Chapter One: Perplexity

  Gao Jian was somewhat surprised by Gao Huaiyuan's sudden request to learn to read and write, but as a son of the Gao family, if Gao Huaiyuan really couldn't recognize a single character, it wouldn't sound good to say so. For the sake of appearances, Gao Jian agreed to his request and invited an old scholar to take charge of teaching Gao Huaiyuan to read and write.

  But in just a few days, Lao Xiucan quit, because Gao Huaiyuan didn't listen to him at all. He taught Gao Huaiyuan the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as various poems and essays. Gao Huaiyuan was impatient with learning and only asked him to teach him to recognize characters, so that he could understand some classical Chinese texts, it was simply a crash course in literacy!

  Lao Xiuciai couldn't stand Gao Huaiyuan's request and thought he was a hopeless child, so angry that he puffed out his beard and glared with his eyes, intending to resign. However, Gao Huaiyuan did not agree, and secretly obtained several strings of cash from Huang Yan, which he stuffed into Lao Xiuciai's hands.

  Although the old scholar was a bookworm who valued integrity, he had not achieved much in his life. He came from a poor family and had to make ends meet by teaching others how to read and write. Although he felt uneasy about taking money from Gao Huaiyuan, he swallowed his pride for the sake of making a living. After all, having enough food was more important than saving face. So he gritted his teeth and tolerated it, going to Gao's humble abode every afternoon to teach him how to read.

  Gao Jian asked Old Shucai twice about Gao Huaiyuan's studies, but Old Shucai just shook his head and said that Gao Huaiyuan was not cut out for studying. Upon hearing this, Gao Jian didn't ask any more questions and thought to himself: "Let him be, as long as he can recognize a few big characters."

  During this time, Gao Huaiyuan always found that Gao Huaibiao was wandering around his small courtyard for no reason, seemingly with ill intentions. Moreover, Liu'er told Gao Huaiyuan that she had been molested by Gao Huaibiao twice already. He would take advantage of Gao Huaiyuan's absence to sneak here and try to take liberties with Liu'er. Only when Liu'er threatened to kill herself did he fail to succeed.

  Gao Huaiyuan almost burst his lungs after hearing this. Now everyone in the Gao family knows that Liu'er is his reverse scale, and no one dares to bully her. This scoundrel actually dared to try something with Liu'er, it seems he didn't take himself seriously at all. And these days, Liu'er has been living a much better life, becoming more elegant and refined, showing off the unique beauty of a young girl. Her body has also become plumper, giving off a somewhat immature yet beautiful feeling. No wonder this scoundrel would make a move on Liu'er, it's truly despicable to the extreme.

  He now understands the relationship between Gao Huailiang and Li, knowing that he can't guarantee to take Li's place, looking for his own trouble. However, he is not afraid of this guy either. If he really provokes him, a casual slap can make this embroidered pillow lie down for a while. Compared to when he severely beat the evil slave before, his methods are now much stronger, at least three to five times more powerful. As his master said, ordinary strong men, even three to five of them, are no match for him.

  But as for how to deal with Gao Huailiang, Gao Huairen hadn't completely thought it through. It would be better not to use force if possible, after all, this guy was his father's favorite son. Fighting him wouldn't do himself any good, and letting him make small moves behind his back would always be a threat. What he feared wasn't people stealing from him, but rather people bearing grudges. After thinking for a long time, Gao Huairen felt that he couldn't just wait anymore and decided to take the initiative. In this era, he had to learn how to protect himself; no one could help him, he could only rely on himself.

  After making up his mind, Gao Huaiyuan began to take action. For several nights in a row, he took off the iron sand walking head on his body and moved quietly in the courtyard. The result of this long period of bitter practice finally appeared. Although it was not as exaggerated as flying over the eaves and walking on the walls, Gao Huaiyuan's body was light and agile like a swallow after taking off the iron sand walking head, his movements were fast like a weasel, moving in the dark corners of the mansion, his footsteps silent, and no one could detect him.

  That night, the Gao family was in an uproar. Gao Jian slept in the third room with his concubine. In the middle of the night, he suddenly heard a knocking sound on the window frame, which woke him up from his dream. He quickly got out of bed to check and saw a black shadow flashing by, heading towards Li's small building. Gao Jian thought there was a thief in the house, so he hastily called over some family slaves, telling them not to make any noise. He himself carried a precious sword and led them quietly to surround Li's small building.

  The result was naturally predictable, the thief didn't get caught, but he got caught up in something and someone he least wanted to catch. When Gao Jian led his men searching around Li's house, they suddenly heard a mixture of male and female moans and flesh colliding sounds coming from inside, accompanied by a woman's groaning voice. Gao Jian felt like his head was going to explode, and in his rage, he kicked open the door to Li's bedroom with one foot. The result was that he caught someone red-handed in adultery.

  Gao Huailiang and Li were in the midst of their illicit affair on the bed, thinking that Xiaolan was outside keeping watch, so they were completely carefree as they entwined together. They had no idea someone would barge in. Just as things were getting intense, the door was suddenly kicked open by Gao Jian. The two people were shocked stiff, and even when Gao Jian rushed to the bedside, the lower halves of their bodies still hadn't separated. In the dim light, Gao Jian didn't see clearly who the man on the bed was, raised his sword, ready to strike down and end the lives of this pair of adulterers.

  Gao Jian didn't see Gao Huai Liang clearly, but Gao Huai Liang saw Gao Jian clearly. In his panic, when he saw his father furiously wielding a treasured sword and chopping towards him, he let out a loud cry, wailing and shouting: "Father, don't chop..."

  This shout saved his life, Gao Jian was about to take action in extreme anger, but he heard the man on the bed calling out in a strange voice, and hastily turned his sword to chop at the carved wooden bed frame, fortunately not chopping Gao Huaiyang on the spot. After taking a closer look, he fainted on the spot, falling to the ground with a thud. At this time, the family slaves also rushed in, holding lanterns to take a look, and everyone was stunned.

  Gao Huaiyuan crouched behind a nearby artificial hill, beside him was a woman who had fallen to the ground, it was Xiao Lan, the one who had been having an affair with Li Shi and had been spreading rumors about Gao Huai. She was now unconscious, he gazed at the chaotic scene of Li Shi's small building, sneered a few times, then quietly disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind the rest of the matters, he didn't care anymore, what needed to be done had already been done, it was up to Gao Jian to deal with this matter now.

  Gao Jian was rescued by the family slaves and immediately tied up Gao Huailiang and Li Shi, who were already frightened out of their wits. This almost gave him a heart attack on the spot. As soon as he saw the two, he rushed over and swung his fists wildly, punching them hard in the face. The two of them cried out loudly, their faces swelling up like steamed buns, with blood streaming down their noses and mouths.

  Gao Jian beat himself until his hands ached and he couldn't lift them anymore, then looked at Li Shi and Gao Huai Liang who had been beaten into pigs' heads. Gao Jian pointed at the two of them, stuttered for half a day, but didn't say anything, as if he wanted to bury them alive to vent his anger.

  Finally calmed down, he thought it was still unbearable to do so, after all, Gao Huailiang was his favorite son. Killing him was truly unbearable, and if this matter were to spread out and become known, he himself would lose face and become a laughing stock for others. So, after thinking about it for half a day, he had the two of them locked up first, and summoned all the family slaves who knew about the matter, strictly ordering that no one was allowed to spread the news out, otherwise, if anyone was found to have leaked the information, they would be beaten to death. The family slaves were terrified, each one vowing not to say a word.

  As for how to deal with this matter, Gao Jian thought for half a day and had someone drag Gao Huailiang out, beating him severely with twenty large boards. Then he was confined to his room, focusing on reading books, not allowing him to take a single step outside for two years. As for Li Shi, she wasn't so lucky. Gao Jian hated her to the point of gnashing his teeth and ordered that she be locked in her small tower along with Xiao Lan who knew about it. No one was allowed to give them food or drink, starving them to death inside the tower. Then he quietly held a funeral for them, claiming to outsiders that they had died from a sudden illness, executing family law.

  If this matter were to be reported to the authorities, Li would also have been unable to escape death, and Gao Huailiang would have been sent to the border as a soldier. The key was that Gao Jian couldn't bear to part with this person, so in the end he forcibly suppressed the matter and privately dealt with them.

  Poor Li, who had always been arrogant and domineering. After the incident, no one in the Gao household pleaded for her, and she was locked in a room with Xiao Lan, wailing and begging for mercy for six or seven days before starving to death. Even on her deathbed, she couldn't figure out who had knocked Xiao Lan unconscious and brought Gao Jian to her place, exposing her adultery to him. She died unjustly, and even in the underworld, she couldn't make it clear what had happened.

  Gao Jian himself was also puzzled, wondering who had led him to Li's place and exposed Li's adultery to him. After investigating privately for several days, he discovered that many valuable items were missing from Li's room. He could only conclude that there really was a thief in the house that night, and it was just his luck that he stumbled upon Li's affair with Gao Huai-liang. However, he had no way to report this to the authorities and have them investigate the thief, so he could only swallow his anger and let the matter drop, hoping that the little thief would never reveal his family's shameful secret.

  Liu'er heard about this matter and immediately thought of Gao Huaiyuan. These days, as soon as night fell, Gao Huaiyuan would change into a black outfit and go out to do who-knows-what, only returning very late at night. On the day of the incident, Gao Huaiyuan returned after the chaos in the mansion had subsided. Without needing to think carefully, Liu'er knew that Li Shi's illicit affair had been exposed and was closely related to Gao Huaiyuan. However, she would never reveal this matter. She knew that Gao Huaiyuan was doing this for her sake, venting his anger on her behalf. What else could be in his heart besides gratitude? From then on, whenever Liu'er looked at Gao Huaiyuan, her gaze contained a few more degrees of tenderness.

  He stood aloof, watching the events unfolding in the Gao mansion with a detached gaze, listening to Li's and Xiaolan's wails. He didn't feel any guilt or sympathy because over the past few days, he had heard many things from Gao Huaiyang and Li that made him realize it was fortunate he had acted early. If he hadn't taken action beforehand, it would be him and Liu'er who would be suffering now.