Wen Xunpeng looked over and saw several servants sweeping the ground, while four guards, hands on their sword hilts, patrolled meticulously along the walls. The biting chill carried a murderous air.
Though it looked like a private prison, it differed from the private prisons he had imagined. This one was simply a courtyard: a main hall and side rooms, more than a dozen rooms in all. None were large. The only difference from an ordinary courtyard was that the surrounding walls were built from water-polished blue bricks, twice as high and twice as thick.
Wen Xunpeng had thought there would be at least dozens of prisoners, but as Wild Daoist led him inward, room after room, he discovered that most stood empty. There were hardly any people held here.
"Mr. Lu!" A guard approached. He looked seventeen or eighteen, and somehow familiar.
Wild Daoist pointed him out. "This is Qin Min, eldest son of Captain Qin Ying. Our lord appointed him squad leader and put him in charge of guarding this courtyard."
Wen Xunpeng suddenly understood. During the previous crisis, Qin Ying had stepped forward at a critical moment. Not only had he received generous rewards, but he had also been entrusted with greater responsibilities—even his son Qin Min had been assigned an official post.
A mere squad leader might seem insignificant, but it meant he was already in His Highness's heart.
Wild Daoist took out half an iron tally and said calmly, "I have come under my lord's orders to handle matters concerning the private prison."
Qin Min's still-youthful face turned especially solemn. "There is no reason to distrust Mr. Lu's arrival, but this is the system established by His Highness."
As he spoke, he accepted the iron tally for inspection. Seeing that it matched his own, he hurriedly