Chapter 225: Falling out

Wen Yan pulled the thin man's sleeve and cried.

The sorrowful voice seemed to be enough to kill her if she couldn't find the earrings.

Uncle Shitou reacted quickly. He also grabbed the thin man's hand and begged, "Just let him go in and look for it. That earring is really important."

Wen Yan muttered to himself: "Thank you, sir. I will go in and look for it now and will be out soon." After saying that, Wen Yan ran into the yard.

The thin man wanted to call her, but his voice was drowned out by the thanks from Uncle Shitou and Xiao Hei.

Wen Yan went into the yard and did not follow the original path.

Instead, he would go through any door he saw.

She was like a nimble cat, jumping from one yard to another.

There is no need to search every room.

You can judge the result by simply observing the signs of use in each yard, the debris on the ground, and the wear and smoothness of the thresholds and floor tiles.

However, she had just run into the second yard when she was stopped by the security guards there.

Wen Yan sobbed, "My earring fell in the yard. It was that skinny old man who asked me to come in and look for it myself."

The guard was skeptical.

Wen Yan's eyes were filled with tears: "If you don't believe me, just go and ask the Master."

After saying that, she nimbly turned into another yard.

When the skinny man was rescued by the guards, he stamped his feet anxiously and shouted, "Are you all dead? Hurry up and pull that woman out!"

Without waiting for the guards to catch anyone, Wen Yan ran out of the yard.

She held an earring and said excitedly, "Look, I found it!"

"Thank you, Master, for letting me in to find my mother's belongings." Wen Yan's face was full of gratitude and sincere eyes, as if she could kowtow to him in the next second.

"Well...we won't disturb the master and will leave first." Wen Yan glanced at Xiao Mo and Uncle Shitou, and everyone followed her and left.

The thin man's face darkened. "Go and call all the guards."

After a while, more than twenty guards knelt behind him in unison.

"Master Xu, everyone is here."

Xu Zhuangtou turned around and looked at them fiercely: "Did that woman do anything out of line after she went into the yard just now?"

After carefully recalling the situation, the guard shook his head and said, "No. She was looking for something the whole time, searching along the road. She never even raised her head. And... she seemed to have lost her bearings!"

"Have you looked carefully?" Xu Zhuangtou was half-believing and half-doubting, always feeling that this group of people came suddenly and had ulterior motives.

"Xu Zhuangtou, that's exactly what happened. She was digging through the cracks in the ground the whole time and didn't even look around."

Seeing that all the guards spoke the same word, Xu Zhuangtou put aside his doubts.

Wen Yan and the others carried water back to the charcoal kiln and continued with their unfinished work.

After leaving the air vent and flue, the apprentices continued to fill the soil and paste the dough.

Wen Yan sat aside, took out the house layout map he had drawn earlier, and began to mark it.

Uncle Shitou also followed: "Have you confirmed the location?"

"Yeah." Wen Yan circled the two middle courtyards, "In these two courtyards, the signs of activity are more obvious than in the other courtyards, and there are grains of food in the cracks between the bricks on the ground.

And when they transported the grain, they didn’t really go through the main gate, but through the back door.”

"There is indeed a road behind their house." Uncle Shitou asked again, "Can their house store 5,000 dan of grain?"

Wen Yan pushed his glasses and said, "It can definitely fit. This house is huge. Let alone 5,000 dan of grain, even 100 dan can fit in it.

Moreover, I suspect that there is a granary in this house."

"We have almost acquired the most basic intelligence. We are just waiting for the food to arrive."

When it was completely dark, the charcoal kiln was finally sealed.

Wen Yan looked at the sky, took the torch to the wind outlet, and lit the first fire.

Following the rapid burning of weeds and dead leaves, green smoke was discharged from the chimney.

Wen Yan began to teach them how to observe the color of the smoke, how to control the fire, and how to promptly block any cracks that appeared in the dome to prevent more air from entering the kiln and causing excessive burning of the charcoal.

While Wen Yan was studying, he also observed the direction of the Xu family's house from time to time.

She wanted to see how long it would take for those people to notice something unusual about her.

It was not until the next morning that Xu Zhuangtou brought his men here.

"Who are you? How dare you set fire in the mountains!" A lackey ran in front, pointing at Wen Yan and others and scolding them.

Wen Yan felt indescribably happy.

It turns out that the Xu family's vigilance is so poor.

There was a fire at the doorstep, with thick smoke billowing all night, and it was not discovered until daybreak.

As long as they maintain this level, there will be nothing to be afraid of on that night of transporting grain.

Wen Yan looked back and her eyes met Xu Zhuangtou's.

Xu Zhuangtou's eyes flickered: "It's you!"

Wen Yan waved at him: "Good man, master, what a coincidence, we meet again."

Xu Zhuangtou shouted, "What are you doing here?"

Wen Yan smiled and said, "Burning charcoal! Can't you see it?"

"Who gave you permission to burn charcoal here? Put away your things and get out of here."

"Why should we leave? The forest here is not yours."

"How can it not be mine? All the men and land here belong to the Mei family.

If you know what's best for you, leave now and we'll forgive you. Otherwise, I'll make sure you have luck in getting back."

Thinking of how he inexplicably broke into the house yesterday, Xu Zhuangtou felt more and more uneasy.

"Haha! As far as I know, this piece of land has long ceased to belong to the Xu family.

This land was allocated to us by the government, and it was the government that allowed us to burn charcoal here. You are obstructing us, don't you think you have any respect for the government?"

"You..." Xu Zhuangtou was so angry that he just walked away.

He was a servant born into the Xu family and given the surname Xu.

Although he was a servant, he became the head of the farm early on.

The villagers and tenant farmers nearby all respected him when they saw him.

Even when people from the yamen came to collect grain taxes, they would give him some face and be polite to him for the sake of the Xu family.

This was the first time he had met someone as arrogant as Wen Yan.

He was so angry.

"What do you mean by 'I'?" Wen Yan looked at the people behind him with a smile, "Why? You brought so many people here, are you planning to beat me up?"

Wen Yan stood where she was: "If you want to fight, just come and fight. If you fight back, we will all be your grandsons.

However, if you can't kill us, you should consider whether you can withstand the wrath of the government."

After Wen Yan finished speaking, he took out a document from his bag, shook it open and placed it in front of Xu Zhuangtou.

Xu Zhuangtou looked at the eye-catching official seal on it and was so angry that his whole body was shaking, but he didn't dare to refute a word.

The eldest son has not been rescued yet, and even the master has to keep a low profile and behave himself.

How dare he, a servant, cause trouble for the master of the house!

He suppressed his anger and looked at Wen Yan: "You are so good, don't fall into my hands in the future, and don't even think about getting a drop of water from our village!"

After making the threat, Xu Zhuangtou waved his hand and left with the guards.

However, not long after they left, Xu Zhuangtou turned around and looked in the direction of the charcoal kiln with a sinister look in his eyes.

"Just wait for me." He sneered, then strode away with his men.