Shen Qing briefly bandaged her wound, then left with her subordinates.
As she left, she gave Lin Yuan a long look, but said nothing.
Lin Yuan was only an ordinary citizen, and he had already helped her more than enough. How could she ask him to defend the city as well?
Watching them leave, Lin Yuan decided to go take a look at the city walls once he finished dealing with matters here.
Though he lacked the conviction that every common man bore responsibility for the rise and fall of the realm, he understood that when the lips were gone, the teeth would grow cold.
The two of them stepped over broken timber and shattered tiles, making their way through the collapsed front courtyard.
Just as they passed through the moon gate into the rear courtyard, a dense mass of people filled their view.
Over a hundred servants and maids crowded the middle of the courtyard, kneeling in rows, kowtowing and wailing.
"Spare us, Second Young Master!"
"We're only servants who do odd jobs around the estate! We knew absolutely nothing about Madam's rebellion!"
"Please have mercy, Second Young Master! Spare our worthless lives!"
Cries and the thuds of kowtowing mingled, filling the rear courtyard.
The scenes in the front courtyard earlier had shaken them to their very souls.
Now that this god of slaughter stood before them, how could they not be afraid?
At the front of the crowd, an old man with a grizzled beard shuffled forward two steps on his knees and spoke, tears streaming down his face.
"Second Young Master! This old servant even held you when you were little!"
Lin Yuan looked down, silently studying the old man.
Beside him, Lin Jiu edged half a step closer and lowered his voice.
"Young Master, this old fellow is Zhou Fu, the estate's head steward. He's always managed the estate's money, grain, and land deeds."
Lin Yuan nodded lightly, a faint smile appearing on his face.
He took two steps forward, supported Zhou Fu by the arm, and helped him up.
Overwhelmed by the favor, Zhou Fu's face instantly filled with wild delight.
It worked!
As long as I get through today, all those off-the-books accounts will be mine alone!
"Thank you for your consideration, Second Young Master. This old servant..."
Before he could finish, Lin Yuan's right hand suddenly slid up from his arm and clamped around his throat.
The smile froze on Zhou Fu's face. He desperately clawed at Lin Yuan's wrist, his feet kicking wildly above the ground.
Meeting the old steward's terrified gaze, Lin Yuan leaned close to his ear, his voice icy.
"Since you held me when I was little, I'll personally see you off."
"See how well I treat you?"
Crack!
The old steward's head lolled to one side. His body twitched twice, then went completely still.
Not even a ghost would believe that the head steward, who controlled the entire estate's money and grain, had no involvement in Zhao Yan's rebellion.
Seeing Zhou Fu become a corpse in the blink of an eye, everyone was scared out of their wits and desperately shrank back.
Muffled sobbing rose through the courtyard.
Just then, a sound came from the corner on the left.
A young married woman in coarse cloth, around thirty years old, raised her head in some alarm.
"This servant greets the Second Young Master."
Lin Yuan turned to look, sizing her up before speaking in a dark voice.
"What, did you hold me too?"
The woman shrank back in fright and hastily nodded.
Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Lin Jiu studied the woman's face for a while, then suddenly slapped his forehead and leaned close to Lin Yuan's ear to remind him quietly.
"Young Master, she's Yunniang. I think she was your wet nurse."
Lin Yuan paused.
Deep in his memories, he seemed, perhaps, to have some vague impression.
His expression softened, and he strode forward to help Yunniang up.
"Sorry about that. I was a little harsh just now and frightened you."
Looking at the youth before her, now half a head taller than herself, Yunniang's eyes reddened.
Lin Yuan looked back at the dense crowd, his right hand slowly settling on his saber's hilt.
Rustle!
Everyone shuddered. Several timid maids fainted on the spot, and a foul stench of urine gradually spread.
Lin Yuan frowned, finding himself at a loss for the moment.
There were at least a hundred people before him. Killing them all was certainly unrealistic; he was no murderous fiend.
Besides, there were bound to be some honest, dutiful souls among them who had led bitter lives.
But if he let them all go, what if diehard loyalists of the Zhao Clan were hiding among them?
Wildfire could never burn away every blade of grass; with the spring breeze, they would grow again!
Clearly sensing Lin Yuan's killing intent as well, many secretly raised their heads and cast pleading looks toward Lin Jiu.
This dark-faced man had been a longtime guard at the estate and knew them all. He was their only straw to clutch at now.
Their stares made Lin Jiu uncomfortable all over. He sighed and braced himself as he stepped forward.
He extended his right hand and pointed out people in the crowd one after another.
"You, you, you, and the one in green at the back. Come out."
The dozen or so people he singled out scrambled out of the crowd as though granted a pardon and stood obediently to one side.
Looking at those dozen or so people, Lin Yuan's face darkened.
He turned and gave Lin Jiu a sidelong look.
"All these people held me?"
Lin Jiu's weathered face reddened. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and stammered.
"No..."
Under Lin Yuan's scrutinizing gaze, he added quietly, somewhat awkwardly.
"They held me."
Lin Yuan rubbed his brow and waved at those dozen or so people.
They hurried to hide behind Lin Jiu.
Lin Yuan swept his gaze over the several dozen people remaining.
"Which of you still bears the surname Zhao?"
"Anyone who reports them will be spared."
The instant his words fell, the back of the crowd erupted.
Three burly servants suddenly sprang from the ground and charged like mad toward the rear courtyard's low wall.
Lin Yuan sneered and flicked a finger.
Clang!
His saber slid half an inch out of its sheath, and a streak of blood-colored saber Qi swept out.
Before the three had run even twenty feet, their heads flew high at the same time, and their headless bodies crashed to the ground.
Just then, a young servant in his twenties went deathly pale with fright and crawled forward several steps on his hands and knees.
Looking utterly miserable, he kowtowed with loud thuds.
"Spare me, Young Master! My name is Zhao Liu! My surname may be Zhao, but I really am not a member of the Zhao Clan!"
"I'm from Zhao Clan Village outside the city! I was sold into the Lin estate when I was eight!"
Among the people behind Lin Jiu, someone quietly spoke up for him.
"Young Master, the boy isn't lying. He really is one of the Lin estate's people."
Seeing Lin Yuan remain unmoved, Zhao Liu's mind raced. He suddenly kowtowed heavily three times before Lin Yuan.
"I'm willing to take you as my adoptive father, Young Master, and change my surname to yours from this day forward!"
To keep his head, he threw all caution to the wind.
Everyone in the courtyard stared dumbfounded, and Lin Jiu's mouth twitched.
Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised. This fellow had a quick mind; he was a clever one.
"All right, you'll be called Lin Liu from now on. Forget the adoptive father part."
"Thank you for granting me your surname, Young Master!"
Lin Liu was overjoyed.
Lin Yuan looked at the crowd again. Perhaps because there were fewer people this time, he actually spotted several familiar faces.
A cold glint flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes, and he strode forward.
"You, raise your head."
The man trembled all over, but still did not dare lift his head.
Lin Yuan extended his scabbard and slowly lifted the man's chin.
"It really has been a long time!"
Lin Yuan sneered. This man was one of those who had tried to assassinate him in Blackstone Town.
The man looked miserable and kowtowed repeatedly.
"Spare me, Second Young Master! I know I was wrong! Please show mercy, Second Young Master!"
Swish.
Saber light flashed.
Clutching his neck, the man slowly toppled over.
"'Second Young Master' with every breath. It seems you still haven't understood the situation."
Lin Yuan shifted his gaze to the other few men.
Feeling Lin Yuan's icy gaze on them, their scalps prickled, yet they could not muster even the slightest strength to flee.
Swish, swish, swish.
Three flashes of saber light struck precisely into the crowd. The three men gave muffled groans and breathed their last.
"If you'd known it would come to this, why do it in the first place?"
Lin Yuan turned his head and looked behind Lin Jiu.
"Come out and identify them. Pick out everyone who has no ties to the Zhao Clan and normally does their work honestly."
They hurried toward the crowd.
Lin Jiu pressed a hand to his saber's hilt, his fierce eyes wide.
With him watching, none of them dared show favoritism. They carefully identified the people in the crowd one by one.
In less than half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, over half the servants had been picked out and retreated trembling to the two sides of the courtyard.
Only twenty-one people remained in the middle of the clearing.
Their faces were deathly pale as they frantically begged for mercy.
Lin Yuan wasted no more words and casually swung his saber.
Blood-colored saber Qi tore through the air.
Piercing screams instantly rang out. Blood sprayed, and twenty people were cleaved in two on the spot.
Just as the saber Qi swept toward the back of the crowd, a tall groom in a short gray cloth outfit abruptly raised his head.
He stamped both feet and used the force to shoot backward, moving so fast he left a string of afterimages. In the blink of an eye, he had evaded the edge of the blood-colored saber Qi.
The man was astonishingly fast. In a few bounds, he vaulted onto the eaves and fled toward the outside of the estate!
Watching the figure sprint across the rooftop, Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, there's an expert too."
With a flick of his wrist, he delivered three slashes in succession.
Three streaks of blood-colored saber Qi, each three feet long, tore through the air with shrill whistles, heading straight for the man's back!