The Sealed Beasts of the Divine Realm, Part 13
“Although they made a mistake, they should be punished according to the law. No individual or private organization has the right to punish them, let alone let Qiongqi eat their noses,” Xie Guijin explained patiently.
The system was even more confused: "But aren't the people you're arresting just people who are exploiting legal loopholes and won't be punished? Aren't you just a private organization claiming to be acting on behalf of justice?"
"Yes, but I only intend to use them to lure out Qiongqi, to scare them a little as a warning." Xie Guijin said calmly.
"You're clearly being hypocritical," the system ruthlessly exposed, then added indignantly, "Even if we follow your logic, wouldn't those people have gone unpunished and been let off the hook?"
"The principle of non-retroactivity of laws is a fundamental principle of legislation and must not be violated." Xie Guijin knew that the system did not understand these things, and also felt that it would have other hosts in the future, so he said, "If we use the imperfection of the legal system as an excuse to impose private punishments, it will cause more serious social harm."
"Oh," the system replied, only half understanding, and frowned as it silently processed the information.
Xie Guijin and Xue Linchuan led the carriage out of the stable.
“If we could bake something for dinner ourselves, we’d be more like江湖人 (jianghu people, people of the martial arts world),” Xie Guijin whispered to Xue Linchuan, “Unfortunately, we can’t, and that would give us away.”
"It's you who can't, but I can." Xue Linchuan smiled and gently stroked Xie Guijin's nose.
Xie Guijin leaned back slightly to avoid him, then looked Xue Linchuan up and down and said, "You can cook? Aren't you from a noble family? You can cook?"
"I studied abroad and came to the Southwest. I even cooked outdoors. It wasn't great, but it was edible." Xue Linchuan reluctantly stopped cooking, secretly regretting his impetuousness.
Upon hearing this, Xie Guijin's eyes lit up: "Really? I've wanted to have a real picnic since I was a child, but I've never had one."
"Really," Xue Linchuan patted his chest, guaranteeing it with absolute certainty.
Xie Guijin tilted her head and looked at Xue Linchuan with an indescribable expression, as if he had become a different person.
With limited time, the two hurriedly bought some things and left the city before the gates closed.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, the two headed towards the mountain god temple, hunting some wild game along the way and picking some wild vegetables and fruits that Xue Linchuan said were edible.
When they arrived at the mountain god temple, they found the people inside still unconscious, so they left them alone.
Xie and Xue gathered some dry branches and found a spot by a stream near the mountain god temple to light a campfire.
Xue Linchuan selected two suitable, sturdy tree branches and stuck them into the ground next to the campfire to make a support. He also used a knife to cut a few more branches and set them aside for later use. He cleaned the wild rabbits and fish he had caught along the way, skewered them on the sharpened branches, rubbed them with salt, lemongrass, and wild onions, and roasted them over the campfire.
While he was doing these things, Xie Guijin sat by the campfire, cupping her face in her hands, watching with bright, sparkling eyes.
Xue Linchuan flipped the fish over, sprinkled on the seasoning, and handed the pre-grilled fish to Xie Guijin.
Xie Guijin didn't stand on ceremony. She took the fish, blew on it, and took a bite. The fish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with the seasonings perfectly blended together.
She praised it highly.
Xue Linchuan smiled and said, "I didn't have time today, so I only made some easy dishes, and there weren't many ingredients. There are bamboo rats in the southwest, and their meat is tender. They can be roasted until golden brown and fragrant, and they are very delicious."
"Bamboo rat!" Xie Guijin swallowed a mouthful of fish.
"You can also use an earthenware pot to make water shield and fish fillet soup, which is smooth, tender, and refreshing." Xue Linchuan turned the branch over to flip the rabbit over.
"Fish slice soup," Xie Guijin swallowed, her throat bobbing.
Xue Linchuan chuckled: "And there's bamboo tube roasted meat. The bamboo aroma permeates the meat, making it an absolute delicacy. Paired with the unique chili powder and plum sauce from the Southwest, it's both refreshing and sweet and sour, making your mouth water."
Xie Guijin was like a little hamster hoarding food, her cheeks bulging with longing.
The system said disdainfully, "Host, you're so embarrassing."
Xie Guijin ignored it, threw away the fish bones she had finished eating, washed her hands with the stream water, took two prickly pears, washed them with the stream water, and gave one to Xue Linchuan.
She munched on a pear and whispered in Xue Linchuan's ear, "If there's still time after the mission is completed, can you make it for me?"
"Of course," Xue Linchuan took the pear and put it aside. He then took a closer look at the roasted rabbit, confirmed that it was cooked, and broke off a hind leg for Xie Guijin.
Xie Guijin quickly ate the remaining pear flesh, threw away the core, and then took the rabbit leg. She swallowed the pear flesh and began to eat the rabbit leg in big bites, saying indistinctly as she ate, "You eat the rest of the rabbit, and after I finish this, I'll roast it."
The aroma of roasted meat wafted into the mountain god temple, and the captured people gradually woke up, feeling extremely hungry.
The group looked at each other, none of them daring to make a move.
Outside the mountain god temple, Xie Guijin and Xue Linchuan, having eaten and drunk their fill and cleaned up the trash, leisurely entered the temple with their faces covered.
The bound men reacted drastically when they saw them enter. One of the young men, with delicate skin, cried out in a tearful voice, "I have money. I'll give you as much as you want. Please, don't kill me."
"You madmen, release me at once!" a pedantic scholar with a beard, wearing a faded long robe and an old book bag hanging from his waist shouted sternly.
An elderly man with white hair and a wrinkled face stared intently at Xie and Xue, remaining silent with a stern expression.
There was also a minor official dressed in coarse cloth and with a wooden plaque hanging from his waist. His eyes darted around, and he smacked his lips, saying, "Which gang are you two from? No matter which gang you're from, we're all on the same side."
"When have government officials ever been on the same side as江湖人 (jianghu people)?" Xie Guijin chuckled.
"Heroine, why have you arrested us? I'm an honest man!" A muscular man dressed in short hemp clothes, covered in sawdust, cried out his innocence.
“Yes,” a woman with glamorous makeup said, covering half her face with her sleeves embroidered with fragrant flowers, her eyes brimming with tears, “Why did you kidnap me? Please, esteemed heroes, let me go.”
"You look so delicate. Even if we let you go, it'll be dark outside. Do you dare to walk back along the mountain path?" Xie Guijin leaned closer and asked curiously.
The woman froze, looking at Xue Linchuan with a resentful gaze, her allure fully revealed.
Xue Linchuan frowned, freezing the woman in place.
Xie Guijin stood between the two, looking left and right, and couldn't stop laughing.
Xue Linchuan stepped forward and gently tugged at her.
Xie Guijin coughed and became serious, saying, "You really don't know why you've been arrested? Do you know that there are gods watching over us? We are acting on behalf of Heaven."
At this point, the group started shouting their innocence, each claiming they had never done anything wrong and that Xie and Xue had arrested the wrong person.
Some even suggested that we should go and arrest the evildoers who have committed such heinous acts.
Xie Guijin drew his longsword and shouted, "Shut up, all of you!"
Everyone hurriedly accepted the greeting.
Xie Guijin pointed her sword at the nearest pedantic scholar and said, "You haven't done anything evil?"
"Throughout his life, Jia has adhered to the ways of sages and virtuous men," the pedantic scholar declared with righteous indignation, "I have never done anything that is against heaven and reason."
"Is that so?" Xie Guijin said with a mocking expression, "You have a daughter who was engaged to someone, but before she could get married, her fiancé passed away, and the family took the initiative to break off the engagement. But you forced your daughter to marry him in the name of filial piety and serve her in-laws. Isn't that a terrible thing?"
“Of course not. This is an act of chastity and virtue, a testament to my family’s upright character and adherence to propriety,” the pedantic scholar said proudly and solemnly.
"Pah!" Xie Guijin spat on the pedant's face.
"You," the pedantic scholar, deeply humiliated, swayed and nearly coughed up blood from his anger.
Since Emperor Taizu established the Great Zhou Dynasty, several female emperors have taken many measures to change the erroneous views on chastity among the people, and the social atmosphere has greatly improved.
However, these old-fashioned Confucian scholars still adhered to the idea that "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big matter." They dared not openly oppose the court, but only dared to target their own daughters, persecuting them. The most common method they used was forced marriage, forcing their daughters to sacrifice their own rights.
The reason the pedantic scholar dared to speak so bluntly to Xie Guijin was probably because he believed Xie Guijin was definitely not affiliated with the government; her abduction was clearly an act of defiance against the authorities. He, too, was acting against the government—the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Perhaps the pedantic scholar is even happy to finally have a chance to express his true feelings; it's just that some people's thought processes are not worth trying to understand.
Xie Guijin secretly exhaled and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. This was the first time she had ever done something so outrageous to someone else, and her heart was pounding.
Having calmed his emotions, Xie Guijin turned and pointed his sword at the minor official.
The clerk, quick-witted as ever, immediately said, “Heroine, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have picked on the weak and bullied the common people. They wouldn’t do anything if they didn’t give me a reward. I was wrong. Please forgive me, my lord. I will definitely change my ways.”
"Oh," Xie Guijin said with a half-smile, her tone sarcastic, "Isn't it like the flood washed away the Dragon King's temple, and family members don't recognize each other? Now you're not trying to establish a connection?"
"Oh dear, how could I possibly be worthy of your acquaintance? You flatter me, I dare not accept such an honor." The clerk smiled obsequiously, displaying his ability to bend and stretch.
Xie Guijin was a little overwhelmed by this, so she moved a bit further away to stand in front of the muscular man.
Seeing that Xie Guijin was merely cultured and at most spat, the man felt there was nothing to fear, so he puffed out his chest and said, "I'm just doing my job honestly, you must have arrested the wrong person."
"The southwest is mountainous and forested. Since you make a living by logging, you should know that the imperial court has repeatedly ordered that no more trees should be cut down. Each woodcutter has a monthly quota for cutting down trees."
Before the muscular woodcutter could argue, Xie Guijin continued, "I know you cut down trees within your monthly quota, but that doesn't include the trees you secretly cut down and then smuggled down the mountain when no one was around. You're clever; even if you cut down trees secretly, you keep it within the legal limit, so even if you get caught, it won't matter. But have you ever thought about how much more you've cut down over the years?"
"I, I," the muscular woodcutter stammered for a long time, then fell silent.
Xie Guijin caught a glimpse of the old man who hadn't uttered a sound from beginning to end.
The old man's eyes were like hooks, fixed intently on Xie Guijin; it was impossible to ignore him.
Xie Guijin tilted her head and said, "You seem very unconvinced."
"My Bai family patriarch is highly respected. As long as I punish evildoers, no one dares to call me an evildoer," the old man finally spoke.
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