Chapter 102: Night Ghosts Weep And Laugh
Lin Qian gave Bai Langzai a look.
Bai Langzai lunged forward, punched the man in the stomach, and smoothly pulled him down to the ground.
Bai Qing grabbed a handful of dirt and stuffed it into the man’s mouth, then tied his mouth shut with rope and bound his hands.
The man recovered from the abdominal pain and was about to struggle and whimper when Bai Langzai stepped on his stomach, causing him to pass out from the pain.
The siblings coordinated perfectly, their movements flowing smoothly without making a sound.
Lin Qian looked at the pile of wine jars, lost in thought.
Presumably, even if the women in the backyard could drink, they couldn’t drink so many jars of wine; these jars were piled here specifically to block this person underfoot.
Along the way, the several servants and guards they killed were most likely arranged in advance.
Tonight’s catching of an adulterer was no coincidence; it was a trap set by someone, but unfortunately Lin Qian had stumbled right into it.
From the sounds outside the back alley, there were about twenty people coming.
Footsteps approached the courtyard, and someone said, “Elder Brother, Concubine Li, come out yourselves.”
The woman called Concubine Li pretended to stay calm: “What does Second Young Master mean by bringing people into the backyard late at night?”
……
Negotiations continued inside the courtyard.
Lin Qian realized that if they kept talking, they would definitely be exposed, so he whispered to Bai Langzai, “Take people around to the back and deal with everyone outside the courtyard wall.”
Bai Langzai acknowledged and led people toward the rear of the back alley, disappearing into the darkness moments later.
Outside the back alley, the argument grew increasingly intense.
……
“Search for me!”
“Second Young Master, there’s no one in the room.”
“Tell me, where did he go?”
“Heh, you’re called Zhili, yet you barge into your aunt’s room at night—what manners are those?”
“Go check the back alley.”
Five or six servants raised torches and charged over like wolves and tigers upon hearing this.
When they reached the back alley entrance, they all froze.
“Oh no, thieves have entered… ah—”
A steel knife struck the servant’s face, slicing off half his cheek; he fell into a pool of blood, screaming incessantly, before more steel knives stabbed down, ending his life in an instant.
Immediately after, more masked men surged out from the back alley, slashing at anyone they saw without mercy.
The servants in front of the back alley held wooden sticks but were caught off guard and all cut down in the blink of an eye.
“Who are you?” Lin Zhili was completely baffled by what was happening and wanted to retreat outside the courtyard when screams came from there too.
Clashes of weapons followed.
The fighting lasted only moments; with screams one after another, the torches outside the courtyard wall fell and extinguished one by one, and soon silence returned outside.
Lin Zhili stood dumbfounded, watching the strong men emerge from the back alley, one of them carrying a disheveled scholar over his shoulder.
Lin Zhili recognized the scholar and cried out in shock: “Elder Brother!”
At this time, Bai Langzai and the others entered from outside the courtyard and said, “All killed clean.”
Since they had already revealed themselves, there was no need to hide anymore; Lin Qian ordered, “Execute the backup plan—bring everyone in the entire manor to the women’s hall; kill anyone who dares resist!”
“Yes!”
Bai Langzai led people toward the main courtyard.
Lin Qian said to Bai Qing, “Send signals to the east and west routes, have them execute the backup plan.”
Bai Qing tilted her head back, cupped her hands around her mouth, and mimicked two owl calls.
The sound was like a night ghost’s eerie laughter, carrying far and making listeners’ hair stand on end.
Lin Qian glanced at Lin Zhili and the concubine, then said, “Tie these two up too and take them to the women’s hall.”
Crew members stepped forward to bind them, stuffing dirt into their mouths as well.
Lin Qian then kicked open the door of the main room in this courtyard; a middle-aged woman fell to the ground in fright, her face full of terror.
She must have heard the commotion and been peeking from the doorway.
This was the room of the Lin Mansion’s main wife’s eldest branch; she had two sons, Lin Zhishu and Lin Zhili.
Lin Qian had long memorized the Lin Mansion’s relationships; though he didn’t recognize these people, from the rooms they occupied and prior conversations, he had figured out their identities.
“Take her away.” Lin Qian pointed at the woman on the ground.
Crew members strung the captives together like a chain and took them to the women’s hall.
Along the way, they encountered over a dozen servants holding axes and cleavers.
Two crew members in leather armor with shields advanced first; these ordinary weapons were almost useless against the shields.
The servants were no match and soon scattered in defeat.
Bai Qing wielded a wild goose feather saber, her figure extremely agile as she killed several in a few moves.
The remaining servants threw down their weapons upon seeing this and knelt begging for mercy.
Lin Qian told the crew members to bind them with rope anyway.
Lin Qian had arranged guards at all key positions in the rear manor; though they heard the fighting, the servants couldn’t gather together.
The timid ones hid under haystacks, wood piles, or stoves.
The bold ones grabbed tools and came out, only to become souls under the blade around the next corner.
Thus, though there was commotion, Lin Qian’s group actually moved faster.
After passing through several corridors and leaving over a dozen corpses, Lin Qian arrived at the women’s hall.
Following the layout of ancient Chinese architecture—tea hall, main hall, flower hall, women’s hall—the women’s hall was the last hall room in the manor, usually used for meeting inner relatives and handling family affairs.
Lin Qian had the crew members push the tables and chairs aside and pile the captured Lin Mansion people into the women’s hall.
The crew members roughly dragged people in and shoved them to the ground; noble masters, madams, young masters, and misses tumbled into a heap.
The men were bruised and swollen-faced with tears streaming; the women cried until they nearly fainted.
Lin Qian called Xie Er to his side and asked, “Look carefully—who from the manor is missing?”
Xie Er cowered, glancing sideways at the crowd, most of whom were covering their faces and crying.
Lin Qian scolded, “All lift your faces!”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it made many tremble and raise their faces.
Xie Er glanced once and stammered, “The… the eldest young master is not here.”
Lin Qian kicked the object at his feet: “The eldest young master is right here.”
Xie Er looked down and saw a person lying there, mouth full of dirt and vomit, hair disheveled, eyes closed, unclear if dead or alive.
It was Lin Zhishu, who had passed out.
Xie Er shuddered: “It’s the eldest young master.”
Lin Qian asked coldly: “Who else is missing?”
Xie Er had no choice but to glance around sideways again and said, “Also Great Master and Old Master Lin.”
“They’re here!” Lei Sanxiang’s voice came from outside the hall.
His hands each held one of the missing pair.
Lei Sanxiang casually tossed the two to the ground and explained, “These two tried to flee through the main gate and ran into me.”
Lin Qian asked Xie Er: “Any others not here?”
“No… none.”
At this time, Lin Zhili recognized Xie Er’s figure and immediately let out muffled cries.
Though Xie Er was masked, Lin Zhili remembered their figure.
Lei Sanxiang stepped forward and delivered a full-force slap to Lin Zhili’s face, producing a heavy thud.
Lin Zhili’s neck bone cracked with a snap, blood spurting from his nose like an arrow, his cheek swelling high immediately.
At this point, Lin Jiren also recognized Xie Er and felt utterly astonished; he had been captured by Lei Sanxiang without ropes or dirt in his mouth, so he stretched out his trembling hand, pointing at Xie Er: “You brought in the thieves? The Lin Family has treated you well—why do this to us?”
