In the middle of the night, the night wind is very strong, blowing the water of the Wave Ting Lake against the bluestone on the shore and making a loud noise.

Zi'er stood on the platform of the attic in a timid voice, her right hand tightly grasped Xu Fan's arm, and her eyes reflected the sky-high fire of the Xufu Courtyard, full of worry, "Young Master, what can I do about this?" ”

I didn't expect to dispose of those house slaves who ate inside and out, and the side courtyard was completely on fire.

"It's out of the water!"

"Come on!"

"Mother, mother, where are you?"

From time to time, the two of them could still hear panicked shouts from all over the Xu Mansion.

There were not only the cries for help from the family, but also the cries of children in the noisy crowd.

Xu Fan's face was grim, calmly staring at the sea of fire in the east, his right hand was tightly clutching the dilapidated gourd, and a cold killing intent flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He stayed alone in the Wave Garden, not waiting for the killer of the Yin Yang Gate. On the contrary, some of the slaves in the Xu Mansion were so vicious.

"Brother Fan, Brother Fan... Are you okay? ”

On the verandah around the island in the middle of the lake, a group of more than a dozen people with lanterns came towards the wave garden. Xu Ji, who was the leader, shouted loudly.

At the moment when the fire first started, Xu Ji rushed here with a group of people in a hurry, just worried that Xu Fan would also go to the water here.

It wasn't until I came to the island in the middle of the lake that I saw the silence here, and I was relieved.

"Grandpa, I'm fine here. You all go to the side courtyard to have a look, it's important to save people, and it doesn't hurt to destroy a few courtyards. ”

Xu Fan ignored Xu Ji and his party who were coming towards him, and ordered directly.

The first priority at the moment is to extinguish the fire in the side courtyard as soon as possible.

.....

On the high platform of an attic very far away from Xu's Mansion, a middle-aged man in an ink-colored robe calmly stared at the firelight in the direction of Xu's Mansion, with no joy or sadness on his face.

"Helmsman, why don't you just sneak into Xu's Mansion and kill Xu Fan's kid?"

A man in black standing behind him asked puzzledly.

Obviously, in his eyes, just burning some of the subordinates of the Xu Mansion could not complete the task assigned by the master of the door.

Controlling the Xu Mansion is their goal.

The fire in Xu's Mansion was at most a fire that burned some ordinary people to death. The Yin Yang Gate's control of the Xu family was completely destroyed by the sister-in-law of the Xu Mansion.

"Stupid!"

The ink-robed man turned back to the attic, leaving only two words.

The man in black was puzzled, but he couldn't resist the helmsman, until he saw a sweat stain on the guardrail that the helmsman's right hand had just scratched, and then he returned to the attic.

.....

Guangling Mansion, backyard attic.

Wang Wenhua only wore a thin plain white shirt, surrounded by concubines, walked to the window on the second floor of the small attic, looked at the fire above the Xu Mansion, and was so angry that the roots of his teeth hurt.

"What's going on? I don't let people live in peace! Come on, come on, come on! ”

After a while, the messenger guarding the palace hurriedly came to the door of the back hall and replied in a loud voice.

"Your Excellency, your Excellency. What are the commands? ”

"Hurry up and send someone to the Xu Mansion to see what's going on? Also, order the water convoy to go to the Xu Mansion immediately! ”

Wang Wenhua wiped the cold sweat off his forehead with the sleeve robe on his middle coat, looked at the night sky with sorrow, and sighed.

"Don't let it happen again. Wang couldn't afford to be frightened. ”

"Master, you relax." The delicate concubine on the side gently stroked Wang Wenhua's chest with her hand and comforted her softly.

"Hey, you're still the one who cares about me the most." Wang Wenhua stroked the concubine's soft, looked at the sky-high firelight, looked like a sour Confucian scribe, and sighed for a long time, without half of the prestige of the local super-grade prefect.

This night, all the mansions in Guangling City were staring at the fire in Xu's mansion.

No one dared to take the lead.

Xu Fu killed hundreds of house slaves first, and then walked on the water.

What a coincidence.

On this night, in addition to the sound of gongs running back and forth on the streets, the most was the shouting of the water convoy.

......

In a fire, the East Courtyard of Xufu overturned more than a dozen courtyards in a row to stop the fire.

However, Xu Fan in the Wave Court slept peacefully, and when he saw that the fire in the side courtyard could not be extinguished, he knew that the hidden Yin Yang Gate killer would not come at him again.

At least not tonight.

Only Zi'er, who was guarding the outside, opened her eyes with dark circles under her eyes, and guarded outside in fear.

Early in the morning, I had breakfast. Xu Fan changed into a sackcloth and filial piety clothes, and took Zi'er to the mourning hall in the main courtyard of Xu's mansion.

Looking at the mourning hall, the neatly placed table, the copper stove, and the plain white veil of the window, he nodded.

Xu Fan first came to the coffin, bowed, burned a handful of paper money, and did not keep a watch in front of the coffin.

Instead, he went to the side hall, leaned on a soft couch, crossed Erlang's legs, and turned the shabby gourd on the tips of his fingers.

Xu Ji and Xu Xiang and several newly appointed stewards of the Xu Mansion had been waiting respectfully for a long time, and the two of them sat on the left and right rows of chairs.

Before the two of them could open their eyes and see the person coming. I heard Xu Fan say with relief. "The two grandfathers are tired, so they don't have to get up."

Xu Fan saw that everyone was tired, and his eyes were bloodshot. He pointed to his chair and motioned for the others to sit down and reply.

"What about the losses?"

"Brother Fan, eighteen houses were damaged, and the entire side courtyard was destroyed." Xu Xiang drank a cup of ginseng tea, refreshed himself, and replied.

"The house can be rebuilt if it is destroyed. Let's talk about the number of casualties. ”

"Back to the young master, twenty-six domestic slaves died together, eighteen were missing, and one hundred and nine were injured."

It was a young steward who replied, and the paper in his hand trembled slightly.

Obviously, he has not yet recovered from the series of shocks that happened last night. If he hadn't actively rescued people last night and saved more than a dozen children in the fire in a row, he would not have been valued by Xu Ji, and he temporarily arranged an errand for the steward of a side hospital.

Xu Fan turned his head slightly, his clear eyes carefully looked at the young man standing behind Xu Ji, and asked, "Are you?" ”

"Back to the young master, the little one, Wang Ke, is the son of a family in the side courtyard."

"Oh."

Xu Fan half-squinted, nodded slowly, looked at Xu Ji and Xu Xiang, and then asked. "Two grandfathers, can you find the person who set the fire last night?"

Xu Ji and Xu Xiang both shook their heads bitterly.

After killing those house slaves with a cane last night, in order to prevent there were still thieves lurking in the shadows, the two of them specially ordered the family Ding Hu to strengthen the patrol of the side courtyard, and even sent thirty percent more people than usual.

However, it still turned the side courtyard into a sea of fire.

"Since we can't find anyone who set the fire for the time being, let's let it go first. Our Xu Mansion has raised the Guangling Mansion for so many years, and we can't let them only take money and not do things. Xu Fan sat up, supported his forehead with his right hand, tapped his index finger lightly a few times, and said lightly.

"Last night, the government sent a water wheel."

A steward reminded in a whisper.

Hearing this, Xu Fan raised his head slightly, glanced at a middle-aged steward in the crowd, and frowned.

Frightened, the other party hurriedly knelt on the bluestone floor, trembling all over, and didn't dare to say more.

"I'm not going to blame you, I'm scared of you." Xu Fan raised his hand slightly, motioned for the other party to get up, and pointed to the chair, "Everyone is a family, don't be so nervous." ”

"Thank you, young master."

"Brother Fan wants the government to investigate this matter?" Xu Xiang coughed lightly, breaking the speculation in everyone's hearts.

Although the Xu Mansion has thousands of servants, if it is said that the investigation method, it still has to rely on the government, not to mention the large-scale investigation, and the Xu Mansion's own manpower is not enough for a while.

"Not bad. The report was imminent, and the investigation of the arson was handed over to the Guangling Prefecture. Our Xu family also has its own weaknesses. ”

Xu Fan's right index finger gently flicked up the worn-out gourd stopper, lowered his head and gently sniffed the pear blossom white in the gourd, and his heart throbbed.

Finally, I felt a sense of familiarity.

The corners of his mouth were also involuntarily slightly hooked, and there was a subtle hint of excitement and excitement in his eyes.

Since he was reborn, no matter how Xu Fan turned the familiar exercises and the qi in his body, he couldn't feel the heaven and earth vitality around him.

At this moment, he actually felt an extremely faint trace of vitality in the pear blossom white of the dilapidated gourd.

"It's not a loss, it's a real solution!"

Xu Fan secretly rejoiced in his heart, and finally saw a glimmer of hope that he could practice.

Right now, as long as the predicament of the Xu Mansion is solved as soon as possible, he can concentrate on repairing the true solution gourd, and then...

"Brother Fan, Brother Fan..."

Noticing the slight changes in the corners of Xu Fan's mouth and eyes, Xu Ji and Xu Xiang, who were closest to him, called softly.

Hearing the shouts of the two grandfathers, Xu Fan restrained his emotions, his face returned to normal, and he swept over the people in the side hall. "Two grandfathers, I can be trusted, or I have to have the two of you to come up with the list of expatriates today."

"This is natural, we will definitely send the most shrewd clerical servants and stewards in the house, this is a list of personnel, and we will definitely not let Brother Fan bother. It's just that Fuzhong is like this now, I just don't know..."

Xu Ji took out a list from his arms and pushed it onto the round table beside Xu Fan.

Xu Fan picked up the list and didn't open it directly, but handed it to Xu Xiang on the other side, "Grandpa Xiang, you can also take a look, no problem, just do it directly." The affairs of Qingxiang have to be in charge of you. ”

Neither of them thought that Xu Fan didn't even look at this list, so he let the two of them decide.

Xu Ji and Xu Xiang didn't understand why Xu Fan trusted the two of them so much, and even Zi'er, who was chatting with Xu Fan last night, was very puzzled.

"Why does my young master trust Xu Ji and Xu Xiang so much?"

Xu Fan just smiled knowingly, did not explain, and then instructed the rest of the stewards in the side hall. "Fuzhong will be busy in the near future, and I need a lot of help from everyone. If the government is coming, everyone needs to cooperate fully to find the hidden thieves in the mansion as soon as possible. ”

"These days, I will stay in front of my father's mourning hall, if you have something urgent, you can discuss with the two grandfathers, and you don't need to ask me for instructions on everything."

"Okay, thank you, young master." Several stewards got up and bowed to Xu Fan on the soft couch.

After everyone withdrew from the side hall, Zi'er wore a plain long skirt, walked slowly to the soft couch, and handed Xu Fan a cup of hot tea, her tone full of puzzlement.

"Young Master, why are you doing this? Is this to hand over all the power in your hands? ”

Xu Fan took the tea handed over by Zi'er, took a sip, and shook his head. "Zi'er, that's how much you think. The Xu Mansion is my Xu Mansion and the Xu Mansion of the Xu clan. There is still a good show today, but I want to see what the Guangling Mansion will do. ”

Last night, the Guangling Mansion only sent a water convoy, and there were no officials and officials to come to the Xu Mansion.

As for the patrol soldiers of Guangling City, they were transferred halfway.

The corners of Xu Fan's mouth twitched, "It's really time for this fire to burn." ”