He forced himself to sit up, and was about to call out again when a servant rushed in, his face ashen, his voice trembling with tears: "Master! Something terrible has happened!"

"What's the panic!" Wang Huai'an was already agitated, and the servant's commotion only fueled his anger. "Is the sky falling down?"

"It's worse than the sky falling down!" The servant knelt on the ground with a thud. "Master, our magistrate's mansion... our magistrate's mansion has been emptied out! There's nothing left!"

"What did you say?!" Wang Huai'an thought he had misheard.

She jumped up and grabbed the servant by the collar. "Say that again! What do you mean by 'emptied out'? Where are my gold and silver jewelry? Where are my mahogany furniture? Where are my antique paintings and calligraphy?!"

"Everything...everything is gone!" The servant trembled with fear. "I just went to check the storeroom, and there wasn't a single grain of rice or a foot of cloth left! All the furniture and paintings in the main room are gone too, and even the pots and pans in the kitchen have been taken! There aren't even many pebbles left in the yard!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Wang Huai'an released the servant, staggered back a few steps, and kept muttering, "Our county magistrate's mansion is heavily guarded, how could it be emptied out? You must have seen wrong! Go and check again!"

"I've checked three times already! There's really nothing left!" the servant cried. "Even the secret compartment under your bed where you hid the silver has been pried open, and the silver inside is gone!"

Wang Huai'an felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, a surge of blood rushing to his head, and he almost fainted again.

He leaned on the table, panting heavily, his heart aching as if being cut by a knife. Those things were all the hard-earned money he had amassed over decades, his savings for retirement, and now they were all gone!

"Who...who did this?!" Wang Huai'an roared, his voice hoarse and unpleasant. "I'm going to kill him! I must kill him!"

He rushed out of the back room like a madman and headed straight for the main room. But the scene before him completely shattered his spirit; the once magnificent main room was now empty.

Only a few holes remained in the wall, and some dust was scattered on the ground. It was nothing like it used to be.

The warehouse was in an even worse state; the shelves were empty, and there wasn't even a mouse on the floor.

In the kitchen, the stove and pots were cold, the water tank was empty, and even the firewood had been taken away.

"My money...my things..." Wang Huai'an looked at everything, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, tears streaming down his face without warning. He thought of his crippled son, and then looked at his empty house, feeling utterly hopeless about life. What was the point of living?

"God! Why are you doing this to me?!" He slapped his thigh and burst into tears, his cries filled with despair and resentment.

When the Second Prince arrived after hearing the news, he saw Wang Huai'an sitting on the ground, weeping bitterly.

He walked into the main room and was stunned to see the empty room: "What...what happened? How did it become like this?"

"Your Highness, Second Prince!" Wang Huai'an saw the Second Prince and, as if seeing a lifeline, crawled over and hugged his leg. "Your Highness, you must do justice for me! My home has been emptied! My son has been crippled! I have nothing left! You must help me find the murderer!"

The second prince frowned as he looked at the tragic scene before him, his heart filled with shock and confusion. Who was so bold as to not only cripple Wang Hu?

He knelt down, helped Wang Huai'an up, and said in a deep voice, "Magistrate Wang, please calm down. This was definitely done on purpose. I, the prince, will investigate this thoroughly and give you justice."

But Wang Huai'an couldn't calm down at all. He just kept crying and muttering "my things" and "my son" over and over again, and he became completely insane.