Chapter 0316: I know how to obey the Law
The makeshift market and Ning Cheng’s residence was not too far apart, so Ning Cheng could only make do with the simplified version of what had transpired from the mouth of Yin Kongchan as they rushed through the streets. Although he helped Ma Ang harvest a lot of Aquatic Essence Tendons, but other than Ma Ang helping them get a few residence permits and identities along with a small courtyard for a residence, he only handed them just 50 silver coins. This showed the astuteness and also the shrewdness of a businessperson, since Ning Cheng also did not ask him how much he had earned, so he only gave them a random number.
Ning Cheng had immediately gone into seclusion in his residence to break open his sealed Zifu, and simply had forgone control over the rest of the things. In order to live in this place, where everyone had to spend money, not just for clothes or other things, but also for eating food and drinking water. One even had to pay a living tax to reside in their own residence.
It was clear that fifty silver coins was simply not enough, so Xu Yingdei and Yin Kongchan could only go to the makeshift market to find some odd jobs. Both of them were quite skilled, so they rented a stall in the makeshift market to sell embroidery, and were barely able to maintain it.
But then problems started cropping up, there were already a few embroidery stalls in the makeshift market; however, Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei also had good skills when it came to embroidery, which inadvertently caused them to squeeze out other embroidery stalls out of business, as such the business for others was growing worse.
Even in the face of harsh laws, as long as others touched the bottom line of their vital interests, there would always be someone who would think of a way to strike back. Not to mention that Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei were already strikingly beautiful, so it led to them being coveted by a few people.
After a month of smooth sailings, trouble finally came knocking at their doors. The embroidery that Yin Kongchan and Xu Yingdei sold was also being gradually being returned, the reason being given was that they were using inferior cotton materials, so after being washed a few times, the dyes turned white while the embroidery also started to come undone. This kind of thing not only made the material to easily tear apart, but it also turned into a complete mess once colours started dissolving into the water.
In the Ya Lun City’s makeshift market, the rules were strictly defined. Once the goods being sold turned out to be shoddy, they would then have to face the severest of punishments from the Legal Tribunal Office. Being driven out of the Ya Lun City was already the lightest punishment, while a more serious punishment being buried alive in the ground. Even enslavement was not out of the question.
……
Ning Cheng followed Yin Kongchan and entered the makeshift market. This was the first time that he had entered this place after entering the Ya Lun City.
However, at this moment he had no intention to look at the makeshift market in order to look at the things being sold as his sight ended up on Xu Yingdei. At this moment, Xu Yingdei had a headful of scattered hair, while her body and face had obvious bloodstains on them. Two men held red sticks their hands and were standing on each side with Xu Yingdei pinched in between them.
Ning Cheng as if not thinking of anything, or even speaking out any nonsense, pulled out his tri edge thorn and rushed up. He had been cultivating the Embracing Yang God Tactic for a long time, coupled with the recent loosening of his Sea of Consciousness; he could release a part of his spiritual consciousness, allowing him to move his hands in an extremely fast manner.
“Poof poof…..” Two flashes of blood erupted. The two men, who held Xu Yingdei in between them with the aid of the red sticks, fell to their knees. Their knee caps were sliced apart by Ning Cheng’s tri edged thorn.
Xu Yingdei broke free of her restraints and rushed over into Ning Cheng’s bosom, while sobbing quietly. She had always been a noble disciple of a grand academy, when had she ever suffered this kind of grievance?
As Xu Yingdei’s soft body fluttered into Ning Cheng’s arms, Ning Cheng unexpectedly experienced a kind of tranquil feeling. For the first time, his heartstrings were being tugged because of Xu Yingdei.
Ning Cheng felt the trembling Xu Yingdei in his arms. He gave a soft comforting pat to Xu Yingdei and spoke in a gentle manner, “Don’t be afraid, no one will dare to take you away.”
Xu Yingdei’s soft voice resounded in Ning Cheng’s ears, “I’m not afraid, I’m very happy…”
At this point, the onlookers in the makeshift market were completely shocked to see Ning Cheng; however, no one dared to speak up at the moment. In the makeshift market, they had never experienced this kind of a ruthless hand, was this man not afraid of death by hanging?
“You dare to seriously injure people in the makeshift market…..” A fat man pointed towards Ning Cheng in fear, while at the same time roared out his words.
Ning Cheng pulled on Xu Yingdei’s hand, before walking up to the fat man and speaking in cold voice, “So tell me, who were these two men that I injured? What crime did my companion commit? Why was she being beaten by the two?”
The fat man seemed to have woken up from the most frightening time that he had encountered in his life, before he pointed at Ning Cheng and spoke, “The two of them are interfering with the makeshift market, selling fake goods, so they deserve being enslaved and then beheaded for their crimes.”
As the fat man spoke, he then pointed to the two men whose knees Ning Cheng had just sliced apart, and spoke, “They had just bought a fake and came back to return it yet you dared to seriously hurt the two people. Just how huge is your dog shit courage, you are going to face the gallows, the gallows…”
The fat man’s words had not yet finished, when Ning Cheng suddenly came forward and slapped him a few times, while at the same time once again brought out his tri edged thorn.
Sounds of bones being shattered once again resounded out as the fat man directly fell onto the ground after Ning Cheng crushed his knee caps.
Ning Cheng then raised his tri edged thorn once again before crouching down and speaking to the fat man, “I’m not only going to hurt you, but I’m also going to kill some of you. Do you believe it?”
“You, you……” At this moment, the fat man was not able to utter any words due to fear. He had never imagined that a person could be so brazen in the makeshift market.
Ning Cheng held the tri edged thorn as he got up and walked towards the two men that he had seriously injured before. At this moment, the two men were too frightened to be even able to speak anything.
“Stop…..” A voice arrived followed by a group of people wearing military robes, at the front of them was a man wearing an official’s hat, showing that he obviously was the leader of this group of people.
“Ning Cheng, what shall we do now? That man is from the Legal Tribunal Office.” Yin Kongchan came to Ning Cheng’s side, and whispered a few words in a calm tone, without showing much of her previous anxiousness.
The man wearing the official’s hat seeing that much blood, along with the three men sprawled on the ground, immediately flew into a rage and shouted, “Who dares to be so bold, to even shed blood inside the makeshift market, did you think this place was lawless?”
The fat man on seeing the person with the official’s hat come over, immediately squealed like a pig, “Lord Sen, if you had not come then we would have been killed by this lawless brute. Lord we are just small people who respect justice and abide by the rules aah……”
There were obviously a few people here in cohorts with the fat man, so once the fat man’s words came out, it immediately incited the crowd to shout in his support, demanding a severe punishment to the murderer, but at the same time portraying the makeshift market to be as bright as the sun and moon.
[TL Note – ‘As bright as sun and moon’ here means that this place was being treated as a Holy Place.]
The man in the officer’s hat showed a trace of killing intent as he stared at Ning Cheng and spoke, “You sure have a lot of guts, take him to the Legal Tribunal Office, he would then be sent to the slave market after the trial. As for the two women, take them back there too, they will be first imprisoned in jail……”
A few people dressed in the military uniform started walking towards Ning Cheng; however, Ning Cheng spoke up in a calm yet loud voice at this moment “You better stop.”
The several soldiers wanted to catch Ning Cheng, and thought that Ning Cheng was frightened.
Ning Cheng calmly strapped his tri edged thorn to his calf, before he took a few steps forward. The man in the official’s hat, the one surnamed Sen, seeing Ning Cheng coming forward, hurriedly took a few steps back. He wanted to order the people following him to go up and tie Ning Cheng up. Ning Cheng suddenly stared at him with a cold smile, “Lord, although my courage is not small, however your courage is even greater than mine own aah. Since you want to catch me, then I’m afraid that the one who would be going to the slave market would not be me but you, right?”
“What are you talking about, I am an official from the Legal Tribunal Office, and is my duty to punish a criminal like you for creating such destruction in the market……”
The man surnamed Sen had not finished, when he was interrupted by Ning Cheng. “Lord Se. There are many people watching, what sort of law are you going to use to arrest a meritorious person like me? What means do you want to use to trample the sacred laws of the Ya Lun City? You see, I am a person who always abides by the law.”
Ning Cheng speaking until here raised his hands and cupped his fists in the direction of the City Master’s Mansion.
“You….” The man was so angry with Ning Cheng that he could hardly speak, but he still reeled in his anger after a while, before giving a sneer and spoke, “You wrecked destruction within the makeshift market, openly threatened to kill people in the makeshift market, how can someone like you be addressed as a man of merits? If I haven’t come here, I’m afraid that you would have already claimed a few lives, right? In accordance to the Line 5 of the Article 971 of the Ya Lun City’s laws, you were not only conspiring to commit murder in the makeshift market. But you even destroyed the property of the market, which is enough to consign you to slavery. If you want to still rebel, then you would be killed directly. Hehe, looks like you want me to kill you directly!”
Ning Cheng spoke out with disdain, “Lord Sen, these three people posed as officials from the Legal Tribunal Office, beaten my companion, and even bullied us openly in the marketplace. So for me to kill them is indeed a meritorious service to the city. According to the Line 2 of the Article 618 of Yan Lun City’s laws, anyone trying to pose as officials inside the Yan Lun City can be killed by anyone to earn merits. Lord Sen, do you intend to help these criminals who pretended to be Yan Lun City’s officials?”
The man wearing the official’s hat, the one called as Lord Sen, immediately went pale in the face of Ning Cheng’s words. He really had not known that there was such a thing. If the Line 2 of a Law conflicted with the Line 5 of a law, then the judgement would absolutely be based on the Line 2 of the Law.
At this time, the fat man immediately behaved as if he was a pig being killed and cried out, “We were not impersonating officials, he is just fabricating facts.”
This Lord Sen also thought that the fat man was right, who in the Ya Lun City would dare to impersonate an official? Unless death was not a strong enough deterrent for them. He was afraid to proceed, so his tone immediately turned even more guarded, “A false accusation against someone else is an even more serious crime than what you committed……”
Ning Cheng once again rudely interrupted this Lord Sen’s words, before he stared at the fat man and coldly asked, “Let me ask you this, what crime as my companion commit, to the point that you wanted to even beat her?”
“She is shoddy, interfering with the workings of the makeshift market, selling fakes; it is more than enough to be enslaved……” The fat man screamed out.
Ning Cheng’s tone turned even colder, “Did you investigate it? Or is it that you are just guessing? Or did you just believe the statement from one side?”
“Although I did not investigate, but these things are obvious, there were even others who came to return things.” The fat man still argued.
The man surnamed Sen, the one wearing the official’s hat, immediately realized his mistake, but before he could even speak up, Ning Cheng once again spoke up in a cold voice, “Even if the Legal Tribunal Office wants to punish someone, they have to investigate things thoroughly before they can convict them. But for this matter, you not only have not investigated the matter but also had already convicted and even injured my companion. Let me ask you, what qualifications do you have to convict people? If this was not called impersonating officials, then what was even called impersonating officials? Let me ask you once again, what qualifications do you have to beat my companions in the open market? Or is it possible that you have already reached an understanding with Lord Sen here?”
Ning Cheng speaking until here deliberately looked at Lord Sen and gave a smile before speaking, “I know that the Laws of Ya Lun City are fair and equitable, and anyone who is not convicted is good and disciplined. Lord Sen, even if it was a person whom you know, you cannot trample on the fair and just laws of our Ya Lun City.”
Although Ning Cheng spoke those words in an impassioned tone, it still elicited cheers from the on looking spectators.
Lord Sen’s face instantly turned pale, even the fat man seemed to have forgotten the pain radiating from his knee and was sweating profusely, before he spoke up, “You started a fight in the makeshift market, and even seriously injured us.”
Ning Cheng stepped forward and patted the fat face of the fat man, “Idiot, I am a man of merits, or did you not understand what I said? How can I tolerate this kind of thing especially when someone pretends to be from the Legal Tribunal Office?”
Finished speaking, Ning Cheng once again looked at the now ugly face of the man wearing the official’s hat and spoke, “Lord Sen, you are a lord from the Legal Tribunal Office, and yet after you came here, you unexpectedly did not even investigate anything, and wanted to catch a meritorious hero like me. According to the Line 1 of Article 431 in Ya Lun City’s law, I think that the Lord should know as to what to do?”
The man surnamed Sen immediately felt cold sweat oozing from his forehead, he really could not figure out how Ning Cheng was so proficient in the laws of Ya Lun City that even he felt trouble remembering.
