Qin Sang looked toward Hunter Xu. Knowing what she wanted to ask, Hunter Xu replied:
"I've been to town many times and haven't heard of them harming anyone. They mostly demand money or protection fees from merchants, but they haven't done anything like kidnapping women or bullying the weak."
Qin Sang couldn't bring herself to kill someone in the street. If she sent them to the magistrate's office, since her side wasn't injured, nothing would likely come of it.
Perhaps the officials would even say their injuries were more severe and turn around to charge her with a crime; then, she would have no way to clear her name.
Since that was the case, it was better to do them a favor:
"Using quicklime was a last resort. I can help treat your eyes, but you must not commit any more misdeeds in the future, and you certainly must not target me again."
"Of course, of course! Rest assured, we will absolutely never rob you again."
"Robbing others isn't allowed either," Qin Sang added.
"Yes, yes, yes, you're right. We won't rob anyone, no one at all."
As the group knelt there kowtowing, Qin Sang thought for a moment, took out a silver ingot, and said to Tian Dazhuang:
"Da Zhuang, go buy a jar of tea oil. You can't use water when quicklime gets in the eyes; you can only wipe it away with tea oil."
"Okay, Mother." Although Tian Dazhuang was very confused as to why his mother wanted to use precious tea oil on these Local Ruffians who had tried to rob them, he didn't dare question her decision.
Hu Zi accompanied Da Zhuang. Seeing that Qin Sang was truly willing to help them, the men became obedient, stopped shouting, and waited there.
Qin Sang walked up to Hei Zi:
"What about you? Do you want me to treat your wound?"
Hei Zi looked surprised:
"This wound can still be treated?" He had already resigned himself to death.
Hunter Xu spoke from the side:
"With another doctor, there might be no hope, but if she says it can be treated, it's likely true."
Hei Zi immediately crawled toward Qin Sang:
"Aunt, please save me. I was forced into this with no other choice. So many brothers depend on me for food; I only robbed you out of desperation."
Qin Sang sneered:
"Desperation? If you had tasted success this time, wouldn't you have escalated in the future and started dealing lethal blows to people?"
Hei Zi was stunned.
Would he?
He didn't know. He just wanted to survive and have a bite to eat.
Seeing that he couldn't figure it out, Qin Sang said:
"A single thought can lead to a demon or a Buddha. Today, I am letting you go because you truly didn't intend to take our lives. If you just want to have food to eat, I can help you."
Hei Zi looked bewildered:
"Aunt, you're still willing to help us?"
Qin Sang sighed:
"Looking at your ages, you're not much different from my eldest son. If it weren't for the state of the world today, I believe you would also want to be law-abiding people."
Tears welled in Hei Zi's eyes: "Aunt..."
Qin Sang inwardly praised her own acting skills. Her performance as a kind elder was becoming quite masterful.
Qin Sang had Hunter Xu pull out the arrow for him, then sprinkled some proprietary Chinese medicine on the bloody hole and bandaged it with gauze.
Da Zhuang returned with the tea oil. Qin Sang taught them to dip their clothes in the tea oil one by one to wipe the quicklime from their eyes. This task took more than an hour.
Once everyone was cleaned up, Qin Sang gathered them together:
"If you just want food, I have a way. You can go to the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs and exchange them with me for money. You can also go to other villages to collect herbs and then deliver them to me.
Of course, whether you do it or not is up to you, and you bear the risks encountered while digging or collecting herbs yourselves. However, I can guarantee that as long as you do as I ask, you will definitely not starve to death."
She needed to accumulate a large amount of mall coins. The output from the mountains of Tianjia Village was ultimately limited, and the people of one village couldn't keep it up for long. The right way was to mobilize more villages and more people to help her collect herbs.
Hei Zi and the others listened blankly:
"But we don't recognize medicinal herbs."
Qin Sang found two remaining stalks of mugwort from the cart:
"This is everywhere on the mountains. Fifty catties for one catty of rice. Go look for it today.
Tomorrow, you can bring it to Tianjia Village. I can give you samples of other herbs; they can all be exchanged for grain or silver money."
Hei Zi took the two stalks of mugwort and said joyfully:
"I know this! My old home village has it everywhere."
"Yes, I recognize it too. My grandmother often hangs it on the doors and windows."
Seeing them all say the same thing, Qin Sang gave a faint smile:
"In that case, I'll give you four catties of flour as a deposit. Tomorrow, you bring two hundred catties of mugwort to Tianjia Village. How about it?"
Hei Zi and the others were stunned.
They had come to rob her.
But how could this Aunt be so kind? Not only did she not take them to the magistrate's office, but she was also willing to give them flour.
That was flour; it cost twenty-two wen per catty at the grain store.
Four catties.
It was enough for the dozen or so of them to eat for half a month.
While they were in a daze, Qin Sang had already scooped a bag of flour and handed it to Hei Zi.
Hei Zi asked blankly:
"Aunt, aren't you afraid we'll take the flour and not deliver the herbs?"
Qin Sang smiled:
"Since you can call me 'Aunt,' it shows that your nature isn't bad.
A single thought can lead to a demon or a Buddha. You are all fine young men. I hope you can live well, rather than living a life on the edge of a blade where you have today but no tomorrow."
Qin Sang's words made their blood surge. One by one, they knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly:
"Aunt, please rest assured. We will definitely not break our word."
"I'm going to find mugwort right now."
Qin Sang handed the flour to Hei Zi and then boarded the carriage to leave.
Hei Zi and the others stood on the long street for a long time, only looking away once Qin Sang's carriage was out of sight.
"Brother Hei Zi, let's listen to the Aunt."
"Yes, Brother Hei Zi, I don't want to be one of the Local Ruffians anymore."
"Big Brother, if we really can stop being Local Ruffians and still earn money and grain, my grandmother won't scold me anymore."
Facing the earnest gazes of his subordinates, Hei Zi nodded heavily:
"Alright, we'll split up and go to our respective villages to find mugwort. We'll strive to gather five hundred catties to send to Tianjia Village tomorrow.
But first, we need to go settle the score with those two brothers."
The others realized:
"Right, they are the Aunt's relatives, yet they're actually so wicked."
"They almost made us hurt the Aunt. We can't let them off easily."
At that moment, the brothers Tian Yuanshan and Tian Jinshui were waiting for news at the town's clinic. Suddenly, a cold wind blew past, and the two of them unexpectedly shivered in the hot June weather.
...
Qin Sang was in a very good mood. She didn't care about four catties of flour, but if Hei Zi and the others really listened to her, her wealth would truly expand in the future.
Tian Youdi and Da Huas Father were still discussing the recent events, clearly still a bit shaken. They had already cursed The Shan Shui Brothers hundreds of times in their conversation.
Qin Sang knew they had been quite frightened today. As law-abiding farmers their whole lives, they had likely never encountered a highway robbery.
Although they had escaped safely in the end, they should still be properly compensated:
"Da Zhuang, go to your second sister's meat stall."