Harmful to Others and Self

“All right, they have all gone. Now it is your turn to perform! Let us play a little question-and-answer game with prizes!” Tang Wei gathered her emotions for a moment before speaking to Magistrate Wei.

After the spectacle that had come before, Wei had finally become completely docile. Though he was as ruthless toward others as an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, he truly cared for his own family from the bottom of his heart. Everything he had done was meant to make life a little easier for the Wei family. Even though he had initially raised the young master Wei as a discarded pawn in the Wei residence, he had still genuinely doted on him in ordinary times. Now he could not bear to watch the boy actually be sold by them into some so-called brothel to be abused.

Thus, when Tang Wei asked him to answer her questions, he showed no resistance at all. Instead, he replied calmly, “Ask whatever you like. As long as I know the answer, I will tell you everything without reservation. But I hope you will keep your promise as well and spare every member of my Wei family, old and young.”

“Do not worry. As long as you answer honestly, your entire Wei family will be safe. We will not even touch a single blade of grass in your household.” Tang Wei gave him an earnest guarantee.

In any case, she had no desire to kill anyone. Killing Wei alone had already been the limit of what she could accept. If this matter could be resolved peacefully, that would naturally be the best outcome.

“What is it you wish to know? Ask whatever you like.” Magistrate Wei had no thoughts left of his own. He had been able to help the impoverished Sang Family Village without conditions, so Tang Wei’s character was someone he could absolutely trust.

“All right. First, where were the other people from the Wei family taken?” Tang Wei did not know where best to begin. Since that was the case, she would start with the most important matter.

“The children of Sang Family Village who were under ten were taken to the Great Capital by the envoy. The rest of the people were sold to a large mine.” Magistrate Wei’s answer was concise, without a single unnecessary word.

“How long ago did those children set out? Which route are they taking? And to which mine were the adults sold?” Tang Wei continued pressing him for information about their whereabouts.

Magistrate Wei did not hesitate or even need to think. He soon answered, “The envoy set out the day before yesterday. He took the water route and departed from the town wharf. If there are no delays along the way, they should reach the Great Capital in roughly fifteen days. However, I saw that there were only around a hundred children aboard the boat, far short of a full load. Knowing the envoy, he will probably stop at other towns along the river to find more children and transport them back together. If so, no one can say when they will actually arrive at the Great Capital.”

Magistrate Wei answered very carefully, even offering his own assessment of the envoy. He was probably hoping Tang Wei would show him a little more mercy on account of his honesty.

Seeing that Tang Wei was listening intently but had not asked another question, he continued, “As for which mine the adults were sent to, I am not entirely sure. I…”

Sang Ye had been listening beside them. When she heard that no one knew where the adults from Sang Family Village had gone, anxiety seized her heart. Before Wei could finish, she immediately interrupted, “Were you not the one who sold them? How could you not know where they went? I think you are clearly still lying!”

Sang Ye had been raised by her father since childhood. The people she cared about most were no more than her father and elder brother. Her eagerness to learn their whereabouts was therefore understandable. Tang Wei did not stop her interruption. Besides, this was something she herself wanted to know.

Magistrate Wei was cut off, but he neither grew angry nor flustered. He continued, “I did sell them, but my responsibility ended once I delivered them to the market. After that, I no longer had anything to do with them. I truly do not know where they went. However, I can tell you that I sold them to the Gao family of Mount Ya. As for which town the Gao family took them to work in, I genuinely do not know. You will have to investigate that yourselves.”

“I do not believe you could possibly be unaware. You people have been engaged in this trade all along, have you not? You should know these matters very well!” Sang Ye’s eyes had been blazing with fury ever since she entered, and they now looked as though she wanted nothing more than to tear the flesh from his bones. Because Tang Wei was standing beside her, however, she did not dare let her words become too reckless.

In truth, Sang Ye seemed more at ease around Tang Wei. If Wanwan had been present, Sang Ye probably would not have dared to say any of this.

“Little girl, there is no need to provoke me. The Gao family is powerful and wealthy, with businesses in every town. How could I know exactly where each person was sent? Besides, once I have sold someone, why would I care whether he lives or dies? Should I send a servant to follow every person I sell, simply to find out where they go and whether they are living well?”

Though Wei’s words were harsh, they were also the truth. It was entirely reasonable that he would not know where the adults from Sang Family Village had ended up.

“Then, in your opinion, where are they likely to be?” Tang Wei asked calmly. She merely wanted to hear his opinion. As for whether he wished to answer or not, that was up to him.

“I imagine those few men, being accustomed to hard labor, would never be suitable as shop assistants. Nine times out of ten, the Gao family took them to work in a mine. As for the young girl, her appearance is merely ordinary and she has little value. If her luck was poor, she may have been sent to one of the Gao family’s brothels. If she was somewhat luckier, perhaps she became someone’s maidservant. It all depends on her own fate.”

Magistrate Wei spoke in a detached, indifferent tone, as though the matter had nothing to do with him. The fact that he was willing to offer even this much guidance was, in his mind, an immense favor. Otherwise, he would not have bothered.

Tang Wei had asked nearly everything she wanted to know. Seeing that Wanwan and the others had still not returned, she continued with several questions that had arisen from her own curiosity. Magistrate Wei answered them one by one. From the fragments of information pieced together, Tang Wei was gradually able to reconstruct the entire story.

At the beginning, the grandfather of the young master Wei—the old man from town who had deceived Tang Wei—had reported the matter to Magistrate Wei. He had also mentioned that the young master Wei himself had clashed with Tang Wei in the deep mountains.

After learning what had happened, Magistrate Wei feared that trouble might come looking for him. He had originally planned to go to Sang Family Village the following day to apologize to Tang Wei. But that very night, he received a letter from a friend in the Great Capital.

The Tang King was attempting to refine an elixir of immortality and had dispatched people everywhere to gather boys and girls between the ages of three and ten: one thousand boys and one thousand girls, to serve as ingredients for the elixir.

Though the Tang King was foolish, he was not stupid. Naturally, he would not carry out such a thing in the Great Capital itself. Most of the residents there were nobles and influential families, and their children could not be touched. If anything went wrong, he might lose even his throne.

So he sent people to the towns surrounding the Great Capital under the pretext of conscription, decreeing that every household must surrender one child between the ages of three and ten to strengthen the nation. Families with only one child, or those whose children were unwell, could avoid the levy by paying fifty ounces of silver per child.

This convenient arrangement allowed him to avoid offending nobles and wealthy merchants while leaving the poor with no way to voice their grievances. To the rich, fifty ounces of silver was no more than plucking a hair from their leg. To the poor, however, it was a sum they could not gather in an entire lifetime.

Even after all that commotion, the required number of children had not been collected. With no other choice, the Tang King sent people farther away to search.

Magistrate Wei’s friend possessed a certain degree of authority in the Great Capital. He had thought that if Magistrate Wei wished to rise further, he might as well devote himself to this matter. Perhaps, before the end of his life, he could even become a city lord or something similar. That would be a fine achievement.

The instant Magistrate Wei read the letter, he thought of Sang Family Village. The village was famous for having many elderly people and children, while only a few able-bodied men lived there. He would not need to expend much effort to achieve his goal. It would be both simple and convenient.

Thus, the magistrate, who had originally intended to build a good relationship with Tang Wei, abandoned his plan to visit Sang Family Village. Instead, he arranged for people to watch Tang Wei’s every move and report to him the moment she left.

He was afraid that sending ordinary men might expose his intentions, so he went to great lengths to find an acquaintance from Sang Family Village. Under the pretext of visiting an old friend, that person sought out an elderly villager and proposed a transaction. For ten ounces of silver, the man agreed to report every move Tang Wei made.

The instant Tang Wei and the others departed, Magistrate Wei would give the order to act.

It was not that he had truly been afraid of Tang Wei. At the time, he had merely thought that provoking two high-level martial artists would be troublesome, so he would save himself the trouble if he could. In his mind, no matter how formidable Tang Wei was, she was probably only a high-level martial artist herself. Since he was one as well, he had no reason to fear her.

His initial plan to take the young master Wei to Sang Family Village and apologize to Tang Wei had merely been a show. He did not want to invite unnecessary trouble. Now, however, he no longer needed to worry. If he handled this matter well and won the Tang King’s favor, he could easily ask for several high-level martial artists to be sent to assist him.

Recruiting high-level martial artists from outside was difficult, but in the Tang King’s palace, they might not be as common as cabbages, yet there were certainly plenty of them.

What Magistrate Wei had not expected was that Tang Wei would remain in Sang Family Village for several months. She seemed to have taken it upon herself to stay there permanently.

When the magistrate received the letter, he truly became somewhat anxious. Even then, he managed to restrain himself and did not immediately give the order to act. But given his temperament, even if Tang Wei had not spent that month living in the valley, he would undoubtedly have been unable to hold back once the time was right.

Magistrate Wei’s luck had been extraordinarily good. If Tang Wei had not happened to spend a month in the valley, he might not have succeeded at all.

Yet his luck had also been terrible. By sheer coincidence, the matter brought Tang Wei to the scene on the very next day, and she even happened to save Sang Ye and uncover the truth of what had occurred.

If she had waited another ten days or so, who knew what she would have been able to discover?

As for why Magistrate Wei had not acted the moment Tang Wei left, it was because he had thought that once the two women were gone, Sang Family Village would be nothing more than meat in the palm of his hand. He could do whatever he pleased with it. Capturing them too early would only waste the grain stored in his residence.

Besides, during that period he had already gone to several other villages and gathered quite a few children to keep in his household. Even if he captured the people of Sang Family Village then, there would be nowhere to put them. It would be better to wait until the envoy arrived and seize those who remained at the scene.

And now, after being so arrogant and self-assured, it was finally time for misfortune to come knocking on his door.