The procuress squealed, “Save me, sir!” She really was a Qi Practitioner after all. She actually managed to remain conscious despite the pain.
Furong saw the bloody scene and heard how she was next. She screamed, “Save-” But before she could even finish her words, the grip around her neck tightened.
“Stop! Release lady Furong!” The Parlour of Clouds and Rain was thrown into an uproar again.
It was not just the people below. Even the railings from the higher floors were filled with people. Seeing such a rare disturbance, they all began discussing among themselves.
“Isn’t the Hawkwolf Guard backers of the Parlour of Clouds and Rain? Why have they turned against each other today?” News would always make it out one way or another. With how the Parlour of Clouds and Rain ran amuck in Jiaping city, they would have been closed down a long time ago if it were not for the Hawkwolf Guard’s protection. There were plenty of discerning people in the world.
“The kid hit Furong!”
“What! He could actually bring himself to do something like that?!” Many people ground their teeth furiously. They all treated Furong as a goddess from their dreams. Even if she could not be theirs, they would never let someone else just abuse her.
“Look, that’s Furong! She is being held by the neck by that kid!” It led to public anger. In their eyes, Furong was furrowing her brows from pain. Her beautiful face was filled with misery, enough to shatter their hearts. It caused pain to many of them.
“A’ning!” Even though Diao Fei had been smacked awake by Li Qingshan earlier, he was still captivated when he looked at Furong’s appearance. He had to bite his tongue viciously to return to his senses.
Furong’s cry for help spurred many practitioners of martial arts to save her. Those who did not know martial arts cursed furiously as well. Throughout the entire parlour, similar aggressive threats crashed down on Li Qingshan like a tidal wave. “Release lady Furong, or I’ll make you wish you were dead!”
“Hmph, you bunch of idiots!” Li Qingshan sneered. He did not speak loudly, but it easily drowned out the threats, booming through everyone’s ears.
He only looked at Zhao Liangqing. “Are you releasing her or not?” He had already placed his blade across the procuress’ neck.
Zhao Liangqing released Qing Xiu with trembled arms. Qing Xiu rubbed her shoulders and jogged over to Li Qingshan’s side, carefully avoiding the puddle of blood on the ground. As she looked at the procuress’ state, she could not help but feel sorry for her even though she knew about her various evil deeds and how all of her sisters had died to her hands.
However, Li Qingshan felt no emotions like that. His lips curled into a cruel smile. Since he wanted to be a hero, he obviously had to possess willpower greater than ordinary people. He would take the greatest delight in eliminating evil from this world.
“Li Qingshan, what are you doing!?” Zhuo Zhibo rushed over furiously with Qian Rongzhi and five or six other Black Wolf guards. When they saw what the Parlour of Clouds and Rain had descended into, they were all shocked.
Zhuo Zhibo personally believed that the perfect part about his scheme was that even if Li Qingshan did not take the bait, he would not be at fault at all. I’ve sent someone to take you to a brothel entirely out of kind intentions, so how can you say that I’m in the wrong? Even if he really did have a connection to Gu Yanying, it was not like he could say to her, “They took me to a brothel and screwed me over.” If Li Qingshan fell for it, he was dead, but if he did not, he could only put up with all of it silently. It was truly flawless. It was perfect.
In reality, if it were not for the tiny, unforeseen message from Qing Xiu, the only choice Li Qingshan would have had was to let this go after slapping Furong across the face, biding his time for revenge in the future. However, now that the opportunity had presented itself, he wanted to make a big mess to show Zhuo Zhibo. If he’s bold enough to set a trap, I’m bold enough to make a mess out of it!
Zhao Liangqing said, “Commander Zhuo, is this how your Hawkwolf guards handles matters? I can forgive him for not paying after visiting, but he’s even making trouble!”
“Is that what happened? He has gone too far!” “The Parlour of Clouds and Rain has done everything they can already, so what are you trying to do now?” “Release lady Furong! If you even touch a hair on lady Furong, I’ll cut you to pieces!”
Not paying after visiting? What a great crime! If that became a part of his reputation, there was no way Li Qingshan could remain in Jiaping city any longer! Zhuo Zhibo also said sternly, “Qingshan, is that the truth?” It was as if he was not behind Li Qingshan’s visit at all.
“It’s not. It’s them who…” Qing Xiu argued loudly from behind Li Qingshan, but she was drowned out by the sounds.
Li Qingshan spoke with his actions. With a spurt, his blade stabbed into the heart of the procuress. After that, he pulled the blade back out. There was not a trace of blood on it.
If you curse me, I’ll beat up the procuress. If you beat me up, I’ll keep beating up the procuress. If you slander me, I’ll kill the procuress.
“You-” Zhao Liangqing flew into a fury, but Li Qingshan placed his blade across Furong’s neck casually. He muttered to himself, “One is dead, but there’s still another!” He kicked the procuress’ heavy body off the floor as well. One killed was one dead.
Everyone in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain knew the procuress. They all knew about the fat woman’s slickness and viciousness. She had managed the Parlour of Clouds and Rain in Jiaping city for many years. She was responsible for receiving and seeing off all guests, so she could basically be described as famous. Now, she had been killed with a single stab, reduced to a corpse.
Silence descended. Everyone wanted to ask, Just who is this teenager? How is he so fierce?
As if he never thought Li Qingshan would actually be bold enough to commit murder right before him, anger rose through Zhuo Zhibo’s mind. If only he did not have to worry about her. Qian Rongzhi suddenly experienced a hint of fear. The teenager who could kill so easily that he could do it while holding a friendly conversation was not like the men she had seen before. He was definitely not an easy person to deal with.
When Li Qingshan lifted up Furong, Zhao Liangqing finally lost his temper. “How dare you?!” That was his money tree. The foundation of the entire Parlour of Clouds and Rain was basically with her. If the procuress died, he could find another, but if Furong died, the entire Parlour of Clouds and Rain would collapse.
Li Qingshan said to Zhuo Zhibo, “Commander Zhuo, the Parlour of Clouds and Rain has committed a multitude of sins. They’ve forced women into prostitution. The young woman beside me is a witness. Please judge them with impartiality!”
Zhao Liangqing looked over as well as if he was trying to say, I give you so many pills every year.
Zhuo Zhibo felt like he was at his wit’s end. Out of everyone present, he was the one afraid of consequences the most. He still wanted to use the authority he possessed to live out the rest of life wealthily. He would never be able to bring himself to take the risk of killing Li Qingshan. However, if he agreed with Li Qingshan, he would basically be slapping himself across his face, severing his source of wealth.
Li Qingshan targeted this mentality of his and viciously checkmated him. It had to be mentioned that the reason why he was bold enough to take such a great gamble under the threats of two powerful Qi Practitioners was directly connected to his personal strength.
Even if the worst-case scenario happened, he could use his hiding abilities to escape. Just by releasing some daemon qi, he could easily escape from here. However, he had clearly been overthinking now.
Zhuo Zhibo said earnetly, “Qingshan, you’ve been far too rash. Judging people is the district magistrate’s job. It’s not up to me!”
Zhao Liangqing looked at Zhuo Zhibo in disbelief. Exactly because of you, so many of my people have died, yet all you say is he has been too rash?
However, Zhuo Zhibo immediately glared back at him, which made Zhao Liangqing remember the difference in their strength, as well as who actually had a say in Jiaping city. He could only hold in his grievances. Impressive, Zhuo Zhibo!
“This magistrate is right here. What’s the case? Please do tell me!”
At this moment, Zhou Wenbin stepped into the Parlour of Clouds and Rain with his vermillion official robes with embroidered snakes.
“Sir Zhou!” “Sir Zhou is here!”
There was a great rustle that came with the movement of clothing.
Within the Parlour of Clouds and Rain, whether it be the common people downstairs or the valued customers upstairs, they all knelt for this man. There was not just fear for authority in their eyes, but also great admiration and respect. They all knelt willingly, from the bottom of their hearts.
Only now did Li Qingshan understand just what kind of prestige Zhou Wenbin possessed in Jiaping city. Only now did he realise that maybe Qing Xiu had given him the piece of paper to pass onto Zhou Wenbin to seek help from him.
Just by himself, Zhou Wenbin received far more respect than Zhuo Zhibo and his Hawkwolf guards combined. He said in a gentle and cultivated fashion, “Please stand, my people.”
Zhou Wenbin glanced at Zhuo Zhibo before glancing at Li Qingshan. When something major happened in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain, he found out immediately. Not only did he find out about it, but he even understood the exact cause for it all. He even saw through Zhuo Zhibo’s scheme. He glanced at Li Qingshan and thought, This kid is a genius at making trouble. He had taken a small gamble only to win something huge. He actually managed to force Zhuo Zhibo into an awkward situation.
Zhuo Zhibo said coldly, “Sir Zhou, you’ve sure come in a timely fashion!”
Zhou Wenbin smiled. “It’s no problem, no problem at all!” With a wave of his sleeves, he floated up and arrived before Li Qingshan. He asked despite already knowing the answer, “Qingshan, what are you doing?”
“She has grievances. I originally wanted to take her to see you, sir, but I never thought there would be some vile people trying to stop me. I thought about how our mighty Hawkwolf Guard was righteous, purging evil in an awe-inspiring manner and speaking for the people, so how could I be afraid of these vile people? As a result, my hand slipped, and I killed a few of them. Please investigate the entire matter, sir.” Li Qingshan pulled out Qing Xiu from behind him and handed the piece of paper to Zhou Wenbin.
His idiomatic saying made Zhuo Zhibo’s eyebrows leap up as he cursed furiously inside. He was tempted to just cut down Li Qingshan then and there.
“My name is Qing Xiu. I come from the Fishes’ Gully. Seven years ago, I was playing around near the river and I was abducted, brought here…” Qing Xiu knelt and lowered her head in a graceful manner. Her speech became much more orderly. Clearly, she had thought through this countless times in her head already.
Zhao Liangqing said, “Sir, we’re being wrongly accused! We originally bought this girl for twenty taels of silver. I have a deed for proof. She just wants to run away, which was why she spun these lies to fool you, sir.”
Qing Xiu tried to justify herself, “No, I’m not! You’re the liar…”
Zhou Wenbin raised his hand and stopped their argument. “I will definitely get to the bottom of this case. There won’t be a single innocent person convicted, nor will there be a single guilty person spared.”
With an order, over twenty guards from the government entered. They were not Qi Practitioners, but they all possessed powerful martial arts. Under Qing Xiu’s guide, they went to save the other girls. However, they returned a while later with nothing. Clearly, they had been moved away already.
“Please check, sir!” Instead, Zhao Liangqing sent a male servant to retrieve a deed. The matter of Qing Xiu being purchased by the Parlour of Clouds and Rain for twenty taels of silver was clearly written on there.
Qing Xiu immediately teared up anxiously. “Sir, I haven’t been lying!”
Zhou Wenbin said gently, “Don’t worry, I will send people to Fishes’ Gully to investigate.” He knew that it was impossible for a place of wickedness to have anything clean. It was as clear as day who was telling the truth.
