Li Qingshi’s mother was a famous beauty throughout the surrounding villages. At the time, every young man shared the same dream: to marry this girl, who was even more beautiful than someone from a painting.
Unfortunately, she was ruined by a young master from out of town.
This left those young men beating their chests in anguish, with some even preparing to take up their knives and kill someone.
Unfortunately, that inhuman young master had already slapped his backside and left, and no one knew where he had gone.
This matter left countless young men unable to taste their food and wishing they were dead. No matter how they thought about it, they could not understand how that gentle, delicate beauty could have done such a thing. That bastard young master must have used some despicable trick!
In the eyes of others, she had always been a gentle and delicate woman, but Li Qingshi knew that deep down, she was actually an incredibly stubborn person.
When he was young, whenever meat appeared on the dinner table—which was not often—she would save all of it for him and refuse to eat even a single bite herself.
When he grew older and became more sensible, he pretended to be a picky eater and would only eat a few bites whenever there was meat. Afraid it would spoil, she would then eat what was left.
Later, when she realized he had been pretending, she stopped eating it altogether. She would rather let it spoil and throw it away than yield to him.
A person that stubborn would never turn back once she had set her mind on something, even if nine oxen tried to pull her back. And if she had set her heart on someone, naturally, it was the same.
That was why Li Qingshi knew she had never truly forgotten him.
Li Qingshi did not know what kind of story had unfolded between them, but from the few words she had mentioned in passing, he could more or less guess.
He had told her that his ambition was to leave his name in history. She could not read and did not know what leaving one’s name in history meant, but she had always remembered it firmly.
So after her child was born, she named him Qingshi, believing that what he had said was that his name would be left in Qingshi.
What kind of motive could a person have for discussing ambitions, scholarship, and that strange, dazzling world beyond with an illiterate country woman who had never seen the wider world?
Could he possibly be a good person?
Li Qingshi had met someone like that before. It was Old Liu.
But Old Liu was a good person.
He was not.
Because he had ruined her.
So in Li Qingshi’s heart, he had always been the image of a scumbag who deceived ignorant women.
…
As Li Qingshi hurried along, he calculated inwardly that once he had taken his revenge, all that remained would be finding that heartless man. Once he found him, as long as he was willing to kowtow and admit his mistakes before his mother’s grave, Laozi would not make things difficult for him.
Qingshui City had reopened its city gate for only five or six days, and there were fewer common people entering and leaving the city than before.
After entering the city, Li Qingshi made his way familiarly to the Broadsword Society branch hall. It was a large residence with four or five courtyards. Someone stood guard inside the gate, and noisy voices came from the grounds, clearly indicating that many people were present.
Li Qingshi admitted that he did not possess Liu Fengliu’s abilities and did not dare kill anyone in broad daylight. He found an inconspicuous place to keep watch, planning to act at night. In the meantime, he could also investigate the true situation inside the branch hall.
People entered and left the residence through the main gate from time to time. Li Qingshi silently counted them, but although night had fallen, the person he was waiting for still had not appeared.
Around the fifth quarter of the Xushi hour, a lecherous-looking middle-aged burly man emerged from the residence. A three-inch-long knife scar marked his left cheek, and four men clustered around him.
Li Qingshi raised an eyebrow and followed without making a sound.
This was the culprit who had killed his mother—the Chief Helmsman of the Great Saber Society, Huang Tiancheng.
There were still pedestrians on the street, making it inconvenient to act. He trailed the five men from behind, and after turning through several streets, they entered a quiet, deserted alley.
Li Qingshi thought, “How considerate of you.”
Just as he was about to act, the door of a dilapidated small courtyard ahead suddenly creaked open, and a young couple carrying bundles walked out.
Huang Tiancheng froze, then grinned. “Yo, are you trying to escape?”
When the man among the couple saw them, his face immediately turned deathly pale, and his entire body began to tremble. He stammered, “N-no, didn’t we still have another day until tomorrow? W-what are you doing here now?”
The young woman was in an even worse state. Her hands and feet had gone weak with fear, and she would have collapsed to the ground if she had not been leaning against her husband.
Huang Tiancheng slapped the man across the face and cursed, “Fortunately, Laozi suddenly felt like coming over. If I had arrived even a moment later, wouldn’t you two have gotten away?”
Li Qingshi listened for a while and figured out what had happened.
The young couple had originally set up a stall on the street to sell vegetables. A few days earlier, when the city gate had been closed, they had been unable to leave the city and their source of goods had been cut off. A small business like theirs could not earn much money to begin with, and they had always lived from hand to mouth. This had only made matters worse.
Later, when the city gate reopened, they were able to resume selling vegetables. But the Broadsword Society suddenly announced that protection fees would be doubled, and that those who had not set up their stalls in the street during the previous days would also have to pay the arrears. The young couple had no money and could not pay. As it happened, Huang Tiancheng passed by and noticed that the young woman was rather attractive. He set tomorrow as their final deadline, declaring that if they still refused to pay, he would take the young woman to the Broadsword Society branch hall and enjoy himself with her for several days.
Tonight, after drinking his fill, Huang Tiancheng recalled the young woman’s appearance and figure. He had become so eager that he could not wait another moment, so he personally brought his men over.
Huang Tiancheng ordered four of his men to guard the entrance. Each grabbed one person and dragged the young couple inside. A moment later, the man’s heart-rending cries for mercy and the young woman’s terrified screams rang out from within.
The four Broadsword Society members outside peered into the courtyard while wearing lecherous smiles and discussing matters in low voices.
“Is he really going to do it in front of the woman’s husband? The Chief Helmsman’s tastes are becoming more and more unusual.”
“Only the Chief Helmsman could think of something like this. Damn, just imagining it gets me excited.”
“I wonder if, after the Chief Helmsman gets tired of playing with her, he’ll let us go in and enjoy ourselves too.”
“From what I know of the Chief Helmsman, it’ll take him several days to get tired of her. Why are you in such a hurry? We’ll get our turn then.”
“…”
In the darkness, Li Qingshi’s grip on his sword grew tighter and tighter. Sure enough, it was easier to change mountains and rivers than a person’s nature. That bastard Huang could not stop his vile habits; after more than ten years, he had only become even worse.
He still clearly remembered that when he was five, his mother had gone up the mountain to gather wild vegetables and fruit. She returned somewhat late that day, so he went up the mountain to look for her. From a distance, he saw that bastard Huang harassing his mother. Although she appeared delicate and weak, she was actually extremely fierce by nature. As she fought back with all her strength, she clawed his face. Enraged and humiliated, that bastard Huang threw his mother straight off a cliff.
As he recalled those scenes from many years ago, Li Qingshi’s breathing grew heavier and heavier. In the end, however, he retained some clarity of mind and did not lose his reason.
Old Liu had once said that when a person waits too long for something, the waiting itself is not much of a problem. Instead, the closer the moment finally comes, the harder it becomes to remain calm.
What made Li Qingshi hesitate now was not these Broadsword Society members. In any case, they would all die tonight, and there was naturally no need to worry about dead men.
He was afraid that killing them now would let the young couple see him. Even if he covered his face, he could not change his body shape, and there would ultimately be a risk of exposing himself.
If he were alone, he naturally would not fear exposure. At worst, he could flee and live as a fugitive. But he still had to support Old Liu in his old age and funeral rites, and he was also afraid of implicating Gouzi and the villagers of Baitou Village.
Unless absolutely necessary, he naturally had to act in secret. But if he truly was exposed, he could only seek help through the County Magistrate’s connections.
Listening to the cries and pleas for mercy coming from inside, Li Qingshi felt unbearably tormented. Just as he began to hesitate over whether to act on impulse and rescue them first, a sudden clatter rang out from within.
Then came the woman’s scream: “Ah! You killed him! You killed him! I’ll fight you to the death!”
Another slap sounded, and the woman fell silent as well.
Li Qingshi was startled. Had they been killed?
Since they were dead, he no longer had any reservations. He shot out from his hiding place and thrust his sword four times at his fastest speed. The four Broadsword Society members guarding the entrance had their necks craned toward the courtyard, and all four were killed before they could even understand what was happening.
Li Qingshi charged into the courtyard and heard Huang Tiancheng curse from inside, “****, Laozi only kicked him once and slapped him once, and he fainted? Damn, what a disappointment!”
So they were not dead. This bastard Huang had finally done one decent thing, allowing Laozi to save them without worrying about exposing himself… Li Qingshi kicked the door open and stormed inside.
When Huang Tiancheng saw a masked man enter, he merely froze for a moment and did not take him seriously at all. He asked, “Who are you?”