Liu Bei: My younger brother is a deity.

Chapter 32 Unresolved Feelings

After listening to the man's account, Zhang Fei was furious: "Waaah! Where is that damned Guo family? Tell me! I'll go and slaughter their whole family!"

Liu Bei quickly advised, "Yide, don't be impulsive. Besides, this was done by the steward; the master may not even know."

Zhang Fei angrily said, "If the steward is so wicked, how good can the master be? Ugh, I'm so angry!"

"Yide—" Liu Bei pulled on Zhang Fei's horse reins.

"Brother Xuande, don't stop me!" Zhang Fei glared, waving his fist. "We should kill as many of these bastards as possible!"

Liu Quan ignored Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, and instead questioned the man about what had happened, repeatedly asking him the same questions over and over again.

The man answered patiently at first, but gradually became impatient.

When asked further, he suddenly stopped, raised his head, and looked straight at Liu Quan.

The grief and indignation on his face gradually faded, replaced by a cold wariness. "You don't trust me?"

Liu Quan smiled and said, "I believe you now. After all, it involves human life, so we have to get to the bottom of it."

"Hmph, what good will it do to find out? Do you think you can avenge me?" the man said indignantly.

"It's not impossible!"

Upon hearing Liu Quan's words, the man looked surprised and froze on the spot.

After a long while, he asked in a trembling voice, "You... is what you say true?"

He glanced at the group of people in front of him and saw that the young men were all extraordinary, and the accompanying warriors were also majestic and imposing.

Could it be that he is also a young master from some powerful family traveling?

Hope rose in the man's eyes.

Liu Quan turned to look at Liu Bei, who nodded with a firm gaze.

Zhang Fei's anger turned to joy. "So it turns out that my two brothers had already decided to get rid of that vicious dog. Why didn't you say so sooner? You made me angry for nothing."

Liu Quanxin said, "If I hadn't noticed A-Bei's look just now, I wouldn't have bothered with this. But since A-Bei is going to do it, I will naturally help him."

Then he thought, "If I'm going to do it, I need to plan it carefully so I don't get myself into trouble."

"Let's find a place to camp first," Liu Quan said. "I'll try to investigate this steward of the Guo family and see if there's anyone behind him. Once I've found out, we'll plan how to proceed."

Upon hearing this, the young man knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly to Liu Quan, saying, "If you can truly avenge my brother and sister-in-law, my life, Zhou Cang's life, will belong to you from now on."

"Your name is Zhou Cang?" Liu Quan raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Yes, my name is Zhou Cang."

"Isn't Zhou Cang a fictional character? Could he really have a historical prototype? Or is it just a coincidence?" Liu Quan wondered to himself.

Zhou Cang, along with his two nephews, followed Liu Quan's group.

A moment later, two people, both dressed in yellow Taoist robes, came up from behind the hillside on the other side of the official road.

The person in front was about forty years old.

He was tall, with a thin face and high cheekbones.

His eyes were deeply sunken in their sockets, yet his gaze was surprisingly bright.

He had a long, white beard that fluttered in the wind, which, combined with his thin face, gave him a somewhat otherworldly air.

The man behind him was half a head shorter than him, and looked to be in his early thirties.

Round face, small eyes.

The corners of her mouth are naturally slightly upturned, so even when she's not smiling, it looks like she's smiling.

"What a pity." The older Taoist priest sighed. "This Zhou Cang was clearly destined for our sect, but a group of people from Youzhou beat him to it."

The young Taoist priest stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Great Master, should I take some men with me—"

He made a gesture, meaning to snatch the person.

The older Taoist priest shook his head. "No need. Although Zhou Cang has passed the test and is capable of becoming a backbone member of our sect, our sect does not lack one more backbone member. Let him go."

…………

The Guo family of Zhongshan is a name that inspires both respect and fear in Wangdu County and even the entire Zhongshan Prefecture.

The Guo family has a long and rich history.

According to the elders of the clan, their ancestors can be traced back to the Ren surname Yu Guo tribe during the Xia and Shang dynasties.

Nayu Guo was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He was enfeoffed during the Xia Dynasty and established the State of Guo. Although it was later destroyed, his bloodline continued.

In 670 BC, the State of Guo was destroyed, and some of its people migrated eastward and settled in Zhongshan County, where they have remained for over 800 years.

Eight hundred years is enough time for a tree to grow into a towering giant, and enough time for a family to flourish and become deeply rooted.

Today, the Guo clan has over ten thousand members, spread across seven counties in Zhongshan Prefecture, with farmland, shops, and fortified villages scattered throughout, making them the true masters of this land.

When the magistrate of Wangdu County took office, the first thing he did was to go to the Guo residence to present his letter of introduction as a student.

This is an unwritten rule; those who don't follow it usually don't last a year.

However, with a large population, the quality of people varies greatly.

Even the most illustrious families are not immune to producing a few unworthy descendants.

Among the current generation of the Guo family, the most troublesome one is Guo Jing, who is ranked third.

This Guo Sanlang is twenty-seven years old this year, and he is quite handsome.

He has a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a pair of captivating eyes. When he smiles, the corners of his eyes slant upwards, giving him a rather dashing and debonair appearance.

But beneath that skin lies a heart utterly filthy.

He had a particular fondness for married women.

Within a radius of fifty li in Wangdu County, he had his eye on almost every married woman with even a little bit of beauty.

The method is quite simple—

First, send the steward Guo Gui to inquire. If it belongs to an ordinary family, then spend money to buy it.

What cannot be bought, must be obtained by force.

If he couldn't get what he wanted by force, he would set a trap and frame the family, forcing them to ruin and die, leaving the woman with no choice but to submit to him.

Zhou Cang's sister-in-law suffered the same fate.

Guojia Dongsanzhuang is a separate residence of the Guo family.

In the warm pavilion of the inner courtyard.

Although it was early winter, the warm room was filled with the warmth of fine silver charcoal.

Incense burned in the bronze incense burner, and wisps of smoke drifted out from the openwork lid, filling the room with a pleasant fragrance.

Guo Jing reclined on a couch covered with a tiger skin, holding an amber cup in his hand, which contained a dou (a unit of dry measure) of fine Lanling wine.

He wore a bright red brocade robe with the collar open, revealing a section of his fair neck.

A pretty young maid was kneeling beside the bed, massaging his legs with her fists.

Guo Gui stood with his hands at his sides in front of the couch, bowing low, a fawning smile on his face.

"Sanlang," Guo Gui's voice was high-pitched and thin, completely disproportionate to his tall and strong physique, "The matter concerning the Zhou family has been suppressed by the county government. County Magistrate Wang accepted two hundred bolts of silk from us and patted his chest, saying that everything would be fine."

Guo Jing gave a lazy "hmm" and downed the remaining wine in his cup in one gulp.

Another maidservant behind him hurriedly picked up the wine pot and filled it for him.

"Two hundred bolts of silk is too much," Guo Jing said indifferently. "They're just a lowly family."

Guo Gui hurriedly said, "County Magistrate Wang has helped us a lot. If we give him more this time, he will do his best next time."

Guo Jing scoffed, "He wouldn't dare not try his best?"

He then shook his head. "Forget it, he got off easy this time. Guo Gui, how's the matter I asked you to inquire about?"

Guo Gui chuckled and stepped forward. "I've heard that in Liutuan Town to the east, there's a family named Ma. The eldest son's wife is quite beautiful. The eldest son is a porter and is rarely home..."

Guo Jing immediately perked up, "That's right, women who have been celibate for so long are the most delicious. Tell me more about it."

"Yes."

Outside the warm pavilion, on a catalpa tree.

A bird the size of a palm perched quietly on a branch, its eyes darting about as it peered through the window crack into the warm chamber.