The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 21 Crossing the Wall
"Crash."

A very faint, rustling sound came from the corner of the wall.

The sound came from a simple hourglass made by Xiao Yi from bamboo tubes. Small holes were carved into the joint between the two bamboo chambers, and the bottom was wrapped in cloth, filled with flour, and placed at his feet.

He pressed his ear against the wall, listening carefully to the sounds outside, occasionally taking a little bit of the flour from the bamboo tube, and then pouring it back in when it was all gone.

"Can I help?" Qiu Shuang asked.

"Shhh."

After a long while, Xiao Yi finally moved his stiff limbs. He turned his head and saw that Qiu Shuang was still staring intently at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Time it out," Xiao Yi said. "There's a squad of Imperial Guards patrolling the alley, passing by every five or six minutes. We can only act after they've gone far away, so we have about two or three minutes in total."

"Minutes?" Qiu Shuang's eyes showed confusion as she softly asked, "Using this as a time measure? How long is that?"

"You'll know just by looking at it."

Xiao Yi refilled the bamboo tube with flour. Because the nodes were curved, using only one side for timing was more accurate.

"We must enter the Li residence before the wine is finished flowing."

Qiu Shuang squatted down, listened carefully, looked up at the high wall, and mentally rehearsed the scene.

When the soft sounds stopped, she exclaimed in surprise, "So fast?"

"Ah."

Qiu Shuang said, "But the wall is so high. We might be able to climb out, but how can we get over the high wall of the Li residence?"

"There's no time to crawl in and out, let's just go straight over."

"How to do it?"

"No rush, let's move some items over first so it's easier for us to climb over the wall."

Not far away were some broken old water vats. The two of them worked together to move them to the wall, turned them upside down, and stacked them up.

During the process, whenever they needed to move along the wall, Xiao Yi insisted on waiting until the patrolmen's footsteps had passed before setting up the bamboo tubes. As a result, even though they accidentally broke a jar, they were not discovered.

Finally, they set up the "ladder" to climb the wall.

“I’ll go up and observe, you keep an eye on me, and when the time is up, poke me with a bamboo pole.”

"it is good."

Xiao Yi climbed onto the wall and looked into the alley. The patrolling imperial guards had just walked away.

This was a section of road he had deliberately chosen. There were no lanterns around, and the only light came from the moonlight and the distant fire. After the imperial guards' lanterns disappeared into the distance, the area quickly fell into darkness.

The alley was only three meters wide, and the ladder could not reach the high wall of the Li residence.

Fortunately, there was a row of small latticework windows on the opposite high wall, about two meters above the ground, about the size of a fist.

Xiao Yi was engrossed in watching when he suddenly felt his thigh being poked twice by a bamboo pole. He quickly pulled back inside the wall, and a moment later, footsteps were heard.

He climbed down the wall, took out a rope from his bag, and split it into two ropes, each over three meters long. He tied one rope to a crossbow bolt and the other to the hilt of a dagger.

Once the footsteps had faded into the distance, he poured the flour back into the bamboo tube, climbed back up the wall with his crossbow, aimed at the latticed window of the Li residence, and pulled the trigger.

"despair."

Missed.

Xiao Yi pulled back the crossbow bolt, loaded it, and fired it. He did this three times. Qiu Shuang nudged him again, so he had to pause for a while and start over.

The crossbow does have a sight for aiming, but it's very crude. If he has the chance, he plans to add a scale and fine-tune it.

He took a deep breath and forced himself into a more focused state.

Single-minded, with eyes like an eagle.

The fingers placed on the mechanism deftly snapped shut.

"Whoosh."

The crossbow bolt shot straight into the window, taking the rope attached to it with it.

Xiao Yi tugged on the rope, and the crossbow bolt got stuck in the window hole. He taut the rope, but the bolt shaft was too brittle and would break if he used too much force.

He was prepared; he had hung the dagger on a rope with a short cord.

Just then, Qiu Shuang nudged him again.

Xiao Yi frowned, but instead of stopping immediately, he quickened his movements.

Despite the short notice, he remained calm and did not make any mistakes due to panic.

Finally, he hung up the dagger and let it slide down the rope to the other side.

Footsteps could be heard in the alley.

In the last instant, Xiao Yi quickly glanced back and saw out of the corner of his eye that the dagger slid into the small latticed window with a soft sound.

He held his breath, fearing that the Imperial Guards would hear him and look up to see the rope hanging above their heads.

"What's that noise?" someone suddenly asked from outside the wall.

Who dropped something?

Xiao Yi knew something was wrong and was thinking about how to deal with it when he suddenly heard a soft, babyish meow.

"Meow-"

He looked down and saw Qiu Shuang tiptoeing forward, covering her mouth, lowering her voice and calling out again, as if the kitten had already gone far away.

"Meow-"

It was incredibly lifelike.

"It's a cat, it's run away."

"Grandpa thought it was your egg that fell on the ground."

"Haha, get the hell out of here."

The laughter, shouts, and footsteps outside the wall gradually faded into the distance.

Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief and saw that Qiu Shuang had returned. She looked up at him with eyes seeking praise.

"You're doing well." "I'm sure I can still be of help, right?"

"Let's start the timer."

Xiao Yi tugged at the second rope on the wall. Because the dagger was stuck in the window hole, the rope was quite sturdy. He braided the two ropes together and tied them to the brackets of the high wall of the Shi Mansion.

Afterwards, he climbed down the wall and took some time to rest.

"We'll climb over the rope in a bit."

“Okay.” Qiu Shuang hesitated, “I’ve never climbed this before, but I’ll get there as soon as possible.”

"I'll tie a safety rope around you for leverage... and turn you around."

"Oh."

Xiao Yi tied the last, shorter rope around Qiu Shuang's waist.

"Give me your hand."

Qiu Shuang stretched out her hand. Xiao Yi glanced at it; her fingers were as white as scallions, and her skin was soft and tender, clearly indicating that she had never done heavy work.

He took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around her neck.

"You go first then."

"Thank you, but I can walk at the back so as not to hold you back."

"No need. We don't know what the situation is like on the other side. You go and scout ahead."

"Oh...you wrapped it up so well."

After a short rest, the two climbed up the wall one after the other. When Qiu Shuang saw the rope, she visibly stiffened.

She carefully tried to stand up, her feet planted on the narrow ridge of the wall, but her legs were trembling violently.

"Sorry... I seem to have been going on for too long... Shall we start over?"

She tried to hide it, but her voice was trembling.

Because he brought along this young girl, there were more troubles and risks tonight, but since making the decision, Xiao Yi has never uttered a word of complaint or regret.

He knew that the longer he dragged it out, the more frightened she would become, so he kept his tone calm and said, "Don't be nervous, take a deep breath, you can do it, just do it."

"Ah."

Xiao Yi lowered his head and used a slipknot to attach Qiu Shuang's safety rope to the rope.

He felt Qiu Shuang's hands gripping his arms, but his legs were too weak to stand.

"Grab it, hang your feet up too, and climb over with your hands and feet, one in front of the other."

"I...I can't lift my leg...Let me get ready..."

Seeing that Qiu Shuang was still trying to prepare herself, Xiao Yi didn't give her time to hesitate. He grabbed her by the feet, hung her on the rope, and pushed her out.

"ah."

After a soft gasp, Qiu Shuang began climbing the rope.

Upon seeing her actions, Xiao Yi immediately realized that he had made a mistake.

Because of my years of experience in extreme sports, my assessment of the difficulty of this matter was inaccurate, and by a considerable margin.

He glanced at Qiushuang at times, then at the bamboo tube, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

The flour in the bamboo tube was flowing out quickly and was about to run out, but the girl was still hanging in the middle of the rope, swaying precariously.

You can tell she tried very hard, but it was clearly too late.

Xiao Yi acted decisively, sweeping away the bamboo tubes on the wall and grabbing the rope.

"Squeak."

The rope tightened further, causing it to drop a little.

Xiao Yi stretched out his arms like an ape and instantly appeared behind Qiu Shuang. He pressed his chest against her back, clamped his legs around her, and lifted her up.

He gritted his teeth, using the strength of his waist and abdomen to support Qiu Shuang's weight and push her forward.

Because he was so skilled, he quickly reached the wall of the Li residence. He pushed Qiu Shuang up to climb, but the roof tiles were not easy to grip.

"Ouch, ouch!"

Suddenly, singing came from the alley. Xiao Yi turned his head and saw the light from the lanterns carried by the patrolmen.

"Stretch out your hand, touch your sister, her thighs are round and soft, this... this..."

As the singing and footsteps drew closer, Qiu Shuang grew increasingly alarmed, and her hands became weaker and weaker.

Xiao Yi's eyes sharpened. No longer seeking stability, he pushed off the wall with his foot, released one hand holding the rope, and with a sudden burst of strength, lifted her onto the top of the wall and flipped her over.

The two remained pressed against the wall of the Li residence, motionless.

The crunching sound of boots crushing snow came from the alley, growing louder as it approached.

The patrolmen had arrived, the clanging of their armor was almost within reach. If any one of them looked up, they would see the ropes above their heads and the two dark figures on the wall.

Time has never felt so long.

Finally, the humming and footsteps faded into the distance, and the glow of the lanterns disappeared at the alley entrance.

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Xiao Yi sheathed his dagger and used a crossbow bolt to shoot the rope back inside the high walls of the Shi residence, so that no one would see the rope hanging outside.

Looking inside the Li residence, there was also a bamboo grove by the high wall. He picked up a bamboo stalk and landed lightly, then caught Qiushuang.

As the tension of the night subsided, exhaustion immediately overwhelmed them. They sat leaning against the wall, feeling the lingering tremor of surviving a close call, and remained silent for a long time.

Outside the wall, the commotion at the Shi residence suddenly intensified, with horses' hooves pounding on the stone slabs as they approached from afar, accompanied by shouts and cries of killing.

"Catch them!"

"Don't let them get away..."

Xiao Yi and Qiu Shuang exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

(End of this chapter)