Kapitel 17: To Suffer More of the Angry Wrath of the Fourth Miss

Yujia glared at the three men in the alley. Sunlight from above was caught among the shadows of the walls boxing them in, but a few strands of the light escaped and glinted off her eyes which were shining with fury.

No wonder the thief worked so fast! He must've had accomplices, with one of them distracting her by snatching her coins while the other grabbed at the package in her other hand. As for the third person… she expected him to be some sort of mastermind of the plan who arranged for them to all meet here once the goods were stolen.

She looked at the three, noticing that the one she held by the collar of his clothes looked the most rugged, while the one standing in the very back of the alley and mostly concealed by the shadows appeared to be dressed in simple dark clothes.

The remaining person, a man— or boy, judging by the fact that he didn't look too much older than everyone around— was the person she currently faced. Lavishly dressed in comparison to the rest of them, the boy wore light colored robes, and a wine red cape lined with fur draped over his shoulders to keep him warm from the early spring weather. His ears were pierced, a small bit of gold embedded into each one. The thread that lined the edges of his robes were also gold, glowing in the sunlight.

Ah. With his extravagant appearance, he must have been the one that was in charge of everything.

With her glare turning to focus on him, she declared, "I didn't know that the thief had accomplices."

He looked at her, his lips parting a bit in disbelief, as if he couldn't understand what she just said. A moment later, the disbelief quickly vanished, quickly replaced by a charming smile he directed towards her.

"Miss, I think you've confused people like him," he gestured to the thief behind her, "with me. You see here, I am not the thief's accomplice. In fact, I was the one who captured him. He was the one who stole these things— oh, are these yours?— and I merely confronted him about it. Just now, I was ready to turn him into the officials as well."

The thief's jaw dropped as he stared at the other in disbelief. A few seconds ago, he was going on about doing good deeds by letting the thief go, but now that a pretty girl turned up, the attitude of this man seemed to change completely!

Yujia, meanwhile, cast the seemingly rich boy a judgemental look. She was still very suspicious, despite the things he said and the charm he attempted to use on her. "Alright, then. Let's go turn him into the officials if you claim that this was what you were doing."

Upon hearing this, Yushang nodded. Might as well go along with her and turn him in—

— wait.

All of a sudden, Yushang realized that if he went along with her to court, surely he would have to reveal his true identity. If his father heard about what he was doing instead of the work he was given, then that would definitely lead to some consequences.

Yushang winced at the thought, which Yujia took perfect notice of when he did. Her eyes widened and she pointed at him. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, "You're not willing to go because you're one of the thief's accomplices! If you were to turn him in, then you would get in just as much trouble."

What was this girl saying? Yushang couldn't comprehend how she jumped to such a conclusion so fast, but he supposed that she could misunderstand it as that way. With a scowl, he turned to Si Shen and commanded, "Si Shen, go ahead and be my witness. I confronted the thief, didn't I?'

The man in the shadows— or Si Shen— stepped forward, replying quietly. "Yes."

Yujia sighed, still unconvinced after hearing that. "It doesn't work like that. Clearly, he is personally involved with you. How can he be the witness, then, if his statements could be, and definitely are, biased?"

Si Shen looked a bit confused. The rich boy, on the other hand, continued to scowl, pointing to himself. "Do you even know who I am? How dare you doubt my words?"

"No, I don't know who you are." With a scoff, Yujia gives him an exasperated look. "What, are you the Emperor or something? Why do I have to believe in every word you say? It's not like gold spills out of your mouth when you speak or something."

While she ranted, multiple thoughts spun around in Yushang's mind. The Emperor? He wasn't exactly the Emperor, but he supposed that he could be considered as something close enough to one. All his life, people were always speaking with a respectful manner to him, no matter what he was doing. Even if at the moment, he was not in the palace where he held superior power, it was still rare to meet a girl with such a disrespectful attitude as her!

This girl better wait until he gets back to the palace. He would use his power as the cr—

Yushang's thoughts were interrupted when the girl stepped closer. Out of pure reflexes, he took a step back.

"So, I've never met someone who was as shameless as you." Yujia fumed at him angrily. She took another step closer, and he took another step back.

She stepped forward again. "How often is it that you catch someone red-handed yet they still have the face to tell you they're completely innocent?" He took another step back.

Once more, she moved closer. "Shouldn't even thieves have a sort of moral conduct? Right now, you're just stealing from girls like me in the marketplace, but next, who are you going to be stealing from? Families struck with poverty? Women gone homeless when their husbands are dead? Will you stoop so low that you'll even steal a stray dog's hard-earned meal? Where is your sense of remorse and guilt?"

While she moved closer, Yushang was forced to take numerous steps back until he was right next to Si Shen, who seemed as baffled as he was. How did the girl have so much bravery to speak to him in such a tone? If she knew who he was, she would surely not act this way. And although Si Shen was supposed to be his personal bodyguard and was never shaken up by the most violent of things, at this moment, standing next to him, Yushang notices an awe-struck look on his face.

Was his personal bodyguard so amazed by this girl's words that he didn't even bother to try defending his master, the person he was supposed to protect, at all?

As Yushang continued to hold anger towards his bodyguard, Si Shen was quietly admiring the fact that this girl had such a strong skill of making his master wordless. He always figured that since his young master grew up surrounded by luxury and flattery, his ego was a little too inflated, so it was a good idea that he received such a scolding from this girl.

Si Shen's eyes met with the girl, and she turned her glare onto him. Not wanting her to transfer her anger onto him, he looked at her and gestured to Yushang, who was next to him, then giving the girl an encouraging nod. He hoped that his silent message transferred over— 'I'm not involved, but keep going with berating that man over there. He deserved it.'

Although the girl seemed to understand his thoughts, she still kept her eyes on Si Shen. "Don't think that you can get out of this easily too just because rich kid over here irritates me. Since you three are all equally involved," she casted Si Shen another glare, roughly grabbing her bag of art supplies out of his hands, "you all might as well go along with what your leader or whoever it is suggested in the first place with going to court to settle this matter. Turn yourself in and learn some morals before you keep going down this sort of path"

Si Shen looked at her with a pleading gaze. He was definitely not involved in this! His young master just wanted to let go of the thief, but he never had any word in it!

Fu Yushang looked at her with a grimace. He was definitely not involved in this! He didn't ever say to the thief that it was alright to steal from young girls, and he was definitely not the thief's accomplice either!

The thief looked at her with tears almost springing into his eyes. He was definitely involved in this, but he just wanted to get some extra money on his hands. He didn't know that the entire situation would spin into some strange circle of misunderstandings like this!

Seeing all of them look at her with terror yet making no motions to move, Yujia kept a frown on her face. In the end, even if they did steal from her, she was willing to show them some mercy if they were willing to repent. After all, all three of them looked young and definitely had bright futures ahead of them if they were willing to go on a morally correct path.

Besides, if they admitted and apologized, she would be fine with leaving the situation just like this. Who knew what would happen if she took them to the officials for thievery? What even was the punishment for thievery in the time period?

Yujia's face morphed into something horrific when she recalled some history facts. Wasn't it that in the past, they would chop of the hands of any thief? And so, whatever hand it was… it was just "chop chop"?

AUTORENGEDANKEN
yaoyueyi

oh boy, Si Shen's not the male lead but he's definitely my favorite character.

is this chapter a bit confusing? I wanted to show the perspective of all the people at the scene but since there are four, it might be...? please do tell me in the comments!

anyways, please vote/review if you enjoyed. more berating from the Fourth Miss to come. <3

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