Seeing that Zhou Jing was silent, Magistrate Lin thought that he was hesitating, so he softened his tone and used a stalling tactic to persuade him,
“Chen Feng, I don’t think you’re an unreasonable person. There’s most likely a reason for you to do such a thing. If you confess, I can consider your difficulties and grievances and even seek justice for you.”
Hearing this, Zhou Jing came back to his senses and finally made up his mind.
He held his spear and pointed at Magistrate Lin, then at the window. He emotionlessly spoke,
“You, jump down.”
Magistrate Lin was stunned. He pointed at himself in disbelief, “You… want me to jump out of the window?”
Zhou Jing nodded,
“I didn’t intend to kill you today, but it’s not my style to let you leave in one piece after falling into my hands, so I’ll give you a way out. If you jump down from the building and don’t die, I’ll let you off.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Magistrate Lin was furious. He slapped the table and stood up angrily,
“How dare you! Preposterous! Ridiculous! I’m the magistrate of An Lin Prefecture, a Grade Five Imperial Court official, and also a student of Prime Minister Qin. How noble am I! Do you know who you’re talking to? How dare you be so rude to me?!”
Zhou Jing dug his ears as he slowly replied,
“If you don’t jump, I’ll send you on your way along with the two lords on the ground. In any case, you’re all jackals of the same tribe and colluding with each other. Why are you pretending to be all high and mighty? Why shouldn’t you officials pay the price for exploiting the commoners too? You’ve caused trouble everywhere, so why should I allow you to sashay over to another prefecture to take up a position?”
Hearing this, Magistrate Lin was so angry that his entire body trembled. He pointed at Zhou Jing and loudly chastised him,
“You disrespectful traitor! I…”
Swoosh!
The spear flashed.
Magistrate Lin suddenly paused and looked blankly at his arm that had fallen to the ground.
Zhou Jing picked up the spear and narrowed his eyes, “You still have one hand. You can point it at me again.”
“Ahhh—”
Magistrate Lin’s expression instantly became appalled. He screamed miserably and covered his bleeding arm, rolling on the ground in pain.
The official hat also fell to the ground and rolled far away.
In his corner, Instructor Hu gasped and could not help but retreat. His back was pressed against the wall as he looked at Zhou Jing as if he was looking at a ghost.
He did not expect this man to really dare to attack the magistrate. He was so ruthless, how was this an ordinary Green Forest Hero? He was simply being a traitor to the Imperial Court!
Not far away, Fang Zhen was also shocked. He kept looking at Zhou Jing in surprise.
Although he was not against attacking the officials of the Imperial Court, he also had to consider the consequences carefully before he attacked. He did not expect Zhou Jing to do it just like that, as if there was really nothing in this world that this person was afraid of.
Zhou Jing looked at Magistrate Lin, who was rolling on the ground with tears flowing down his face. He was indifferent as he simply continued, “I’ll count to ten. If you don’t jump, then I’ll send you off.”
When Magistrate Lin heard this, he no longer had the composure he had just now. He forced himself not to faint from the pain as he shouted in fear,
“Don’t, don’t! I’m an official of the Imperial Court, a Grade Five official, Minister Qin’s student! I have a high position and authority. I can’t die here!”
“One, two, three…”
“Hero! Let me go! As long as I’m alive, I’ll definitely suppress this case and not let the government arrest you. I’ll pretend that you never killed the He and Huang families!”
“Four, five, six…”
“No! You can’t kill me! If you kill me, the Imperial Court will never let you off. Even if you escape to the ends of the earth, you won’t be able to hide!”
“Seven, eight, nine…”
At this moment, Magistrate Lin suddenly gained some strength, enduring the pain as he got up.
Dragging his wide official’s robe, he ran towards the window in panic. Without hesitation, he jumped out, his robe billowing in the wind like an immortal.
Plonk!
The next moment, a muffled sound came from the street, followed by silence.
“… Ten.”
Zhou Jing finished reading the last number.
Then, he shook his head, “Looks like I have to let him off today.”
Beside him, Fang Zhen and Instructor Hu secretly shivered as the same thought flashed through their minds.
No matter how he looked at it, it did not look like he was going to “let him off”. He might as well end him and shorten his pain!
…
Commander Deng rushed over and finally saw Spring Rain Restaurant in the distance. The nearer he got, the more worried his heart was.
He had even left the soldiers behind and rushed back to personally report the situation to the magistrate.
On the way back, Commander Deng had been thinking about how to explain the current situation to the magistrate and how to remove his responsibility as much as possible. He had already drafted a script.
“I hope the magistrate won’t blame me…”
Commander Deng composed himself and took a deep breath before walking towards Spring Rain Restaurant.
However, when he got closer, he was shocked to discover that there were many citizens gathered here, and the sound of fighting could be heard from the building.
“Could it be… not good!”
Commander Deng was shocked. He hurriedly pushed through the crowd and ran towards the entrance of Spring Rain Restaurant.
However, when he reached the door and was about to rush in, he suddenly heard the sound of something heavy falling not far from him.
Bam!
Commander Deng subconsciously turned around, and his pupils suddenly constricted. Fear appeared on his face, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
In his vision, the usually high and mighty Magistrate Lin had fallen on the street more than ten meters away. His eyes were closed and he had lost consciousness. Only his chest was still heaving slightly. One of his arms had been cut off, and one of his legs had been broken. A pool of blood spread under him.
“L-Lord Magistrate?”
Commander Deng looked up in disbelief.
Coincidentally, Zhou Jing stuck his head out of the window upstairs and met his gaze.
“Eh, isn’t this the officer who ran away? Did you chase me up till here?”
Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.
Hearing this, a string in Commander Deng’s head snapped.
Without thinking, he turned around and fled without another word. He knocked over the surrounding citizens and ran for his life.
What future, what magistrate…
At this moment, he had completely forgotten about it.