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Inside the courtyard, two men and one woman were tied with their hands behind their backs. All three knelt before Shen Tang, trembling like sieves.
"Who was it just now who said they were Heaven itself?"
Shen Tang picked up one person's chin with her stick. "Was it you?" she asked, smiling.
The person named shook his head like a rattle-drum, constantly trying to shy away backward while shaking, attempting to avoid Shen Tang's stick, yet fearing she would lash out. They didn't know how things had come to this, and after being beaten, they were completely stunned.
Shen Tang then used her stick to lift another person's chin. "Was that you?"
The person named was Laitou, who had tricked Shen Tang into coming here.
"N-no, not me—" His voice was tearful, and he spoke with a lisp, so terrified that tears were almost brimming in his eyes. It wasn't surprising he was so scared. From Shen Tang's flying kick off the wall, he hadn't even had time to fully register the pain before four or five of his upper and lower teeth were kicked out, the remaining ones rattling precariously. Blood oozing from his gums covered half his face. What happened next was like a dream: the three adults were subdued by a young girl. They had no power to resist! Thus, this scene unfolded.
"Not you either?" Shen Tang's eyes crinkled with a smile as her long stick prodded the third person, the only woman among the three. "Then was it you?"
The woman unhesitatingly betrayed Laitou, screaming sharply, "I didn't say it, I really didn't say it! Laitou said it!"
Shen Tang's gaze fell on Laitou, her eyelids slightly lowered. "Lying even when facing death, your crime is compounded!"
Upon hearing the word "death," Laitou was instantly terrified, tears and snot streaming down his face. He knelt on the ground, repeatedly kowtowing to Shen Tang, begging for mercy. He had barely kowtowed three times when she propped him up with the clothesline pole. She said indifferently: "Seeing that you show some remorse, I can give you a chance to atone. Tell me—besides me, where have all the innocent women you tricked using this method gone?" She had checked, and there were no other abducted people in the courtyard.
If I had known this, why did I go through all this trouble?
"They're... they're... they're all sold off..." Laitou was so scared his tongue wouldn't obey him, his words stumbling.
"Sold off? Sold where? How many people in total? How much money did you get in total? Confess everything, one by one!" Shen Tang sat on a small stool, her left foot resting lightly, her right knee bent, allowing her stick-holding hand to rest on her knee. Her string of interrogations made the three of them want to cry. How could they answer these questions? Not answering meant death; answering meant dying even faster.
The two men were completely at a loss, fearing that one wrong answer would earn them a smack on the head from Shen Tang. The woman, however, had a guess—she thought Shen Tang had read too many market folk tales, yearned for the life of a wandering hero, and had run out to uphold justice before she was even fully grown. Dealing with such a hothead wasn't impossible.
She looked as if she was about to burst into tears: "Little lady, you've misunderstood us. We've only made two or three mistakes, we really haven't done anything else that would harm heaven and earth."
Shen Tang sneered: "Two or three times? And one of those times you ran into me? Why don't you use that luck to buy lottery tickets?"
The woman clung to her story. "We did sell quite a few 'goods'... but we were also saving people by doing so." She cautiously watched Shen Tang's expression from the corner of her eye, and seeing no anger, she continued, "The ones we sold were all legitimately bought, their parents took the money. In these times of war, who isn't struggling? Families with many children, so many mouths to feed, how can they raise them? If we didn't buy and sell, those children would either starve to death or be given to other families to eat. Being sold, at least they have a place and food."
Shen Tang was so amused by this twisted logic that she laughed. She pressed the stick against their throats, coldly giving her ultimatum: "Stop making excuses, confess! Otherwise, I'll stab this stick right through. You've experienced my strength; I guarantee this stick will go from front to back, stringing all three of you onto one stick."
She merely applied a little pressure, leaving a dark bruise on the woman's Adam's apple, making the latter shriek in pain.
"I'll confess! I'll confess!"
"Spare our lives, brave one!"
Only then was Shen Tang slightly satisfied.
The butcher peered at the sun outside from time to time, growing increasingly anxious as he watched, nervously rubbing his hands and sighing. "Old geezer, is what you said really going to come true?"
To his surprise, the customer smiled, picked up the packed lotus leaf, gestured towards the end of the street, and laughed: "This round, I win."
The butcher poked his head out, squinting in that direction for a long time—due to his work, he started butchering before dawn, and over time, his eyes had suffered, making distant objects blurry—he squinted until his eyes almost cramped, yet still saw nothing. He only noticed a commotion in the crowd in that direction.
It wasn't until Shen Tang approached that he clearly saw what was happening. He saw the pretty little lady... no, young master, riding on the back of that beautiful mule, chewing on something, slowly sauntering back. She was leading a rope, and on the rope were strung two men and one woman—all three were beaten black and blue, limping as they walked. However, for those who frequently did business in this area, they could recognize these three damned scourges even if they were reduced to ashes.
Shen Tang returned to the tavern, resuming her seat on the small stool to wait for someone. With a flick of her fingers, three flattened, round green plum pits she had bitten off flew out, and the three men landed on their knees with three dull thuds, their knees directly hitting the ground. The muffled sounds made everyone's scalp tingle, and their knees phantom-ached.
Shen Tang pointed at the three, radiating killing intent: "Kneel, all of you."
The three swallowed their painful cries, not daring to disobey in the slightest.
Customer: "..." A hint of surprise seemed to flash in his eyes. He had expected Shen Tang to kill the thugs with ill intentions. What kind of situation was this now?
"Why didn't the young master just kill them?" The surrounding common folk, having had their fill of the spectacle, gradually dispersed. The customer stepped forward and engaged Shen Tang in conversation. Shen Tang was idly munching on green plums, complaining that Qi Shan still hadn't arrived, and turned her head to look at the speaker.
She pointed to herself: "...You called me young master?"
Customer: "Is there anything wrong with that?" His gaze lingered on the Literary Heart Signature at Shen Tang's waist for a second, then moved away.
Shen Tang: "No, no, nothing wrong! Brother, you have sharp eyes!" Everything's fine, except he's as blind as Qi Shan!
As for his previous question—
"Why didn't I kill those three? Of course, because killing is against the law. As a law-abiding citizen, a powerless artist, how could I do something so bloody? Even if they deserve to die, they should be handed over to the Xiaocheng government office for handling..."
And the real reason—
That courtyard was too remote and uninhabited. If these three were killed there, their bodies exposed and unhandled would rot and breed maggots, which would severely affect the appearance of Xiaocheng. Furthermore, it would look bad for an artist to casually kill people. So she decided to cultivate herself and abide by the law.
The customer could barely understand Shen Tang's string of complaints and said: "If they are handed over to the government office, they will be free in a few days."
Shen Tang paused her plum-eating, hesitating: "Then—should I drag them outside the city later and kill them?"