Chapter 353 Roof

Magistrate Tian was dazed for a moment, but he also knew that people spoke without thinking in a panic, so he did not bother arguing with Yan Lao’er for the time being.

“I am the appointed magistrate of Crouching Tiger, charged with guarding this land. How can I abandon my post and think only of my own life and death!”

With righteous indignation, Magistrate Tian declared, “In this whole city, anyone can flee except me. If someone must die, then let me die before all of you!”

Yan Xiangheng was deeply shaken, his very spirit trembling, and his steps unconsciously slowed a little.

Yan Lao’er shouted, “Stop, stop!”

The three of them came to a halt.

Magistrate Tian was straightening his clothes, preparing to go back and face death with the best bearing he could.

Even in death, he had to die with dignity, with pride.

Yan Lao’er, however, was shouting for Yan Xiangheng to help even as he grabbed at Magistrate Tian’s official robes.

“Almost forgot about this. Walking around in this, you’re basically a living target.”

Seeing his eldest nephew hesitate, Yan Lao’er snapped, hating iron for not becoming steel^[1], “What are you waiting for, hurry up and help!”

At his roar, Yan Xiangheng hurriedly moved.

“Yan Lao’er, stop at once, Xiangheng, don’t listen to him…” Magistrate Tian was sweating profusely in his anxiety, struggling nonstop, yet still trying to persuade the two of them. “Hurry and run for your own lives, leave me. Ah, listen to me, I am not like you, I cannot leave!”

“Magistrate!” Yan Lao’er bellowed, flinging the stripped-off official robe to the ground. “Stop making trouble and come quietly with us. Delay any longer and the Northern Rong will be here killing people. Us uncle and nephew lives are in your hands right now. If you want us dead, then by all means keep dawdling!”

Tch, my damn temper!

Does being a good official mean you have to die? What, is death the only way left to prove yourself?

“Death can be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather^[2], Magistrate, think twice! Better to keep your life and be of use in the future!” Yan Xiangheng urged in a low voice at the side as he bent to pick up the robe on the ground.

Yan Lao’er snapped, “What are you picking that up for? Put that on and the Northern Rong will lock onto us!”

“Uncle, we can’t just throw this away,” Yan Xiangheng said carefully. “I’ll keep it.”

He deftly tied the magistrate’s official robe around his own waist.

He was thinking that his uncle likely had no idea how important this robe was. More importantly, there were no spares. If they lost it, replacing it would be a problem.

Magistrate Tian was left both exasperated and amused by this uncle and nephew.

Once the official robes were off, he felt a chill. Since he could not wear them, having them tied to someone with him was not bad either…

The three of them started running again, not daring to stop. The clear sound of hooves seemed to be right behind them, like a summons from death itself.

Magistrate Tian seemed to have given up resisting and ran along with them, head down.

“Uncle… where are we going?” Yan Xiangheng asked between gasps.

Magistrate Tian was in even worse shape. He was completely winded, unable to string his breaths together, much less speak.

“Government Office!”

Yan Lao’er hauled them all the way to the Government Office, his whole body shaking. He had never been sturdy to begin with, running on his own was already hard enough, let alone dragging along a magistrate who was no spring chicken.

Magistrate: Is that polite? I am only a few years older than your brother…

Seeing the magistrate return, everyone in the Government Office was overjoyed.

In such chaos, the magistrate’s appearance was like a needle calming the sea^[3], steadying their hearts.

What they did not expect was that the one barking orders was not the magistrate, but Yan Lao’er.

Yan Lao’er did not do it on purpose. He simply had no room left in his head for anything else. He could only think of one thing, how to stay alive!

The reason he ran to the Government Office was because this was the place in Crouching Tiger City he knew best.

“Shut the gates! Lock them!” Yan Lao’er’s words came out at breakneck speed. “Any ladders? Hurry and find a ladder!”

Magistrate Tian was still clutching his chest, panting, pointing at him with a shaking finger, but unable to get a word out.

Seeing this, everyone thought, so the magistrate is saying we should all listen to Yan Lao’er?

They rushed to work at once.

Some shut the gates, others went to look for ladders.

Liang Manshan ran over.

“Brother Huai’an…”

“Manshan, is everyone from the Government Office here?”

Liang Manshan said, “Yes, everyone is here.”

“Get the ladders, climb up to the roof and hide.”

Yan Lao’er picked out a roof, held the ladder steady, and pushed Magistrate Tian, making him go up first.

Magistrate Tian was like a duck being driven up a perch^[4], wobbling as he stood on the roof.

“Yan Lao’er, what are you doing?”

He had finally caught his breath.

Yan Lao’er did not answer him. He sent his eldest nephew up next, then climbed up himself. Liang Manshan came up after him, and the others followed their example, using another ladder to climb.

Some of the tiles on the Government Office roof were older than Magistrate Tian.

How could they bear such a load!

They cracked and shattered with sharp snaps. One careless step and you would miss a tile, your body tilting, nearly falling off.

“You few, go elsewhere and find a roof like this, wedged between two ridges. Lie flat and don’t move and you’ll be fine. Don’t forget to pull the ladder up.”

The Government Office roof had not only old tiles, but also weeds.

What tenacious lives, they had actually managed to grow here!

But thanks to them, they could use the weeds to help conceal their bodies.

It was already a blind spot to begin with, and it was night besides. The Northern Rong smashed their way into the Government Office, and not one of them thought to glance up. They rampaged through, and when they found no one there and realized there was no fat to be had in the Government Office…

Even without understanding their language, Yan Lao’er could tell these bastards left cursing and swearing.

Once they left, Yan Lao’er’s taut body relaxed.

He collapsed like a puddle.

“Uncle, they’ve gone far!”

Yan Xiangheng braced himself and got up, bent at the waist as he carefully inched along the rooftop.

From high up you could see far. Even in the heavy night he could still make out the mounted Northern Rong riding away.

“Which way did they go? Did they break into any homes and kill people on the way?”

Yan Xiangheng said, “They didn’t go into any place, went straight east.”

Magistrate Tian and Yan Lao’er thought at the same time: that is where the granary is.

Yan Lao’er felt the Northern Rong had really studied Crouching Tiger inside and out.

They knew exactly where the Government Office was, and when it came to the granary they could find it in one go too.

“We should hurry to reinforce them!” Magistrate Tian said in a low voice.

Yan Lao’er rolled his eyes. With the few people they had now, who were they supposed to reinforce?

A couple of shrimp soldiers and crab generals^[5] like them crashing into the Northern Rong would just be marching to their deaths.

“The granary walls are high and the gate is narrow, and it has plenty of guards. The Northern Rong won’t dare set it on fire, so they won’t take it in a short time. Magistrate, you should think instead about how to keep the people of Crouching Tiger City from dying so many.”

Yan Lao’er’s thinking was very clear.

“They came here for grain. Before the granary falls, they probably won’t do anything extra. But… once the granary can’t hold, once they free up their hands, who knows what they’ll do. Staying at home is the least safe choice. Magistrate, think, is there any safe place where the common folk could hide?”

The common folk needed a place to hide, and so did they. Climbing onto roofs was no long-term plan. What if some bastard just happened to like looking up at the sky?

This stumped Magistrate Tian.

He had been in office for three years, yet in that moment he could not think of a single truly safe place in Crouching Tiger City.

(End of this chapter)