Duke of Zhenguan

"Bang!"

Wearing only a single layer of clothing, Thursday was pushed into the cell and slammed heavily onto the stinking ground.

Struggling to get up, he leaned against the corner of the wall and looked at the cell door locked with iron chains on Thursday. Lin Chuan's face, filled with difficulty and hesitation, appeared in his mind.

Lin Chuan, who had always been humble and submissive in front of her, was just a timid and docile lamb, but she never expected him to be a cunning fox.

Thursday did not regret bypassing the magistrate of Chang'an County to try and befriend the Duke of Leping County; he only regretted being played like a fool by Lin Chuan.

Because of the amnesty granted upon the new emperor's ascension to the throne, the county jail, which was specifically used to imprison serious criminals, was completely empty, and the cold, dark jail was silent.

Smelling the stench of decay in the prison air, which seemed to still carry the scent of blood, a sense of fear began to rise from the depths of Zhou Si's heart.

Zhou Si, huddled in the corner of the cell, lost track of time in the cold and fear. He couldn't help but doze off until he heard footsteps coming from the doorway.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Xie Er, the head of the prison guards, and his son-in-law Zhao Shizhu.

Looking at the rope in Zhao Shizhu's hand, Zhou Si thought of what he had done, and his heart began to sink. He asked in a trembling voice:

"Old Xie, what's going on?"

Xie Er didn't look at Zhou Si's face, and said softly with his head down:

"Old Zhou, I'm sorry..."

After speaking, he waved his hand, signaling his son-in-law Zhao Shizhu to step forward.

Seeing Zhao Shizhu, as burly as a bear, striding towards him carrying a rope, Zhou Si pleaded repeatedly:

"Old Xie, please help me! I need to see Magistrate Zheng!"

"Old Xie..."

As he shouted, Zhao Shizhu had already walked up to Zhou Si, his large, fan-like hand reaching out to grab Zhou Si.

Seeing that begging for mercy was useless, Thursday hardened his heart and punched Zhao Shizhu, whom he had captured.

Although Thursday was known for his strength, he had already been pierced all over by bamboo barbs and had been frozen for half the night, so he had lost half of his strength. When he punched Zhao Shizhu's hand, he only managed to make Zhao Shizhu's hand sway slightly before Zhao Shizhu grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to the ground.

Zhao Shizhu held Zhou Si down with one hand and put a rope around Zhou Si's neck with the other, then slowly pulled him backward.

As the rope tightened little by little, Zhou Si's neck veins bulged, and he felt it becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. With all his might, he shouted hoarsely at Xie Er, who had been standing at the door:

"Old Xie, the money you received three years ago to save your mother's life was from me! You're ungrateful!"

Just as Thursday was about to faint, Xie Er, who was standing at the door, suddenly shouted:

"Stone pillar, let go!"

The putrid air returned to his lungs, and Thursday gasped for breath, his eyes filled with fear of death.

It took Zhou Si a while to recover, and she asked Xie Er with a resentful look:

"Old Xie, can you give me a straight answer? Who doesn't want me to live? Magistrate Zheng or the Duke of Leping?"

"It's not just the Duke of Leping County and Magistrate Zheng, it's someone even the Duke of Leping County can't afford to offend!" Xie Er said with a wry smile.

Thursday looked bewildered and asked, puzzled:

"Who is that?"

Xie Er shook his head and whispered to Zhou Si:

"Whoever it is, it's someone we've offended. You saved my mother's life in the past, and today I'll repay you with my life. Go, leave Chang'an, and never come back!"

Thursday nodded, kowtowed three times to Xie Er, and strode out of the prison.

Aside from the patrolling guards and night watchmen, there was almost no movement on the winter night in Chang'an. Carefully avoiding the guards, I stumbled through the street corner in the darkness and returned to the courtyard of the nameless alley in the West Market on Thursday.

The courtyard was deserted, and all valuables had been collected.

As expected, on Thursday he picked up a tattered linen garment that no one wanted from the ground, put it on, went to the woodshed, cleared away the pile of firewood, pried open the bricks underneath with a stick, and pulled out a small bag of broken silver and a short knife from the small pit below.

Tucked the loose silver into his pocket and gripped his short knife, Thursday crept toward Yanshoufang.

In the darkness of night, Tiechi Lane is quiet and peaceful.

The Lin family's small courtyard.

In the dimly lit side room, Lin Chuan leaned against the earthen wall, occasionally poking at the fire in front of him with a wooden stick, trying to stay awake.

"squeak!"

In the quiet night sky, the sound of tree branches snapping underfoot was exceptionally clear.

Lin Chuan scrambled to his feet and cautiously peeked out of the window. He saw a dark figure scaling down the earthen wall opposite the small side room.

He took out a tinderbox, removed his bamboo hat, picked up a simple Molotov cocktail from the windowsill, and lit the liquid-soaked cloth strip on it with the tinderbox.

Holding the small ceramic jar, Lin Chuan stepped out of the side room and called out to the dark figure that was slowly moving away:

"Uncle Thursday!"

Thursday paused for a moment, then gripped the dagger and strode toward Lin Chuan.

Seeing Zhou Si walking towards him with a short knife in his hand, Lin Chuan stood at the door of the side room, holding a Molotov cocktail and staring straight at Zhou Si.

It wasn't until Thursday was less than five or six steps away from him that he suddenly threw the pottery jar he was holding at Thursday.

"Bang!"

The earthenware pot was slashed open on Thursday.

A pool of black liquid exploded in front of Thursday, splattering all over his chest.

"boom!"

In the instant the liquid exploded, a bright flash of light suddenly appeared in Thursday's field of vision.

"Ah! Ah!"

Moments later, Thursday felt excruciating pain, let out screams, and collapsed onto the snow-covered ground.

Unfortunately, the flames on his body did not go out and continued to burn Zhou Si's flesh.

On Thursday, after rolling around on the ground like a madman twice, he suddenly struggled to his feet and staggered toward Lin Chuan.

Seeing Zhou Si running towards him, Lin Chuan was trembling slightly, but he still quickly turned around and avoided Zhou Si's collision.

Having lost his mind, Thursday rushed into the side room in a panic.

Before Thursday could turn around, Lin Chuan, realizing what was happening, ran to the windowsill, picked up the ceramic pot on the windowsill, and smashed it at Thursday.

"boom!"

"boom!"

With each pottery jar smashed, the flames on Zhou Si's body rose higher, until he was completely engulfed in flames.

Watching the fire-breathing man frantically crashing into the earthen wall like a headless fly, Lin Chuan felt a little disoriented. He subconsciously took a few steps back, his gaze complex as he looked at the already ablaze side room and Zhou Si, who was still twitching occasionally after collapsing to the ground.

"Big Brother!"

A scream tinged with fear snapped Lin Chuan out of his daze. He turned and called out to Li Shi, who was standing at the entrance to the main room:

"Mother, take Er Ya back to the house!"

The small hut, built of thatched roof, wood, and earthen walls, was gradually engulfed by flames. With a muffled explosion, a dazzling burst of fire shot into the sky, illuminating the courtyard like a giant torch and startling the neighbors.

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"..."

The quiet Tiechi Lane suddenly became noisy as neighbors arrived one after another, carrying wooden buckets.

However, Lin Chuan kept them all outside the door.

"Since the side rooms are all burned down, let's just burn them clean!" Lin Chuan explained to the neighbors who had rushed over.