Chapter 102: The Night Ghost Weeps and Laughs

Lin Qian shot Bailangzai a look.

Bailangzai sprang forward, landed a punch to the man's stomach, and with the momentum swept him to the ground.

Bai Qing scooped up a handful of dirt and stuffed it into the man's mouth, bound his jaws shut with rope, and tied his hands behind his back.

The man had just recovered from the pain in his gut and was about to struggle and whimper when Bailangzai planted a foot on his stomach, and the pain knocked him clean unconscious.

The siblings worked in perfect tandem, their movements fluid and seamless, without making the slightest sound.

Lin Qian looked at the pile of wine jars, lost in thought.

Even if the women of the inner quarters could drink, they could hardly put away this many jars of wine; these jars stacked here were meant specifically to block this man underfoot.

The servants and guards they had killed on the way here — ten to one, those had been planted in advance too.

Tonight's adultery-catching was no coincidence; someone had set a trap, and Lin Qian had simply stumbled right into it.

Judging by the sounds from beyond the service corridor, the newcomers numbered around twenty.

The footsteps walked all the way into the courtyard, and a voice said, "Eldest Brother, Aunt Li, come out on your own."

The woman addressed as Aunt Li forced herself to stay calm: "What does Second Young Master mean by barging into the inner quarters with men in the dead of night?"

The back-and-forth in the courtyard continued without end.

Lin Qian knew that if they kept talking, they would surely be exposed. He said in a low voice to Bailangzai, "Take the men around the back and deal with everyone outside the wall."

Bailangzai acknowledged the order, led the men toward the rear of the service corridor, and in a moment their figures vanished into the darkness.

Beyond the service corridor, the argument grew increasingly heated.

"Search for me!"

"Second Young Master, there's no one in the room."

"Tell me, where did he go?"

"Ha, and you call yourself Zhili — bursting into an aunt's chambers at night, what sort of propriety is that?"

"Go check the service corridor."

Five or six servants, upon hearing this, charged over with torches, fierce as wolves and tigers.

When they reached the entrance of the service corridor, they all froze.

"Not good, thieves are—ahh—"

A blade struck the servant in the face, shearing off half his cheek; he collapsed into a pool of blood, screaming without cease, and then more steel blades stabbed down, and in an instant the servant lost his life.

Right after, more masked men surged out of the service corridor, cutting down anyone they saw, showing no mercy at all.

The servants before the corridor all carried wooden clubs, but caught completely off guard, they were all felled in the blink of an eye.

"Who are you people?" Lin Zhili had no idea what was happening and tried to retreat out of the courtyard, only to hear screams coming from beyond the wall as well.

Then came the clash of weapons.

The fighting lasted only a moment; with scream after scream, the torches beyond the courtyard wall fell to the ground one by one and went out, and soon all was silent again outside.

Lin Zhili stared dumbfounded as the armed men walked out of the service corridor, one of them carrying a disheveled scholar over his shoulder.

Lin Zhili recognized the scholar and cried out in shock, "Eldest Brother!"

By then Bailangzai and the others had also come in from outside the courtyard and said, "All killed clean."

Since their tracks were already exposed, there was no need to keep moving in secret. Lin Qian commanded, "Carry out the backup plan — bring everyone in the household to the women's hall. Anyone who dares resist, kill without mercy!"

Bailangzai led his men toward the main courtyard.

Lin Qian said to Bai Qing, "Signal the east and west routes — tell them to execute the backup plan."

Bai Qing tilted her head up, put her hands to her mouth, and made two owl calls.

The sound was like a night ghost weeping and laughing, carrying far into the distance, raising the hairs on every listener's skin.

Lin Qian swept a glance at Lin Zhili and the aunt, and said, "Tie these two up as well and take them to the women's hall."

Some sailors stepped forward to bind them, and dirt was stuffed into both their mouths.

Lin Qian then kicked open the door of the main room in this courtyard, and a middle-aged woman fell to the ground in fright, her face full of terror.

She must have heard the commotion and been peeking through the door.

This was the chamber of the first wife of the Lin family's senior branch — the woman who had borne two sons, named Lin Zhishu and Lin Zhili.

Lin Qian had long since memorized the Lin family's relations; though he did not know these people, from the rooms they occupied and the earlier conversations, he had already figured out who everyone was.

"Take her away." Lin Qian pointed at the woman on the ground.

The sailors strung the captives together and led them to the women's hall.

Along the way, they happened upon a dozen or so servants carrying axes and firewood knives.

Two sailors holding shields and wearing leather armor went up first; these ordinary weapons were almost useless against shield and armor.

The servants could not hold their ground and were soon scattered in defeat.

Bai Qing wielded a wild-goose saber, her movements extremely agile, and in a few strokes cut down several men.

Seeing this, the remaining servants threw down their weapons and knelt begging for mercy.

Lin Qian had the sailors bind them with rope as well.

Lin Qian had posted men at every key position in the rear of the estate, so although the servants heard the sounds of fighting and wanted to gather together, they could not manage it.

The timid ones hid under haystacks, woodpiles, and stoves.

The bold ones grabbed weapons and came out — only to become corpses beneath the blade around the next corner.

And so, despite the commotion, Lin Qian's group actually advanced even faster.

Passing through several corridors and leaving a dozen-odd corpses behind, Lin Qian arrived at the women's hall.

In the layout of traditional Chinese architecture — tea hall, main hall, flower hall, women's hall — the women's hall was the last hall in the residence, used ordinarily for receiving female relatives and handling household affairs.

Lin Qian had the sailors push the tables and chairs to one side and pile the captives seized from the Lin household into the women's hall.

The sailors roughly dragged people in and shoved them to the ground, and for a moment the noble masters, madams, young gentlemen, and young ladies tumbled into a heap together.

The men were battered and bruised, tears streaming down their faces, while the women wept so hard they nearly choked.

Lin Qian called Xie Er to his side and asked, "Look carefully—who in this household is missing?"

Xie Er cowered, glancing sideways at the crowd, seeing that most had their faces buried in their hands, sobbing.

Lin Qian barked, "All of you, lift your heads!"

His voice was not loud, yet it made many people tremble, and they hurriedly raised their faces.

Xie Er took a look and stammered, "The... the Eldest Young Master is not here."

Lin Qian kicked at something at his feet: "The Eldest Young Master is right here."

Xie Er looked down and saw a man lying at his feet, his mouth full of dirt and vomit, his hair bun in disarray, eyes closed—whether dead or alive, unknown.

It was Lin Zhishu, who had fainted dead away.

Xie Er's body shook: "It is the Eldest Young Master."

Lin Qian pressed coldly, "Who else is missing?"

Xie Er had no choice but to glance around with narrowed eyes, then said, "There's also the First Master and Old Master Lin."

"They're right here!" Lei Sanxiang's voice came from outside the hall.

He was carrying two people, one in each hand—the very two who were missing.

Lei Sanxiang tossed them carelessly to the ground and explained, "The two of them tried to run out through the front gate, and I caught them."

Lin Qian asked Xie Er, "Is there anyone else who hasn't arrived?"

"No... no one else."

At this moment, Lin Zhili recognized Xie Er's build and began wailing loudly.

Though Xie Er's face was covered, Lin Zhili remembered his figure.

Lei Sanxiang stepped forward, swung his arm in a full arc, and slapped Lin Zhili across the face, producing an extremely heavy, dull thud.

Lin Zhili's neck bones gave a crack, a stream of blood shot from his nose like an arrow, and his cheek immediately swelled up high.

At this time, Lin Jiren also recognized Xie Er and was filled with utter astonishment. He had been captured by Lei Sanxiang—no ropes on his body, no dirt stuffed in his mouth—and he stretched out a trembling hand, pointing at Xie Er: "You're the one who brought the bandits here? Our Lin family has treated you well—why would you do this to us?"

(End of chapter)

Yahei

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