Joy of Life

He and his mute wife"s reaction had also been very quick. Returning home, they grabbed their child and began to head to the city gates. The government couldn"t have reacted yet. When they were half a li from the city gates, they heard the sound of the heavy gates closing, as well as chaotic yelling and tense orders. Gao Da stared at the city gate in the distance and quickly gathering bailiffs. His heart felt cold. He was very surprised.

He turned his head and glanced at his wife beside him. They had moved too fast earlier. There was sweat at the woman"s temples. Her face was flushed with red. Her bright eyes were filled with fear and unease.

Gao Da patted her hand and said in a low voice, "Don"t be scared, you have me."

The mute woman half opened her mouth and nodded. She thought that since her husband had killed a bailiff, it was considered acting against the court. She was afraid that none of them would survive. A bitterness rose in her heart and seeped into her eyes. It appeared very sorrowful.

No one knew where the orders for the city gate had come from. They only shut the gates and did not expand their search boundaries. This gave Gao Da a moment to react. He furrowed his brows and headed toward the private residences behind him with the child in his arm and his wife"s hand in his. In a moment, they disappeared into Dazhou.

…

…

Gao Da"s luck was very bad because a special investigation member of the Ministry of Justice had chosen to meet in Dazhou. It was actually quite the coincidence that this special investigation member had been sent by the scholar He Zongwei of the Hall of Governmental Affairs to investigate Gao Da, who may be escaped from Dong Mountain all those years ago.

During these months, He Zongwei had maintained his calm in Jingdou because he knew that his strength and connections in the court and the Emperor"s royal favor were not enough to move Fan Xian from his position. That was why he had continued that matter in secret.

He wanted to use w.a.n.g Qinian or Gao Da to wedge open a crack. After investigating for months, there was still no lead on w.a.n.g Qinian of the Overwatch Council. Even though Lao w.a.n.g had his entire family in hiding, the special investigation official could not find any clue.

Under He Zongwei"s great pressure and support, the officials of the Ministry of Justice began to investigate from the minute details at Dong Mountain. They vaguely seemed to have touched on Gao Da"s escape route. In the end, they narrowed the place he could be hiding in to seven provincial cities to the south of Dongshan Road and north of Jiangbei Road. Dazhou was one of them.

Amidst the oceans of people, it was difficult to find an ace everyone thought had died. Furthermore, they couldn"t send out wanted posters for this matter, so the aces of the Ministry of Justice"s 13 yamens had been searching through the seven cities, as well as the surrounding countryside for half a year, looking for a needle in a giant haystack. They had yet to find anything.

Other than the aces of the Ministry of Justice"s 13 yamens, there were also a few aces from the internal court that had been sent by He Zongwei. Although the Qing Emperor had given these people to He Zongwei, it was only to protect his personal safety. He Zongwei had already put all of his chips on w.a.n.g Qinian and Gao Da, so he sent them to Dazhou.

Dongyi was about to succ.u.mb to peace. Fan Xian was about to return. Scholar He had still yet to hear good news from his subordinates, so he began to feel anxious. Although he maintained a calm and gentle expression in front of his subordinates, he began to exert a great pressure in his private orders.

The aces of the 13 yamens were about to go crazy from this pressure. The meeting in Dazhou was to exchange the information they had and hope they would be able to find the already disappeared Tiger Guard.

Coincidentally, the bailiffs they had sent out to check household registries had gotten lazy and entered a noodle shop. The owner of the noodle shop killed someone.

The bailiff that got away had not yet reached the Dazhou government when he first saw these sinister and lofty figures from the 13 yamens.

Amidst his shock and fear, this bailiff reported what had happened in the noodle shop earlier to the people from Jingdou. A buzzing sound rang out in the minds of these Ministry of Justice officials, who were on the brink of madness because of the pressure from Scholar He. Although they could not confirm the ident.i.ty of the owner of the noodle shop, the sensitive instincts of an official of the Ministry of Justice, as well as powerful ability to implement orders, made them go over Dazhou government"s jurisdiction in an instant and directly gave the order to close the city gates.

Gao Da"s family were locked inside Dazhou.

…

…

After a night of work, the officials of the Ministry of Justice had confirmed the ident.i.ty of the owner of the noodle shop. Regardless of whether it was the chopsticks broken in two or the wounds on the bailiffs with their heads and bodies in different places, they all spoke clearly of the person"s marvelous knife skills and ruthless execution. Would a martial artist at such a realm be hiding in a small city and selling noodles? Something was definitely up.

The officials of the 13 yamens were feeling nervous. The noodle shop was surrounded by lit torches, which illuminated everything clearly. They all thought surely they had found him after a year of hard work, right? The red firelight shone on the faces of the officials of the Ministry of Justice, the nervously and excitedly watched the internal court aces inside the noodle shop, hoping to receive a final confirmation.

A pale-faced ace of the internal court gently used his finger to press against the break in the chopsticks. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

The officials of the Ministry of Justice looked at each other and couldn"t contain the joy in their eyes. In order to investigate this groundless court criminal, they had endured a great deal of pressure from Scholar He. Furthermore, it was completely rootless. They had run around the Qing Kingdom for an entire year before narrowing their target to around Dazhou. They had not thought their luck would be so good that their target would jump out so quickly.

The ace of the internal court was He Zongwei"s direct subordinate, but he had been bobbing around the palace for years and didn"t know why Scholar He was investigating the matter. He knew the shopkeeper who had run away was probably the only Tiger Guard left in the world.

Worry flashed across his old face. He didn"t know what kind of danger was hidden behind this matter.

All the elderly people in the palace knew Tiger Guards were dangerous people single-handedly trained by Minister Fan. The Emperor had used the Dong Mountain incident to break Minister Fan"s powerful wings, so how could there still be one in Dazhou?

The light in the ace"s eyes suddenly brightened. He wondered if Scholar He had received a secret edict from the Emperor to search the world tirelessly for this person. But what about Sir Fan junior? If Sir Fan junior learned about this man"s survival, what consequences would there be?

These were matters that only major figures had to consider. They were only subjects and subordinates. They just had to follow orders. Since it was a criminal of the court who had escaped, he had to be caught. The internal court ace looked at the joy in the eyes of the Ministry of Justice officials and couldn"t help but sigh in his heart. He thought the officials probably didn"t know how terrifying a Tiger Guard was, particularly a Tiger Guard who had learned to escape before the battle.

…

…

The city had been sealed for an entire day and night. The Dazhou Zhizhou also knew of this matter. He was angry that a wicked man had killed one of his bailiffs. He was even more confusedly angry about the major matter of the city being sealed. These people form the 13 yamens of the Ministry of Justice dared to interfere in local affairs? Did they not understand that it was difficult for the people to make a living once the city was sealed?

After the 13 yamens of the Ministry of Justice revealed the secret order from the Hall of Governmental Affairs and ident.i.ties of the internal court aces to the Zhizhou, he immediately fell as silent as a quail. He knew the owner of this noodle shop was not just a criminal of the court, he probably also had a terrifying background. That was why there were so many people from Jingdou here to capture him.

The Zhizhou immediately made his position clear and mobilized all of the officials and bailiffs in the government. He began to cooperate with the officials of the Ministry of Justice that came from Jingdou as they combed through the city. Even the local elders were mobilized.

In a place like the Qing Kingdom, once the full strength of a local government was mobilized, it was not difficult to find a few people in a city. Since the criminal had a wife and child, he would have to sleep, eat, and make contact with people.

The officials of the Ministry of Justice were pleased with the level of cooperation from Dazhou. They believed that they would be able to force the criminal from the private residences in two days, at most.

Hidden among the private residences, it had already been a day and a night since Gao Da had eaten. He had carefully hidden all of their tracks and only taken a risk to steal a few clothes and some food and water for the child. The Tiger Guards had never received training in escaping and hiding. After following Fan Xian for a few years, he would probably be difficult to find if he actually went into hiding alone.

However, just as the government deduced, he had a wife and child by his side. It was indeed a troublesome matter. The mute woman"s nerves had been stretched to breaking point. Her large eyes were filled with sorrow.

Two days. Gao Da knew that it would take two days for the government to find the three of them. After he sank into thought for a long time, he decided to take the initiative in breaking out of the siege.

He chose dusk, the time of day when people were most likely to be relaxed. This was still the first day after killing people at the noodle shop.

Amidst a bloodlike dusk, Gao Da slowly walked toward the city gate with the child tied to his chest and holding his wife"s hand.

He had thought for a long time but still could not think of a way to take his family over the tall city walls. His only choice was to break through.

He walked step by step toward the city gate. The soldiers and bailiffs at the gate were staring nervously at the people going in and out. Although the city had been sealed in name, the country folk bringing in water and vegetables could still go in and out of the city. However, the guard was very strict, seemingly even more so than Jingdou.

A few Jingdou officials of the Ministry of Justice held a picture and compared it closely and coldly with everyone who walked by.

They came closer and closer to the city gate. Gao Da felt his hand grow wet. It was not he who was sweating with nervousness. It was his wife"s hand. He turned and glanced at his mute wife and found that her body was already trembling.

It looked like they would not be able to fool the sharp-eyed officials at the city gate. Gao Da sighed in his heart. He had never really thought they would be able to sneak out.

The family of three stood in front of the city gate, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and soldiers. They were only 65 feet away from the path leaving the city. In front of the city gate, there was a mule cart transporting fresh vegetables. Gao Da"s eyes were focused on the mule cart.

"The city has been sealed. No going in or out," a soldier said loudly to Gao Da. It was clear that these three could not be farmers from outside the city.

The aces from the 13 yamens narrowed their eyes. They looked at the family standing close by and their pupils gradually narrowed. The picture in their hands was gradually put down. Their hands slowly moved toward the hilt of their knives at their sides.

He was too easy to recognize. They saw at once that he was the court criminal they had been hunting for a year. It was unbelievable that he had come out like this on his own to the city gate. Did they think they could just kill their way out?

The aces from the Ministry of Justice slowly emerged from all around and gradually surrounded the family in the center. Before the circle was completed, Gao Da had already lifted his face and was looking calmly into the eyes of the ace closest to him. There was not a sliver of emotion in those eyes, only coldness.

"Surrender…" The ace suddenly felt a wave of danger wash over him. He gave a roar. At the same time, he pulled his knife out from his side.

He only had time to say the first words of "Surrender and wait to be captured." The latter words were extinguished by a wave of blood. In an instant, Gao Da moved forward two steps. He stretched out his hand like a dragon and snapped this ace"s wrist.

There was no time for the Ministry of Justice ace to make any reaction. He could only retreat quickly. However, while his wrist was still swinging through the air, it snapped with a crack.

Gao Da s.n.a.t.c.hed the knife and swung out his arm, leaving behind a smear of blood and the ruined and falling body of the ace.

He retreated back to the woman"s side and coldly looked at the Ministry of Justice aces and soldiers charging toward him without a trace of fear or self-doubt. He only had a great confidence. With a knife in one hand, who could stop him?

Knife light flashed. Wielding the knife, Gao Da led his wife and child toward the city gate. No enemy remained whole in front of his knife. Each time the knife swung out, someone died. With blood and wind opening up the path, in an instant, they were about to break out of the city gate.

He had won through courage. He stunned the hearts of all the Ministry of Justice officials. They looked at the valiant figure and could not close in around him.

The 65 feet was not very far, nor was the cart. There was already a fair amount of blood on Gao Da"s body and face. He still held his wife"s hand tightly and was carefully protecting her, paying the price of a few extra wounds on his body.

The aces of the 13 yamens were powerful, but they were not as terrifying as Gao Da"s ferociousness.

Gao Da gave a roar. Like a b.l.o.o.d.y dragon, he shattered the combined attack of three Ministry of Justice aces in front of him. The blades of the knives shattered into countless pieces. He used these pieces to open up a path and charged toward the outside of the city.

A handprint suddenly came out of the dusk from the direction of the carriage toward his face. Gao Da gave a m.u.f.fled groan and fell to the ground with a punch extended. The palm and punch met. A wind rose up outside the city gate.

When the wind died down, the internal court ace looked at him in a daze and said, "Gao Da, you are actually alive."

Gao Da"s pupils narrowed. Pulling his wife behind him, he said, "It"s you, did Eunuch Yao come too?"