When Mrs. Yuan carried her child out of the prefectural government office, she still felt like she was in a dream.
But the loud crying of her daughter in her arms reminded her that she was not dreaming and everything was happening in real life.
She looked through the crowd that was rushing around and crying in fear. She saw that the prefectural government office was engulfed in a raging fire. The huge flames were like a fire dragon, swallowing up everything with great force. People kept crying and running. Yamen runners and soldiers went to the wells on the street to fetch water, passing buckets of water from one person to another, but in front of this huge fire, it was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The crying of the child in her arms at this time did not seem abrupt at all.
Madam Yuan was lost in thought when someone suddenly pulled her hand. She looked down subconsciously and saw an old woman holding her hand tightly. When she looked over, the old woman lowered her voice and warned, "Don't make a sound. I was sent by the Yuan family to rescue you."
The fire in the yamen grew bigger and bigger. Thick smoke slowly drifted out, almost covering the entire street. Mrs. Yuan was choked to tears. She hurriedly hugged the child in her arms and followed the old woman to get out of the road in various ways.
It was unknown how long they had been walking. Mrs. Yuan was already walking with some difficulty. The old woman suddenly stopped and looked at her: "We're here." Then she gently knocked on the door in front of her. She knocked in a very regular pattern, three times at the beginning and two times at the end, lightly at the beginning and heavily at the end, like some kind of signal.
Not long after, the door creaked open a crack, and a man poked his head out. He glanced at them, and after seeing the old woman, he opened the door and let them in.
As soon as she entered the yard, Mrs. Yuan found something wrong - this was definitely not an ordinary place. It looked like an ordinary small courtyard from the outside, but in fact it had been connected. As soon as she entered the door, she would find that it was very spacious. It was likely that all the courtyards on the whole street had been bought.
Her heart jumped with a start, and she looked at the old woman anxiously: "Grandma, where is this place?"
The old woman walked ahead without looking away: "Madam, there is no need to ask more questions. You will know when you get there."
Madam Yuan held the child tighter. After being led away for about a cup of tea, the old woman stopped in front of a courtyard and whistled solemnly. As the whistle sounded, the door opened. The old woman then motioned for Madam Yuan to follow her and took her into the courtyard and up the steps. After waiting in the corridor for a while, a person who looked like a maid came out and led them in.
If you don’t know, you would think this is the mansion of some duke or earl.
There is such a place in Zhaotong!
Mrs. Yuan felt as if a huge stone was weighing down her heart, making it hard for her to breathe. The child in her arms had stopped crying. She was stunned for a moment, and the old woman pushed her without leaving a trace. She immediately saw the man in the room and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Brother-in-law!"
It turned out to be Wei Desheng.
Wei Desheng had a square face that looked like someone who could not be offended. When he heard Mrs. Yuan calling him, he hummed and asked in a deep voice, "Where are Zijian and Kang'er?"
Mrs. Yuan immediately panicked: "Brother-in-law, I don't know what happened. We were originally being taken to be beheaded, but then, the master said something to them and they decided not to kill us. Instead, they took us to the master and wanted to torture us..."
Wei Desheng was a little impatient.
This sister-in-law has always been timid and almost like an invisible person at home. She just wants to be liked by her brother-in-law and his wife. Now it seems that she is really useless and can't even speak clearly.
He coughed to interrupt Mrs. Yuan's chatter: "I'm asking, why only you and Niuniu escaped, where are Zijian and Kang'er?"
Wei Desheng has always attached great importance to his wife Yuan, and he knows that his wife's favorite person is his younger brother, that is, his brother-in-law. Naturally, he cannot let anything happen to his brother-in-law.
Mrs. Yuan seemed frightened. She hugged the child and shook her head in panic, "I don't know either. They locked us in the woodshed, and then took us to a yard to meet the master. They also asked us to persuade the master to tell the truth and give out a list of names... The master refused to listen, so they said they would beat Kang'er and Niuniu to death..."
At this point, Mrs. Yuan started to cry: "Niuniu cried so hard that I got scared and started crying too. Then they took Niuniu and me to the woodshed again..."
Although what Mrs. Yuan said was still confusing, a smart man like Wei Desheng quickly guessed the general idea from what Mrs. Yuan said.
The reason why they suddenly didn't kill Madam Yuan and the others was because they wanted to use Madam Yuan to threaten Lord Yuan to confess the person behind the scenes.
He snorted.
The original intention of setting the fire was to rescue my brother-in-law.
But they reacted too quickly, and now they were able to rescue Mrs. Yuan and her daughter, which is considered satisfactory. It is better than getting nothing.
Wei Desheng rubbed his eyes and asked, "Do you know where your master is imprisoned?"
He said, frowning, "Think about it carefully. The prefectural government office is so small. Think carefully, is there anything special in the place where he is imprisoned?"
Madam Yuan tried to recall: "It seems... It seems to be in the northeast corner of the backyard of the prefectural government office. There is a plaque on the top of the yard... It's called something... Lotus Garden..."
Wei Desheng hummed and waved his hand to let Madam Yuan go down: "Alright, you have been frightened for so long, and the child is still young, you should take the child down to rest first, don't think too much, don't ask too many questions, just have a good rest, what's happening here is none of your business."
Mrs. Yuan immediately showed a look of panic and responded hurriedly.
After she left, Wei Desheng asked the silent old woman, "Is it difficult to get in? Otherwise, you would have stayed there for so long. With your ability, you wouldn't have brought back only a useless person."
The old woman nodded affirmatively, "It's difficult. There are many masters around the Crown Prince, and he himself is also a master. The prefectural government is like an iron barrel, with guards every few steps. I found that they had been guarding the woodshed, and I estimated that there would be gains anyway. After setting the fire, I used a secret technique to confuse the guards. Who knew that it was only the wife inside? But by that time, others had already been alerted, so I could only take advantage of the chaos to take the wife and the young lady and escape."
Wei Desheng hummed and tapped the table with his fingers: "She just said, Lotus Garden, do you know where it is?"
The old woman nodded affirmatively: "I know, it's the courtyard of the former prefect."
Chapter 150: Fire