Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 78

The sword was in front of him, and there was no way to avoid it, but An Yinong was not panicked at all. He grasped the seemingly decorative sword beside him with one hand and drew it out directly to block. With a dinging sound, the narrow sword body actually blocked the assassin’s sword tip. The opponent’s sword body bent into a bow, bounced back, and made a buzzing sound.

An Yinong dismounted and leaned against the horse to deal with the enemy.

Seeing that the first strike failed, the assassin raised his sword and stabbed again, but the strike was blocked again. Gu Zhengzhong taught him according to what he had learned, so not only the Four Books and Five Classics, but also the Six Arts of a Gentleman which included swordsmanship.

“Who sent you?” After An Yinong and the assassin exchanged several moves, he asked sternly.

At this time, Guard Tian also joined the battlefield. The assassin saw that the situation was not favourable, so he took out something from his sleeve, put it into his mouth and blew it. The whistle made a sharp sound, and then four men in black rushed out from both sides and came to besiege him.

One punch cannot defeat four hands. The other side had too many people, so An Yinong and his companion gradually fell into a disadvantage.

“Oh no!”

In a moment of carelessness, one of the assassins stabbed An Yinong’s bun with a sword, cutting off his headband and part of the hair. The bangs fell down, covering the expressionless face. Faced with the crisis, An Yinong no longer held back. He increased his speed and stabbed one of the assassins in the abdomen with a backhanded sword.

At this moment, another assassin who was about to attack fell strangely, and the next second his arm was chopped off by guard Tian’s blade.

With snow-white skin, black hair, and blood-red lips, An Yinong looked like a ray of cold light created between heaven and earth holding a sword in hand.

A gust of wind came from the flat ground, gently brushing An Yinong’s long hair, and then blew towards the assassin, carrying sand and fallen leaves. The assassin was blinded by the sudden sandstorm. Taking advantage of their weakness, An Yinong cut their tendons with his sword and stabbed their hands, making them completely lose their fighting power.

When the wind and sand stopped, Guard Tian opened his eyes and found that all the assassins had fallen to the ground.

An Yinong stood there holding a sword, blood dripping from the tip of the sword, his black hair flying wildly in the breeze: “Take him back for interrogation.”

“Yes.”

The news that the county magistrate had been assassinated and his cattle had been poisoned spread throughout Dingsha County within a day. Everyone in Dingsha County knew who had done it.

“He dared to detain the children of the Jin and Bai families, and sentenced one of them to prison and the other to death. I knew this day would come.” In a quiet tavern, several people were talking about this.

“I’ve observed this county magistrate for more than a month, and he’s relatively honest and responsible in his work. Brother Wei, do we want to help him?” a man asked.

“Help! Since he dares to attack the Jin and Bai families, I will help.” The speaker was a strong man, holding a long sword in his hand. He had a handsome face, a righteous demeanour, and was a famous hero in the neighbourhood.

As they were talking, news came in from outside that the head of the Jin family had gone to the county government office to visit the frightened magistrate.

“Visit? I’m afraid it’s just intimidation.”

“Will the young magistrate be frightened? I heard that scholars are timid.”

The man who spoke before picked up a knife and said, “I’ll go and take a look.” After saying that, he walked away and disappeared at the door in the blink of an eye.

In county government office backyard, An Yinong simply tied his hair into a high ponytail and was drinking tea. The courtyard was small and the tea table simple, but he was enjoying himself. However, the head of the Jin family opposite him didn’t look too happy. He had just been greeted by a scholar using swear words without using any curse words.

“Sir, the emperor is far away and the sky is high. Don’t be too harsh in your words. It will do no good.” The sinister head of the Jin family threatened.

“The emperor is far away?” An Yinong clasped his hands towards the eastern sky. “I am a disciple of the emperor, a seventh-rank official appointed by the court, and the head of a county. Are you trying to threaten me now?”

“Sir, a man who knows the current situation is a hero. You should understand this principle better than me.”

“What if I don’t recognize him?” An Yinong stared at the proud head of the Jin family.

The head of the Jin family didn’t take the county magistrate’s anger seriously at all. He chuckled twice and looked at the simple little table and the tea with no fragrance: “You are the head of a county, but you live in a place like this, live a life like this, and there is no beauty in your room. Don’t you feel wronged?”

“I have food and drink, and a roof over my head to protect me from the wind and rain. Why should I complain?” An Yinong picked up the teacup and drank the tea. “Tea is a gentleman’s drink. I’m sorry I can’t invite Master Jin to drink with me.”

The head of the Jin family, who was ridiculed as not a gentleman, turned and looked at An Yinong: “Sir, although Dingsha County is a small place, it is not difficult to kill a few people quietly. Sir, you have guards with high martial arts skills, don’t others have them too? Sir, if you insist on doing this, you will implicate the people around you.”

“Oh, how long will it be good to be with wolves?”

An Yinong’s stubbornness made the head of the Jin family almost unable to control his temper. He forced a smile and said, “County magistrate? The number of county magistrates who died here is too numerous to count on one hand. I’m afraid you will be one of them in the future. Aren’t you worried that you will die in a foreign land?”

“How dare you!” An Yinong put the teacup heavily on the table and stood up. He waved his sleeves and put his hands behind his back. “Master Jin, how dare you curse the imperial officials here?”

“Whether it is a curse or a fact depends on whether the adults cooperate or not.”

“Cooperation? I have studied hard for ten years, not to cooperate with jackals and vicious dogs. I am ashamed to be associated with such a despicable person as you.”

The head of the Jin family barely suppressed his anger and sneered, “If you insist on going against us, then we’ll just have to wait and see.”

After the people left, An Yinong sat back in his seat. He touched the teacup, but the tea was already cold. He picked up the cold tea and said calmly, “Who is outside the wall? Why are you sneaking around and not coming out to see me?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a big man jumped into the yard. He was about 1.9 meters tall, tall, with a tough look, and a heroic spirit.

“I’m Wei Feng, a commoner. I heard that the Jin family wanted to kill you, so I came here specially to guard the door for you.” The man clasped his fists and saluted.

An Yinong was happy. He put down his teacup and said, “I don’t have the money to treat a hero like you.”

“Not a penny,” said the big man.

An Yinong couldn’t figure out whether he was serious or joking: “Why are you doing this? I have offended the two most powerful people in Dingsha County. Aren’t you afraid?”

“Your Excellency is not afraid of such a status. I have no ties behind me, so what should I be afraid of? The people of Dingsha County have suffered from the Jin and Bai families for a long time. I am here not only for you, but also for the people of Dingsha.”

The people of Dingsha County…

An Yinong was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked: “Do you know what happened to Magistrate Xu seven years ago?”

He was talking about the county magistrate who found out that the people of Dingsha County were stealing copper and eventually died in a foreign land. The people of Dingsha County also had to bear some responsibility for his death.

The big man hesitated and said, “I know. Could it be that this is why Your Excellency doesn’t want to care about the people of Dingsha County?”

The man could see that the new magistrate was a person with many ideas in his mind, but he did not take any action in the face of the hegemony of the Jin and Bai families. Could it be that he was fed up with the people of the entire county because of what happened to Magistrate Xu in the past?

“No, since I am the chief official of the county, how can I not care? It’s just that everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.”

An Yinong looked up at the hero and said, “If you want to stay, then stay.”

In this way, a tall gatekeeper appeared at the door of the county magistrate’s house. Worried that the county magistrate’s salary was not enough, the gatekeeper even brought his own dry food. In addition to protecting the new county magistrate, Wei Fang also wanted to know one thing: what exactly the so-called east wind referred to.

At the same time, the conflict between the magistrate and the Jin and Bai families was almost exposed. With a lot of evidence in hand, An Yinong started arresting people. In just two days, more than a dozen people from the Jin and Bai families were arrested. Where? Of course, they were taken to prison.

An Yinong specially opened a set of small dark rooms for them. It was a pitch-black room with only a chamber pot in the corner. Three simple meals were thrown in through the small window every day, and there was nothing else, no sound, no light. In just a few days, two of those with weak wills became mentally confused, and the remaining few lost their arrogance.

“You poisoned more than ten of my cows, and I captured more than ten of your people. It’s fair to exchange one thing for another.”

An Yinong’s words were enough to make the Jin and Bai families furious. Not only did the magistrate compare their children to cows, he even abused them like this. But they were more curious: who had disclosed all these things to the magistrate? He had only been here for a few days. How could he know all about the cases from several years ago?

“We miscalculated. He played dumb with us from the beginning. What a sour scholar! He is just an old fox! How can he be as cunning as a devil at such a young age?” The head of the Jin family had lost his mind after the series of failures.

It was not that he didn’t try to attack An Yinong and the people around him, but unfortunately, unexpected situations always happened, leading to his failure in the end. So he had already spent a lot of money, but the killers he hired kept failing one after another.

“You still call him an expert? What an expert, he can’t even beat a doorman!” Thinking of the thousands of taels of silver he had spent, the head of the Jin family felt pain. Dingsha County was a shabby place with a bunch of poor people. He didn’t know how long it would take to earn back the money.

“This person has some evil nature.” He thought of what the yamen runner had told him about the uncontrollable things, “What do you think, should we go and ask a shaman for help?”

“In my opinion, it would be better to contact our son.” Mrs. Jin curled her lips. She was happy to see her illegitimate son go in, but she absolutely did not want the Jin family to fall because of it.

“Will it delay him?” The head of the Jin family was a little hesitant. His eldest son was the hope of his entire clan.

“Now you know you’ve delayed him? For your good nephew, haha.” Mrs. Jin didn’t want to say more, she stood up, “Let’s solve it as soon as possible, really. Those mud legs are just watching the fun, next year the rent will be increased by 10%, and they will be charged 60% of the rent.”

The head of the Jin family gritted his teeth. This was no longer just a matter of his illegitimate son. The new magistrate was clearly targeting both of their families. As the saying goes, a county magistrate ruins a family, and a prefect annihilates a clan. It was not good for the people to fight with the officials, otherwise he would not have tried every means to send his son to the military camp.

“It seems that the key to breaking this situation is to find an important person who has a say.”

The head of the Jin family was also a decisive man. On the one hand, he found the Bai family and asked them to contact the horse thieves and attack outside. On the other hand, he drove a car with a lot of supplies to the garrison camp. These were all the fat of the people of Dingsha County that he had plundered, and now he was offering them up to ask for protection.

“Oh? He went to the military camp in person?” An Yinong got the news quickly. In fact, he had always held a trump card in his hand, which was the special permission given by Emperor Qi. However, this card was too lethal and would damage his virtue, so he was unwilling to play it.

He was still waiting for the second letter from Emperor Qi. This letter may be a letter of accusation, a letter of rejection, or a letter of approval.

“You wanted to leave them a way to live, but they always wanted you dead.” Gu Zhengzhong felt sorry for An Yinong. If it were him, let alone killing three clans, he could do the legendary inhumane killing of ten clans, right?

It’s just that An Yinong looks ruthless on the surface, but he was actually very soft-hearted. He could bend his head for a living, but he won’t give up even a step for the lives of others.

Gu Zhengzhong knew that he was a gentleman, but he also felt sorry for him because he was a gentleman. An Yinong sat in the backyard, holding a teacup in one hand, but he didn’t move for a long time, and the tea had gone cold.

If the garrison was persuaded, what would he do? If the garrison troops were dragged into the incident of “betraying the country and surrendering to the enemy”, there would be even more people to be cleaned up. All those implicated should be considered his sins.

“Sir, there is someone outside the door asking to see you.” Gatekeeper Wei came to report, interrupting An Yinong’s thoughts.

It was the messenger who came.

An Yinong opened the letter, and his expression changed from solemn to calm, and then to joy. “The east wind I’m waiting for has come, get the horse.”