The wooden stick flew out of his hand, traveling seven or eight feet away before bouncing twice on the ground and coming to a halt.
A deep, bloody gash burst open on the bare-chested man's right wrist, the flesh peeling outward. The sheer agony caused him to double over, dropping his height by half as he squatted on the ground, clutching his wrist and gasping sharply for air.
The crowd followed the direction of the horsewhip with their eyes.
Xu Zhan walked over from the intersection, retracting his whip with his single arm.
He was not wearing armor today, only a coarse cloth outfit, yet his entire being exuded a murderous aura born from the battlefield.
Before the man with the crooked hat could recover his wits, Xu Zhan had already stepped right up to him.
The man subconsciously backed away, tripped over his own feet, and fell hard on his rear.
Xu Zhan did not even spare him a glance. As he walked past, he casually flicked his horsewhip, striking the man squarely on the shoulder blade.
The man with the crooked hat let out a miserable shriek and collapsed onto the ground, unable to get back up.
Xu Zhan stood in front of Lin Siniang and looked down.
Lin Siniang was curled up into a ball, her face covered in blood and dirt. She was clutching a chipped earthen pot, her whole body trembling.
Xu Zhan remained silent. He turned around to face Madam Qian and the crowd of onlookers.
Madam Qian's expression shifted rapidly before she simply plumped herself down on the ground and began to wail at the top of her lungs, "Murder! The military lords are beating people! I am merely disciplining my own daughter-in-law, whose business is it? Since when is there a rule in this world that outsiders can interfere in another family's domestic affairs!"
Following that, she howled until her face was covered in tears and snot. She wiped her face with her sleeve and continued wailing, "My dead son died fighting for the imperial court! He left behind this troublesome creature. Is it easy for an old woman like me to drag her along!"
Whispers broke out among the crowd. A few elderly women, having just arrived and heard the words domestic affairs, revealed expressions of hesitation.
At this moment, a path opened up from the back of the crowd.
Xu Qinghuan stepped through.
She wore a moon-white cloak with a crane motif and no hair crown, followed by Li Sheng and two guards from the provincial office.
The surrounding commoners consciously stepped aside to make way.
Seeing another young woman arrive, Madam Qian was about to continue her howling when Xu Qinghuan spoke.
"You just said, two taels if she is dead, three taels if she is alive."
Madam Qian's wailing caught in her throat.
"You also said, either way, this deal is not a loss."
"These were the exact words you spoke to these two men in the shack last night, were they not?"
Madam Qian's face turned deathly pale.
Madam Qian had no idea how these words had leaked out. She opened her mouth and stammered for a long time, but could not force out a single word.
Xu Qinghuan stopped looking at Madam Qian and turned her head slightly to Li Sheng, "The roster."
Li Sheng took out a worn booklet from his chest, flipped to a page, and read aloud, "Lin Dazhu, infantryman of the C Battalion of the Northern Pacification Army. Killed in action at Yinshan Pass in the winter of the eleventh year of Yanjia. Twenty taels of silver were issued as a pension according to regulations. Recipient: his mother, Madam Qian."
Li Sheng closed the booklet and looked at Madam Qian, "Old lady, you collected these twenty taels of silver... but your daughter-in-law, Lin Siniang, never saw a single copper coin of it, isn't that right?"
Madam Qian's lips trembled and her eyes darted around wildly. Suddenly, she threw herself to the ground and kowtowed, "Spare my life, Your Excellency! I spent that silver, I spent it on my son's funeral! Once it was done, the money was gone, it is truly gone!"
"Twenty taels of silver for a funeral," Xu Qinghuan repeated. "Your son's grave is in the mass grave south of the city. He does not even have a tombstone. He was buried wrapped in a simple straw mat."
"Twenty taels of silver, where did you spend it? How can it just be gone?"
Madam Qian lay flat on the ground, unable to say another word.
Xu Qinghuan lowered her gaze and looked at Lin Siniang, who was covered in bruises.
Lin Siniang married into this family, and after her husband died in battle, her mother-in-law swallowed up the entire pension.
Bearing the stigma of bringing bad luck to her husband, she had endured endless humiliation, and now she was being sold like mere merchandise to an unlicensed brothel. Dead, she was worth two taels; alive, she was worth three.
Such tragedies played out every day in various prefectures and provinces across the Great Qian Empire.
Madam Qian was a woman herself, yet she was ruthless enough to kill her own daughter-in-law. Her actions were hair-raising.
However, Xu Qinghuan knew in her heart that Madam Qian's behavior was a bitter fruit born from the cruel nature of this era.
Every word and sentence in the official history of Great Qian spoke of benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but what seeped through from the inside was nothing but absurdity and a disregard for human life.
The world pushed people into desperate straits. The laws of Great Qian were written on paper, but they could not cover the blood and tears beneath.
Xu Qinghuan withdrew her gaze and lifted her chin toward the guards.
The guard did not hesitate for a moment. He and his companion stepped forward, shackled Madam Qian and the two local ruffians together, and pinned them to the ground.
"Embezzling the pension of a fallen soldier, colluding with an unlicensed brothel to traffic a military family member," Xu Qinghuan's voice echoed down the entire street. "According to the laws of Great Qian, the penalty is forty strokes of the cane and the recovery of the stolen silver. Furthermore, the Northern Pacification City Yamen will impose an additional punishment for the crime of human trafficking."
Pinned to the ground, Madam Qian wailed ceaselessly.
Only then did she learn from the murmurs of the surrounding crowd that this person was actually an Imperial Envoy!
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the crowd of onlookers.
"Lord Xu, please wait!"
Scholar Zhou had somehow squeezed his way out from the back of the crowd. He straightened his long gown, cupped his hands in a polite greeting, and assumed the posture of a refined intellectual.
"Lord Xu enforces the law strictly, and this humble student is full of admiration."
"However, this woman of the Lin family is Madam Qian's daughter-in-law. Parents-in-law disciplining a daughter-in-law has been supported by rites and laws throughout all dynasties. If Your Excellency imprisons a mother-in-law without distinguishing right from wrong... I am afraid it is not in accordance with propriety. If word gets out, people might say the Imperial Envoy does not understand the teachings of the sages."
After Scholar Zhou finished speaking, he deliberately looked around the crowd, waiting for others to voice their agreement.
Xu Qinghuan turned her head and looked at Scholar Zhou.
"What is your name?"
"Uh, my humble surname is Zhou, Zhou..."
"Scholar Zhou," Xu Qinghuan interrupted. "I ask you, how did Lin Dazhu die?"
Scholar Zhou was taken aback. "This... he was killed in action."
"Correct. Guarding the border for Great Qian, hacked to death by the scimitars of the Helian tribe at Yinshan Pass," Xu Qinghuan took a step forward. "His blood was spilled in the sands outside the city, and the pension money given in exchange for his life was taken by his own mother to the gambling house and lost entirely."
"The wife he left behind was sold by his own mother like livestock, priced by the pound."
"You speak to me of rites and laws? Then what kind of propriety is this?"
"The widow of a fallen soldier has her ribs brutally broken and is sold to an unlicensed brothel. You stood on the sidelines, not daring to utter a single word. Yet when the imperial court's people arrived, you suddenly found the courage to stand up and speak on behalf of the abusers?"
Scholar Zhou's face flushed bright red. His lips moved a few times, but he could not spit out a single word. He took two steps back, plunged into the crowd, and never showed his face again.
Seeing him flee, Xu Qinghuan could not very well order his arrest for just that.
Xu Qinghuan looked at Lin Siniang on the ground. "What is your name?"
Lin Siniang raised her head, her cracked lips moving slightly. "Lin... Siniang."
"What is in the earthen pot?"
Lin Siniang tightened her grip. After a moment, she slowly lifted the earthen pot, wiped the bloodstains off with her sleeve, and carefully removed the coarse cloth sealing its mouth.
Five short, small broomcorn millet seedlings were revealed. Their roots were firmly planted in a clump of grayish-yellow alkaline soil. The leaves were curled, yet they still exuded a touch of green.
"I... I planted them in the alkaline land south of the city," Lin Siniang's voice was hoarse. "For three years, I tried hundreds of seedlings. One batch died, and I planted another. They died again, and I planted again. Only these five survived."
"Your Excellency! These five seedlings can take root in the saline-alkaline soil. They can live."
The West Market intersection was dead silent.
The onlooking commoners all craned their necks to look at those few broomcorn millet seedlings. The mocking expressions on their faces faded, shifting into blank realization and deep emotion.
Xu Qinghuan reached out and helped Lin Siniang up from the ground.
"Li Sheng, bring ten taels of silver."
Li Sheng counted out ten taels of broken silver from his pouch and offered them up with both hands.
Xu Qinghuan took the silver and, before the eyes of the entire street, placed it into Lin Siniang's hands.
"My recruitment notice states it clearly: regardless of gender, regardless of background, I only look at ability."
"Lin Siniang, you are the first person to answer the call. Take these ten taels of silver to settle your home, and keep it safe."
Lin Siniang stood frozen in place, cradling the pieces of silver in her hands. Tears streamed down her face, tracing over the bloody scratches on her skin, and she could not utter a single word.
