“Even seeking the Buddha or a Bodhisattva requires offering incense. Do you mistake us for your father or mother?”
“My mother needs medicine every day. The doctor said if she misses it, she might not survive the month. I have no other choice…”
“Eighty years old? She should have died long ago,” one of the officers said with a look of disdain. “Living is just a waste of space.”
“I suggest you just wrap her in a straw mat and throw her away.”
“A poor seed born of lowly stock. You poor people all deserve to die; living is just a waste of resources.”
As he spoke, he eyed the pushcart and said to his companion, “This piece of junk is only worth about one tael of silver. Since it looks like he hasn’t got the money to redeem it, why don’t the two of us just ‘buy’ it now?”
“Sounds good to me!” the other laughed in agreement.
“You act like this—is there no law?!” the man roared.
The officer turned around as if he had heard a hilarious joke. “Tell me,” he said. “Is this your first day living here?”
“The law? What is the law?” the officer sneered. “Those high-ranking nobles don’t have time to care about the life or death of ants like you.”
“Our master, the official, is the law for people like you.”
“Your lives are decided by the master.”
“If you want to see him, you have to get past us brothers first.”
“So, tell me, what is the law?”
The burly man lowered his head, his shoulders trembling and his hands clenched into tight fists. “Since you won’t let me live, then no one else is going to live either!”
With that, he pulled a kitchen knife from the stall cart and lunged at one of the officers.
The man stood up and charged.
Only then did Jiang Wanning notice that although the man was built sturdily, he had a slight limp.
“Damn you! You dare to wound me?”
Looking at his bleeding thigh, the officer drew his sword and stabbed at the man.
“In broad daylight, you dare to lay hands on a government official? Once you’re in the dungeon, I’ll personally see to it that you’re ‘served’ well.”
As he spoke, the long sword thrust toward the man’s arm.
“Stop!”
The officer did not halt his movement.
Jiang Wanning flicked her long whip, striking the officer’s wrist.
The long sword fell to the ground with a loud clatter.
Clutching his injured wrist with his other hand, the officer looked at Jiang Wanning, who was holding the whip. “Dammit, does everyone here have a death wish?”
“You dare to interfere with my business?”
Seeing this, the other officer stepped forward and drew his sword. “Wounding an official? How bold!”
“Wounding you?” Jiang Wanning’s eyes were cold. “What would it matter if I killed you?”
“Peddlers, porters, and street vendors—these are normal professions.”
“He is merely a man forced by the hardships of life. How many people on this street make their living this way?”
“You rely on your status to exploit them while treating them with contempt, trampling on their dignity at will.”
“I would like to ask: do you two sirs have great officials among your ancestors?”
“If not, why do you look down on those from the same background as yourselves? And if you do come from such families, how can you engage in such shameful, bullying behavior?”
“Furthermore, as I recall, since the twenty-fifth year of the Tiande era, anyone setting up a stall on this street is exempt from stall fees, provided they do not obstruct traffic.”
The officer did not panic in the slightest upon hearing this. “Where did you spring from? Mind your own business.”
“I advise you to go back to wherever you came from.”
“What is ordered from above is one thing, but how things are actually done is decided by our Master.”
“Your Master… let me think. Is his name Sun Gui?” Shen Ruzhi stepped forward. “A mere Prefect.”
“To think he could be so arrogant.”
“Is the Master’s name something you can just say as you please?” The officer moved to step forward, but hesitated, wary of the long whip in Jiang Wanning’s hand. He drew back slightly. “Since you want to stick your necks out, we’ll let you do it to your hearts’ content.”
He pulled a whistle from his waist and blew it.
Government officers patrolling the surrounding streets heard the whistle and came rushing over.
Within the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, seven or eight officers had arrived.
Seeing that they now had the advantage of numbers, the first two officers instantly regained their bravado. “Seize them and take them all to the dungeon!”
“Give them the ‘severe punishment’ treatment!”
“If you’re going to arrest someone, arrest me.” The man stood up, spreading his arms to shield Jiang Wanning and Shen Ruzhi.
“I will go back with you and take the punishment. It has nothing to do with these two ladies. Let them go.”
“Go?” The officer tilted his head and stepped forward, delivering a vicious slap to the man’s face. “Who do you think you are?”
“Trying to give me orders?”
“None of you are going anywhere!”
The officer scanned the surrounding crowd of onlookers. “Does anyone else want to be a hero?”
Hearing this, the commoners pulled their heads back and retreated.
“You bunch of bullies! You dare to arrest the Princess Consort of Langya? How many heads do you have to spare?”
Jiang Wanning glanced at Shen Ruzhi, her lips twitching.
Shen Ruzhi leaned in and whispered, “My father won’t let me use his title when I’m out, not even for doing good deeds.”
“There are plenty of Marquises in the capital, but there’s only one Prince of Langya. His reputation is the most famous; it’s better to use him.”
The reputation of the Prince of Langya was known even to children on the street.
Everyone was shocked, staring at Shen Ruzhi and Jiang Wanning.
The officer was stunned for a moment, then one of them burst out laughing. “Of all the people to impersonate, you chose the Princess Consort of Langya?”
“Everyone in the capital knows that currently, the Prince’s Manor only consists of the Prince of Langya and the Heir.”
“Where would a Princess Consort come from, especially one so young?”
“Unless you’re trying to say that you gave birth to the Heir of Langya?”
Shen Ruzhi cupped her hands. “I wouldn’t dare say I gave birth to him, but the woman beside me is indeed the mother of the Heir of Langya—his stepmother!”
The officers looked at each other.
“Nonsense. We have never heard anything about the Prince of Langya taking a wife. However, the Heir of Langya is engaged to the daughter of the Ningyuan Marquis’s Manor.”
“I think you’ve misheard the rumors and are just trying to fake it.”
“Why waste words with them?” another officer said. “These two are dressed expensively, yet they don’t even have a single maid or servant with them.”
“Most likely these clothes were stolen. Send them to the magistrate’s office first for a ‘severe interrogation.’ They’ll talk soon enough!”
Shen Ruzhi put her hands on her hips. “You dare disrespect the Princess Consort of Langya? Do you want to die!”
Jiang Wanning stood behind her, shaking her head and sighing inwardly. Only a day had passed; while noble families with good information networks surely knew the news, where would these men have heard it so quickly?
The leading officer looked Shen Ruzhi up and down, stroking his chin. “Whether they’re stolen or not, we’ll know once we strip them.”
“They might have stolen the outer clothes, but I don’t believe they changed their undergarments too.”
“Go, strip the clothes off the both of them!”
With that, four or five officers behind him rolled up their sleeves. With lustful glints in their eyes, they began walking toward Shen Ruzhi and Jiang Wanning.
Faced with a group of government officers, the onlookers, even those who were dissatisfied, did not dare to intervene.