Chapter Fifty-Six: The Arrival of the Sage from Afar

"Who goes there?!" Xu Wenshan leapt forward like an arrow, already upon the shadowy figure. He reached out to seize the intruder, but the stranger moved with lightning speed, twisting and turning so deftly that Xu Wenshan could not even grasp the edge of a sleeve.

Perhaps the figure in black had grown weary of the scuffle; with a loud shout, he hurled the cloth bundle in his hand at Xu Wenshan, then spun around and vaulted over the courtyard wall in a few swift bounds, vanishing from sight.

Xu Wenshan caught the bundle, shouting, "Thief, halt!" But naturally, the thief was long gone.

Xu Jing hurried over from behind. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Xu Wenshan dusted off his clothes. "I'm fine, just regret I couldn't catch that petty thief."

He handed the bundle to Xu Jing, who opened it to find several strings of coins. Clearly, the thief had meant to steal money, but was intercepted by Xu Wenshan. Xu Jing gave him a slight bow in gratitude.

Then a servant approached. "Young master, please come to the back courtyard at once..."

Xu Jing asked, "What is it?"

The servant replied, "I don't quite understand myself, but please come and see..."

Xu Wenshan, showing no restraint, followed them to the rear courtyard. Xu Jing glanced at him but said nothing. Once there, they discovered several large characters scrawled on the courtyard wall in charcoal.

"The Gentleman Thief, Chu Liuxiang?"

Xu Jing murmured the words, puzzled by their meaning.

The servants searched the grounds but found nothing else amiss. The stolen coins had been recovered, and nothing further was missing. After much discussion, everyone concluded this "Gentleman Thief Chu Liuxiang" was nothing more than a petty criminal. Xu Wenshan took the opportunity to bid Xu Jing farewell, citing poor timing and promising to visit again another day.

As he left the magistrate's residence, Xu Wenshan pulled aside his outer robe, revealing black garments beneath.

Zhu'er was already waiting, crouched atop a distant rooftop.

"How many carts did you manage to get out?"

"Five."

"That’s enough," Xu Wenshan said.

From the rooftop, they could see the entire county town. One by one, the households they had visited lit up, servants scurrying through courtyards, people running about and shouting like headless chickens. The city was suddenly alive with chaos.

Xu Wenshan stood on the rooftop, a strange sense of unreality washing over him.

He had left Luhe Valley with a single goal: to make money, and a great deal of it.

Yet now, he was stealing it.

He had never wanted to be a thief, but today's events had struck him hard.

If he could earn a living honestly, would he ever need to steal?

With his abilities, he could have acquired a fortune at any time, yet he had chosen to dutifully haul an ox cart to the market to sell his wares.

Not out of honesty, but out of kindness.

But after being bailed out of jail and meeting Xu Jing, he realized he was not kind—just a fool.

Feijian Manor, relying on its numbers, monopolized the market and beat people in broad daylight, all with a sense of entitlement.

The county office confiscated goods at will; the magistrate saw nothing wrong.

Xu Jing pulled strings to secure his release, thinking it only natural.

Here, everyone believed it perfectly proper to wield their power for whatever ends they could achieve.

If he were just an ordinary man, he would hate the bullies and long for a just official to uphold the law.

But Xu Wenshan was, at heart, a man from the modern world. His mind worked differently from the people here.

If the law were strict, would Feijian Manor dare act so brazenly?

If the statutes were clear, would the magistrate dare seize his property?

If there were oversight, would a scion like Xu Jing dare use connections?

But there were no ifs—this world was as it was.

A world where the strong preyed on the weak, and any commoner who tried to resist would be branded a rebel.

The starving were expected to die quietly, or at best, imitate the futile struggle of a mantis before the chariot.

A commoner was just that; whatever the lords deigned to give, he must accept. If he could not bear it, he could only pray for a better master in future.

Thunder and rain, blessings and punishment, all were considered the favor of the ruler.

But Xu Wenshan was no mantis.

He was a beast of prey.

If everyone else found it natural to use their power for their own benefit, then he too would act with the same entitlement.

Standing atop the roof, beneath the bright moon above and the chaos of lantern-lit crowds below, Xu Wenshan felt his confusion finally melt away.

"Let’s go," he said.

He and Zhu'er slipped away through the night, as birds vanish into the forest.

...

The next day, the entire county of Shaxian was abuzz: a Gentleman Thief had turned the town upside down!

Gentleman Thief! Gentleman Thief! Gentleman Thief!

Everyone talked of nothing else; the name was on every tongue. Whoever had the latest news about the Gentleman Thief became the center of attention.

Some said the magistrate had offended the Gentleman Thief, who in revenge emptied the county office, leaving nothing behind.

Others claimed he was a heroic outlaw who robbed the rich to aid the poor, and that some destitute widow or orphan had received his help and become rich overnight.

Still others insisted he was a master thief from the capital, testing his skills in Shaxian as a warning to local bandits.

Rumors abounded, but no one could prove the county office had truly been stripped bare, no one had seen evidence of the thief’s generosity, and no one knew of any local gang with the Gentleman Thief among them.

But nothing could dampen the people’s fervor—they spoke of little else, their conversations lively with speculation.

The poor were untroubled, certain the Gentleman Thief would never bother with their homes, for they had nothing worth stealing.

Those with any savings, however, lived in constant anxiety, rushing home to have their wives hide their money in ever more ingenious places.

No one was more vexed than the county magistrate himself.

In the chaos caused by this Gentleman Thief, he had lost everything he owned.

Ten years in office, all his savings—gone in an instant. When he saw his emptied cellar, he collapsed to the ground and had to be revived by a servant with a dousing of water.

He was so distraught he could barely eat his bird’s nest soup.

He issued a dire order to the county constable: the culprit must be found within ten days. But the constable was at a total loss.

A man had, in a single night, emptied the accumulated wealth of over a dozen households, and no one had noticed a thing.

How had he spirited so much treasure over the walls? Where could he possibly have hidden it all?

Someone eventually suggested posting a reward for any information leading to the Gentleman Thief. The magistrate agreed, and a notice was issued that very night: anyone with a clue could claim a rich reward at the county office.

A flood of people arrived—peasants and gossips who knew only idle rumors. In his frustration, the magistrate ordered them all beaten and driven out, after which things calmed somewhat.

That very day, another visitor arrived at the county office.

"Who is it this time?" the magistrate asked the attendant.

"Reporting to your honor, it’s a wandering priest in blue robes and a gray cap."