Yan Qing and Murong came to the edge of the crowd, and that was when they heard the voices coming from outside the tofu shop.

“Today is the last day. Either hand over the money, or use this shop to settle the debt.”

At these words, Yan Qing quietly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was not a murder case, it was fine — she was beginning to feel that a certain fictional detective’s spirit had taken root in her.

The speaker was a flashily-dressed young man, bald, with two conspicuous knife scars on his head.

The owners of the tofu shop were an elderly couple. From their clothing, they were a pair of none-too-wealthy old folks.

“Please, just give us a few more days.” The old man kept bowing with his hands clasped. “Even a week would do.”

“No.” The bald man narrowed his triangular eyes, the vicious light within them bearing down on the two old people. “I have already given you two extra days. Today is the last day. Don’t push your luck.”

The man planted one foot on the shop table. The already rickety table gave a crashing sound and nearly toppled.

“Just hand over the deed to the shop and you’ll owe me nothing. You can clear out immediately.”

“Sir, have mercy.” The old woman dropped to her knees in front of the bald man and kept kowtowing. “Our whole family of three depends on this shop for our living. If we lose this shop, our whole family will starve.”

“Whether you starve is none of my concern. A debt must be repaid — that is the law of heaven.” The bald man paid no heed whatsoever to the old woman’s crying pleas. Instead he gestured to the two henchmen behind him, who immediately stepped forward and moved to ransack the shop interior.

The old man rushed forward to stop them and was kicked to the ground by one of them.

“How much do they owe?” Yan Qing could not abide this sort of bullying behavior. Seeing the old woman kneeling and the old man knocked down, anger rose in her heart.

A warm-hearted woman nearby responded, “They don’t owe anything at all. What they call ‘debt’ is protection money. Every shop doing business on this street has to pay them protection fees. If they can’t pay, the shop is seized as debt repayment. This old couple has been running this tofu shop for over ten years, and business was quite good. But ever since this group arrived, the protection fees they charge amount to the shop’s entire income. Later, even the whole shop’s income couldn’t keep up, so the debt just grew and grew until they owed a mountain of it.”

“Outrageous.” Murong fumed. “Is there no law here?”

“Law? There is no law here. The town boss rules with an iron fist, dealing only with the wealthy and with criminal elements. Common folk can only be slaughtered at will. Alas, several shops on this street have already closed.” The woman sighed. “This old couple has a son who is simple-minded and sickly, needing medicine every day. If this shop truly ends up in other hands, that simple-minded son will certainly not survive.”

“How is that different from murder?” Murong said.

She spoke, rolled up her sleeves, and turned to seek approval. “Miss…”

Yan Qing gave a nod. Murong was just about to step forward when Dihuai pulled her back from behind. “In a matter like this, let me handle it. You protect Miss.”

Murong felt her face grow uncharacteristically warm at the sight of the hand he had on her arm. Though she and Dihuai were engaged, the two of them still treated each other with proper decorum.

As Dihuai stepped forward, one of the men was preparing to send a flying kick at the old woman.

“Stop.” Dihuai kicked that man’s leg away.

The woman standing near Yan Qing, seeing Yan Qing’s group step out, turned pale with fright. “Miss, please don’t interfere. These people have powerful backing. You’re not from this area, are you? If you offend them, you may not be able to leave Huxi Town alive.”

Yan Qing appreciated the woman’s goodwill, but she believed that if Shi Ting were here, he would never stand by and do nothing either.

“I see you have a death wish.” The bald man, seeing someone dare to interfere, immediately let out a violent roar. “Worthless thing that doesn’t know what’s good for it — beat him within an inch of his life. Anyone who meddles in my affairs must be tired of living.”

Murong, fearing Dihuai might come off badly, quickly went forward to help. As the several of them became entangled in the fight, Yan Qing hurried to support the old woman who lay on the ground.

“Elder, are you all right?”

“Girl, go quickly, don’t concern yourself with this.” The old woman urgently shook her head at Yan Qing. “Go quickly. These people are not to be trifled with.”

“Elder, don’t be afraid.” Yan Qing helped her to her feet. “These people have gone far too far.”

“Girl, please go.” The old woman anxiously pushed at Yan Qing. “I’m an old woman with one foot in the grave — it’s no loss if I go. You are still so young; don’t throw your life away.”

Seeing the old woman so afraid of implicating them, Yan Qing grew all the more determined to see this matter through.

At this moment the bald man caught a glimpse of Yan Qing. Although her head was covered by a hood, beneath the cape her figure was slender, and the half of her face that showed was outstandingly beautiful — the kind that is impossible to forget.

The bald man had never seen so beautiful a woman before. Lecherous light immediately flared in his eyes. Taking advantage of the fact that his two henchmen had occupied Murong and Dihuai, he strode toward Yan Qing in large steps.

“Little beauty.” The bald man lewdly extended a hand, wanting to pull off the hood on Yan Qing’s head. “Come and play with me.”

But as soon as his hand reached out, a searing pain suddenly shot through his wrist. The bald man let out a wretched shriek and immediately crumpled to the ground, seeing stars.

Yan Qing heard the sound and turned her head. She saw the bald man rolling on the ground clutching one hand. Mu Bai stood behind her, his expression dark and icy.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahhh!”

Two more shrieks in succession. Before Yan Qing had even registered what was happening, the bald man’s two henchmen also fell to the ground in turn. Yan Qing blinked twice — Mu Bai was still standing in the same spot as before, as if he had not moved. Yet without any doubt, those two men had been felled by him.

Dihuai and Murong wore equally astonished expressions. They had known only that Mu Bai ought to be an expert; they had not imagined this person’s movements could be so fast — fast to the point where no one could even see how he had struck.

“You… you all wait for me.” The bald man endured the pain of his broken hand and dragged himself up from the ground. Amid the stunned gawking of the surrounding onlookers, he limped and fled.

After the bald man ran off, no one in the crowd cheered or gloated. On the contrary, everyone was looking at Yan Qing and her group with sympathetic eyes.

“Girl, go quickly.” The old woman stood up from the ground and said anxiously. “These people — you cannot afford to provoke them. If you leave now, there may still be time.”

“Yes, go quickly.” The old man and the onlookers all joined in urging them to leave.

“It’s all right, Elder.” Yan Qing smiled in reassurance. “I’m not afraid.”

“Our two old lives and our addled son — it’s no great loss for us. But you are still young, so please go.”

Seeing the old woman so afraid of dragging them into it, Yan Qing was all the more resolved to see this to the end. “Elder, I still have business to attend to. I cannot leave.”

“They could come back at any moment.” The old couple were both anxious and worried, and kept urging Yan Qing to go.

At that moment, Mu Bai produced a long bench from somewhere and then laid it across the shop doorway, sitting ramrod-straight upon it. His cold, indifferent eyes stared out ahead. Within that gaze, not a trace of any emotion could be found — only an endless, boundless chill.

Seeing him like this, Yan Qing’s heart settled.

He was telling her: as long as he sat here, even an army of thousands could not pass him by. Having seen him strike, Yan Qing was already certain of this.

The surrounding onlookers, not wanting to get caught up in what was coming, dispersed one after another when they could not persuade Yan Qing to leave — better not to be there when the bald man came back with his people.

Yan Qing helped the old woman into the shop.

The couple had to rise at two in the morning to toil for their tofu-making, and from the long-term lack of sleep they appeared several years older than their peers, with hair already fully white.

The two of them labored so hard to make tofu and sell it, yet before they could even tuck the earnings into their pockets, these people would forcibly take it away. Half a year’s toil, yet they were still left with a mountain of debt.

Inside the tofu shop sat freshly made tofu. The fragrance of the tofu, however, could not mask the poverty that permeated the room.

“Please, sit.” The old woman gestured for the group to be seated, while the old man went and brought out fresh soy milk.

“Elder, these people are no different from bandits. You work so hard only to do all the work for others’ benefit. Why don’t you move somewhere else?”

The old woman let out a sigh. “Alas, where would we move? Ever since this group came to Huxi Town, there is no place of peace anywhere.”

“Is there truly no one to intervene?”

“The town boss is in cahoots with these people. Who would intervene?” The old man said from the side. “This gang came over from the Five Clans Territory. Over there is the black market zone, full of people like this — criminal societies running rampant.”

Yan Qing had heard of this Five Clans Territory before coming. Opium was cultivated there, and there were many black market chains.

She suddenly thought of Long Yunxiao, wondering whether Long Yunxiao had any connection with these black market areas.

“Girl, don’t be afraid.” The old woman said with a resolute expression. “If that gang comes back, I’ll give them this shop. After all, what they want is the shop, not lives. If they insist on causing trouble, I’ll stake my life fighting them.”

Yan Qing patted the old woman’s hand. “Elder, you need not worry. You saw the one sitting outside, didn’t you? As long as he is there, we are safe.”

“Girl, you’re a kind soul. But you can protect us for a moment, not for a lifetime. This shop is bound to fall into their hands sooner or later.”

Yan Qing naturally understood the old woman’s concern. She might draw her sword when she saw injustice, but the power of this gang ran deep. She could stop them for a while; once she left, they would simply come back.

At that moment, someone poked their head in through the door, and upon seeing Yan Qing, they gave a foolish grin. “Sister, pretty sister.”

This person was clearly older than Yan Qing, but he blinked with the guileless eyes of a child.

The old woman was immediately alarmed. “Go back to the room! How did he get out?”

Before the person could say another word, he was pushed back inside by the old man. From within came the wailing and cursing sounds of a young child.

The old woman said, “That is my son. Over ten years ago he was beaten by someone and suffered a shock, and became simple-minded. Later he fell ill as well, and needs medicine every day. Alas, if this shop is gone, his life cannot be saved either.”