Chapter 103: Chapter 103: You Chose This Yourself

Huangfu Jingchen’s lips twitched, but he said nothing.

For some reason, he found Xia Wenjin’s mischievousness quite… endearing.

Xia Wenjin didn’t realize that at this moment Huangfu Jingchen thought she was being mischievous. She strode over, wrapped a silver thread around one of the strong men’s wrists, then tied his ankles with several loops before moving on to the next one.

As she walked, she said, “Don’t underestimate this thread. Although it’s thin, if they don’t want their hands or feet, they can struggle as much as they like, but wherever they pull, that’s where it’ll break!”

Huangfu Jingchen’s gaze grew deeper. Was she bluffing? When she tied it around the sparrow’s leg before, and pulled so hard, didn’t the sparrow’s leg remain unbroken?

Xia Wenjin’s hands were quick and deft, and soon she had everyone tied up with “five flowers binding”.

Then, she straightened up, clapped her hands, and said, “All done!”

“My hand, my hand’s broken!” Suddenly, a scream pierced the air.

The two looked over at the sound. Sure enough, the first man who had been tied had tried something sneaky. At this moment, the thread had cut deeply into his flesh, with blood streaming freely.

Xia Wenjin sneered, “Your hand isn’t broken yet, but if you keep struggling and exerting force, even your bones will snap.”

The strong man was in so much pain that tears flowed continuously, but after hearing Xia Wenjin’s words, he raised his wrist up, not daring to move, even as the blood from his wrist dripped onto the ground, almost forming a line of bloody rain.

Xia Wenjin leisurely walked over to Mountain Goat Beard and smilingly said, “Alright, now you can’t escape either, so it’s time to tell us where the person you kidnapped is?”

Mountain Goat Beard’s face turned ashen, and he said, “How did you find us here?”

Xia Wenjin remarked, “You were too careless. When you kidnapped Butcher Zhang’s daughter, you left too many traces on the cliff face, so I knew you didn’t come by land, but sailed downstream by boat after tying the person. Although you thought you covered your tracks well and left no evidence, whatever people do, it can’t remain undiscovered. Enough nonsense, where’s the person?”

Mountain Goat Beard said, “Sold!”

“So quickly sold off, who are you trying to fool?”

Mountain Goat Beard wore a sorrowful expression. His eyes were still stinging painfully, and after shedding buckets of tears, he finally managed to open his eyes a crack. Knowing now that the jig was up, he responded straightforwardly, “She really was sold. She was bound and before even reaching me, she was handed over halfway. She was a maiden, sold for fifty taels of silver. The silver is still in my pocket. Where are you from, hero? I don’t want a single coin of the silver, just let us go, okay?”

Xia Wenjin, with a half-smile, said, “Letting you go is possible, but you must tell us about how you and Liu San collaborated, and while in River Mouth Village alone you’ve kidnapped seven or eight women, there must be more from other villages, right? What about those women?”

In a panic, Mountain Goat Beard replied, “They were sold too!” He anxiously added, “They were all ordered goods, and we sold them as soon as we got them, never keeping them overnight.”

“Who did you sell them to?” Xia Wenjin’s eyes were dark and filled with coldness.

Mountain Goat Beard saw her gaze and felt some fear in his heart. He hesitated and said, “The people had their faces covered, showing only their eyes when they picked up the goods. They always paid promptly, and I don’t know who they are.”

Beside them, Huangfu Jingchen’s breath was visible, the air around them turning much colder. In this world, there were actually such fiends who, for a few stinking coins, didn’t consider others’ lives as lives—treating women as commodities, kidnapping and trafficking them. Such people deserved to die!

“Truly don’t know?” The ice in Xia Wenjin’s eyes was already solidifying.

“I… I truly don’t know… oh, I know, I know… they said it was something called Qingy Building, Hua… Cui Hua Building!”

Xia Wenjin revealed him, “Didn’t you say they covered their faces, showing only their eyes to pick up the goods? Then how do you know about Qingy Building and even Cui Hua Building?”

Tears streamed down Mountain Goat Beard’s face again, whether it was due to the chili powder or urgency, he babbled, “They were the ones who told me. They told me themselves!”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Not long, just a month… no, a year, over a year…”

“How many women did you kidnap?”

“Four, four or five… no, ten-odd… no, over thirty… really only over thirty!”

Xia Wenjin squinted, lost in thought for a moment, then said to Huangfu Jingchen, “You go ahead, I’ll take them to the government, then I’ll come find you.”

Huangfu Jingchen replied, “I’ll go with you to hand them over!”

Mountain Goat Beard and his group’s faces were ashen. They were delighted and cheerful when kidnapping people for money, for just one transaction could net fifty taels of silver. Bear in mind, five taels of silver were enough for a regular family to live on for a year, with even occasional meat on the table.

They lived extravagantly, dealing in such cost-free business, never expecting that one day they would be found, especially by two young people with such strong abilities.

At this moment, they were hoping Xia Wenjin was an officer. An officer would certainly take them to the government, have them tried and judged, and the worst would be execution after autumn or exile for three thousand miles. They feared running into people from the Jianghu.

Now, hearing Xia Wenjin’s intention to hand them over, a hint of joy flashed in their eyes.

Xia Wenjin’s face darkened slightly, “When I tell you to leave, just go, why all this nonsense?”

Huangfu Jingchen was taken aback. Normally, Xia Wenjin would act roguish, playful, theatrical, or humorous in front of him, never having spoken so sternly.

Despite her sudden authority and the strong aura she exuded, Huangfu Jingchen didn’t think much of it. After all, his father also had such presence. But Mountain Goat Beard and the others were already quivering with fear.

Huangfu Jingchen shook his head, “You’re alone and outnumbered, I can lend a hand!”

Xia Wenjin suddenly laughed, looking at Huangfu Jingchen with an inscrutable tone, “This is your own choice!”

Before Huangfu Jingchen could understand the meaning of her words, he saw a cold glimmer flash from her sleeve. Then, without so much as a groan, Mountain Goat Beard fell to the ground, a cut on his neck from which blood was gushing out.

But by then, Xia Wenjin had already stepped aside, her clothes unspoiled by bloodstains.

Huangfu Jingchen’s pupils narrowed slightly, as if he were in a daze.

Xia Wenjin’s face was icy, and her gaze towards him bore no warmth. She said expressionlessly, “Over thirty women, because of them, now have uncertain fates. Those who treat others’ lives as straw, their own lives are worth less than straw. I’ve never been a good person; I won’t take them to the government. I judge them in my own way! I didn’t intend for you to witness such bloodshed, but you refused to leave! Now, do you regret it?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep