Kidnapping

What was a jianghu criminal gang? It was the kind that never reasoned with you, that started swinging the moment a word went wrong. Yet the Little Knife Society was actually this cowardly—bullied right to their doorstep, yet they did not dare fight back, even asking a yamen constable like Xiang Yang for help. Saying it aloud was enough to make them lose face.

Hearing Xiang Yang's words, the young man at the front shook his head with a bitter smile. The seven or eight burly men behind him were all knitted with worry as well. Xiang Yang's words belittled the Little Knife Society far too much.

"It's not that we're afraid. But the Giant Bear Gang's strength has indeed completely surpassed both our Little Knife Society and the Green Wolf Gang. If our two groups hadn't joined forces to resist the Giant Bear Gang during this period, I'm afraid we would have been swallowed so completely that not even dregs remained. If we had fought just now, we would only have been the ones to suffer.

By the way, we still don't know your name, Officer. You look unfamiliar. Did you just take up a post at the yamen?"

After looking dejected for a moment, the young man came to his senses and asked. He had basically seen all the constables at the County Yamen; even if he could not call out their names, their faces were familiar. This young fellow, however, was someone he had never seen before.

"Mm, my name is Xiang Yang. Today is my first day patrolling the streets. Let me advise you: if possible, get yourselves out of the Little Knife Society as soon as you can. If this continues, I reckon you'll either end up eating prison rations or be tortured to death by the Giant Bear Gang. It simply isn't worth it."

Xiang Yang was speaking deeply despite a shallow acquaintance, but it was a spur-of-the-moment impulse. In his view, joining a criminal gang was not necessarily without a future, but it at least had to be a true great jianghu sect—like the Azure Dragon Society, the Authority Gang, or the Under Heaven Society from martial arts tales. Those in this county town were merely street thugs and hooligans gathered together. If the authorities ever flexed their muscles and launched a sweep, they would certainly die miserably.

Everyone fell silent. It sounded simple enough, but it was harder than ascending to heaven. A gang was not a charity hall, where one could enter whenever one wished and leave whenever one pleased. The rules were there. Want to leave? Pay the price.

A flicker of hesitation passed through the leading young man's eyes. In truth, they had long had such thoughts: leave the gang and honestly, properly run the Blacksmith Shop. They might not become rich or noble, but keeping themselves fed and clothed would not be a problem. Yet how could it possibly be easy?

But as he looked at Xiang Yang in his constable's uniform, together with the skill Xiang Yang had displayed just now, the young man struggled for a long while before stopping Xiang Yang as he was about to leave. He invited Xiang Yang into the small courtyard behind the Blacksmith Shop, then shut the shop outside. Only then did the group gather in the little courtyard, staring fixedly at the leading young man and Xiang Yang.

Someone else might have been frightened weak in the knees by such a display, their lips trembling as they spoke. But Xiang Yang's skill gave him courage. With the Wild Goose Feather Saber in hand, he stood as steady as Mount Tai, even inspecting the shabby courtyard with interest.

"Say whatever you have to say. If it is something I can handle, then it is my duty, and I will not refuse. But if it involves other matters, then forgive me for being unable to comply."

Xiang Yang saw at once that the leading young man had something he wanted to say, yet he hesitated and stammered. It was probably nothing good, so Xiang Yang spoke first and laid the ugly words out in front. In any case, there was no way he would help them deal with the Giant Bear Gang.

The leading young man nodded, then looked back at the burly men behind him. Seeing the trust in all their eyes, he finally revealed some secrets and his plans to Huangfu Xu with a grave expression.

At first, Xiang Yang was rather absent-minded. The Little Knife Society's leader had started out as a human trafficker; after his business grew, he gathered a group of men who could fight and formed a gang, and had connections with some force or another—such trivial details did not enter Xiang Yang's mind. But what the young man said afterward did pique his interest.

"Constable Xiang, all the other constables at the County Yamen are currently investigating a major case. I mean, if we can provide you with clues and help you solve it, can you spare us afterward? Back then, we had no control over our own actions."

Xiang Yang's heart stirred. A major case—this had to be the one Wang Ying was handling. But did this Little Knife Society underling really have such ability? It was not that Xiang Yang looked down on them, but if the case were truly so easy to solve, Wang Ying and his men would not be in such a passive position.

Only after asking for details did Xiang Yang learn that the so-called major case was a kidnapping case involving the disappearance of at least a hundred children and women. It had begun when the child of a wealthy family from Qingjiang Prefecture, visiting Anyuan for pleasure, went missing, and the family reported it to the County Yamen.

"My heavens. Mr. Lan's only son, under the Prefect of Qingjiang Prefecture, was kidnapped? What kind of storm is this going to stir up? No wonder Magistrate Li and Wang Ying looked like that this morning. If they still fail to find results, it would not be impossible for both of them to be removed from office. Magistrate Li truly remained unruffled through favor and disgrace."

The Prefect of Qingjiang Prefecture was, in name, the foremost authority over the Qingjiang region. He greatly relied upon and trusted Mr. Lan. Many of the measures for governing and improving the people's livelihood came from Mr. Lan's hand. Their relationship was much like that of a ruler and strategist. Thus, with Mr. Lan's only son kidnapped in Anyuan County, Li Zhizhi, the local magistrate, and Wang Ying, the chief constable, could not escape blame.

For ordinary people, this would not amount to much. What day passed without kidnappings?

But Mr. Lan had a direct line to the Prefect of Qingjiang Prefecture. In the eyes of those above, at best Magistrate Li was incompetent; at worst, he had failed to govern his territory strictly. How exactly had he served as magistrate? People were trafficking humans, yet he had not suppressed crime. Was that not plainly taking the court's salary without doing any work?

The information revealed by this Little Knife Society youth was that most of the kidnappings in Anyuan had been carried out by Boss An, the leader of the Little Knife Society. Even the broad-shouldered, thick-waisted young men in the courtyard had taken part in several transactions. They guessed that Mr. Lan's son might well have been abducted by Boss An too.

"To be honest, we all know this is business that costs heads. But once we joined the society, we could no longer control our own fate.

Now Boss An has provoked someone he should never have provoked, while the Giant Bear Gang is pressing us step by step. We truly have nowhere left to turn, which is why we wanted to ask Constable Xiang for help."

As for why they had not informed the authorities, Xiang Yang understood without being told. They simply did not trust old hands like Wang Ying, fearing that after they helped solve the case on one side, the other side would turn around and arrest them. No one understood these constables better than gang members.

In their eyes, Xiang Yang was the sort who was young, kind-hearted, and soft-eared. Combined with how he had helped them out of their predicament just now, they had finally smashed the cauldrons and sunk the boats by informing him. Of course, if he refused, these people probably would not let him leave either. One look at the burly men behind them holding steel sabers made their intentions clear.

Xiang Yang was not particularly worried. He merely had many, many questions. For instance, Boss An was the Little Knife Society's leader, and the foundation of his rise was unclean. Had Wang Ying and the others failed to uncover that? Once the kidnapping case broke out, the County Yamen's first targets would surely have been Boss An and the Little Knife Society.

And these men had only said that Boss An had taken part in kidnappings in the past. But was Mr. Lan's son among the victims? If not, then rushing in so rashly might not bring Xiang Yang any benefit.

The reason this case had become such a major case was that Mr. Lan had been exerting pressure behind the scenes. To put it unpleasantly, if Mr. Lan's son had not gone missing, Anyuan County might not even have taken on a kidnapping case.

That was reality. And if Xiang Yang truly involved himself in it, his first priority would certainly be helping Mr. Lan recover his son. Only after that would come eliminating evil for the people and rescuing the innocent.

It was not that he fawned on the powerful or flattered petty men. Reality was simply like that. If he ignored Wang Ying's arrangements and involved himself in the case on his own, achieved nothing, and then offended the Little Knife Society as well, that would mean giving without receiving.

Xiang Yang had no spirit of sacrificing and dedicating himself for others. At heart, he was no sage who worried for the nation and its people. He had a little cleverness, a little selfishness, and more than anything, he considered his own gains and losses.