Chapter 122
Locals: Posting a portrait of a pretty girl who has not committed any murder in the most conspicuous place on the bulletin board, giving her a completely different name, spreading some true and false stories about her everywhere but not arresting her... Isn't this just a gimmick to attract tourists from outside the area?
Prefect: Ahahaha, let's continue discussing the bounty...
The law stipulates that there is a cap on the bounty for a wanted warrant issued due to personal vendettas. Therefore, even if the families of those evildoers want to increase the bounty, they cannot do so. The people in this city will not capture the Shura beauty for such a small amount of money.
A player once wondered why the emperor would allow private individuals to post bounties on government bulletin boards. Later, they learned that this was a way for ordinary people to vent their frustrations. When someone feels threatened but has nowhere to turn, or is unable to save themselves, they can spend a small fee to post a wanted poster at the government office, making the perpetrator hesitate and reconsider their decision before taking action.
Some people may think that this will only anger the other party, but ordinary people always have desperate moments. In this case, whether the other party will be angered is no longer important. Of course, there are still thresholds and requirements for issuing a wanted order. People with a history of criminal behavior are not eligible to apply. Otherwise, the bulletin board at the entrance of the government office would have been cluttered with wanted orders long ago.
The bounty cap is intended to limit the wealthy families of bullies. To increase the bounty cap, one must possess a title. How to increase a title? Those without meritorious service are not eligible for a title increase. Breaking the law will result in a reduction in title, which in turn reduces the bounty cap.
It is not uncommon to use the reward money as a deposit and then pay a sum of money after the deed is accomplished. However, if this practice is discovered, the mastermind will be charged with hiring a killer, and the rest of the family will be blacklisted by the government. Not only will they have trouble doing things in the future, but their path to rising in the political arena will also be basically cut off. The loss will outweigh the gain.
Prefect: Of course, such cases of deceiving superiors and concealing the truth from subordinates do exist, but they generally cannot hide it for long, because those who want to upgrade their titles often disguise themselves and make secret visits in order to collect the necessary merits.
Prefect: What? Working with a noble to deceive superiors and subordinates is more than just a crime of hiring a killer. How many monks are there among the imperial guards in the capital? How long would it take to kill people everywhere? Some people stop committing evil not because of a change of heart, but because they decide it's not worth it after weighing the pros and cons.
Imperial Guards: Death courier, mission accomplished.
The bully's family: Forget it, a mere unfilial descendant is not worth the whole family's trouble. Let's just go to the black market and hire someone to kill him.
Family members and children: No, can’t we just give up?
The bully’s family: No, only by being meticulous can you achieve long-term success.
Family members and children:...It seems that these two words are not used in this way, and hiring a killer is very expensive!
Bully Servant: Although it's not surprising that they never discuss whether it's legal or not, but...it won't be my turn to take the blame this time, right? Or maybe I should just run away in the night.
"I almost forgot about the important matter. I need to see if anyone has responded to the matter of the Four Horse-drawn Carriages." Since most wanted posters with personal bounties are mixed with complicated grudges and the bounty amounts are extremely low, Bei Qiao was not very interested in them. He only checked some gossip about the Shura Beauty and then closed the post.
Bei Qiao opened her previous posts and began to scan the responses. Her post on the Linhu County forum had only a few replies, with no mention of the four carriages. Some even questioned whether she had seen it wrong. Her post on the city forum had received no replies at all, as it hadn't been posted that long.
It seemed that only Bei Qiao had seen the four-horse carriage that left in a hurry. The others started to go off topic while chatting under the post.
"Am I really overthinking this... Never mind, time for bed." Of all things, sleep was paramount. Since no one had seen the carriage, nothing had happened. Even if something did happen, the worst that could happen was that the waiter would wake me up in the middle of the night and I'd have to run through the tunnels. It was not something I hadn't done before.
"Have you practiced martial arts today? Yes, good, sleep!"
The next day was Monday. When Beiqiao woke up, the breakfast his parents had left in the pot was still warm. After cleaning himself up, Beiqiao sat at the table to eat. Tangyuan, who was sleeping soundly in the cat's bed, smelled the delicious food and, like a sleepwalker, climbed onto Beiqiao's lap with his eyes closed, lay down, and opened his mouth.
Bei Qiao: “…” Little foodie.
Bei Qiao used freeze-dried food to soothe the still-awake Tangyuan, quickly finished breakfast, logged in, and left the city. As she stepped out of the city gate, she saw the Shura Beauty wanted poster again. It was prominently displayed at the city gate, with a dedicated person explaining it.
Bei Qiao: What kind of otherworldly man-made city attraction is this? There's actually a miniature portrait pendant for sale next to it. What are they called?
Bei Qiao drove out of the city after a whole day's journey. Finally, in the evening when the sunset covered the sky, he saw the different scenery of Yuanshan.
"I almost thought I had taken the wrong road." Bei Qiao held down her hat that was about to be blown away by the sea breeze: "There really is the sea on the other side of Yuanshan..." She had indeed smelled the scent of the sea breeze when she went up the mountain to hunt before.
If Beiqiao could walk in a straight line, he would be back in Yuanshan Village tonight. However, Yuanshan Mountain is very high, forming a G-shaped path around the village. Currently in the northwest corner of Yuanshan Mountain, Beiqiao would need to spend another half day circling the mountain to reach his destination.
Climbing the mountain home at night was impossible. The mountain leading to Yuanshan Village was extremely steep and surrounded by wild animals. Even during the day, let alone at night, no one would want to pass through there. The wind was also very strong at the seaside. If the climber was not strong enough, they would be blown into the sea below the cliff and swept away by the rapids.
The head of Yuanshan Village said: In order to ensure the safety of the offline environment for players, the location of each novice village has been carefully selected after repeated surveys. Except for the village entrance, no one can enter the village from other places!
Since she would be returning to the Novice Village tomorrow anyway, Bei Qiao didn't plan to travel at night to avoid unexpected dangers. There happened to be a small fishing village at the foot of Yuanshan Mountain, with a small official inn there, which was just the right place for her to stay.
The inn didn't have many rooms, but the backyard was quite large, with a lot of fish drying in it. The waiter helped Bei Qiao pull the carriage to a corner where the fish weren't drying, and carefully tied the reins. His cautious expression made Hui Hui roll his eyes in anger: "What's wrong? A mount will definitely steal food! You're so great as to be a human being! Humph!"
"Brother Xiaochuan, come out and watch the fun!" Just when the waiter was about to take Beiqiao to the front counter to pay the room fee, a young man in brown shorts ran in from outside the yard, grabbed the waiter's arm and ran out without saying a word.
"Wait wait, I'm still greeting guests!"
"Then hurry up! A lot of people have already gone there. If you go too late, you won't be able to squeeze in to the front." The young man was anxious to see the excitement. Upon hearing this, he immediately let go of her hand and ran out. Before leaving, he didn't forget to greet Bei Qiao: "Goodbye, guest. Our dried fish is delicious!"
"This dried fish, does it mean literally? He is promoting his own products." Bei Qiao raised his eyebrows.
"Well, they sell fish. They have both fresh and dried fish."
“Is his dried fish delicious?”
"It's no different from any other place. Customers can just pick any one to buy from." The waiter handed the room key to Bei Qiao and answered honestly: "The most difference is whether there is more salt or even more salt." This is another world, not a food animation. There are no glowing dishes that are so delicious that they make people scream.
Bei Qiao thanked the waiter, went upstairs, and put the package in his room. Just as he was about to open the window to look out, he remembered the mosquitoes outside and put his hand back. The autumn evening was a little chilly, but Bei Qiao didn't dare stop fanning himself, not to look cool, but simply to keep the mosquitoes away.
"I have to ask Qi Zhi tomorrow when I get home if the mosquito repellent is expired." Bei Qiao took out a mosquito coil from his bag, put it into the ceramic basin he found under the bed and lit it: he had applied the mosquito repellent so much that it was almost marinated in flavor, but he still got bitten by two mosquitoes downstairs just now. How hard must they fight for this bite of blood? Is other people's blood not tasty?
After lighting the mosquito coils, Bei Qiao went out to see the excitement the young man had mentioned, and also to see if the village fish was good enough to take back as souvenirs. Yuanshan Village was so close, so bringing some fresh fish back wouldn't go bad.
The village wasn't big, so if you wanted to find a place to watch the action, just listen to the sounds. Following the direction of the loudest noises, Bei Qiao spotted three groups of people on the beach. The largest group consisted of locals who had come to watch the action. The other two groups were surrounding a nearly half-demolished carriage. One group had their heads drooped, looking devastated, while the other had a calm expression, a hint of amusement in their eyes.
"Oh, this pattern looks familiar." Bei Qiao was 70% sure that this carriage was the lone four-horse carriage she had seen before. As for the remaining 30% uncertainty, it was because the carriage had been dismantled beyond recognition.
"Compensation?"
"You did it on purpose!"
"How come I strangled you and made you steal my carriage?"
"You, you...you did it on purpose! Wuwu..."
"You scared the four-horse carriage thieves out of their wits! I thought you had some special way to sell the stolen goods." Sang Ran, the carriage owner who had been following the carriage all the way, twirled his bangs with boredom. "Turns out, they're just two clueless thieves..."
In this dynasty, four-horse carriages and six-horse carriages were very special. This specialness lay not only in the style of the carriages and the number of horses pulling them, but also in the materials used to make the carriages themselves.
Simply put, these materials are inaccessible to ordinary people, are not used on a daily basis, are not recognized as special by ordinary people, and are not available for sale. Some materials, if not handled properly, can even pollute the environment.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
