Chapter 100: Arresting The Traitor
Xiao Yi looked at Ge Yanyu, surprised by the man’s honest and upright appearance, with a long beard of three strands and a scholarly air.
He happened to be looking for someone to manage his properties and finances, and if he chose poorly, he might be deceived by such a person without even realizing it.
Ge Yanyu entered the hall, his eyes darting around. After discerning who was in charge, he bowed deeply to Song Yanwo, who sat in the main seat.
“I, Ge Yanyu, pay my respects to Master.”
“I am not worthy of your ‘Master.’ Do you recognize who this is?”
“This young master has an extraordinary demeanor. I have never had the fortune to meet him in the past.”
Xiao Yi said, “Then look, do you recognize her?”
Ge Yanyu turned his head and saw that there was a woman beside him. He dared not look closely and said, “I do not recognize her.”
“Look again.”
“My eyesight is poor. I truly do not know who this young lady is?”
Li Zhaoning gritted her teeth and said, “You dog, you really don’t remember me?”
Ge Yanyu’s expression changed, his pupils suddenly constricted, revealing shock.
“Is… is it the Li family’s young lady?”
“My father saved your life, nurtured your family, and entrusted all his property and fields to you. Yet you colluded with villains, fabricated serious charges of rebellion, sent him to prison, and had his entire clan executed… Is this how you repay his kindness?!”
“No, no, it was Su Fengji who forced me. I had no choice…”
“My entire family was drenched in blood and sent to the underworld, yet you sought glory and wealth by framing your master. You who betray your lord and forget your kindness, worse than pigs and dogs, today let’s see if heaven and earth can tolerate you.”
“No! It’s not like that…”
Ge Yanyu was horrified and suddenly knelt before Song Yanwo, weeping and begging.
“Master, save me! I am truly loyal! All of Su Fengji’s land and shops, I am willing to offer them up entirely, only asking for your protection.”
“You think you are worthy?!”
Song Yanwo was furious. He kicked Ge Yanyu over and roared, “How can the Song family’s generations of pure reputation be defiled by a scoundrel like you who betrays his master for glory?!”
“Master, the Su family’s assets are worth ten thousand strings of coins, and I have always managed them…”
“Drag this filthy thing out and beat him to death.”
“Zhong Jian Xiong, wait a moment,” Xiao Yi said. “Allow me to take him away and interrogate him, so as not to dirty your premises, Zhong Jian Xiong.”
“If he is to be interrogated, butler, drag this disloyal slave to the kennels for torture.”
“No need, no need to go to the kennels. I’ll confess now, I’ll confess!” Ge Yanyu trembled all over, collapsed to the ground, and stammered, “I will confess everything.”
“Where is Su Fengji now?”
“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you. He’s hiding in the pawn repository of the pawnshop in Yongtai Ward in the west of the city. Few people know that it’s Su Fengji’s property, it’s called Yufeng Pawn…”
Xiao Yi asked, “For someone like you, knowing his whereabouts, why didn’t you betray him earlier?”
Ge Yanyu wept profusely, “I was forced! Li Ye detained my family and forced me to pledge allegiance… to pledge allegiance to Commander Wang, to cover for them and gather intelligence.”
Xiao Yi and Song Yanwo exchanged a glance and said, “This matter should be reported to Commander Wang, asking him to dispatch troops to surround and arrest him.”
“Xiao Lang’s consideration is thorough. How about this, I’ll send a few people to keep an eye on him first.”
It wasn’t about the need for troops, but rather that he considered it inappropriate to bypass Wang Yin.
Yongtai Ward was a district around the West Market, where merchants gathered. Half of the ward consisted of shops and warehouses.
Two wanted posters, along with portraits of Li Ye and Su Fengji, were posted at the ward entrance, offering a reward of one thousand strings of coins for each.
More than half an hour later, the Imperial Guard surrounded Yongtai Ward, led by a Deputy Commander himself, their horses’ hooves and footsteps in unison.
Xiao Yi waited and stepped forward, saying, “Both the front and back gates have been watched, and no one has entered or exited.”
“Seize them.”
The pawnshop was located at the southern corner of the ward and had three storefronts.
Four soldiers crept to the side of the door, gestured with their fingers, and then kicked the door open.
“Bang!”
“The rebels are captured!”
“Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!”
“…”
“Report, no one was found!”
Xiao Yi frowned and strode into the premises with Li Zhaoning. Inside, the shop was in disarray, with many copper coins scattered about.
Pawnshops often had repositories for valuable items. They passed through a narrow door and saw several rows of shelves against the wall in the back hall. The dust marks underneath were obvious. Crouching down, they discovered a secret door.
“Lift it.”
The soldiers lifted the stone slab, revealing another world beneath.
The repository was large, with over a dozen rows of wooden shelves in the center, holding sealed boxes and chests, each with a pawn ticket attached.
Xiao Yi casually opened a box, which contained various antiques and jade objects.
Moving a few steps further inside, he saw signs of many people living there.
As the light moved forward, Li Zhaoning suddenly shivered and grabbed Xiao Yi’s arm, but she restrained herself and did not cry out.
Many corpses lay scattered on the ground, men, women, old, and young.
Ge Yanyu, who had been brought over under escort, suddenly cried out and rushed forward, embracing a corpse and weeping.
“Mother! My son! How could you be dead? I did so much… just for you to live well, how could you be dead…”
“Why are you wailing? Be quiet.”
The soldiers showed no sympathy and kicked Ge Yanyu until he dared not make another sound.
Xiao Yi then went to examine the bodies, their body temperatures were still present.
“Search! They haven’t been gone long. There must be other exits.”
“Yes.”
“Found it!”
It was at the deepest part of the repository. Pushing open the stone slab above, they entered another shop. The shelves were stocked with cloth, and there were bloodstains from knife tips and footprints on the ground.
Following the tracks to the shop door, the sounds of hawking reached their ears.
Xiao Yi looked out and saw people coming and going, bustling about.
They were no longer in Yongtai Ward, but had arrived at the West Market.
Vendors were shouting enthusiastically, and people were crowded in the shops, choosing New Year goods. The sounds of bargaining, donkey brays, and the creaking of wheelbarrows mingled together, disrupting the trail of pursuit.
“Do you have a map?”
“No.”
Xiao Yi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recalled the layout of Kaifeng City he had seen at Great Xiangguo Temple. Suddenly, he heard various sounds mixed with shouts.
Faintly, it sounded like, “The canal boat is docking!”
“Where is that?”
“The canal.”
“Chase! Divide into two teams. One team searches along the south bank of the canal, looking for anyone acting nervously; the second team goes to the wharf and watches all the canal boats ready to depart.”
Xiao Yi was not the commander of this Imperial Guard unit, but his orders were unquestionable.
The soldiers, seeing the many talismans on his waist, all acknowledged the order and immediately dispersed to search.
Xiao Yi chose to go to the wharf.
He had a strong intuition that Li Ye and Su Fengji were hiding in this area precisely to escape via the canal at any time, and had likely prepared a boat.
As he neared the wharf, he suddenly heard shouting and fighting from a distance.
“Surround them!”
About a hundred paces away, on the bank of the canal, the Imperial Guard were quickly surrounding five or six men.
Those men were fierce, armed with sabers, protecting two masked individuals, fighting the Imperial Guard fearlessly.
Just as he was about to go over, Li Zhaoning tugged on Xiao Yi’s arm.
“Look there, Li Cheng!”
He followed her finger and saw a black-canopied boat about six or seven meters away on the canal, with a man in green standing at the stern.
“Who is Li Cheng?”
“Su Fengji’s guard general. Ge Yanyu conspired with him to harm my father.”
“A golden cicada shedding its shell. The person is on the boat.”
Xiao Yi’s gaze swept over and he saw a large canal boat unloading cargo at the wharf. He decisively rushed towards it.
His feet moved rapidly, and snowflakes splattered from the soles of his boots.
He leaped up, soaring into the air, exerting force with his core, and landed steadily on the large canal boat with a “thud.”
Bending his knees in advance, the moment his boots touched the deck, he ran forward a couple of steps to absorb the momentum, simultaneously grabbing the thick hemp rope tied to the mast and swinging, his movements fluid.
In his hand was the canal towing rope, which held strong. He locked his gaze on the black-canopied boat that had sailed further away, and his body swung high like a pendulum.
Behind him came the joyous shouts of children.
“Look! He can fly!”
The wind brushed across his face, carrying a familiar scent.
Xiao Yi missed the feeling of flying intensely.
It lasted only for a moment.
He let go and plunged towards the black-canopied boat.
Drawing his sword in the process.
The sword was meant for Li Fang, similar to his original one, and felt quite comfortable.
“Clang.”
The moment the cold glint left the scabbard, Xiao Yi thrust forward with his sword.
Although he was in mid-air, the key to his power was using his body to lead the sword, not his arm; accuracy depended on the unity of body and sword, meaning the direction of his body and the direction of the sword tip were exactly aligned.
In terms of speed, he thrust with the momentum of his descent; in terms of steadiness, his hand was very steady.
He pushed with his waist and extended his right arm.
The sword light reflected on the canal, creating ripples of light.
Where his gaze fell, the shoulder near Li Cheng’s neck moved, attempting to draw his saber.
“Thwack.”
A thrust to the throat, and blood splattered on the boat’s canopy.
At the same time, Xiao Yi’s feet landed on the black-canopied boat.
The boat swayed violently.
Li Cheng’s body slowly fell.
The old boatman rowing the boat stared blankly at Xiao Yi for a moment, then suddenly leaped into the icy water and swam towards the opposite bank.
Inside the black-canopied boat, Su Fengji turned his head, his eyes widening in shock, his face instantly turning as pale as paper.
“You… you?! You!”
“Minister Su, long time no see.”
Su Fengji burst into tears, weeping, “Your Majesty’s coup, you didn’t ask me about it. I was swept up in it!”
“I believe you,” Xiao Yi said. “But I came for Li Song.”
“Wh… what?!”
Suddenly, the sound of oars was heard. Li Zhaoning had hired a small boat and was coming over.
As the two boats neared, Xiao Yi reached out to help her onto the black-canopied boat, signaling the small boat to move away.
After that, he handed her the sword.
“Take your revenge.”
Li Zhaoning took the sword and looked at Su Fengji with hatred.
“Young lady… Who are you? Can you let this old man go?”
“My father’s surname is Li, his given name is Song.”
Su Fengji was shocked and retreated a few steps to the side of the boat. He seemed about to jump into the river, but hesitated for a moment before sitting down and crying, “Spare me?”
Li Zhaoning sneered.
Xiao Yi had expected her to hack at him like she did last time, but after a long while, she turned to him and asked, “If we hand him over, will Duke Guo let him go?”
“No, he is the mastermind. He will surely die.”
“Then, we will hand him over.”
“You won’t take revenge with your own hands?”
“For years, I thought day and night about how to get revenge. But the more I investigated his background, the more I felt that just killing him with my own hands was not enough. Such a beast doesn’t deserve a peaceful death.”
Li Zhaoning stared at Su Fengji, her hatred growing in her eyes.
“Since you became prime minister, besides accepting bribes, extorting colleagues, and trading offices, you have done many things. You have exploited endlessly, plundered treasures, imposed harsh taxes and corvée, causing people all over the world to become displaced; under the guise of capturing bandits, you ordered hundreds of people from seventeen villages in Pingyin, Yun Prefecture to be killed, used villagers in Weizhou as thieves, severed their leg tendons, and let them die horribly on the mountainside; all over the land, there were cries of injustice, and countless people were forced into banditry by you. Gaozu sent you to sort out prisoners and clear grievances, but you killed them all without regard for the severity or righteousness of their cases; you are heartless and unfilial, you beat your half-brother to death, and when your mother died, you refused to observe mourning. Your first wife’s death became an excuse for you to extort silk and brocade. You framed colleagues, competed for power, harmed the public for personal gain, disrupted the court, slaughtered the innocent, and misled the country and its people… You deserve death a thousand times over, your crimes are too numerous to recount!”
It was likely that Su Fengji’s sins were too numerous for Li Zhaoning to recount in one go, and her voice broke towards the end.
Xiao Yi watched as her eyes gradually turned red, tears sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the hand holding the sword, which was trembling non-stop.
“Such a traitor to the country, dying at my hands would be too easy, and it wouldn’t alleviate the hatred in the hearts of the people. You should be publicly punished, and let everyone see how many people want you dead, and in the eyes of the world, whether my father was wronged or you deserve to die…”
Hearing this, Su Fengji’s face turned ashen. His body trembled violently.
His eyes flickered, showing immense fear and despair. Finally, he leaped into the canal with a “plop.”
Unfortunately, the Imperial Guard had already rowed their boats and surrounded him, immediately scooping him up with a fishing net.
“Su Fengji has been captured!”
“Is that Su Niupi?!”
The surrounding commoners heard the shouts and flocked over.
Gradually, shouts of anger arose.
“Kill Su Niupi!”
“Eat him alive!”
“…”
The black-canopied boat still drifted on the river.
Xiao Yi sighed softly and reached out to take the sword from Li Zhaoning’s hand.
The sword suddenly dropped, and a figure lunged into his arms, crying uncontrollably…
