My name is Jiang Yinuo. I’m a junior constable at the county yamen in Qingshi County.
I’d been a constable for seven years. On my very first night, someone pinned me down in a back alley, drenched me in oil, and tried to set me on fire. The copper token in my arms, hot enough to burn, was an old keepsake left by my brother, Jiang Yang. One word was engraved on the front: “Mad.” I’d worn it for ten years, and it had never grown warm. Tonight, it was hot as a branding iron.
When thugs hired by the Zhao family beat up Xiao Mao, I rushed into the alley and took a knife wound for him. Then I stabbed a second-rate martial artist through the body. This token judged people by their actions: when I stood up for ordinary folks, it poured strength into my bones.
I broke into the western granary at night, tripped over sacks of grain and knocked down two thugs, then stole a ledger. Seven thousand two hundred shi of disaster relief grain. The name signed at the bottom: Attendant Pei.
The next day, wanted posters went up all over the county. The picture showed a blue-faced monster with fangs, and there was a bounty on my head. I walked out of the alley in my faded constable’s uniform and tore down a poster.
“I’m no outlaw! The men I killed were scum who sold off your disaster relief grain!”
Xiao Mao was squatting by the wall, chewing a cold bun. He shot me a sidelong glance. “Bro, you look more like a wanted criminal than the actual wanted criminals now.”
Old Zhou, the veteran constable, pressed three packets of wound medicine into my hands. They were still warm. He’d carried them against his chest all the way here. He said just one thing: “When I was young, I wanted to be a good man too.”
Su Lü, the censor in blue robes, blocked me at the entrance to the City God Temple. He didn’t arrest me. He only said, “Attendant Pei will reach this county in three to five days at the earliest, ten at the latest. You’d better run.”
Everyone thought I was a wanted criminal.
Truth is, I’m just an honest constable who can’t stand seeing good people get bullied.
