Chapter 108: Dragons and Tigers Gather in the Capital (4)

The authority of the neighborhood head was manifested in this bamboo whistle.

According to the civil convention that "thieves must be apprehended on sight," if a resident failed to emerge to help catch a thief after the head blew his whistle, they would be subject to a flogging by the authorities. Even the wealthy families on the main streets of the Imperial City were required to send their servants to assist. For these powerful households, adhering to local customs and conventions was far more significant than following the laws of the Great Song.

The crowd grew, and Iron Lion let out a long sigh before dropping the solid copper staff in his hand. He was not afraid of these people; he had experienced situations far more dangerous and crowded than this. Such a scene simply did not register in his mind. Had these people been Western Xia or Liao soldiers, he would have been confident enough to carve a bloody path out with his staff. Unfortunately, this was the Eastern Capital of the Great Song. Thinking of his family far away in Chang'an, there was nothing he could do, even though he possessed the martial strength to defeat them all.

"Don't drop the staff!" Tie Xinyuan shouted instinctively.

Everyone glared at him, but upon realizing the voice belonged to a child, they cursed and charged toward Iron Lion, who had closed his eyes and was looking up at the sky.

The justice Iron Lion sought did not arrive. A thick club struck his neck, causing him to stagger. Immediately, four or five burly men lunged at him, grabbing his shoulders, pinning his legs, and binding his arms with ropes. Once Iron Lion was thoroughly trussed, his nightmare truly began. The essence of the "thieves must be apprehended on sight" rule lay in the "apprehended" part—which was synonymous with a beating.

Seeing the cruel smiles on the faces of the men as they began to assault Iron Lion, Tie Xinyuan turned his head away. He did not like watching such a hero be humiliated. A false accusation had been established; even if Iron Lion had eighty mouths, he would not be able to explain it away. As far as Tie Xinyuan knew, the neighborhood head’s testimony was enough to get Iron Lion’s head on the chopping block.

Tie Xinyuan had witnessed Bao Zheng’s skill in adjudicating cases. The only reason he was known as the "Blue Sky" (an incorruptible judge) was that when he tried criminals, he looked only at which clause of the Great Song law they had violated, never at who the criminal was. In his eyes, a prince committing a crime was no different from a commoner. Although there was a saying in the Great Song that "punishments do not extend to high officials," that rule essentially did not apply to Bao Zheng. When you have an official who would use heavy cangues to shackle his own nephew and make him kneel at the yamen gate for three full days, could you expect him to show favoritism to anyone else?

If it were a genuine case, falling into Bao Zheng’s hands would undoubtedly lead to a verdict as clear as a polished mirror. But for a frame-up with such "conclusive" evidence as this, Iron Lion could only hope that the judge would be a corrupt official; only then might he have a three-in-ten chance of survival.

The crowd beat Iron Lion with great enthusiasm, almost everyone rushing up to land a few kicks to feel satisfied. In their daily lives, they would have shrunk like quails if they had encountered such a giant of a man, but today, quails could openly beat a lion—who would let such an opportunity pass?

"Argh..."

When a man kicked and broke the bridge of Iron Lion’s nose, the intense pain finally caused the hero to erupt. With a roar, he snapped the hemp rope binding him. He raised a fist and struck the man who had just kicked him, causing the man to scream as his teeth, mixed with a spray of blood, flew from his mouth.

With his face covered in blood, Iron Lion took a step forward, grabbed another man by the leg, and lifted him upside down, his arms tensing as if he intended to tear the man in half.

"What are you doing? Do you want to kill someone after already committing a crime?" The frail Liu Shifeng stood fearlessly at the front, pointing at Iron Lion and shouting loudly.

The man, his legs stretched wide and his trousers torn, was so terrified that he lost control of his bowels, pleading repeatedly for "Uncle Liu" to save him. Iron Lion looked at Liu Shifeng coldly and said earnestly, "I truly did not kill anyone."

Liu Shifeng gritted his teeth. "I saw you break that man’s neck with my own eyes. How can you say you didn't kill him?"

Iron Lion shook his head. "He was already on the ground when I arrived. I was only trying to lift him up to ask where my belongings had gone. I did not break his neck."

Liu Shifeng sneered, "My eyes are not yet dim. Whether you killed someone or not is for the authorities to decide. Even for the sake of your parents, wife, and children, you should not have resisted. If you truly didn't kill anyone, then resisting is even more inexcusable."

Iron Lion looked around, and wherever his gaze fell, the crowd retreated. He dropped the man he had been holding, returned to the spot where he had been beaten, sat cross-legged, and gestured to Liu Shifeng. "Go report this to the officials!" He then closed his blood-stained eyelids, ignoring the blood gushing from his nose, and hung his head in resignation.

The man who had lost his teeth stood in the distance, cursing with a distorted mouth, but he dared not approach, only goading others to do so.

Tie Xinyuan climbed down from Old Man Chen’s back, found a clean piece of linen, and slipped through the sparse crowd. He handed the cloth to Iron Lion. "Plug your nose."

Iron Lion looked up at Tie Xinyuan, took the cloth, tore it into two pieces, rolled them up, and stuffed them into his nostrils. He thanked Tie Xinyuan in a muffled voice, then hung his head again, silent.

"That person… perhaps… I was the one who killed him."

Iron Lion looked up at Tie Xinyuan, but remained immersed in his own world.

Liu Shifeng grabbed Tie Xinyuan. "Little Yuan, you are at an age where you admire heroes, and we don't blame you for that. But this martial arts candidate is a murderer; don't get too close to him, and don't say silly things like you killed someone. Can you even kill a chicken?"

It was fortunate that Tie Xinyuan had the reputation of a child prodigy; had it been any other child, Liu Shifeng would have kicked him aside long ago.

"Where is the body? You just said this candidate broke his neck. If we look at how the man died, wouldn't it be clear?"

Hearing this, Iron Lion lifted his head to look at the suspicious Liu Shifeng. Seeing that Liu Shifeng seemed unwilling to go, he stood up, shoved the two men blocking his path aside, and walked into the small alley.

Liu Shifeng and Tie Xinyuan followed with a large crowd behind them, Liu Shifeng ordering his men to hurry to the other end of the alley to block any escape.

The alley was empty. Only Iron Lion’s tall figure stood in the middle. There was no corpse on the ground; not even a dead chicken could be seen.

"He was right here just a moment ago!" Liu Shifeng and Iron Lion exclaimed in unison.

Tie Xinyuan watched coldly as they held their lanterns and scurried about like ants on a hot pan. He sighed inwardly. The thief had risked stealing the precious items from Iron Lion specifically to lure him here. Otherwise, in the bustling streets of the Eastern Capital, how could an outsider like Iron Lion have accurately tracked down the thief?

Tie Xinyuan was, in fact, a thief himself. If it were up to him, he would never steal from someone as dangerous as Iron Lion. Money was precious, but it wasn't worth more than his own life. Clearly, if the thief hadn't spotted a cute, plump child like Tie Xinyuan and had a fleeting thought of kidnapping him, Iron Lion would have surely been trapped in a conspiracy.

Thinking of this, the guilt Tie Xinyuan had felt toward Iron Lion vanished, replaced by a sense of clarity.

"Someone is trying to frame you!" Just as Iron Lion and Liu Shifeng were at a loss, Tie Xinyuan spoke up. Seeing Liu Shifeng’s embarrassed expression, he added, "Uncle Liu is lucky; he didn't fall into someone else's trap. That is truly worth celebrating."

Iron Lion was startled. He bowed to Tie Xinyuan and then looked at Liu Shifeng. "What do you make of this?"

Without a body, there was no murder case. Without blood on the ground, there was no evidence of a crime. The authorities would not convict someone of murder just because one person accused another—not without a victim and a corpse.

"This matter is strange. You are here for the martial arts examination; you shouldn't get entangled in more trouble. I wish to let the matter rest. What do you think?"

Iron Lion nodded. "It was merely a misunderstanding. I shall take my leave now."

Seeing Iron Lion’s decisiveness, Tie Xinyuan held him in even higher regard. This man was no reckless brute; Yang Huaiyu finally had a worthy opponent.

Liu Shifeng felt quite defeated. He turned to mediate with the injured men, hoping to smooth over the night's unpleasantness with a small amount of money. He had decided to stop pursuing Iron Lion because he sensed danger. He was certain he had seen Iron Lion kill someone, and at the moment he shouted, Iron Lion had indeed shown signs of wanting to flee. He just hadn't seen clearly in the dim light who the dead man was. If he had known the identity of the deceased, he could have distanced himself from the matter completely. There were many people in the Eastern Capital, and not all of them lived to old age... so, it was better to avoid trouble.

Iron Lion squatted down to look at Tie Xinyuan at eye level. "I owe you two favors. If we meet again, you may bring this short blade to me to claim them."

Tie Xinyuan didn't see how the short blade had appeared in Iron Lion's hand. He accepted it without hesitation, tucked it into his robe, and then pressed a small cloth bundle into Iron Lion’s hand. "Now you owe me three favors."

The bead was Iron Lion’s most cherished possession, one that never left his side. As soon as his hand touched the bundle, he knew it contained his bead.

Tie Xinyuan smiled. "As I said before, I was the one who killed that man, but no one believed me."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? That fellow wanted to kidnap me. If I didn't kill him, who would I kill?"

Iron Lion suddenly burst into loud laughter. He patted Tie Xinyuan’s shoulder, picked up his copper staff, and laughed, "You are right. I owe you three favors. However, on the field of the martial arts examination, don't expect me to let you use these three favors against me."

Tie Xinyuan also laughed. "You be careful, too. I won't go easy on you."

Iron Lion wiped the blood from his face, making himself look even more ferocious, and smiled. "Use whatever methods you have. I'll take them all."

Tie Xinyuan was about to offer a polite remark when his ear suddenly throbbed with pain, and he heard his mother’s angry voice.

"I’ve been worried sick at home, and you, you little brat, are here watching the commotion! See if I don't peel a layer of skin off you when we get back!"

She dragged Tie Xinyuan away. Iron Lion watched the scene, and it made him laugh even more heartily.