The two stood facing each other in the courtyard for a while.
After a moment, Jin Yongsheng, the chief steward of the "Equality King's" Humanity Branch, Yan Tiehe of the Yan family, and others were alarmed and rushed over one after another.
Seeing this chaotic scene, Jin Yongsheng, Yan Tiehe, and the others naturally first separated the two confronting individuals, inquiring about the cause and effect of the matter. However, both Yan Yunzhi and Shi Weiyang were too angry to speak. At this moment, there were also figures outside the courtyard peeking and whispering to each other, so they could only temporarily appease the two and try to minimize the incident.
In fact, Jin Yongsheng, Yan Tiehe, and others were all seasoned individuals who could roughly guess what had happened from the expressions and states of the two confronting individuals and the bits of information that leaked out – it wasn't complicated.
But this matter could be a big deal or a small one.
If "Equality King" Shi Baofeng was still willing to marry the Yan family, the young people's squabble wouldn't amount to much. At most, they would give the Yan family some concessions in future business dealings. But if the marriage couldn't be concluded, and the Yan family wanted to make trouble, the Shi family would naturally have to prepare another response.
But these matters were only convenient to negotiate in private. No one wanted to expose such a scandal to onlookers. The reputation of the Yan family's daughter would be damaged, and Shi Weiyang bullying a girl during such a large conference couldn't be simply dismissed as a "romantic affair" if it was blown out of proportion.
At this time, Shi Weiyang was bleeding from his arm, and Yan Yunzhi had been slapped in the face, which was extremely insulting. Fortunately, the actual damage wasn't significant. With tacit understanding, they soothed the two and dispersed the crowd outside the courtyard. Jin Yongsheng first dragged Shi Weiyang away, while Yan Tiehe mostly tried to comfort Yan Yunzhi.
"Young Master Shi... has been greeting guests and welcoming them these past few days, and after being plied with alcohol, he did such a thing... it's indeed inappropriate. But after all, it was after drinking... some things, you might as well wait until he's sober before questioning him... in fact, in the world of Jianghu, it's often unavoidable to be out of control. He's still young after all..."
And so, after a round of persuasion, Yan Yunzhi nodded with a cold face after a while.
"I understand. Second Uncle, I still need to apply medicine tonight, so you should go back to sleep."
"You..." Yan Tiehe wanted to persuade her further.
Yan Yunzhi said, "Second Uncle, I'm a daughter of the Yan family, what else can I do? Just go back."
Having said this, Yan Tiehe reluctantly nodded, turned and left, saying before leaving, "Rest assured, justice will be served for you next."
……
Second Uncle left the courtyard.
Yan Yunzhi stood under the dim lantern for a moment before quietly turning around and returning to her room.
She sat in front of the mirror, looking at her slapped cheek and touching the wrist that had been pinched, silent for a while before turning around to find suitable night-traveling black clothes, some silver, and a few essential items from her personal luggage, tying it all into a small bundle.
Extinguishing the oil lamp in the room, she quietly sat by the window, observing the situation of the guards outside through a crack.
The Juxian Residence was quiet after midnight, as if everyone had fallen asleep.
But Yan Yunzhi knew that there were many hidden guards arranged in this area, mainly to prevent outsiders from coming in to cause trouble. They usually wouldn't interfere with the actions of the guests in the residence, but at this moment, perhaps Second Uncle had already spoken to them. Besides, after the previous incident, if she secretly ran out and was seen by them, they would definitely notify Shi Weiyang and Jin Yongsheng immediately.
She had to wait a while, until the guards outside thought she had fallen asleep, before she could act.
Shi Weiyang wasn't a good match. At this moment, Yan Yunzhi, who originally didn't have much affection for him, had completely given up on him. Thinking of the whispers of the crowd of onlookers earlier, she couldn't tolerate herself staying here any longer.
Leave the Juxian Residence, go to Jiangning City, kill Li Yanfeng, or find the southwestern youth who defiled her innocence and die together with him!
She made up her mind, quietly waiting in the darkness for the deeper night to descend, waiting for the opportunity to arrive.
But the opportunity came earlier than she expected.
Not long after, fire arrows and signal fireworks suddenly shot up from the north side of the originally quiet city, and then faint flames rose.
An inexplicable commotion was gradually rising in the distance of the city. One guest after another in Juxian Residence was awakened, and someone ran through the alleys between the courtyards, conveying messages, and more people began to gather outside, inquiring about what happened.
Yan Yunzhi quietly pushed open the window and darted out silently like a black civet cat. The Tan Clan Swordplay was good at assassination and concealment. At this time, she cautiously sneaked out of Juxian Residence. Reaching the periphery, she slightly disguised herself, mixed in with the crowd watching the excitement, and went directly out of the gate with a pass token.
The commotion on the north side of the city was continuing to expand, and she vaguely heard the crowd talking: "'King Yama' Zhou Shang has gone mad, mobilized thousands of people, killing anyone he sees..."
She had been in Juxian Residence for several days since entering the city and had not gone out. She didn't expect the situation in Jiangning City to be so crazy. But at this moment, she couldn't care so much anymore. Leaving Zhong'an Fang's street, Yan Yunzhi tightened her clothes, held her short sword, and walked in the opposite direction of the commotion. The urgent task was to find a suitable place to stay. She had experience in staying in barren mountains and wilds, but she still felt uneasy and unfamiliar in such a city.
But at this moment, there were no more choices.
Li Yanfeng...
Long Aotian...
Just wait...
As for Shi Weiyang, who had behaved frivolously to her earlier, she had thrown him to the back of her mind at this moment and never wanted to think about him again.
************
The wind howled and the fire blazed.
East of Jiangning, at the time Yan Yunzhi, an unremarkable young woman named Yan Yunzhi, walked out of the "Equality King's" Juxian Residence, one of the two people she was thinking about, "Monkey King" Li Yanfeng, who came from Tongshan, was standing on the roof of a building in the north of the city, looking at a group of people waving flaming pottery jars at the street entrance not far away, shouting and setting fire to the surrounding buildings. The pottery jars smashed on the houses, and they immediately burst into flames.
Chaotic fighting was spreading in the streets.
Yesterday morning, Old Sect Leader Lin Zongwu, who was known as the number one martial artist in the world, defeated Zhou Shang's Five Directions Arena with an overwhelming posture in front of everyone's eyes, severely suppressing "King Yama's" arrogance in the city. Unexpectedly, after midnight that night, several groups of swordsmen belonging to "King Yama" launched a crazy attack on "Wheel King's" many territories in the city.
During the day, it was a one-on-four arena competition. At night, Zhou Shang brazenly provoked a crazy fight with thousands of people, completely ignoring the city's security bottom line and basic understanding.
On the roof, Li Yanfeng looked at this scene, his heart trembling slightly, his blood boiling.
He was also a rising hero who had fought his way up from the bottom. In the past, when others talked about the difficulty of the Fairness Party, he naturally valued it humbly on the surface, but this time when he came to Jiangning, he inevitably had the urge to challenge the local tyrant. But in the end, he didn't expect that as a branch of the Fairness Party, this "King Yama" was such a ruthless character. Sect Leader Lin relied on his martial arts to slap him in the face in the arena, and he would directly splash it back with hundreds of lives and blood that night.
"The person in charge is 'Heaven Slayer' Wei Xuwen." "Heavenly Blade" Tan Zheng, who came from behind, stepped onto the roof and stood with Li Yanfeng.
Li Yanfeng said, "Where is this person? Let's go meet him?"
"You won't find him." Tan Zheng shook his head. "This person is ruthless and decisive, but he doesn't act impulsively. He plans from the rear, and he won't stand in the front during a fight... The others in the city have also moved. It's going to be chaotic tonight. Anyway, let's first beat back these desperate people. I'll go first. What does Brother Li decide?"
"Let's go together." Li Yanfeng smiled and picked up the iron rod beside him.
"I knew Brother Li was a young hero. Let's go!"
Tan Zheng laughed and the two went down from the roof. He waved his hand, and figures around him received the order, following them and surging forward while shouting.
The riots and killings were spreading in the city.
The attack launched by Wei Xuwen in the north of the city was like lighting a fuse. At this moment, the remaining scattered forces in the city who were making a living under the banner of "King Yama" also lit fires and took up knives and guns after half a day of depression, launching attacks on the territories of other forces and even ordinary wealthy people nearby.
Some wards and markets have closed their roads relying on the previously built street barricades for defense. In the city, the law enforcement teams under "Fairness King" began to dispatch to control the situation, but naturally they couldn't control the situation in a short period of time. Fu Pingbo of "Dragon Sage" under He Wen personally went out to find Wei Xuwen, but he couldn't find the trace of this instigator for a while.
Flames lit up sporadically in the city.
Little Hero Long Aotian, another enemy that Yan Yunzhi couldn't forget, and also the instigator of some things, had just received his first nickname since entering Jianghu. At this moment, he was sitting blankly in the darkness on the roof, staring blankly at this chaotic scene.
If time went back a few hours, and we placed him at noon today, his heart would definitely be extremely excited at this moment. He would run around with great interest, looking at the excitement or acting chivalrously, or... due to the stimulation in the morning, he would plan to simply kill a Fairness Party boss and then leave his name on the wall to make a name for himself.
But at this moment, many thoughts seemed to have disappeared...
That thing was obviously fake, who wrote it in the newspaper...
He obviously killed bad people and corrupt officials in Tongshan County, and left an extremely handsome message, where did he molest some girl...
What's so good about that ugly girl to molest...
Little Aotian, who believed that he had only been molested by women in his life, was extremely aggrieved. He could already imagine the scene of this name falling into the ears of those acquaintances. Just like that little bald head two days ago, he had said to him with great domineering that if there was trouble, report Long Aotian's name. What should he do now? What would his expression be when he heard this news... The most troublesome thing was the Southwest. Once this information was transmitted back, he could already imagine his father and brothers' stunned look, as for the laughter of others...
The reason why he came out to act chivalrously was to hope that one day he would make a big name and let the people in his hometown forget the embarrassing thing that he was played by Yu Xiaoer. He was clearly the one who acted chivalrously, so how did the title of "Y Demon" directly get on the newspaper...
Who wrote it, kill his whole family...
The little hero who had even been on the battlefield and killed many Jurchen soldiers encountered such a predicament for the first time in his life. Hearing the commotion outside, he climbed to the roof and looked at it, wandering around dazed and confused, almost crying in his heart.
The name Long Aotian can't be used anymore...
But if he doesn't use this name...
The riots in the distance continued to spread. He sat on the roof, not knowing where it was, with mixed feelings, sometimes sad and sometimes gnashing his teeth. Thinking of that newspaper, the first thing he would do tomorrow would be to find the location of that newspaper, drag out the person who wrote the article, and eat him bite by bite, little by little!
The anger in his heart burned fiercely.
At a certain moment, between the streets below the house, six or seven "King Yama" members holding torches and banners came over shouting loudly. Seeing an isolated house facing the street, they began to roar and knock on the door, smashing the reinforced windows and walls inside.
"Woo—"
"Come out, come out..."
"This is 'King Yama's' territory..."
"Come out and pay up..."
"Hahahaha, who can hide..."
A few people found a piece of wood and began to hit the door hard. The people inside were holding the wooden door on the edge, and women's cries and wails had already been heard. The people outside were even more excited and laughed wildly.
"Come out! Come out..."
"Otherwise, we'll set the house on fire..."
"Come out and let the爷们 have fun..."
The crowd was reveling, and the people with torches had already started trying to light the windows. In this joy, the figure of the teenager came from the darkness. Due to some problems, he was not in a good mood at the moment, and his eyes turned gray. "Hey," he called out.
A few people were still reveling, so the teenager had to call out again as he walked forward: "Hey, is your mother dead..."
Someone noticed the figure: "What?"
"Who is it?"
Two or three people came up to meet him, and the rest also looked over. Seeing the teenager's appearance, they scoffed and prepared to continue smashing the door.
"You shouldn't do this."
"I'll go to your..." The first person stretched out his hand to grab him. This hand landed on the teenager's collar, and the teenager's left hand also directly grasped it, pinching his palm, and then flipped it smoothly. The right fist slammed on this person's face.
The person's body swayed in the air, and then was thrown into the garbage and debris on the side of the road, followed by a crashing sound. The crowd here had hardly reacted yet, and the teenager had picked up a stick and twisted the second person's calf inward.
"I! TELL! YOU! NOT! TO! FUCKING! DO! THIS—"
The teenager swung the wooden stick. At this moment, he was like a fierce tiger erupting in the darkness, fiercely showing his claws and teeth. He rushed into the crowd, swinging the stick wildly, knocking people to the ground rolling. Someone waved a knife to meet him, but his hand was broken with just one blow. He gave these "King Yama" members who fell to the ground a fierce kick, running around, kicking or dragging them after knocking them over, throwing them into a pile.
"People! Didn't! Offend! You!"
"Why! Do You! Knock On! Their! Door!"
"You! Things!"
"Unreasonable—"
"Ungrateful—"
"Why! Mess! Around—"
"Slander! Innocence—"
He hit the pile of people with the stick, scolding angrily in his mouth. Most of these "King Yama" subordinates had their hands and feet broken at this moment, covering their heads and being beaten one after another. Someone vomited blood and tried to report his name.
"I am... under 'King Yama'..."
"...have the guts to leave your name..."
"...a real man..."
Such sounds stopped daring to say it later. The teenager still restrained himself and beat them for a while, stopped swinging the stick, and stared at these people with red eyes.
"Leave your name..."
"I..."
"This young master..."
He hesitated for a moment, then kicked again.
"This young master is the legendary Wu..."
"Martial Arts Alliance Leader! Long Aotian ah—"
As if he had made up his mind, he shouted, "You bastards remember, if you dare to do evil again, I will kill you one by one—"
The teenager's voice resounded through this street. At this moment, he really didn't believe it.
When his chivalrous name resounded throughout Jiangning, he didn't believe that those ignorant men and women would really be fooled by a newspaper!
At this moment, he thought so. In any case, the clear are clear, and will never surrender!
******************
Juxian Residence.
Due to the commotion in the north of the city that night, Yan Tiehe, who had gotten up again after falling asleep, went to Yan Yunzhi's small courtyard again out of anxiety, and knocked on the door to check. Not long after, he rushed into the residence of Chief Steward Jin Yongsheng, and slammed his hand on the table in front of the other party with a cold face.
"...The rumors in Tongshan County are just nonsense..."
"Our Yan family came to Jiangning and have always followed the rules and treated people with courtesy, but such things can happen..."
"If something happens to Yunzhi because of this... Although Yan Family Fort is a small family, it also has the backbone to rather break than bend—"
Jin Yongsheng kept apologizing and then arranged for people to go out and chase Yan Yunzhi. After a while, he dismissed Yan Tiehe, and then walked into Shi Weiyang's courtyard bedroom with a gloomy face, directly asking people to wake up Shi Weiyang with a cold towel, and then let him wash his face and drink sobering soup.
Not long after, Shi Weiyang temporarily woke up. He didn't lose his temper at the highly respected Jin Yongsheng, but sat on the bed and recalled what had happened.
"I warned you long ago." Jin Yongsheng said in a low voice, "If you want to play with women, just spend money. It's no big deal to spend what you should spend. In today's world, what kind of woman can't you play with... But you have to use force. Is the Yan family's daughter particularly sweet? Is it particularly comfortable to play with this guest? Your lust got the better of you once. Do you know how much less money your dad will have? How much is the Yan family worth? Are you here to make your dad proud, or to ruin things?"
"Uncle Yong, I was wrong." Shi Weiyang rubbed his hands on his face. "I was... fucking drunk and lost my head... I just thought, that y thief can play, why can't I..."
"Is your brain broken?" Jin Yongsheng scolded, "Is the matter of fighting for the world something that a few women can measure? Don't say that the Tongshan matter may be a rumor, even if it's true, if you marry her, you have to give her a few years of sweetness! Once the Yan family's things are in your hands, what can't you do with a woman! You forgot all the things your dad taught you about enduring when you should and prioritizing the big picture?!"
"Uncle Yong, I was wrong, I won't do this again." Shi Weiyang shook his head. "Then now... what can I do? Will the Yan family... really leave?"
"Of course, we can only remedy the situation now that things have come to this."
"But between me and that... Miss Yan... it's become like this... Can I apologize and make it up..." Shi Weiyang rubbed his forehead in distress.
Jin Yongsheng was silent for a moment: "...Things have come to this, and the girl has already left. Even if she comes back, she probably won't look up to you. Although the cooperation between the Shi and Yan families can be achieved with or without this marriage, it will ultimately add a lot of variables... I've already sent people to find her..."
"Then find her..."
"Find her, secretly detain her, and you..." Jin Yongsheng glanced at him, "You will get your wish, give her a good spanking, cook the rice, and then... be good to this girl. Then bring her back... When you encounter such a thing, as long as the situation can get by on the surface, she has to marry you whether she likes it or not... This is the most stable way now."
Here the words in the room, Shi Weiyang's eyes lit up: "Uncle Jin is really amazing... In this way..."
"Don't flatter me, find the person back, don't add any more complications, you don't need me to teach you how to deal with a woman, right?"
He said here, and a sinister smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, showing that he was telling a joke. Shi Weiyang also laughed: "Of course not, I know it. Uncle Jin, this is my fault, I will take full responsibility. That Miss Yan... how long has she been gone?"
"It's been almost an hour."
"Find people as soon as possible, while she may not have gone far, I'll gather people and go after her myself."
It was still early morning, and the moon was lonely in the sky. Shi Weiyang put on his clothes and was about to gather people to go out. Jin Yongsheng didn't stop him from doing so. The Shi family's children would ultimately be tested. No matter what the purpose was, having the motivation to do things was a very good thing.
At this moment, Yan Yunzhi was heading towards the south end of the city, recognizing this chaotic city in the darkness.
Ning Ji began to beat the chaotic and out-of-control Fairness Party members on the street, preparing to spread the name of "Martial Arts Alliance Leader Long Aotian" with ten times the strength.
Yan Tiehe and Shi Weiyang both took their men and came out of Juxian Residence, looking for Yan Yunzhi's trace in this dark night.
The city was still noisy in the darkness.
Xu Zhaonan was in the high palace, quietly watching all this.
From the second day after "Wheel King" entered the city, the struggle of the five major departments entered a new stage. The relatively calm stalemate, at this moment when the vast majority of people thought it wouldn't start fighting, broke open...