The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 17 The time is ripe
As night fell over the Shi residence, lights began to illuminate the various courtyards.

Xiao Yi planned to use Shi Dechong to alert the soldiers outside the door, observe the situation, and create an opportunity to escape.

This time, he didn't ask for an audience; instead, he barged in.

"Young Master is resting; he won't see anyone." Liu San, who was guarding the courtyard gate, muttered, "You really think you're my confidant..."

"roll."

"How audacious..."

"Oh!"

Without saying a word, Xiao Yi punched Liu San in the face, quickly climbed the steps, and pushed open the door without calling out.

"who?!"

Behind the screen, Shi Dechong sat up in surprise, and his beautiful concubine cried out.

Xiao Yi said, "Outside the mansion..."

"Xiao Yi? You've gone too far!"

"The guards outside the mansion have sealed off the gates, and the commander-in-chief has still not returned."

Xiao Yi raised his voice, drowning out Shi Dechong's. He didn't get angry; he remained calm and spoke his words slowly and deliberately.

"I believe the authorities have already taken action against the Shi family. It's not premeditated; it's already happened. We're surrounded."

The room fell silent, with only the rustling sound of the beautiful concubine dressing behind the screen.

Liu San rushed to the door and shouted, "Young master, he hit..."

"roll!"

Shi Dechong cursed, put on his coat and slippers, and walked up to Xiao Yi.

"Don't be alarmist. Perhaps... perhaps Father has increased the guards?"

He had been socializing all day, his eyes were bloodshot, he looked listless, and his voice was hoarse.

Xiao Yi's eyes were firm.

Since Shi Dechong also didn't know the details, he was even more convinced of his judgment.

"Why should you take chances, young master? If you really thought nothing was wrong, you would have already slapped me for barging in. Right now, we need to break through as soon as possible."

"Break...break through?"

"Of course, young master has always had great ambitions. Haven't you made any preparations for a mutiny?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Dechong was momentarily stunned, as if "mutiny" were two extremely distant words.

"Father...he...father..."

"Wake up."

Seeing Shi Dechong, who usually gave orders, suddenly become so useless, Xiao Yi raised his voice and scolded, "If you only hope that the commander-in-chief will stage a coup, what ambitions do you have? The situation has changed now, you must pull yourself together."

Shi Dechong then snapped out of his daze and slipped on his shoes to go outside.

Xiao Yi quickly caught up and asked, "Who was it that came to see the Commander-in-Chief from the palace today?"

"Let me think about it, it should be, it should be Nie Wenjin."

Xiao Yi recalled the intelligence he had read and asked, "Commander of the Right Wing of the Imperial Guards?"

"Yes, he is a general of the Imperial Guard that Father placed next to the Emperor."

"What does he want with the commander-in-chief?"

"It seemed that the Emperor had done something wrong, so my father and the other officials went into the palace to admonish him... They went into the palace to give him their advice."

"They've entered the palace?"

Xiao Yi's heart sank, and his steps faltered.

He didn't believe that Shi Hongzhao could survive entering the palace without any precautions.

Today it seems there's a chance to save the Shi family, but in reality there isn't.

The historians are finished; they brought it on themselves.

This was Xiao Yi's judgment. He decided to leave immediately. If Shi Hongzhao was not dead and was going to kill him, the runaway slave, he was willing to accept defeat.

Out of a sense of utmost kindness and consideration, he gave Shi Dechong one last reminder.

"I don't think Liu Zhu is trustworthy. Be careful of him."

"Liu Zhu?"

Shi Dechong murmured to himself, then suddenly remembered something, his body trembled, and he turned and walked in another direction, ordering, "Go and tell Xie Hui to gather the guards and wait for me in the main hall!"

Xiao Yi glanced in the direction Shi Dechong had gone; it was Shi Hongzhao's study.

When disaster strikes, everyone should flee for their own lives.

He rushed to the west courtyard, where Jie Hui and Zhao Chong were still drinking. Seeing him return, they asked with a grin, "Little fledgling, didn't you give Chun Tao a good time?"

"Haha, what good can a coward do?"

Tonight, Xiao Yi let them talk nonsense and said indifferently, "Young Master has ordered the head constable to summon the guards to the main hall."

"What happened?"

"You will know when you go."

"Damn it." Jie Hui cursed as he got up, took a few steps, turned back to Xiao Yi, and asked, "Aren't you going?"

"I am not a soldier."

Zhao Chong pointed and said, "I'll fix you up when I get back."

Xiao Yi chuckled lightly, watched them walk away, then shouldered his bag and headed to the stables.

The Shi family mansion remained peaceful as usual, and most people were unaware that annihilation was imminent.

The stables were in the southeast corner, a bit far. He walked quickly but calmly, passing through several doors, and finally saw the mountain of hay.

suddenly.

"Stop! I've got you!"

Xiao Yi turned around and saw Shi Deyuan standing there, holding a stick, panting, looking down at him with a smug gaze. "Second Brother? What is it?"

"I've been chasing you for so long, it's exhausting! You're such an ingrate! You promised to report important things to me, but you didn't tell me about the boss's vicious scheme. You want me to marry a military family's daughter, you're definitely trying to kill me! I'm so scared... Where are you going? I haven't finished yet, stop right there."

"I have something urgent to attend to, let's talk later."

"You want to go and seduce Chun Tao, don't you? That's right, I know everything. Well, the boss let Chun Tao sleep with you, and you're already hard. Don't you even consider whether my penis is harder or your head is harder... Still want to leave? Stop him!"

Shi Deyuan pointed, and eight old nuns immediately stepped forward, surrounded Xiao Yi, and chanted incantations.

At this moment, Xiao Yi had no time to fool around with such a fool. Without stopping, he kicked away an old nun who was shoving a bell in his face and shaking it incessantly.

"Tsk tsk, this monster has gotten even more powerful. He's going to die from this..."

Before Shi Deyuan could finish speaking, the whistle suddenly appeared in Xiao Yi's hand. Startled, Xiao Yi turned and ran away.

Xiao Yi brandished his whistle, driving away the old nuns and letting them scatter in panic.

However, a scream that pierced the night was suddenly shattered.

"Zhang Mantun!"

Shi Deyuan shouted as he ran.

"It's out of control! That scoundrel has gone berserk again! Come quick!"

"Zhang Mantun, he's trying to kill me! Come and kill him!"

"Help me!"

Xiao Yi had originally planned to go their separate ways, but upon hearing this, he frowned, realizing that it would be troublesome if he were entangled by that iron-towered man who was loyal to the Shi family and had high martial prowess.

He dropped his luggage and hurried toward Shi Deyuan.

"Don't shout."

"Zhang Mantun! Zhang..."

"Oh!"

The shouting stopped abruptly.

The baton slammed down hard on Shi Deyuan's head with a whooshing sound.

The blows of the stick were fierce and merciless.

Shi Deyuan's obese body fell to the ground, and the fear and excitement in his eyes gradually faded.

Thick blood slowly flowed down his forehead, soaking into the pristine white snow, like the gnarled old plum tree with its branches that Xiao Yi had first met.

In the darkness, the phrase "When the time is right, I will knock on your door" seemed to have become a cold prophecy.

Xiao Yi glanced down and murmured, "Let's wrap up filming."

He bent down and reached out, not to close the eyes that were still open in death, but because he saw a jade pendant of extraordinary quality hanging from Shi Deyuan's belt. Remembering that Chun Tao had said it was a gift from Zen Master Wenyan, he tore it off.

"Erlang?"

Zhang Mantun's voice came from not far away, somewhat muffled, as if he still had food stuffed in his mouth.

"Erlang, did you manage to subdue him? I'm coming!"

Xiao Yi quickly put the jade pendant into his pocket, picked up his luggage, and left.

Soon, a thunderous roar erupted behind them.

"Erlang?! Ahhh... I'll kill you!"

Xiao Yi immediately ran across the courtyard gate. The stables were just ahead, but if Zhang Mantun caught up, there wouldn't be enough time to harness the horses.

He casually stuffed his baggage under the haystack, circled around, and shouted to Zhang Mantun, who had already run into the stable, "Brother Mantun, you've misunderstood. The Shi family is surrounded."

"You treacherous servant who killed his master! Don't run..."

The two chased and fled, quickly running across the front yard.

Xiao Yi remembered that there was a half-open door in a side room when he came. He ran towards it, went out of the corridor, ran across the snow to the other side, and then retreated in his own footprints, hiding in the side room.

The door was barely closed when Zhang Mantun's heavy footsteps and panting breaths could already be heard outside.

After Xiao Yi waited until he was far away, he returned to the stable, called over the groom who had already stopped to rest, and directly stuffed a silver ingot into his hand.

"Get me a fine horse immediately; the commander-in-chief has urgent business to attend to."

The coachman found it strange to accept the money, but money talks, so he swallowed his words, picked up the saddle, and went to prepare the horse.

Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

He listened carefully to the sounds from the front yard, planning to break out once Shi Dechong started arguing with the soldiers outside. If his horse was fast enough, he might have a chance to cross Kaifeng Street, report to the Guo family, and hide.

After preparing the horse and hanging up the luggage, Xiao Yi waited for a long time, but the front yard remained quiet. Xiao Yi's patience gradually ran out, and he wondered to himself what Shi Dechong was still dawdling about.
Suddenly, a commotion came from afar near the side door.

Xiao Yi tiptoed to the corner of the wall and peeked out.

There was no firelight in the darkness, only the crunching sound of heavy footsteps on the snow.

Then came the cold, subtle commands.

"You guys, take control of the stables first."

"They surrounded us like an iron barrel; you couldn't escape even on horseback."

"Are you afraid he'll escape? Don't hurt our people."

"Yes."

With no way out through the side gate, Xiao Yi decisively abandoned his plan to escape by horseback.

Although he made many preparations, the situation could change in an instant, and he could not afford to be dragged down by sunk costs.

He repacked his luggage, discarding heavy items such as clothes, felt, silk, iron pot, and copper coins, and took out a candle to light in the stable.

As he passed a haystack, he casually tossed the candle aside.

The flames suddenly shot up and quickly turned into a raging fire, illuminating the southeast corner of the Shi family's residence.

This also disrupted the rhythm of the officers and soldiers entering the government office.

Xiao Yi disappeared into the darkness without looking back...

(End of this chapter)