Captain Zhao stared at Old Black and the hunter, who were voluntarily demanding a body search, his face full of astonishment.
People with dark hearts instinctively assume others are dark too.
Captain Zhao never trusted his subordinates and thought Jin Feng would be the same.
But Old Black’s loyalty to Jin Feng, and Jin Feng’s trust in Old Black, far exceeded his judgement.
Jin Feng refused without hesitation to search Old Black and the hunter, yet Old Black and the hunter insisted on being searched to prove their innocence.
By now, Zhang Liang had personally searched Old Black and the hunter’s clothes thoroughly.
From Old Black’s clothes, three pieces of broken silver were found, adding up to less than two taels. The hunter Tang Fei was even poorer, with only six copper coins on him, just enough for a bowl of mutton soup without meat at the county office, plus two coarse grain pancakes.
“Brother Liang, you haven’t searched here yet!”
Old Black pointed at his loincloth. “Or we could go to the small woods…”
“Get lost!”
Zhang Liang kicked Old Black in disgust. “Put your clothes back on quickly. If you dawdle any more, I will really drag you to the woods and castrate you!”
“Hehe!”
Only then did Old Black put his clothes back on with relief.
Then he walked over and swung his scabbard to thrash Captain Zhao fiercely.
“For wrongly accusing me! …”
Jin Feng did not stop him. Old Black struck more than a dozen times before Zhang Liang pulled him away.
“Enough. Any more and you will kill him!”
“Jin Feng, the winner takes all. Since I lost, I have nothing to say.”
Captain Zhao spat out several teeth mixed with blood, looked up at Jin Feng. “If you have the guts, kill me!”
In Jinchuan, he was in charge of public security and was too familiar with the various tortures in prison.
Previously, he was the executioner, but now he was about to become the victim.
He never felt fear when torturing others, but thinking that those terrible punishments would now fall on himself, Captain Zhao could not help but shudder.
Just now, he deliberately tried to sow discord between Jin Feng and Old Black, hoping Old Black would fly into a rage and kill him directly, sparing him the suffering of being imprisoned.
Unfortunately, his plan failed.
“Sir, he was after all a court-appointed official. Even though he has been dismissed, he must be temporarily detained until the documents from the Ministry of Personnel arrive before execution can proceed.”
Xiao Duwei feared Jin Feng might impulsively kill Captain Zhao and quickly reminded him.
“Jin Feng, at this point, I will be straight with you. The incidents at Wild Dog Slope, Nine Li Ditch, and Black Wind Ridge were all my doing. What do you think? Surprised?”
Captain Zhao continued to provoke.
Jin Feng was indeed somewhat surprised.
At that time, more than thirty bandits at Wild Dog Slope threatened to collect annual grain. Qing Mulang led the female soldiers to encircle and suppress them. Only when they reached the mountain did they discover Wild Dog Slope had joined forces with Nine Li Ditch.
That was the female soldiers’ first battle. If Jin Feng had not sensed something wrong and sent old soldiers to reinforce in secret, Qing Mulang would have suffered a big setback that time.
Afterwards, Jin Feng suspected someone might be behind it and sent people to investigate. But due to shallow foundations, after a long investigation, no valuable clues were found. Plus he was busy with other matters, Jin Feng forgot about it.
Actually, Jin Feng had suspected Captain Zhao and others before, so Captain Zhao admitting this did not surprise him too much. What really shocked him was that the attack at Black Wind Ridge was also instigated by Captain Zhao.
These days, there were too many bandits, and Black Wind Ridge was already outside Jinchuan territory, so from start to finish, Jin Feng thought it was an ordinary bandit group and never suspected the gentry of Jinchuan County.
Only now did he learn that the bandits at Black Wind Ridge were also directed by Captain Zhao.
“Jin Feng, I heard that the night before last, many of your people died. Among the dead female soldiers, was there your mistress?”
Captain Zhao said disdainfully. “Even if you are nobility, even if you caught me, what can you do? Do you dare kill me? In the end…”
Before he finished, Qing Mulang suddenly stepped forward, her black knife already unsheathed.
Before Xiao Duwei could stop her, the black knife in Qing Mulang’s hand flashed with cold light and slashed across Captain Zhao’s neck.
Captain Zhao’s eyes widened in an instant, his face showing fear of death, but also a trace of relief.
A tumour that had tyrannised Jinchuan for many years thus came to an end.
Qing Mulang flicked the blood droplets off her black knife, walked straight to Jin Feng without looking back, and said heroically, “If there is trouble, I will take responsibility!”
“You take responsibility? Can you afford it?!”
Jin Feng slapped Qing Mulang on the head in annoyance.
“Don’t hit my head!”
Qing Mulang angrily swatted away Jin Feng’s palm. “If I cannot afford it, there is still my brother. I do not believe that killing a dismissed county captain is something my brother cannot handle!
This Zhao fellow was too infuriating with his words. You could tolerate it, but I could not!”
“When will you learn to be calm?”
Jin Feng held his forehead. “Did you not see that he feared suffering in prison and was seeking death?”
“Of course I saw, but I just cannot stand him being so arrogant. He is a prisoner now, yet still acting domineering and making ruthless threats!”
Qing Mulang said unconvinced. “Sir, you think too much. When someone deserves to be killed, do not hesitate!”
“Fine, fine. You hate evil like an enemy and cannot tolerate a grain of sand in your eyes. I am a coward, alright?”
Jin Feng was too lazy to argue with Qing Mulang.
But Xiao Duwei standing beside him, upon hearing Qing Mulang’s words, felt massive waves surge in his heart.
To reach the position of Duwei, Xiao Duwei had the necessary instincts.
He had noticed earlier that Jin Feng and Qing Mulang’s relationship was unusual, but since he had not seen them much, Xiao Duwei did not think deeply.
However, Qing Mulang’s words just now made Xiao Duwei realise that this woman’s identity was anything but ordinary.
Suddenly, Xiao Duwei remembered Qing Mulang’s name.
The surname Qing was rare. The first person Xiao Duwei thought of was Qing Huai.
But Qing Huai rarely interfered in yamen affairs. Even if he could handle a county captain’s matter, he could not do it as easily as Qing Mulang said.
Unless…
Suddenly, Xiao Duwei thought of someone.
He had heard the prefect mention that the current Governor of Xichuan also had the surname Qing!
Thinking of this, Xiao Duwei’s gaze towards Qing Mulang changed, and his perception of Jin Feng rose another level.
Jin Feng still did not know that in this short time, Xiao Duwei had thought of so much. He pointed at Captain Zhao and said,
“Brother Liang, take his corpse to Heishuigou and show those bandits. Their backer is gone! Also take those two gentry to Hutou Mountain and Shuangtuo Peak.”
“Yes!”
Zhang Liang agreed, called two escort masters, and draped Captain Zhao over a war horse.
…
In the mountains, there was a small stream. Mr. Feng was sitting by the stream, carefully turning and roasting a wild rabbit, occasionally sprinkling some spices on it.
“Mr. Feng, just as you said, Jin Feng indeed took people to chase and kill Captain Zhao and the others.”
A subordinate came forward to report.
“When did they set off?”
Mr. Feng did not even lift his eyelids, still carefully turning the wild rabbit.
“They left before dawn. By now, they should have caught up with Captain Zhao. They definitely cannot return for a while.”
The subordinate answered.
“Heh, finally we can make our move!”
Mr. Feng threw the wild rabbit directly into the fire, stood up, and stretched.
Behind him, the valley was full of people, almost filling the entire valley.
