Four Directions Street, the Zhao Family.
The entrance to the little stone courtyard was hung with a lantern that was neither new nor old.
The family had run a pastry business on the street for several generations and had even opened a branch. They were fairly well-known.
Their household was not lavishly wealthy, but it could just about be called comfortable.
At that moment, quite a few onlookers had gathered outside the courtyard. Still shaken, they peered through the open gate and chattered among themselves.
"We ate at their banquet just a few months ago. How did things end up like this?"
"What do you know? I thought something was off from the start. A family that sells pastries—where would they get the fortune or the money to buy Precious Medicine to nourish their daughter-in-law's pregnancy? And then they even made a big celebration out of it."
"So it turns out his pretty wife was secretly colluding with Fierce Wolf Hall. Who knows how much dirty money she made? Well, look how that turned out. His wife was hauled off by the constables, and he lost his own life too!"
One nosy busybody clicked his tongue in wonder. He was still talking when someone beside him suddenly bumped him with a shoulder.
He turned back in confusion. His face went deathly pale in an instant, and he hurriedly tucked his chin and slipped back into the crowd.
A Fierce Wolf had actually come!
"There's nothing much to see, really." Dong Cheng trailed reluctantly behind the young man, feeling nothing but a headache.
No matter how you looked at it, this was just another one of White Tiger Hall's rotten schemes.
The Precious Medicine was genuine. It was just that, before it could be refined into pills, it was best to nourish it with vitality for a while.
And so a family of pastry sellers had suddenly gotten lucky and "happened" to hear about Immortal Medicine.
They'd heard the medicine could keep both mother and child safe and make a baby naturally clever.
Boss Zhao had paid a fortune to bring the Immortal Medicine into his home and successfully fed it to his wife, letting its medicinal power seep into the child in her womb.
Now it was nearly time for her to give birth.
Since Liu Zhen had made a handsome profit selling the medicine, naturally he had to come and take the "Immortal Medicine" back, then deliver it to White Tiger Hall.
As for the excuse, he'd surely pick the one that came most easily to hand...
"Colluding with Fierce Wolf Hall?" Lin Shu listened to the people around him as he slowly made his way through the crowd.
A single sentence from a constable had branded this household.
Ordinary folk on the street, not content to live their lives in peace, had actually dared to collude with Fierce Wolf Hall.
It was outrageous.
What made it outrageous was that Lin Shu, as the Fierce Wolf of Four Directions Street, had known nothing about it.
He was new here, sure, but even Dong Cheng hadn't mentioned it.
That naturally made Lin Shu curious.
"Don't look at me. In our situation, who'd be sick in the head enough to get involved with us? That's just how Liu does things. You'll get used to it."
Dong Cheng shrugged helplessly, then sneaked a glance at the young man's head and muttered under his breath, "I told you not to come."
He hadn't gotten his hands on any money, nor had he managed to curry favor with White Tiger Hall, but the blame dumped on his head had stuck fast.
As the new Fierce Wolf taking over this area, Lin Shu would inevitably be held responsible in the eyes of the people.
It would be one thing if he had the strength to do something about it. But he couldn't, so why go looking for trouble?
Sure enough.
As Lin Shu and Dong Cheng reached the courtyard gate, the crowd around them fell silent.
Only a few were jealous; most simply wanted to know what the Zhao family's daughter-in-law had done for the Blackwater Gang that the Yamen had to drag her away just as she was about to give birth.
Did this newly arrived Fierce Wolf have nothing to say about it?
Or was he afraid to speak up...
"Let's take a look first."
Lin Shu ignored the strange looks around him and stepped through the gate.
Inside, the whole Zhao family, including their servants and maids, had nearly all been frightened into collapsing onto the ground.
Even when they saw Dong Cheng, the Young Wolf, they barely reacted. Every one of them stared fixedly at the ground.
A man lay sprawled there.
He was dressed in fine clothes, but his silk outfit was now hopelessly rumpled and soaked through with warm blood.
His body was covered in blunt-force bruises. The back of his head had caved in, and his back was riddled with horrifying gashes. Clearly, they had beaten him savagely before hacking him to death.
"He must've resisted arrest and made Liu lose his temper."
Dong Cheng rubbed his hair, feeling a little sorry.
He actually liked the Zhao family's pastries: sweet, fragrant, and soft. The young man was skilled; his baking was every bit as good as his father's.
But from the looks of things, he probably wouldn't get to eat them again.
Resisted arrest?
Lin Shu lowered his gaze.
The man's fingers were dug into the ground in front of him. Even in his final moments, he had still tried to crawl toward the gate.
Beside him lay a broom, its handle covered in bloody handprints.
It might have been the most useful weapon he could grab in a hurry.
With nothing but that, the man had fought against several armed constables, trying to use the ridiculous thing to protect his wife and child.
"Tsk." Lin Shu stood with his hands at his sides, staring at the corpse. His expression did not change, but a trace of coldness silently surfaced in his eyes.
The man had dared to resist arrest with a broom. That was certainly dangerous.
He had probably scared the constables, making them determined to beat him to death in front of his whole family.
"..."
The newly promoted Fierce Wolf's silence stirred unease among the people outside.
The common folk of West City wanted nothing more than a quiet life.
Whether they relied on the Yamen or submitted to the Blackwater Gang, they only wanted to keep their lives.
After all, neither side was any good.
The Zhao family might really have colluded with Fierce Wolf Hall, or they might not have. None of that mattered.
What mattered was that Chief Constable Liu had declared, through his own actions, whose hands held the lives of the people on this street.
No matter how many wolves came and went, the outcome would never change.
"Move along, move along."
Seeing that things had settled, someone sighed, and the onlookers dispersed in a rush.
The area outside the Zhao family's courtyard suddenly grew much quieter.
"Well, that's it. We've made fools of ourselves now." Dong Cheng smacked his lips. What was the point of watching all this?
He glared at the Zhao family members and snapped, "Why aren't you putting away the body? Do you all want to die?"
Since Liu Zhen had already taken the woman away, the charges would surely be laid out in an orderly fashion by tomorrow at the latest.
If this family wanted to live, they had to grit their teeth, swallow it all, and stop making a fuss. Then they had to prepare a generous gift for Chief Constable Liu.
If he was in a good mood, he might leave the whole family alive.
At his words, the Zhao family members looked desolate.
They knew Dong Cheng's words carried no weight on this street, and the Fierce Wolf above him had already been replaced three times. So they had never expected much from the two of them to begin with.
But he was right about this.
Even though their woman had been taken away, the child in her womb might be dead or alive, and the family's pillar had been beaten to death right there,
they still could not make a fuss.
If they wanted to live, they had to endure it!
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.
A shout rang out with them.
"The evidence is not yet conclusive! This matter still needs to be reviewed. Everyone, stop!"
As soon as the words fell, a dark-haired constable rushed in in a panic.
He clutched a slip of paper soaked with sweat, holding it high with a stiff, awkward motion.
"Everyone, stop..."
Chang Yi looked at the collapsed figures filling the courtyard, then at the corpse by his feet. His arm fell limply to his side.
"Hah... hah..."
He fell silent for a long while. His breathing grew heavier and heavier, as though sweat stung his eyes. Then his eyes suddenly reddened.
Clang!!
The unusually young constable abruptly tightened his grip on his sword. The icy blade slid free, and even his five fingers were trembling.
After learning what had happened, he had gone to his superiors and gotten the order as quickly as he could before rushing over.
He had still been too late.
Looking at the corpse before him, Chang Yi suddenly felt that those rules were ridiculous.
Why did it seem as though he was the only one in all of Blackwater City bound by these endless rules?
Compared to the worthless scrap of paper in his hand, he felt an urge to draw his sword and hack those bastards down!
"What's gotten into him...?"
Dong Cheng had been startled by the sound of the sword being drawn.
But when he recognized the newcomer, delight suddenly flashed in his eyes.
So it was Master Chang, famous far and wide for being a Fool.
He was too inexperienced. When it came to dealing with people, how could he outplay an old fox like Liu Zhen?
But if he really lost his temper and drew his sword to cut Liu down... Hah! Wouldn't Four Directions Street finally get better?
As for what would happen to this hotheaded kid, what did that have to do with people from Fierce Wolf Hall?
"Heh."
At the thought, Dong Cheng couldn't help laughing aloud.
But the next moment, he saw their Fierce Wolf stroll over and casually press Chang Yi's long sword back into its sheath.
The young constable froze for a moment, then lowered his head again.
"I know you've seen this sort of thing so often that you think it's nothing, but don't stop me. I can't swallow this!"
Chang Yi clenched his teeth. As the sweat stung his eyes, tears had already begun to gather in them. "You bastard curs!"
Brother Zhao and his sister-in-law had both treated him well. When he patrolled the streets, they often set out tea and pastries for him and invited him to sit in the shop for a while.
They were such good people. There wasn't even any solid evidence, so what gave those men the right to arrest and beat them to death whenever they pleased?
"Who's stopping you?"
Lin Shu glanced at him, faintly exasperated. "I just wanted to say, they're already gone. Who are you trying to scare with that sword?"
"Besides..." He looked at the slip of paper in the dark-haired constable's hand and said with a sigh, "Sometimes you have to learn to be flexible."
With that, Lin Shu strode out of the courtyard.
Dong Cheng followed, feeling rather disappointed.
So this kid knew Master Lin. What a shame. He'd been hoping to see two dogs tear each other apart.
Now that the young constable had learned to be flexible, what would become of Four Directions Street...?
"I'm heading back first." Lin Shu rolled his arms a little.
"Rest easy. If anything happens, I'll come report it right away."
Dong Cheng forced a smile, cupped his hands, and turned to leave.
But before he could take a step, his whole body staggered.
"Oh, and remember to bring me the account book you mentioned earlier before nightfall."
There wasn't much emotion in the young man's voice. Just like at the snack stall earlier, he tossed it out casually, as if he merely wanted to have a look for amusement.
But those words alone were enough to turn Dong Cheng's face deathly pale.
Sure enough, there were no names that were wrong, only nicknames that were wrong.
He really did live up to his name: Greedy Wolf.
On his very first day here, he already wanted to use the account book to force Liu Zhen to cough up silver!
But if it were that easy, wouldn't Dong Cheng have done it himself? Why would he have waited for Wolf Lord to come along?
"Go on."
At the courtyard gate, Lin Shu gazed nonchalantly down Long Street.
Seen too much of this?
Maybe he hadn't gotten all that used to it after all.
Whether it was rushing to West City to save the widow and orphan for Old Woman, or pinning Zhang Ci to death downstairs in Green Willow Alley,
there had always been a reason. He'd taken the money, so he had to get the job done.
But this time, he hadn't even gotten paid yet.
Forget it. If he hadn't been paid, then he hadn't been paid.
He'd let them owe him.
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