Chapter 16 – White Bone and White Silver (2/2)

“Take it!” Li Qingshan actually did this more to thank and praise him for his courage of standing forward and trying to bear the blame for the murder.

Li Fugui accepted the silver in gratitude and bewilderment.

Next, Li Qingshan called over the two scoundrels. “This is for you.” He glanced at the dead scoundrel on the ground. “And him too. Take him back and bury him. Work and earn a living properly in the future. Don’t continue doing underhanded things like stealing, or you’ll probably end up suffering the same fate.”

The two scoundrels were both surprised and overjoyed as they collected their silver. When Li Qingshan mentioned their companion, they became rather pale, but they did not seem particularly anguished. Who knows whether they could purposefully shell out money to have their companion buried.

In the end, Li Qingshan clasped his fist at caretaker Liu, village head Li, and the group of village elders. “In the past few days, I have offended you all. Please take this silver as an apology. I hope you can forgive me for my ignorance. However, if there are any more people who disrespect the old, harass the weak, or other fellow villagers…” That was how he put it, but he did not seem apologetic at all. Towards the end, he even became stern.

“That’ll never happen! That’ll never happen!” These people said together.

Li Qingshan nodded and split out a pile of silver for them to share between themselves.

“What about the other villagers?” Village head Li received his own share of silver and looked at the large pile that remained. Since even a victim like Li Fugui had received a share, there were plenty of other victims in the village. It could be said that every family had given the witch offerings before.

Li Qingshan glanced at him. “Does anyone have any objections?” He sympathised with the villagers who had been deceived, but he had no plans on compensating others for their stupidity. If he had not killed the witch in such a swift manner, it might have even been possible for their fear towards the witch to impel them to turn against him.

Moreover, how was he supposed to split it? Who was supposed to receive more and who was supposed to receive less? It was impossible to be fair, and in the end, it was very possible that not only would he receive no benefits from this at all, he would even become resented by many instead.

The village head had realised this as well. He wanted this youth, who was at the height of his influence, to hit a stumbling block. At the end of the day, what did the interests of the village have anything to do with him? Instead, the person right before him threatened his authority in the village more and more. Who knows, maybe a few years later, when Li Qingshan truly became an adult, he might even end up losing his position as village head.

However, he never expected Li Qingshan to be so meticulous with his thoughts despite his age. The glance that seemed to have pierced through his thoughts made him tremble with fear, afraid to say anything more.

Li Qingshan wrapped up the remaining silver. “Then please explain this matter to the other villagers. If any of you run your tongue carelessly and it reaches my ears, hmph!”

Everyone agreed to that. They were standing right in front of a weapon, and they had all received benefit from this incident as well, so none of them would just blabber.

Under village head Li’s lead, everyone arrived outside and provided an explanation to the villagers, commending Li Qingshan tremendously for eliminating a menace. Some of the devout believers of the witch originally refused to accept it, but when the skeletons were carried out one by one, all of them shut up. There were so many remains buried in her backyard, so how could she be any good?

No one was willing to offend a strong and vicious character like Li Qingshan for the sake of a dead person, not to mention the group of ‘respected and authoritative’ elders.

Li Qingshan did not make an appearance himself. Instead, he picked up the bronze bell in the witch’s severed hand. He could vaguely sense the spiritual nature that made it different from regular items. He asked Xiao An, “Did she use this to control you?”

Xiao An nodded and gazed at the bell extremely nervously.