Chapter 58: Go Dark, My Lord of the Manor

Zhang Yunyi’s family members only knew that they had lost their freedom.

However, they were completely unaware that the fire had been set by Manor Master Zhang’s own beloved eldest son, Zhang Xinran.

They knew even less about the true situation at the granary, as the Su family had already cordoned off the area.

Drawing only on what they knew, the members of the Zhang household poured their grievances out to Zhang Xiaomi in a chaotic flurry of complaints.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaomi flew into a towering rage.

He slammed his walking stick hard against the ground and barked harshly, "How could my Manor Master be so innocent? Even if the estate stewards were guilty of something, how many among them committed crimes worthy of execution? Yet your branch arbitrarily detained them, and now they have all perished in a sudden fire. Who will bear this responsibility?"

Zhang Xiaomi intentionally included the stewards in his accusation.

Having seen the villagers of Feng'an Manor gathered all around, he knew the families of those stewards were bound to be among them.

As long as he could incite them to don mourning clothes and march in a weeping procession up Phoenix Mountain, they would naturally be able to put pressure on the Clan Lord.

"You must give this old man an explanation! You must give our Zhang family and the families of the stewards an explanation!"

With these words, Zhang Xiaomi lunged unsteadily toward a Su family guard who was blocking his path.

"Uncle Xiaomi, the stewards and I are all completely fine. What kind of explanation are you looking for?"

A voice suddenly rang out, and the members of the Zhang family felt as though they had been struck by lightning, freezing instantly in their tracks.

This... this was Zhang Yunyi’s voice!

Wasn’t he burned to ashes? Had they seen a ghost?

Zhang Yunyi stepped out from among the astonished villagers who parted to let him pass.

Behind him stood the various stewards of Feng'an Manor.

Zhang Xiaomi froze in utter shock, stammering, "Yun... Yunyi!"

With a chilling expression, Zhang Yunyi said, "Uncle, seeing your nephew still alive, are you pleasantly surprised, or deeply shocked?"

Zhang Xiaomi’s throat emitted a rattling sound, leaving him utterly speechless for the moment.

The female relatives of the Zhang family were wild with joy, while only the young master of the Zhang family turned the color of dead earth.

Zhang Yunyi cast a deep, piercing look at his son. A profound flash of agony swept across the depths of his eyes, only to dissolve into a desolate, ash-like resignation.

The person who had wanted to burn him to ashes was none other than his own flesh and blood.

Slowly turning around, he looked toward the villagers of Feng'an Manor.

"Good people of Feng'an Manor, misfortune has befallen the Zhang family!"

Pointing suddenly at Zhang Xinran, Zhang Yunyi cried out in a piercing voice.

"This undutiful son went behind my back to plot against the head of the family, committing countless heinous and conscience-less deeds. Now that the Su family’s Steward Yang has come to investigate, knowing he could no longer conceal the truth, he actually colluded with our grand-uncle in an attempt to murder both myself and Steward Yang!"

As soon as these words were spoken, an uproar broke out among the villagers.

Parricide?

At any time, that was a sensational and explosive topic.

The female relatives of the Zhang family could not help but feel utterly astonished upon hearing this.

Lady Zhang asked hesitantly, "Husband, such a momentous matter cannot be spoken of lightly..."

Zhang Yunyi shot her a cold glance.

As his wedded wife, Lady Zhang had never seen such an icy look in her husband’s eyes before, and she choked on her words.

Zhang Yunyi suddenly smiled. "My wife, if it weren't true, do you really think I would frame my own flesh and blood?"

Lady Zhang was momentarily rendered speechless, her complexion turning extremely pale.

Husband or son—she was unwilling to give up either of them, yet now father and son were engaged in a murderous feud.

Waving his hand, Zhang Yunyi shouted sternly, "Men, seize Zhang Xiaomi and Zhang Xinran for me!"

Kang Zhengyang and the Panther-Head sprang into action immediately, lunging toward Zhang Xiaomi and Zhang Xinran.

"Rip!"

Kang Zhengyang’s five fingers splayed wide, but he grasped nothing more than Zhang Xiaomi’s outer garment.

The old fellow had pulled a classic "Overlord shedding his armor": with a violent heave of both shoulders and a forward leap, he left nothing behind but an empty robe.

Though the old man usually projected a frail and decrepit air, at this moment he moved with the agility of a startled hare.

Brandishing his walking stick, the old hare charged straight toward Yang Can.

Yang Can was the person of highest status at the scene.

Yang Can also looked like the least capable fighter.

Once he was captured, he could be used as a hostage.

Yang Can’s hand suddenly brushed against his waist.

When he had been studying the curved-beam plow with Blacksmith Li, he had asked the blacksmith’s young apprentice to forge him a stack of iron plates.

It was a stack of thin pig-iron sheets, which he claimed were to be used for playing *yezi* card games.

Of course, using iron to make playing cards was technically possible, but since they were merely toys, very few people actually used iron for them.

Yet, since Yang Can had made the request, Blacksmith Li naturally agreed.

And these iron plates were now tucked neatly into his leather waist guard.

Leather waist guards were mostly worn by soldiers and martial artists, but they were also tools used by horsemen to alleviate lower back strain.

Traveling in Longshang usually required riding horses, which was why Yang Can wore a relatively wide leather waist guard.

The iron plates were inserted into his waist guard, leaving only the width of a single finger exposed at the top.

Just as Yang Can’s hand touched the iron plates, a figure flashed past his side with the smoothness of a gliding fish.

The old hare bounded forward, drawing the sword concealed within his walking stick.

Yet the shadow that brushed past Yang Can’s flank cut through like a fluttering swallow.

Grazing right against the blade of Zhang Xiaomi’s cane-sword, the maneuver was perilous to the extreme and exquisite to the point of perfection.

In the blink of an eye, the figure slammed directly into Zhang Xiaomi’s embrace, crossing both palms and unleashing a surge of raw force.

Although Zhang Xiaomi was not as elderly as he appeared, he was no grandmaster of hand-to-hand combat either.

The only reason he had broken free from Kang Zhengyang’s grip in the first place was that his usual feeble demeanor had been too deeply ingrained in everyone's minds.

Now, as two palms struck squarely against his chest and abdomen, Zhang Xiaomi, already old and frail, found his bones brittle.

With a heavy thud, his chest instantly caved inward, and his body arched backward, spilling a mouthful of fresh blood toward the sky.

Zhang Xiaomi crashed heavily onto the ground, skidding nearly a fathom backward.

"Grandfather!"

His three grandsons cried out in alarm and moved to rush forward, but the steel blades pressed against their necks immediately sank lower.

"You... you are..."

The oldest member of the Zhang family asked with his dying breath.

Three of his ribs had been shattered, and his sternum had collapsed.

Gasping and coughing up mouthfuls of blood, he stared fixedly at the figure standing before him.

That person did not look back at him, instead turning away with a light, fluttering motion, leaving him with nothing more than a dainty and graceful back view.

Qingmei looked at Yang Can and broke into a radiant smile.

"Master, do not be afraid. I said I would protect you, and I always keep my word!"

...

"Manor Master Zhang, tell me, shall we report what happened here to the Clan Lord and let him make the decision, or..."

After dismissing everyone else, Yang Can asked Zhang Yunyi in a very polite tone.

"No, they are Zhang family members, and this is a Zhang family domestic matter. Therefore...

"Zhang wishes to personally purge the clan one last time, in the capacity of the head of the Zhang family."

Zhang Yunyi took a step back, flicked the hem of his robe, and dropped to his knees before Yang Can.

"I beg Steward Yang to grant this!"

As he knelt, his robes were stained with a layer of dark soot.

The very spot where Yang Can was questioning him was none other than the guesthouse area that had been burned down to a white expanse of ash.

"Since that is the case, handle everything as you see fit."

Yang Can patted Zhang Yunyi’s shoulder. "You know how it is—I am a scholar, and I cannot bear the sight of killing."

Shaking his head with a sigh, Yang Can turned and walked away.

Zhang Yunyi slowly rose to his feet and calmly instructed the Panther-Head, "Trouble Steward Cheng to have all those people escorted to the grain-drying yard."

Cheng Dakuan nodded and strode away.

The grain-drying yard was the very threshing floor where Kang Zhengyang had mustered his troops the previous night.

It was an open space in the middle of the village, used whenever the manor master summoned the villagers to announce important matters.

Today, the large bell of Feng'an Manor was struck.

This was the signal to summon all the villagers.

The villagers, supporting the elderly and leading the children, converged upon the grain-drying yard from all directions.

In the center of the square stood an earthen platform more than two paces high.

This was where punishments were meted out within the village against villagers who violated village rules or outside thieves.

Six wooden posts stood erect upon the earthen platform. The young master, the dying Zhang Xiaomi, and Zhang Xiaomi’s three grandsons were all bound tightly to these posts.

Below the platform stood a group of collateral prisoners, among whom were the estate stewards who had nearly been burned to death.

Zhang Yunyi stood upon the platform with a very calm expression.

Everyone had thought him dead, yet he had survived.

Everyone had thought him broken, yet... he was not broken.

He remained the ultimate authority of Feng'an Manor. Yang Can hadn't even shown his face, for he was too merciful.

Only Lady Zhang, who had been Zhang Yunyi’s wife for many years, could discern a trace of madness flickering in her husband’s eyes.

She felt that her husband was not quite right—deeply, unnaturally wrong.

And understandably so: less than a day ago, he had been the patriarch of the great Zhang clan and the master of the household.

In a single night, he had suffered the most agonizing betrayal.

He had poured his heart and soul into sacrificing everything for this family.

Yet the reward he received was an attempt to turn him into a pile of charred cinders.

Everything he protected and stood by had become a sick joke.

The ones who wanted to kill him were his own kin; they had simply failed.

Now that he was turning around to slaughter his own flesh and blood, how could his state of mind possibly remain normal?

The people bound upon the platform all had their mouths stuffed with rags.

Terror was etched across their faces, yet not a single one of them could utter a sound.

Since the dying Zhang Xiaomi was an elder, he was granted a relatively dignified method of death: hanging.

This was the punitive decree issued by Zhang Yunyi in his capacity as the head of the Zhang clan.

Even if the Clan Lord himself were to arrive in person, he could not prevent someone from executing family law.

Before long, Zhang Xiaomi was hoisted onto a makeshift gallows by the Zhang family guards.

When his struggles finally ceased entirely upon the gallows, his incontinent urine trickled down his shoes and dripped onto the ground.

At that moment, Zhang Yunyi proceeded to announce the punishments for the others.

The young master and his three paternal cousins were bound securely to the posts, unable to make the slightest movement.

A squad of troops carried more than ten large wicker baskets to the front of the platform using long poles.

Inside those baskets were countless stones, each the size of a goose egg.

In remote villages, administering private punishments to resolve problems was commonplace.

Drowning in ponds, lighting human lanterns, or stoning someone to death were all common punitive methods used by the rural communities and clans of Longshang.

The defining characteristics of these methods were that they carried a strong sense of ritual while allowing for procurement of materials right where they stood, sparing any unnecessary expense.

Among them, the most agonizing and protracted method of execution was, naturally, "stoning."

Not only was this cruel punishment agonizing in its execution, but it also required the collective participation of all the villagers in administering the penalty.

Consequently, it was reserved solely for heinous crimes that severely violated universal values.

The most common crimes warranting it were incest and parricide.

The crimes committed by the young master and his three cousins were precisely these unforgivable offenses.

Even though Zhang Yunyi had appeared exceptionally calm just moments before, the muscles on his cheeks were now twitching uncontrollably.

Standing upon the platform, he shouted in a harsh, ringing voice, "Everyone, join in! Beat these conscience-less beasts to death with your own hands!"

"Show mercy! Spare their lives!" someone shouted from afar.

By the time the second cry left his mouth, the voice was much closer, evidently approaching at a gallop.

Turning a deaf ear, Zhang Yunyi shouted harshly, "What are you waiting for? Do it!"

A fierce look flashed in the eyes of Zhang household steward Wan Tai. He was the first to charge forward, snatching up a stone and hurling it fiercely toward the platform.

As he threw, he screamed at the top of his lungs, "Everyone join in! The Manor Master is watching right here from the stage!"

Countless stones flew toward the platform like a torrential downpour.

Watching his son beaten into a bloody pulp in the blink of an eye, Lady Zhang let out a miserable shriek and collapsed unconscious to the ground.

Yet Zhang Yunyi kept his eyes wide open, watching with an expression of utter, visceral satisfaction.

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