Chapter 4: Heartless and Ruthless

  "This official looks a bit unfamiliar." Li Xiangcai stared at Lu Haoshan and said with some surprise.

  "It's okay if we haven't met before, once you're born, twice you're familiar. My surname is Zhao, and I've just taken over my father's duties in the county government office. It's not surprising that we haven't met before, Mr. Li. Please take care of me from now on." Lu Haoshan had a flattering expression on his face.

  "Is your surname Zhao? That's right, there is an old man with the surname Zhao in this yamen. This kind of job can be inherited from generation to generation, from father to son, and then to grandson. Anyway, it's a humble occupation. Li Xiangcai didn't ask further, as someone with a prestigious title like him wouldn't even bother standing up to talk, let alone show respect. He turned around and asked indifferently: 'Hmm, that's good. What brings you here?'"

  Lu Haoshan took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Li Xiangcai, saying: "This is a handwritten letter from the county master asking me to deliver it to Master Li. It says that Master Li should open it personally, please take a look."

  As soon as Li Xiangcai heard the county magistrate's personal handwriting, he was shocked and immediately took over the letter to take a look. Sure enough, his name was written on it, and the envelope had a fire seal stamp, and the handwriting was indeed that of the county magistrate. He hastily scraped off the fire seal, pulled out the letter paper, and read it on the spot.

  It's not a big deal if you don't look at it, but once you take a glance, you'll break out in cold sweat. There are only a few sentences on the paper, which basically say that the dispute over water has been reported to the Yongzhou government and they have sent a special envoy to investigate. They also asked Li Xiangcai to go to the county yamen as an escort. The letter also hinted that he should bring more gold and silver for bribery. Additionally, at the end of the letter, it says to come and go with fewer people and not to make a big show of it.

  These muddy feet are really fast, as soon as they found out about their movements on this side, the people from Yongzhou Prefecture came down, which scared Li Xiangcai so much that he broke out in a cold sweat. His nephew-in-law was in such a hurry, things must be bad, the handwriting was correct, and there was also a private seal below, Li Xiangcai didn't doubt it at all, after reading it, he immediately shouted: "Come on, let the steward prepare two thick gifts, prepare more silver, and also prepare a horse carriage for me, hurry up!"

  About a moment later, Lu Haoshan, who had received two silver coins as a reward, rode his horse to escort Li Xiangcai's sedan chair in the direction of Qiyang County Government, accompanied by Li Xiangcai's two trusted subordinates and a large package of goods used for bribery.

  Lu Haoshan informed him when the sun was already setting, and there were very few people on the road. This is a remote rural village, unlike the county town. The lives of the villagers seem to be only between their homes and fields, and as soon as it gets dark, they all stay at home. As a result, after walking for half a day, not a single person was met on that rugged dirt road, where a horse and carriage were slowly making their way straight to the county government office.

  "Hurry up, don't keep County Master waiting." Li Xiangcai in the carriage urged from time to time.

  The two characters for "official" are like two mouths, no matter how you say it, they all refer to the ruthless and cunning officials who bring ruin to families and counties. Li Xiangcai's wealth of millions has made him a target of envy for many, but fortunately his son is also an official and has become a protégé of a high-ranking minister in the capital, giving them some reputation. Under Li Xiangcai's management, their family business continues to thrive even in difficult times.

  "Yes, sir." The two trusted men, Zhang Niu and Zhao Fu, who were driving the carriage in front, hastily responded. With a long whip cracking, the horse accelerated its pace and galloped forward.

  After running for about half a time, Lu Haoshan, who was riding a horse, suddenly shouted loudly: "It's bad, stop the car, Mr. Li, the wheel on the right side of your carriage is about to fall off."

  The quality of the horse carriage is very poor, and with the rugged and uneven earth road, it's a common thing to break down. Li Xiangcai heard this and immediately said: "Stop the car, Zhao Fu, hurry up and fix it, don't delay our journey."

  Zhao Fu was a trusted aide and groom, who responded while stopping the carriage, picked up a small hammer and walked to the back of the carriage, preparing to repair it. At this time, Lu Haoshan, wearing a catcher's uniform, also got off his horse and stood behind the carriage, watching.

  "Thanks to Officer Da's sharp eyes, if the wheel had fallen off, Master would have beaten me with a board." Zhao Fu said with a smile as he walked alongside Lu Haoshan.

  Lu Haoshan said lightly: "Don't mention it, it's just a small effort. Mr. Li is an honored guest, and if anything happens to him, I'll also be responsible. Besides, he gave me some reward money just now."

  "That's it, that's it" Zhao Fu replied while walking to the side of the wheel hub, took a few glances, and said with some confusion: "Huh, where did it fall off? Nothing's wrong."

  "Look carefully, it's right here," said Lu Haoshan, pointing to a particular spot.

  Zhao Fu bent down to take a look at the place pointed out by the enthusiastic officer, but when he bent down and took a look, the axle was fine, nothing was wrong. He had just checked it himself two days ago. Just as he was about to ask if he had made a mistake, a hand suddenly covered his mouth tightly. Before he could react, he felt a pain in his chest. In the corner of his eye, he saw a sharp dagger inserted into his chest. He wanted to struggle, but the dagger stabbed him several more times, each time straight into the fatal spot. Very quickly, Zhao Fu was quietly done away with.

  From drawing the dagger, covering his mouth to stabbing the sharp blade into the heart, it was only a matter of two breaths. However, for Lu Haoshan, who was killing someone for the first time, it felt like an eternity had passed. When the blade pierced the heart, there was some resistance at first, but with a slight effort, it felt like inserting something into tofu - that kind of clarity. It felt just like slaughtering a chicken. Killing someone was much easier than Lu Haoshan had imagined. After all, humans are also animals, high-level animals.

  Lu Haoshan disposed of Zhao Fu, gently placing him on the ground. For some reason, he didn't feel that guilty conscience for his first kill; instead, he felt a strange excitement and was slightly over-stimulated. After taking two deep breaths to calm himself down, he picked up the hammer and tapped it against the carriage a few times, then shook it twice with force before opening his mouth to say: "Hey, brother in front, we're short-handed, come give us a hand."

  "Alright, I'm coming." This time Zhang Niu didn't wait for Li Xiangcai's instructions and immediately jumped off the horse cart to help with repairs. However, as soon as he turned around after jumping off, he felt a flash of cold light and was suddenly stabbed by a long knife that appeared out of nowhere, leaving him feeling chilled to the bone.

  "Ah, save...save me!" Zhang Niu only shouted once, Lu Haoshan twisted the knife and then pulled it out with force. With a "thud", the tall and sturdy Zhang Niu fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then stopped breathing altogether.

  At this time, Li Xiangcai, who heard the movement, opened the car window and happened to see Lu Haoshan's killing scene. His face turned pale in an instant, and his teeth chattered as he said, "You, what are you going to do?"

  Li Xiangcai almost went mad, he had never dreamed that the official sent by the county magistrate would silently kill his two bodyguards. Here, there was no village in front and no store behind, what did this damned yamen want to do? In an instant, four words appeared in his mind: plotting to rob and murder.

  "What's going on? Murder!" Lu Haoshan turned his head and said seriously, still having the mood to smile at Li Xiangcai.

  The fresh blood on the long knife was still dripping, and two corpses were lying on the ground. The night curtain was about to fall, and people were a bit blurry. When Lu Haoshan and Li Xiangcai laughed, a cool breeze blew over, which was like the devil in hell laughing at Li Xiangcai, scaring him so much that his whole body became stiff, his teeth chattered, and he almost peed his pants.

  "Grandfather, spare my life, spare my life!" Li Xiangcai rolled down from the carriage and knelt on the ground, saying: "These valuables are all small tokens of respect for you. If they're not enough, I have more at home, just as long as you don't kill me, whatever you want I'll give you, just don't kill me!"

  This place is secluded, calling heaven doesn't respond, calling earth doesn't work, these years of pampering and indulgence have exhausted Li Xiangcai's body, even if he wants to escape, he can't escape. Li Xiangcai is also straightforward, immediately offering wealth and goods, sacrificing fortune to ward off disaster.

  Lu Haoshan ignored him, put two fingers in his mouth and blew a loud whistle. Soon, Liu Jinzhu emerged from the roadside grass with a stick, first seeing Li Xiangcai kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, then seeing the bloodstains and corpses on the ground, he was startled, his face turned pale, swallowed hard, and whispered: "Shan Ge, it's done so quickly?"

  "It's going smoothly" Lu Haoshan said with an unchanged expression, in his previous life, he had participated in several tomb raids to find the real deal for fake ones, and his courage was much greater than that of ordinary people.

  "Are you Monkey Liu Jinzhu?" Li Xiangcai, who was begging for mercy, heard a familiar voice and looked up to see that it was someone he knew. Lian Xin asked in surprise.

  Liu Jinzhu is a hoodlum and has done several errands for him, so they have some connections.

  But kicking Lao Ping was useless, Liu Jinzhu kicked Li Xiangcai to the ground and said with a bit of schadenfreude: "You damned fat pig, you also have today, retribution ah, under the bright sky you killed Old Man Lu, heaven won't collect you, we will."

  Li Xiangcai's heart skipped a beat as he turned his head to stare at Lu Haoshan in shock, asking: "You... what kind of person are you?"

  "This is Mountain Brother, listen clearly, Lu Haoshan, he's the godson of Old Man Lu, you're scared now, right?" Before Lu Haoshan could even speak, Liu Jinzhu had already spoken up to introduce him.

  "No, no way, no way!" Li Xiangcai said with a disbelieving face: "You're wearing the catcher's clothes and have the county master's handwritten letter, could it be, could it be that the county master wants my life?"

  That set of quick-drying clothes was genuine, and the letter had been personally verified by him to be a handwritten note from County Master himself, complete with his seal. For a moment, Li Xiangcai felt like his brain wasn't working properly. Liu Jinzhu was a hoodlum from Huatian Village, and Lu Haoshan was that dead old man's adopted son - so where did the letter come from? When the two villages clashed, he had already taken care of things early on; County Master had accepted his bribe, and besides, they were relatives who had always maintained a relationship through holidays and festivals. How could he turn around and deal with him now? What benefit would he gain from Li Xiangcai's downfall? Not to mention that his own son was also an official.

  Lu Haoshan said calmly, "It's simple, everything is fake. This set of clothes was stripped from a drunk official, and as for the letter you saw, I'm afraid that's my handwriting."

  "It's impossible, that is the county magistrate's own handwriting, his writing style is very familiar to me. Moreover, there is also his seal." Li Xianghu said with a pale face.

  "There's nothing impossible, the county magistrate likes to play with words and it's too easy to find his handwriting. He deliberately imitates the calligraphy of Huang Tingjian from the Northern Song Dynasty, with more shadows of others and less of his own style. I spent just one day and managed to mimic his handwriting to about 80 or 90% accuracy. To be honest, even if you put it in front of him, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference at a glance. What's so difficult? At least that seal is simpler than a letter, just take a look and find a random stone, and I can make a fake one in no more than an hour. How about that, still have any doubts?"

  In his past life, he was a master forger, with methods that were so deceptive they could deceive even the average expert. As for antiques, those are examined point by point under a magnifying glass, and yet still can't be discovered, let alone a simple letter. For Lu Haishan, this is easier than eating, there's no difficulty at all.

  Li Xiangcai can be said to be wealthy and powerful, and he also kept many evil slaves in his mansion. For two people to kill him would be like moths flying into a flame. Lu Haoshan's purpose in going to Qi Yang County was to create objective conditions for implementing this assassination plan, to lure him out of the mansion, and when he was alone, to avenge the deep hatred of Old Man Lu. Looking at Li Xiangcai, who was trembling all over and pale as death, Lu Haoshan felt an indescribable sense of pleasure.

  In the late Ming dynasty where laws and discipline have collapsed, it's better to rely on oneself than others. Lu Haoshan no longer believes in the corrupt government that has rotted to the bone. What is truth? Power is truth.

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