CH 167

May 9, 2023Merchie

Qi Changyi tried to pull his wrist away, but it was gripped even tighter. His cheeks heated up, and he protested quietly, “But I didn’t, I don’t know what you’re talking about-“

Pei Zheng pressed his wrist against the top of his head, gently rubbing his neck. His heart was tingling unbearably.

A disturbance suddenly sounded from the corner. Qi Changyi remembered that there was someone else in the room with them. He felt rather embarrassed and squirmed a bit.

“Don’t move.”

Pei Zheng pinned his waist down with his hand and inhaled. His fingers traced the clothing over his waist, preparing to slip inside.

At this moment, there was a knock at the door. From outside, Cheng Feng called softly, “Master.”

“It’s A-Feng.” Qi Changyi said.

Pei Zheng retracted his hand. He tidied up the small man’s clothes, before he got up off the bed.

“Come in.”

Cheng Feng walked in, and glanced at the corner, where Li Wu was still tied up. Then, he briefed Pei Zheng on the situation.

Zhao Litang had been sending troops to the borderlands in order to aid its defense. Counting the days, they would probably reach Anli soon, so they only had to hold out until Zhao Litang’s army arrived.

However, the situation at the borderlands’ front lines did not look promising.

The Celestial Dynasty’s army had suffered great casualties. Moreover, a large portion of the foreign tribe had already been captured by the barbarians. At this rate, they would probably attack Anli soon.

Right now, they could only pray for reinforcements to arrive as quickly as possible.

For the next two days, Li Wu remained locked in that room. Pei Zheng and Qi Changyi never came out either; one of Li Wu’s servants had been bringing them meals during this time.

Meanwhile, from downstairs, guards had been keeping an eye on them, unable to let go of their constant vigilance.

During this period, Pei Zheng was the only person who felt comfortable. He completely ignored Li Wu, regarding him as nothing more than empty space.

Li Wu often felt that he should have been the one whose eyes had been gouged out.

On the third day, Cheng Feng noticed that there was something off about the guards’ behavior, and reported it to Pei Zheng.

At this moment, Li Wu’s servant came to deliver their meals. He placed the food box on the table. He was about to leave, but before he did, he gave Li Wu a significant look.

Unfortunately, all of this was noticed by Pei Zheng.

After the servant left, Pei Zheng walked up to Li Wu and smiled, “Give it here.”

Li Wu had already broken into a cold sweat. Just now, that servant had sneakily stuffed a crumpled paper ball into his hands, and he had not had the chance to open it yet.

“W-what? I don’t understand what you’re saying, Lord Pei-”

“You don’t understand?” Pei Zheng took out a dagger and held it up to Li Wu’s ear.

“Then you don’t need this thing anymore.”

Li Wu corrected himself in a panic, “D-d-don’t! I understand, Lord Pei! I-it’s in my hand-”

Cheng Feng stepped forward and plucked that crumpled paper ball. Then, he read its contents aloud.

It turned out that it was from the other dignitaries; the note said that Li Wu need not worry, that they would come to save him soon. Moreover, they had already come up with a surefire way to get rid of that annoyance, Pei Zheng.

And that was to burn the room down.

They would set the entire building ablaze. This way, even if someone were to investigate the matter, there would not be a single clue pointing to them. The written evidence that they had signed would be lost in the fire as well.

Once Pei Zheng heard this, instead of becoming enraged, he laughed. He faced Li Wu and clapped, “Lord Li, did you hear that? Your people want to burn you to death. You really are a pitiful magistrate.”

Li Wu retorted, “They clearly said they would come save me soon. You lot are the ones they want to burn, not me! I am the lord of this city, they must listen to my every command!

Pei Zheng collected his smile, “Save you? It’s getting dark, but why isn’t there a single sign of movement? But moonless nights with strong winds are the best time to set a fire. This note was just a way for them to use you to stall me, to buy them a little time.”

Li Wu shook his head furiously. He kept telling himself that it was impossible. They were all grasshoppers tied to the same rope*; how could they not care at all about his safety?

Pei Zheng was too lazy to explain anything else to him, because Cheng Feng had already discovered that the guards outside were secretly pouring oil onto the building.

Cheng Feng found an escape route. He climbed out the window, and Pei Zheng nimbly flipped over the window sill as well, before he carried Qi Changyi out.

Li Wu still believed that someone would come to save him, so Pei Zheng let him stay and wait, and see for himself if anyone would come for him.

The three of them jumped from the window sill onto the roof. Before they could step off of the roof, they saw a torch suddenly fly straight into the window they had just escaped from.

In quick succession, torch after torch was thrown in. In an instant, the entire building was set alight. Aided by the wind, the fire grew quickly, and would soon reach the rooftop.

Pei Zheng held Qi Changyi as he jumped off of the roof. Qi Changyi gazed at the building engulfed in blazing flames behind them.

“I wonder if Lord Li was rescued or not, someone went to save him, right?”

That was impossible.

Pei Zheng was right; those dignitaries had no intention of rescuing Li Wu. They could all tell that Li Wu respected Pei Zheng; they felt that he lacked courage and insight, so it would be better if they simply gave up on him.

They felt that the walls of Anli could resist any force, and that it was impossible for anyone to break through them. Moreover, they had so many guards; they would probably be able to spend the rest of their lives in this city, unbridled by rules.

The prerequisite to this was that Li Wu and Pei Zheng had to die.

Dark smoke quickly spread through the air. The entire building had been burnt to cinders; one could not tell what the original structure looked like. There was only a pile of charred wood in its place.

Some people were standing in front of the building, smiling as they watched the flames. They thought that everyone in the building had already been burnt to ash.

Darkness had fallen, but the remaining firelight was still illuminating the night sky.

A hazy figure seemed to appear amidst the fire, and it slowly walked out of the border between the darkness and the flames.

The man was wearing a splendid black robe. He was tall and possessed a cold aura. His eyes were as frigid as ice, and he held a sword in his hand.

He resembled a lifeless ghost.

The cackling dignitaries suddenly shut their mouths. Their eyes widened as they looked at the man, who was getting closer and closer, step by step.

They all thought that their eyes were deceiving them. Otherwise, how else would they be able to see a dead person come back to life?

In a flash of cold light, someone fell to the ground, and blood splashed onto an onlooker’s face. Only then did that man realize that his eyes were not deceiving him.

“AHHHH!”

Screams rang out. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

White light flashed a few times, and several bodies collapsed to the ground. The surrounding area fell quiet.

The remaining officials shoved their hands over their mouths, too scared to make another sound.

They had no idea how Pei Zheng had survived this sea of fire, but now, he was clearly here to seek revenge.

“Does anyone else have any objections to what I said before?”

Pei Zheng wiped the blood on his blade and asked softly.

Everyone was silent. No one dared to make a sound.

None of the guards who were standing at the edges of the crowd stepped forward.

Pei Zheng’s gaze swept over them, and those guards actually threw their weapons to the ground.

“Since this is how it is, all of you should donate half of your family assets to support the refugees.”

Pei Zheng glanced at the people on the ground, “Including them, of course.”

“Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads in unison, “No, no, no questions! I’ll donate immediately!”

Those who had witnessed the scene were so terrified, it was as though they had lost their souls. Fearing that if they did not answer in time, they would be the next people to have their stomachs sliced open.

The possessions they had earned through extortion and oppression would now be returned.

Only when Li Wu and his faction were dead did the skies over the city of Anli clear up a bit. The once deserted streets finally had a few figures walking through them.

The Anli citizens who had locked themselves in their houses and refused to come out had now emerged, and began to assist the refugees.

Many relief stations had been set up in the city. With the monetary assistance of the dignitaries, the refugees were all well taken care of.

Pei Zheng was in a hurry to seek praise from Qi Changyi, and purposely took him to a relief point; when those refugees spotted them, they all kowtowed and thanked them.

Qi Changyi hurried over to help them up, but unfortunately, the moment he helped one person up, they knelt back down. He helped him up again, and he knelt down again.

In the end, it was only until Pei Zheng pulled him into a nearby temple that the refugees outside dared to rise one by one.

There were also people staying in the temple. Fearing that they would start bowing to them too, Pei Zheng and Qi Changyi hid their faces with their sleeves. The moment they stepped in, they found a statue and hid behind it.

However, they found that a sleeping baby had already been placed behind the statue. His soft little face was fat and tender; it was very cute.

When Qi Changyi saw such an adorable little baby, his heart melted. He squatted beside him and scrutinized him. He wanted to reach out and touch his little face, but he was too scared to take any rash action.

“Baby, baby…” he murmured unconsciously.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from behind him. Pei Zheng pulled Qi Changyi to his feet and turned around, concealing his body behind his back.

The baby’s mother had come. She picked up her baby and left.

After she left, there were only two people left behind the statue.

Qi Changyi gazed at the empty space, disappointment written all over his face.

Pei Zheng pinched his soft cheek, “You like babies?”

This little prince was still just like a baby.

“I do…” Qi Changyi lowered his head, “But, but-”

Pei Zheng knew what he was thinking, and tilted his chin up.

“There are no buts. Anything you like, I’ll give it to you, okay? So you don’t need to be sad. We’ll have a baby, we definitely will.”

The corners of Qi Changyi’s eyes grew wet, and he sniffled, “Really? You’re not lying to me?”

Pei Zheng pointed outside, “Look, I did everything I promised you. Tell me, would I lie to you?”

Qi Changyi pouted, and turned his head away, “How am I supposed to know if you’re a liar or not? You’ve lied to me in the past…”

Pei Zheng had no choice but to suffer in silence.

After the pair exited the temple, they saw a large crowd of people gathered at the city gates in the distance.

A soldier had just entered the city. He was seriously injured, and said that he had rushed over from the front lines to relay a message.

His words were breathless and jumbled: those at the front lines can no longer hold on, and everyone in Anli must evacuate as soon as possible.

Notes

Hallo, sorry for the delay~ Thanks for reading~