Chapter 9: First Entering the Rivers and Lakes (3)

The commotion upstairs was too loud to hide. When Chu Baige yelled, some people thought it was a matter of male and female, but Shen Fu and the woman were engaged in a fierce struggle. Others wanted to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, but they couldn’t, especially the shopkeeper of the restaurant, who stood in front of the crowd with a frozen expression, his round face filled with sorrow.

Those who could open a restaurant, or those who dared to, were mostly people with unclear connections to the local underworld. The debts they had to pay were sky-high. The “ordinary” young chivalrous girl was primarily just that—ordinary. The passionate Shen Fu and the woman, who didn’t seem like a good person at first glance, were worlds apart.

Although the furnishings in the Tianzi Room were not antiques, they were carefully selected items bought at a high price. At this moment, the purple clay pot and tea cups on the table were all shattered, and only two large vases remained intact at the head of the bed. Next to the debris lay the double-opened wooden door. The shopkeeper felt his heart bleed as he glanced at the ground, calculating the losses in his mind.

He didn’t dare to show his dissatisfaction. Although he didn’t possess advanced martial arts skills, he was considered an old hand in the world. He knew who could be offended casually and who must be treated with caution. In his eyes, Hero Shen was undoubtedly the latter.

Not only did he dare not show his distress, but he also had to force a smile. “Two young heroes, may I ask what happened?”

Shen Fu glanced at him and asked, “Have you reported this to the officials?”

The shopkeeper replied, “Huh?”

Shouldn’t ordinary people in the political arena be afraid of getting involved with the government? He didn’t dare to disobey Shen Fu, so he hurriedly sent his second-in-command to the government to find someone.

The residents who had been awakened were not too noisy. One or two pairs of eyes, brighter than night owls, stared eagerly at Shen Fu and the woman beneath her, concocting countless stories of love and hatred in their minds.

The woman was bound, her eyes stinging from the lime powder, and she was still howling in pain.

She cursed Shen Fu viciously, “You bitch, you must die…”

Shen Fu had been patient until now, but hearing her curses made her forehead throb with irritation.

As she stepped on the woman’s face, deforming her mouth, she said blankly, “Shut up!”

The onlookers gasped in unison.

How could a girl who looked delicate and weak be so fierce?

After waiting for about a cup of tea, the two catchers who had been summoned finally arrived, looking disheveled and late.

In the middle of the night, being called to work overtime, none of their faces looked particularly good.

“Get out of the way! The government is doing its work. Don’t obstruct our official duties!”

The crowd parted to let them through.

The two catchers approached quickly and, upon seeing Shen Fu, were momentarily stunned. Then, as if recalling something, they held their cups and asked respectfully, “Dare we ask if this heroine is the famed Hero Shuangdao?”

Shen Fu looked at them strangely and asked, “Do you know me?”

“I know!” The expressions of the two catchers were clearly excited. “Hero Shen punishes evil and promotes good. I don’t know how many wanted criminals have been sent to prison by the government because of you. It can be said that you are protecting the peace of the world on your own. Your righteous deeds have spread throughout the nearby towns! My colleagues and I were just talking about when Hero Shen would pass by Yangzhou to help clean up our local troubles.”

The most important thing was that capturing more wanted criminals would help them meet their monthly quotas!

They had heard that a woman named Shen with double knives was active in other counties, and they truly hoped that she would “pass by” and help weed out the evil, capturing a few wanted criminals for their prison!

When Chu Baige heard this, he immediately looked at the younger heroine with admiration, despite her being younger than him.

Shen Fu felt a bit embarrassed…

Her motivation for actively catching wanted criminals and helping justice was secondary; primarily, she was in need of money. Therefore, every time she entered a city, she would first memorize the faces of wanted criminals posted on the walls.

If she happened to encounter one, it was like picking up money.

Thinking of this, Shen Fu grabbed the woman’s hair, exposing her face, and quickly said to the two catchers, “Look, does this woman have a wanted warrant?”

One catcher lowered his head, but the woman’s face was covered in lime powder, making it difficult to see her features.

He hesitated, “This…”

The other catcher looked at the woman’s hands and saw her dark nails. His expression turned shocked and horrified. “Could it be that this woman is the Poison Widow who harvests yang to replenish yin and has killed more than thirty men?”

The Poison Widow had quite a reputation.

Even among the patrons in the restaurant, many gasped in shock.

Chu Baige, who had been lying limp on the bed, gradually regained his strength. He touched the cold mask with his fingertips, hurriedly picked it up, and crawled out of bed, saying, “This, this is the mask this woman was wearing when she first came in! Look, do you recognize her?”

The catcher who recognized the woman quickly said, “Yes, yes, this is the Poison Widow!”

“As far as I know, the Poison Widow was originally the concubine of a wealthy family. After being insulted, she was disfigured by the mistress of the house. After that, she committed crimes one after another, causing more than thirty men to die in their own homes… The government has been searching for her for a long time, but unfortunately, she has never been found. I never imagined that this criminal would fall into the hands of Hero Shen today.”

“Ha ha ha ha…” The woman on the ground suddenly laughed strangely. “Do you really think those men are innocent? If it weren’t for their lust and desire, they would still be enjoying their lives with their wives and children. How could they have fallen into my hands… or death… and they deserve it…”

“The men in this world are not good things… I am unlucky, unkind, and unjust… My good husband, when I met a robber on the road, I bought peace with my body, and I finally escaped, thinking I was innocent. What do you say? For the sake of saving my life, let the Poison Widow ruin my appearance…”

“What did I do wrong… just because I didn’t commit suicide to prove my innocence when the robbers invaded me? Hahaha… whatever you say, if you escape with your life, you must treat each other as a true wife. Is this the gift of a true wife? Is it the righteousness of your scholars… a group of wolf-hearted people, a group of clothed beasts…”

Chu Baige showed an expression of unbearable sympathy. “She is also a poor person.”

He was a victim who said such things, let alone bystanders.

Compared to the poor woman, Shen Fu appeared abominable, as if she were not so righteous.

“You have the ability, you have good martial arts, and you can live without a man. Have you ever thought about how innocent the women you killed were?” Shen Fu sneered, slightly unmoved by her words. “This world is so difficult. Without a husband, if the family is superior, there is still a family backing her. If the family is average, keeping the festival for the deceased husband is a trivial matter…”

Zhao Kingdom’s restrictions on women were no better than those of previous dynasties.

In the past, daughters could not easily leave the house. Only poor families would allow their wives and daughters to show their faces to make a living. Nowadays, many young men had died, especially during the dynastic changes. The law encouraged early marriage and childbirth, as well as widows to remarry.

But the law was no better than the family rules that had been passed down for hundreds of years.

Husbands and wives followed the rules to protect their innocence, leading to all kinds of bad habits and repeated prohibitions.

In many cases, even the government could not control the family rules of the local clans.

Chu Baige had never encountered these issues before; he was horrified. “Is what you said true?”

Others began to murmur, “Yes, how can those women survive without their husbands?”

No matter how romantic or damned the men who had fallen victim to the Poison Widow were, as long as they were alive, they were a woman’s heaven, land, and support. The Poison Widow acted as she pleased, while those who had been raised in the family since childhood, what should a woman do if her husband was gone?

The two catchers took out the ropes they were carrying, tied the woman up, and searched her in front of everyone. It was not to take advantage of her, but because for people like her, one could never know what terrible weapon might be hidden on their person. The government had suffered enough losses from these evildoers and had established its own procedures.

“Okay!” one catcher said quickly. “Hero Shen, we will take this person back to the yamen and thoroughly investigate her identity.”

Shen Fu turned her eyes and asked, “May I ask how to address the two of you?”

“Zhang Long, at your service.”

“Qin Hu, at your service.”

“It turns out that it is Master Zhang and Master Qin. This woman will be handed over to you two. I hope you can provide an explanation to the families of the victims as soon as possible.”

“Hero Shen is very considerate!” Zhang Long and Qin Hu said seriously. “If this person is verified as the Poison Widow, there is still a reward to be claimed, and we invite Hero Shen to stay in the restaurant for two more days.”

A smile appeared on Shen Fu’s face. “Naturally, I’m still waiting to see what she will end up with!”

The three exchanged farewells.

The two catchers left with the Poison Widow, yelling at the onlookers as they walked, “What are you looking at? Go back to sleep!”

The crowd dispersed, and Shen Fu called out to the shopkeeper, politely saying, “Shopkeeper, please stay.”

The shopkeeper’s heart trembled. “Dare I ask, Hero Shen, what can I do for you?”

Shen Fu smiled, “It’s nothing, just asking you to do the math. The furnishings in this room that I have broken are of great value. It is not easy for you to open a restaurant and do business. I must pay for what I should pay.”

Seeing her innocent look, the shopkeeper opened his mouth, wanting to report an astronomical figure. Then he remembered that she had stepped on the woman’s head without flinching, deforming her face, and he hesitated until he reached his mouth. It suddenly became, “It’s not worth a lot of money… it’s not worth a lot of money…”

In the end, the payment was made by Chu Baige.

From beginning to end, Shen Fu never thought of paying for it herself.

She saved Chu Baige; there was no reason for her to compensate out of her own pocket.

Fortunately, this kid was a little naive, and as soon as Shen Fu turned her eyes, he immediately took out his purse.

“How much? I will pay!”

The shopkeeper couldn’t believe his luck, and at any rate, he didn’t want to break the bank. Looking at the broken door and the large vase, he felt terribly uncomfortable. He still accompanied Shen Fu with a smile, dutifully preparing to rearrange a room for Chu Baige.

But Chu Baige, feeling innocent, dared not leave Shen Fu now. He always felt that if he separated from her, the next moment another flower thief might come in. This time it might be a woman, but what if the next time it was a man…

It’s not that he hadn’t heard of the matter of breaking one’s sleeves.

He decided he wouldn’t leave Shen Fu at all, pitifully calling out, “Hero Shen!”

Finally, he released a big move: “Hero Shen, I still have five hundred taels of silver. Fifty taels a day—can I hire you for ten days?!”

Shen Fu replied, “Deal!”

Chu Baige: “…”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Shen Fu had been waiting for this very sentence.

Haha… how could it be possible? This is Hero Shuangdao, the very same Hero Shuangdao that even the yamen had heard of!

How could he possibly have this silver… hahaha… right?

Watching Shen Fu go smoothly, the shopkeeper, who had just lost the profit of the entire restaurant for half a year, felt a toothache coming on.

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