Step Down, Let Me Come!

Chapter 31: Appearance of the city

In the courtyard, two men and one woman had their hands tied behind their backs.

The three of them were kneeling under Shen Tang’s feet, while shivering uncontrollably. 

“Who said that he’s a god just now?”

Shen Tang used a stick to lift the jaw of the first person.

She asked, smilingly: “Is it you?”

The mentioned person’s head shook like a rattle. He dodged backwards, while trembling. He tried to avoid Shen Tang’s stick, and yet he was afraid she would act impulsively. They also didn't know why the situation was like it was, and they seemed to turn foolish by being beaten. 

Shen Tang used the stick again.

“Then, is it you?”

This man was precisely the one who deceived her before, Laitou.

“No, no – “

He was sobbing and speaking indistinctly. He was so afraid that he looked like he was about to cry. 

No wonder he was so afraid.

He just recalled getting kicked by Shen Tang. He didn’t even feel pain, when four or five of his teeth were knocked out, and the rest were on the verge of falling out. The blood was flowing out of his gums, making his face bloody. 

 The farther development looked like a dream. A small girl subdued three adults. 

They didn’t have any strength to resist!

As a result, this situation occurred. 

“Is it also not you?” Shen Tang smiled and lifted the jaw of the third person with a long stick. She was the only woman among the three, “Then, is it you?”

The woman sold Laitou without hesitation. Her voice was sharp and loud: “It’s not me, not me! It’s Laitou!”

Shen Tang looked at Laitou, she squinted her eyes. 

“Death is near at hand, and you still lie. You committed one more crime!”

After hearing about “death” Laitou was so scared, that tears and snot flowed down his face. He couldn’t continue to kneel on the ground, he kowtowed to beg for forgiveness. He just kowtowed three times, when she stopped him with the stick. She said indifferently: “Look, you still have some repentance, but I can give you a chance to make meritorious deeds and atone for your sins. Say— you always use this method. Where are all the innocent women who were cheated by you?”

She checked, but the courtyard didn’t have any other abducted women.

If she knew it from the beginning, why would she waste so much time? 

“All, all of them were sold…” 

Laitou couldn’t control his tongue and stuttered.

“Sold? Where? How many? How much money? Narrate in full detail!” Shen Tang sat on the stool, with her left foot set aside, and her right leg bent up. She laid her hand holding a stick on her knee.

Her series of questions made the three of them feel like crying. 

How should they answer this question?

If they didn’t, they would die even faster.

The two men had no clue, and they were afraid that Shen Tang would rip they head off if they answered wrongly, but the woman had a guess in her mind—she thought that Shen Tang read too many story books in the market, so she yearned for the days when knights wielded swords for protection, and before she matured, she ran out to fight for justice. 

There was a way to deal with that kind of foolish young man. 

She cried out: “Little lady misunderstood us. We just made mistake two or three times. We really didn't do anything else to offend the heavens”.

Shen Tang sneered: “Two or three times? So, you met with me so early. Why don't you buy welfare lottery tickets if you have this luck?”

The woman maintained this statement.

“We have sold a lot of goods…but we are doing this to save people”. She carefully watched Shen Tang's expression from the corner of her eye, and continued when she saw that she was not angry, “What we sold were all serious things”. Their parents took the money for the goods they bought. In this world, selling people will give you only a few bucks, and we only made a big mistake because we wanted to get lard. We will never cheat again!”

Shen Tang laughed after hearing this: “Save people?” 

Seeing that Shen Tang could still be swayed, the woman immediately felt hopeful, and quibbled: “It's been hard for everyone during these years of war. If there are many babies in the family, there are many mouths to feed, so how can they be able to raise them? If we don't buy or sell them, those babies will either starve to death or be sent to other families for food. We sold them, so they could have somewhere to go and something to eat.

Shen Tang laughed angrily at this inverted rhetoric. 

She pressed the stick against her throat. She sneered and gave an ultimatum: “Stop quibbling, confess! Otherwise, this stick will go in. You have experienced my strength. I guarantee that this stick can pierce a hole in your back. I’ll stab you three times”.

With only a little force, she left a black and blue mark on the woman's throat, causing the latter to scream in pain.

 “I confess! I confess!”

“This strong man, spare my life!”   

Shen Tang was a little satisfied.

The butcher looked out at the sun from time to time, and the more he watched, the more anxious he became, rubbing his hands nervously, and sighing. 

“Old man, is what you said really true?”

Unexpectedly, the customer lifted the packed lotus leaf with a smile, pouted towards the end of the street, and said with a smile, “I won this game”.

The butcher poked his head out and squinted his eyes —he started butchering even before dawn, so his eyes were burnt out after a long time of work. The things a little further away were blurred—so he squinted. His eyes were almost cramping, but he still couldn’t see it. 

He just noticed the commotion there.

It wasn't until Shen Tang approached that he saw what happened.

He saw that charming little lady… Ah no, young master, riding on the back of that beautiful mule, while chewing something in his mouth. He was in no hurry to go back.

He was holding a rope with two men and one woman - 

The three of them were badly battered and limped. 

However, the people who often did business in this area, were able to recognize these three scourges particularly easily.

Shen Tang returned to the wine shop, and sat on the small stall. She flicked her fingers repeatedly and used the three oblate green plum cores to make the kidnappers fall on their knees with a plop.

The dull sound made everyone's scalps tingle and their knees in pain.

Shen Tang pointed at the three of them, full of murderous intent: “Kneel”.

The three of them shrank, swallowed and cried out in pain, not daring to disobey in the slightest. 

Customer: “…”

There seemed to be a flash of surprise in his eyes.

He thought that Shen Tang would kill gangsters with bad intentions.

What kind of battle was that?

“Why didn't this young master kill them directly?”

The onlookers gathered together to watch the excitement, then gradually dispersed. Later, the customer stepped forward to chat with Shen Tang. Shen Tang was bored stiff, so she gnawed on the green plume, while complaining about Qi Shan. After she heard the question, she turned her head in the direction of the newcomer.

She pointed at herself: “…did you call me young master?”

Customer: “What’s wrong?”

His gaze fixed on the Wenxin on Shen Tang's waist for a second, before moving away.

Shen Tang: “No, correct. Brother has good eyes!” 

Where was it good, he was just as blind as Qi Shan!

As for his question - 

“Why I didn’t kill these three people? Of course, it’s because killing people is against the law. I’m a good citizen abiding by the law, a weak painter, how could I do something so bloody? No matter how dam*ed they are, they should be handed over to the Xiao city government office…”

And the truth was - 

That courtyard was too remote, desolate, and uninhibited. If these three people were killed there, the corpses would be easily exposed and left unattended, then they would rot and produce maggots, which would greatly affect the structure of Xiao city’s landscape.

Moreover, it wasn’t right for an artist to kill at the drop of a hat. 

Therefore, she decided to cultivate her moral and spiritual character and to abide by law.

The customer could barely understand Shen Tang's ridicule, and said: “If you hand them over to the government, they would be set free in no time”.

Shen Tang stopped gnawing at the green plum for a moment. She hesitated: “Then – I'll drag them out of the city and kill them later?”