The First Volume: The Female Fowls Fifteenth Chapter: Selling Swords

  She stared intently with her big, round eyes as Li Shishi slung a small bundle over her back and held a pipa in her arms. She gave the old procuress a deep bow, her eyes slightly red, but didn't say anything. Although she was young, she had a well-proportioned figure, moved with poise, and every action was elegant and refined, truly having great potential to become an enchantress of thousands.

  A sedan chair was sent from the brothel to see them off, and Li Shishi sat in it. Gao Qiu and two others rode horses slowly ahead. Gao Qiu had not seen Li Qingzhao, and he still felt a bit uneasy in his heart. He heard Lu Duo tell some funny stories, and also bought some toys from the vendors they passed by to give to Li Shishi.

  Just as they arrived at the Tianhan Bridge by the Bian River, they saw a crowd of people gathered on the bridge from afar, making a big commotion. Lu Qian rode his horse over and stood up to take a look, then came back to report to Gao Qiang: "Sir, it's an outsider selling knives who was harassed by a local rascal after getting drunk, so they're causing trouble there. The crowd is blocking the road, making it hard for carriages to pass through. I think we should take a detour."

  Gao Qiang listened to what he said and thought it was reasonable, so he called the horse carriage to turn from the front fork in the road and take a detour.

  As I approached the crowd, just about to turn around, I suddenly heard a man's voice from within the crowd, slurring his words and saying: "I want you, you knife-mouthed one. Are you still asking for money?" He was clearly drunk.

  Another man with an accent, indignantly said: "All the neighbors and fellow villagers can testify that Yang Zhi was down on his luck in the capital, had spent all his money, and had to sell this knife. But then this rascal snatched it from him and even hit him!"

  Suddenly a burst of energy: Yang Zhi? Green Faced Beast?! Could it be that he is the one selling knives?!

  He hastily called over Lu Qian and asked him about the appearance of the knife seller.

  Lu Qian saw the movement in the yamen and hastily replied, "The yamen, this man is about seven feet five or six inches tall, very robust, his appearance is quite ordinary, but there is a large bruise on his face, and a wheel of red whiskers on his cheek."

  What a great surprise, this is clearly Yang Zhi. According to what Shi Dage said, this person is still the descendant of Yang Laolao Gong's bloodline in the back mountain, the offspring of the loyal and good, but lost the Huashi Gang and escaped to Jianghu. It is estimated that at the beginning of the year when Xing Bian was changed, Huizong issued an amnesty, exempted his crime name, so he came to Jingcheng again to plot his return to office, but unexpectedly was driven out by his own father Gao Cu.

  Think about it, this guy is also stupid. It's not easy to be laid off and re-employed, right? Without giving a red envelope to the superior and the personnel manager, how can you just talk about reinstatement with empty words? Is there such an easy thing in the world?

  Now that we know it's Yang Zhi, if he kills someone and gets caught by the authorities in Kaifeng Prefecture, it will be quite troublesome. Gao Qiang immediately instructed Lu Qian: "Lu Qian, quickly disperse the crowd and bring that knife seller to see me."

  Lu Qian didn't know what was going on, but he didn't dare to slack off. He quickly rode his horse over and just as he was about to speak, the crowd suddenly erupted in a loud "Boom" and shouted "Murder! Murder!" The people retreated hastily, Lu Qian's horse was also squeezed and stumbled, unable to move forward even one step.

  The crowd dispersed, and only one person was seen standing at the head of Tianhan Bridge, holding a long knife upside down in his hand. He bowed to all sides with a loud voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, neighbors, Yang Zhi was forced to kill this man, and he will take responsibility for it. He won't implicate any of you, so he's going to go to the Kaifeng Prefecture to surrender himself. Please, everyone, come and bear witness, so that Yang Zhi won't suffer from unjust accusations."

  Gao Qiang took a look and it was already late, this knife would at least send him to be exiled three thousand miles away. It seemed that he could only take the back door, personally sending him to Kaifeng Prefecture, to see how much the signboard of our Commander's Yamen was worth.

  He spurred his horse forward, took a deep breath and shouted: "Halt! All of you stand still where you are. I, Xiaoliu, am here to accompany this Yang Zuo to the Kaifeng Prefecture to surrender. Which of you neighbors will go with us?"

  Everyone who heard the name "Gao Qiang" didn't know who it was, but when they turned their heads to look, oh, it was actually Hua Hua Ta Sui. They all thought that this kid had done nothing but bad things before, what good intentions could he have? They all showed disdain.

  Yang Zhi hadn't had time to speak when he heard another shout: "Hey! Lord Zhao's eldest son is here, willing to accompany Yang Zongshi to the Kaifeng Prefecture to surrender himself. Please ask all neighbors to go and bear witness!"

  With a surge of excitement, he immediately looked around and saw that at the other end of the crowd, there was a horse carriage parked, which was the same one that had just taken away Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao.

  However, his joy was short-lived as he soon suffered a severe blow. The onlookers' response to Zhao Gongzi was much more enthusiastic than his, with many shouting "Let's go, let's go!" The crowd surged forward, pushing Yang Zhi and Zhao Mingcheng's sedan chair towards the Kaifeng Prefecture government office. A local militiaman took a reed mat to wrap up the corpse of the thug, while another carried a door panel to follow behind.

  It's really embarrassing, but I'll be the first to speak up. Zhao Mingcheng's subordinates even shouted slogans that were stolen from me, and yet they had such a different response. It's truly speechless. All I can do is sigh and say "the sky is cool on a good autumn day" - wait, it's spring.

  However, for the sake of Qingmian Beast, let's go to Kaifeng Prefecture together and see if there's an opportunity to catch a glimpse of Li Qingzhao. With a small abacus in his stomach, Gao Qiang ordered the carriage of Qinglou to send Xiaoshi to the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion first, while he and the other two followed the crowd to Kaifeng Prefecture.

  Upon arriving at the Kaifeng Prefecture, the prefectural magistrate heard that it was a case involving loss of life and that both Zhao Gongzi, the son of the current Grand Councilor, and Qi, the inner attendant of the Imperial Guard Command, had arrived. He was startled and wondered what kind of shocking and major case it could be. Could it be that these two men had gotten into a fight over a courtesan in a brothel and ended up killing someone?

  When the trial began, it was clear that the original case was a murder in the downtown area. Zhao Gongzi and Gao Nei were both there to testify. The prefect then breathed a sigh of relief and hastily ordered the bailiffs to take their seats and invite the two men to hear the trial.

  The prefectural magistrate ordered Yang Zhi to be brought up, and inquired into the case. Yang Zhi did not conceal anything, but told everything from beginning to end. The prefectural magistrate also asked the local guards and neighbors on the side, who all said it was true, and there were weapons and corpses presented.

  The prefect stroked his beard, looked around, and saw that neither Zhao Gongzi nor Gao Nei spoke up. He was perplexed: although this case involved a loss of life, it was not unusual; why would these two young masters be so stirred up? Had they nothing better to do after eating their fill, what was the point of them intervening in this case?

  To avoid making a mistake, the prefect asked Zhao Mingcheng: "Zhao Gongzi, what you saw at that time is consistent with this person's confession?" Asking him directly would be too lacking in tone and would make the Kaifeng Prefecture lose all face.

  Zhao Mingcheng was also in a difficult situation. In fact, at that time, he was blocked outside and separated by the car curtain, and he didn't see clearly what happened. He only saw Gao Qiang coming out to intervene, and his curiosity arose, so he followed suit. Unexpectedly, Gao's reputation was too bad, everyone looked at his face first, turning into a situation where the guest stole the host's thunder. This time, he was asked to account for himself, and could only express an attitude.

  "Your Honor, I have seen it clearly. What Yang Zhi said is true. His situation is pitiful and his crime is unforgivable. I hope Your Honor will make a just decision."

  He was so frightened that he almost lost his life. However, the words "his crime is unforgivable, but his emotions are pitiful" sounded familiar to him. He thought for a moment and remembered an old story. When the prefect asked him again, he smiled and said: "Prefect, sir, I was riding my horse at that time and saw clearly what happened. This Yang Zuo was selling knives on the street, and that rascal insisted on testing the knife, saying that he had some kind of empty-handed technique to defeat the blade. The two of them fought, and Yang Zuo seemed to be a skilled martial artist from the military. That rascal was no match for him, lost his hand, and died from his injuries. Yang Zuo is a straightforward man who dared to take responsibility for his actions and came to the Kaifeng Prefecture to surrender himself. In my opinion, as Zhao Gongzi said, Yang Zuo's crime is unforgivable, but his emotions are pitiful. Please make a fair judgment, sir."

  Wen Ruan Zhang listened quietly in the back, thinking to himself that the official was clever and had changed Zhao Ming Cheng's "his feelings are pitiful but his crime is hard to forgive" into "his crime is hard to forgive but his feelings are pitiful", although the words were similar on the surface, the meaning was completely opposite, one meant beheading, the other was pleading for mercy, such skill even a veteran judicial officer might not have thought of.

  The prefect, however, was overjoyed to see the two gentlemen in agreement and immediately ordered an investigation of the scene and took statements from Yang Zhi and the other witnesses. With a flourish of his brush, he pronounced a verdict of "fighting in the streets, resulting in accidental homicide" and sentenced them to military exile in Hebei's Daming Prefecture, to depart in sixty days.

  Everyone saw the case settled, and they all dispersed in an uproar. Zhao Mingcheng was puzzled, feeling that something was not right, as he had clearly wanted Yang Zhi to be sentenced to death by the prefecture governor, but instead it turned out to be a light punishment, and even said it was done according to his own wishes. It wasn't until he got on the carriage and told his wife Li Qingzhao about what happened that she revealed the inside story with her clever mind, and Zhao Mingcheng suddenly realized, unable to help but feel shocked: how could this foolish governor have such a plan?

  Yang Zhi was put in shackles and as he passed by Gao Qiu, he suddenly knelt down on the ground and said: "Sir, Yang Zhi's life is spared, all thanks to your kindness, please accept my bow!"

  Xie immediately stepped forward to help him up. It seemed that Yang Zhi was quite thoughtful and not a foolish person. At this moment, he was delighted in his heart, and he also enjoyed the good treatment of "paying respects" when meeting a good fellow. His mouth naturally showed courtesy: "Yang, you don't have to be so polite, I saw your thoughts move, your precious sword is already out, it's really excellent martial arts, where did you learn it from?"

  This is what Yang Zhi sighed and said, "It's embarrassing to say...". He then told his own origin and the process of being guilty of the Flower Stone case, but it was different from what Gao Qiang knew. It turned out that Yang Zhi was actually kind-hearted at that time, he was ordered to transport the Flower Stone from Jiangnan, but because he couldn't bear to force the people to do labor, resulting in insufficient manpower for rowing and towing, missing the return deadline, so he let all the people go and escaped himself. Only because of different charges, Gao Qiang refused to reinstate him.

  Xie Zhen heard this and repeatedly praised him, saying he was a true hero. He patted his chest to guarantee that he would do his best to help Yang Zhi resume his post. Yang Zhi was moved to tears, feeling that only his parents had understood him as well as High Constable Xie did.

  Song Jiang ordered Lu Zhishen to follow the yamen runners and Yang Zhi into the Kaifeng prison, making sure to grease palms up and down so that Yang Zhi wouldn't suffer in the least.

  Yang Zhi was a loyal and good man, who had always considered himself a hero. However, in recent years, his fate had been unfavorable, and he felt somewhat stifled and depressed, which is why he couldn't help but kill Pao Er. Now that the commander of the Imperial Guard valued him so much and had even interceded on his behalf, Yang Zhi was deeply moved and decided to devote himself to this noble official.

  Click to view picture link: Gongzi Baiyi's new work "Love is Hazardous to Health"