News of the Lin family's annihilation spread like wildfire throughout the entire Northwest.
No one knew exactly what had happened; even the servants who had escaped from the Lin family couldn't explain it. The most popular rumor was that the General's Mansion had decided to take real action against the Lin family and had seduced the Lin family head and his wife with false information one morning.
The Lin family patriarch and his wife foolishly arrived at a certain place, where ambushed soldiers poured out and wiped out the couple along with their guards, the Lin family's private army.
Some people didn't believe it. If the General's Mansion wanted to wipe out the Lin family, why didn't they act sooner, but waited until now?
“This is the General’s Mansion’s tactic,” the storyteller said, placing his teacup on the table, propping one foot on a stool, and addressing the people gathered around the table. “The General’s Mansion is essentially raising pigs, fattening them up, and then slaughtering them.”
Some people around nodded, while others shook their heads. One of the old men said, "Now that the Northwest Army has occupied the Lin family, all of the Lin family's property belongs to the Northwest Army."
A poor scholar, feeling indignant, said, "The Northwest Army's seizure of the Lin family's property—how is that any different from robbery?"
The storyteller said, “Young man, don’t talk nonsense. For so many years, it has been these bandits who have protected the Northwest and kept us from the harassment of the Western Rong army. Just two days ago, the Western Rong army even came to the outskirts of Youzhou City, but it was General Jade Face who led his troops to scare them away.”
Everyone nodded in agreement: "If the Northwest Army is considered a bandit, then there are no good people in this world."
The poor scholar also realized he had been too hasty. After everyone had finished speaking, he said, "It seems that the Lin family may have done something excessive?"
The old man said, "We ordinary people can't guess these things. In short, the General's Mansion wouldn't have wiped out the Lin family for no reason."
The man said, "Don't think about things that far ahead. Let me tell you something that concerns us. Our county magistrate has died suddenly, and the official sent by the general's mansion to take over is arriving at noon today. Did you know that?"
The poor scholar said, "Shouldn't the successor to the county magistrate be appointed by the imperial court after his sudden death?"
The man said, "It happened suddenly. The Northwest is far from the imperial court, and the court has to see if there are any officials available. Who will govern during this vacancy? The General's Mansion has done a good thing for our Suiyang County. We should be happy. Let's go see the new county magistrate later."
Everyone readily agreed and left the teahouse noisily, heading towards the county government office.
A servant in the crowd did not walk with the others, but ran quickly back to the Su residence and went to the backyard.
After listening to the servant's report, Su Heng waved for the servant to leave and went to sit on the bed opposite Yang.
The two were terrified, trembling as if they had malaria, and even being wrapped in blankets didn't help.
“Master…Master,” Madam Yang said with difficulty, “Let’s escape quickly. The General’s Mansion wiped out the Lin family, and it’ll probably be our turn soon. That girl holds a grudge.”
It seemed like only yesterday that all the forces they could rely on were wiped out by the General's Mansion. The Lin family was gone, Magistrate Ge was dead, and Bai Zhiyi had been missing for days... she was probably dead too.
Although she didn't want to think of herself as that important, she couldn't help feeling that Su Wan was targeting them.
Su Heng wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and said, "You make it sound so easy. Where can we escape to?"
Madam Yang said, "We have tens of thousands of taels of silver on hand, so why don't we pack up and go to the capital to seek refuge with Yue'e..."
"You don't want the pharmacy anymore? You don't want this house either?" Su Heng angrily threw off the blanket. "That's all money!"
Madam Yang glanced up at him and said, "Master, what time is it? Why are you still thinking about these things? Even the county magistrate was killed by that girl. How many heads do you have?"
Su Heng said angrily, "You caused things to turn out this way. And you're blaming me?"
Yang retorted, "You agreed to the arranged marriage back then. Now that things have gone wrong, you're coming here to criticize me after the fact?"
The two were arguing when a maidservant outside the door announced, "Master and Madam, someone from the General's Mansion has arrived."
To Yang, these words were like a death knell. She screamed, covered her head with the blanket, and kicked Su Heng hard, yelling, "Go! Go!"
Su Heng was also quite frightened, and said in a trembling voice, "Is...is Miss back?"
The maid asked, "Which young lady is Master referring to?"
"Su Wan." Su Heng got out of bed trembling, wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, and went to the door to open it.
The maidservant, seeing her master covered in cold sweat and his face deathly pale, wondered what was wrong. She replied, "Miss didn't come. It was a female guard from the General's Mansion, leading a group of soldiers. She said her name was Lu Zhao, and she was sent here by Miss to deliver a message."
"Just a guard?" Su Heng asked incredulously, "Where is the young lady?"
The maid said, "Lu Zhao said that Miss has something urgent to attend to, and only instructed her to come here."
Knowing that Su Wan hadn't returned, Su Heng gradually calmed down. He said to the maid, "Quickly gather everyone and greet the guests with the etiquette due to honored guests."
He went back into the house and helped Yang up. The couple carefully dressed themselves and welcomed Lu Zhao, who was dressed in military uniform, into the courtyard.
Lu Zhao entered the living room but did not sit down. He said to Su Heng and Madam Yang, "You two are my wife's elders, so I should be more polite to you. But my wife said that you are despicable and shameless, and told me not to be polite to you."
Su Heng and Madam Yang dared not be angry, and had to smile and say, "General Lu, you are too kind. We are just ordinary people. Our niece is now very successful and busy with her affairs, so she has no time to come and see us old folks."
Lu Zhao said, "I'm not a general, just a messenger. Do you two even deserve my wife's personal presence? I'm enough."
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