Su Ruojin then realized that Xu Dayi had gone to the blacksmith shop to find some work clothes for them to change into so they could sneak in.
However, the presence of many people sneaking in will attract attention.
Su Ruojin instructed, "Young Master Xu, Liu Jing and I will go in. Yan Luo, you will meet us at the back door of the blacksmith shop."
Yanluo wanted to follow, but upon hearing that her young mistress had already made arrangements, she had no choice but to agree.
The three changed their clothes and blended into the store; sure enough, no one noticed them.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, they quickly arrived at the backyard under the guidance of Xu Dayi.
Xu Dayi said in a low voice, "Miss Zhao, I just looked around the backyard and didn't find anything wrong, but my father didn't tell me where the secret passage in the backyard is."
Su Ruojin understood this perfectly. Most families in this era had their own secrets, which were passed down orally to the next successor when the family head was handed over, just like the Zhao family.
The head of the Xu family was still young and naturally hadn't thought of this step. He didn't expect that the Xu family would be destroyed before the handover could even take place.
Su Ruojin looked around and found that it was indeed as Xu Dayi had said, just an ordinary backyard with a courtyard, divided into many rooms, which should be for the workers in the blacksmith shop to live in.
However, there was a large warehouse in the backyard, almost larger than the front shop, which was probably used to store pig iron.
There's nothing wrong with what's going on in the courtyard. Another possibility is that the secret passage is hidden in one of the rooms.
Before Su Ruojin and the others could find a chance to go inside and investigate, they heard someone shout, "Hey, you three, come here and come with me to deliver the materials."
Seeing that the three didn't move, the man cursed, "Can't you understand human language? Hurry up!"
After saying that, the man took the key, opened the storeroom, and beckoned the others over.
The three exchanged a glance and walked over in perfect unison.
The man sensed the group approaching but didn't turn around. He pointed to the pig iron materials stored separately in the warehouse and said, "That's all. Hurry up, or we'll get fined again."
The man carried a piece of pig iron into the basket, then subconsciously looked up at Su Ruojin and the other two, a hint of confusion on his face. "Huh, who are you? I've never seen you before?"
Then a knife was placed against the man's neck.
Liu Ertie was so frightened that his voice was distorted, "Hero, spare my life! Hero, spare my life!"
"Where should this iron be sent?" Liu Jing asked.
"Deliver it to...deliver it to the saddlery shop next door..."
Saddlery shops do indeed need to use pig iron to make equipment such as stirrups and horseshoes.
Su Ruojin walked over, pinched Liu Ertie's chin open, and fed him something. "Take us there! This is Soul-Severing Powder. If you don't have the antidote, you will bleed from all seven orifices and die within two hours. Be a good boy and I will give you the antidote."
Liu Ertie nodded repeatedly in fright, "Okay, okay, okay."
So the four of them, led by Liu Ertie, pushed the cart loaded with pig iron through the back door to the backyard of the saddlery shop.
There were also guards at the back door of the saddlery shop. They looked at Su Ruojin and her group with some confusion and said, "Liu Ertie, why are you changing the guards today? These three look unfamiliar."
Liu Ertie hurriedly said with a smile, "Brother Guard, as you know, there have been so many things going on lately, and we're short-staffed in the shop. These three were transferred from other shops."
The Xu family owns more than just this one blacksmith shop.
With Liu Ertie leading the way, the guards didn't think much of it and waved their hands to let the four of them in.
Unlike the ironworks, the backyard of the harness shop wasn't a courtyard, but a huge room filled with all kinds of horse harnesses, with a saddle hanging on the wall.
Liu Ertie stepped forward and turned a saddle on the wall, and heard the sound of an iron chain being pulled, revealing a secret passage.
It turns out the blacksmith's secret passage was located under the saddlery shop next door; no wonder it was hard to find.
One can only say that the Xu family patriarch was very thoughtful.
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