Chapter 101 The leech official is incredibly wicked at such a young age!

The two were exceptionally skilled and could easily sneak into the Tianjin police station without being noticed.

The tax collectors went straight to the detention cell. When the guards on night duty saw them bringing someone in, they quickly unlocked the door and let two patrolmen take the person in for a body search.

When the constable learned the reason why this man had crossed the border illegally, he was saddened to think of his own deceased mother, whom he had not been able to see one last time. He couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness and couldn't help but think of this colleague.

"He was just being filial, and he only did it because he was anxious. It's understandable. You..."

“Although there are extenuating circumstances, he still violated the law. Since I saw it, of course I had to arrest him. Otherwise, if something happened, I would be guilty of dereliction of duty. Besides, I didn’t know his mother was critically ill before I arrested him.”

"If you knew, could you just turn a blind eye?"

The tax collector glanced sideways, showing no mercy: "Am I stupid? Why would I risk my livelihood for someone I don't even know? Even if I knew, I wouldn't bring trouble upon myself."

The tax collector said, "Sacrificing oneself to help others is for the Bodhisattvas in temples. Even if the Bodhisattvas don't show their power, they are still worshipped every day. Who would worship me? These people will only curse me openly and secretly."

The constable was amused and chatted with him for a while. Then the tax collector asked about the little rascal who had tried to assassinate him.

The bailiff led him inside, saying as they went, "That brat's mouth is filthy. He cursed for two whole hours. His throat must be burning. He's only just calmed down."

"Just let him curse all he wants, don't you? You should slap him a few times."

"How could I not whip him? I'd whip him to death!" the constable chuckled. "The main problem is that he's cursing you."

The tax collector, who had been subjected to countless insults from the public, scoffed, "What are you insulting me for?"

"Why don't you go in and listen?" The constable walked to a temporary detention area, unlocked the door, and said, "They'll be cursing your ancestors for eighteen generations, nothing more than calling you a corrupt official."

"It's just the same old phrases over and over again, nothing new," the tax collector said, and as soon as he stepped inside, a hysterical roar erupted from within.

Zhou Yaren, who was eavesdropping, was almost deafened by that shout.

"You treacherous dog! River jackal! Leech! Bloodsucker! You framed my father! You'll die a horrible death!"

Ordinary people and merchants would call them "tax official" and "sir" in front of them, but rarely would they curse them so openly and harshly. This kid was so rude that he felt like he was going to tear the roof off his house.

Without a word, the tax collector rolled up his sleeves and got to work, punching and kicking the boy with ferocious force, giving him a severe beating until he was half-dead and speechless. Only then did he grab the boy, who was missing a front tooth and had a pig-like head, and throw him out of the tax office.

"I've vented my anger today, so I'll let you off this time. Now get lost!" The tax collector said, then turned and left.

The boy lay sprawled on the floor like a rag doll, unable to get up for a long time. Useless tears streamed down his swollen eyes like a broken string of pearls. He had tried his best, but each time he was kicked out of the county office. The watchdogs looked down on his few copper coins; even kowtowing and kneeling were of no use…

The boy, who was lost in grief and despair, was suddenly pulled into someone's arms and lifted up from the cold floor. He opened his eyes, which were swollen like walnuts, and saw the person holding him through his teary eyes.

Perhaps because his body was in so much pain, as if his whole body had been smashed to pieces, the boy did not struggle until he was carried into the inn and gently placed on the soft couch.

"Let me take a look at your injury."

The boy, who had been crying quietly the whole way, suddenly shoved away Zhou Yaren's outstretched hand: "Don't pretend!" He sat up abruptly like a fighting rooster with its feathers standing on end. "If you guys hadn't interfered, I would have killed that stag dog by now. Why would I have been beaten up like this!"

Zhou Yaren calmly said, "If you kill him and are punished by the authorities, what will happen to your mother?"

The boy froze, tears streaming down his face.

“If something happens to you, how will your mother live?” Zhou Yaren said. “You are still young and it is inevitable that you will act impulsively and recklessly, but don’t do things that involve risking your life in the future.”

The boy snapped, "What do you know?!"

Because his father murdered a salt merchant, which was witnessed and identified by the tax collector at the ferry crossing, the facts were irrefutable.

But he didn't believe it: "My father couldn't have killed someone to steal goods. It must have been that corrupt tax collector who framed him! These corrupt officials at the ferry crossing erect tax markers and guard the sluice gates, bullying people and extorting money from them at every level. They want to skin every passing boat alive, not even sparing the old fishermen. If you don't give enough tribute, they won't let you pass and will try every means to find fault and confiscate your goods. The boatmen have no choice but to pay more money to redeem them."

The boy said indignantly, "When they encounter a big salt merchant, they demand exorbitant prices. Someone like Hong must have been harassed by that corrupt official, which led to a falling out and ultimately cost him his life!"

Zhou Yaren asked, "Who told you that?"

The boy said without hesitation, "Do I need anyone to tell me?! My dad has been running around the ferry for half his life, and he sees this kind of thing every day!" He had been exposed to this kind of thing since he was a child, so of course he knew about the exploitation and darkness involved. These officials were like tigers, leopards, and wolves, sucking the marrow from the bones.

Zhou Yaren: "So it's just your baseless speculation?"

The boy stubbornly insisted, "That's the truth! That slug killed someone and framed my father!"

Zhou Yaren: "Do you have any evidence?"

The boy was speechless when questioned. If he had any evidence, he would have already reported it to the authorities to clear his father's name.

But he had no evidence, and instead spread rumors that the customs and tax officials were corrupt officials who, instead of profiting from the people, killed them and framed the poor.

...

Meanwhile, in another desolate place, the "leech official" was hanging from a large tree branch with a rope around his neck, standing on tiptoe and stepping on a small branch that could break at any moment.

He was abducted here as soon as he left the government office. After experiencing dizziness and disorientation, he still couldn't see who had abducted him. Then, he was subjected to interrogation by some unknown person while his life hung by a thread! While asking questions, they would also saw off a small tree branch. The tax collector was so frightened that he kept shuffling out of the way. He answered every question, afraid that if he didn't say a word, the small tree branch would be sawed off by the ruthless person, and he would surely become a hanged ghost in this desolate wilderness.

"That's utter slander! That brat is spreading rumors and fabricating stories to frame me in order to exonerate his father. He's so young, yet his heart is utterly wicked!"

The common people and merchants already harbored deep resentment towards the tax officials, spreading rumors that "the leeches on the riverbank are fat and suck the marrow out of the common people." Now, they were being attacked by these little rascals. The tax officials were so angry that they gritted their teeth: "These little rascals spread slander everywhere. They don't need evidence to spread rumors; they just rely on their mouths. You can see their intentions—they are simply wicked and vicious!"

Fortunately, he had two clerks with him when he boarded the ship, and two boatmen from the Hong family's ship were present the whole time. He never left their sight from beginning to end. When he went to court in the government office, the tax clerk was rightfully cleared of suspicion. Otherwise, he could have been wrongly killed by that bastard!

Alright, this brat is now insisting that he colluded with these people and was in cahoots with them!

The tax collector was so angry he wanted to beat him to death!

"That bastard has rabies! He actually tried to assassinate me today! Oh, don't saw off the heroine, the branch is going to break!" The tax collector, stepping on the swaying branch, rattled off words like a machine gun, "According to the law, attempted murder with a knife is punishable by exile for three thousand miles. But I hadn't even had a full meal before I had to go and bribe my way out of it, and I managed to turn the attempted murder into him just bumping into me, and all I did was teach him a lesson!"

Bai Yuan hid behind a tree trunk, right in the tax collector's blind spot: "So, you're repaying evil with kindness?"

"That's why I'm saying this!" The tax collector was both angry and anxious. "This little brat has been so scheming against me, of course I'd love to sentence him to exile! But his father is already in prison, and his mother is a sickly woman who can't stop taking medicine. If this kid is also exiled three thousand miles away... Although this matter has something to do with me, it's definitely not my responsibility. It's purely that this little brat can't tell right from wrong and is blaming me. He's asking for trouble! Although I'm not exactly a good person either, ah, I mean, although I don't want him to have an easy time, and I don't want to push this family to the brink of ruin, that's why I decided to give him a hand today. If he insists on going down a dead end, then it's his own fault."

The icy blade in Bai Yuan's hand gleamed with a chilling aura: "You accuse He Laishun of murdering Hong..."

"I didn't!" the tax collector quickly denied. "I've always said that when I arrived, I saw that Hong had already had her throat slit, was bleeding profusely, and had died on He Laishun's body."

Bai Yuan: "Wasn't it you who testified against He Laishun for stealing salt permits and murdering the Hong family?"

The tax collector did not see He Laishun take action, but there were only He Laishun and Mrs. Hong present: "Given the situation at the time, anyone would have thought so."

Bai Yuan: "In other words, you don't think so anymore."

The tax collector had no choice but to say, "Because of my testimony, and because that brat kept pestering me and even tried to pin the murder charge on me, I was afraid of getting into trouble, so I conducted some investigations in private."

He wouldn't say he was afraid of wrongly accusing someone. After the incident, he gave a clear and detailed account of everything to the interrogator, without embellishing or making any suggestive remarks. How to judge and convict was definitely left to the officials handling the case to investigate and consider; it had little to do with him.

Bai Yuan: "What did you find out?"

The tax collector suddenly slipped, lost his footing, and stepped into empty air. His throat was immediately constricted, and he managed to find a foothold. With a bulging face, the tax collector shouted, "Can you put me down first...?"

This approach is simple, direct, and effective; Bai Yuan has no intention of using any other method: "Speak."

The tax collector complained bitterly, but his life was in someone else's hands, so he had no choice but to admit defeat: "I checked all the boatmen, as well as those porters who boarded and unloaded cargo at the ferry."

"What did you find?"

"I didn't find anything wrong with the others, but there was one new porter who was very suspicious. He was assigned a workday, but he only went to work on that one day, and happened to board the Hong family's salt boat. After the incident, he never came to the ferry crossing again. I checked the register at the registration office. His name is Zhao Si, from Anyi, but I don't know if that's true. The ferry crossing is a mixed bag, and all sorts of people can come in to fish in troubled waters. To prevent impersonation, they also record the physical characteristics of the laborers. Zhao Si is six feet tall, with a broken left eyebrow, eyes with three whites showing, and a scar under his right eye. I also asked a few other porters who boarded the Hong family's salt boat that day, and they confirmed that he did exist at the time, but after being questioned, he left, and nobody knows where he lives."

The tax collector searched for two days without finding the man and didn't want to expend too much energy, as he had many other tasks and hardly any free time. He also worried that the man might have already left Fengling, which would be a waste of his efforts. So, he provided this suspicious lead to the county officials handling the case, asking them to verify it.

The tax collector believed he had done everything he could and had a clear conscience: "But today, a porter told me he thought he saw Zhao Si at the ferry, but with people coming and going, he disappeared before he could even go over and greet him. When I asked them about him before, I told them to keep an eye out for me, so when he saw Zhao Si, he came to tell me. But I was at the tax office at the time, with several merchant ships docked waiting for inspection, and I couldn't get away at all. I finally managed to finish my shift and have a meal, and then I was assassinated!"

After he had worked up a good time to get the little brat out of the way, he was "robbed" on the way back and someone was going to hang him from that tree.

I don't know what evil spirit I've encountered, but I've been killed twice in a row. Could it be that I'm going to die here today?

Knowing that good deeds don't always go unrewarded, the tax collector was on the verge of collapse when his kidnappers asked, "What's your name?"

"Ah? I... I'm called Cui, Cui Jin."

They kidnapped him without even knowing his name! Where is justice?!

Having finished questioning Bai Yuan, he turned and left.

Cui Jin, who was hanging, glanced out of the corner of his eye at the white shadow that flashed several feet away in an instant. In shock, he kicked his leg, and the sawed branch finally snapped with a crack.

No, you just asked the question and then left?!

He cooperated so fully, practically telling everyone everything he knew, yet he still couldn't escape his fate. He knew he was going to die eventually...

Before Cui Jin could even cry for help, he was strangled by a rope loop.

At the same time, a thin, cicada-wing-like ice blade pierced through the air from several feet away, severing the rope.

Cui Jin suddenly fell to the ground under the tree stump, clutching his neck and gasping for breath. When he looked up again, there wasn't a soul in sight.

When Bai Yuan returned to the inn, Zhou Yaren had just finished stroking the "donkey" and coaxing the boy to apply medicine.

Suddenly a white figure flashed in through the open window, startling the boy: "Who?"

Bai Yuan casually carried the half-finished wine jug from the windowsill into the room, placed it on the table, and sat down: "I asked that tax collector..."

Zhou Yaren said, "I heard everything."

Good, saves her from repeating herself.

Zhou Yaren said, "The physical characteristics are quite obvious. If we need to find someone, we can ask Liuyun for help."

The next day, when Li Liuyun heard about the person they were looking for, he frowned slightly in confusion.

Seeing his expression, Bai Yuan asked, "What's wrong?"

"I think I've seen this person before."

"I've seen you before?" Zhou Yaren was quite surprised. "Where have I seen you before?"

They had traveled together all the way here. If Liu Yun had seen this person, it was probably at Fenglingjin Ferry or on the way back to the inn.

But Li Liuyun pondered, "In the Puzhou government office, it was the coachman who sold the carriage to the Gu master."

Bai Yuan: "What a coincidence?"

It was indeed a coincidence. Li Liuyun couldn't be mistaken. Just one day later, he still remembered the coachman: "He came to the government office with portraits of the Gu Master and the Iron-Faced Man to provide clues. He said that the Gu Master mentioned going to Fenglingdu. I remember that his left eyebrow was broken, his eyes showed three whites, and there was a scar under his right eye."