“It’s the Pimp Trio,” Lian Li explained. “I just called them that based on their physical features.”
Yun Huizhou recalled the appearances of those three. Aside from not knowing why someone with a red, pitted nose would be described as a “strawberry,” he felt Lian Li’s nicknames for the other two were quite fitting.
“I’m asking you,” Lian Li nudged Yun Huizhou with his shoulder when he didn’t get an answer.
He didn’t budge him; instead, he ended up bouncing himself back.
Yun Huizhou looked at him with a smile, though his eyes remained unreadable. He said calmly, “That pimp… what do you think?”
Lian Li froze for a moment. He raised the side of his hand to his neck in a throat-slitting gesture, his eyes filled with inquiry.
Yun Huizhou nodded and replied, “That pimp met such an end.”
Lian Li suddenly didn’t know what to say. Although he had been prepared to kill the pimp himself back at the ruined temple, he hadn’t been able to get far at the time, and he truly lacked the strength to keep going.
There was no telling when Ma Tie, Small-eyes, or Strawberry-nose would wake up. If he hadn’t taken the chance to kill them, it would have been him who died once they regained consciousness.
But after seeing Yun Huizhou and the others arrive, knowing he was safe, he no longer felt the need to insist on killing the pimp himself.
Ma Tie was a man of the Jianghu who had ruined many girls from good families. Lian Li could accept him being captured, judged, or killed directly by martial artists.
After all, the Jianghu had its own rules.
The pimp, however, was not a man of the Jianghu. Lian Li’s subconscious instinct was that he should have been handed over to the authorities.
But on second thought, given the current state of the Imperial Court and how the pimp kept bragging about his wealth, handing him over to the officials would likely be no different from letting him go.
Once he worked that out, Lian Li stopped dwelling on it. He simply told himself that this was no longer the modern world.
He couldn’t apply modern concepts to the affairs of this world.
“What about Small-eyes and Strawberry-nose?” Lian Li asked in a low voice, keeping his head down.
Yun Huizhou continued, “Those two weren’t the masterminds, so it wasn’t right to kill them outright. However, they were accomplices and couldn’t go unpunished. Brother Zhao found someone knowledgeable in the law to consult; they were each given fifteen strokes of the cane and then released.”
“However, it was the disciples of the Qinghong Sword Sect who carried out the punishment. Naturally, their hands are heavier than the official guards at the yamen. Still, those two have some money on them and are able-bodied men. They won’t die.”
Hearing Yun Huizhou say this, Lian Li nodded. “It should be so.”
The Imperial Court was a mess, and the martial arts world held great power.
Moreover, the martial arts of this world clearly exceeded the scope of a low-level martial arts world, which was exactly why Lian Li wanted to learn.
Even if the government were functioning normally, at most, they would simply stay out of each other’s way.
With the government currently being useless, the fact that the Martial Arts Alliance could achieve even this much was already quite good. At least the order in Xianglai City was decent.
Yun Huizhou glanced at him and said no more.
In truth, what he didn’t mention was that the real reason they decided to kill the pimp was that some of the victims were children the pimp had taken a fancy to; knowing their families wouldn’t sell them, he had actively paid people to kidnap and abduct them.
If there had only been those sold by their families, or those sold to him by others who contacted him voluntarily, they would have had no reason to kill the pimp.
The reward Zhao Honglan had requested for Lian Li was also delivered.
A full hundred taels in banknotes!
He held up the banknotes toward Yun Huizhou and said, “Look! We’ve struck it rich overnight.”
Yun Huizhou smiled without speaking. His own rewards from the Martial Arts Assembly were all inside his bundle; after all this time, this person surprisingly hadn’t rummaged through his things.
He thought to himself that when the time came for Lian Li to find out how much his (Yun Huizhou’s) reward was, he might just jump for joy.
Lian Li folded his banknotes carefully and tucked them close to his body. Then, he fished out five taels of silver from the small pouch Yun Huizhou had given him and placed them in Yun Huizhou’s hand.
He said, “When you saved me, I was penniless and forced myself upon you. You even hired a doctor to treat me, which must have cost a lot. I was thinking before that I’d pay you back once I had money. Now is the perfect time.”
Yun Huizhou looked down at the silver in his palm and let out a low chuckle, not refusing it.
He knew that while Lian Li looked frail and acted cowardly—even going so far as to use feces to prevent the pimp’s thugs from catching him, appearing quite unrefined—he had a certain pride in his bones.
When the two of them first arrived in Xianglai City, Yun Huizhou only had about ten taels of silver on him. Between staying at inns and buying enough food for two people to eat their fill, his funds hadn’t been particularly abundant.
Now that they were leaving, they had indeed become wealthy.
Considering that Lian Li didn’t know how to ride a horse, Yun Huizhou bought a carriage.
The carriage was fully equipped with everything they needed. It wasn’t top-of-the-line, but it was very comfortable.
Even the driver’s seat at the front had soft cushions and backrests tied to it.
Yun Huizhou’s own horse wasn’t meant for pulling a carriage, so it was simply tethered to the side, intended to follow along.
Among the people rescued from the pimp’s clutches, Lian Li had found a skillful girl and asked her to sew him a double-shoulder backpack. He even bought good leather to sew onto the straps so they wouldn’t dig into his shoulders..
Aside from the cloth bundles seen in period dramas, people here also used satchels, which were convenient for reaching things.
It was just that Lian Li preferred wearing a backpack on both shoulders.
Yun Huizhou’s bundle wasn’t large either; previously, it only contained a change of outer robes and two sets of inner garments for each of them.
Now that Lian Li had this “schoolbag,” he put all the clothes into his own bag.
In front of the Alliance Leader’s Manor.
Yun Huizhou and Lian Li bid farewell to the disciples of the Qinghong Sword Sect and prepared to board the carriage.
Lian Li turned around and saw the carriage parked five meters away. He walked over, checked the height of the carriage, and then nimbly… crawled up.
Yun Huizhou: “…”
Zhao Honglan: “…”
Qu Tingquan: “…”
The young disciples of the Qinghong Sword Sect: “…”
They likely hadn’t expected that someone already in the “age of the dancing elephant” would actually crawl to get into a carriage. (Note: The age of the dancing elephant refers to young men between fifteen and twenty years old.)
Even without looking back, Lian Li could feel their gazes piercing his back.
He thought to himself: You all know martial arts and have practiced since childhood, and your fellow disciples are the same. Of course you’ve never seen someone have to crawl into a carriage.
Besides, carriages weren’t cheap. Families who could afford them had servants to act as stepping stools, and ordinary families wouldn’t buy a carriage in the first place.
With these thoughts in mind, he didn’t intend to look back at their strange expressions and simply ducked into the carriage.
Seeing him like this, Qu Tingquan knew he was embarrassed. He gave a silent laugh and then nudged Zhao Honglan.
Only then did everyone withdraw their gazes.
When Lian Li felt the carriage begin to move, he lifted the window curtain and waved to Zhao Honglan, Qu Tingquan, and the other disciples.
To be honest, during his days staying at the Alliance Leader’s Manor, these disciples had taken very good care of him.
Knowing he loved good food, whenever they returned from outside, they would always bring back a snack or two.
If not all, he had tried most of the snacks in Xianglai City.
He sat in the carriage for a while, then lifted the door curtain and saw Yun Huizhou sitting there.
