Breaking the Day

Chapter 9 Bystanders

The leader official’s eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Xiaobao, who was screaming his head off, as if he was looking at a ghost. Miraculously, a crowd surged into Cailian Alley- pimps, officials, performers, courtesans, sellers, even passersby. Some people peeked out of buildings, others stopped walking and turned around, others came out of the buildings. Everyone stared at him with widened eyes and jaws agape.

Sweat sprouted out of Zhao Xiaobao’s forehead under the gaze of so many people. He pointed at Zhixi’s place and said, “Go check it out!”

The crowd erupted. Customers at little stalls surveying goods quickly dropped the goods and left, even the courtesans stopped calling out to customers, giggling as they ran. The pimps also walked out curiously.

The sellers were no longer open for business, all quickly covering their stalls with tarp and then running off with the crowd.

In a second, everyone in Cailian Alley gleefully rushed to check out the situation at Zhixi’s place. The alleys around the building were already surrounded by rings of crowds three-people deep.

Someone, who was late to the scene, pulled a passerby aside to ask what was going on. The passerby yelled emotionally, “What are you still doing here? That’s the Lord’s Third Mistress! Will you ever see something like that again?”

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“Sigh, let me tell you this, I once saw Third Mistress out on a vacation. Aiya, that body, that face, tsk tsk, she’s gorgeous! At that point, I really wondered how an old man like the Prefecture Chief would be able to keep up with a young fox like that. Wouldn’t he just hurt himself?”

“Someone must have a death wish, to harm the Prefecture Chief’s mistress!”

“Sigh, I wouldn’t care! She’s so hot, I’d be willing to have a night with her even if it means they’ll peel my skin off the next day!”

“Ptui! Listen to yourself! What the heck was that?! Look at your toad face and ugly moles, I think you’d just scare her off with your looks!”

“Hey, I’m just talking about myself here, why did you have to insult me?”

“You two! Bring your squabble somewhere else, you’re blocking the way!”

“Yeah, move aside! We must catch the culprit!”

“Right, right! Let’s go!”

Chengan was bustling with commotion today. Somehow, an event like that was more important than new year’s, everyone’s faces were red and the oily faces of various men could be seen.

When the crowds kept pouring into Cailian Alley, very soon, the city guards were also alerted.

Ever since Daqi united the lands, the empire had lived in peace and prosperity. Other than the northwest and few minor regions, most of Daqi had not experienced war in more than a century. Chengan was near the western side but most of the citizens had assimilated in terms of education and religion. At this point, the military of the nation was just for the sake of display, for no one took combat seriously and the soldiers were straight-up crappy. The city defense guards, in charge of the safety of the city, were even worse.

Sun Jike, the leader of the city patrol, was a representative of the crappy military system. He carried a longsword on his hips, but it was attached the wrong way. His helmet was askew as he rode his horse over. Every sentence he spoke ended with three burps that stank of alcohol, the stench so strong his subordinates had to cover their noses.

Sun Jike squeezed through the crowd. He looked around and saw the few officials, who still had their jaws on the floor. He waved. “What’s the matter with you? What happened?”

The few officials glumly explained what happened. Sun Jike drew a sharp breath- What this even his f**king business?!

He knew that he wasn’t capable of handling this matter, it would just be too much effort!

But if he did not handle it, that meant he was neglecting his job and it would result in punishment later. He gave a signal and said, “Surround the whole area!”

The guards quickly surrounded the entirety of Zhixi’s place tightly but they did not have any intentions to investigate the incident. They merely surrounded the outside, blocking other people from entry.

The Prefecture Chief, Zhang Junheng, also received news. He remained seated in his home like a block of wax, his face fixed in an expression of shock. Then, he leapt in rage.

He was a major official here! How dare someone humiliate him like that! This was unacceptable!

Under his furious orders, the first people to arrive at the site was the Prefecture Chief’s private military. This was, after all, a private affair.

Based on Daqi’s laws: officials of the upper grade could raise up to two hundred men, and for middle grade officials, they could raise up to a hundred men. Zhang Junheng was qualified to raise one hundred.

Zhang Junheng had poured in a lot of resources to raise this private troop. All of them were tall and muscular, well-equipped with weapons. Their armours were shiny, weapons in extremely good condition. Anyone could see their glittering steel from afar.

When these soldiers arrived, Sun Jike quickly retreated along with his guards and made way for the Prefecture Chief’s soldiers. These soldiers surrounded Zhixi’s place, unsheathing their longswords murderously. The black-robed men were now trapped inside. The air was so tense, a battle could erupt anytime.

The leader of the black-robed men was aware that he had fallen into Li Chengfeng’s trap but the situation had already escalated to this point. A quiet retreat was impossible now. If he were to force himself into the building now, he was even more worried about this third party attacking from behind!

The Zhan family only accepted the ghosts of soldiers fallen in battle, not war prisoners.

Zhao Xiaobao, who was the cause of the chaos, slipped away in the midst of everything. He hid in a corner, watching. At this moment, he realised that he had caused a lot of trouble just to save his master. His young master was now met with a fate worse than jumping into the waste pond!

Li Chengfeng and Su Zhixian in the house had their eyes widened in shock. They were hopeless now.

Su Zhixian clutched his sleeve tightly, “What do we do now?”

Li Chengfeng looked up and sighed. “Xiaobao, you’re going to be the death of me!”

He felt like the unluckiest person. Didn’t he already get away with the Spiritual Mountain Sect’s offerings? What was with the string of unlucky events now? Was this karma?

How could he get himself out of this dire situation?

He pursed his lips as his mind raced. I mustn’t die here! If I die, what will happen to my mother? She won’t be able to survive either! I cannot abandon my mother!

But… How will I escape?