Chapter 46 Zhu Mingyue: “…”
Zhu Mingyue: "..."
This guy is insane, absolutely insane. He gets pleasure from being slapped? What kind of inhuman masochistic constitution is this?
He was caught in a dilemma: whether to slap or not. If he did, it would make him feel like he had been taken advantage of.
Xie Pei silently stepped forward and stepped on the bearded man's wound. The dagger sank deeper into the flesh, and the wound, which had been bleeding slowly, began to bleed profusely again.
Xie Pei stared directly at him, and even without saying a word, it was terrifying enough.
The bearded man trembled all over, a hint of fear surfacing deep in his eyes. The way he looked at him was not like he was looking at an eighteen-year-old boy, but like a demon crawling out of hell, demanding his life.
He finally relented, "Okay, I'll tell you."
"You guys untie the rope first."
He An shouted, "Stop talking nonsense and get to the point!"
"We fled from Suiyuan County the day before yesterday, and we suffered a lot on the way. We brothers were living a hard life, we had no money and couldn't even get enough to eat. When we passed through this place, we thought we would beg for some food in the town. We didn't get any food, but then we met a man who told us that we could eat here for free, so we came here."
He An: "Who is the man who told you about this?"
The bearded man shook his head: "We don't know."
Where did you meet them?
"I don't know either."
In short, he knew nothing when asked.
He An was so angry he gritted his teeth: "You believe someone when they tell you that you can eat for free? Is there really such a good thing in the world?"
Perhaps feeling that his reasoning was too flimsy, the bearded man was speechless in the face of his questioning. He continued in a hard voice, "I've said everything I need to say. Now, can you let us leave?"
"You're lying," Zhu Mingyue's assertive voice suddenly rang out. He hadn't spoken until now, pondering the credibility of what the bearded man was saying. After a short while, Zhu Mingyue was almost certain that this man's credibility was zero.
"I didn't lie, I swear to God." The bearded man struggled, his face flushed, looking as if he had been wronged. Anyone else with a simpler mind might have been fooled.
Zhu Mingyue frowned: "Swearing won't help. I don't buy your nonsense. I only trust my own judgment."
“You say you fled from Suiyang County, and I'll believe you for now. Over the past few months, I've hosted all sorts of refugees, and even those who weren't poor looked tired and emaciated from the bumpy journey. None of them are like you, with rosy complexions, full of energy, and behaving arrogantly, not at all like people who have genuinely experienced a flight. Furthermore, each of you is carrying a weapon. I'll believe you if you say you burned, killed, looted, and robbed others of their money and food along the way, but I absolutely won't believe you if you say seven strong men with knives went door to door begging.”
The bearded man and his brothers were clearly taken aback; their expressions were a mix of surprise and guilt.
But the bearded man seemed determined to stick to that story, and further questioning would likely yield no results.
Zhu Mingyue was a little angry. Even after being beaten up like this, he still refused to reveal the mastermind behind it all. The person behind it must have spent a lot of money to get rid of him. Not to mention anything else, just hiring these people must have cost a fortune.
It's alright, aren't they all willing to keep their mouths shut? He wants to see whether they value their lives more or are more afraid of the person behind the scenes.
With a whoosh, gasps of surprise rose and fell.
"Why are you splashing oil on us?" The bearded man was the one who got the most oil, his face was shiny with oil, and even his beard was covered with droplets of oil.
Seeing their appearance, Zhu Mingyue couldn't help but think of a sizzling roast suckling pig. The two images overlapped seamlessly.
He extended a long section of hemp rope, about the height of a person, and placed it on the ground as a fuse. Then he took out a tinderbox from his sleeve, raised his eyebrows, and said with malice in his tone, "I suppose you all know what happens when oil meets fire, right?"
The group was filled with disbelief. They thought Xie Pei was a pushover who could be bullied by anyone, but he turned out to be a devil among devils. Compared to him, what were Xie Pei's tricks? This guy was going to burn them alive!
"I'll count to three, and then I'll light the rope."
"one"
The room was completely silent; no one made a sound.
"two"
In the silence, a few heavy breathing sounds could be faintly heard, but there was still no response.
"three"
Before they could even finish speaking, Zhu Mingyue gave them a moment to think. The tinderbox crackled to life, instantly igniting the end of the hemp rope.
While enjoying the terrified expression on their faces, he turned to Xie Pei and He An and asked in a serious tone, "Do you think the authorities will find out if seven people are burned to death at once?"
Before the two could reply, he clicked his tongue and said to himself, "Probably not. They were just a few refugees who escaped from Suiyang County. They're dead, so be it. Nobody will know anyway. After they're burned to ashes, I'll go to the latrine and scatter their ashes. Even if someone looks for them and turns our shop upside down, it will be in vain."
"Don't you think my idea is brilliant?"
He An: "..." He wasn't sure if it was subtle or not, but it was certainly terrifying. Even the pain in his lower body was gone because of the fright. He had worked with the shopkeeper for so many days, how come he hadn't realized that beneath his gentle and harmless exterior lay a perverted soul?
He recalled how Zhu Mingyue had calmly faced the challenge of bringing out this pot of oil during the trouble these past few days. No wonder she thought he was in the way and even made him close the gate; it turned out she had already planned to burn him to ashes back then. It was truly chilling.
He couldn't help but look at Xie Pei, hoping to get approval from his face, but the other remained expressionless, which was somewhat disheartening. This is your own sister-in-law! Her methods are so ruthless, don't you really have any thoughts about it?
Perhaps his gaze was too obvious, for Xie Pei finally spoke, coldly uttering two words: "Very good."
He An: "..." Good? What's so good about it? A huge question mark appeared on his forehead.
Is this even human language? The sister-in-law is killing someone, and the brother-in-law not only doesn't try to stop her, but actually condones it. It really proves the old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together"—this is utterly insane.
The hemp rope was burning shorter and shorter, and it would ignite at the slightest touch when the oil was heated.
He An couldn't stop Zhu Mingyue from stopping, so he had to close the door tightly to prevent someone from suddenly barging in and seeing this scene, and to forgive him for ultimately choosing to aid and abet evil.
His mother was seriously ill and needed medication to stay alive every day. His family was poor, and because he was young, no one wanted to hire him for high-paying, strenuous jobs. During the most helpless and darkest time of his life, Zhu Mingyue took him in by chance. The wages here weren't high, but he would receive an extra bonus at the end of the month, and Zhu Mingyue was even willing to give him money to go back and find a good doctor to treat his mother. To this day, Zhu Mingyue has never asked him to repay that money.
On several occasions when his mother was not in good condition, he frequently made mistakes while working, but Zhu Mingyue did not criticize him too harshly. She even asked him to go back early to take care of his mother when he was less busy in the afternoon.
His mother said the shopkeeper was a good person and he should repay her kindness. He secretly resolved that he would take Zhu Mingyue's words as an ironclad rule. If Zhu Mingyue said to go east, he would never go west. If Zhu Mingyue killed someone, he would... Thinking of this, He An closed his eyes again in despair. So be it, he killed someone. In any case, the people he killed were not good people.
Yellow liquid dripped onto the ground, someone was so frightened at the critical moment that they peed themselves.
"Boss, just tell me already!"
Please!
"Survival is the most important thing, boss!"
The six men, excluding the bearded man, completely lost their composure. They realized that Zhu Mingyue was not joking with them, but really wanted to kill them.
With his bushy beard fixed on the burning hemp rope, he was so tense that beads of sweat fell like tears, but even those that flowed into his eyes couldn't distract him from blinking.
He was gambling, gambling that Zhu Mingyue wouldn't dare to kill anyone, gambling that he would put out the fire at the last moment.
However, this time Zhu Mingyue could only say that he had completely miscalculated.
He intended to force them to tell the truth, and he was absolutely certain that what he had said earlier was true. If these people continued to be stubborn, he would really burn them alive.
This group of ruthless bandits has now been thoroughly offended. If they are released, their revenge will follow.
If they told him the truth, he would spare their lives out of humanitarian considerations; if they didn't, he would simply make them disappear to avoid further retaliation.
This was the first time in his life that he had the thought of killing someone. He couldn't be a saint; he had to take responsibility for his own life, Xie Pei's life, and He An's life.
The fire was less than half a finger's width away from the oil on the ground. The bearded man's breathing suddenly became rapid. Everything in front of him disappeared, and the whole world was plunged into darkness. Only the pounding of his heart could be heard.
Was he going to die? No! He didn't want to die! His brothers were right; nothing was more important than life. And he only had one life; he couldn't gamble with it, he couldn't afford to.
“I said.”
Zhu Mingyue watched him quietly, unmoved.
The bearded man panicked completely, abandoning all dignity in that moment. Two streams of tears streamed down his face as he pleaded in a low voice, "I'm telling the truth this time, I promise I won't lie to you. Please, have mercy on us and spare our lives!"
Zhu Mingyue gestured to He An with her eyes to put out the fire.
He An, having received the signal, scurried over and stomped out the fire on the rope. He was naturally pleased that Zhu Mingyue was no longer killing anyone.
The seven men let out low sobs of relief. It is said that men do not easily shed tears, but these men's tears seemed endless. One can imagine how much psychological trauma Zhu Mingyue's methods had inflicted on them.
Zhu Mingyue casually found a chair and sat down in front of them, waiting until they had finished crying before speaking: "Who was it?"
Having gone through this ordeal, the bearded man dared not utter another lie and hurriedly replied, "Manager Ma?"
Zhu Mingyue searched his memory carefully but found no record of anyone with the surname Ma. He was quite certain that he had no connection with this person.
The bearded man swallowed hard and explained to him, "It's Manager Ma from the Drunken Flower Pavilion. I don't know his full name either."
Zhu Mingyue nodded thoughtfully: "Why did he instruct you to cause trouble here?"
The bearded man said, "I really don't know anything about your personal feud. My brothers and I make a living by helping people settle scores. As long as we're paid enough, we're willing to do anything, without ever asking why. That shopkeeper Ma approached me privately, only saying that I should come to your shop and cause some trouble, ruin your business, and then teach you a lesson, preferably..."
He An spoke first: "The best one?"
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