Chapter 642
Chapter 642
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 642
>Chapter Title: Yamen
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“Uglier than sin. No one’s died in the family, so why wrap yourselves in white?”
Yang Kid remembered that back in the day, only when someone in the family died would they hang white cloth over their heads.
“You just don’t get it. The old granny said that as long as we wear this stuff, the Stone Gully Bodhisattva will protect us. You should wrap one on too.”
“Wrapping a bit of white cloth gets the Bodhisattva’s protection? If it were that great, there wouldn’t be any poor folks left in the world.”
Yang Kid sighed. Sometimes he really couldn’t tell who was in charge between the two of them.
Seeing the five heads wrapped in white cloth inside the carriage, Yang Kid spoke up.
“Get out. This inn’s the one. We’ll stay here tonight and head out in the morning.”
To the left of the carriage stood an ordinary inn. The tables and stools all looked coated in a layer of grime, but that was exactly what Yang Kid wanted. Staying somewhere too fancy would be bad. Don’t flaunt your wealth.
The five of them sat around a square eight-immortal table. Once a meat dish and three veggie ones were served, Yang Kid and the monkey boy dug in with gusto. But the old woman was still sucking on her stone.
“Granny, time to eat. That stuff won’t fill you up,” Zhao Xiumei urged.
“Hey, you all eat yours. This is good stuff for me.”
Zhao Xiumei wanted to say more, but Yang Kid kicked her under the table.
Having seen her smash someone’s head open with a stone so easily, Yang Kid figured her eating that might be some kind of cultivation method, just like Senior Brother Li’s training.
Better not pry into private matters like that. It’d be crossing a line.
Yang Kid quickly changed the subject.
“Elderly one, where are you headed? No idea if our paths will line up from here.”
“Where to? I was headed here originally. After I finish my business, who knows? We’ll see as we go.”
The old woman chewed on her stone while scanning the other diners around her.
As they kept eating, a wailing cry drifted in from the inn’s entrance.
Everyone looked up to see a long-haired woman in a wooden cangue being paraded through the streets under escort by several constables.
A voice wracked with misery cried out.
“Why is this happening? I was defiled in broad daylight, yet that thief turns around and sues me with a petition! Heavens above, open your eyes!”
As the woman passed the inn’s door, whether it was the waiter, the accountant, or the other patrons inside, they all turned away with sighs and groans.
Their indignant chatter reached Yang Kid and the others’ ears.
“Sigh, how could she win? That thief’s the county magistrate’s son. Plenty saw it happen, but who’d dare say a word?”
“That fat, greasy corrupt official is too hateful. Bullying men and women, twisting black and white!”
“I heard he greased palms up top. He’s about to get promoted, so of course he’s gotta rake it in while he can.”
Hearing this, Yang Kid and the others stopped eating. They all turned their gazes toward the ragged old woman in unison.
The old woman made no move. She picked up her chopsticks, clamped a goose egg stone, and shoved it into her mouth. Then another one.
One after another, until she’d stuffed every stone from the pottery jar into her mouth. Yet her cheeks stayed gaunt.
“Mmm~ Full now. Little kid, help me pack up this jar.”
The old woman stood, grabbed her staff beside her, leaned on it, and headed out of the inn.
Yang Kid and Zhao Xiumei exchanged a glance. Hearing the clash of drawn blades and screams from outside, they hastily wiped their mouths and followed.
By the time they got out, the escorting constables lay sprawled on the ground. Blood seeped slowly from their heads, soaking into the earth.
The old woman was now gripping the cangue woman’s hand, neck craned as she marched toward the yamen gates.
Such a spectacle on the main street drew eyes like magnets. Soon it wasn’t just Yang Kid chasing after—not long before other townsfolk followed out of curiosity.
“Bang!” A flying stone shattered the yamen’s door bolt. The entire gate, plaque and all, crashed down.
“Good! Smash it good!”
“Too satisfying! Finally, someone’s dealing with them!”
The huge commotion quickly drew everyone from inside the yamen, but it was all for naught. Stones smashed into their brains one by one, and soon the yamen was mostly a graveyard.
Everyone else was dead, save for the fat county magistrate and his equally fat son.
The pair knelt, kowtowing desperately to the old woman, begging for their lives. But this time, she turned to face the crowd of townsfolk packed three-deep outside the yamen.
“With me here today, I’m calling the shots. Those with grudges, avenge them. Those with wrongs, settle them!”
“Kill the dog official! Kill the dog official!”
One rallying cry lit the fuse. The blood-boiling crowd surged with excitement.
Under the old woman’s orders, they soon fetched stones of all sizes. Cursing furiously, they hurled them at the pair.
One jagged-edged stone flew straight into the magistrate’s mouth. Before his shattered teeth hit the ground, another stone caved in his forehead with a dent.
No living soul could withstand that barrage of stones. In no time, both were smashed to death.
Watching the corpses get pummeled into pulp amid the frenzied mob, Yang Kid’s face paled. He swallowed hard.
“Killing the magistrate... that’s a beheading crime, right?”
“Dog official! I’ll eat your flesh and drink your blood! My daughter was only sixteen! You turned her into human candle wax!”
A one-legged old man with snow-white hair lunged forward, gnashing at the corpse with his few remaining teeth.
That set the spark. Everyone in the county with a major grudge against the dog official rushed up, pouncing on the bodies and tearing into them with their teeth.
They scrambled desperately, as if lagging a second meant someone else would swallow their share.
The magistrate and his son were fat, but not fat enough for this. Soon, nothing remained on the ground but two mangled, bloody skeletons—and over a hundred wide-eyed, blood-mouthed “upstanding citizens.”
“Not enough! Why should this dog official have robbed us blind for so long? Let’s take it all back!”
Another voice rose from the crowd.
“Yeah, rob the bastards! Debts have owners, grudges have heads. This is all what the dog official owes us!”
“Right! And that dog official’s seven wives! Damn it, why’s he got seven when I’ve got none?”
Egged on by the shouts, they stormed past the yamen threshold, grabbing anything of value they saw.
Wealth stirs the heart. When crates of silver were hauled out—even the dog official’s dog bowl made of gold—everyone’s eyes turned red, breaths ragged, like madmen.
“Aaah!”
A scream pierced the air as a pretty-faced woman was dragged out. Hands tore at her from all sides until she was stripped bare and buried under men.
The cangue-necked woman stood in the hall, watching it all unfold. Watching the dog official’s wives and daughters suffer worse than she had. But her face showed no joy—lost and soulless, like her spirit had fled.