Chapter 54 Boiling a Frog in Warm Water

Miss Liu from Cao Village was a beauty known far and wide. During a poetry gathering, Young Master Shi happened to cross paths with her, and the very first time he laid eyes on her, evil intentions took root in his heart.

He originally wanted to send a matchmaker to propose, intending to take her as a concubine, but Miss Liu was already betrothed and her wedding was imminent.

Young Master Shi did not resort to crude or violent coercion, as that would contradict his persona as a refined and elegant gentleman. Instead, he sought out the Song family, who were betrothed to the Liu family.

The Song family, timid and cowardly, did not dare to provoke Young Master Shi. On the day of the grand wedding, the bride's sedan chair did not enter the gates of the Song residence, but was taken directly to an external dwelling prepared by Young Master Shi.

Just like that, Young Master Shi forcibly took Miss Liu as his concubine.

When Miss Liu's father learned of this, he was enraged and lodged a formal complaint against both the Song family and Young Master Shi. To his shock, a severe beating with wooden staves left him with only a single breath remaining, and less than a month after being carried back home, he died of deep resentment and grief.

Hearing Xiao Zhi mention Miss Liu, Young Master Shi's expression shifted drastically. "Who are you?"

"Someone here to champion justice and right a wrong." Xiao Zhi picked up his teacup, took a sip, and when he raised his head again, his gaze was as piercing as a torch.

"Men, come in. I don't wish to see anyone standing."

Since Young Master Shi refused to make the first move, Xiao Zhi would stand on no ceremony.

Several centurions and imperial guards rushed forward like unleashed wild hounds.

Before Xiao Zhi had even finished his cup of tea, the legs of the two vicious thugs were broken, Young Master Shi's face was bruised and battered, his body covered in blue and purple marks, and his folding fan had been smashed into a bundle of bare ribs.

"You just wait for me!" Leaving behind a harsh threat, Young Master Shi abandoned his thugs with their broken legs and fled in a sorry state.

"Innkeeper, can you serve the dishes now?"

The innkeeper was completely dumbfounded.

The man before him had beaten the prefect's son, yet he had no intention of running away?

This was clearly a person of immense backing and influence.

When immortals fight, a mortal like him could afford to offend neither side. He hurriedly cursed under his breath and ordered the kitchen boy to hurry the dishes from the back.

Xiao Zhi glanced at Qian Tang, who understood immediately and promptly instructed one of the guards to slip away.

"My lord, we could simply go and confiscate their estate directly. Why must we go about it this way and ruin your meal?"

The centurion did not understand, and the others understood even less.

"Although my Imperial City Inspectorate holds the authority to execute first and report later, granted by imperial privilege, we cannot simply act recklessly. If there is no proper sequence, if we do not employ some tactical maneuvering, the ones who end up dead will be ourselves!"

Xiao Zhi continued, "The officialdom of the Great Chu has already rotted to its core. 'Three years as a clean prefect yields one hundred thousand flakes of silver,' and that is putting it conservatively. If our Imperial City Inspectorate were to begin executing confiscations and wiping them out down the line, not a single one of them would be executed unjustly."

"The evidence is conclusive, and our Imperial City Inspectorate holds imperial authority. Why can we not do it?" Qian Tang asked.

Having spent a long time with Xiao Zhi, they naturally understood his personality and knew they could ask and say whatever was on their minds. Xiao Zhi never put on official airs; the only absolute requirements were unquestioning, self-sacrificing obedience when executing orders, followed strictly by the rules. Anyone who dared to overstep those boundaries would be touching Xiao Zhi's absolute bottom line.

Xiao Zhi smiled. Mu Weihu understood the logic behind it, but this centurion lacked sufficient insight.

"If everyone in the world has gone mad and you are the only one who is normal, then you are the madman. No matter who comes, you are still the madman."

"The officialdom of the Great Chu is the same today. We cannot afford to offend everyone all at once. We must handle them one thread at a time."

"Even so, we must not be impatient."

"Confiscating the assets of Bai Yan was because our Imperial City Inspectorate lacked funds to pay the troops; executing Xiao Chan was because he violated the taboo of our Imperial City Inspectorate by forcing his way through those doors; dealing with Ye Yinian was because he acted arrogantly and ostentatiously in front of me; and this time, the reason I am going after Shi Weizhi is simply because his son had a conflict with me."

"Although the matters I handle involve investigating and confiscating corrupt officials, every single case is carried out for my own sake. When have I ever been blindly loyal to the monarch and the country? Only by doing this will the corrupt officials refrain from going to any lengths to destroy me."

"Anyone with clear eyes can see that I am targeting Shi Weigong. No one wants to invite disaster upon themselves. Once I take down Shi Weigong one day, I will look for the next target."

Xiao Zhi explained it in simple and easy-to-understand terms, and Qian Tang grasped it instantly.

One of the guards remarked, "When you killed him, I watched. When you kill the next one, I will still watch. I am afraid you might kill me, so I keep my mouth shut. By the time you finally decide to kill me, there will be no one left standing with me to oppose you."

Xiao Zhi clapped his hands and smiled. "Precisely, that is the exact principle: boiling a frog in warm water."

People like Young Master Shi, who fattened themselves on the flesh of the common people and forcefully seized women from decent families, were everywhere.

If there were no sense of priority, and they simply slaughtered every corrupt official they encountered all the way down the line, there would soon be no officials left in Great Chu. Furthermore, open blades are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against; if these corrupt officials banded together, the one who died would surely be Xiao Zhi.

Therefore, Xiao Zhi always had to find an excuse before confiscating an estate. Even if that excuse was flimsy, it could not be omitted.

The innkeeper dared not offend a single soul. After repeatedly urging the back kitchen to serve the dishes quickly, he prayed fervently that they would not anger that madman.

He just hoped Xiao Zhi would finish eating as quickly as possible and get lost.

If Young Master Shi were to return with reinforcements, after this beating, the Elegant Gathering Tavern would likely be smashed to pieces and burned down.

In truth, Xiao Zhi had not even revealed his identity. Had he stated his name, the innkeeper would not have dared to offend him, and even Young Master Shi would have swallowed his pride and backed down.

In the Great Chu of today, Xiao Zhi's name was known to everyone. The mere fact that he had assassinated Huai Chong in the imperial court was enough to ensure his name echoed through eternity.

His exploits had already been adapted into ballads and theatrical scripts, and quite a few pulp novels had been published using Xiao Zhi as the prototype. Some had even brazenly used the exact name Xiao Zhi as the title.

Regardless of whether it was a story-teller or a description in a pulp novel, without exception, Xiao Zhi was portrayed as a refined and elegant gentleman who punished the wicked and promoted goodness.

He stood over eight chi tall, wore a scholar's scarf on his head, and possessed an unmatched, scholarly elegance.

His eyebrows were like drawn swords, his eyes like the stars, and his lips looked as though they had been brushed with vermilion...

Inside the private room, Xiao Zhi's lips had not been brushed with vermilion, but rather with grease, as he stuffed roast duck into his mouth with total disregard for table manners.

The innkeeper stood with his arms folded at the street corner, standing on tiptoes and gazing anxiously in the direction of the prefect's residence. If Young Master Shi came marching over majestically with a crowd, he would do whatever it took to make that formidable lord leave immediately.

Prefect Shi Weizhi was currently meeting a guest in his study. His visitor had come all the way from the capital.

"Are you saying that person is currently in Shandong?"

"The head of the family received word that Xiao Zhi is not in the frontier cities; it is highly likely he is already in Shandong. This man is deeply calculating and leaves no loose ends when he acts. I earnestly hope you will be extremely cautious and on your guard."

Shi Weizhi nodded.

"Go back and report to my elder brother that I will handle everything here with the utmost caution. If that scoundrel Xiao Zhi dares to come to Jinan Prefecture, no matter how he provokes me, I will retreat three hundred paces."

Just as Shi Weizhi finished seeing his guest out, he pondered how to handle the disaster relief funds so that he could reap massive profits without leaving behind any incriminating evidence.

At that exact moment, his precious son, Shi Tianlu, came seeking him with a face full of injuries.

"Father, Father, you must seek justice for me..."

Upon seeing Shi Tianlu beaten to such a wretched state, Shi Weizhi flew into a rage.

In Jinan Prefecture, there was actually someone daring enough to curse him and beat his son—they simply must be tired of living.

"I will immediately order the garrison troops to be assembled and throw those scoundrels into the deepest dungeons."

Shi Weizhi summoned his steward, but right as he was about to issue the orders, a sudden sense of unease washed over him.

He had served as an official in Jinan Prefecture for quite some years. Who didn't recognize his son? And who would dare to curse Shi Tianlu to his face as an old bastard unless they genuinely had no fear of him?

"Tell me, what did that man look like?"