xymnovel Chapter 35 The Thieves Are Rampant
Chapter 35 The Thieves Are Rampant
Guo Gui was saved by a pile of runny poop.
No one would believe this if I told them, but the truth is just that absurd.
He had an upset stomach in the evening, and after drinking two bowls of leftover mutton offal soup for dinner, his intestines started churning.
When the man in black rushed into the inner courtyard, he was squatting in the toilet, transformed into a jetpack warrior.
Hearing the noise, Guo Gui leaned close to the vent and peeked outside.
That glance almost scared the soul out of him.
Under the moonlight, several men in black were moving silently along the alley.
One of them was dragging the corpse of a soldier.
The soldier's head was tilted to one side, his neck bent at an unnatural angle, and a dark substance was dripping from the corner of his mouth, which was not clearly visible in the moonlight.
Guo Gui suddenly covered his mouth with his hand.
Just then, his stomach clenched again, making a loud "gurgling" sound that was particularly jarring in the silence.
Guo Gui trembled with fright; before his mind could process what was happening, his body had already moved.
He lifted the toilet seat and scrambled down into it.
The cesspool wasn't deep, barely reaching his knees.
The temperature had already dropped in early winter, but the cesspool was still warm, and a strong stench filled the air.
Guo Gui felt a churning in his stomach, but he gritted his teeth and remained silent.
He gently covered the toilet seat with his head, burying himself in the darkness and stench.
He squatted in the cesspool for who knows how long.
Every now and then, muffled thuds could be heard from outside, followed by footsteps, back and forth, as if someone was searching for something.
After a while, it became completely quiet outside.
Guo Gui listened intently, hesitating whether to go out, when suddenly two voices came from inside.
"That scoundrel Guo Jing dared to deceive my elder brother!" A gruff voice boomed angrily. "I, Wang Ying, will teach him a lesson today!"
Another voice rang out, "Second Brother, if we kill Guo Jing, won't that invite retaliation from the Guo family?"
"Heh heh." The gruff voice chuckled coldly. "That Guo Jing has committed countless evil deeds; countless people have wanted to kill him. Who would know it was us?"
As the two talked, their footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
Guo Gui squatted in the latrine for another half an hour, and only after confirming that there was no more movement did he shakily push open the toilet board and climb out.
He was soaking wet and reeked of a foul stench.
A gust of night wind blew, and he shivered, his teeth chattering.
But at this moment he couldn't care less about any of that; he only had one thought in his mind: go to the main estate and report to the head of the family.
…………
Guozhuang, east of Wangdu County.
The head of the Guo family was named Guo Yi, who was in his early forties. He had a fair complexion and a long beard, and looked very amiable.
He was listening to Guo Gui's account with a gloomy face.
Guo Gui knelt below the hall, his body covered in excrement that soaked a large area of the blue brick floor, and the stench permeated the entire hall.
There were several maids in the hall, all of whom were covering their noses, looking like they wanted to vomit but dared not.
But Guo Yi seemed oblivious, standing with his hands behind his back, staring intently at Guo Gui.
"You're saying that one of the people who killed my third son called himself Wang Ying?"
"Yes...I heard it with my own ears..."
Guo Yi remained silent for a moment.
Others might not know about Wang Zhen's relationship with the Wolf Fang bandits, but how could the Guo family not know?
"What a scoundrel Wang Ying," Guo Yi sneered, "What a scoundrel Wang Xiong, what a scoundrel Wang Zhen! What arrogant villains!"
He paced around the hall a few times, then suddenly turned around and said, "Go and fetch County Magistrate Liu."
Half an hour later, Wang Zhen was arrested and imprisoned.
No matter how he tried to "explain," the Guo family was convinced that he was the one who killed their third son.
The troops in Zhongshan County began to be mobilized early the next morning.
On the main peak of Langya Mountain, Wang Ying and Wang Xiong were still kept in the dark.
Because of Wang Zhen's inside connections, they could get advance notice whenever the government intended to send troops.
Therefore, the village was not well-defended, and there were no sentries on the mountain road.
By the time the bandits on the stockade wall spotted the government troops, the enemy had already reached the stockade gate.
The battle was fierce, but the outcome was never in doubt.
Although the Wolf Fang bandits were fierce, they only numbered about three hundred and were unprepared, so they were caught off guard by the government troops.
Soon, the bandits were defeated, and Wang Ying and Wang Xiong were beheaded.
…………
On a mountain peak dozens of meters away from the main peak of Langya Mountain, two Taoist priests lay on the ground, secretly watching the officials and thieves fight.
The round-faced Taoist sneered, "The government's dispatch of troops this time was quick; what were they doing before? If these thieves hadn't provoked the Guo family, they probably would have continued their rampage."
Another long-bearded Taoist priest looked sad and sighed, "The government has become the lackey of powerful families. Is this still the court? Yuanyi, look at the Han Dynasty, isn't it completely rotten? It is precisely because of us that it is right to set things right."
Then he chuckled self-deprecatingly, "If we're really going to talk about it, we're thieves too."
The round-faced Taoist priest retorted, "Why does the Great Teacher say such a thing? We are acting on behalf of Heaven, punishing evil and promoting good. How can we be compared to this Wolf Fang bandit? Does he deserve to be mentioned? Besides, Zhuangzi said, 'The greatest bandits are princes; the successful are the leaders, the unsuccessful are the followers.' Once the Holy Sect has conquered the land, the Han will be the true bandit!"
"Yuan Yi is as fierce and unyielding as I am," the long-bearded Taoist said with a smile.
The round-faced Taoist priest immediately felt embarrassed, touching his face and saying, "You flatter me."
…………
The government wiped out the Wolf Fang bandits in one battle, avenging the Guo family.
Wang Zhen also hanged himself in prison on the night the Wolf Fang bandits were wiped out.
On the night Wang Zhen hanged himself, another person also lost his life: Guo Gui.
This person had their head removed at home.
When the news reached the Guo residence, Guo Yi was furious.
"The remnants of the Wang family dare to commit murder!"
The Guo family's revenge came swiftly and ruthlessly.
The Wang family in Wangdu County, with more than 300 members, regardless of age or gender, either went to prison, were exiled, or died "accidentally" in prison.
Wang Zhen's wife and children were exiled to Jiaozhou, but they "died of illness" on the way.
Wang Zhen's cousins were either framed and beheaded, or expelled from Zhongshan County. Their fields, mansions, and shops were all swallowed up by the Guo family.
In less than a month, the once prominent Wang family of Wangdu County completely disappeared from this land.
And what about the real "killers"?
They had now arrived at Mengjin Ferry on the Yellow River and were preparing to cross.
"Haha, that's great, that's great!" Liu Bei laughed heartily. "Ah Quan's plan is a triple win. It not only avenged Zhou Cang, but also wiped out the Wang family and the Wolf Fang bandits, and taught the Guo family a lesson."
"Unfortunately, no one knows that we did it," Zhang Fei said with some regret.
Liu Quan laughed and said, "To accomplish one's task and then leave without a trace, concealing one's merits and fame—that is the true spirit of a chivalrous knight."
"Good!" Liu Deran lifted the carriage curtain. "Yuan Gu deserves a big toast for this line."
Although Liu Deran did not participate in the operation that night, he felt his blood boil after hearing Liu Bei and Zhang Fei's account after they returned.
Hearing Liu Quan recite a truly stunning line at this moment, I felt as if my inspiration was flowing freely, and I was about to create a masterpiece that would last for a thousand years.
pity--
That's just his illusion.
After several dozen breaths, Liu Deran slumped down and lowered the curtain. A muffled voice came from inside the carriage, "Yuan Gu, your sentence does sound good, but it doesn't form a coherent whole and is meaningless."
Liu Quan laughed heartily, "What's so difficult about composing a piece?!"
He then began to recite it aloud.