Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 30 Unexpected Events

With a "whoosh," an arrow flew out, and a person fell out of the window of the west room. After struggling on the ground for a while, he finally stopped moving.

Wang Huadu was locked in a fierce struggle with another person, rolling around on the ground.

Both sides had lost their weapons and were engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand combat, using their fingernails and teeth, determined to kill each other. However, their strengths were evenly matched, and for a time, no victor could be determined.

After killing one person, Cheng Ji drew his ring knife, seized the opportunity, and slashed the back of the thief's neck, causing blood to gush out like a fountain.

Wang Huadu felt the enemy's violent tremors. Overjoyed, he mustered his remaining strength, flipped over and pinned the enemy to the ground, then threw punches left and right. There was no particular technique, but every punch landed hard, every punch contained anger, hatred, and even a trace of lingering fear.

"He's dead. Go to the east room. I'll go out and check," Cheng Ji said, pulling Wang Huadu along.

Skilled and daring, he slung his bow and arrows over his shoulder and hung a ring-handled sword at his waist, intending to go out and give chase.

Without much thought, Wang Huadu let go of the enemy he had beaten to the point of near death, forgetting even to bring his weapon, and walked straight through the main hall towards the east room.

After kicking open the wooden door, a dim light was seen inside, and Shao Shuyi was sitting on the bed, seemingly with minor injuries.

Yu Yuan stood beside him, struggling to lift an axe, his expression anxious, staring intently at the window.

"Little Tiger, are you alright?" Wang Huadu's eyes widened in surprise.

Shao Shuyi rubbed his aching chest and asked, "Are you all alright?"

"Two thieves broke in through the window, and Cheng Ji and I each killed one," Wang Huadu said. After a moment, seemingly a little embarrassed, he whispered, "Actually, it was Cheng Ji who killed them all. I helped him hold one of them off."

As he spoke, he bent down and turned the burly man's body over.

"This fellow is quite imposing." After clearly seeing the corpse's shape and appearance, Wang Huadu was somewhat surprised. He unconsciously scrutinized Shao Shuyi's physique, muttering to himself, "Scars on his body, calluses on his hands—he must be skilled in martial arts and often fights. Besides, it's actually quite difficult for ordinary people to wield an axe well; this guy dared to use it, so he must have had a plan. Little Tiger, you—"

Shao Shuyi threw the brass pistol onto the couch and said, "No matter how skilled you are, if you take a hit from me within two steps, you'll either be dead or crippled. Look where he got hit."

Wang Huadu tore open the hemp clothing on the burly man's body, took a closer look, and said, "It seems to be on his chest."

Shao Shuyi nodded and began tidying up the gunpowder canisters, fuses, bullets, and other items, saying, "No wonder."

As Wang Hua bent down to help Shao Shuyi tidy up, he asked in a low voice, "Xiao Hu, none of the three who died were good people. Who would use such vicious methods to kill you?"

"Need I say more?" Shao Shuyi glanced at him and slowly stood up.

Yu Yuan threw down his axe and stepped forward to help him up.

"Good brother!" Shao Shuyi patted Yu Yuan on the shoulder and said, "If it weren't for you today, I'm afraid we wouldn't have had time to fire the gun."

"I..." Yu Yuan stammered.

Shao Shuyi smiled at him.

Yu Yuan's heart suddenly tightened. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he actually saw a hint of cruelty in Shao Shuyi's eyes.

Is this... insane?

"I need to get a proper military uniform made." Shao Shuyi looked down and muttered to himself, "If I could carry fire cups, medicine pots, bullets, fuses, and wicks on my body, killing people would be much easier."

Yu Yuan was speechless, and Wang Huadu also noticed something was wrong. He stood there stunned, and the room fell silent for a moment.

A moment later, footsteps sounded.

Shao Shuyi loaded the ammunition and then asked Wang Huadu to open the door.

"We've caught someone." Cheng Ji's voice rang out from outside the door.

Along with his voice, a dark figure landed on the ground with a muffled thud.

Yu Yuan immediately fetched an oil lamp and shone it close to the light. He saw an old man with white hair and beard, who was now completely disoriented and dizzy.

"I've already asked. This man is Zhang Di, the uncle of Zhang Nengcong, a martial arts instructor at the Zheng family's ceramics shop." Cheng Ji said as he entered the room, "Tonight, a total of four murderers came, all of them bandits from Taihu Lake. Three died, and one escaped—hey, Xiao Hu, what are you doing? Stop it!"

But it was too late. Shao Shuyi had abandoned his pistol at some point, picked up the axe, and, to Cheng Ji's horrified gaze, fiercely chopped down at the old man Zhang Di's neck.

Perhaps his hand was trembling, or perhaps he lacked strength; in any case, the axe failed to sever the head. Even so, the scene was still quite "spectacular"—

Zhang Di didn't scream; his body just convulsed violently for a moment, making a "hoarse" sound, and then he remained still.

Wang Huadu felt a chill run down his spine, but also a surge of excitement.

Yu Yuan fell into a daze again, his mind a jumble. He had never known that a person's body could contain so much blood, and that it could spurt so high...

Shao Shuyi chopped a few more times, completely severing the head, and then wrapped it in a rag.

He smiled at everyone, then went back to the east room and changed into his new blue clothes.

At that moment, it was as if the dust in his heart had been swept away, and as if the chains that bound him had been broken.

Am I crazy? No, I'm not crazy, it's the world that's crazy.

In this crazy world, it's abnormal if you're not crazy.

"Little Tiger, what's wrong with you...?" Wang Huadu followed him inside and asked in a low voice.

"We must eradicate evil completely," Shao Shuyi said matter-of-factly.

"You mean—"

"How can I be at ease while Zhang Neng is still alive?" Shao Shuyi said, "He can kill me once, but will he not do it a second time? I didn't bother with him before, thinking that would keep things quiet for the time being. But what has happened? If I continue to tolerate him, I'm afraid I won't live for more than a few days. Even if Zhang Neng is scared this time and stops, there will be Li Neng and Wang Neng in the future. We can't be like before."

Shao Shuyi's words were not only for Wang Huadu's ears, but also for his own ears.

There is great terror between life and death. After experiencing this, he felt it necessary to shed the naivety and weakness that remained in him as a modern person. This was not the 21st century, but the Yuan Dynasty of the 14th century, where lawless people were everywhere.

"I'm going to kill Zhang Neng, are you coming?" Shao Shuyi asked, picking up his brass pistol.

Wang Huadu felt his head spinning under the pressure of his gaze and said, "Why wouldn't I go?"

Having said that, he picked up his sickle and axe.

Yu Yuan opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.

Wang Huadu grabbed him and pointed to the human head wrapped in cloth on the ground, saying, "Pick it up, let's go together."

Yu Yuan was somewhat reluctant.

Wang Huadu spat at him and said disdainfully, "You always talked about brotherhood, but in the end it was all just empty talk."

He bent down, picked up the head, hung it on his sickle, and sneered, "This has nothing to do with you. Go home."

Yu Yuan was almost in tears, looking at Shao Shuyi one moment and Wang Huadu the next, extremely conflicted.

Shao Shuyi kicked the gunpowder canister on the ground and said, "If a thief escapes and the matter goes to the authorities, you'll probably have a hard time getting away with it too."

Yu Yuan truly cried this time.

With tears streaming down his face, he bent down, trembling, and picked up the cupping jars, medicine jars, tinder, pellet bags, and cleaning rods one by one.

"Wait!" Cheng Ji grabbed Shao Shuyi and said sternly, "Why bother? They're just bandits from Taihu Lake; killing them is no crime. If you give up now, the government won't do anything to you."

"Zhang Neng is still alive." Shao Shuyi turned to look at him and said, "Only if I die will the government not really do anything to me, because no one will speak for the dead."

Cheng Ji remained silent. He was the one who brought Zhang Di back, and in truth, he might not be entirely innocent.

"Could you capture Zhang Neng without harming him and hand him over to the authorities?" He looked up at Shao Shuyi, his eyes even carrying a hint of pleading.

"You have a lot of martial arts skills, but you don't know how to use them." Shao Shuyi sneered and went out the door first.

******

The four people walked briskly along the country road.

Shao Shuyi walked at the front, carrying a bronze flintlock musket on his shoulder.

Wang Huadu followed closely behind. Having changed his clothes, he looked around with an air of self-importance, occasionally glancing up at the blood-soaked bundle at the top of the sickle.

Yu Yuan carried a pile of jars and pots on his back, head down, with a mournful face all the way.

Cheng Ji felt like he had to sigh every few dozen steps, his mood was extremely bad.

There weren't many people on the road late at night, except for one or two porters carrying vegetables and a few farmers who had gotten up early to weed the fields.

The four walked for a while, then rested for a while, until the sun was high in the sky, when the old locust tree came into view in the distance.

Shao Shuyi took a deep breath and went to the front of the blueware shop first.

"The accountant is here? The manager was just muttering about it." Cao Tong saw him from afar and went up to greet him.

"Where is Zhang Neng?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"I'm here to catch rats in the Jiazi warehouse on the orders of the shopkeeper. There was a rat infestation last night, and several valuable blue and white artifacts were knocked over. The shopkeeper was furious—uh, who's behind you?" Cao Tong paused as he spoke.

Shao Shuyi shoved him aside and headed straight for the Jiazi Library.

Wang Huadu gave him a strange smile and continued walking.

Yu Yuan lowered his head and covered his face with his sleeve.

Cheng Ji sighed and subconsciously quickened his pace.

At this moment, Zhang Neng was indeed in the Jiazi warehouse, with six or seven exquisite blue-and-white artifacts piled up behind him, which were obviously very valuable.

With Shao Shuyi dead, the old house in Yantietang will certainly send a new person, but it will take time. This period of inactivity is a perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of the situation, and the shopkeeper has tacitly approved of it.

Those selected blue artifacts could easily fetch ten ingots each. After doing this a few more times, he could even redeem a beautiful courtesan to take home as a concubine.

Just as he was enjoying his newfound happiness, a calm voice called out from outside the warehouse: "Zhang Neng."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a bundle rolled down in front of the door, covered in dust and grime.

Zhang Neng was startled. Wasn't that the accountant Shao Shuyi's voice? Was he still alive? Or was he here to report something to the manager?

Without a second thought, Zhang rushed straight to the door, not even bothering to examine his bundle, and began searching for Shao Shuyi.

found it!

He stood under a tree at the warehouse entrance, two steps away, smiled at him, and held a flintlock pistol in both hands.

"Bang!" The bullet shot out and hit Zhang Neng directly on the forehead, giving him no chance to react.

"Thump!" The corpse crashed to the ground.

After checking the medicine filling chamber and the iron hoops on the gun barrel and finding no damage, Shao Shuyi called Yu Yuan to bring the medicine container and calmly began to fill it with medicine.

After Yu Yuan handed over the medicine jar, he saw Zhang Neng's head, which had been partially knocked off, on the ground and vomited.

"That's great!" Wang Huadu laughed heartily.

Without a word, he fired the gun; this revenge was swift and satisfying. He just needed to hurry; after killing Wu Youcai and Wang Sheng, he needed to make a run for it.

Cheng Ji lagged behind, intentionally or unintentionally blocking other people's view.

"What's all the commotion? Xiao Hu, you're here? Hey, why is Zhang Neng lying on the ground—" Not long after, the shopkeeper Wang Sheng suddenly appeared in the warehouse courtyard. When his gaze fell on Zhang Neng's head, his face immediately turned pale.

Shao Shuyi had just finished loading his gun when he heard this. He smiled, stuck a fuse in the touch hole, strode up to Wang Sheng, grabbed him by the collar, shoved the gun barrel into Wang Sheng's mouth, and said, "Why are you in such a hurry to come out, boss? Are you afraid I'm not dead?"

Wang Sheng's face showed pain, and he kept making "woofing" sounds, struggling subconsciously.

Wang Huadu strode forward and placed the sickle and axe against Wang Sheng's neck.

Wang Sheng was both angry and scared, and dared not move.

A gust of wind blew by, and the burning speed of the tinder increased slightly.

Wang Sheng watched in horror, tears streaming down his face. He knew his gun; he knew that the moment the fuse burned out, the pistol would fire, and the bullet would easily pierce his head.

"Scared?" Shao Shuyi casually blew on the tinder, making the bamboo charcoal burn even faster.

"Spare... spare my life..." Wang Sheng nodded and pleaded.

Shao Shuyi laughed heartily and said, "If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?"

After saying that, he released Wang Sheng, pulled the tinder out of the firebox, and threw it at Wang Sheng's face.

Wang Sheng cried out in alarm at the scalding heat and hurriedly dodged, falling to the ground in his panic and coughing violently. Several teeth fell out with each cough, and his mouth was covered in blood.

"Bring paper and pen, and let this old man write his confession," Shao Shuyi ordered.