Eliminating a Public Menace

Eliminating a Public Menace

Contract of Indenture—a term that felt so distant and unfamiliar.

People were bought and sold like goods, money and goods exchanged cleanly, their lives and deaths thereafter belonging to others. Though the Republic had abolished the system of human trafficking, clever people still found countless ways to change its form and keep this ugly practice alive.

Jiang Hao looked at Qian Donglai and said in a deep voice, "I only want money. Hand it over, or I'll put a bullet in you."

Hearing that, Qian Donglai actually felt relieved. As long as Jiang Hao was not here for revenge, he had a chance to survive.

Money could be earned again. Once his life was gone, everything was gone.

"Alright, alright, no problem. I'll get it right away."

Qian Donglai slowly rose and took out a banknote from a drawer in the room. It was marked five hundred Silver Dollars. He placed it on the table and said, "Hero, this is all I have. Please accept it."

The pitch-black muzzle jabbed hard against Qian Donglai's forehead. He shuddered in fright. "Hero, let's talk this over. Let's talk this over."

"The famous Director Qian only has a few hundred Silver Dollars? Are you insulting my intelligence?" Jiang Hao said viciously.

Qian Donglai knew he was going to bleed heavily this time. He could only lead Jiang Hao to a side room, pry open a concealed panel beneath the bed, and take out a lacquered box about half a foot square.

When he handed the lacquered box to Jiang Hao, Qian Donglai's face was full of anguish.

The box was opened. Inside was a box full of gold jewelry, along with two banknotes—one marked one thousand Silver Dollars and the other two thousand Silver Dollars.

"Hero, these things are worth at least five thousand Silver Dollars. Enough for you to enjoy yourself," Qian Donglai said cautiously.

"Is that all?"

Qian Donglai pulled a long face. "This is all my savings. I may look impressive on the outside, but that's only appearances. I have a whole family to support. There isn't much spare money at all."

Getting money was only incidental. Jiang Hao did not press him further. "Fine. But for safety's sake, I'll have to tie you up. Someone will naturally come save you tomorrow."

Qian Donglai hurriedly said, "Rest assured, Hero, I won't have any other thoughts. Could you please not tie me up?"

Jiang Hao raised his gun and pressed it against Qian Donglai's forehead again. "I never place my safety in someone else's hands. Either lie down obediently, or I'll blow your brains out."

With a gun pointed at him, he could only let others do as they pleased.

Qian Donglai obediently lay face-down with his hands behind his back. Jiang Hao found some rope and tied his hands and feet, binding him in a hogtie so tight that Qian Donglai could not move at all. Then Jiang Hao found a piece of rag.

The moment Qian Donglai saw it, he shouted, "Hero, please don't gag me. It's very uncomfortable."

How could Jiang Hao listen to him? "Heh, so you know having your mouth gagged is uncomfortable too?" With that, he forcefully stuffed it into Qian Donglai's mouth.

Qian Donglai could only lie there obediently, thinking bitterly, Once I'm safe, I'll search the whole county for you. I'll drag you out, you bastard, and cut you into a thousand pieces.

But the next second, a rope suddenly slipped around Qian Donglai's neck. His body stiffened. The rope slowly tightened, and Qian Donglai felt a powerful sense of suffocation. "Mmph! Mmph!" He struggled desperately, but it was useless. He knew he had been tricked. This robber had never intended to spare him.

Gradually, his consciousness grew hazier and hazier. Lying on his side, he happened to see the woman hanging from the wall. Her eyes had been fixed on him. There was no fear or terror in them; they even held excitement and relief.

Qian Donglai died.

Jiang Hao lowered the rope and looked up at the woman. She neither cried nor made a fuss, only watched calmly. Jiang Hao could not see the slightest spark in her eyes.

"You're not afraid?"

The woman looked at the masked robber and shook her head.

"I'll let you go, but you can't make a scene," Jiang Hao said.

The woman nodded.

Jiang Hao untied her. She collapsed limply to the floor, removed the wooden ball from her mouth, retched twice, and said, "I wanted him dead long ago. He died well. He died well."

"Every day when he came back, he beat and tortured me. The women who entered this courtyard before were said to have been sold off, but I knew the truth. They all died. He tortured every one of them to death."

"Everyone in Gaomi says Qian Donglai was greedy for money and women. Greedy for money—that part is true. Lustful? Heh. Ask whether he was even a man. He was a eunuch. That was why he kept this house. He would rather let people think he was lustful than let them know he was impotent."

"I also know that his son was not even his blood. His wife had him with his younger brother. Hahaha... He was a freak. He only knew how to torture women. The most useless man of all! Hahahaha!"

The woman's laughter was like a night owl's cry, filled with boundless misery. Who knew how much torment she had endured to turn a young woman into this?

Jiang Hao felt a chill in his heart. He felt even more that Qian Donglai deserved to die. Even killing him outright had been too merciful.

After speaking, the woman said to Jiang Hao, "Tie me up too."

Jiang Hao was stunned. "You're not planning to run?"

"If I leave, the charge of murder will definitely fall on me. I'm not afraid, but I still have parents and siblings. The Qian family is a major clan in Gaomi. My family will certainly be implicated," the woman said.

Jiang Hao tied her up as she wished. When he was about to gag her, the woman looked into the pair of eyes revealed through his hood and softly said:

"Thank you."

Jiang Hao's hand paused.

That thank-you carried who knew how many emotions. Qian Donglai's death truly was a release for her. She had been powerless to resist, yet she had also hoped someone would save her from this sea of suffering.

The cloth gag stopped the woman's mouth. Jiang Hao stood, thought for a moment, then took out the five-hundred-Silver-Dollar banknote. He folded it, crouched down again, and tucked it beneath the woman's shoe insole.

"With this money, you'll have something to rely on in the future."

The woman looked at Jiang Hao, her eyes full of gratitude, then slowly closed them.

Leaping over walls and rooftops, Jiang Hao's figure soon vanished into the darkness. Early the next morning, when the city gates opened, a sturdy figure carrying a bundle left Gaomi County. Near noon, the county seat went under lockdown. People heard some news that shook all of Gaomi County.

"Director Qian is dead. Did you hear?"

"Of course I heard. Robbers broke into his home. Director Qian was strangled alive, and all the money in his house was looted. They did spare his mistress, though she was beaten half to death."

"Who do you think did it?"

"Who knows? But whoever it was had guts. He even dared kill the police chief. Incredible."

"I think it was admirable. It must have been some heroic man."

No one answered. They exchanged glances and all laughed.

Qian Donglai's reputation in Gaomi County had been truly outstanding—there were hardly any who did not hate him. His death caused an uproar throughout Gaomi. The county magistrate flew into a rage and ordered a countywide manhunt, but the common people said the robber had eliminated a public menace.

The next day, Gaomi appointed a new police chief. Two days later, the manhunt faded away. Five days later, no one mentioned Qian Donglai again. He had become a thing of the past, nothing more than a topic of conversation over tea.