Volume 1 Chapter 27 The Crimson Wooden Box's Bloodshed (7)

  "Hahaha... Ah, just thinking about Liu Erniang's appearance makes me laugh out loud!" An Wei's fourteenth thought, and the crowd rushed forward together to beat him up. After being beaten for a while, Fourteen was about to speak, but couldn't help laughing again before finally holding back his laughter and saying: "I bet even her own son wouldn't recognize Liu Erniang now, hahaha..."

  "Don't smile, quickly tell us in detail..." The few people surrounding them were all very anxious. The leader of the dark guard squad spoke directly, this person was the one who had a conversation with Qian Ye at the Qian Fu Yuan general store in Dongyang City.

  "Come on, come on, tell us quickly!" The crowd was eager to hear.

  "Alright, alright, you guys stop fighting. I'm telling you, it's about this Liu Erniang... I think she must have stolen something from Lin Miss's kitchen last time, so this time when they were assigning tasks at Old Man Lin's house, she directly chose the kitchen. But unexpectedly... Haha... This Liu Erniang wasn't as careful as last time entering the kitchen, it was blatant and reckless. The kitchen was pitch black, but she had already figured out the layout from last time, so she went straight to the stove area. Luckily, this helped her avoid the mouse trap on the floor. But just before she reached the stove, a bucket of cold water poured down from above, giving her a thorough soaking. Lin Miss is really clever, putting a bucket of water on the thin beam in the kitchen. When Liu Erniang stepped on the rope tied to the bucket, it was pulled up by the rope tied to the beam, and the water poured down directly onto her... And this isn't all, Liu Erniang was drenched from head to toe, but she still cursed: 'You three little brats, dare to play tricks on me? Just wait until I take away the good stuff, I'll deal with you!'

  An Wei 14 learned Liu Erniang's tone and said, leading everyone to laugh loudly. "After Liu Erniang finished speaking, she finally touched the edge of the pot, and her hand was about to touch the salt jar again. Just then, a mouse trap clamped down on her, and Liu Erniang jumped up three feet high, covering her fingers with her hands, gritting her teeth, and not daring to make a sound. But this jump was fatal, and she fell into the pit, getting poked by the wooden skewers... Her face was all scrunched up, probably tighter than her own buttocks. Liu Erniang didn't care about her hand anymore, using both hands and feet to crawl out of the pit, looking gray-headed and dirty-faced. Lin Jia's daughter had left some embers in the stove, and Liu Erniang crawled around wildly, knocking over the straw by the stove, which flew all over the kitchen... The result was predictable: the fire started, and before Liu Erniang could crawl out of the pit, her hair was burned off, and her clothes were tattered. She was finally rescued by the villagers from Lin Jia Village, but you can't imagine how she looked like a ghost, first frozen to death, then roasted alive... Now she's neither human nor ghost, her spirit all confused..."

  Everyone let out a sigh of relief after hearing the story, not feeling any sympathy for Liu Erniang at all. Instead, they felt that Liu Erniang's transformation was quite delightful and impressive, which also deepened their impression of Lin Chun as intelligent and quick-witted. Even later on, these secret guards one by one came out from hiding and became members of the Lin family.

  Here is the translation:

  As for the villagers of Linjia Village, those who were strong and able-bodied all came to put out the fire. After the fire was extinguished, they were frightened by the miserable cries of Lin Lao, Lin Er Lang, Lin Da Zhuang, and Liu Er Niang inside the house. Shi Wen naturally wouldn't let these villagers know the actual situation in Lin Chunjia's home. He led several yamen runners, pretending to have come from the town's small road, and directly rushed into Lin Chunjia's home, pulling out several people like chickens. The villagers saw that the county yamen had been alerted and didn't dare say much more, because everyone knew that decades ago, a big fire had kept the officials in the village west mountain for many days, making the surrounding villages tremble with fear.

  When Shi Wenyi appeared, the villagers naturally did not dare to come forward. They only saw Lao Lin, Er Lang, Liu Erniang and Da Zhuang being pulled out of Lin Chun's house one by one by the yamen runners, all of whom were shocked. Especially these few people, each with swollen hands and feet like clubs, Liu Erniang was disheveled, her hair messy, with several bald spots on her forehead, her hair had been burned off, and she was still cursing Lin Chun's three siblings, occasionally saying a few nonsense words, the crowd felt that Liu Erniang had already gone mad. Everyone in their hearts also understood what had happened, and they all pointed at Lao Lin and Liu Erniang's families.

  There were also old people who came to the scene, angrily picking up stones from the ground and hitting them on the faces of several people, saying: "You black-hearted people, this Sanmei three siblings have been forced into these deep mountains and old forests, their days are already hard enough. Fortunately, they met a noble person, and their lives got better. You came to humiliate them, and even set fire to their house! Now you've burned yourselves half to death. Luckily the villagers discovered it early, if this fire had spread, today's weather is dry, and there hasn't been any snow for a long time, wouldn't this have burned down the entire Xishan head? If the sparks flew into the village, how would that be okay?" The villagers listened to these words and also nodded in anger.

  Lin Chun and the village chief walked to their own door, saw that Shi Wen had already controlled the scene, nodded at him, Shi Wen made a gesture, Lin Chun knew that everything was under his control, slightly hooked the corner of his mouth, and entered the yard.

  The village head, seeing the county officials and masters arriving, hastily went forward to pay his respects. He also saw several people lying on the ground and Liu Erniang, who was still scolding and being held back by the yamen runners. His forehead was covered in cold sweat. Lin Lao felt that the fire in his heart had been stirred up by these few people, and he glared at Lin Lao and others with a fierce gaze, making them shrink their necks in fear. They all looked like quails, shrinking their heads and not daring to breathe. However, since Shi Wen was wearing official robes, Lin Tianliang didn't dare to show too much or intervene, so he could only accompany him carefully on the side. Lin Dafu caught Lin Chun's eye signal and quietly left with a yamen runner, one heading towards Lin Lao's house and the other running towards the only road leading to the town. The crowd was focused on the situation in Lin Chun's courtyard and didn't notice their departure.

  The wife, Ruhua, whom Lin Er Lang brought back home, saw the direction of Lin Chun's house filled with thick smoke and was frightened. She quickly found an excuse to deceive Old Lady Lin, returned to her room to pack up her belongings, and then snuck into Old Lady Lin's main house to steal the silver money that Old Lady Lin and Old Man Lin had secretly hidden. She rolled up her bundle and escaped from Old Man Lin's house towards the town. Da Shan arrived late and just missed Ruhua, but she was caught by the guards at the entrance of the road leading to the town. The guard did not show any mercy or sympathy for her, and directly took her to Lin Chun's house. Shi Wen saw a woman with a slightly bulging belly, looking pitiful and innocent, carrying a bundle on her shoulder, and guessed that this must be Lin Er Lang's wife, Ruhua.

  Here is the translation:

  As expected, Lin Er Lang and Old Man Lin were immediately overpowered by the bailiffs. They had wanted to plead for mercy, but when they saw the bundle on Ruhua's shoulder, they burst into curses. "You wicked woman, you've been eating and drinking at our expense, and now that my father and I are in trouble, you want to escape? You're indeed a lowly woman from a lowly place! I'll beat you to death, beat you to death..." Lin Er Lang's face was ferocious as he tried to get up from the ground to teach Ruhua a lesson. But before he could stand up, a bailiff kicked him and shouted, "Be honest, sir is here, your crimes will be judged by him. Behave yourself and lie down quietly, otherwise..." The bailiff's face was stern as he drew his sword from his waist, scaring Lin Er Lang and Old Man Lin into shrinking their heads and continuing to play the role of a quail. However, Lin Er Lang and Old Man Lin's eyes shot towards Ruhua like needles, making her feel frightened and nervous. But Ruhua thought for a moment and realized that she hadn't participated in this matter and it had nothing to do with her, so she didn't care about Lin Er Lang and Old Man Lin's glares and waited calmly on the side.