Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1290 610: A Virtuous Person_3

The child kept his head down, clutching the can in his hand, his lips tightly pressed together.

Cui Tiq took him back to the cave, opened two more cans: "You stay in the cave, don't go out. If you're hungry, eat this.

Before I come back, you'd better remember some things—things that are of value to me.

Also, don't water the seeds outside anymore, or they'll grow up very fast."

The child asked, "You don't want them to grow up?"

"I just don't want them to grow up too fast."

The kid was still shaken up, yet he actually had the nerve to ask so many questions.

Cui Tiq left. The child hugged the cans, and in the cave stared silently toward the entrance.

...

De Yuan Village, the village chief Song Demei was sitting in the yard.

Not long ago, she had just killed the Local Deity designated by the Peddler.

Now the situation was excellent, yet a few villagers under her had suddenly been injured.

They all had varying degrees of festering wounds on their bodies, but none of the injuries were fatal.

"The Foreigner you mentioned, where did he come from?" Song Demei asked.

The old Han with a broken leg said, "We don't know where he came from. We hadn't said anything at all before he went at me!"

"How did he go at you?"

The old Han looked to the woman beside him with the broken arm, the woman glanced at the man whose two hands had rotted...

The group looked at each other, and in the end all turned to the old lady who'd lost her tongue.

The old lady went "woo-ya" a bunch, but couldn't make anything clear.

No one knew how that Foreigner had actually made his move. Strictly speaking, that Foreigner hadn't made a move at all.

Song Demei looked at everyone, calm but with a hint of anger: "Once again outsiders have their eyes on our De Song Cliff. We absolutely cannot agree."

Everyone in the yard echoed in unison: "Absolutely cannot agree!"

A man ran into the yard and said, "Village chief, we've found that Foreigner. He's going back and forth among several villages nearby, buying rice, buying flour, buying oil. Looks like he wants to settle down here. Right now he's still over at Chen Lao Liu's tailor shop buying clothes."

"I'll go meet him and see who exactly sent him." Song Demei left the yard, a crowd of people trailing behind her.

In the tailor shop, Cui Tiq picked out a new outfit and handed Chen Lao Liu a hundred Huan Country Banknotes.

Chen Lao Liu smiled and said, "This set of clothes, labor and materials together is ninety-eight. I'm just earning myself a shout, really not making money off you."

Cui Tiq didn't quite understand what Chen Lao Liu meant, thought it was asking for a tip: "Then you don't need to give me back the two."

Chen Lao Liu waved his hand: "We agreed on the price. How could I take more from you? I only want to make friends with you, just hope you can come often in the future."

Cui Tiq nodded and said, "I'll definitely come often."

"With that promise from you, this deal wasn't done in vain. Wait here, I'll go get your change—won't short you a single cent."

The clerk brewed tea and passed him a cigarette, and also folded the clothes Cui Tiq had chosen and boxed them up. Cui Tiq was quite surprised; he hadn't expected business on De Song Cliff to be this honest.

Yet for these two Banknotes, Cui Tiq waited several minutes, and the shopkeeper still hadn't made change.

"Really, you don't need to give it back. I'll be going." Cui Tiq had just walked to the door when he saw the village chief Song Demei leading a crowd to the tailor shop entrance.

Now Cui Tiq understood what Chen Lao Liu meant. He turned back and asked, "You dragged out the time just now, all to wait for them?"

Chen Lao Liu pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and threw it at Cui Tiq, saying righteously, "You think I want to do business with you? I was just afraid you Foreign Devils would run!"

Cui Tiq picked up the hundred-yuan bill and asked Chen Lao Liu, "You're talking this righteously all just to prove your loyalty to this village chief?"

Chen Lao Liu puffed out his chest and lifted his head, his expression unchanged.

Song Demei asked Cui Tiq, "Outsider, was it you who injured our villagers?"

"Yes." Cui Tiq did not deny it.

"Explain what happened here. On what grounds did you injure them?"

"They were beating a child—many against one, bullying the weak with the strong, acting without virtue, disgracing De Song Cliff and shaming Virtue Cultivators all under heaven."

To memorize this passage, Cui Tiq had put in no small effort. He had come prepared; he was dismantling the rhetorical logic of Virtue Cultivation to disrupt the Technique of moral suppression.

The old Han with the broken leg tried to find justification from the cause: "We were punishing a person without virtue."

Cui Tiq said, "You were beating a five-year-old child."

The woman with the broken arm changed tactics, trying to find justification in the child: "A person without virtue, even if young, can bring endless harm."

Cui Tiq said, "You as a group were beating a child with not a weapon in his hand."

The man who'd lost both hands started to seek justification on a higher plane: "With a virtuous heart we carry out virtuous deeds. Even if some methods are a bit inappropriate..."

Cui Tiq cut the man off: "Several adults joining forces to beat up a child—you don't have a shred of shame. You've thrown your faces away, and still you talk about virtue?"

This short exchange of words looked plain enough, but for Cui Tiq, every sentence was a matter of life and death.

This was the usual trick of Virtue Cultivators: Virtue Cultivation Technique, persuading with moral reasoning. The Technique isn't high-level, but its power is great. Even a single line from the other side that put Cui Tiq at a moral disadvantage psychologically would drastically limit his combat ability, causing his battle strength to be hugely discounted.

Cui Tiq neutralized their moral suppression, but Song Demei was not so easy to deal with. She shifted her angle and said, "Punishing those without virtue on De Song Cliff is our internal affair. Even if they are in the wrong, it's not an outsider's place to point fingers!"

Cui Tiq shook his head and said, "I'm not an outsider. I am a person of virtue. De Song Cliff is the homeland of those with virtue. I too am a part of De Song Cliff."

"On what grounds do you call yourself a person of virtue?"