Chapter 59: Chaos in the Magistrate’s Mansion
Ye Lanxi had a wicked smile on his face, seeming satisfied with his idea and the evil thing he had just done.
He clapped his hands, rubbing them together.
"Wait here, don’t go anywhere," he told his younger sister.
She was rather speechless, because Ye Lanxi also put some rats in the Magistrate He’s bedroom. He didn’t forget about the concubines’ rooms too.
Tonight was destined to be an eventful night for the magistrate’s mansion.
It didn’t take long before one scream reverberated after another, tearing the quiet night. Ye Lanxi snickered wickedly as they heard footsteps echoing wildly.
"Rats, there are rats!"
"How come there is a rat in my room?! Get it out, get it out quickly!"
A few shrill, female voices overlapped with one another, filled with fear and panic.
"Hiss, the rat bit me!"
"It climbed on my bed!"
The moment Ye Lanxi jumped away, Ye Lingyue followed. The pair of siblings perched into a tree, staring at the direction of Magistrate He’s room.
"How many did you put there, Second Brother?" Ye Lingyue asked, now anticipating Magistrate He’s reaction the most.
Ye Lanxi snorted. "I put three. They also must have been hungry and might bite that greedy scoundrel. How is he still asleep... he sleeps like a pig."
They waited for a while, and even fifteen minutes later, as the servants were busy trying to chase away the rats, there was still no movement from Magistrate He’s room.
"Is it the wrong room?" Ye Lingyue was puzzled.
He shook his head. "When I slipped inside, he was already asleep. It’s definitely Magistrate He’s room–"
"Ahhhh!!"
A scream that seemed to shake the earth reverberated around the surroundings, the intensity even surpassing the female voices.
"Help, help! There are rats in this room!"
There was a sound of something crashing, and then, followed by a painful groan and another earth-shattering scream.
Ye Lingyue had to cover her ears. "Hiss, it’s like he is using a damn speaker!"
She couldn’t bear it anymore and jumped down from the tree branch, leaning against the tree. Ye Lanxi landed beside her. "What is a speaker?"
The question made her feel stunned. He actually heard her words amidst such a commotion.
"It’s nothing..." she mumbled, and pointed in a certain direction. "Second Brother, do you want to stay here to listen to that scoundrel or go steal some supplies?"
Ye Lanxi’s eyes lit up when he heard the idea. "Why didn’t I think of this? Let’s go get some supplies."
The siblings moved to the direction of the warehouse. Meanwhile, in the magistrate’s room, a few servants had opened the door and entered, trying to save him.
Even though they were also scared of the rats, they really didn’t have much choice. After all, Magistrate He was their employer and the only survival line they could cling to in the current condition.
They couldn’t let something happen to him or the consequence would be fatal.
A male servant tried to smack the rat biting Magistrate He’s skin carefully, but he accidentally hit Magistrate He’s instead, causing the latter to groan in pain.
"Do it properly! How dare you hit me?" Magistrate He scolded.
The male servant was frightened. He immediately dropped to his knees and apologized incessantly. Now, there was one less person who tried to chase the rat away.
Magistrate He gasped, and he immediately ordered the male servant to start driving the rats away again.
Inside the warehouse, the Ye siblings clicked their tongues. The supplies inside it were so surprising that they thought they had stumbled upon an entire army’s ration.
"He transported these to famine-stricken areas and charged high prices for them," Ye Lanxi muttered something he had heard from the servants’ discussion.
Ye Lingyue suddenly remembered some corrupt officials in the modern times. "He is trying to make himself become rich, so even if he is stripped from his title as a magistrate, he still has some wealth."
It wasn’t just as simple as charging his own people a few times the original tax to fill in his own stomach.
"Let’s pick some supplies, Second Brother," she said.
Ye Lanxi nodded. The siblings took a look at the supplies inside the warehouse and picked some they could bring back.
When Ye Lanxi wasn’t looking, Ye Lingyue also secretly put some supplies into her storage space. Then, after it was full, she stared at the pile of supplies thoughtfully.
Once they were done, they picked one sack of supplies and brought it out, curiously checking the development in the magistrate’s mansion, wondering whether they could get rid of the rats already.
As a result, a physician was called to tend Magistrate He’s wounds while the latter cursed people incessantly.
"Second Brother, bring the rice sack back," Ye Lingyue waved her hand, suddenly thinking of something she could do.
Ye Lanxi stared at her suspiciously. "Why?"
"Just go," she insisted and threatened. "Or I will tell Mother that you threw a rat at me!"
Ye Lanxi’s face changed, but he still warned her. "Be quick or I will come back to check on you."
She waved her hand, and after Ye Lanxi was gone, she slipped away, heading to the front yard of the magistrate’s mansion. The supplies she had taken from their warehouse poured down.
"Will this be enough?" She mumbled and decided to take a few more trips to their warehouse.
Besides putting some supplies in the secluded part of the magistrate’s mansion, she also sent some of them to the occupied houses nearby.
She had to be quick so there weren’t that many houses she could visit.
Soon, she went back to the camping site.
Ye Lanxi had a curious look on his face. "What have you done?"
His sister beamed, her face radiated a proud smile, and she whispered in a small voice. "You have to see for yourself tomorrow... there might be a small surprise for us."
The next day, Commander Leng visited the magistrate’s mansion again and was stunned.