Chapter 332: Lord Chen Yan will surely decide for us!

"We can only plan for the long term!"

Dugu Zhao raised his hand to press his throbbing temple. His gaze swept rapidly over the commoners waving their fists below the platform, then glanced at the corpse on the execution stake that was gradually losing its warmth. He felt the pain in his temple worsen.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the chaos in his heart, and spoke in a hurried yet undeniably calm tone: "Let us leave this place for now..."

Dugu Zhao knew well that being at the center of the storm, anything done now would be wrong...

He could only leave it to time to dilute the impact!

"Good."

"Listen to Brother Dugu..."

Zhao Qian, as if grabbing a life-saving straw, did not hesitate at all. He walked straight toward the side door with Dugu Zhao, his blood-stained robe dragging a messy trail across the stone slabs.

The commoners below the platform had sharp eyes and immediately saw through their intentions.

"That traitor Zhao Qian is trying to escape!"

"Everyone, charge together! Stop him! We absolutely cannot let him escape!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd, previously filled with angry curses, instantly exploded. Like an enraged swarm of bees, they surged forward frantically.

"Stop!"

The leading private soldier saw the crowd surging forward, his eyes turning red instantly. He fiercely drew his long saber, the blade flashing with a cold light in the sunlight. "One more step forward and you will be treated as assassins! Kill without mercy!"

The private soldiers behind him also drew their sabers. The crisp sound of clashing blades mixed with the cold wind, revealing a bloody threat.

The commoners in the front row were forced to pause by this display, their footsteps retreating subconsciously, yet their eyes still burned with rage.

Just then, a bearded man stepped forward fiercely, his chest almost hitting the private soldier's blade.

"Come on!" the man roared at the top of his lungs, the veins on his neck bulging. He pointed at his own throat and leaned in closer, the tip of the blade almost touching his skin. "Hack me right here!"

"I don't believe that Zhao Qian can turn the world upside down! Is there no law in Chang'an anymore?"

"Can you just let them run wild?"

His voice made people's eardrums ache, and the determination in his eyes was like a red-hot branding iron.

The private soldier was startled by his death-defying posture and took half a step back, his hand holding the saber trembling slightly.

"Bang!"

Seeing this, the leading private soldier kicked the bearded man in the chest.

"Ah!"

He cried out in pain, rolled onto the ground, struggled to get up, clutched his chest, and kept shouting: "Murder!"

"Zhao Qian's private soldiers are murdering people!"

Immediately, the public grievance boiled over even more...

But the unarmed commoners, facing the private soldiers whose blades were always pointed at the crowd, could only watch helplessly as they left the West Market execution ground.

"This matter absolutely cannot end like this!" Someone stamped their feet in anxiety, their voice full of unwillingness. "And we cannot let Master Huineng die in vain!"

Just then, a hesitant whisper came from the back of the crowd, like a basin of cold water poured into a boiling pot: "But that Zhao Qian is, after all, one of the Eight Pillar States. His influence is so vast..."

"Add to that Dugu Zhao, who is also a Pillar of State. How can we, commoners, deal with them?"

The speaker was a man in a blue cloth cotton robe. He pushed up his crooked square cap, his face pale.

These words were like a needle, instantly piercing the crowd's fervor.

The peddler who had been roaring just moments ago froze, the shoulder pole in his hand dropping to the ground with a "clatter."

The vegetable-selling woman opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but it eventually turned into a powerless sob.

That's right. They could curse, they could throw stones, they could block the execution ground and roar, but the other party was an imperial official holding heavy troops. If they really got serious, what did this bit of anger count for?

The bearded man's shoulders slumped imperceptibly. He looked at the backs of the departing private soldiers. The veins on his neck were still bulging, but the determination in his eyes was gradually replaced by a deeper sense of powerlessness.

"Is it possible that at the feet of the Son of Heaven, they are allowed to trample on the commoners?" A young voice asked with a sob. "Is there no one who can decide for us commoners?"

No one responded to him.

The cold wind swept snow foam across the execution ground, blew over Huineng's remaining bloodstains, blew over the pile of broken stone statue remains, and blew over the silent faces of the commoners.

The anger was still there, the hatred had not vanished, but that sentence, "How can we, commoners, deal with them?", stood like an invisible wall in front of everyone.

It was so heavy it made people unable to breathe.

"Lord Chen Yan!"

An exclamation suddenly exploded from the crowd, like a bolt of lightning piercing the dull haze.

The speaker was a thin, withered old man who had been shrinking in the back row sighing.

At this moment, he suddenly squeezed forward two steps, light bursting from his cloudy eyes.

"Right!" The old man selling tofu pudding slapped his thigh fiercely, his gray hair trembling along with him. "There is still Lord Chen Yan!"

"Lord Chen Yan will surely decide for us!"

These words were like a spark, instantly igniting the extinguished hope of the commoners.

The previously silent crowd became restless again, the despair in their eyes replaced by an urgent expectation.

How could they have forgotten that "Blue Sky" of the current age?

They couldn't deal with them, but Lord Chen Yan was the Chief of the Mingjing Si!

But someone questioned timidly: "But those are two Pillars of State. Can Lord Chen Yan defeat them?"

"It is true that they are two Pillars of State!"

The thin, withered old man's eyes flashed with firmness and trust as he said in a deep voice: "But don't forget, standing behind Lord Chen Yan are the Grand Chancellor and the Grand Marshal!"

Perhaps relying solely on the identity of the Mingjing Si Chief, he was indeed isolated and difficult to match...

But were the Grand Chancellor and the Grand Marshal just for show?

He had heard that these two royal princes had always been at odds with the two Pillars of State!

The bearded man's tense shoulders gradually relaxed. Looking at the direction Zhao Qian had left, and then at Huineng's corpse on the execution stake, the powerlessness in his eyes was replaced by a new determination: "Go!"

"To the Mingjing Si!"

"Ask Lord Chen Yan to decide!"

As he spoke, he clenched his fists, his voice becoming loud again.

The crowd's emotions rose again, but it was no longer the blind anger from before.

Instead, it had gained a definite direction.

Some began to squeeze out of the execution ground, shouting that they were going to prepare petitions.

Others surrounded Huineng's corpse, carefully wanting to wipe the bloodstains off his body with cloth, as if to preserve evidence for the upcoming plea for justice.

The cold wind was still biting, but the atmosphere at the execution ground had changed.

The second-floor private room of the street-side restaurant.

"A Ze, look!"

"What surging public opinion this is!"

Chen Yan's mouth hooked into a smile that was not quite a smile. He raised his hand and pointed downstairs, appreciating his masterpiece with great interest.

Brilliant! Yuwen Ze couldn't help but sigh in his heart. After a moment of thought, he asked: "Is Brother planning to use these raging waves to completely swallow those two?"

"To drown them in the rolling torrent?"

"No!"

"This is just the first step..."

Chen Yan smiled playfully, his fingertips tapping lightly on the window sill: "Make them lose the hearts of the people!"

What was lost was the basic foundation that the two Pillars of State cared about the least, yet it was the most critical.

No one understood better than Chen Yan what was meant by the "vast ocean of the masses"!

By the way, just take this opportunity to win another wave of public support for himself and the Grand Chancellor...

"So that's it!"

Yuwen Ze nodded and laughed loudly: "Then next, we should cut off the branches and leaves, and then dig up their old roots..."

The two brothers looked at each other and laughed knowingly, "Hahahaha!"

Lu Cangfeng, who had also witnessed the whole process, was thoughtful and said: "Chief Chen, this humble one has a question. I don't know if I should ask it or not..."

"If you have something to ask, just ask!" Yuwen Ze put down his teacup, his fingertips drawing circles on the rim of the cup, "There are no outsiders here..."

Lu Cangfeng chose his words carefully and said in a deep voice: "Using Huineng's blood to nail down the Pillar of State is very clever, but he was, after all, a high monk of great virtue and good deeds. Is it too cruel?"

"Old Lu, sometimes, eyes will deceive you!"

Chen Yan did not speak, but Zhu Yi laughed lowly. The laughter was very light, like falling snow landing on plum branches, carrying a bit of playfulness: "What you and those believers saw was all he wanted you to see..."

"There is a saying: 'Know the person and the face, but not the heart'!"

"Do you really think that Huineng was any good?" ===== CHAPTER 333 =====