Greedy Spectators

Xu Qing swept aside those nonsensical, wild-goose-chase rewards to gather dust, then finally looked at the only thing in his hand that was somewhat useful: a Truth-Speaking Pill.

As its name suggested, the Truth-Speaking Pill was simply a pellet that could make people tell the truth.

This Mysterious Pill had come from Zhu Youshi, a third-generation beggar of a beggar Household in Jinmen.

Zhu Youshi had originally been nameless. He had wandered about as a child, eventually recognizing a beggar as his godfather. His godfather had bestowed the surname Zhu on him, and from then on, he had inherited the family trade, picked up the ancestral cracked bowl, and started begging.

Begging had its own tricks, too. You needed an elder to guide you, teach you how to navigate every street and alley, where the gatherings were held on the first and fifteenth days of the month, which households were kindhearted, when the charitable people in the prefectural residences would come out to distribute alms, as well as where you could not go and which places were full of vicious people. All of that was a discipline.

Once you knew your territory like the back of your hand, you would never have to worry about your three meals a day. You might even beg enough spare cash to buy a jug of wine and a few ounces of meat, and enjoy yourself for once.

Zhu Youshi had been guided from childhood by his father, that gold-medal instructor, and had quickly left all other beggars in the dust. There was not a single place in all of Jinmen that he did not know or was unfamiliar with!

That day, the careful Zhu Youshi went out to beg as usual, only to discover that Jinmen Prefecture City had somehow suddenly changed beyond recognition.

He looked back and forth over the familiar yet strange streets. After pondering carefully, he finally found the source of what was wrong.

It turned out that there were half as many beggars on the streets of Jinmen Prefecture City. No wonder the streets before him had always felt so out of place.

Zhu Youshi was puzzled, and even his meals no longer tasted good. Whenever he had free time, he wondered, Where had everyone gone to make their fortunes?

Could there be some hidden begging spot in Jinmen that he did not know about, with everyone joining forces to beg there?

And so, Zhu Youshi could neither eat nor think of tea. It was not until that very night, when a masked bandit pressed a knife against his neck, that he understood the truth behind the bizarre disappearance of Jinmen's beggars.

The masked bandit had a long upper body and short lower body, and his speech carried an unmistakable Jinmen accent. One glance was enough for Zhu Youshi to know who had come.

"Brother Cai Jiu, you're not on duty at the government office. Why have you come to make trouble for me?"

When the masked man saw that his identity had been exposed, he simply tore off his mask and said bluntly, "Since you know who I am, you should know that I came looking for you because you've committed an offense!"

"What offense could a beggar like me have committed? Don't tell me begging is a crime?"

The moment Zhu Youshi finished speaking, he saw Cai Jiu nod.

"Consider yourself enlightened. Begging in Jinmen is a crime!"

Zhu Youshi's eyes widened. He slapped his own face, checking whether he was still trapped in a dream.

"Brother Cai Jiu, stop joking. I've been a beggar in Jinmen for over forty years, and I've never heard of such a thing."

"Never heard of it? Then you've heard of it now! To tell you the truth, Jinmen is the most prosperous and flourishing place in the Great Yong Dynasty. Your begging here blackens the name of His Majesty and smears the reputation of the Crown Prince, who has come here on inspection."

"For the sake of our old acquaintance, I'll give you one night. If you know what's good for you, leave Jinmen at once!"

Inside an abandoned house, Zhu Youshi grew frantic. "My father picked me up. I've been begging in Jinmen since I was little, and even my godfather was a beggar. If I leave Jinmen, how am I supposed to live? Brother Cai Jiu, don't forget that two years ago, when you fell beneath Shuimen Bridge and nearly drowned, I was the one who jumped down and hauled you out."

"You can't repay kindness with enmity!"

Cai Jiu had been about to put away his knife and leave, but at those words, his expression immediately darkened.

"Don't bring up ancient history. If I let you go, where would that leave the Prefect's dignity? What about my job? I'll make this clear: if you don't leave, and I see you tomorrow, don't blame me for forgetting our old friendship."

With that, Cai Jiu spat on the ground and turned to leave the abandoned house.

The next day, when Cai Jiu returned to that dilapidated hut, he had not even entered when he saw a hemp rope hanging from the roof beam inside. Someone was fitting the noose around his neck.

Who else could it be but Zhu Youshi?

Hearing the commotion, Zhu Youshi turned toward Cai Jiu. Hope for survival suddenly sparked in his heart, but when he saw the other man abruptly halt and refuse to take another step forward, that last hope died completely.

And so, a beggar family that had endured through three generations lost its inheritance just like that.

Xu Qing looked at the Truth-Speaking Pill in his hand and did not know what to say for a moment.

If you said Cai Jiu had not cared about their old friendship, he had at least spoken to Zhu Youshi from the heart, explained the truth, and given him a chance to leave.

But if you said he had cared about their old friendship, Cai Jiu had been able to watch as the man who had once saved his life was driven to hang himself, yet refused to take even one step forward. His heartlessness had truly reached the extreme.

The human heart was indeed unfathomable. Who could have imagined that the high-ranking officials dressed in vermilion robes and black uniforms were the true murderers of these beggars?

Yet when all was said and done, their purpose had merely been to clean up Jinmen's public image and put on a show to curry favor with the Crown Prince during his inspection.

Connecting this with the clues he had obtained from tonight's salvation ritual, Xu Qing pondered briefly and understood the crux of the matter.

The current Emperor Longping was over eighty years old, while even the Crown Prince was sixty-three, well past sixty.

At this crucial juncture, if Emperor Longping ever failed to draw another breath, this elderly Crown Prince would become the new Son of Heaven.

Wait! Those rebels from the Tianxin Cult had also come to Jinmen a few days ago. Why did it happen to be right when the current Crown Prince came on inspection?

Xu Qing felt that he had inadvertently uncovered an invisible web, one containing countless juicy secrets.

He had just finished performing salvation rites for the corpse workers in Courtyard C when he turned around and set his sights on Courtyards A and B.

Besides obtaining rewards from the Duren Sutra, Xu Qing now had another source of motivation: seeing whether he could feast on every last juicy secret tonight!

At the fifth watch, the watchman struck his copper gong and called out the old refrain about sleeping early, rising early, and taking care of one's health. Xu Qing, who had been working away in the workshop for most of the night, finally stopped, still wanting more.

Hurrying as fast as he could, he had finally completed the salvation rites for the corpse workers in several courtyards. Although he had not sampled any more earth-shattering secrets, there had been no shortage of smaller ones.

Things like eunuchs sleeping with their daughters-in-law and brothers-in-law making nighttime raids on their sisters-in-law were merely appetizers.

If he had not performed salvation rites for so many people from all walks of life, in all their strange and varied forms, how would Xu Qing have learned that the Prefect had an unspeakable affliction, or that the Baisha County Magistrate's daughter possessed a sacred physique for grinding tofu, and loved nothing more than disguising herself as a man to visit the brothels and spend all night chatting freely with those fine ladies?

No one knew what they actually talked about. Xu Qing had learned all of this from a Brothel Lounger.

That lounger had witnessed something he should not have seen, and, worse still, had tried to extort money from the County Magistrate's daughter by threatening to expose it. He had therefore deserved the calamity that befell him.

Just think about it. The young lady had let you watch her do such a thing for free, and it still wasn't enough for you? How could you have gone running after her to demand money?

Even a Free Rider couldn't match your nerve!

The reward produced by that lounger was rather interesting too: a volume called the Hundred Beauties Erotic Scroll.

And it was not an ordinary static picture book, either. As long as you gazed at it with rapt attention, the various generous and ravishing beauties within would come alive in a soul-seizing, marrow-devouring dance.

But the moment you truly stirred your carnal desire and became entranced, the figures in the Hundred Beauties Scroll would instantly transform into terrifying vengeful ghosts, their bodies withered to skin and bone and their faces hideous. They would press against the image as if trying to break through the painting and take someone's life!

When Xu Qing reached this part, he had been caught completely off guard and had nearly thrown the scroll in his hand over the wall.

How was this spiritual nourishment? It was plainly a frightful contraption! Fortunately, his mental fortitude was strong. If a timid man had encountered it instead, he probably would have become a fellow patient of the Prefect of Jinmen from that day onward, forever unable to muster any desire in that regard.