Frontier Hero: From Receiving a Convicted Woman to Becoming an Emperor for All Time

"Who is it? Didn't we kill them all?"

He counted on his fingers: "Liu Wenzhao has already been killed, Wu Guangtian has been killed, Li Qiang has been killed, Zhou Zhubu is dead, and I also killed that bastard Sun Biao. Not a single person on the list has been left alive. Now the entire army of Ling Shuang Pass is in our hands."

He spoke with such conviction that it seemed to make perfect sense.

Shen Chuxiao glanced at him.

"Yes, what about the others?"

Tie Niu was stunned for a moment.

"What else?"

Shen Chuxiao did not answer immediately.

He looked down at the dried bloodstains on his hands, remained silent for a moment, then raised his head and glanced at everyone present.

Tie Niu, Sun Er Gou, Shen Qiao, Zhao Wu.

"Some people may not participate personally, but their behavior and attitude will also fuel the flames. In fact, it could end here, but since today we are going to change the situation in Ling Shuang Pass, we should not leave any hidden dangers behind."

Tie Niu opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

Shen Qiao crossed her arms, her eyes deep and unfathomable.

Zhao Wu stood at the farthest point, his brows furrowed in a frown.

No one could guess who else Shen Chuxiao wanted to kill within the pass.

Who's missing?

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Shen Chuxiao sighed and asked, "What do you think of the official in charge of Ling Shuang Pass, with its more than 40,000 people?"

Everyone was taken aback when these words were spoken.

The local officials of Ling Shuang Pass?

Tie Niu scratched his head, and it took him a while to realize what he meant.

Although Ling Shuang Pass is a military pass, more than 40,000 soldiers and civilians live inside it. The imperial court could not simply send military officers and ignore civil affairs.

There really is such a person.

The Assistant Magistrate of Ling Shuang Pass was surnamed Li.

What was it called again? Tie Niu thought for a long time, but he just couldn't remember.

Sun Ergou didn't remember either.

Shen Qiao arrived at Ling Shuang Pass later and was even more unaware of it.

Zhao Wu did know that such a person existed, but after careful recollection, he realized that his impression of this Assistant Magistrate was limited to the mere existence of such a person.

Ling Shuangguan Tongzhi, a fifth-rank official, held a position in the pass second only to Lu Chenzhou, and was half a rank higher than Lieutenant Generals like Liu Wenzhao and Zhao Chongyuan.

But ever since Lu Chenzhou arrived, this Lord Li has rarely shown his face.

He never attends military meetings, never inquires about city defense patrols, and even when the Black Stone tribe of the barbarians launched a major attack on the city and martial law was declared, this Lord Li seemed to have vanished into thin air.

"It seems... there is such a person."

Tie Niu finally remembered, but his tone was full of uncertainty, "Surname Li? Name Li... Li something again?"

"Li Wenzhong".

Shen Chuxiao raised his head, looking into the distance with a cold expression, his thoughts unreadable.

"Right, right, right, Li Wenzhong!" Tie Niu slapped his thigh. "Boss, I had forgotten about this guy if you hadn't mentioned him. This man seems to be quite good in our Ling Shuang Pass. He often opens the granaries to distribute grain. The winter before last, when there was a famine in the pass, he even used his own money to buy grain to relieve the disaster victims. He's a truly good person."

Sun Ergou also remembered: "I saw him once last year when I was on patrol. He was wearing a patched official robe and squatting in the shantytown in the east of the city, treating people. I thought he was some old man, but later I found out that he was the Assistant Magistrate."

Zhao Wu was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "I stayed at Ling Shuang Pass for six years and saw this Lord Li no more than five times. Every time I saw him, he was distributing porridge, providing free medical care, or repairing bridges and roads. He never interfered in military affairs and never argued with anyone. He was so low-key... he didn't seem like an official."

Shen Qiao suddenly interjected, "This kind of person is either a truly honest official or the one who hides his true colors the most."

Everyone was looking at Shen Chuxiao.

Shen Chuxiao didn't answer, but simply said, "Let's go, to the east of the city."

The eastern part of the city is a shantytown.

Although Ling Shuang Pass is a fortress, most of its more than 40,000 inhabitants are military households and merchants. The truly poor people are crammed into the low-lying mud-brick houses in the east of the city.

The road was a dirt road, full of potholes.

The houses on both sides were crooked and leaning, their walls peeling away to reveal the yellow earth and rubble underneath. A few skinny chickens were scavenging for food in the garbage heap, while a dirty child squatted in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at the group of strangers carrying knives.

Shen Chuxiao walked at the front, his steps slow but steady.

Tie Niu followed behind, looking around curiously: "Boss, does Lord Li live here?"

"Um."

"A fifth-rank official living in a place like this?"

Shen Chuxiao did not respond.

After turning two alleys, a dilapidated wooden door appeared ahead.

The paint on the door panel had peeled off, revealing the grayish-white wood. Half of a faded Spring Festival couplet was pasted on the door frame; the first line was gone, leaving only the crookedly hanging couplet that read "Peace is worth a thousand pieces of gold."

Voices could be heard coming from the courtyard; they were not loud, but very gentle.

"Mom, eat slowly, there's no rush."

"Son, you eat too, don't just keep putting food on my plate."

"I've already eaten, don't worry about me."

Shen Chuxiao stood at the door, not in a hurry to go in.

He glanced back at Tie Niu: "You guys wait outside."

Tie Niu was taken aback: "Boss, you're going in alone?"

"It's not like we're going to kill someone."

Tie Niu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking into Shen Chuxiao's calm eyes, he swallowed his words. He stood by the door, carrying his machete, like a guardian deity.

Sun Ergou and Zhao Wu retreated to the sides of the alley, while Shen Qiao leaned against the opposite wall, her fingers resting on the hilt of her sword.

Shen Chuxiao pushed open the wooden door and went inside.

The courtyard was small, with several bundles of firewood piled against the wall and a water vat in the corner, its rim chipped. A jujube tree grew in the courtyard, its trunk thinner than Shen Chuxiao's wrist, its leaves all gone, its bare branches stretching towards the gray sky.

Under the jujube tree, there was a low table with two bowls of porridge, a dish of pickled vegetables, and two multigrain steamed buns on it.

An elderly woman with gray hair sat at the table, wearing a faded cotton-padded jacket with frayed cuffs. She was holding a bowl of porridge, slowly drinking it; her hands trembled slightly, but her expression was serene.

Sitting next to the old woman was a middle-aged man in his fifties, wearing a gray cloth long gown with several patches, but it was very clean.

He had a thin face, slightly high cheekbones, a short beard on his chin, and small but bright and gentle eyes.

He was bending down to serve the old woman food, his movements very light and slow.

When Shen Chuxiao walked in, the middle-aged man looked up and glanced at him.

Then he put down his chopsticks.

He was not panicked, not flustered, and not even surprised.

She simply glanced at Shen Chuxiao calmly, as if she had known this day would come, and as if she had known who would come.

"Captain Shen."

Shen Chuxiao glanced around and nodded silently.

"I've heard so much about you."

Shen Chuxiao stood in the courtyard, looking at him.

The two stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them speaking first.

The old woman sensed something was wrong, looked up at Shen Chuxiao, then at her son, a hint of doubt flashing in her cloudy eyes.

"My son, who is this...?"

The middle-aged man reached out and gently grasped the old woman's hand, his voice warm: "Mother, he is Shen Chuxiao, the newly appointed captain of our Ling Shuang Pass scout battalion. It was thanks to him that we were able to repel the barbarians in these recent battles."

The old woman's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up. She tremblingly reached out, trying to grasp the hem of Shen Chuxiao's clothes, murmuring, "I heard that barbarians came in last night, but our border troops repelled them, preventing them from entering the pass… Child, wasn't it you? It was you who protected us common people, wasn't it?"

The middle-aged man stood up, straightened his clothes, nodded slightly to Shen Chuxiao, and then walked to the other end of the courtyard.

Shen Chuxiao followed.

The two walked to the jujube tree and stood still.

The wind blew through the bare branches, making a faint whistling sound, like someone crying in the distance.

"Are you here to kill me?"

Shen Chuxiao did not deny it.

"You knew this day would come?"

Li Wenzhong was silent for a moment, then smiled.

The smile was faint, but the eyes were bright, as if it were a kind of relief.

He then frankly stated, "From the very first day I arrived at Ling Shuang Pass, I knew this day would come."

"I just didn't expect it to be you."

Shen Chuxiao looked at him.

The person standing in front of him was wearing a patched long gown, his hair was casually tied up with a wooden hairpin, and he was wearing a pair of cloth shoes with worn-out toes that revealed the cotton filling inside.

If Shen Chuxiao didn't know his identity, he would have thought he was just an ordinary schoolteacher or a doctor in a pharmacy.

"Lord Li, you have served at Ling Shuang Pass for five years. You have opened granaries to distribute grain, provided free medical consultations and medicine, and repaired bridges and roads. When people inside the pass talk about you, they all give you a thumbs up."

"But do you know that in these five years, the military rations of Ling Shuang Pass have been resold three times, the weapons have been smuggled four times, the defense maps have been sent to the barbarians, and the border soldiers have died one after another?"

Li Wenzhong remained silent.

"You are the Assistant Magistrate of Ling Shuang Pass, a fifth-rank official, in charge of civil affairs, grain and fodder, and criminal matters. You couldn't possibly be unaware of these matters."

Shen Chuxiao took a step forward, now only two steps away from Li Wenzhong.

"You know, but you did nothing."

Li Wenzhong lowered his eyes and looked at the pair of worn-out cloth shoes on his feet.

There was a long silence.

The iron oxen outside the courtyard grew so tall that they began to move restlessly, and the wind in the alley stopped blowing.

"Captain Shen, do you know why I came to Ling Shuang Pass?"

Shen Chuxiao remained silent.

Li Wenzhong raised his head and looked at the bare jujube tree. "Back when I was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, I found a problem with the grain accounts. Three thousand shi of military rations had disappeared from the accounts. I followed the clues and found my way to Shuofang Road. It was around that time that I met Lord Wang Jingyuan."

"and then?"

"Then I was demoted to Ling Shuang Pass, from a sixth-rank official to a fifth-rank assistant prefect. On the surface, it was a promotion, but in reality, I was exiled to this godforsaken place."

Shen Chuxiao pricked up his ears, a smile on his face.

"When I came here, I told myself that if I couldn't control it, I would just leave it alone."

Li Wenzhong turned around and looked at Shen Chuxiao, his eyes shining brightly. "I opened the granaries and distributed grain using my own salary. I provided free medical consultations and medicine because I already knew some medicine. I repaired bridges and paved roads to make life a little better for the people inside the pass. That's all I can do."

"I can't do those bigger things."

"It's not that I don't dare, it's that I can't do it."

His voice finally trembled slightly, and the light in his eyes slowly dimmed.

"I have no soldiers, no power, no backing. If I dare to investigate those things, my corpse will be hanging on the city wall tomorrow. What about my mother... what will she do?"

When he mentioned my mother, his voice finally lowered, as if he was afraid of being heard by the people inside the house.

Shen Chuxiao fell silent.

He recalled how, when he first came into this world, he killed Chen Liang in the snow, married Wang Yilu at the village entrance, and killed the barbarian scout at Black Wind Ridge.

At that time, he had nothing.

But at least he had the skills he brought back from the battlefield, a knife, and a life free from fear of death.

The person in front of me has nothing.

He had only a patched official robe, an elderly mother, and a heart that had been crushed and pieced back together by reality.

"Master Li."

Shen Chuxiao stared at him, her eyes unfathomable, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

"I believe you when you say you can't do it, but have you ever considered that doing nothing is itself a form of indulgence?"

Li Wenzhong's body trembled slightly.

"You opened the granaries and saved a few disaster victims. But the military rations that were smuggled out were enough to feed three thousand border soldiers for three months. You provided free medical consultations and medicine, curing the sick, but how many border soldiers were killed by the smuggled weapons that were transported out of the border?"

"Lord Li, your kindness and the evil of those people are actually intertwined."

These words were like a dull knife, cutting into Li Wenzhong's heart again and again.

There was no blood, but every cut made into the flesh.

Li Wenzhong closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his eyes were red.

But he neither cried nor made any excuses.

He simply said, "Captain Shen, you're right."

Shen Chuxiao looked at him, remained silent for a few moments, and then sighed.

He turned around, walked to the courtyard gate, and pushed open the dilapidated wooden door.

"Lord Li, would you like to go for a walk outside?"

Li Wenzhong stood still, without moving.

He glanced inside the room.

The old woman was still drinking her porridge, slowly, sipping it one spoonful at a time.

She was hard of hearing and didn't hear the conversation outside, nor did she know that her son was standing in the yard facing a ruthless killer.

Li Wenzhong stared at the old woman's gray hair and her wrinkled hands holding the bowl for a long time.

Then he chuckled softly.

That smile contained relief, reluctance, guilt, and something else that was hard to describe.

"it is good."

He said.

He walked to the doorway, bent down, and whispered in the old woman's ear, "Mother, I'm going out for a bit. I need to talk to Commander Shen about something. Eat slowly, and when you're done, put the bowl on the table. I'll come back and wash it."

The old woman didn't even look up, waving her hand: "Go on, go on, don't delay important matters."

Li Wenzhong straightened up, straightened his clothes, and walked towards Shen Chuxiao.

When they reached the outside of the courtyard, Tie Niu glanced at him, then at Shen Chuxiao, his expression complex.

Although Tie Niu is simple-minded, he is not stupid.

He had a vague idea of ​​what was going on.

Sun Ergou lowered his head, not daring to look.

Zhao Wu stood at a distance, expressionless, but his fingers on the hilt of his knife trembled slightly.

Shen Qiao leaned against the wall, watching Li Wenzhong's back with a deep gaze.

Shen Chuxiao walked in front, and Li Wenzhong walked behind.

The two walked one after the other across the bumpy dirt road, past the crooked mud houses, and past the children squatting at the doorways, staring at them with wide eyes.

When he reached the alley entrance, Shen Chuxiao paused for a moment.

He didn't turn around, but just said something softly.

"Lord Li, I apologize for my offense."

Li Wenzhong stood behind him and smiled slightly.

"Captain Shen, thank you for your trouble."

"I have done nothing during my five years at Lingshuang Pass. I have failed this official robe, failed the soldiers who died on the border, and failed the more than 40,000 people inside the pass."

"If it weren't for my mother, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. To be honest, it's exhausting. It's a pity I don't have Lord Shen's courage. If I did, Ling Shuang Pass wouldn't be in this state today."

"I can't let her suffer with me."

"I absolutely cannot let her watch me die."

Shen Chuxiao closed his eyes.

The wind blew in, rushing in from the alley entrance with a whooshing sound.

"Then... we'll see Lord Li off."

May you be born in a better time in your next life.

After saying that, he sighed.

Then he drew his sword.