Chapter 375: Chapter 295: Him Again?!
Jiang Lin, much like Guo Song, was among the children of the trusted aides who initially followed Pei Yu in his campaigns to conquer the world, and the two of them were selected from a young age to follow Pei Zhan.
Their skills were naturally honed over the years in the northwest, where they stayed close and trained arduously.
The Xu family’s residence was already showing some irregularities, and choosing to enter through the lit areas was because the unlit places were more likely to hide unexpected dangers.
The village at night was quieter than during the day, but fortunately, the ground after the rain was soft with mud, so their landing was silent.
Jiang Lin led two men into the southeast gate, where an elderly house servant with graying temples dozed off, reclined on a bamboo chair. The trio skirted the side wall and, relying on their memory from the day, chose to pass through the kitchen, heading north.
Just out of the kitchen, near the side courtyard wall, suddenly a dog barked. They held their breath for a moment, then footsteps sounded from the other side of the wall. After a while, a rough voice quietly scolded, "Shut up!" and then, "Lie down!"
Afterward, there were a few more slow and heavy footsteps, before returning to silence.
Jiang Lin exchanged a look with the two brothers behind him, and they simultaneously drew the swords from their waists slowly.
In this quiet night, the earlier noises became exceptionally clear to the ears; the footsteps were not those of just one person, but at least three. Moreover, the sound of these footsteps was heavy, rising and falling with a very steady rhythm, which is typical of individuals who are both robust and well-trained.
However, when they entered this residence during the day, they did not see anyone with a strong build. The exposed Protectors were all of ordinary physique.
Jiang Lin leaped onto the wall, his gaze locating the vicious dog lurking in the corner. He broke off a piece of rubble from the wall and struck the back of the dog’s neck, making it grunt and fall to the ground.
Simultaneously, several people swiftly dashed toward the granary to the north, staying in the shadows along the wall.
Liu Quan and his group, also three in number, encountered them afterward. Liu Quan urgently said, "There are indeed more people in this courtyard than on the list! Just now, when we came through the vegetable garden, there were a dozen similar short-sleeved outfits hanging on bamboo poles! When the dog barking sounded, five tall and robust men emerged briskly from the courtyard by the well!"
Jiang Lin exchanged a glance with his companions: "That makes sense! — Everyone, be careful, probe further, I will go to Zhou Yi’s residence to see if there are any oddities!"
They planned out a route, roughly determining the number of hidden people in the compound and their locations, then poured a bucket of lantern oil found in the storeroom onto the woodpile in the kitchen before splitting up.
Zhou Yi’s place was easy to find; aside from the main courtyard, the tidiest small courtyard was his.
Of course, in fact, all the servants lived in the same area, but the size of the rooms and courtyards varied.
Several exposed Protectors also lived nearby, which required extra caution, but Zhou Yi did not have martial arts skills, which was an advantage.
Jiang Lin sneaked in the door, heard the even breathing from inside the room, and confirmed no anomalies. He approached the bed, took out a Luminous Pearl, and looked over, seeing Zhou Yi lying on his side, then scanned the surroundings.
Although this was the ancestral home of a third-grade official, the steward’s room was still inferior to the grandeur of courtyards belonging to wealthy families in the capital city.
There were only a few pieces of necessary furniture in the room, with barely a few drawers to hide things. He checked each one but found nothing.
Jiang Lin returned to the bedside, scrutinized the inside of the bed, and found a box inside the pillow. He gently opened it, only to find an account book and some correspondence papers.
He skimmed through but found no significant use; however, he tucked them into his chest.
With no place to hide anything further in sight, his gaze fell on a few pieces of clothing hanging by the bed. A thought crossed his mind, and he moved over.
It was a set of inner and outer garments, and the outer robe was familiar; it was the one Zhou Yi had worn during the day.
Jiang Lin searched through them a couple of times but found nothing unusual.
Yet, as he was putting the clothes back, a glint of silver caught his eye, and a heavy object fell. He quickly reached out and caught it just before it hit the ground!
It was Zhou Yi’s pouch.
Jiang Lin quickly opened the pouch, pouring its contents onto the clothing. Of course, there was money inside, but the steward’s pouch contained a substantial amount: several pieces of fragmented silver, a small handful of gold melon seeds, and a few silver notes rolled together.
In the capital city, Xu Yin was someone everyone flocked to and never lacked money to spend, but his daily living was not necessarily extravagant.