Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play-Chapter 938 - 1913: Harboring Criminals
On a small hill three miles outside Pingnan County, the bandits lay all over the ground, groaning in pain. Over a dozen bandits were subdued by Fang Chuning alone. Xie Jue had watched Fang Chuning in action. His body had not yet returned to its peak state, but he could easily handle these bandits. The leader had his leg broken and was rolling on the ground, crying out while clutching his leg. Fang Chuning held a blade of grass he had casually plucked, nudging the leader’s wound with his toe.
The leader screamed and wailed, it was truly excruciating!
"Weren’t you going to send me to see King Yan?"
"Boss, spare us, please spare us. It’s I who was blind, I was a fool not to recognize Mount Tai, please forgive us. Everything we robbed last night, we’ll return it to you intact, all of it!" The leader realized he had kicked an iron plate. Walking along the river, how could one not get wet feet? When Xie Jue and Fang Chuning entered, they seemed like young men from wealthy families traveling the world, easy to subdue with medicine. The bandits thought they were naive sons of wealthy families with no defenses. Who knew Fang Chuning could fight so well? Even with more than a dozen people, they were no match for him.
"You now admit your blindness, but what were you doing earlier?" Fang Chuning sneered coldly. He wasn’t one to enjoy torturing others, so he stepped back. "Whether you get spared or not isn’t up to me."
The leader shivered all over, his peripheral vision catching sight of the ever-expressionless Xie Jue, who stood watching silently like a spectator. He was terrified, goosebumps rising all over. For some reason, he feared this silent young man even more — despite his jade-like, Ru Lan-like face, it couldn’t conceal the murderous aura emanating from him.
"Boss, spare us, please! We were wrong, we were truly wrong!" The leader sobbed, hurrying to return the stolen goods to resolve the matter.
Xie Jue asked, "How did you learn of our whereabouts? Who informed you?"
The leader, clutching his aching leg, dared not look up at Xie Jue. "We just happened to see you on the street. Fearing trouble, we decided to quietly resolve it."
"Your lair is south of Shiling Town, and Pingnan is north of Shiling Town. This isn’t your usual range of activity. Just by chance, you entered the city and saw us." Xie Jue mocked, his expression darkening. "Break his other leg too!"
Just as Fang Chuning was about to act, the leader, terrified, fell to his knee on his remaining leg, "I’ll talk, I’ll talk, don’t hit me, please!"
He truly feared Fang Chuning, who fought without restraint.
"It was the yamen people who informed us. You reported to the officials, and they have kept an eye on your movements. They sent someone to tip us off, saying handle your own trouble, don’t make the yamen do it. So we went to the tavern to find you." The leader confessed truthfully.
Fang Chuning was furious, "What was your plan for dealing with us, kill us to silence witnesses? It’s just a robbery, is it necessary to take lives?"
The leader stammered, too afraid to speak. Xie Jue ordered sternly, "Speak!"
The leader had no choice but to muster the courage to say, "For ordinary robberies, indeed it’s unnecessary to kill witnesses. But... but... before, we robbed a group who also reported to the yamen. Later, it alarmed the authorities and the people, who collectively condemned us. To settle it, the government secretly executed that group. You don’t seem easily hoodwinked and determined to pursue this matter, so the yamen had to let us deal with it."
"This is strange. Why would the government have you solve it?" Xie Jue asked with a cold laugh. "Perhaps I should ask, why would the yamen commit the grave crime of deceiving the emperor and exterminating a clan to shield you?"
