In the county government house, where the county magistrate Song Zhili lived, when a water tank in the yard was removed to reveal the hole underneath, Song Zhili's face was full of shock.
He has lived here for so many years, but he has no idea that there is a secret passage here?
Cheng Xiao was the first to get into the secret passage, and not long after, he took out three children from inside. Two of them were Song Zhili's son Song Youwen and his daughter Song Yourong, and the other young man was Cheng Xiao's son!
At this moment, Mrs. Song was also present. Suddenly she saw the child who was still longing for her. She quickly hugged her son and daughter tightly, holding her head and crying.
"Oh my God," Mrs. Song cried loudly, "What the hell is going on? We searched all over the county, but you are hiding in your own home! I'm so scared, wuwu..."
After crying a few times, she remembered to check on the children, only to find that they were all rosy-cheeked, in normal spirits, and didn't even appear to be frightened.
At the same time, Cheng Xiao was also checking on his child. He was relieved when he found that the child was also fine.
"Huh?" Song Zhili looked at Cheng Xiao's son, stunned, and asked, "Cheng Baotou, what's going on? Why is your child here?"
"I hid Cheng Baotou's children here," monk Qi Yunzheng said. "This is my backup plan. Once you don't catch the ghost-faced killer, Cheng Baotou will help me escape!"
"Ah?" Song Zhili was surprised, "Then...why didn't you escape?"
"Master Song, the real ghost-faced killer has been caught," Qi Yunzheng said, "I naturally want to stay as a witness to redress my brother's injustice. Besides, I killed three people in a row and stained my hands with sin, so I naturally have to accept trial. !”
"Huh? Isn't that right?" Chen Houlu suddenly wanted to understand something, pointed at Qi Yunzheng and shouted, "You have an accomplice, and this accomplice must be from the Yamen! Otherwise, Miss Young Master and the others would have been hungry if they had been hiding inside for so many days. Dead, tell me, you...who are your accomplices?"
"My accomplice is my second sister Qi Qiaomei," Qi Yunzheng told the truth, "Her current name is Ling Shu, and she is the maid of Mr. Song's family."
"Ah!?" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Song was frightened and staggered, "Lingshu? She...she is your accomplice?"
"Yes, mother," eleven-year-old Song Youwen said, "Aunt Lingshu brought me here. She said something big was going to happen in the Yamen, and she wanted us to hide inside and come out after the crisis is over."
"Yes," nine-year-old Song Yourong agreed, "She also prepared a lot of toys for us, which is really fun."
"Lingshu...why didn't I see it?" Mrs. Song suddenly realized, "No wonder so many of us in Thin Willow Town were stunned...
"Hey? Where's Lingshu? Where's the person?"
"It seems..." Butler Wang behind him looked around and said, "It seems like he went out to buy groceries this morning, right?"
"There's no need to look for it," Qi Yunzheng said, "My sister is gone! One of our Qi family must survive, right?"
"..." Mrs. Song and Song Zhili looked at each other with ugly expressions.
"No," Song Zhili was so smart. He immediately discovered the problem and asked the monk, "Qi Yunzheng, you should have other accomplices! This secret passage... but even I don't know about it, so how do you know about it?"
"Yeah, I don't know either!" Chen Houlu quickly clarified.
"It's simple. When I caught Magistrate Tong, I already asked about this secret passage from him," Qi Yunzheng said, "Coincidentally, my sister happened to be lurking in your Song family, so we made a temporary decision , hide the hostages here.
"As the saying goes, it's dark under the light, and the most dangerous place is the safest."
"Yeah?"
Song Zhili still had doubts, but since he had pinned the blame on Magistrate Tong, there was no proof.
Besides, by this time, it is no longer that important whether Qi Yunzheng has any accomplices.
In fact, his suspicion was right. The person who really knew this secret passage was Shen Mingchen.
"Sir, Sir..." At this moment, a Yamen servant hurriedly came to report, "Sir Song, it's bad, our Yamen have all been blocked!"
"Blockade?" Chen Houlu was surprised, "Who is it?"
"Who else," Song Zhili said, "must be the Governor! Alas...I...but I have made you people completely miserable!"
While speaking, he deliberately glanced at Xu Zhen, because if it weren't for Xu Zhen, at least he wouldn't be an enemy of Cui Xiaotian.
As long as Cui Xiaotian is not offended, there will be no current crisis!
Xu Zhen felt Song Zhili's gaze and hurriedly kicked Qi Yunzheng from behind while others were unprepared.
"Oh... oh oh oh..." Qi Yunzheng just remembered something. He quickly clasped his hands and chanted the Buddha's name, "Amitabha, Mr. Song, the poor monk has two prophecies to send to each other. One is: Misfortune lies on the basis of blessing, and blessing depends on it. Come where the misfortune lies.
“Another sentence is: But do good deeds and don’t ask about your future!”
Upon hearing this, the scene fell silent for an instant.
Qi Yunzheng's forehead was already covered with beads of sweat. He spoke too hastily, looking particularly deliberate and embarrassed.
"The master's prophecy is so timely!" Song Zhili smiled bitterly, "Now that I can't even save my life, what future do I have?"
"Master Song," Chen Houlu quickly came up with an idea, "Since they want Cui Xiaotian, why not just give Cui Xiaotian to them?"
"No!" Shen Mingchen quickly retorted, "If Cui Xiaotian is let go, none of us will survive! Not to mention that the governor can't spare us, even Cui Xiaotian himself will definitely come back for revenge."
"Oh, what are you talking about?" Suddenly, Mrs. Song became anxious and complained to everyone, "The children are all here, why are you living and dying? Don't scare the children! "
right……
Only then did everyone realize that the situation was not right, and hurriedly settled the children before going to the inner hall to discuss important matters.
Song Zhili was really a ruthless person. As soon as everyone entered the room, he said in front of everyone:
"A serious reselling incident occurred in the Chongning County treasury granary that year, resulting in the emptiness of the granary. In the second year of Changle, at the time of disaster relief, Han Wentao burned down the granary in order to cover up his crimes, and burned more than 50 people to death!"
"..." Everyone suddenly felt as if they were being burned, and they all cursed secretly in their hearts.
It was clear that Song Zhili wanted to tie everyone to the same rope.
"Han Wentao naturally followed orders, but the letters between him and his superiors were hijacked by Cui Xiaotian, so he fell into the trap..." Song Zhili lost control, "Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Cui Xiaotian is good at this and has many other things in his hands. He holds evidence of the crimes of officials at all levels in Songzhou, all of which are fatal.
"What's even more powerful is that Cui Xiaotian has also established a life-saving mechanism for himself. As long as he is harmed by someone, the evidence of the crime will be directly submitted to the cabinet or directly to the Holy Emperor!
"So," Song Zhili said in a broken voice, "having fun alone is not as good as having everyone happy. Everyone, let's see how this scene ends, right?"
"..." Everyone covered their faces.
"Xu Zhen," Song Zhili said to Xu Zhen, "you are our think tank. Come on, come on, can you come up with an idea?"
Unexpectedly, Xu Zhen was more ruthless than Song Zhili. He immediately turned to the monk and asked, "Qi Yunzheng, please tell me quickly. Is there any other exit from the secret passage? Can I escape?"
…
(End of chapter)
