Chapter 37 Even a Scholar Can Kill (Please Read and Vote)
Ouyang Rong closed his eyes in the darkness, but couldn't fall asleep.
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
How come he suddenly gained merit in the middle of the night? He didn't do anything just now, he just casually gave a few instructions.
Could it be that sending Banxi back and refusing her hint that she wanted to sleep on his bed saved her, or... sending pastries to Old Cui and the other clerks so they could rest saved them?
Doesn't that mean there's been a change in the East Warehouse?
Ouyang Rong immediately jumped off the table and rushed out the door.
As he ran to the vicinity of the East Warehouse, he indeed spotted a dark shadow flashing across the roof of the East Warehouse in the distance. Immediately afterward, he saw his junior sister's graceful figure rush out from the doorway below, nimbly leap onto the roof, draw her bow and shoot an arrow under the moonlight, and then chase after her. Some chaos ensued outside the door of the East Warehouse below.
Ouyang Rong, with a short sword borrowed from his junior sister hanging at his waist, gripped the hilt warily. He immediately stepped forward and learned the details from the soldiers and clerks he encountered. He breathed a sigh of relief, but when he heard that Old Cui was still working diligently in the east storeroom, he became somewhat worried. So, without exchanging many pleasantries with Qin Heng outside the door, he went straight inside...
Then Ouyang Rong witnessed a scene that silenced him.
"What are you doing?"
The old man, who had been operating quietly, swayed slightly.
Without turning his head, Ouyang Rong reached out to stop Qin Heng and other soldiers who were about to rush in from behind.
He said earnestly, "Put the light down."
Old Cui nodded silently, let go, and the lamp fell, landing on the pile of ledgers soaked in strange liquid.
In an instant, a volcano rose on the table.
The flames even spread along the edge of the table to the old man in front of it. This strange liquid seemed to be more flammable than oil, and the fire spread extremely quickly. If Ouyang Rong hadn't rushed over and pushed Old Cui away in time, the old man would have been engulfed by the flames in the next second.
"Magistrate Ouyang, the account books!"
Qin Heng grabbed a bucket of well water and was about to throw it onto the table, but Ouyang Rong snatched it away. The first bucket of well water was poured on Old Cui's head, and the second bucket was poured on his head as well. Fortunately, there wasn't much strange liquid on him, so the fire started quickly and went out quickly as well.
Even so, Old Cui was severely burned; most of his hair, beard, and eyebrows were singed, making him look like a red radish with mud still clinging to its roots.
The fire that engulfed the pile of ledgers on the table was not extinguished until the seventh bucket of water was used, leaving only ashes.
Qin Heng and his generals hesitated to speak.
"Get out, everyone."
Ouyang Rong didn't even glance at them or the embers on the table. He walked over alone, dragged a chair over, slumped his weary body against the back of the chair, stared at the old man curled up like a shrimp on the floor in front of him, and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with his five fingers.
Only two people remained inside.
"Why?"
The young magistrate asked.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
"No, no, no, you're not the one you've wronged." He shook his head, lowered his eyes, and uttered each word slowly and deliberately: "Tell me, why?"
"I... have considered refusing."
"But you didn't refuse."
"I was saved by the Liu family's soup kitchen when I fled here during the disaster that year."
"Can their shabby soup kitchen even save lives?" Ouyang Rong laughed.
“This is now. When Grandpa Liu was still alive, it wasn’t like this, and he wouldn’t allow these three brothers to do this now… Back then, the Liu family’s soup kitchen didn’t take away any money, and it did save some people.”
"I thought you were a pawn that the Liu family had deliberately planted, and I had long anticipated that someone would lead troops to investigate the accounts."
“I’m not a suicide squad member. I found this job at the county government myself. After Old Master Liu passed away, I had no contact with the Liu family for many years. I even thought they had forgotten me, but... they still came knocking on my door.”
Old Cui shook his head with a bitter smile, "Young master."
The young magistrate shrank back into the large chair and calmly replied with a "hmm".
"I must repay the favor I owe the Liu family."
"Self-immolation."
“Burning the accounts will settle my score with the Liu family. But I have let down the young master and the tens of thousands of refugees outside the city.”
"What kind of bullshit logic is this?"
"Even the young master thinks this is utter nonsense..." Old Cui muttered, looking up at the sky. "I've been calculating accounts my whole life, and I still haven't settled this last one?"
"Would it be right to just die?"
"My life is worthless..."
"You are indeed of lowly birth."
Ouyang Rong nodded, "You did despicable things, so your life is despicable, but you could have had a life that wasn't despicable; it was your own depravity that led you to this."
Old Cui was taken aback. Ouyang Rong's tone was firm: "No true man is born with a lowly fate. Whether someone is lowly or not depends on whether they have done something noble or despicable. And you? Noble or despicable?"
"I..." Old Cui's body trembled, unable to utter a single word.
Ouyang Rong leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, coldly looking down into his eyes, which were gradually filled with fear:
"Is fairness less important to you than a bowl of porridge from over a decade ago?"
"I..." Old Cui said timidly, "I think the young master can win... Burning only one house won't affect the disaster relief efforts..."
“The Liu family is the ringleader. If the Liu family doesn’t fall, raiding the other twelve families first is tantamount to driving wolves into the trap, or even encouraging them to conspire together and meet their demise. Besides…” Ouyang Rong asked calmly, “Does my ultimate victory have anything to do with whether you do despicable things?”
Old Cui opened his mouth in a daze, but couldn't say a word.
Ouyang Rong stood up, looked at the distant mountains outside the window, and nodded in conclusion:
“I respect you as a man who repays even a single meal’s kindness. But you have forgotten the greater good for small favors, and you have brought shame to the men of Wu and Yue.”
Old Cui, his face contorted with pain, buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly, his hoarse voice filled with deep regret: "Young master, I...I was wrong...I miscalculated...I'm so sorry..."
"No, the person you've wronged the most isn't me. Go apologize to the refugees outside the city."
A glimmer of light appeared in Old Cui's eyes again, a complex light containing guilt, remorse, hope for life, and anguish about the future: "Fine, I'll go apologize, do something to atone for my sins, and spend the rest of my life serving them like a slave..."
Ouyang Rong shook his head, "No need for that. Just send a portion over."
"What part..."
Before the old man could finish his bewildered words, the young magistrate swiftly walked over, drew his sword, and severed the head. The headless corpse fell backward to the ground.
The young magistrate, who had worked with the efficiency of harvesting wheat in one go, stood still, glancing down at the sword in his hand and "Old Cui."
The cold, icy light of the sword illuminated a face with charred, blackened flesh and no eyebrows.
It was a fine sword; the blade was not stained with blood, only drops of blood like mercury slid down.
He can slay dragons.
Ouyang Rong, who was killing for the first time, wiped the blood splattered on his face with the fabric of his clothes on his shoulder, stood still and sheathed his sword. However, after several attempts, he could not insert it into the scabbard hole at his waist, so he simply gave up, picked up a sword and a head, turned around and slowly walked out the door.
In the courtyard, Xie Lingjiang, Commandant Qin, Yan Liulang, and County Magistrate Diao were all present. They gathered quietly outside the gate and stared wide-eyed as a county magistrate with the air of a frail scholar walked out carrying a head in one hand.
Xie Lingjiang hooked the two broken pieces of the bronze beast mask with her fingers, looked at her senior brother with concern, and stepped forward to speak, but was pulled by Yan Liulang behind her.
The young magistrate's blood-stained face was frighteningly calm.
He casually tossed a human head in front of the crowd:
"traitor."
The entire room fell silent.
"Take it and hang it on the city wall," he said again.
A complex expression, tinged with awe, appeared in the eyes of the crowd. As Ouyang Rong advanced expressionlessly, the people in front of him spontaneously parted to make way.
Only Magistrate Diao, who had just arrived at the scene and was unaware of the situation, was as talkative as ever, greeting them with a pained expression and saying:
"My lord, I told you we couldn't investigate! What if we find something? It could cost lives. Let's talk things out amicably. Governing such a large county with so many gentry and powerful families requires a slow and careful approach..."
Ouyang Rong suddenly drew his sword and slashed forward, shouting, "I'll stew your mother's head!"
"Ah... Help! Help!"
County Magistrate Diao was terrified and fled in panic, his head in his hands. Ouyang Rong, his face grim, chased after him with his sword drawn. County Magistrate Diao screamed for help, but no one dared to stop the raging magistrate. They all stood by dumbfounded, and some of the crowd who were blocking their path silently made way for them...
And so, in full view of everyone, the magistrate and the assistant magistrate of the county staged a life-or-death race in the courtyard.
"Your Excellency, calm down... Your Excellency, calm down... Ah!"
Unfortunately, Magistrate Diao was a bureaucratic slave who was always sleepy at 8 a.m. and a war god who stayed up all night. How could he outrun Magistrate Ouyang, the runner-up in the 100-meter dash at the school sports meet? Before he had even run half a lap, he screamed and was kicked down from behind, falling face-first to the ground. His official hat flew over the courtyard wall.
Ouyang Rong straddled Magistrate Diao, pressed his hand against the skinny head, and plunged his sword into Diao's neck, which was stretched out longer than a duck's, the blade almost completely embedded in the soil.
The hairs on Magistrate Diao's neck were almost touching the edge of the blade. He was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. He stared wide-eyed and stretched his neck, looking like a duck being beheaded on a chopping board.
"Your Honor, spare me! Your Honor, spare me! Waaaaah..."
"Nonsense...you're always nagging in my ear, like you're begging on your knees and trying to drag me down with you?!"
"No, I'm only doing this for Your Excellency's good... Your Excellency, calm down! Calm down!"
Ouyang Rong pried open Diao County Magistrate's eyelids with his fingers, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Diao County Magistrate's terrified gaze. His right hand gripped the hilt of the sword beside Diao's neck; with just a slight push forward, he could claim another fresh head.
"Calm down?" The young magistrate tilted his head. "Tell me, why am I so calm? If you can't tell me, I'll chop off your head as a sacrifice, then I'll lead my troops to the Liu family and raid their homes one by one!"
“……!!!” County Magistrate Diao.
The next update will be at midnight. If I don't update, you gentlemen, chop off my head!
(End of this chapter)
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