Chapter 40 Execution

Thick smoke poured in through the crack in the door. Song Yuzhu woke up from the bed, covering her mouth and coughing heart-wrenchingly.

"Young Master! There's a fire downstairs!" Song Quan ran in, picked him up and ran out.

The wooden structure of the house burned too quickly. As soon as the door was opened, the flames rushed in and directly blocked the two people back!

"I can't use the stairs." Song Yuzhu hurried to open the window. The window frames of the inn were nailed shut during the winter and could not be opened at all!

Song Quan bit his lip and said, "What should I do? Someone come and help me!"

The smoke was getting thicker and thicker, and the two of them were choking and gasping for air. If they continued like this, they would either be burned to death or choked to death!

"Bang!" The wooden door was pushed open and Zhao Xiao rushed in with a wet quilt!

"Yuzhu!"

“I’m here!”

Zhao Xiao groped over in the dark following the sound and grabbed Song Yuzhu's shoulders.

"Let's go!" He kicked the window frame, broke it, picked him up and prepared to jump out.

Song Yuzhu quickly shouted, "Song Quan is here too!"

"Master, don't worry about me, just go!"

The fire had already spread into the house, and the beams were crackling as the flames roasted them.

"Bang!" A burnt beam separated the three people. Song Quan was so scared that his legs went limp and he sat on the ground, trying desperately to hide backwards.

Zhao Xiao yelled, "Song Quan, come here quickly!"

Song Quan plucked up the courage to stand up and jumped over the fire. Zhao Xiao grabbed the shoulders of the two men and jumped out of the window!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh..." The feeling of falling from a high altitude frightened Song Quan so much that he screamed.

Song Yuzhu wasn't in a much better condition either. He closed his eyes and hugged Zhao Xiao's shoulders tightly.

There was a pain under their feet, and the huge impact force caused the three people to fall forward at the same time.

Zhao Xiao helped Song Yuzhu up and asked, "How are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, quickly think of how to put out the fire!"

They were not the only people living in the inn. Including the guards, traveling merchants, outsiders who were visiting relatives, and waiters, there were at least twenty people in total. The fire sealed them all off in the inn!

Zhao Xiao said solemnly: "The fire started too quickly, it can't be put out."

"Bang!" A person jumped down from not far away. He probably twisted his leg when he jumped down and let out a muffled groan.

Zhao Xiao looked over and found that it was Li Jichen.

"General, why is the inn on fire?"

Zhao Xiao shook his head. The fire was very strange. It didn't start during the day or on other days, but it started when they were asleep. Moreover, it started so quickly. He didn't believe that there was no trick!

A gust of cold wind blew, and the flames were blown another ten feet higher! The fire surrounded the entire inn!

"It's not advisable to stay here for long. I'll send you to the camp first, and then we'll find a way to find out how the fire started tomorrow!"

Before they could recover from the shock, the inn collapsed with a loud bang, and the guests and staff living in the inn were completely engulfed by the flames...

"Oh, Master, oh, my God!" Song Quan was so scared that he hugged him and cried.

Song Yuzhu also clenched her fists and trembled all over. If Zhao Xiao hadn't arrived in time, they would have been buried in the sea of fire tonight!

Song Yuzhu's eyes were red as she said, "It must have been man-made. I think it has something to do with Qian Mingan."

Zhao Xiao held his shoulders and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely make the arsonist pay the price!"

*

Qian Ming'an also did not sleep all night at the Dongzhou prefect's residence. When it was almost dawn, news came that the Jufu Inn was on fire.

Qian Mingan clapped his hands and laughed: "Great! Tong Si really has some skills!"

He paced back and forth in the bedroom, his cheeks flushed with excitement, without any sign of tiredness from staying up late!

When he thought about the fact that he didn't have to take out one hundred thousand taels of silver, nor did he have to bow and scrape to those two little bastards, he immediately felt refreshed, which was more nutritious than drinking turtle blood!

"Someone, prepare the sedan!" He wanted to send them off personally!

When the fire reached the hour of Yin, the patrol camp in the city came with a water cart. Seeing that only a few ruins were left of the inn, they saw no need to save it and simply pulled the water back.

Many people came out and gathered around the inn to watch the excitement: "It's so tragic, so many people died."

"How did the fire start?"

"Who knows, maybe the fire in the kitchen was not put out?"

"Get out of the way!" Qian Mingan's sedan chair came over. He took out a handkerchief from his arms and covered his nose with it. He walked out of the sedan chair and looked at the burnt inn. He was already smiling from ear to ear in his heart, but he had to pretend to be heartbroken.

"Are there any survivors in the inn?"

The yamen runner in charge of cleaning up the wreckage stepped forward and said, "My Lord, the fire started at midnight last night. Everyone in the inn was asleep. Only the clerk downstairs ran out. The rest of the people died inside."

Qian Mingan could hardly hide the smile on his face. He coughed lightly and said, "How pitiful! Quickly pick up the remains and bury them properly."

Oh, why didn't the young man stay in Xuzhou? Why did he come to Dongzhou to make trouble? Who can he blame for being a pile of charred bones? He can only blame himself for showing off too much!

It was almost noon when the inn was cleaned up. Twenty-one charred bodies were neatly laid out at the door and covered with white cloth.

After Qian Mingan finished his appreciation, he took a sedan chair back to his house. He was a little sleepy after not sleeping all night, so he asked the cook to make him a bowl of ginseng pigeon soup, and then he fell asleep with his concubine in his arms.

He seemed to hear a scream suddenly coming from beside him in his sleep. He wanted to open his eyes to see, but his eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds and he couldn't open them. Qian Mingan grumbled, turned over and continued to sleep.

The concubine Guizhi was so frightened that her face turned pale. She saw a ferocious man walking into the room. She just screamed when Zhao Xiao chopped her unconscious with a knife and threw her aside.

Then, according to Song Yuzhu's instructions, he inserted a silver needle into the sleeping point behind Qian Zhifu's ear. This point could make him sleep all the time without moving around, and then he picked him up and went to the front yard.

The Qian family's mansion had been surrounded by the Chengtian Army, and all the members of the Qian family were taken to the front hall. No one knew what had happened.

Song Yuzhu had the doors and windows covered with black cloth, leaving only a candle in the front.

Soon Zhao Xiao brought people over, and Qian Mingan's wives and concubines cried out in fear: "Master, what's wrong with you? Master, wake up!"

Zhao Xiao threw the man to the ground and sneered: "Don't cry yet, you will cry later." After that, he asked someone to take these people to the back and take out the silver needle behind Qian Mingan's ear.

Song Yuzhu shouted: "Qian Ming'an!"

"Who, who is calling me?" Qian Mingan woke up slowly.

"Who said he was calling you?"

Qian Mingan turned around and screamed in fear: "Oh my God! Aren't you dead?"

Song Yuzhu raised the corner of his mouth and said, "I died unjustly. Why did you let people set fire to us?"

Although Qian Ming'an woke up, his mind was still not clear. He thought that it was the wronged ghost of Song Yuzhu in his dream who came to find him.

"Don't blame me. I didn't want to do this either. It's just that you pushed me too hard! I treated you with good wine and delicious food, but you didn't appreciate it and wanted to take my private salt. Then I can't keep you..."

Song Yuzhu stood up and walked to his side, frightening Qian Mingan so much that he stepped back: "Every wrong has its perpetrator, even though I planned to harm you, it wasn't me who set the fire, don't come looking for me!"

"Who set the fire?"

Qian Mingan told him the plan in detail: "You should reincarnate as soon as possible. I will have people burn paper money for you during festivals."

Song Yuzhu clapped her hands, and Zhao Xiao brought Qian Mingan's family over. He looked at his wife, children, and concubines with a confused look on his face.

"This...what on earth is going on?"

The soldiers outside pulled down the black cloth that blocked out the light, and the hall instantly became daytime again. Qian Mingan collapsed on the ground, not understanding what was happening.

I didn't expect that the fire last night didn't kill these two people, but today they used such a sinister method to trick me into telling the truth.

"It's none of my business! I didn't kill anyone!"

Song Yuzhu: "Although you didn't kill anyone yourself, you were the instigator and you are guilty of the same crime as the murderer. There are 21 lives in the inn, it's too easy for you to just behead him. Come on, drag him out and beat him to death!"

Qian Mingan was horrified when he heard this. Beat him to death? Were they going to beat him to death? !

The soldiers rushed over and dragged him to the courtyard.

Qian Mingan struggled and shouted, "You bunch of traitors! I am a prefect appointed by the imperial court! You have no right to beat me with a stick! Let me go, ah!"

The torture instruments had been prepared in advance, and the soldiers tied the man directly to the bench and began the execution.

The length of the stick weighed more than ten pounds, and it made a thumping sound when it hit the skin and flesh. After just a few hits, Qian Mingan's voice changed, and his face was covered with snot and tears.

"Ouch! Master Zhu, please let me go! I won't dare to do it again! I'll give you all the silver, please let me live! Ouch!"

Song Yuzhu did not shout to stop, and the soldiers executing him did not dare to stop. They beat him again and again, and soon his skin was torn and his underpants were covered in blood.

Qian Ming'an's eldest son threw himself at Song Yuzhu's feet and kowtowed, saying, "Sir, my father is stupid, but he didn't plan this. Please let my father go!"

Song Yuzhu said coldly: "Don't worry, no one can escape, and they will all be buried with the 21 lives of the inn!"

Master Qian slumped on the ground, his face ashen.

After being beaten with seventy boards, Qian Ming'an died. His body from the waist down was a bloody mess and it was almost unrecognizable.

Qian Mingan's wives and relatives were all terrified and huddled together, not knowing what to do. Now that the master was dead, would they also be implicated?

After a while, Tong Si and Zhang Haiyi, the arsonist, were also brought back.

Tong Si was still gambling in the gambling house when he was arrested.

I was lucky today and won more than ten games in a row. The money on the table could hardly be piled up.

He proudly grabbed a handful of copper coins and threw them to the gamblers watching nearby: "This is just a few dollars. I will go to Zhengtong Street to buy a big house in a few days!"

The gambler next to him scolded him for bragging, saying that a house on Zhengtong Street was worth thousands of taels, so where did he get so much money?

"Don't you believe me? I made a big deal yesterday. I'm going to be very successful soon!" As soon as he finished speaking, seven or eight soldiers rushed in and took him away.

Zhang Haiyi learned in advance that the person was not dead, and was so scared that he quickly got on the carriage to escape. Unexpectedly, there were people waiting for him at the city gate, who caught him and brought him back.

As soon as the two entered the yard, they saw Prefect Qian, whose lower body was beaten to a bloody mess in the courtyard.

Tong Si rolled his eyes and fainted. Although Zhang Haiyi didn't faint, he was not much better than Tong Si. Urine was dripping from his pants and his legs were as soft as noodles.

Song Yuzhu didn't even conduct a trial. Instead, he ordered his men to take them to the entrance of the burnt inn and behead them as a warning to others.

This was his first time killing someone, and he killed someone in such a cruel way. But he had no regrets in his heart, only anger and hatred!

Qian Ming'an murdered so many people for his own selfish interests, he deserves to die!

Zhao Xiao walked up to him and asked, "What should we do with these people?"

Song Yuzhu turned around and looked at the men and women next to her, scaring them so much that they were trembling with fear.

Madam Qian was the first to kneel down and kowtow, saying, "Sir, I know where the silver left by the master is hidden! Please give us a way out!"

"explain."

Mrs. Qian did not dare to negotiate, and quickly said that Qian Ming'an had hidden all his money in a pawnshop in the city. There were about three million taels of silver, and even Yang Yuanzhen didn't know about it.

Song Yuzhu walked up to her and looked at the jade and gold hairpin fluttering on her head. This hairpin was enough for a poor person to eat for three years.

Although modern laws do not have the concept of collective responsibility, this group of people are not innocent. They have been living a life of luxury with the help of Qian Mingan, spending the people's money.

"Come on, throw them out of the city to fend for themselves."

"Yes!" A group of people were pushed out of the mansion by the soldiers.

After the matter was settled, Song Yuzhu could no longer hold on and passed out completely.

(End of this chapter)