Miao Chu

Chapter 321 Knife and Ax

Outside the courtyard wall, the two sentries were so bored they were practically chewing grass.

It was a back alley, and for some reason, I didn't see a single dog along the way. There were no barking dogs, no cats, no mice, and no birds at night. It was very quiet, except for the incessant chirping of insects that seemed to be hiding somewhere.

One of them leaned against the wall, while the other simply sat on the ground, muttering complaints under his breath.

"Why am I always the one keeping watch—no good thing ever happens to me!"

"I just overheard them talking on the wall—saying there are strings of cash! I wonder how much! If we were in there, we could probably grab at least a handful, right?"

"If you ask me, there's no need for any lookouts! Just go in, pour in the oil, light the fire, and run—you'll be out here before you've even had a chance to sit down, and someone else will be up there in no time. It's better to have us go in with you and collect some money!"

"Hmph, do you think we'll ever get anything good?"

"Yeah, right! They just don't want a share of the money, don't they? They say I'm the most trustworthy, the most reliable in times of trouble, and the most loyal, they praise me for everything, but actually, they're the old gang from the west side of the city, they just look down on people from other places—it's been like this for years, they always get the good stuff, they praise me for being trustworthy and loyal, but why do I always get the smallest share? I've always been the kind of person who would go to great lengths for my brothers, when it really comes down to it..."

The moment the word "matter" was uttered, flames erupted in the courtyard.

He was startled and exclaimed, "Why did you light the fire?! No one has come out yet!"

The other person, leaning against the wall, scrambled to his feet, looked up at the top of the wall, and said urgently, "There are so many people, and there are only two of us. What if we can't handle them or run away in time!"

Almost at the same time he asked the question, the sound of gongs being struck loudly and loudly in the courtyard suddenly rang out, followed by shouts of "Catch the thief!" and "Arson!" from many people.

There were no lights outside the courtyard, but at this moment, flames flickered inside. Although we didn't know what was going on inside, the light was enough to see things from the outside.

The two exchanged a glance instinctively.

Nearby, one could already hear the sounds of doors opening and footsteps moving in the neighboring houses. Looking up, the walls were completely empty, silent, without even a head peeking out.

No one spoke. The two watchmen remained silent for a moment before they simultaneously turned and ran out of the alley. They had long forgotten what loyalty, responsibility, and willingness to go to great lengths meant, and only wished that their parents had given them two more legs.

They were all young people, so they ran very fast. However, after running only a few dozen steps, two torches suddenly lit up about two zhang ahead with a "whoosh"—several burly men stood there, shirtless and holding torches, already approaching.

The two men were so frightened that they turned and ran back. When they looked back, the lights behind them were already bright—it was three or four strong young men carrying hoes and carrying poles. Seeing the situation, they immediately set up a roadblock and shouted, "The thieves are here! Report to the authorities! Father! Mother! Report to the authorities quickly!!"

On one side were hoes and hammers, and many people; on the other side were bodyguards wielding sticks, strong and powerful. The two were still hesitating about where to break through when, without even turning their heads, they felt a sharp pain in their shoulders, arms, and back. They cried out as someone grabbed them hard from behind, locked their shoulders and waists, clasped their hands behind their backs, and forced them to the ground.

The sentry was captured without resistance, and the scene in the woodshed was quite different.

The leader rammed the door twice, then, realizing something was wrong, immediately turned around.

There were countless people outside, it was incredibly noisy, and the lights were so bright that you could make out half of the interior furnishings.

The house was small, and the firewood inside was neatly stacked. Although there was a lot of firewood, it was almost all chopped into small pieces.

The man rushed to the woodpile, rummaged around haphazardly for a few moments, and tried to grab a few pieces of wood—none of them were intact enough to be used to ram the door.

"Axe! Who just grabbed that axe?!" he shouted urgently in a low voice.

These words served as a clear reminder, and immediately some men carrying knives and axes began rummaging through their clothes.

—Everyone came up empty-handed.

Just now, in order to hide the money, everyone loosened their belts to make it easier to wrap them, and because they found the knives and axes too heavy, they casually threw them on the ground.

The group busied themselves searching the ground.

"Hey? Where's my axe?"

"Where did the knife go?"

"Who just took my knife??"

The light from the lamp only gave them a rough idea of ​​what was going on. After groping around on the ground for a while, someone shouted, "Light the fire! Light the fire!"

Soon, the torches were lit.

The ground was empty, with only scattered copper coins left during the looting. There wasn't a single knife, axe, or even a pointed stick to be found.

Seeing this, the leader, though unsure of what had gone wrong, could only curse a few times as "you bastards," shove the door a few more times, and then shout, "Break down the door!"

This man was, after all, the leader, and his words carried some weight. The group in the woodshed immediately rushed towards the door and rammed it with their shoulders.

As soon as they bumped into each other, everyone felt something was wrong.

—It's fucking hard!
The small door was already cramped enough for three people to stand in, and there couldn't be one more person to help. The door was also particularly stable and heavy—Song Miao and Cheng Erniang specially chose it. It was a newly installed door, and the craftsman was a regular customer of the eatery. He often bought glutinous rice and shumai, and would come every few days to ask for mung bean cakes.

When Song Miao said she wanted to renovate, this person came in a hurry and first worked on all the doors and windows in the backyard.

He was determined to perform well so that he could get the job of making tables and chairs in the front of the restaurant. The materials and workmanship were top-notch. He was planning to earn more money for himself so that he could buy char siu and roast pork in the future. He would earn money from Song's Restaurant and spend it at Song's Restaurant. It would be like eating meat for free!

Only the shoulder of the person who bumps into this door, which carries the expectation of char siu flavor, knows how hard and heavy it is.

The group tried to ram the wooden door, but they couldn't budge it an inch. Because they were so close, they heard someone outside whisper, "The patrol is coming! Quick! The patrol is coming soon!"

He was caught by the patrolmen. Breaking into a private residence at night is a serious crime, and on top of that, he intended to set it on fire. How could he possibly escape?
Seeing that things were going wrong, someone, in desperation, came up with a brilliant idea: "Burn the window! Burn the window! We have fire, why don't we burn the window down!"

Surprisingly, someone chimed in, saying, "Right! Right! Boss, set fire to that window! It's made of wood anyway, it'll crumble when it burns. We'll break out through the back window—they'll be too busy putting out the fire to chase us!"

As they spoke, someone panicked, raising a torch and trying to reach the back window. The door was locked, the windows were boarded up, the room was full of firewood, and they were even thinking of setting it on fire…

I'm afraid that before the windows even burn down, I'll be burned to a crisp!

The leader nearly fainted from exhaustion.

Seeing that some clever people were already rushing towards the window with torches in their haste, this man hurried forward, about to grab them and stop them, when he heard a loud bang behind him. He turned around and saw the door wide open, and a man outside shouted, "The officers are here! Those inside, raise your hands and come out!"

He roared again, "Anyone who dares to disobey, don't blame me for having no eyes for my swords—come out!"

As the man shouted, several people carrying torches and lanterns entered the room. Sure enough, each of them carried a knife, the blades of which were already sharpened and looked extremely sharp.

Who doesn't value their life?
Without hesitation, the leader immediately dropped his torch and was the first to shout, "Sir! Sir!! Don't use your knife! Don't use your knife, I'll come out!"

He raised his hands, and as soon as he stepped outside, he saw the courtyard gate wide open, with many people already standing inside, and more people continuously coming in from outside.

If the leader was so honest, the others naturally followed suit, dropping what they were holding and coming out. There were also four or five people brought over from ahead, and two more sentries were brought in from outside the courtyard, making a total of twelve or thirteen people.

Aside from the soldiers and bodyguards, the courtyard was mostly filled with neighbors.

"Why are there so many thieves!"

"You said it was arson? The fire didn't start, did it?"

"Those barrels? Did you see them?! They're all tung oil!"

"No way?? Such big buckets, so many buckets, are they all full??"

"I just checked, and all the buckets are full!"

Upon hearing this, everyone took turns crowding over to look, and what they saw sent chills down their spines.

"Are you crazy?! So much tung oil! There's a woodshed behind Song's shop!"

"If Song's restaurant catches fire, our backyards are all connected, neighbors, there's no way we can escape! I'm afraid this whole street will be burned dry!"

"There's been no rain these past few days, the ground is dry, the houses are dry too. If a fire breaks out, who can escape? I'm afraid that before anyone even wakes up, the fire will trap them inside!"

"Whose ancestors didn't accumulate good karma! There are probably over a hundred people on this street. One fire not only burned down generations of their family's wealth, but also cost them their lives!"

A group of people were pointing and whispering when one of them suddenly exclaimed, "Isn't that the coachman that Song Ji hired earlier?"

Then he called out to the back, "Young Lady Song? Isn't this Master Xu?"

Song Miaozheng was holding an oil lamp in one hand and talking to a constable. When he heard someone ask him a question, he immediately turned around.

Within the crowd, some eager individuals, without needing to be told, proactively raised their lanterns and brought them close to Master Xu's face, asking, "Is it him??"

Master Xu was filled with remorse. When he heard his own name just now, his heart almost jumped out of his throat. He quickly shrank his head and lowered it—but at this moment, his face was surrounded by candlelight from all sides, how could he block it?
He quickly covered his face with his hand.

However, as soon as he raised his hand, with a soft "plop," he felt a chill between his groin and legs. His outer pants and underwear had slipped down at the same time, revealing half of his buttocks and his bare old legs.

Despite the tense atmosphere, laughter immediately erupted in the courtyard.

Master Xu was anxious, embarrassed, and flustered. He hurriedly squatted down, wanting to fasten his trousers, but he couldn't find his belt. He wanted to cover his face, but he had nothing to cover himself. He really couldn't have both face and buttocks. It turned out that when he was in the woodshed, he saw baskets of money strings and was so excited that his mind was filled with white light. He was only concerned with how to grab as many as the others. He had already learned to untie his belt, preparing to wrap the money strings and then use a cloth belt to tie them up.

Who knew that before they could even tie her up, she was captured.

Being pointed at and talked about by a group of people, he wished he could dig a hole and crawl into it. That was bad enough, but when he heard people saying things like "unpardonable", "arson", and "night trespassing", he was truly terrified.

Ignoring the fact that he would be recognized, he hurriedly cried out, "I! I don't know anything! They brought me here on their behalf!"

He continued, "These thieves said they'd make me look bad if I didn't come! They even used my family to intimidate me. I had no choice but to be forced to come to save my family's lives. I really didn't mean any harm—Sir! I didn't commit a crime, I couldn't have been coerced! Miss Song! Miss Song! You know me best! I was beaten last time, how could I dare to do anything again!!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the leader looked at the tung oil in the corner of the wall, and then at the many knives and axes on the ground—clearly the ones his men had brought with them, which had somehow been taken out.

You can't escape your sins, but you can't admit to the greater ones!
His eyes darted around, and he cried out, "Sir! Sir! I didn't know anything! We only committed petty theft, but he said he needed help, so he paid us to help move things—who knew it was tung oil inside!"

He said he used to work at Song's Restaurant and knew the layout of the place very well. He had a falling out with the owner and the others, so he resigned and now wants to teach the restaurant a lesson!

"Sir, how was I supposed to know it was tung oil? I thought it was some kind of excrement used to coat doors and floors. If I had known it was tung oil, I wouldn't have dared to accept it even if you gave me ten lives!"

As soon as the leader spoke, the others immediately exclaimed, "That's right! We were all hired by Master Xu! He's the mastermind!"

Master Xu never expected that so many mouths would start talking one minute and then start farting the next. He was only one person against a dozen or so. Forget arguing, he couldn't even win a shouting contest. He was so anxious he was practically steaming with impatience. He could only cry out helplessly, "I didn't! I didn't instruct them!! I only took their money to give them directions—how was I supposed to know they were going to break in and set fires! Officials! Lady Song!! Please, you must do me justice!!"

Seeing the two sides fighting like dogs, but no one in the yard paying attention, the neighbors on both sides were all busy and still felt lingering fear, thankful that they had taken precautions and no one had succeeded.

As for who instigated it and who was an accomplice, they didn't have time to care, nor did they need to—breaking into a private residence at night and committing arson were serious crimes. If they were arrested now and sent to the yamen, none of them could escape. They could just wait and find out more information later.

So, in the middle of the night, the patrolmen escorted a group of thieves out one by one.

Song Miao, along with Cheng Erniang and the others, thanked the neighbors one by one and then saw them off without further ado.

Once all the bystanders had left, only a few patrolmen from the Vermilion Bird Gate remained. They were all acquaintances, and since it was too late, they didn't urge Song Miao, the person involved, to come to their door. They simply said, "For something like this to happen in the middle of the night! Please be careful, Mr. Song!"

Someone else said, "Take a break, Mr. Song. Will we have time to make steamed buns this morning?"

He hesitated again and again, but in the end, he didn't say the last sentence—"I ordered pickled vegetable buns and mutton buns yesterday, and I even exchanged 'Song Ji Jian' for that broken flaky bun. I hope that because of these scoundrels' violence, I won't end up not getting breakfast?"
(End of this chapter)