No. 7: Snake in its own haunts
Before I could find the source of the noise, a bunch of men dressed like yamen officers1 rushed up from the crowd to apprehend the criminal on the stop! I meekly cooperated with these so-called ancient police officers, not because I couldn"t beat them, but because I understood: people who fought others might be bad guys, but people who fought police officers were definitely scoundrels.
Right now, I didn"t want to be a scoundrel.
Seeing my proper, upright behavior, the voices rose around me again.
"I…I"m Autumn Leaf City"s Officer Liu! You…what kind of demonic sorcerer are you?! From here on…here on…hiccup…" Perhaps because I hadn"t done anything worth denouncing, this Officer Liu had trouble coming up with something to curse me with. He kept stammering for a while.
Why were they so convinced that I was a demonic sorcerer instead of a celestial being? Psychologists had reached a conclusion in the past that humanity tended to first react with fear towards things they didn"t understand. It seemed like they were right, hmm~ Humans, oh humans, what strange beings! Pressed against the ground, I"d long lost myself to thoughts of philosophy…
"In, in any case, take her to the yamen first! We"ll wait for the district prefect to deal with her!" Officer Liu commanded. The officers quickly cuffed me and started pushing and pulling me to the yamen.
At the same time, the fierce sound of galloping carried over from a distance and closed the distance before an officer in an instant! A tall carriage bearing scarlet ta.s.sels from its roof directly made its entrance! As for the driver, he had no intentions to put on the brakes, but whipped his way through as he shouted, "All of you, get out of the way!"
What kind of person was so arrogant?
Before I could finish thinking, the officer holding my hand was knocked aside by the horse, dragging me down with him! Now I was angry! I struggled my way free of his grasp and took out the sword by his waist before throwing it towards the carriage.
I blurted out, "d.a.m.n it! Your granny says to stop!"
That shining sword stabbed itself into the planks at the back of the carriage, shuddering as it landed in place.
"Stop the carriage!" the person inside commanded. It was a man"s voice, smooth and somehow slippery, as if a cold-blooded reptile had just crawled past one"s skin. I felt uncomfortable just listening to it.
"What"s going on?" the voice asked again
Silence suddenly fell upon the scene. A sense of dread pervaded the atmosphere while Officer Liu hurried his way to the carriage. He rushed inside to whisper a whole bunch of things before the voice inside grew delighted. "Bring her over!"
The second golden rule of transmigration.
If you meet a luxurious carriage in the streets, there"s a 50% chance that it belongs to a powerful, authoritative, and brutal handsome man. There"s also a 50% chance that it"ll belong to a cruel and vicious antagonist type created to showcase the male lead"s heroism.
Which kind would I meet? I was a little excited when they brought me before the carriage door. But the instant the curtains were lifted, my beautiful delusion shattered like so many pieces of rainbow-hued gla.s.s onto the ground…
Inside sat a diseased, disgruntled looking fatty, his face covered with pockmarks. Right now, his beady, snake-like eyes were currently looking at me up and down, his gaze stopping on the delicate curves of my chest and legs as highlighted by the athletic gear…
There"s one type of man that everyone fears because he"s rich, powerful, cruel and domineering. If he"s handsome, we call this character a formidable man. There"s another type of man that everyone fears because he"s rich, powerful, cruel and domineering. If he"s ugly, we call this character a snake in its own haunts2.
"Interesting, truly interesting…" the snake in his own haunts was currently giving me a shady smile. "Officer Liu, I want this creature. Is that all right?"
"No problem! None at all!" Officer Liu promptly responded like a lackey. "Master Jin3 has already opened your golden mouth, what problems could there be?"
And thus, that snake in the carriage smiled in satisfaction. He tossed over a gold sycee in a beautiful arc that landed in Officer Liu"s hands. I was thus sold into his household.
yamen officers (捕快) – in former times, a yamen officer charged with hunting down criminals, like a constable or sheriff. Yamen refers to a government office in feudal China.snake in its own haunts (地头蛇) – an euphemism for a local villain or bully.Master Jin (金老爷) – Jin laoye, in which Jin means "gold."