After Butcher Tong prompted him, San slowly pulled a slate and chalk from his tunic. When Butcher Tong realized the man couldn't speak, he'd retrieved one of his sign boards from the public-facing business and gave it to the burly man to write with. It was slow, but it let him learn some of the details of what happened, enough to know he needed to bring this man before another boss.
"Knew. Her. Before. Called. Little. Lingling. Robbed. Six. Sect Brothers." San wrote in his first pass, showing the slate to both bosses before wiping it clean and writing again. "Strange. Zither. Arts. Made. Us. Sleep. Before. Now. Filled. Room. Deadly. Birds."
The burly man might have looked like a simple thug, unremarkable among common ruffians in the mountain gangs, but when he wrote, his careful strokes betrayed his life as a prized disciple of a sect in Silver Sword City. He chose each word with care and made sure his audience understood the message before moving on.
