Poison Scorpion was startled to see a tiger charging in. How could there be a tiger in the city?
Just as he endured the pain and leaped off the table, he saw bailiffs rushing in. His initially composed expression instantly shattered.
Song Jinzhao must have sent them to capture him.
Seeing that he was about to escape, Song Anhao opened his mouth and shouted, "Catch him!"
The bailiffs and the guards moved simultaneously to apprehend him, and Poison Scorpion immediately drew his blade to fight back.
With eight against one, and Poison Scorpion having an injury on his lower back, he quickly lost the upper hand.
A crisp sound of breaking bones rang out, accompanied by a miserable shriek, as Poison Scorpion crashed heavily to the ground.
Song Anhao stepped out from behind Xuetuan, looking slightly dazed.
Originally, he only wanted the man to pay for killing his horses, but the posture the man just took was clearly aimed at murder.
Yao Ying and the others were right. This man was definitely a professional assassin, and he probably had blood on his hands.
Poison Scorpion's lips turned pale as he glared at the bailiffs through gritted teeth.
"How did you find me?"
The bailiffs looked toward Song Anhao.
Song Anhao settled the accounts with Poison Scorpion: "One horse is a hundred taels of silver. Six horses plus a carriage makes six hundred and thirty taels. For that much money, I would hunt you down to the ends of the earth."
"Huh?" Poison Scorpion looked at Song Anhao in sheer astonishment.
"You came for the horses? You aren't sent by the government to arrest me? Then why are there bailiffs?"
Yao Ying frowned. Realizing something, he bent down and whispered into Song Anhao's ear, "Young Master, this man definitely has a bounty or a case against him. It's best to let the bailiffs take him back."
Song Anhao nodded, glanced at the bailiffs, and then looked back at Poison Scorpion, who was being tied up by the guards.
"I think so too, but he has to pay up before they can take him away."
Realizing he had mistaken their intentions, Poison Scorpion immediately shouted, "You can't just arrest people indiscriminately! I'm willing to pay!"
Song Anhao shook his head.
"Taking without asking is stealing, and thieves should be locked up in prison."
Yao Ying reached out to search Poison Scorpion for silver. He felt a thick stack of something, and when he pulled it out to look, everyone was stunned.
"So many banknotes, and they are all in denominations of one thousand taels."
Yao Ying handed the banknotes to Song Anhao in surprise, his chubby little hands counting and calculating.
"There are forty-five notes in total. Including these smaller ones, it's nearly fifty thousand taels of silver."
The eyes of the three bailiffs gleamed at the sight of so much money.
"This must all be ill-gotten wealth. He probably stole it all. It should be confiscated."
The entire government office didn't even have this much money. They had struck it rich.
Yao Ying cast a secret glance at the bailiff who spoke.
Song Anhao thought for a moment, took out six hundred and thirty taels, handed it to Yao Ying, and then rolled up the remaining banknotes and tucked them into his own robes.
"Escort him back to the government office. Since my brother isn't here, we have to hand him over to Lord Shi to handle."
Song Anhao led Xuetuan, walking at the front to clear the way. He was protected by Yao Ying and the guards by his side, while the three bailiffs and two guards escorted the limping Poison Scorpion behind them.
As they walked out of the clinic, the crowd of onlookers parted, pointing and murmuring as they watched their retreating backs.
"Who did they arrest?"
"I don't know. The noise inside was so loud just now. They were fighting."
Shi Simian, who was just getting ready to finish his shift, heard a report from a bailiff saying that Song Anhao had caught someone.
He asked the person reporting in confusion, "The Prefect's younger brother is only seven years old. Who could he possibly catch?"
These past few days, batch after batch of bandits had been sent back, and the prison cells had long since run out of space.
Since they were all free labor and couldn't be sent away, he had no choice but to rent over a dozen dilapidated houses outside the city for temporary use.
Whether or not to build a labor camp would have to wait until Song Qiming returned to make a decision.
