Free Web NovelChapter 420: Chapter 163: Egging On
Mrs. Zhao’s health had never been very good, and this time, perhaps because her heart was heavy with worry, her illness lingered even longer.
She was sick from the middle of August and didn’t fully recover until the beginning of September.
By then, the harvest had already begun for some of the earlier crops.
The group barely managed to set out on the tenth of September.
As they left the county seat, they happened upon Wo Laicai being paraded through the streets, on his way to be beheaded at the Vegetable Market.
After some interrogation regarding the bones found in his latrine pit, Wo Laicai confessed. The skeleton belonged to an old beggar.
While scavenging, the old beggar had found a ceramic jar full of copper coins by the river.
Nervously clutching the jar, the old beggar headed for the county seat, where he ran into Wo Laicai at the gate.
Wo Laicai noticed how much the old beggar treasured the jar and guessed it must contain something valuable. He deliberately knocked the man over and, under the pretext of making amends, invited him back to his home to rest.
That night, he got the beggar drunk and stole the jar.
He’d assumed it would be full of gold, or at the very least silver and jewels, but it turned out to be nothing more than a jar of copper coins.
All the copper coins together weren’t even worth five taels of silver.
Humiliated and enraged, Wo Laicai left the old beggar in his room and ignored him.
Snow began to fall unexpectedly in the middle of the night. The door and window of the room had been left wide open, and by morning, the old beggar was found frozen to death.
It was Wo Laicai’s first time committing such an evil act. He was in a panic, but he disposed of the body methodically.
He deceived his family, claiming the old beggar had left before dawn. Then, he tricked his wife and children by telling them the beggar must have been carrying some sort of filth, as his own heart was now racing, he felt dizzy, and was terribly unwell. He begged them to go to the temple to ask for a consecrated peace charm for him.
His wife and children saw no reason to refuse. While they were away, Wo Laicai seized the opportunity to dig a pit and bury the old beggar, putting the matter to rest.
Later, during a renovation of his residence, Wo Laicai waited for the dead of night, dug up the skeleton, and threw it into the latrine pit.
He thought the matter would pass without a trace and that no one would ever find out. He never expected, however, that the old beggar’s death would open the floodgates of wickedness within him. He grew arrogant and cold-hearted, and later, lusting after a rich merchant’s money, he killed again, starting him down a path from which there was no return.
Once the case was closed, the crimes were deemed so heinous that anything less than death would be insufficient to quell the public’s outrage. Wo Laicai was sentenced to be executed after the autumn harvest.
The execution was to take place at the Vegetable Market. The Lord Prefect and Mr. Cheng, the County Magistrate, intended to use the event to make an example and stamp out the wicked trends in Qingshui County. After all, the remote, impoverished county had recently been plagued by far too many vicious crimes.
From Wo Laicai to Chen Wanyue, and then to the official’s son and the peddler—none of them were good people.
And these were only the ones who had been caught. Who knew how many other monstrous criminals were still hiding among the people.
Perhaps if these people saw with their own eyes how a head is lopped off a neck, it would instill in them some reverence and fear, convincing them to wash their hands of their wicked ways and never dare cause trouble again.
The streets were swarming with people darting back and forth. They surrounded the prison cart, shouting, "That’s Wo Laicai! Black-hearted Wo Laicai! He’s far more despicable than Mr. Shi!"
"The two families were neighbors, and neither was any good. The feng shui in that area must be terrible. Anyone thinking of moving there had better hire a master to perform a ritual and drive out all the filth."
"Despicable! In their eyes, a human life is as worthless as a blade of grass. Now they’re about to lose their own heads—so satisfying!"
Countless stones, rotten eggs, and spoiled vegetables were hurled at the prison cart.
Inside the prison cart, Wo Laicai was bloodied and battered, a wretched sight. Yet his narrow eyes held not a trace of fear or remorse. Instead, they shone with a malevolent glare, frightening many young children to tears.
"Hah! Wo Laicai is unrepentant, even at death’s door! Brothers, let’s show him what’s what!"
"I’ll kill you, you beast! You’re worse than an animal!"
Wherever the prison cart passed, the road became impassable, blocked by the dense crowd.
Zhao Jing and his party could only instruct the dart master to pull their carriage back into an alley and make way.
The dart master was a bold man, and he was thoroughly engrossed in the spectacle. As he backed the carriage into the alley, he said, "Wo Laicai used to be a big shot here in Qingshui County. In this whole county, aside from the Wang Family, which has produced several accomplished scholars, his family was the most powerful. Both of his brothers are Scholars. And while he himself wasn’t as capable, he still had a couple years of schooling. Back in the day, he certainly threw his weight around town, banking on his brothers’ prestige."
And now, he was just another condemned prisoner on his way to the chopping block.
Ah, the vicissitudes of life. Truly, the wheel of fortune is always turning.
The dart masters chattered on in high spirits, but inside the carriage, Mrs. Zhao gripped Chen Wanqing’s hand.
