Chapter 403 - 369: Self-Rescue

Chapter 403: Chapter 369: Self-Rescue

Deep in the night.

Li Jishan sat cross-legged on the bed, his right hand gripping the hilt of the Official Saber at his waist, his palm slick with cold sweat.

The iron-faced, impartial facade he had worn in the Chen Family’s fields during the day was now completely gone.

His face was taut as he listened warily for any sound, deliberately slowing his own breathing.

The slightest rustle of wind or grass made his nerves instantly seize up, his scalp tingling with dread.

Fear. He was truly afraid.

Li Jishan wasn’t a government constable from the Jingshan County Magistrate’s Office; he had been dispatched from Qingshui County.

Before coming, he had already done his homework and gotten a solid grasp of the Lingxi Chen Family’s background.

The Chen Family was not to be trifled with.

The eldest son, Chen Shouheng, was a Provincial Examination Champion Scholar and rumored to already be a Divine Hall Grandmaster at a young age.

The second son, Chen Shouye, was also a Martial Scholar.

For him to show up at the door of a family like this and stir up trouble—what was the difference between that and an old man tired of living eating arsenic? It was pure suicide!

He knew the ways of these local powerhouses all too well.

On the surface, they might swallow their anger and keep quiet for a while to give face to the Government Office.

But once the heat died down, or if they found an opportunity, getting rid of a minor clerk like him would be easier than crushing an ant.

He had heard too many stories of people dropping dead in the streets, "accidentally" falling into water and drowning, or even vanishing from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. He was long since numb to it. And because of that numbness, he felt the fear even more acutely.

But he had come anyway, and he was prepared to see it through to the bitter end.

There was no other reason.

If he came, he could trade his life for the future prospects of his wife, children, and brothers. Such a death would be worthwhile.

Of course, thinking about it was one thing, but he was still afraid.

No one wants to die.

This was destined to be an unbearably long and difficult night.

「1:45 AM.」

The fatigue from days of rushing about, combined with the intense mental strain, caused drowsiness to wash over him like a tide.

Li Jishan felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier as his consciousness began to fade.

He shook his head violently and pinched his thigh hard. The pain brought a moment of clarity, but the drowsiness quickly took over again.

Just as his willpower began to falter...

"WHOOSH..."

A draft of cold, sinister wind snaked into the room from some unknown place, making the flame of the oil lamp on the table flicker violently. It blew across the back of Li Jishan’s neck, sending a chill down his spine and making him shudder.

’Damn it! How did I fall asleep!’

Li Jishan cursed himself internally. He snapped his eyes open and scanned the room, his pupils contracting abruptly.

There, by the round table in the center of the room, a figure had appeared, silent and unnoticed.

The person had their back to him, dressed in plain, dark clothes, looking as if they had been sitting there all along.

"Who’s there?!"

Li Jishan’s heart hammered in his chest. With a low shout, his long saber came half a foot out of its sheath with a CLANG, its cold glint reflecting the flickering lamplight.

Hearing the sound, the figure slowly turned its head.

A familiar face entered Li Jishan’s sight.

As he saw the visitor’s face clearly, Li Jishan’s taut nerves relaxed. "Fourth Uncle?" he blurted out. "You... What are you doing here?"

His Fourth Uncle chuckled softly. "What? Am I not allowed to come?"

"No, that’s not what I meant."

Li Jishan quickly sheathed his saber. "Fourth Uncle, you’re the Jingshan County Magistrate. How could the Lingxi Chen Family not recognize you? If you sneak in like this in the middle of the night and the Chen Family finds you, wouldn’t that be..."

"Find me?"

The Fourth Uncle smiled faintly, his tone casual. "So what if they do? Didn’t you just arrest a wicked servant of the Chen Family for bribing an official today? As the County Magistrate, I received an urgent report and rushed here through the night to personally investigate the case. What’s wrong with that?"

Li Jishan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "Your foresight is impeccable, Fourth Uncle. I suppose the Chen Family wouldn’t dare say much."

He said that, but in his heart, he felt that something was off.

He felt there must be a problem somewhere, but when he tried to think back, his mind was groggy and he couldn’t recall anything specific.

Li Jishan shook his head, walked to the table, and poured his Fourth Uncle a cup of tea. He asked tentatively, "Fourth Uncle, for you to come personally so late at night, are there urgent instructions?"

The Fourth Uncle took the teacup but didn’t drink from it. "Yes, it’s about that matter, of course. The plan has changed."

"It’s changed?"

Li Jishan’s heart skipped a beat, and the smile on his face froze. "Could it be... that there are other arrangements?"

The Fourth Uncle didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked, "How is it going on your end? What have you completed, and what’s left to do?"

Li Jishan didn’t dare to hide anything. "It’s mostly done," he replied. "The Chen Family is spooked. The one in charge is just a woman, and she’s already showing signs of fear. Tomorrow, according to the original plan, we will go to measure the more distant land parcels. At that time, this nephew will use the pretext of needing the head of the house to witness it and request that the Chen matriarch accompany us. Then the matter will be considered done."

Seeing him pause, the Fourth Uncle frowned almost imperceptibly and pressed, "And the rest?"

"The rest?"

Li Jishan was stunned, his face blank. "There is no ’rest’! Fourth Uncle, what you originally tasked me with was just to lure the person in charge of the Chen Family to the Zhuoyan Collection, wasn’t it?

Today, this nephew both exaggerated the land measurements and arrested a servant for bribery. They’re bound to feel guilty and will definitely agree tomorrow. Doesn’t that... count as the mission being complete?"

"That’s not what I’m asking."

The Fourth Uncle cut him off abruptly. "What I’m asking is, what are your follow-up plans for the hidden fields you falsely reported today, and for the bribing servant you arrested?"

Li Jishan was even more confused, almost finding the question baffling. "That... we just escort them back to the Jingshan Government Office, right? As for how the final judgment is made, isn’t that for the higher-ups to worry about? Didn’t you say before, Fourth Uncle, that a big shot is watching over this matter from behind the scenes, and that we should just do our job and not ask questions?"

"Sigh..."

The Fourth Uncle suddenly let out a long sigh, a complex and unreadable expression on his face. "Jishan, there’s something you don’t know. Just today, that big shot... has already reconciled with the Chen Family."

"What?!"

Li Jishan looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

His eyes went wide and his lips trembled. "Reconciled? Fourth Uncle, you can’t be serious! Don’t scare me!"

Having stumbled his way through the Government Office for over a decade, he knew all too well how these things worked.

The big shots could turn their hands to make clouds and rain, their whims deciding everything. One day they could order him to tear into the Chen Family, and the next, they could be drinking and laughing with the Chens for their own benefit.

And pawns like him, who charged at the front and did the biting, were always the ones thrown out at the end—scapegoats to appease the other party’s anger and take all the blame.

"Fourth Uncle... You can’t abandon me!"

Li Jishan’s voice cracked with urgency. "You personally promised me back then! You said that as long as I was willing to take on this task, you would guarantee the safety of my wife and children, whether I succeeded or not! You even said you’d let my sixth son study martial arts at the clan school! I’ve offended the Chen Family to the point of no return. You have to save me! You must save me! We’re blood relatives!"

"Enough."

The Fourth Uncle reprimanded him in a low voice, "What are you panicking for? When did I ever say I wouldn’t help you? If I were truly abandoning you, why would I take such a risk to come find you personally in the middle of the night?"

Li Jishan clung to his words like a drowning man to a straw, nodding repeatedly. "Yes, yes, of course... So, what should I do now? I beg you, Fourth Uncle, show me the way."

The Fourth Uncle said, "The only thing to do now is to try your best to make amends and seek the Chen Family’s forgiveness. First thing tomorrow morning, you will go to the person in charge of the Chen Family and say... say that after you went back last night, you checked and rechecked and discovered that the Official Rope used for the survey during the day was of the wrong length. All the measurements are inaccurate, must be voided, and everything needs to be remeasured."

He looked at Li Jishan, his tone becoming heavier. "Remember, this time, measure it accurately. Your attitude must be as humble as possible. Afterward, I will personally visit and apologize to the Chen Family. Perhaps that will be enough to save your skin."

Li Jishan nodded hastily. "This nephew understands."

"Good."

The Fourth Uncle stood up and said flatly, "Be careful and watch your back. I’m leaving."

He walked to the door, then turned back. He gave Li Jishan a deep, meaningful look and added, "Remember, what happened here tonight must not be known to a third person. Otherwise... even I won’t be able to save you."

"This nephew understands. Take care, Fourth Uncle."

The Fourth Uncle said no more, his figure melting silently into the thick darkness outside the door until he was gone.

The door closed again, leaving Li Jishan alone in the room.

He collapsed onto a stool, his back soaked through with a clammy layer of cold sweat.

He walked to the bed and lay down without undressing, his thoughts in a jumble.

Drowsiness washed over him again, and he drifted off into a hazy sleep.

He didn’t know how much time had passed—perhaps only a moment, perhaps an eternity—but he suddenly startled awake as if doused with cold water, bolting upright in bed.

’Something’s wrong!’

A fine sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

’If I really do as Fourth Uncle said and obediently remeasure everything, what will the Chen Family think?’

Li Jishan was filled with alarm and suspicion. ’They’ll just think it’s what I should have done in the first place. At best, it’s... making amends? No, it doesn’t even count as making amends. This was my mistake to begin with.’

’And after how I acted yesterday... can hatred like that be erased with a simple excuse like ’the rope was wrong’? Besides, will the Chen Family really give Fourth Uncle face?’

’No! I have to save myself! I can only rely on myself!’

Li Jishan’s brow was tightly furrowed as he paced back and forth in the room, his mind racing.

Time ticked by. Just before dawn, his pacing came to a sudden halt, and he stood frozen in the middle of the room.

’Perhaps... this is the only way I’ll have a chance to survive...’

Li Jishan raised his head, his earlier panic and despair gradually receding.

...

「The next morning.」

Chen Li rose early and went straight to find Bai San and Gossip.

He instructed Bai San, "Take a trip to the Commandery City. Inquire if there have been any unusual movements at the Commandery Magistrate’s Office recently. Go quickly and return quickly."

"Yes, Master. I’ll go pack right away."

Upon hearing he could go to Liyang, Bai San’s eyes lit up.

Chen Li then turned to Gossip. "Old Bao, I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip to Nanjiang County to find Peng Anmin. Tell them they can proceed with the plan. And be careful."

Gossip chuckled. "Don’t you worry, my lord. This old man knows what’s important."

After making the arrangements, Chen Li returned to the old family residence.

His wife, Song Ying, and his second daughter-in-law, Li Jinru, were already waiting for him for breakfast with his grandson, Chen Zhiyuan.

Although the Chen Family’s estate and enterprises had grown immensely, their breakfast remained as simple as it had been for years.

Red date congee, lotus seed soup, freshly ground soy milk, a few plain boiled eggs, and several small plates of pickled vegetables.

Simple, yet warm and comforting.

After breakfast, Chen Li reached out to pick up his grandson, wanting to play with him for a bit.

But the little one seemed unfamiliar with this grandfather he rarely saw. Overwhelmed by the aura of authority Chen Li unconsciously projected, the child’s lip quivered, and he burst into tears with a loud "WAH!", refusing to be soothed no matter how Chen Li tried to coax him.

Helpless, Chen Li had no choice but to hand the child back to Li Jinru. "Take him to play."

Li Jinru smiled, pressing her lips together. She took the child, cooing softly to him, and retreated after giving a small bow.