High mountains, distant emperor. Decayed hearts in the rustic countryside. Within the Qing Kingdom, all officials were under the powerful supervision of the Supervisory Council. The integrity of the bureaucracy was unprecedented. However, the Supervisory Council was, after all, a somewhat deformed organization. It could not control every joint of a feudal dynasty from top to bottom, especially as it went further down the ranks, further into the remote areas. The faces displayed by the privileged class of officials became even more detestable.

Dazhou was a remote prefecture. The yamen runners and officials here, while not exactly like wolves and tigers, were clearly not the kind of good people who loved the people like their own children. Especially on a hot summer day like this, the sun brought out the stench of sweat on the yamen runners, and also burned away too much of their reason.

Adding three catties of beef and two taels of white wine to their stomachs, the alcohol steamed their hearts. They left the small wine stall, came to the noodle stall, and stared with smiles at the beautiful proprietress, their mouths starting to water.

Harassing women in the street was not something normal officials and yamen runners would do. If it were normal times, these yamen runners would probably just look and that would be it. But today, for some reason, they just couldn't take their eyes off her. Their words became increasingly dirty. Some of the red-faced fellows who had drunk too much even suggested that the woman at the noodle stall should come and keep them company.

It was all the fault of the yellow wine being too easy to drink, the white wine being too heady, and the noodle stall owner's wife being too pretty.

…

…

Gao Da had married a wife in Dazhou. He had never told his wife about his past. He just lived a stable life.

Sometimes he felt that heaven was indeed very kind to him, giving him such a beautiful wife at the beginning of the second half of his life. This wife was a widow, a mute, and had a son. However, even so, Gao Da still felt that he was very lucky.

Because his wife was extremely beautiful. She was a famous beauty in Dazhou City. In Gao Da's eyes, she was not much worse than the Sili Li who was sent to Northern Qi that year.

Moreover, his wife was extremely gentle, extremely virtuous, and extremely good, so good that he didn't know what adjective to use to describe her.

Originally, in order to hide his true identity, Gao Da should not have married such a conspicuous pretty wife. But he loved her, pitied her, and also pitied that little boy who was only a little over a year old.

The mute wife also liked the honesty of this strange outsider, his powerful muscles, and the sense of reliability and security he gave off.

Although she was beautiful, she was, after all, a mute widow, so she didn't expect to have a good life. She had no relatives in Dazhou City. Those men who often coveted her were probably just greedy for her body and wanted to tie her back to be a concubine, or even just... The mute wife didn't want that. She just wanted a simple and warm home.

Naturally, the two of them came together. They invited a few neighbors to have a meal. The Song hired worker, who had wandered from another place, moved in with the poor mute widow in Dazhou City. Then, they opened a noodle stall.

The one-year-old child would sometimes come to the noodle stall, but when business was good, they had to ask the old woman in the neighborhood to help take care of him.

The people in Dazhou City were as simple and reliable as the people in the four corners of Qing Kingdom. However, officials and yamen runners were not the people. From ancient times to the present, they have not been the people.

So Gao Da's wrist, as he was picking up noodles, sank. His face was lowered slightly, shrouded in the steam rising from the noodle soup pot, making it impossible to see the emotions in his eyes clearly.

A blush appeared on his wife's face, a blush of shame and anger mixed together. She listened to the increasingly loud dirty words in the stall, and her eyes gradually filled with humiliated tears. She looked at her husband next to the noodle soup, hoping to see something, but saw nothing. She was a little disappointed, and a little resigned. Before getting married, she knew that Brother Song was a very timid person, an honest person who didn't say much more than she did.

The silence of the noodle stall couple fueled the arrogance of the yamen runners. Things were always like this. When one side oppressed the other, if there was no resistance, the force of the oppression would increase.

One of the yamen runners reached out to grab the mute wife's fair little hand, but she dodged it. The yamen runner began to get upset and started cursing.

Gao Da's hand, holding the chopsticks, tightened. But he knew that he should endure, because once something happened, he and his wife would face being wanted by the imperial court. Moreover, he was, after all, an imperial court expert back in the day, so he still had some confidence in the Qing Kingdom officials. He always thought that these yamen runners were just enjoying themselves verbally and would always leave later.

However, these yamen runners did not leave. Today, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Justice was sitting in Dazhou, supposedly secretly investigating a major case. That was why he had driven out these lower-level yamen runners, making them walk around in the hot sun with great effort.

They were hiding in the shade of the noodle stall, teasing the beautiful and speechless little wife. What a delightful thing to do! As for the man in the noodle stall? These yamen runners knew that although the man named Song looked very strong, he was a useless piece of trash.

Teasing his wife in front of a useless man, wouldn't that be even more enjoyable?

…

…

The other people in the noodle stall, seeing that the situation was not right, had already quietly left. But before leaving, they cast sympathetic and reminding glances at Gao Da. The people should not fight with the officials. They didn't want the noodle stall owner to really get into trouble with these yamen runners.

Gao Da didn't make a fuss. He just held the chopsticks and gently called his wife back behind the stall. Then, he walked to the table, awkwardly put on a smile that was uglier than crying, said a few flattering words, and begged for mercy.

It was indeed very awkward. In this life, Gao Da had only flattered Fan Xian, and Fan Xian thought that his flattery was not good and stopped him from learning from Wang Qinian. From that day on, Gao Da had never flattered anyone again. Even officials of the third rank treated him with great politeness.

Today, flattering and begging for mercy from these yamen runners was the biggest concession Gao Da had made for his life. He should have learned some things during these three years of wandering in the world. However, he was, after all, the Tiger Guard Gao Da, who held a knife in his hand, stood in the Qing Palace in the capital, and defeated enemies with a single move. How could he truly break his proud bones and become a shrimp on the beach?

Tiger Guards were not bodyguards, not people who served others, but only used to kill people.

The yamen runners suddenly felt that a mountain had appeared in front of them. It was the owner of the noodle stall. A surge of momentum came crashing down, causing their dirty words of teasing to stop abruptly.

After a moment, they felt ashamed and angry because of their loss of focus. How could this honest man scare them so much that they couldn't even speak? This guy named Song was clearly hunching over, constantly smiling obsequiously. Because of their shame and anger, they became even more arrogant and slammed the scabbards on the table, making a deafening sound.

Gao Da's eyes fell on their scabbards. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't touched a knife in a long time. His hands were only holding a pair of long black wooden chopsticks.

He didn't say a word, didn't resist, and let them scold him, because he wanted to protect his wife and his wife's child. He didn't want his wife and child to be displaced all over the world because of him.

Even Gao Da himself didn't actually want to wander around the world anymore. After escaping from Mount Dadong that year, he could have gone to Dongyi or Northern Qi, but he didn't want to. He was, after all, a Qing person. He was willing to stay in the Qing Kingdom, even if the place he stayed still had officials like wolves and tigers and the injustices of the world.

Gao Da was enduring, enduring very hard. Gao Da was pretending to be weak, pretending very awkwardly.

However, at this moment, he heard a strange sound. Looking back, he saw a drunken yamen runner leaning against his wife. That hand was reaching towards the plumpness under her cloth skirt.

Gao Da's hand, holding the chopsticks, tightened, as if he were holding that very long knife.

His expression didn't change. His eyes were still calm. There was no more endurance or pretense. He didn't need to think about anything anymore. He was just following his instincts, which he hadn't used in three years, and naturally slashed out with the chopsticks.

Just like slashing at Xiao En, slashing at assassins, slashing at the wind. The Tiger Guard used a long knife, and in this life, he would only use the simplest way to cut through all the problems in front of him.

Perhaps Gao Da had chosen the wrong path in these three years. He was someone who used knives, not someone who worked below.

…

…

Gao Da seemed to have forgotten that he was not holding a knife in his hand, but a pair of chopsticks. He just slashed down like that.

The yamen runners were laughing loudly as they looked over there. They were planning to ask that brother later if the mute wife's butt was really that bouncy. They were also planning to take advantage of the chaos and touch that big butt a few times themselves after the man named Song was beaten to the ground.

With a snap, the chopsticks broke.

The entire noodle stall fell silent.

The mute wife stared blankly at the scene in front of her. Her pupils gradually shrank, showing extreme fear and shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing at all. Her mouth made a "he da" sound, wanting to scream, but no sound came out.

The yamen runners in the noodle stall also stopped their laughter and all their movements, just staring blankly over there.

A pair of black wooden chopsticks broke into two pieces. One of the pieces, however, had already cut through the yamen runner's throat like a sharp blade!

The yamen runner's chest was covered in flowing blood. His throat was cut open by the chopsticks, revealing the trachea, esophagus, and countless blood vessels whose names they didn’t know.

The yamen runner stared with dead fish-like eyes at Gao Da, who was standing like a mountain in front of him. He didn't understand until his death why his throat was cut off just because he touched that woman's butt. He didn't understand even more how the black chopsticks in the noodle stall owner's hand could be so sharp!

Gao Da's hand, holding the half-broken chopstick, was very steady. When the yamen runner died in front of him, he seemed to have stopped being a noodle stall owner and become a very terrifying swordsman. That familiar feeling had returned to his body.

He walked forward, gently hugged his wife, and whispered something in her ear. He frowned slightly. He knew that his attack was too ruthless. This yamen runner did not deserve to die. And now that he had revealed this move, he was afraid that the powerful state machinery of the Qing Kingdom would investigate him and find out his background.

But…

Gao Da didn't act out of anger and lose control. In fact, he really just waved the chopsticks lightly. But he forgot that he was an expert at the peak of the eighth rank, and he also forgot that the people making trouble in the noodle stall today were not the Junshan Society or the Northern Qi Embroidered Uniform Guard, enemies of that level. They were just some hateful, despicable, and pitiful little yamen runners.

It was just a misunderstanding, a fatal misunderstanding. Gao Da overestimated these yamen runners too much, so he killed one of them so easily.

The other yamen runners in the noodle stall trembled as they watched this scene. They didn't know what kind of person the noodle stall owner was. They were even more shocked by the bloody scene. After a long time, one of the timid yamen runners screamed.

The scream woke everyone up. They didn't believe that anyone in the world could kill someone with a pair of chopsticks. They thought they were seeing things. Perhaps the noodle stall owner had hidden some weapon beforehand, which caused their brother to die.

One of the yamen runners secretly slipped away to report to the government. The others, led by the small leader, pulled out the broadswords from the table, shouted loudly, and charged towards Gao Da.

Gao Da lowered his head and explained something to his wife sadly. The chopsticks in his hand had already fallen to the ground. He found that his wife was terrified.

His hand reached into the storm of blades and snatched a knife. He slashed out casually. There was a series of clanging sounds, a bloody storm, and in a burst of blood mist, the yamen runners had no power to resist at all. Their heads and bodies were separated and fell to the ground, falling in the noodle stall.

All the yamen runners were dead, dead very decisively and cleanly.

Gao Da, covered in blood, held a knife in one hand and supported his wife with the other. He walked out of the noodle stall, shocking the people on the street, who made way for him like a tide.

He knew that he had to leave Dazhou as soon as possible and had to hurry. Killing these yamen runners was nothing, because his name was Gao Da, the leader of the Tiger Guards. He was originally a killing weapon. His past life and history destined him not to be able to work in a noodle stall forever. But now he had a wife and child. He didn't want to die under the imperial court's pursuit, so he had to escape desperately.

Under the scorching sun, Gao Da and his wife embarked on the road to escape after killing people in the street. The couple didn't say anything. They rushed back to their home as soon as possible, took their son from the hands of the neighbor's aunt, and then picked up some money, preparing to leave the city.

Along the way, the mute wife didn't say a word, but her stubborn and beautiful face was full of trust and admiration for the man. She was willing to follow him.

Under the scorching sun, Gao Da held his child, carried a short knife, looked at his wife, and thought of the future life of wandering in the Jianghu. A strong sense of apology and unease welled up in his heart. He said softly, "Wife, I owe you too much."

However, the government office in Dazhou City reacted faster than ever before. Before Gao Da had the chance to make up for the debt in his heart, the city gate was already tightly closed.

…

…

I think everyone knows that Salun has made a web game: Twilight of the Gods. Many people are playing it there. For specific game introductions, you can go to the website to have a look.

At 14:00 on November 26th, the new server "Niao Ni Universe" will be opened.

The address is: /10

Friends who like to play games can go and play it to see if it's fun. I will also go and have a look when I have time.