Using bare hands, he broke open a hole.

A stench of rotting corpse emanated straight out.

The smell was overwhelmingly pungent, drilling directly into his brain, Qiu Ze hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with his hand.

Found a stick to widen the opening.

A decaying corpse was revealed inside, and Lin Miao instantly recognized the color of the clothes—exactly what his master was dressed in for burial.

The coffin in the damaged tomb above had clothes that had long eroded, revealing only bones, making it difficult to discern identity by attire, unless examining the bones.

That was his master; Lin Miao could easily confirm his master’s identity.

"Mr. Lin, your master’s bones are inside, should we take them out?"

"Seal it for now, temporarily don’t take it!" Lin Miao shook his head; if they wanted to retrieve the bones, they needed a container to hold them.

At least a new coffin would be required.

At this moment, it’s better to temporarily seal them inside this clay statue.

Qiu Ze understood Lin Miao’s thoughts too—nothing was prepared, even if the bones were taken out, how could they be brought back, and how would he explain it to the family?

"Qiu Ze, if the bones in the statue are my master’s, I will surely reward you well; if not, I will certainly let you know the cost of deceiving me!" Lin Miao warned.

"Mr. Sun has been kind to me, how could I lie in this matter? Also, I remind you again, leave Qingping Town immediately." Qiu Ze said.

"I have my own discretion in this matter." Saying this, Lin Miao parted with Qiu Ze and returned.

...

Returned to the ancestral hall.

Sun Youwei, Yun, and others came up to greet him.

"Junior brother, people from the Huang Family were here earlier, they said occupying our family medical house was wrong, but now the mistake is made, they mean to compensate and hope we sell this land to them?" Sun Youwei said.

"Who came?"

"The patriarch of the Huang Family, Huang Baiyuan."

"Did he come alone?"

"He brought two people; three in total," Yun replied.

"What did Senior Sister say?"

"I said Junior Brother, you are now the head of the family, this matter I cannot decide, must wait for your return." Sun Youwei replied.

"Hmm, this matter isn’t just about compensation, the Huang Family has illicit weapons hidden within the ancestral hall, many of which the imperial court prohibits civilians from possessing. This is no small matter; if we agree, any future troubles will implicate us, this ancestral hall is built on our family’s land." Lin Miao said, "Thus, we must uproot the Huang Family to eliminate future troubles."

"But how can we eradicate the Huang Family with just a few of us?"

"I have sent Mr. Xie to Dongshan Prefecture to request troops, they should arrive soon. For now, we need to stabilize the situation and wait for the soldiers from Dongshan Prefecture to come." Lin Miao explained.

Regarding the matter of the master’s coffin being excavated and swapped by Qiu Ze, concealing it within the clay statue of the mountain deity, he didn’t want to tell Sun Youwei, fearing she would be saddened.

"Junior brother, how is father’s grave?"

"I went to see it, it’s fine; I even cleared the grass atop the grave..." Lin Miao said; on the way back, he saw people from the Huang Family resuming the master’s grave restoration; he did not show himself.

The Huang Family must have realized this and urgently came to remedy the situation.

He remained calm, pretending not to see.

How else to deceive the Huang Family? If they become desperate, it’s troubling, after all, they are isolated and weak.

"Tomorrow, you and Mrs. Yun stroll around the town, distribute the gifts we brought to the neighbors, Lianxin and Liansuo, you both accompany closely."

"Yes, Young Master."

"Alright, I’ll freshen up, wash, and then we’ll eat."

...

"Giddyup!"

Mr. Xie rode his horse swiftly, traveling overnight towards Dongshan City, originally a three-day journey, he shortened it to two and arrived.

On the second afternoon, he reached Dongshan City before the city gate’s bolt was lowered.

Once in the city, Mr. Xie headed straight for the Dongshan Prefecture yamen.

"I am Mr. Xie, steward of Lin Mansion, requesting to meet the Prefect with urgent news, this is my invitation!" Mr. Xie dismounted and rushed to the Prefect’s yamen.

"Wait." The constable saw Mr. Xie holding an invitation stamped with the "Steward" seal and dared not neglect; he immediately went inside to report.

Without this, even if Mr. Xie advertised his origins, he might not be able to enter the yamen gates.

But with this, those in charge and those guarding the gates dare not show any neglect—if they prevent entry, later on, when the Prefect finds out, losing their position is minor; they might even be punished with twenty hits.

Without feasting, Pei Jian typically has dinner at the beginning of the hour of You daily; after the hour of You, he doesn’t eat.

The attendant entered with Lin Miao’s invitation while he was dining with Zhuo Qingfeng; he had taken office at Dongshan Prefecture with few family members, besides a second son, only the advisor Zhuo Qingfeng and some attendants—totaling no more than ten.

One could say it’s quite frugal.

Aside from some culinary indulgences, Pei Jian is extremely restrained in other desires, especially regarding beauty—no rumors of romantic affairs seem to have surfaced.

However, his promiscuous second son has rumors aplenty, though recently he has been unheard of.

"Steward of Lin Mansion, Mr. Xie?"

"Mr. Dong, the Assistant Minister is Lin Miao," Zhuo Qingfeng quickly reminded.

"Oh, look at me forgetting, please invite him to the second hall, just say I’ll be there shortly," Pei Jian immediately put down his chopsticks and instructed.

"Qingfeng, come with me to meet this Mr. Xie."

"Alright."

Mr. Xie followed a governmental constable to the second hall, which was where Pei Jian received visiting guests and discussed matters.

He was benefiting from Lin Miao’s influence; otherwise, he usually wouldn’t have the privilege of entering this second hall. At most, he would meet in the side hall, which was already considered good.

After waiting for a moment, Mr. Xie saw Pei Jian walk in from the back.

"Your humble servant, Mr. Xie, pays respects to Your Excellency, the Prefect!"

"Are you the steward in the household of Assistant Minister Lin?" Pei Jian sized up Mr. Xie and asked.

"I am indeed."

"What does your Assistant Minister require you to see me about?" Pei Jian asked with his hands behind his back.

"Your humble servant has a letter from my Assistant Minister to present!" Mr. Xie respectfully took out a letter written by Lin Miao from his bosom and handed it over.

Pei Jian did not reach out to take it, but Zhuo Qingfeng came over from behind and took the letter from Mr. Xie’s hand.

With a glance, Pei Jian signaled Zhuo Qingfeng to look at it first.

Zhuo Qingfeng nodded, reached out to tear open the envelope, took out the letter inside, and upon seeing the content, looked astonished. He then directly handed it to Pei Jian, "Mr. Dong, take a look."

Pei Jian also noticed the change in Zhuo Qingfeng’s expression, quickly reached out to take it, and skimmed the content of the letter, inhaling sharply, "Damn renegades, still harboring evil intentions!"

"Mr. Dong, we must mobilize troops immediately. If the Huang Family acts desperately, the Assistant Minister will be in danger!" Zhuo Qingfeng reminded.

"But if I mobilize troops, I’m afraid it won’t go unnoticed by Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion..." Pei Jian hesitated for a moment.

"Your Excellency, the Prefect, my Assistant Minister said if you’re worried about news leaking out, just say you’re mobilizing troops out of the city to rescue the Assistant Minister."

"The Assistant Minister is being hunted down?"

"Yes, the Green Blade Sect is secretly hunting down my Assistant Minister, but we managed to evade them," Mr. Xie nodded.

Pei Jian and Zhuo Qingfeng exchanged glances, both seeing a hint of shock in each other’s eyes. For Lin Miao and his group to escape the Green Blade Sect and return to Qingping Town unscathed, where are the people from the Green Blade Sect?

This question should not be examined too closely.

Clearly, if they hadn’t found a large number of government-banned weapons in the Huang Family’s ancestral hall, they wouldn’t have known about this.

Lin Miao obviously anticipated that the Green Blade Sect would attempt an assassination when he went out, but he should have made prior arrangements, whether with the Snow Mountain Sect or the Su Family, possibly involving them.

The question is, is there evidence now?

Using this pretext to mobilize troops is quite suitable, and if Mr. Xie says so, it means the contingent from the Green Blade Sect trying to intercept Lin Miao probably can’t speak or provide any information.

"Zhuo Qingfeng, take my flag badge, mobilize a camp of prefectural soldiers immediately, and depart at once. The prefecture will follow shortly!" Pei Jian instructed.

If it’s just to rescue Lin Miao and his party, he doesn’t personally need to go as the prefect, which means he’d need to move separately from Zhuo Qingfeng to prevent Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion from noticing.

"Yes, Mr. Dong."

"Mr. Xie, you go with Zhuo Qingfeng and lead the way!"

"Yes, Your Excellency, the Prefect."

...

Shanyuan Square, Ye Mansion.

At the hour of Hai, Ye Shengyuan meditated and trained every night at this time, not allowing anyone to disturb him, but the steward from Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion had arrived.

Claiming it was an urgent matter to report, the steward Ye Cheng naturally didn’t dare to stop him and hurriedly led the people to the door of Ye Shengyuan’s meditation and training chamber.

"Master, Mr. He is here with urgent news!"

Recently, Ye Shengyuan had been feeling unsettled, unable to calm down, and today he was even more irritable. Upon hearing that Mr. He had arrived, he immediately got up.

"What’s going on?"

"Patriarch Ye, the madam sent me to inform you that our personnel at the City Defense Camp received a message. Just half an hour ago, Zhuo Qingfeng used Pei Jian’s flag badge to mobilize a camp of government soldiers to leave the city," Mr. He said in a hushed tone.

"What, do you know why?"

"Before the city gates closed, someone saw Lin Miao’s steward hastily returning to Dongshan City, heading straight for the governmental office!"

"This is bad, Pei Jian is mobilizing troops to rescue that brat Lin Miao!" Ye Shengyuan slapped his thigh, exclaiming in horror, "We must immediately notify the people from the Green Blade Sect!"

"Patriarch Ye is right. We absolutely cannot let Pei Jian’s men come into conflict with the Green Blade Sect; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable," Mr. He reminded.

"But right now, I don’t know where the Green Blade Sect is," Ye Shengyuan spread his hands and said.

"Didn’t you have Ye Mi Yuan follow them? He’s part of your Ye Family; you should be able to find him, right?"

"I’ve already sent people to look, but there’s been no news yet. Mr. He, the best solution now is to find a way to glean some information from Prefect Pei’s side..." Ye Shengyuan said.

"It’s impossible. Pei Jian is a formidable figure, and we’ve never succeeded in infiltrating his inner circle. We can only glean some information from the outskirts. Besides, he was recommended by the Crown Prince to take office in Dongshan Prefecture, and he is a future adversary of our Fifth Prince..." Mr. He said bluntly.

"Then we can only send people to tail the camp of governmental soldiers and act accordingly!" Ye Shengyuan said, "Does Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion still have any disciples from the Green Blade Sect?"

"Du Ziyu can go along!" Mr. He thought for a moment, then spoke.

"Good, I’ll arrange manpower here and set off immediately, but the city gates are already closed..."

"No problem, Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion has pass tokens; we can open the city gates."