Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play-Chapter 933 - 908: Bandits

As Xie Jue and Fang Chuning gradually awoke, their heads felt like they were splitting apart. Xie Jue woke up a bit earlier than Fang Chuning because he ate less than Fang Chuning. He first saw the room in disarray and Fang Chuning lying on the ground. Xie Jue’s heart sank, supporting himself with one hand on the ground, quickly moving closer to Fang Chuning, "Anning, Anning, wake up..."

Fang Chuning had eaten more, so he couldn’t wake up at all. Xie Jue sat up on his knees, grabbed the cold tea from the table, and mercilessly splashed it on Fang Chuning’s face. Fang Chuning seemed like a drowning man suddenly surfacing for fresh air, coughing awake and seeing the worry in Xie Jue’s eyes. The effects of the drug hadn’t worn off, leaving him with no strength at all, his throat dry and hoarse, he grasped Xie Jue’s hand and asked with difficulty, "What’s going on?"

Xie Jue said, "This is a black inn, you need to clear your head first."

There was a distinct displeasure in Xie Jue’s tone, and suddenly he realized something, covering his waist. Sure enough, his concentric ring was missing. Encountering a black inn was slightly displeasing, but now he was clearly furious.

Despicable!

They actually stole his concentric ring!

Unforgivable!

Fang Chuning also saw Xie Jue’s expression, lowered his head to look at his own waist, his concentric ring was also stolen. The two exchanged a glance and quickly got up to check their luggage; these people didn’t even leave them a single piece of clothing. In the luggage of Fang Chuning and Xie Jue, mostly clothes and valuables, the valuables were gone, but the clothes were taken too.

Fang Chuning was particularly displeased, these people went too far, the table was littered with scraps of leftovers, the candle had long gone out, and when Xie Jue opened the window, the sky hadn’t lightened, the town outside was enveloped in a dim haze with not a speck of light, last night they saw that house with white mourning flags, still had white lanterns hanging by the door.

Xie Jue and Fang Chuning exchanged a glance, this room was clearly thoroughly looted, and they opened the door and went downstairs. The neighboring room had its door wide open, with no one inside, last night’s clamor seemed like a fleeting dream, just an illusionary dream, downstairs was eerily silent, and Xie Jue and Fang Chuning went down, only to find this inn had been deserted.

"Could it be that the innkeeper, the shopkeeper, and the escort agency were all in cahoots?" Fang Chuning was incredulous, not only was there no one in the main hall, but the kitchen was also empty.

They hurried to check the carriage, the carriage was still there, but all the supplies were looted, leaving only some dried rations and jerky, and some worthless pots and pans, while all valuables had been taken, leaving Fang Chuning dumbfounded; it was the first time he encountered such a situation.

"Xie Tingfeng, we’ve been cleaned out."

"I can see that!" Xie Jue was furious, this group of people had the audacity, the priority now was to find out who did it, such blatant robbery must be the work of habitual offenders.

This was the time when people were sleeping deeply, townfolks were dreaming sweetly, occasionally a rooster’s crow could be heard, and Xie Jue and Fang Chuning went to knock on the door of the neighboring inn.

Generally, a small errand boy would stay up at inns to attend to any guest’s needs, the errand boy was sleeping soundly on the counter, awakened by the knocking, he quickly headed to the door, rudely pulled the door open, cursing, "Who’s there, traveling in the dead of night, is it..."

Sleepy-eyed and unclear who the visitors were, upon seeing Xie Jue’s handsome yet cold face, he was startled, his demeanor weakened and the curse stuck in his throat, "Do you have business here?"

Fang Chuning was good-natured, smiling at him, "Little brother, we’re travelers who stayed at the inn over there last night, woke up in the middle of the night to find the inn empty, all our belongings were looted, could you tell us what path those people in the inn are on?"

"I don’t know!" as soon as he heard, the errand boy, in a rough voice, refused to answer, reaching to close the door, Fang Chuning held the door with one hand, even with all his strength the errand boy couldn’t close it, his face turning red. Yet Fang Chuning looked effortlessly strong, with a calm and collected expression.

Fang Chuning smiled at the shocked errand boy, "Little brother, we don’t want trouble, just to know their whereabouts, could you tell us?"

Unable to overpower Fang Chuning, the errand boy simply gave up, pouting, "Just another pair of suckers, there are so many inns in town, yet you choose theirs, wasn’t it deservedly so? That inn is a bandit lair, they were originally an escort team, had a clash with the Beiman half a year ago and were wanted by the authorities, they became bandits in defiance, raiding the town whenever they please, we do business here, every time they come we pay for peace, still peaceful, they would stay overnight, occupying that inn, the original shopkeeper was Sister-in-law Alin, taken by them as a captive wife, they seized the property, if outsiders are unlucky enough to lodge there, will be completely looted."

"Has no one reported to the authorities?" Xie Jue asked in a deep voice.

"The authorities wouldn’t bother with such trivial matters." The errand boy scoffed, his tone slightly disdainful, yet seeing Xie Jue’s expression, felt less confident, dared not speak too harshly.

"They occupy dwellings, forcibly take women, loot the townsfolk, extort illegal wealth, how is this trivial? The authorities should have intervened long ago." Fang Chuning did not see this as trivial.

"Isn’t that caused by the Beiman, those Beiman are arrogant and unreasonable, relying on their larger size, bully us natives, they were forced into banditry too, the authorities are quite troubled over this. When they come, just a bit of silver, they don’t make things hard for us, if there’s a conflict with the Beiman, they would help us righteously, people usually buy peace with money. If they come to town and there are outsiders, we usually send people to the town entrance to guide guests to our inn, avoid staying with them, that’s considered peace, the town had a mourning yesterday, it’s just your bad luck!" The errand boy saw their fine attire, undoubtedly two plump sheep the bandits wouldn’t miss.

Fang Chuning was amused by anger, "When faced with such injustice, you treat it as paying for peace, reluctant to report, even harboring bandits, today we were looted, what if one day you are looted? Your mother, sister, or daughter is forcibly taken? You actually think of this as trivial, money can buy peace? It’s precisely this attitude that the bandits repeatedly come to town to rob!"

"What can we do? The Beiman are just ten miles away, if they come to town to cause trouble, what can we do? Reporting to the authorities, they will say Beining must favor the Beiman, forbid conflict with them, even if there is conflict, the authorities evade responsibility, who can we rely on for justice?"

"This doesn’t mean using violence against violence is right." Fang Chuning sneered.

Xie Jue asked, "I ask you, have the Beiman ever caused trouble in town voluntarily?"

"Maybe once or twice!"

"Was it without reason or was there a cause?"

The errand boy looked embarrassed, "Of course, there was a cause, can’t blame us entirely, our fathers resisted Beiman invasion, many died, now asked for peaceful coexistence, who’s willing? Conflict is sure to occur!"

Fang Chuning understood, such conflicts are easy to resolve in big cities, with magistrate offices and Ningzhou Iron Cavalry, but in smaller towns, it’s harder without the cavalry stationed, Beiman’s aggressiveness leads to civilian resistance inevitably.

Xie Jue said sternly, "Where do these bandits usually stay?"

"What are you planning? I advise against rash actions, they are numerous and strong, not something you can handle, besides, you’ve just lost some property, no need to risk your life."

Xie Jue replied calmly, "Where do they stay?"

The errand boy was a bit intimidated, Xie Jue’s aura was too overpowering, he dared not hide the whereabouts of the bandits, Xie Jue nodded, "Thank you!"

He turned to leave, Fang Chuning wanted to ask more, seeing Xie Jue leaving, quickly followed.

"What are you planning?"

"Going to the magistrate’s office!"

Xie Jue encountered bandits for the first time, though he and Fang Chuning camped out frequently, rarely met danger, because Xie Jue had the Shadow Guard, any threat was dealt with beforehand. With so many people at his side, if the guards let bandits reach Jie’s face, it wasn’t merely about loss of face, they had to voluntarily accept punishment, thus Jie had no experience dealing with such matters, never subjected to drugged schemes, nor did Fang Chuning have such experiences, since his martial prowess was strong, in unreasonable situations he could resolve himself, he never anticipated such underhanded tactics.

"Why go to the magistrate’s office, he already said they don’t want to handle these matters." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Don’t want to handle, they must!"