The moon hid behind the clouds, disappearing from sight, taking a break, and no one noticed.

Everyone was in their own dreams, except for one family.

Xiao Mansion

"Quickly go and tell the master that someone is trying to break into the mansion!"

"Who are you people? What are you doing barging in at this hour?"

A servant saw a group of people dressed in white approaching the Xiao residence aggressively. He quickly instructed his attendant to inform Xiao Sheng. After speaking, he mustered his courage and, looking at the group of people approaching, asked...

"Who we are is none of your concern. All you need to do is open the gates and let us in, and we might spare your life!"

"I'm not opening the door for you."

As soon as the servant finished speaking, the leader, dressed in white, plunged his sword into the servant's chest, then slowly said, "Since you won't open the door, we'll open it ourselves."

The servant stared in horror, and soon after, he died.

"Master, something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

The messenger rushed into Xiao Sheng's courtyard in a panic.

Upon hearing the shout, Xiao Sheng sat up unhappily from the bed, then walked to the door and opened it.

What are you doing in such a panic?

What's wrong?

The servant disregarded everything else, exclaiming, "A group of people dressed in white are about to break into the Xiao residence!"

No, no

"I ran over to tell you, and while I was running, I turned around and saw them kill someone and then break in."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Sheng frowned, recalling the inexplicable unease he had felt these past few days. He disregarded everything else and left his own courtyard, heading towards Xiao Liyan's. "How many people have come?"

"Go and inform the young master to go to the young lady's courtyard."

Upon hearing this, the servant immediately ran towards Xiao Shida's courtyard.

"Hongwu, go check what's going on first, then immediately go to Miss's courtyard and find me."

As Xiao Sheng finished speaking, a person emerged from the shadows. "Yes," Hong Wu said, then used his lightness skill to head towards the door.

————

When Xiao Sheng arrived at Xiao Liyan's door, he said to the maid, "Go quickly and wake your young lady up."

When the maid saw Xiao Sheng come to see Xiao Liyan in the middle of the night with a dark face, she was frightened and quickly went into the room, woke Xiao Liyan up, and briefly explained the situation.

A moment later, Xiao Liyan finished dressing, opened the door, and looked at Xiao Sheng with a puzzled expression, "Father?"

"Listen to your father, Nan Tianyi's trip to address the damage caused by the blizzard is just a pretext."

"They're coming for us, aren't they, Dad?"

Xiao Sheng couldn't help but admire his daughter's intelligence, but unfortunately, the timing was off. Just then, Xiao Shida arrived, and Hongwu returned using his light-footed skills.

Hongwu's face was extremely grim, filled with panic and urgency. "The other side has over 200 people, and they're all quite capable. They're on their way to your courtyard now. Master, you must take the young lady and young master away immediately!"

"What? What's going on with Uncle Hong?"

Xiao Shida wasn't entirely sure why; he only came because a servant said someone was trying to break into the mansion, and Xiao Sheng told him to hurry to Xiao Liyan's courtyard.

"Hongwu, take the young lady and young master and leave through the tunnel."

As he spoke, Xiao Sheng took Xiao Liyan's hand and led the group to the room in Xiao Liyan's courtyard. He pressed a switch, then pulled back the bed curtains. Against the wall, he saw a passageway large enough for one person to walk down.

"Master, what about you?"

"I can't leave. If I leave, Yuan Yuanman will be in even greater danger, not to mention there are still..."

As he spoke, Xiao Sheng showed a sad expression, but quickly recovered.

"No, Father, we'll go together."

Hearing Xiao Liyan's words, Xiao Sheng patted her head and said with a mixture of weariness and heartache, "Yuanyuan, Dad won't leave. You take your brother and Uncle Hong and go. If nothing happens this time, Dad will come looking for you himself. If..."

If anything happens... stay with Uncle Hong, hide well, and wait for Nan Tian to return. Then go find him, and he will protect you.”

"No, Father, you must come with us."

Xiao Sheng looked at his son who was speaking to him, then at his daughter who was tugging at his sleeve, and gave a wry smile.

"Father, I knew this day would come, but... I didn't expect it to come so soon."

As he spoke, Xiao Sheng pulled the little hand that was tugging at his clothes away, looking at the two siblings with a hint of anger, "Remember, from now on you must protect each other and support each other."

He looked at Hongwu and said, "Take them away."

The two siblings ran towards Xiao Sheng and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go. Xiao Sheng simply picked them up, one in each arm, and carried them to the entrance of the passage.

He then glanced at the passageway, first throwing Xiao Shida down, and as he was about to throw Xiao Liyan down, he felt something drip onto his hand. He looked up and saw...

"Yuanyuan..."

"Father...I don't want to leave, please let Manman go."

Xiao Liyan couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears. Xiao Sheng used his other hand to wipe away Xiao Liyan's tears, closed his eyes, and threw Xiao Liyan into the passage as well.

The passageway had no stairs leading down and was about three meters high, but the ground was covered with straw. Falling didn't hurt much. Just as Xiao Shida was getting up, he saw the person who had fallen and quickly caught Xiao Liyan.

At the entrance to the passage, Xiao Sheng looked at Hong Wu and handed him a jade pendant. "Take this safe. If I die, go to Fenglan Kingdom, Mancheng, and Yuansheng Hall to find Qi Xin. He will take care of the two siblings because of this jade pendant."

Hongwu took the jade pendant and nodded, then solemnly said to Xiao Sheng, "Master, rest assured, I will take good care of Miss and Young Master, and you will not die."

"Let's go quickly."

Upon hearing Xiao Sheng speak, Hongwu immediately jumped down into the passage. Xiao Sheng then restored everything to its original state, inserted a small piece of wood into the mechanism that opened the passage, covered everything up again, and replaced the ornaments.