Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 106: Fruit Seller

Unfortunately, Anji’s Heavenly Eyes could only see the aura of those in front of her eyes. After setting up the sound cancellation and defence array in the two rooms, she tried to peek at the other cultivators through the walls. However, it failed miserably, and Anji was left to look at the dreary town from the second-floor window.

Unlike Silver Water Town, which sparkled everywhere, this town was divided between the brightly lit streets of corrupted riches and the dark alleys of the abandoned poor. No children were laughing or playing on the streets. Everyone looked nervous, and even those who were smiling appeared tense. It was a depressing town where the unlawful ruled with their tyranny. Why would there be an inn founded by a cultivator in this place? Anji could not understand. They did not do this for money either. The fees were market rates, and the inn was shabby as if nobody cared about the prosperity of their business. It was weird.

"We will leave first thing in the morning," Mingshen patted his sister on the head. "Does it bother you that this town is ruled by the wicked?"

Admitting with a nod, Anji’s frown grew deeper.

"Why do cultivators allow it?" she wondered. Thanks to the sound cancellation array, she was unafraid of others overhearing their conversation.

Inhaling deeply and joining her at the window, Mingshen sighed. Where should he begin? Politics can be very complicated to explain to a six-year-old child. Although his younger sister was very intelligent, she was also raised in a golden cage under their parents’ protection and showed mostly good things only. While Anji understood the world was not flowery, it was probably the first time she had witnessed this much corruption and evil running rampant. Not being able to interfere must feel frustrating.

"It’s not that we allow it," he explained. "Remember what I mentioned earlier? There are rules we must follow. Apart from self-defence, we cannot interfere with the ways of mortals, including disciplining the misconduct of those low lives."

Nodding glumly, Anji stared at the group of scrawny hoodlums kicking a basket of fruits and messing up a poor man’s stall in the middle of the streets. Nobody else offered this man help, even when he was getting extorted and kicked when he tried to protect his livelihood. The other store owners started packing up quickly and running away while the hoodlums were busy bullying the fruit stall man.

"They’re running away..." she frowned with disbelief. "There are only four hooligans and twenty store owners. Why won’t they group up and fight back?"

That was a valid question. In some places, that happened. The beggar children were better at working together than these individualistic store owners. However, it was human instinct to fear the strong and prioritise survival. Not everyone had a selfless nature like their father, which Anji inherited.

"There are many reasons for that," he nodded. "No one solution or answer is right. We don’t know the full story. That man could have owed the hoodlums money at one point in time or failed to pay his dues. He could also simply be unlucky. However, the fact he made no friends could also be said to be a fault on his side. From the looks of it, this is not the first time. He chose to resist and fight back to protect what was his and set up a store in this location that these hoodlums frequent. Many things could be done to prevent this. He could have peddled his goods instead of setting up a fixed store. He could have paid protection fees. He could have found an employee or bought over a beggar to act as a lookout. However, this was what the man chose to do. It doesn’t matter if he was ignorant or uneducated of the options available. This is the decision he chose to make, and this is the consequence he should face. Not everyone learns from their mistakes the first time. Some people repeat them for life without ever questioning where they have gone wrong. They would rather blame the world for all their unhappiness."

After the hoodlums had their fun, took the man’s money and left him groaning in pain on the ground covered in bruises, they left. The street was now devoid of souls except for the fruit-selling man who spat out a mouthful of blood. Anji saw how he slowly crawled onto his knees. She was too far to get a better look. However, from his movement difficulties, he must have suffered a few fractured ribs.

Slowly, the fruit seller started to gather his fallen goods to fix his ruined store. He did not seem to harbour any resentment in his eyes, as if accepting this as the norm. Anji found it incredibly unnerving and odd that he continued selling fruits as if he had not been unjustly beaten up and robbed in broad daylight. Mingshen did not seem surprised by the incident, so Anji thought about her brother’s explanation.

While they were watching the unusual behaviour of townsfolk, someone knocked at the door. Thinking it was Gu Ying returning from her errands, Anji hopped off the bed but was stopped before she could reach the door. Those knocks were too heavy to be to belong to Gu Ying. It did not belong to the innkeeper either. Whoever was at the door concealed their presence very well. If they did not knock, Mingshen would have missed their presence.

"Stay out of sight while I answer the door. Prepare a stunning spell and an escape talisman just in case."

Realising it wasn’t Gu Ying at the door, Anji quickly dug through her inner sleeve pocket to find the talismans and ran to the wardrobe on the other side of the room. Once she was ready, she gave her brother a nod.

Mingshen cautiously opened the door to take a peek, prepared to block any surprise attack with his fan if needed. Both siblings held their breaths as the door creaked open.