"Loosen his ropes," It was after seeing Zheng Jing Feng go completely soft that Luo Wei instructed Qi Zi. After Qi Zi loosened the bones, Luo Wei handed the baby over to Zheng Jing Feng, "You raised him very well, he's very cute, all round and chubby like that."
Zheng Jing Feng held his child almost mechanically. He had no idea what was in store for him and his child anymore.
Yu Zhou's prefect, Yang Zhu, was slowly going insane. He was already in the hot seat when Zheng Jing Feng disappeared, and since an imperial agent who was investigating the case was here watching him, he was too afraid to send someone to search for Zheng Jing Feng. Now that the Zheng estate caught fire, Yang Zhu couldn't sit still anymore, so he took some people himself to go and try to put out the flames. Too bad that the Zheng estate was situated where commoners lived, and the streets were deep and narrow. Several neighboring roads were all filled with people watching the fire, stopping Yang Zhu's group in their tracks.
Mister Sun saw that the light went out in the room on top of the inn, and quickly called a signal.
The killers he hired along with the soldiers blocking the streets disappeared in an instant, leaving the scene empty.
Those who lived near by didn't know what had happened, but knew that their own properties were in danger. The flames were about to destroy the entire street, so without worrying too much about the strangers who disappeared, they all banded together to fight the fire.
The flames burned for an entire night.
It wasn't until the early morning on the next day that the fire was put out. The entire street had been burned to a crisp.
Yang Zhu stood, dumbstruck at the unrecognizable street. Those who lost everything in the fire were all laying themselves down in front of him, begging and sobbing as they plead their loss, but all he could think about was who targeted Zheng Jing Feng. Zheng Jing Feng's influence was well-hidden, who would know that he was at the head of all of this? The senior chancellor's third son, Luo Wei, might have already arrived in Yu Zhou, so was it him? That was impossible. Even if he had been a study companion for the second prince, there was no way he'd know. Then what happened? Was there a spy in their midst? Who was it?
The corpses of the Zheng family pulled out of the wreckage one by one.
Yang Zhu braced himself against his own disgust and stepped up to identify them. He wanted to know whether Zheng Jing Feng was among the dead. If he wasn't, things might still be okay, that meant that this business in Yu Zhou was still salvageable. The corpses were all burnt up, it was hard to even distinguish the men from the women, all of their faces were obscured. Yang Zhu tried for a long time, but wasn't able to tell who was who.
The tragic destruction of the entire Zheng family became the cause of widespread gossip in Yu Zhou.
The head of the Zheng family was only an adviser to the prefect. Where or how could he have left such a grudge to call for the destruction of his entire family? Or maybe it was due to robbers? But he was only an adviser. Even though it was an estate, the street was common enough, how could he have stashed away enough riches to warrant robbery? Everyone had put their imaginations to use, churning up version after version of speculation and gossip, confusing the whole matter to anyone who would listen.
Yang Zhu gathered his co-conspirators to discuss the matter, but had nothing to show for it. No one knew where the problem came from.
The whole thing ended up catching the eye of the imperial agent sent to investigate the case, Song Ping. He ordered for the Zheng estate to be cordoned off from the public and sealed up Zheng Jing Feng's office so that they could be further investigated.
"I think we ought to inform Chancellor Liu as soon as we can," Yang Zhu said to his co-conspirators in the end. He was a disciple of Liu Shuang Shi. Thinking of the rage that his teacher would react to the news with, Yang Zhu felt a chill go down the back of his neck.
"What about the second prince?"
"If Chancellor Liu is aware, then the second prince will be aware," Yang Zhu then thought of the reaction from Long Xuan, and guessed that this seat as prefect won't be his for much longer.
Troubled clouds are rolling over Yu Zhou's officials, and everyone was wary of how precarious their positions were.
From beginning to end, none of them managed to meet Luo Wei face to face, and most didn't even know if Luo Wei had even come to Yu Zhou for sure.