking at those few searches for?"

Zhan Ding's face turned even redder:

"I searched him according to regulations. He didn't have it on him, that's all!"

"Regulation?"

Jiang Shaosheng nodded, then suddenly reached out and pointed to the thin man's sleeve.

"When you searched him, his cuffs were bulging; did you find anything?"

The thin man's expression changed, and he subconsciously pulled his hands back into his sleeves.

Zhan Ding was stunned for a moment, then reacted, and said angrily, "Stop spouting nonsense! What someone has in their sleeve is none of your business! Maybe it's their own stuff!"

"Your own things?"

Jiang Shaosheng looked at him with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Then I'd like to ask, how do you know it's his own without even looking at what's in his sleeve?"

Zhan Ding was choked and speechless.

A low chuckle rippled through the surrounding crowd.