Chapter 5: Chapter 4: Lady Weiguo, Shao Ge'er, and Yulian (4)

In any case, being promoted several ranks in the military is a good thing; it saves years of grinding for seniority and merit. The problem Brother Shao faces now is establishing prestige and controlling his subordinates, so he must first secure his position as a centurion.

At dusk, Guo Shao left the drill ground and first went to the barracks to retrieve a mule from his unit, so he could go back and collect his personal belongings for the upcoming campaign. He intended to head to the barracks station that very night to look into the storage of mules, horses, and grain.

He was accompanied by five or six soldiers, all old subordinates from the Fourth Squad when Guo Shao was a decurion, who happened to live in the south of the city. These men were clearly more familiar and closer to Guo Shao. Logically, he could have turned the Fourth Squad into his personal guard right then and there; with military power and loyal followers, it would be easier to control the entire unit. Unfortunately, the decurion of the Fourth Squad was now Yang Biao, who had just been demoted from a captain, and there was no way to move him for the time being. To Guo Shao, this situation was rather unpleasant.

When they reached Vermilion Bird Avenue, Guo Shao told the soldiers to go home and led the mule alone through the back alley. Just as he entered the alley, he heard the sound of things being smashed—the noise was coming from Yulian’s house.

Sure enough, as he reached the Chen family’s door, he heard the sounds of beating and cursing inside, along with a woman’s weeping. Yulian’s choked voice cried out, "Let go of my hair... stop hitting me, how can I face anyone like this..."

"You slut! You still have the face to face people!" The cursing was punctuated by the sharp sound of slaps, and the woman’s wails were truly miserable.

Guo Shao was instantly consumed by rage. He dropped the mule’s reins, saw the pile of firewood from last night still sitting outside, grabbed a piece, and rushed to the door. He turned sideways and kicked it with a "bang." The dilapidated door panel didn't just swing open; it flew into the room along with its rivets, and dust from the lintel rained down. Clad in over fifty pounds of heavy armor, Guo Shao was as light as a swallow, leaping inside in a single bound.

The room beyond the door was like a hall, empty save for a table, two round stools, and a bamboo chair. Broken porcelain shards littered the floor. A man sat on the bamboo chair, still clutching Yulian’s hair. Both were startled by the sudden commotion and stared at the uninvited guest, who stood there in iron armor looking like a fierce god of plague.

"Let her go!" Guo Shao pointed his firewood club at the man and barked.

The Chen man recovered from his shock, sneered with anger and annoyance, and said, "The adulterer has arrived?"

He had guts! Or perhaps he hadn't yet realized his own danger. Without another word, Guo Shao swung the club at the man’s head with a "whoosh." The man instinctively let go of Yulian and raised his arms to protect his head. "Crack!" A loud sound rang out, accompanied by the faint noise of breaking bone. The firewood snapped in two, and a heart-wrenching scream instantly echoed through the entire alley.

"Brother Guo..." Yulian was also terrified; her face turned deathly pale, and her shoulders trembled.

Guo Shao ignored her, threw away the broken stick, stepped forward, and grabbed the man by the collar, tearing off a piece of gray cloth with a "rip." He tossed the rag aside, grabbed the man’s injured arm with a hand like an iron pincer, and hoisted him straight off the chair. Being dragged by his freshly broken arm, the man let out a wail that was unbearable to hear.

Guo Shao carried the man, who weighed at least a hundred pounds, like a chick, strode out the door, and tossed him outside. The man tumbled and crawled into the foul-smelling drainage ditch, struggling but unable to get up.

"Stop, you'll kill him!" Yulian followed him out, her voice trembling.

Guo Shao was filled with a murderous aura, his face livid. He stood there for a moment before saying coldly, "I have been promoted to a centurion. My superior, Commander Wang, knows that I have ties to the Prince Consort, Zhang Yongde."

His voice was low and devoid of emotion, yet it sounded inexplicably terrifying. He wasn't showing off, nor was he trying to bully others by relying on his connections... he was simply stating a fact: the government offices of the two counties in the Eastern Capital would never dare to arbitrarily punish a commander of the Imperial Guard, and the Imperial Guard Commander, Wang Degong, wouldn't truly do anything to Commander Guo out of respect for Zhang Yongde. If Yang Biao had beaten someone to a pulp for no reason, he would have been demoted at most, with no one to speak for him.

The Chen man hadn't fainted yet; he looked at Guo Shao with fear while crying out. For a moment, the two shocked people didn't seem to have processed what Guo Shao was saying.

Guo Shao slowly reached for the *zhang* sword at his waist. "Shhh..." A cold, thin sound of metal sliding against the scabbard.

"What, what are you doing?" Yulian hurriedly grabbed Guo Shao’s wrist, her eyes wide with terror. Guo Shao’s voice: "I am helping you dig out the pus from the wound."

...

The blade reflected the last glimmer of light from the alley, rising slowly; the entire movement felt exceptionally long. Yulian could have tried harder to stop Guo Shao, perhaps by stepping forward to pull his arm, but she didn't. In the final moments, she didn't even try to persuade him; she seemed frozen, merely watching the process.

The trajectory of the steel blade was not hurried, yet it was without hesitation. A scream was heard, and blood splattered onto the nearby earthen wall. The Chen man’s head fell heavily onto the stones in the ditch, and a pool of blood stained the debris and sewage red.

With the chilling, dull sound of the blade breaking through flesh and blood, and the air stained by a mist of blood, everything seemed to be over!

Watching him being killed in the filth, Yulian felt a sudden, intense heartache, thinking him truly pathetic. In truth, she had never truly hated this man; even when he beat and cursed her, she felt only pity mixed with contempt.

But mere pity and sympathy could not sustain her through such a difficult struggle for survival. As a woman, enduring years of gossip while caring for an alcoholic, disabled husband, she had long hoped to escape this sea of misery one day. Though she didn't want to admit it, this cruel scene actually made her feel inexplicably relieved... yet, having an outside man—someone already the subject of rumors—kill her husband right in front of her still filled Yulian with guilt.

She didn't even have the heart to consider how to handle the aftermath of a homicide; she remained stunned by her complex emotions. It wasn't until Guo Shao called her: "Go call someone. Tell the neighbors to report it to the official shop on the main street, and say that I killed your husband."

Yulian’s face was deathly pale. She looked back at him and stammered, "Report you?" She noticed that after killing the man, Guo Shao was standing there, slowly wiping the blood off his blade with a cloth.

Just then, a scream rang out from a nearby house: "Murder! Mur-murder..."

...Yulian followed his instructions and hurried to call the neighbors, saying that Brother Shao had killed a man. Everything was a fact.

After the chaos subsided, she gradually began to understand the events of the past two days. Last night, Guo Shao had spoken of "not being sure," and just now he mentioned his promotion and his connections to powerful figures: it was because until last night, he couldn't be certain if he would be severely punished for killing someone, but today he was finally convinced that killing a man didn't necessarily mean paying with his own life!

This man was calculating; even in moments of impulse, he would not act recklessly, yet when victory was in his grasp, he was ruthless. His method of killing was brutal—he was truly a terrifying person. However, Yulian also realized he wasn't the type to use any means necessary, because he hadn't killed for his own sake.

Even if killing didn't require a life in return, there would always be trouble and a price to pay! Killing the Chen man clearly brought him no benefit. And this morning, he had given her the land deed for free... Why was he being so good to her? Yulian naturally thought that Brother Shao had feelings for her. But upon closer reflection, it still didn't make sense. Brother Shao was young, tall, and strong, and had just been promoted to commander; it wouldn't be hard for him to find a maiden. If he just wanted a fling, there was no need for such trouble. He had plenty of opportunities at the blacksmith shop; he didn't need to do all this. Even if he had used force, no one could have sanctioned him, because the streets were already filled with rumors about Yulian’s lack of virtue.

Not long after, the bailiffs arrived. First came the runners from the official shop on the commercial street. Seeing Guo Shao in full battle armor, armed to the teeth, how could they handle him? Then, officials from the county office brought more men, and the coroner went to the back alley.

Guo Shao sat in the shop, the murder weapon resting on the anvil beside him, as if waiting to be arrested. A crowd of bailiffs in black uniforms and countless onlookers surrounded the shop, but no one dared to step inside.

For the first time, Yulian looked at him so carefully from within the crowd, a fog of confusion in her heart. What kind of person was he, really?

At this moment, the bailiffs dispersed the crowd slightly. A coroner cupped his hands and said, "The victim has expired. The deceased has a broken left arm, a dislocated shoulder, and a fatal wound on his face from a sharp blade..."

A man wearing a black gauze cap and a blue cloth round-collared robe pointed at Guo Shao and asked, "Did you kill him? Why?"

"I killed him. The man surnamed Chen spoke rudely and angered me. I intended to beat him to vent my frustration, but I accidentally killed him." Guo Shao sat still, appearing very rude. However, judging by the color of the official's clothes and the style of his cap, he was a low-ranking official—perhaps not even of a higher rank than Guo Shao, a commander of the Imperial Guard.

A man in a tall hat nearby wanted to step forward to make an arrest, but suddenly saw Guo Shao reach out and pick up the sword beside him. The bailiff was startled, stepped back twice, and blurted out, "You’ve committed murder, and you dare to resist?!"

Unexpectedly, when he stood up and picked up the *zhang* sword, he only tossed it aside to show he was not resisting, and voluntarily confessed: "I am Guo Shao, a commander of the Xiaodi Army under the Palace Command. My commander is at the North Fengqiu Gate, Commander Wang Degong."

Upon hearing this, the official hurriedly reached out to stop the head bailiff and whispered, "Immediately send someone to the north of the city to notify his superiors."

Someone nearby asked, "What about the perpetrator?"

The official pondered for a moment and said, "Take the body from the back alley to the yamen for an autopsy, collect the weapon, and after clarifying the case, report it to the magistrate before making a decision. Do not act rashly. Leave a few men here to watch, and go inside to tell Commander Guo to wait in the back... It would be better if he could write a confession."

Seeing that Guo Shao was fine, Yulian silently went around to the back alley and returned to her home to wait.