"Alright then, come have a look at the quality of the fabric." The shopkeeper led Chen Jian to the side, but Chen Jian turned back first. Before she could speak, Jian Xin beat her to it.
"Go ahead, Mom, I'll be a good girl and stay right here. I promise, promise I won't run around."
"Then you'd better behave yourself and not go anywhere. Otherwise..." Chen Jian put on a fierce expression for Jian Xin, though it wasn't really fierce at all; in fact, it had a playful touch to it. After all, she wasn't very old—only in her mid-twenties—and her skin looked well-kept, with a naturally fine complexion. In Jian Xin's eyes, she seemed even younger than that, and very beautiful too. Yet ever since what happened a few months ago, she felt as though she had changed. Still, Chen Jian didn't dwell on it, figuring she had simply been having a rough time lately, which made her complexion look poor on occasion.
...
"Bring out the prisoner!" A loud voice rang out from outside the shop, instantly livening up the otherwise quiet street as people all around crowded around to watch. Bored inside the shop, Jian Xin walked out to the entrance, used her small stature to wriggle her way to the front, and secured a prime spot. She saw a group of seven constables, short blades hanging at their waists, marching in steady step toward a small stone hut.
The stone hut wasn't very large—at least, from what Jian Xin could see, it was just a tiny structure. What she found quite strange was that outside the stone hut, right over the sole ventilation opening—which served as a window—hung a curtain.
The constables arrived at the stone hut and split into four to disperse the onlookers, which did Jian Xin a huge favor, as she now had a completely unobstructed view of the stone hut. One of the men stepped forward and pulled back the curtain. He seemed utterly terrified by whatever sight met his eyes, stumbling back repeatedly until their leader braced him from behind to keep him from falling flat on his back.
"What's the meaning of making such a fuss?! It's not like you've never smelled shit and piss before," the leader barked.
The guard looked back at the leader in panic. "Sir... the... the prisoner is gone!"
"What?!" The leader yanked the curtain fully aside. From a distance, Jian Xin saw that once the outer curtain of the stone hut was pulled back, the iron bars that should have been there were completely gone. The inner curtain hung wide open, and then the constables left their leader behind while the rest of them sprinted back the way they had come, undoubtedly headed to the yamen to fetch reinforcements. Meanwhile, the leader was fumbling at his waist for a massive ring of keys; the sound of metal clanking echoed for a long time, yet he still couldn't find the key he needed.
"Whoosh—"
From somewhere, a gust of wind swept in and blew into the stone hut, carrying with it a series of echoes mixed with an overwhelming stench. The smell was so thick, so intensely foul, that even Jian Xin, standing some distance away, could catch a whiff of it.
"Xiner, come back." Chen Jian emerged carrying three or four bolts of fabric, and just happened to catch sight of Jian Xin's position drifting closer and closer through a gap in the crowd. She quickly called out, but her voice was swallowed by the surrounding din. Left with no choice, Chen Jian had to push her way forward herself, murmuring apologies as she went.
"Xiner!" Chen Jian scolded with a stern tone, finally reaching Jian Xin's side and quickly grabbing her hand to keep her from wandering off again.
"Mom, why do they lock people up in a place like this?" Ignoring the scolding entirely, Jian Xin pointed at the stone hut and asked.
"Because they did bad things, and locking them up inside is their punishment."
"Then why are there two curtains?" Jian Xin asked, puzzled. "Isn't that a waste?"
Hearing this, Chen Jian was taken aback, or rather, deeply puzzled. Despite being exasperated, she still answered her, "How did you know there were two? It's probably because people like this are despised, reviled, and even pelted with things like stones by outsiders. To keep these bad guys from getting too badly beaten before their punishment, they put a curtain outside to block the wind and flying rocks. The one inside is probably for the same reason—consider it a double layer of protection."
"Look, Mom, there's even a rod inside, and some little rings. These are just like the things we have for the curtains at home!" Jian Xin pointed at the nearby stone hut.
"Mom is getting old, my eyes are blurry, I can't... can't see clearly." Chen Jian craned her neck trying to look in the direction Jian Xin was pointing, but she could only make out the shadow of the rod, completely missing the small rings Jian Xin mentioned.
"Chief Constable Lei!"
"Chief Constable Lei."
"..."
Just as Jian Xin was about to explain, a burly man walked down the street. Although he was followed by a fully armed squad of soldiers, the gaze of every single onlooker was fixed squarely on the burly man as they consciously parted a path for him and greeted him. From this, it was clear that the reputation of this Chief Constable Lei in Wencheng was exceptionally good.
"Chief Constable Lei, what do we do, the prisoner has escaped! The one locked up the night before last—the criminal who wiped out all eighty-seven members of the Yang family—has escaped!" the earlier leader said anxiously. With Chief Constable Lei's arrival, he had found his backbone and was no longer flustered as before. He had finally found the right key, but at this point, he hardly dared to go open the door.
"How on earth were you watching the prisoner? A criminal escapes right under the noses of bailiffs and you didn't even know! What do you people get paid for?!" rebuked one of the soldiers trailing behind Chief Constable Lei, his voice booming and startling everyone present.
"Weren't you the ones who let him go?" Jian Xin thought she was speaking in a quiet voice, unaware that the soldier's shout had left everyone around too afraid to utter a word, causing her childish, piping voice to detonate the crowd like a thunderclap.
"Whose kid is this?"
"What is wrong with this child, how do her parents teach her? How could Chief Constable Lei possibly let him go?!!"
"What is this little girl saying!"
"..."
Before Chen Jian could even process what was happening, the crowd had already erupted into a uproar. She hurriedly pulled Jian Xin tightly against her and clapped a hand over her mouth. "It's nothing, nothing, she's just a child, she doesn't know—"
Yet even as Chen Jian stammered her explanation, Chief Constable Lei on the other side seemed to have noticed the commotion, spotting Jian Xin with her mouth covered by Chen Jian, and began walking straight toward them. No doubt he had heard Jian Xin's remark just moments before. As he stopped right in front of the pair, the surrounding murmurs and pointing abruptly ceased. Everyone held their breath, guessing what this ruthless Chief Constable Lei would do to the little girl who had dared to insult the authorities. Among the soldiers, several eyed the mother and daughter duo at the center with eager anticipation, ready to string them up and bring them to justice at a single word from Chief Constable Lei!