Chapter 689: But I Am a Demon

Hu Li, a fox demon with limited cultivation, didn't deeply understand human nature. While the current situation angered him, his discomfort stemmed more from the public exposure of his theft and the resultant pointing fingers from those around him.

Hu Li's sense of shame wasn't profound. Given his cultivation and experience, although he knew that stealing was wrong in human eyes, he hadn't yet developed a strong empathy for the human concept of honor and disgrace regarding theft. Nevertheless, the stares and whispers from the shopkeeper and onlookers were enough to make him anxious.

So, when he heard Ji Yuan say to put the medicine away and leave, Hu Li felt as if he had been granted a great pardon.

"Yes, I'll put them away right now!"

Hu Li quickly shook open his sack and continuously swept the herbs from the counter into it.

The nearby shopkeeper heard Ji Yuan's words and saw Hu Li tidying up the herbs, so he immediately reached out and grabbed Hu Li's arm.

"What? You've been caught red-handed and still want to leave? Tell me quickly, where did these herbs come from?"

"Let go! Let go!"

Hu Li struggled to pull his arm free, but the shopkeeper held on tight. Instantly, Hu Li snarled at him, baring his teeth with a ferocious expression. "Hiss..."

This instant display of ferocity startled the shopkeeper. He had never seen such an expression on a human face and instinctively let go.

"What, you rogue, are you planning to assault me?"

"Yes, are you trying to fight?" "Indeed, just a common petty thief!"

The shop assistants gathered around the shopkeeper. With many people stopping to watch outside, the shopkeeper suddenly felt emboldened. He signaled to those nearby, and two assistants immediately blocked the doorway. Outside, several acquaintances also helped guard the entrance.

Hu Li had already packed the herbs and held the sack in his hand. But when he turned and saw that he seemed to be surrounded, he instinctively looked at Ji Yuan. Before Ji Yuan could speak, the shopkeeper had already stepped forward to block the entrance.

"You're not allowed to leave. If you don't explain where these herbs came from, you'll come with me to the authorities!"

"I've already said, I collected them myself from the deep mountains, and they haven't even been dried yet. They weren't stolen!"

Ji Yuan observed the shopkeeper from the side, knowing full well that the man had ulterior motives and was merely turning hostile for personal gain. Such individuals were unlikely to act courageously for the sake of justice.

Indeed, the shopkeeper then said:

"The veteran herb gatherers who supply my Qicaotang pharmacy have long complained that someone has been stealing herbs from their yard before they could be dried. The thieves are cunning and have never been caught. But I see that the herbs you brought today are precisely those belonging to my Qicaotang's master gatherers!"

"And you, sir, judging by your refined appearance, if you were merely misled by this thief, then perhaps it's forgivable. But if you are an accomplice, then when you face the authorities, your reputation as a scholar might not fare so well, would it?"

Ji Yuan found it somewhat amusing. He glanced at the slightly nervous Hu Li, then looked around at the crowd, and finally smiled at the shopkeeper.

"If this were a normal transaction, what would these herbs be worth?"

"You, why are you asking that?"

"Five aged ginseng roots, plus lingzhi, polygonum multiflorum, and Solomon's Seal, are they worth three strings of cash?"

With so many people present, the shopkeeper naturally couldn't make up a random price; he could only state a relatively normal amount.

"The aged ginseng in this bag is indeed full-aged. If it were a normal transaction, ten taels of silver would not be an exaggeration. However, stolen goods are another matter."

Ji Yuan smiled and nodded towards the crowd outside the door. A remarkably robust man with a flushed face began to push his way in from outside, effortlessly parting the onlookers.

"Who's that?" "You..."

"Watch it!"

Some wanted to curse, but seeing the man's appearance, they dared not speak their anger. Jin Jia, for his part, paid no heed to the bystanders' words. He swept aside several pharmacy assistants as if shooing away children, entered the pharmacy, and bowed to Ji Yuan, though he did not utter any respectful titles.

Jin Jia's entrance instantly seemed to dampen the spirits of the pharmacy staff, making them apprehensive. Indeed, Jin Jia's physique and demeanor clearly showed he was not to be trifled with.

"You, what do you think you're doing? I'll call the authorities! Hey, hey, hey, oh dear..."

The shopkeeper was directly grabbed by his collar and lifted by Jin Jia, his feet kicking wildly in the air, while he continuously gasped in alarm. However, those around merely retreated to maintain a safe distance, and even the shop assistants dared not approach.

"Naturally, we're going to see the authorities. Soon, the magistrate can summon your pharmacy's master gatherer for a confrontation. My red-faced attendant here is impatient and has a bad temper; he particularly dislikes being wronged. But to avoid giving anyone cause for criticism, he naturally won't lay a hand on you here. We'll discuss it after the magistrate judges right from wrong!"

"You all may also come along."

Ji Yuan said this to the people around him and walked directly out of the shop. Hu Li, carrying the sack, and Jin Jia, holding the shopkeeper, followed behind. No one dared to block their path.

"No, please, kind sir, mercy! Kind sir, have mercy! Sir... I'll pay, I'll pay! I'll give whatever you want! You lot, stop them, stop them now!"

"Stop them?" The onlookers certainly wouldn't invite trouble. And the shop assistants didn't even dare to make eye contact with Jin Jia, feeling that one punch from the massive man could probably crack open a skull.

"Kind sir, kind sir, I shouldn't have been so foolish, I shouldn't have slandered you. It was all my momentary greed, my fault, kind sir. I'll give twenty taels, twenty taels..."

As soon as they reached the street, the shopkeeper, overcome with intense fear, repeatedly apologized. As a result, the street became even livelier, with everyone following them to the yamen.

All along the way, Hu Li laughed loudly, constantly taunting the terrified shopkeeper held by Jin Jia.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom...."

The sound of the drum echoed outside the yamen...

"Court is in session!"

The magistrate sat high on his bench, flanked by yamen runners. The interrogation was swift yet brutal. The observant prefect, noting Ji Yuan and Jin Jia's extraordinary bearing and apparent influence, and coupled with the confrontation involving the so-called master herb gatherer, quickly uncovered the truth.

A command of "Fifty heavy blows with the rod!" was shouted by the magistrate, and immediately, yamen runners began to inflict severe punishment upon the shopkeeper.

"Thwack..." "Thwack..." "Thwack..." "Thwack..."

"Ah... ugh... ah... Mercy! Ah... ugh... ho... ah..."

As the rods struck, the screams were so harrowing that even Hu Li felt chills. The shopkeeper's throat went hoarse from shouting, and he was in such pain he nearly fainted. The onlookers outside the court were also completely silent.

"Hu Li, what do you think?"

Hu Li swallowed hard and whispered.

"Sir, isn't this too much? He can't even endure twenty blows; if they give him fifty, will he die?"

"This magistrate doesn't know how to judge severity. Fifty blows will likely cost him his life."

"Ah? This, Sir, what can we do?"

Seeing Hu Li's agitation, Ji Yuan turned to him and asked with a smile.

"He tried to swindle you out of your herbs earlier, and you're worried about him now?"

"This, this isn't the same! It's not the same! Of course, I'm angry that he wronged me and tried to cheat me out of my herbs, but beating him to death is too much! Besides, he's a doctor! Sir, please make them stop. Twenty-something blows have already cost him half his life; that's enough, that's enough, the force is enough..."

"Hahahahaha..."

Ji Yuan chuckled softly, and Hu Li felt his surroundings suddenly become hazy, indistinct like clouds and mist, causing a dizzying sensation.

But the next moment, as if a bubble of sleepiness had burst, Hu Li abruptly cleared his head. There was no court or yamen runners anywhere; he was clearly still in the pharmacy, gathering herbs on the counter.

It was at this moment that the shopkeeper's hand just happened to grasp Hu Li's arm. Hu Li looked at the shopkeeper, only to find that the man's eyes had glazed over for a moment before he regained his composure, his face then showing a faint, startled fear.

"What, shopkeeper, are you not letting us leave?"

Ji Yuan's voice came from the side, startling both Hu Li and the shopkeeper back to their senses.

The shopkeeper immediately withdrew his hand, nervously glancing around, touching his face, then his backside and back, breathing slightly, his expression one of palpable relief.

"No, nothing of the sort. Just now, I was impolite. These herbs, are you two still selling them? I'll offer ten, no, I'll offer twenty taels!"

Hu Li's eyes widened, and he turned to look at Ji Yuan, who smiled.

"The herbs are yours; whether to sell them or not is naturally up to you. Why look at me?"

"Sell! Then don't go back on your word; you said twenty taels yourself!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I won't go back on my word, I won't go back on my word!"

The shopkeeper quickly returned to the counter to get the silver. Along the way, he saw his wide-eyed assistants inside the shop and the onlookers outside, and immediately shouted at them.

"Go, go, get to work!"

"And everyone, it was a misunderstanding just now, a misunderstanding! I mistook someone and wronged a good person. It's all a misunderstanding, disperse, everyone, disperse!"

After repeatedly urging people to leave, the shopkeeper then scooped up the silver, roughly weighed it, and then carried it out from behind the counter to hand to Hu Li.

"Twenty taels of silver, please accept it with a smile. My apologies for my rudeness and disrespect earlier; I beg your understanding, I truly beg your understanding!"

Hu Li numbly accepted the silver. Seeing the shopkeeper repeatedly bowing and sincerely apologizing with trepidation, his anger subsided. After returning the bow while holding the silver, he then left the pharmacy with Ji Yuan.

The shopkeeper stood at the doorway, still bowing repeatedly to the two, and then, amidst his palpitations, he saw a tall, burly, red-skinned giant following the two as they departed...

After the three of them had walked a distance, the surrounding sights faded. Hu Li, having received the silver, was extremely happy. He put some of the money into a prepared pouch and kept playing with a silver ingot in his hand, as gleeful as a child.

"Sir, I have money now, twenty taels! That's a lot, isn't it? By the way, Sir, did that shopkeeper just now also see the yamen and the flogging?"

Ji Yuan did not answer directly. Instead, he looked at Hu Li, then at Jin Jia, and finally at the small paper crane standing on Jin Jia's head.

"The money you received is certainly substantial, but discerning right from wrong is more important than money itself. What the shopkeeper demonstrated was human nature, and what you demonstrated was also human nature. Who is good and who is evil? Who is right and who is wrong?"

"But I'm a demon?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Ji Yuan burst into laughter and said nothing more, quickening his pace forward. Hu Li hastily chased after him.

"Hey, hey, Sir, I was right, wasn't I? I was right? He couldn't possibly be right, could he?"