It was late at night, and the back wall of Zou County Magistrate's Mansion was quiet. An old crow was squatting on the ash tree inside the courtyard wall and taking a nap.
The evening breeze blew, adding a little movement to the silence.
The old crow was suddenly awakened. It turned its head and saw a head popping out from the bare wall. It cried "Ah ah" twice and flew away.
The head was covered with a pink scarf. The two big eyes exposed through the scarf blinked and cursed inwardly: "Dead bird." Then he paused for a while with his ears perked up, and when he found nothing unusual, he signaled to the other person under the wall.
Soon, another head appeared on the wall, covered with an emerald green scarf. The man's tone was obviously hesitant: "Are you sure this is okay?"
Hong Pa Zi said firmly, "My many years of experience in the martial arts world have taught me that wearing a mask is just to prevent people from seeing your face. The color is not important."
Green Handkerchief was still hesitant: "But..."
Before he could finish his words, the red handkerchief had already leaped into the county magistrate's mansion, as light as a swallow.
Green Handkerchief had no choice but to follow.
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The Zou Mansion is a truly large and deep courtyard. Its design imitated the preferences of ancient nobles when it was built. The courtyards and pavilions of various sizes are intricate and can accommodate hundreds of people living in it without disturbing each other.
Mr. Zou was very fond of the garden style of Wancheng. He spent a lot of money on rockery and landscaping. He also put a lot of thought into the potted plants in the garden. He even built many corridors and screens according to the so-called Feng Shui formations. To put it nicely, there is "a scene every ten steps", and to put it bluntly, there are "numerous traps".
The night cast a ghostly shadow over the large garden. In this pitch-black color, there was suddenly a bit of vague white, which moved slowly in the corridor. Because there was no light, "it" almost bumped into the pillar several times, and almost fell down several times because it did not see the steps clearly.
Finally, the white thing came to Mr. Zou's door, looked around furtively, and then walked into the room quietly.
As soon as the creaking wooden door closed, Hao Bai quickly pulled off the mask, took a deep breath, patted his heart that was beating wildly in his chest, and tiptoed to the inner room.
This was the house where Mr. Zou lived before he passed away. He had never been to this room during the day and had no idea what was inside. If he wanted to get around without lighting a lamp or disturbing others, he could only slowly get a rough idea of what was inside.
He even lifted up the extremely heavy porcelain vase to have a look at it, turned over the drawers and boxes one by one, and opened up the multiple boxes to have a look. After a cup of tea, he was already exhausted and out of breath. It was obvious that this was the first time he had done such a rummaging job and he had no idea how to do it.
After leaning against the wall to catch his breath, Hao Bai decided to keep searching. Suddenly, he looked up and saw a shadow reflected on the window frame.
In pitch black, there were human silhouettes.
He was so frightened that he lost his balance and bumped into the table behind him. Before he could react, he watched a copper bowl the size of a washbasin on the table shake and fall off.
clang.
A loud bang echoed in the room.
A moment later, the lights in the west wing suddenly lit up, and voices gradually came to the surface.
The black shadow on the window frame had long disappeared. Hao Bai cried out in pain and ran away without even bothering to clean up the scene.
******************
In a rockery garden not far from the west wing, a bit of emerald green and a bit of pink are moving hurriedly among the green vines and flowing water.
"Did you hear anything just now?"
"Yes, tell me first, where are we now?"
Xiao Nanhui felt that the handkerchief covering his face was becoming more and more stuffy. Why was the thing taken from the brothel so poorly breathable?
They had been circling the yard for a long time but couldn't find a way out.
Shrike finally couldn't help himself and asked in a low voice, "Didn't you look at the map? Why can't you find it?"
She looked around helplessly: "I have seen it, but the picture doesn't show so many broken stones."
Shrike was impatient and was already irritated after spinning around in circles: "Bullshit! A stone is a stone, and a house is a house. How could I be wrong?"
Xiao Nanhui also got angry: "It's pitch black, how can you see clearly?! I told you to look carefully on the wall before coming in, but you just wouldn't listen!"
"It's not too late to see now."
After the Shrike said this, he jumped onto the pine tree next to the rockery. After a few jumps, he was sitting on a nearby roof, with his hands on the pergola, looking around.
Xiao Nanhui was too careless to follow and risk collapsing the tiles, so he could only worry from below.
"Hey, are you ready?"
Shrike did not respond. The Zou Mansion at night did not seem as peaceful as she had imagined. Just when she thought she was seeing things, a black shadow flashed by not far from under her eyelids, as fast as a puff of smoke.
The Shrike was stunned and quickly turned over.
She stepped forward and was about to ask, but Shrike covered her mouth and said in a very small voice, "There are others."
She widened her eyes, and the next second she saw the figure flash past the rockery.
Immediately afterwards, the light of the torch lit up not far away, and the voices of the Zou Mansion guards could be heard faintly.
"It seems to be going that way. You guys go to the side room, and the rest of you come with me to take a look."
Xiao Nanhui and Shrike looked at each other and ran away.
The Zou family might indeed be rich, and the guards they hired were not ordinary guards. Their skills were top-notch even in the martial arts world. In addition, the two of them were not familiar with the terrain, and they only felt that the footsteps chasing them were getting closer and closer.
The Shrike stopped and said earnestly, "We must separate. You go that way, and I'll go this way. See you later."
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