Chapter 68: Offerings

“Where did you people come from?”

Seeing several hundred people marching grandly toward town, a passerby could not help asking out of curiosity.

“We’re from Dongwang Village. Just this afternoon, we caught human traffickers and saved sixteen children. Now we’re taking the traffickers to town to see the officials.” Mao Shan’s face was full of pride as he spoke. He felt that catching the traffickers was quite an impressive thing.

“Oh my.” Several people who heard him looked toward the Dongwang Village group. Four people inside were tied up with rope and fastened beside the cart. They had to be the traffickers. There was also an ox cart crowded with more than a dozen children. Those should be the rescued children.

“How did you catch the traffickers?” The questioner looked at Ma Daming and the other three with disgust, yet was curious too. The town constables had searched for three days without even finding the traffickers’ shadow. Yet the villagers of Dongwang Village had actually caught them.

“They brought it on themselves.” The villagers all chimed in at once, telling the whole story of how the traffickers had hit someone and tried to flee, how their village’s heroine—Hua Qi—had kicked the carriage down with one foot, and how they later discovered the carriage was packed full of children. At the end, they still had to praise Hua Qi all over again.

Even Qin Niang, who had always had opinions about Hua Qi, wore an expression as if she shared in the honor. When she spoke of Hua Qi, she praised him nonstop, as though there had never been any bad blood between them.

Hua Qi thought, How did things turn into this? He had merely completed a task and helped the humans who had come to Yunling Temple for aid. How had he somehow become a heroine among humans?

Tuo Tuo sat sprawled on the ox cart with his two plump legs spread wide, the bruises on his exposed thighs obvious. He held Yun Shan in both arms, and as he listened to everyone praising Hua Qi, sourness could not help rising in his heart. He was clearly the one who had worked the hardest, so why was all the credit Hua Qi’s?

“Look at how they beat our child.” Fifth Auntie stepped forward and lifted the clothing on Tuo Tuo’s legs slightly to show everyone. “His legs are all bruised. His arms are covered too. Just think how wicked these people are.”

Tuo Tuo felt even more stifled. With a mournful face, he lowered his head and met Yun Shan’s clear, innocent black-and-white eyes. At this very moment, he only wanted to hug the Little Temple Master and cry his heart out. Wuwuwu, this was so infuriating. Not only had Hua Qi stolen the credit, Shuanzi had said he was stupid, and now these women still wanted to lift his clothes and look at his wounds. Wuwuwu, how had things ended up like this?

Some of the onlookers went ahead to town to spread the news. Before the villagers of Dongwang Village had reached town, a large group of constables came running over.

The constable leader at the front swiftly looked over the crowd, took the portraits from the side, and only after confirming that all the missing children had been found did he begin asking how it had happened.

The villagers, who had originally been speaking over one another, did not dare fool around now. All of them looked toward the village head.

The village head jumped down from the ox cart, bent slightly at the waist, and respectfully explained the matter in detail.

With a large saber at his hip, the constable leader carefully looked Ma Daming and the others over. Then he took a portrait and compared it to the madwoman several times.

With her hair now disheveled, the madwoman truly looked like the “madwoman” from the past few days.

The constable leader immediately ordered, “Quick, take these people away!”

The constables had just untied the rope binding Ma Daming when they heard waves of shouting in the distance.

“My son!”

“My son!”

“My son, Mancang!”

The constable leader glanced back, then immediately straightened. The person running over from behind was Landlord Zhang of Anping Town, who was also the county magistrate’s elder brother. His young son had been stolen by human traffickers two days ago.

“Dad!” Zhang Mancang hugged his clothes and jumped down from the ox cart, running toward Landlord Zhang.

Just then, an unexpected change suddenly occurred. Ma Daming knocked aside the constable beside him and charged outward.

“Mancang!” Landlord Zhang cried out in alarm.

Although Ma Daming’s upper body was bound, he was rushing toward Mancang, and no one knew what he meant to do.

Everyone stared blankly at this sudden turn of events, and not a single person reacted. Hearing his father call him, Zhang Mancang also stopped, looking at his father in the distance in confusion.

Just as Ma Daming was about to reach Zhang Mancang, a cold light flashed in Hua Qi’s eyes. Trying to run? Maybe in your next life. He stepped forward twice, pulled Zhang Mancang over, then kicked out straight ahead, landing a flying kick directly in Ma Daming’s abdomen.

There was force behind this kick. Ma Daming flew backward and crashed heavily to the ground. After coughing up two mouthfuls of blood, he clutched his stomach and actually fainted dead away, lying completely motionless.

Everyone was struck dumb by this scene. Huaniang truly was a heroine among women.

“Daming—” the restrained madwoman cried. “Daming, Daming, what happened to you? Murder—murder—broad daylight, and they’re murdering people—”

The constable holding the madwoman down slapped her hard twice and spat, “What murder? Why didn’t I see any murder? Even now, he still wanted to harm a child. In my opinion, he was the one rushing off to kowtow before King Yama himself. No one could stop him.”

“Do you people... do you people have any law left?” Hei Pi was terrified. Seeing his elder brother lying motionless, his heart ached as he said, “Hurry and find a doctor to look at him.”

“Find what?” The constable leader kicked him and cursed, “Wretched thing. It would be perfect if he died.”

Although he said that, the constable leader was also worried that the man really might be gone. They had not even interrogated him yet. He called a young constable over to check Ma Daming’s breathing.

The young constable jogged over, crouched down, and only placed a finger beneath Ma Daming’s nose for an instant before immediately raising his voice. “Not dead.”

“Not dead. His life’s pretty tough.” The constable leader muttered a few curses.

Landlord Zhang had already run close. He crouched down and pulled Zhang Mancang into his arms. “Mancang, my good son. Dad is here. Dad is here.”

“Dad.” Zhang Mancang rested his little face on Landlord Zhang’s shoulder and called out sweetly, “Dad.”

“Dad’s here, Dad’s here.” Landlord Zhang wished he could hold this son in his mouth and cradle him in his hands. He patted his back soothingly and said, “Dad will take Mancang home.”

After being affectionate with his son, Landlord Zhang finally looked toward Hua Qi.

The woman before him had a lovely face and a curvy figure, with a full chest, a slender waist, and broad hips. Though she wore a patched outfit, it could not hide her transcendent bearing. She clearly had a gentle appearance, yet her expression was cool, and when she looked at people, her chin lifted slightly.

Hua Qi was good-looking and had saved Mancang. Landlord Zhang immediately felt fondness toward him, and when he spoke, his tone was extremely gentle. “What happened just now, I truly must thank this young lady for it. I...”

Landlord Zhang patted himself all over and discovered he had nothing on him. He immediately turned to look at his family’s steward.

The steward understood and untied the money pouch from his waist, handing it to his master.

Landlord Zhang weighed the pouch and estimated that it contained ten taels of silver. As thanks, this was enough. He held the money pouch out to Hua Qi with both hands and said gratefully, “To express this Zhang’s gratitude, please accept these yellow and white things, young lady.”

Hua Qi frowned slightly. What were yellow and white things?

Seeing her fine brows knit, and seeing that she neither spoke nor accepted the money, Landlord Zhang thought she did not want money. He admired her all the more. Someone so warmhearted and yet asking for nothing in return truly had a noble bearing. Because of this, his fondness for Hua Qi grew even stronger.

Xiu Niang knew Hua Qi was not good at managing worldly relationships. Some things he did not understand at all. Seeing him refuse the bulging money pouch now, she thought Hua Qi simply wanted to do a good deed and was not fond of wealth. So she took the initiative to say, “Master Zhang, this money, we don’t—”

“Wait.” Hua Qi had heard the word money. Looking again at the pouch in Landlord Zhang’s hand, he immediately understood. Yellow and white things meant money!

He snatched the money pouch from Landlord Zhang’s hand and thought, This pouch is quite heavy. There should be quite a bit of money inside.

The way Hua Qi looked at Landlord Zhang carried appreciation, and a smile also appeared on his face. A human had voluntarily given him offerings. Not bad. Not bad.

Xiu Niang froze for a moment, then her face reddened slightly. She had thought Huaniang did not want the money.

Landlord Zhang was also stunned. Then he smiled awkwardly. “The young lady deserves it.” Although it was a little awkward, this young lady—she looked truly beautiful when she smiled.

Fortunately, people kept arriving to look for their children, and the noisy commotion rescued both Xiu Niang and Landlord Zhang from their awkwardness. The two of them pretended nothing had happened and began watching the others identify their children.

After the children were claimed, everyone remembered the traffickers. The mothers whose children had been lost went up and gave the madwoman several slaps, cursing, “Your conscience is rotten. Your conscience was eaten by dogs.”

The men would not hit a woman, so they punched and kicked Liu Wu and Hei Pi instead. The constables at the side did not interfere at all, allowing everyone to vent the hatred in their hearts.

Why bother controlling things for human traffickers? Did they even deserve to be called human?

Seeing that everyone was hitting them too fiercely, the constable leader could not avoid saying something. “Watch yourselves a little. If you beat them to death, I won’t be able to report back.”

Once they reached town, the villagers of Dongwang Village dispersed. The village head’s ox cart carried Ma Daming all the way to the yamen entrance. Only then did the constables drag Ma Daming down from the cart like a dead pig and roughly haul him into the yamen.

Hei Pi, whose mouth was bleeding at the corners, was still muttering for the constables to find a doctor for his elder brother.

The constable leader snorted disdainfully and said, “What doctor? In a few days, his head will be cut off anyway. No need to treat him.”

When the madwoman heard that their heads would be cut off in a few days, her vision went black and her legs went weak. In a trembling voice, she asked, “This big brother, why are you going to kill us so quickly?”

“What kind of question is that?” The young constable glared at the madwoman unhappily. “If we don’t kill you, should we keep you around so you can keep stealing children?”

Liu Wu kept his eyes lowered the entire time and did not say a word. At this point, was there still any use in saying more? When he had gone down this road, he had known what would happen if he was caught. Unfortunately, the money from the two earlier jobs had not even been spent yet. Truly, he had the life to earn money, but not the life to spend it.

After Landlord Zhang left, Hua Qi impatiently opened the money pouch and gave it a rough glance. There were about ten taels of silver.

Hua Qi thought, This human called Landlord Zhang really understands how things work.

Tuo Tuo held Yun Shan while standing on the cart. After craning his neck and seeing the money, he immediately urged, “So much money. Hurry and buy me red cloth.”

Now that he had money in hand, Hua Qi was in a very good mood. With a wave of his hand, he took Tuo Tuo to the cloth shop.

Tuo Tuo handed Yun Shan to Xiao Cong and excitedly trotted after Hua Qi, taking the lead as he ran into the cloth shop.

The cloth shop assistant was still the same one from last time. Seeing Hua Qi, he greeted him warmly. “Please take a look. What kind of cloth would you like to buy?”

Tuo Tuo answered loudly, “Bright red cloth.”

“Still the twenty-tael-per-bolt kind?” The assistant had a very good memory. He remembered that this woman had bought one tael of silver’s worth of cloth for the children at home last time.

Hua Qi said, “No need. Twenty taels of silver is too expensive. Find us some cheaper ones to look at.”

Tuo Tuo knew that one tael of silver’s worth of cloth was very expensive. He did not need anything that costly. As long as it was bright red and comfortable, that was enough. He was not picky.

Qiu Sheng immediately thought, Huaniang really is still biased.

“Also bring us some cheaper cloth. We adults need clothes to wear.” With this sum of money, Hua Qi suddenly became rich and imposing. At last, he was willing to spend money on cloth to make clothes and use them to deal with humans.

Xiao Cong said, “There’s still a lot of cloth left from making Yun Shan’s swaddling clothes last time. It’s enough for Dou Ming and me.”

The assistant brought out three bolts of red cloth and one bolt of blue coarse cotton. “Our shop’s blue coarse cloth sells the best. One tael of silver and four hundred coins per bolt. It’s enough for every person in a family to make one outfit.”

Hua Qi touched the fabric. It did not scratch his hand. To them, that was enough. “We’ll take one bolt of this.”

The assistant then began introducing the three bolts of red cloth. “This bolt wasn’t dyed evenly. Some places have white patches, so it’s seven hundred wen per bolt.”

“This one is fine cotton. Young ladies often buy it to make wedding clothes. Two taels of silver per bolt. That one is even softer, three taels of silver per bolt.”

“No need to buy a whole bolt. Just the two-tael one.” Hua Qi pointed at Tuo Tuo and said to the assistant, “As long as there’s enough to make him one outfit.”

Tuo Tuo happily straightened his back and let the assistant measure him.

“Six chi of cloth.” The assistant quickly calculated. “Six hundred wen. Two taels of silver in total.”

“What two taels of silver?” The cloth shopkeeper walked into the room and said to the assistant, “This is the heroine. We can’t take money.”

“No money?” Hua Qi thought, If I’d known, I would have bought the three-tael one.

“No money, no money.” The shopkeeper waved his hand. “It was all thanks to you that those children could be rescued. I’m only giving up a bit of cloth. Heroine, remember to come to our cloth shop again next time.”

This human also understands how things work. Hua Qi thought, I merely kicked twice, yet humans are giving me offerings one after another.

Tuo Tuo hugged the cloth he had received with a beaming smile and said to Xiu Niang, “Xiu Niang, help me undo my buttons. I won’t wear clothes. I want to wrap myself in red cloth.”

Xiu Niang was amused by him. She rubbed his forehead and said, “Why wrap yourself in cloth when you have perfectly good clothes to wear? Once we get home, hurry and have Xiao Cong make you clothes.”

“Mm.” Tuo Tuo happily agreed, hugging the red cloth and rubbing his face against it again and again, his expression full of satisfaction.

After they left the cloth shop, Hua Qi saw someone selling little trinkets by the street. There was a small drum, with two wooden beads hanging on either side. When shaken, it made a bong-bong sound.

Yun Shan heard the noise and turned his little head everywhere, looking for the source of the sound.

Seeing that he liked it, Hua Qi planned to buy one for him.

Unexpectedly, the stall vendor did not want his money either. He only said, “A gift for the heroine.”

Hua Qi accepted the small drum in satisfaction and used it to tease Yun Shan. Xiu Niang said quietly, “Isn’t it a little bad to take other people’s things for free?”

“I think it’s very good.” Hua Qi was perfectly at ease. These were offerings humans had given him. If they were free, why not take them?

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