Leave a comment

Because this matter was the first major event that occurred after arriving at Sky Star City, there was fundamentally no opportunity for me to get out of this.

Regardless of whether this was Fang Thirteen’s scheme or not, I had to solve this affair perfectly. The current me was an ordinary hunter who had entered the city and didn’t have any honorable status. If I wanted to prove my worth, then I would have to continuously handle matters. Fang Thirteen is one to be vigilant by nature, so if I can’t gain her trust, then it’ll be extremely difficult for me to access her army’s core secrets.

When we arrived at the law court, I found that both sides were already quarrelling.

Coincidentally, and also unfortunately, the person on West-Resisting City’s side just happened to be the haggard-looking woman who talked with me several times on our hasty journey towards this city. Although she and the ******* shouting abuses on the street were similar in age, they appeared to be two completely different types of people. While their looks were on the same level, her figure was slimmer than the *******’s. It seemed that she wasn’t particularly good in verbal arguments since her face was flushed red in anger and unable to retort.

As for the person on the side of Sky Star City, he was dressed up like a merchant as the clothes he wore were quite precious. He wore a yellow colored silk gown that was both soft and kept the warmth in. His stature wasn’t too bad, just that his beer belly was a bit serious and his upper body was flat while his lower body stuck out, so he resembled an upside-down ladle.

“You’re still saying that you didn’t steal? I was wondering why you bumped against me at that time. After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that you had long planned this out! I’m not trying to scold you, but for a married woman like you, do you not feel even a bit of shame in your heart? Must you be satisfied only after you go serve in prison and your child be cursed to be a ‘thief’s child’?”

The married woman argued back in a low voice:

“It ain’t me who stole!”

The merchant was just about to say something, but I had already stepped forth and reached out a hand to stop him from doing so. I assumed a smiling face and said:

“This elder brother, no matter how long you keep talking glibly like this, it won’t help with the situation. Even if the receiving party is speechless, we can’t convict her for being speechless. We might as well talk about how the matter originally came to be and talk it through, perhaps this was all just a misunderstanding?”

The merchant wrinkled his brows and unhappily responded:

“Who are you? Why are you butting into our business?”

Tila took a step forward and told the merchant:

“Sister Thirteen gave this person full powers to handle this matter. If you’re dissatisfied with this, then please tell this to sister Thirteen.”

The merchant seemed to recognize Tila, so he awkwardly laughed in embarrassment and cupped his hands towards me. Then, he said:

“Forgive me for my disrespect. My name is Luo Chou and I am a clothing merchant within Sky Star City.”

I maintained my smile as I replied:

“Nice to meet you elder brother Luo. I am Jade and I am currently a subordinate under Fang Thirteen for handling affairs.”

I didn’t mention that I was an immigrant from West-Resisting City. In any case, if I didn’t tell him, Luo Chou wouldn’t know about it. If I first inform him of my identity, then no matter what the outcome is, people will accuse me of being partial to people from the same hometown. Therefore, I would be better off not touching this minefield from the beginning.

Luo Chou let out a sigh and said:

“I’ll be troubling sir City Lord and young lady Thirteen. But this matter truly is of great importance. I request brother Jade to uphold justice for me.”

At this moment, the outside of the law court was surrounded by an impenetrable crowd. The crowd consisted of some West-Resisting City immigrants and even more Sky Star City locals. All of them wanted to take a look at how this case would be handled.

I made Luo Chou speak about the course of the incident and he did so without thinking much and very methodically replied:

“It happened yesterday evening at around 8 o’clock. The sky had already darkened and it was soon to be the period of time when night curfew’s enforced. I happened to be walking home when this woman unexpectedly flashed out from a small alleyway and bumped into me. At that time, I regarded this action of hers as walking without looking at the road, so I didn’t think much of it and went on my way. But after walking several steps, I felt like there was something missing, so I felt around and discovered that my money bag had disappeared. I hastily chased after her only to find out that the woman was in the middle of furtively looking around by the entrance of an alley, so I promptly captured her and delivered her to the authorities. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to find my money bag on her after searching her, so I suspect that this woman has an accomplice and handed it over to him. This way, she could feel secure in continuing on pacing back and forth on the crime scene! I request sir to seek justice for me and make sure I get my money back!”

The instant I heard his story, I knew this trivial matter was going to be a thorny problem.

The reason for it being thorny was quite simple; before we even mention all the unjust, fake, and false charges in this world, the reason why there are so many unsolved legal cases all falls onto one core problem: no evidence. For example, imagine this: me and John Doe have a decent relationship and one day John Doe borrows $3 from me without giving me an IOU. Then, he goes to buy 6 bags of spicy sticks to eat by himself and after he finishes eating them, he doesn’t want to return the money. After arguing until the law court, both sides stick to their version of the story. Whoever hears such a case will feel a big migraine coming.

This Luo Chou is like John Doe.

The entire course of events was spoken without a single flaw; I originally had my money bag on me, but after this woman bumped into me, my money bag disappeared. If it wasn’t her who stole it, then who else could it be? Then why doesn’t this woman have my money bag on her person? I speculate that this woman has an accomplice, I ask sir to investigate clearly.

Investigate clearly my ***! Where the hell would I go to investigate clearly.

If you have the ability to catch the thief and re-seize the stolen goods, why don’t you have the ability to go home, wash yourself, and sleep?

But I couldn’t speak to him like this. Nothing I could do about it since all of the people outside the law court were basically all Sky Star City’s people. If I wanted to use this as a reason to refuse Luo Chou, the people outside would create an even noisier commotion and this would all be blamed on me.

I couldn’t do anything if this happened, so I was forced to turn to the woman and ask:

“You came from West-Resisting City, right? What’s your name and why were you on the streets yesterday evening?”

The woman was trembling with fear as she replied:

“My nam’s Song Nai. I-I was on the streets, because my child was hungry……it ain’t me who stealed, I ain’t have a colleague.”

I sighed and asked Luo Chou:

“As the saying goes, catching the thief is the same as re-seizing the stolen goods, what evidence do you have to prove that Song Nai was the one who stole your money?”

Just as I expected, Luo Chou was flustered and exasperatedly stamped his foot as he answered:

“My money bag was still on me before she bumped against me; it disappeared after she bumped into me. If it wasn’t her who stole it, then could it be that my money bag grew some legs and ran away?”

I once again asked Song Nai:

“Then do you have any proof that it wasn’t you who did it?”

Song Nai shook her head with reddened eyes.

I let out a sigh and told Luo Chou:

“How much money was lost?”

Luo Chou pondered for a moment, then returned:

“Five gold coins, ten silver coins, twenty copper coins.”

Song Nai’s complexion turned deathly white upon hearing this.

If she was to be judged guilty of stealing, then she would have to reimburse this sum of money. But she clearly didn’t have so much money.

I continued questioning Luo Chou:

“You’re a merchant?”

He nodded.

I inquired:

“You have your own shop? Or are you one of those travelling merchants that roam with their goods on a cart?”

Luo Chou answered:

“The latter.”

I pretended to doubtfully ask:

“Then that’s quite weird. For you to bring such a sum of money on your person, that means you must have recently sold some goods. During that time, you should’ve been returning home with an empty cart. Why were you hurriedly returning home?”

Luo Chou hesitated for a moment before replying:

“Because I simply hadn’t brought any goods with me to sell. In fact, I wasn’t selling goods that day, but rather going to demand repayment. In the past, I lent a gambler friend some money, so that day I had gone to his place to get back my money.”

I playfully smiled and remarked:

“In that case, what’s the name of that gambler friend?”

Luo Chou lowered his head and pondered for a moment before he reported a name:

“Northern Mountain.”

I told Tila:

“Bring some people, let’s go invite that Northern Mountain person.”

When I looked back at Lou Chou, he still carried a calm and unhurried expression, but his originally overbearing attitude had already flown off to who-knows-where.