"Let's go..." Xu Changren said as he walked. "Past the clinic is the market. Anything you want to buy will be in there. The mayor is a great philanthropist. To keep prices stable, he forbids charging high prices for basic food and necessities, benefiting everyone."
The merchant in the brocade robe nodded. "The mayor is a good man, making sure people have food to eat."
"What do you think?" Zhou Hen asked Li Qingxian.
"I'm looking with both eyes." Li Qingxian offered no opinion.
"I don't like this place." Zhou Hen slowly stroked the hilts of his saber and sword.
Li Qingxian said, "Don't act rashly. Wait a little first."
Zhou Hen nodded.
They continued forward. As they passed the market, they saw filthy farmers sitting on the ground at the stalls, their eyes vacant, various parts of their bodies twisted by blessed affliction.
Clang...
Just then, a procession approached, beating a gong and pulling a cart. Its wheels rolled over the ground with a soft rumble.
Four people slowly pulled the cart forward. Four corpses were nailed to a frame on the wooden cart, and the gong-beater shouted, "Illegally occupying houses! Paraded through the streets for public disgrace! They dared defy the law-let their punishment serve as a warning!"
The expressions of Li Qingxian and the other Night Guards changed slightly as they looked ahead.
Several Night Guards gripped their saber hilts.
Those four corpses were unmistakably dressed in Night Guard uniforms. The corpse at the front even wore the official robes of the Tenth Rank.
"Are they from the Patrol Bureau?" Li Qingxian's face was livid.
Han Anbo narrowed his eyes and examined them. "The first three aren't. The last one is."
Li Qingxian asked, "Why were those four killed?"
Xu Changren said, "Many people arrived in Blessing