Ning Chen walked over, tore the clothesline down out of the yard, and threw it on the ground in front of the man he had kicked off his feet.

“Go on. Tie every one of their hands for me.”

The man’s face twisted with pain. That kick had been very hard.

“My lord, I—”

Shk!!!

The saber came out of the sheath and went straight to his neck.

“Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you right now?”

The man shook all over with fright, white to the lips, and said in terror, “Mercy, my lord, have mercy…”

Ning Chen held his own rage down with everything he had and patted the man’s cheek with the flat of the blade. “Then do as I told you. Don’t make me say it twice.”

The man nodded and nodded, frightened out of his wits.

Ning Chen took the blade back, and the man went shakily around tying everyone’s hands.

Ning Chen tied the man’s own hands last, then took the end of the rope, and led them out of the yard like a man leading a pack of dogs, and swung up onto his horse.

“Lead the way. Squire Hu’s house.”

Ning Chen rode with the rope in his hand and the whole crowd on the end of it, for the better part of an hour, until they were nearly at the inner city, and then the man he had kicked over pointed at a large compound in the distance and said in a shaking voice:

“My lord, that’s Squire Hu’s house up ahead.”

Ning Chen reined in and tied the rope to his saddle… then dug his heels into the horse’s belly and said, low, “Hyah!”

Diaochan let out a scream and went into a flat gallop.

The whole pack of vicious servants was jerked off their feet and dragged the length of the road.

Diaochan was a warhorse and deserved the name. Seven or eight men on the end of a rope, and she ran flat out without the least trouble.

One shrill scream after another went up, like pigs on the block.

The common people along the road stared at it, appalled.

Behind them the road was left streaked with terrible smears of blood.

At the gate of the Hu house Ning Chen untied the rope.

Seven or eight men lay in the road with one whole side of each of them torn to raw meat, howling in pain.

Ning Chen put the horse at the great vermilion gate.

At the last moment he hauled on the reins, and Diaochan’s forehooves came up and came down hard against the gate.

A crack of splitting wood.

The bar snapped and the gate swung wide.

“Hyah!!!”

Ning Chen rode straight in.

The maids and house servants of the Hu residence saw a man come riding in through the gate and were struck stupid, every one of them.

“Inspectorate business. Everybody stay where you are. Anyone who moves will be killed where he stands!”

Ning Chen roared it out.

Then he drew the saber and leveled it at one of the house servants. “Where are Squire Hu and his son Hu Qiang?”

The servant’s eyes rolled back in his head with fright and he nearly fainted where he stood, and he said, shaking, “The master and the young master are both in the inner courtyard!”

Ning Chen rode straight through into the inner courtyard.

He was racing Hu Qiang for time. Get there soon enough and Chai Dazhuang’s wife might still be untouched.

“Where’s Hu Qiang? Get out here and face me.”

Ning Chen came into the inner courtyard and roared it.

The Hu house servants saw the silver fish-scale coat and their faces filled with terror, and not one of them dared come forward to stop him.

The Inspectorate’s name was black outside its walls. Who would dare?

“Who dares shout the young master’s own name? Are you tired of living?”

A door opened in the east wing, and a young man in fine clothes came stumbling out, stinking of drink.

Ning Chen looked at him. “You’re Hu Qiang?”

“I’m Hu Qiang. Who the hell are you? Shouting the young master’s name to his face?”

Hu Qiang’s eyes were swimming. He couldn’t focus on a man at all.

At the sight of him Ning Chen let out a breath.

Drunk to that state, he shouldn’t have been in any condition to violate Chai Dazhuang’s wife.

He swung down off the horse, went to Hu Qiang in a few quick strides and put a foot into him.

Bang!!!

Hu Qiang gave a thin scream and went over on his back.

Ning Chen went to him, took a handful of his hair, and dragged him along.

There were two great tubs standing in the courtyard, with water lilies growing in them, and fish.

Ning Chen hoisted Hu Qiang up and dropped him straight into one of them.

“Help, help me… hel— glub…”

More than half of Hu Qiang’s drunkenness went out of him on the spot. He thrashed about in the water in a panic, got his head out at last to shout for help, and Ning Chen took him by the back of the neck and pushed him under again.

Ning Chen hauled him up just as he was about to drown.

Hu Qiang coughed until it racked him, like a consumptive, snot and tears running off his face.

But he had got no more than a few breaths of clean air before Ning Chen pushed him under again.

“Stop it, stop it at once—”

A fat, richly dressed man of fifty-odd came running into the courtyard, out of breath, with several house servants behind him.

Ning Chen glanced at him. “Who are you?”

“I am Hu Maode. I greet your lordship!”

“My lord, what crime has my worthless son committed?”

Ning Chen laughed coldly. “Take my advice. Have another one. I’m taking this one’s life.”

Hu Maode’s face changed completely.

“My lord, I am a man of no talent, but I am a scholar of the seventh year of Rende. Silver coat of the Inspectorate or not, you cannot dispense punishment at your own pleasure.”

Rende was the reign name.

When the present emperor took the throne, he changed the reign name to Rende.

By the law of the Great Xuan, any man holding a degree enjoyed certain privileges.

Ning Chen laughed coldly. “A scholar? Then you’ve never heard the saying — when a scholar meets a soldier, no amount of reason gets him anywhere… I’m a coarse fighting man. I don’t understand reason. I only know one thing. When a common man is angered, blood spatters three feet.“

“You want your son alive, hand over Chai Dazhuang’s wife… Otherwise all you can do is stand there and watch him drown.”

Something like panic went across Hu Maode’s eyes.

But he had himself in hand again almost at once, and he bowed. “My lord, there are dozens of servants and maids in this house. This person you speak of — I truly do not know her.”

Ning Chen took in every part of Hu Maode’s reaction.

“You don’t know her? Then this is simple… Once your son has drowned we’ll take our time looking. Only a few dozen people. She won’t be hard to find.”

Hu Maode said, alarmed, “My lord, what is it you want? Name it and I’ll see it done… I beg you, stay your hand. Let my worthless son go.”

Ning Chen made a cold sound and hauled Hu Qiang up out of the water.

Hu Qiang kept bringing water back up out of his mouth, and there was barely any life left in him.

Ning Chen said coldly, “Scholar Hu, you know what I want. Bring me Chai Dazhuang’s wife, or that beast you fathered really is going to end up a drowned ghost.”

Hu Maode’s face darkened as well, and he said heavily:

“My lord, you have broken into my house without cause and crippled my son. If you still will not release him, my only recourse is to lay a complaint before the throne itself.”

“You may be honored as a silver coat of the Inspectorate, but a silver coat has no authority to work a case alone… What you are doing is abuse of office and injury to the innocent. If it goes before His Majesty, my lord won’t come out of it well either, will he?”

“I have no wish to make an enemy of your lordship. Better that my lord release my worthless son, and I will offer up a thousand taels of silver, as a small token of my respect.”

Ning Chen began to laugh, a thin, hissing laugh, and his eyes were full of mockery.

“A scholar, all right. Very fine speaking. And you play the threaten-and-bribe game very smoothly too.”

Ning Chen drew the saber out slowly and laid it against Hu Qiang’s neck. “This man abducted a woman of the common people and raped and plundered. I came upon him at it, and he took up a blade and resisted, meaning to kill a silver coat of the Inspectorate and shut his mouth, whereupon I killed him instead… Scholar Hu. How do you like that reason of mine?”

Hu Maode went white. It was a vicious reason.

If that reason were used, his son would be dead and dead for nothing.

Hu Maode drew a long breath, and then all at once a fawning smile came onto his face. “Let my lord’s anger cool. This person you’re looking for — I’ve just remembered.”

Ning Chen laughed coldly. That is a fast face to change.

“Good that you’ve remembered… Where is she?”

Hu Maode said, “She left this house an hour ago, in a great hurry. Said there was some urgent matter at home.”

(End of Chapter 98)