My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

Chapter 150 Woodhouse Fire

The door to the woodshed was locked from the outside.

The fire started behind the house and climbed up the dry firewood to the roof, crackling like someone breaking bones inside.

The sound of a child crying came from under the door.

more than one.

Ah Liu's face turned deathly pale.

"Young master, there really are people inside!"

nonsense.

Of course I know there are people inside.

Knowing is one thing, but rushing in is another.

I'm afraid of dying.

I've always been afraid.

But sometimes, if you're standing outside the door wondering if you'll die, the person inside is already dead.

Yan Xiaoyi is faster than me.

He slashed at the door lock with his knife, sending sparks and metal filings flying.

The first cut didn't break it.

The second cut cracked the lock.

With the third strike, he kicked the door open.

Thick smoke immediately billowed out.

Ah Liu was so choked that he took three steps back, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Cough cough... This isn't a woodshed, it's a crematorium!"

I tore off the cloth from my sleeve, soaked it in water, and covered my mouth and nose.

Xiao Lingyi was about to step forward when Qiu Tang firmly stopped her.

"Your Highness cannot go in!"

Xiao Lingyi said coldly, "Get out of the way."

I turned to look at her.

"His Highness is out there keeping people in check."

She stared at me.

"Are you going in?"

"The children inside are worth more than me."

After saying that, even I didn't think it sounded like myself.

Ah Liu, standing to the side with a mournful face, said, "Young master, please don't suddenly act so noble and virtuous. I'm scared."

"Then don't follow."

Ah Liu gritted his teeth, grabbed a wet cloth, and covered his face.

"The younger one will follow!"

I glanced at him.

That kid really showed his mettle today.

Although my legs are still shaking.

The woodshed was thick with smoke.

As soon as I went in, the stench made it impossible to open my eyes.

The room was filled with dry firewood, old curtains, and bags of incense ash. The fire started in the west corner and was spreading towards the center.

Several children, both boys and girls, were tied to the innermost wooden post. The oldest was no more than eleven or twelve years old, and the youngest was only four or five.

Their mouths were stuffed with cloth, and some of them could no longer cry out, only sobbing.

There were also three adults, two women, and an old man nearby, all of whom were also tied up.

It felt like someone had burned my chest.

Ma Cheng is right.

A car full of people.

Disaster victims in Jiangbei.

The sign reads "Settled in".

They were actually locked in the woodshed of Ci'en Temple, waiting to be transferred away or burned to death.

The word "place" in the ledger means that it can be placed in the fire.

Yan Xiaoyi rushed to the front, and with a flash of his blade, several ropes snapped.

Ah Liu and I were carrying the child.

Ah Liu coughed from the smoke, but clung tightly to a child and ran outside.

The child was so thin he was just skin and bones, as light as a bundle of firewood.

That's the scariest part.

He was as light as a stick.

I untied the rope from a woman's hands, but she grabbed my sleeve instead, her voice hoarse from the smoke.

"My son... my son is still inside..."

"Which one?"

She cried as she pointed behind the woodpile.

The fire has already reached there.

I looked up and sure enough, there was a little boy curled up between the woodpile and the corner of the wall.

He remained motionless, whether from fright or from the smoke.

Yan Xiaoyi was protecting the children as they rushed out, while A Liu was dragging the old man along, almost falling over himself.

I gritted my teeth, bent down, and rushed over.

The heat wave hit my face, burning my skin.

I cursed inwardly.

Shen An, you're becoming less and less like someone who values life.

I grabbed the child by the collar and dragged him outside.

But he still had a rope tied to his foot, with the other end of the rope pressed under the pile of firewood.

I drew my short blade and sheathed it, then cut the rope.

Just as the blade touched the rope, a burnt-out crossbeam suddenly crashed down from above.

I heard Xiao Lingyi call out from outside.

"Shen An!"

The next moment, someone pounced from behind and kicked the crossbeam away.

Yan Xiaoyi.

He cursed, "You're really asking for it."

I wanted to yell back, but the smoke made me speechless, so I just shoved the child into his arms.

"Take him out!"

Yan Xiaoyi turned around, holding the child.

Just as I was about to follow, I suddenly stepped on something hard.

It's not wood.

I looked down and saw a small wooden box.

The box was blackened by the fire, the lid was half open, and several pieces of paper, yellowed by smoke, were visible inside.

I shouldn't have bothered with it.

It's really inhuman to be concerned about paper at this time.

But this was never an ordinary woodshed.

A place that can hide people can also hide tents.

I bent down and picked up the small wooden box. I had only taken two steps when the fire suddenly flared up behind me.

Ah Liu cried out at the door, "Young Master!"

As I rushed out with the box in my arms, the heat wave behind me felt like a hand giving me a hard shove.

I stumbled out the door and fell to the ground, the small wooden box in my arms pressing painfully on my chest.

Ah Liu rushed over to help me up.

"Young master! Are you alright? Don't frighten me!"

I coughed so hard I couldn't speak.

Xiao Lingyi has already walked up to me.

She looked down at me.

His face was very cold.

It's very cold.

She was so cold that I found her scarier than fire.

"Shen An".

I looked up and forced a smile.

"I am still alive."

She looked at the box in my arms.

"You almost got burned to death because of this?"

"smoothly."

Ah Liu cried out from the side, "Your Highness, the young master is so reckless, he's practically risking his life!"

Xiao Lingyi remained silent.

She reached out her hand.

I thought she was going to get the box.

She then grabbed my wrist.

Very hard.

Like confirming if I'm really still alive.

I was taken aback for a moment.

She quickly relaxed.

"Let Yan Xiaoyi take it next time."

Yan Xiaoyi patted the dust off his clothes.

"I handle the people, he handles the accounts; it's a good division of labor."

Xiao Lingyi looked at him.

Yan Xiaoyi immediately shut up.

The rescued victims lay in the courtyard, their cries, coughs, and shouts mingling together.

The female doctor and several monks from the temple were busy saving lives.

But I could see clearly that not all the monks at Ci'en Temple were panicked.

Some of them looked scared.

It's not that I'm afraid of dead people.

They were afraid the person wasn't dead.

Mingjue stood outside the firelight, his face as white as paper.

His compassionate demeanor from just moments ago is gone.

The fire burned away the purity of the Buddhist temple, revealing something even dirtier than firewood ash.

I stood up, holding the small wooden box, and walked up to him.

"Master Mingjue, is it considered a 'pure' place in Buddhism to imprison disaster victims in the woodshed?"

Mingjue's lips moved slightly.

"This humble monk does not know..."

I kicked over the incense ash jar next to me.

Incense ash was scattered all over the ground.

Say "I don't know" again.

Mingjue shut up.

Zheng Huaien arrived in the backyard at some point.

When he saw the rescued victims, his expression finally changed slightly.

soon.

But I saw it.

It wasn't shocking.

It's anger.

He was annoyed that things didn't go as he expected.

I looked at him and suddenly understood.

Zheng Huaien was willing to enter Ci'en Temple at night because he thought it had been cleaned up.

Burn old clothes, transfer disaster victims, kill green crops, and clear the merit book.

Everything should be done before we get there.

But someone was a step too slow.

Or rather, someone deliberately gave us a head start.

Lan Bugui?

Or someone else?

I'm not sure.

But I know that the box of paper in the fire was something they didn't have time to burn.

Ah Liu brought me water, I washed my hands, and opened the small wooden box.

There were several tattered tents and a stack of wooden plaques in the box.

The names of the disaster victims were written on the wooden signs.

I've seen some of those names on the South Soup Dishes register.

But at the southern soup kitchen, these people had already received their food and been settled.

One of the tattered tents was the most dangerous.

It says:

Thirty-seven refugees from Jiangbei were admitted to Ci'en Temple by both land and water, and their donations amounted to forty-six taels of silver, which were transferred to Qinghe Charity Granary and recorded as having been settled.

Ah Liu stared at the words, his lips trembling.

"Young master, what does this mean?"

I said, "It means that thirty-seven living people were recorded as a meritorious act."

He didn't understand.

Let me put it even more bluntly.

"They locked up the disaster victims, refused to distribute food, but wrote in the accounts that they had been resettled. Then they used these people's heads to claim relief grain, merit money, and grain from the public granary from the Ministry of Revenue."

Ah Liu's eyes immediately reddened.

"What do they eat?"

I looked at the children on the ground who had just been rescued.

"Smoke."

Xiao Lingyi stood to the side, her fingers clenching tighter and tighter.

She did not speak.

But I know that she wants to kill someone now more than ever.

Ma Cheng was kneeling in the courtyard when he suddenly crawled over.

"Lord Shen! Lord Shen, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"

Zheng Huaien looked at him coldly.

"Ma Cheng."

Ma Cheng shuddered in fright, but did not stop.

Once a person realizes that they have been abandoned by their master, they suddenly become bolder.

"The rice coupons from Qinghe Charitable Granary are not something I, as an official, can control! Every month, Vice Minister Zheng has the Ministry of Revenue's Disaster Relief Department verify a batch of 'already resettled' names, send them to Ci'en Temple for donation, and then the charitable granary issues rice coupons. Some of the rice coupons are given to disaster victims as a token gesture, some to palace gatekeepers, coachmen, granary workers, and temple staff, and some are converted into silver!"

Zheng Huaien remained expressionless.

"Nonsense."

Ma Cheng cried out, "I have proof!"

I asked, "Where?"

Ma Cheng points to Mingjue.

"The true register of merit is not in the merit-making room, but under the Buddha shrine in his meditation room!"

Mingjue suddenly looked up.

The guards sent by Wei Zhi immediately turned around and began searching.

Zheng Huaien finally spoke.

"Lord Shen, a petty official, out of fear of punishment, falsely accuses his superior; a Buddhist abbot, thrown into chaos by the fire; a few scraps of paper; a few disaster victims—and you think you can convict the Ministry of Revenue?"

I looked at him.

"Why is Vice Minister Zheng in such a hurry?"

"I am merely reminding you that investigations require evidence."

"I also like evidence."

I lifted up the tattered tent.

"Does a living person count as evidence?"

He said calmly, "The disaster victims are pitiful, but they are also the easiest to be manipulated."

"What about the bill?"

"Even tattered tents can be forged."

"Where is the register of merits?"

"Not yet found."

"Minister Zheng is very thoughtful."

He looked at me.

"Lord Shen, you have already driven yourself into a corner by opening the granary without authorization and breaking into the Buddhist temple at night. If no solid evidence is found, not only you, but His Highness will also be implicated."

Xiao Lingyi said coldly, "Zheng Huaien."

Zheng Huaien bowed to her.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. I was just telling the truth."

I suddenly laughed.

Zheng Huaien looked at me: "What are you laughing at, Lord Shen?"

"I'm glad that Vice Minister Zheng has helped me sort things out."

"Clarify what?"

"irrefutable evidence."

I folded up the tattered curtain.

"You're right. Testimony from disaster victims can be manipulated, incomplete accounts can be forged, and donation books can be switched. So we need to find irrefutable evidence."

Zheng Huaien's eyes turned slightly cold.

I looked at the woman who had been rescued from the woodshed.

She just said that her son is still inside.

I asked her, "Who gave you wooden plaques before you were locked in the woodshed?"

The woman pointed at Mingjue while crying.

"Not only him, but also a woman."

"Is it Qinghe?"

The woman shook her head: "I don't know her. She had half her face covered, but there were bruises on the back of her hands."

Blue seal.

A thought struck me.

The person who wrote the registers in the palace had a scar on the back of his hand and a thick tiger's mouth.

Qinghe may just be a name.