Chapter 298: The Road to the Underworld Sending Off the Dog Officer (8)
"You've screwed up your head. How long have you been doing this?" Magistrate Wu's wife pushed Magistrate Wu hard and threw him on his back on the bed.
Magistrate Wu was stunned by this slap. Now that he was pushed away by this scolding, he slowly realized from the dream that those daughters who returned home in rich clothes and Aunt Li's family were all just a dream. Magistrate Wu He sighed deeply and suddenly felt an indescribable regret, but reality was still reality. Magistrate Wu calmed down a little, and then he also noticed the noise and chaos outside. He raised his head and took a look out of habit. The paper window opposite the bed was covered with a layer of faint red light. Magistrate Wu couldn't help but be a little surprised when he saw this unusual appearance.
"What happened," Magistrate Wu asked his wife.
Magistrate Wu's wife smoothed her clothes, looked outside and said, "Who knows you? Go out and see for yourself."
When County Magistrate Wu heard his wife's tone, he recalled the words of Aunt Li's daughter in his dream: "Sir... don't want it...". One was like a stone falling to the ground, and the other was like the sound of nature. Magistrate Wu sighed again and ignored her. , he put on some clothes, pulled on a pair of shoes, and got off the ground. As soon as County Magistrate Wu walked to the door, "Puff, puff, puff," the door was shaken by a series of sudden knocks. There was a loud bang, a sudden sound, which frightened Magistrate Wu all over. However, Magistrate Wu regained his pretense of calmness, pulled the door bolt away from the inside, and shouted in an uneasy mood: "What are you knocking on?" knock,"
Magistrate Wu opened the door and saw that the outside had been red for half the day. There were shouts from all directions like a tsunami. Magistrate Wu was a little at a loss. He stared at the panting officer in front of him with his big eyes and became impatient. He asked: "What's going on?"
"Sir, sir, I'm sorry, there's a fire in the county government office. Hurry up..." The officer in front of him lowered his head in fear, looking like a pitiful ghost who couldn't teach him anything.
Magistrate Wu was shocked when he heard this. When he saw that the sky was dyed red by the fire on all sides, he couldn't help but feel nervous. Before the officer finished speaking, he slapped his thigh angrily and said angrily: " Look at the good things you have done and how you have done it,"
"My lord, I don't know what happened to you. It's too late to say this now. Sir, the fire started from all directions. I will take you to escape now. If it's too late, you will really have no choice but to be burned alive." ," There was no trace of lies in the look of the officer in Magistrate Wu's eyes. Magistrate Wu sighed angrily. He didn't have time to put on more clothes, and he didn't care about his wife, so he immediately followed him. The officer ran away, and heard County Magistrate Wu's wife yelling in the room, "Wait, wait, you unconscionable person," Magistrate Wu pushed the officer on the shoulder and said decisively. : "Why are you stunned? If you don't leave quickly, you will kill me."
The officer was not angry at all after hearing this. Instead, he smiled secretly in his heart and took Mr. Wu all the way around. It seemed that he avoided the houses that were set on fire, but in fact he took Mr. Wu to the small garden close to the house. road.
"Hey, wait a minute," County Magistrate Wu and the guard walked to the courtyard of the inner treasury. Mr. Wu, who couldn't run at all, stopped and held his knees with both hands, breathing heavily. .
When the officer saw Mr. Wu stopped, he immediately stopped and turned around and said anxiously: "Sir, we can't stop. If the fire doesn't start and burn along the roof, we won't be able to escape even if we want to." As he said that, the guard hurried over and helped Mr. Wu up, grabbed one of his arms and put it on his shoulder, and walked towards the other opening of the small garden.
However, before the officer could take two steps, Mr. Wu was very unhappy when he saw that he was being held up. He struggled to break away from the officer, and cursed in his mouth: "Stop, you bastard, stop." , Stop." Magistrate Wu ran towards the courtyard of the inner treasury with his fleshy short legs. When he looked around, he saw that the courtyard had been plunged into a sea of fire, and the houses all around were engulfed in flames. The flames wrapped it up, and the thick smoke rising into the sky looked like a giant dragon with teeth and claws.
Magistrate Wu looked at the treasury in the courtyard. The fire had also burned on the roof. The bright firelight shone on his pupils and stung his heart. The house that burned down the Yamen was not closed. , there is no reason to carry out large-scale construction, and then there will be a name for it to ask the common people and gentry to pay. However, this treasury is full of gold, silver, calligraphy and painting that Mr. Wu has collected with great pains since he took office. That value Although not talking about Liancheng, he would rely on him for the rest of his life, not to mention the boxes of gold and silver, even those calligraphy, paintings and antiques. If they were all pawned, they would be worth the price of a big house. Besides, there was also the Zang family in it. The title deeds of the one hundred acres of land, these are the capital for his return to his hometown in fine clothes when his term is up. To talk about returning to his hometown in fine clothes, County Magistrate Wu looked at the dazzling firelight, and the white and rosy pink of Aunt Li's daughter appeared in front of his eyes. Young and tender are of the same body. Magistrate Wu became more and more anxious when he thought of this.
"Someone is coming, someone is coming," Magistrate Wu shouted at the top of his lungs. He knew that those useless scoundrels had already greased the soles of their shoes and escaped, but he still held a trace of luck in his original position. The ground shouted.
"You damn ghost, you left me and ran away, and then someone came back! Come on, you damn ghost,"
As soon as County Magistrate Wu heard the sound, he knew without looking back that the big female insect from his home was following him again. However, Magistrate Wu suddenly realized that he had forgotten to take her with him in his hurry. The county magistrate turned around anxiously and shouted to his wife: "You've come just in time, hurry up, take out the money."
"You crazy old man, you have a severe fever inside. Just now you left me and ran away, and now you want me to die for you." Magistrate Wu's wife was very upset when she thought of Magistrate Wu leaving her and running away. Angry, she stared at Magistrate Wu as if she was an enemy and wanted to pounce on him and bite his face to pieces. However, Magistrate Wu's wife looked at the rolling flames inside, and her heart skipped a beat. No matter what, All the belongings of their family were here. If the fire was gone, how would they live in the future? Thinking of this, Magistrate Wu’s wife immediately collapsed on the ground and cried loudly.
"You cry, you cry, it's useless." Magistrate Wu turned his attention away from his wife at this time, and his locked eyes fell on the officer standing behind him. Magistrate Wu His eyes lit up, and he immediately scolded: "You, go and move the valuable things out for me quickly,"
The guard glanced inside and saw the reflection of the fire in the small vault. Although there was no open flame at the door, it was just like a strange mouth breathing out the thick smoke. However, looking in from the door, there were not far away walls. When the fire broke out, the officer took a few steps back and said solemnly: "Sir, you can't go, you will die. We... we better run away, otherwise we won't be able to escape for a while."
Magistrate Wu was furious after hearing this. He glanced at the small vault where only the beams on the four walls were on fire, and there was just a thick smoke screen gathering below. He gritted his teeth and was anxious to death. Who knew that this minute was wasted now? Could it be that the fire had burned an extra volume of his calligraphy and paintings, and how much money had he lost? Magistrate Wu stamped his feet anxiously, but the officer was stunned and refused to take a step forward after being pushed by him several times. In the end, Wu When the adults forced the man to push him into the small treasury, the guard struggled but was tripped by a member of Magistrate Wu's family who was sitting on the ground crying and howling.
This fall caused the officer to stumble. With a pop, he rolled on the ground and was thrown two steps away. However, seven or eight large golden pieces were scattered on the ground along the way. Magistrate Wu was stunned when he looked at Yuanbao, and he immediately thought about it all in his fleshy head.
Magistrate Wu was so angry that his blood was boiling, and his round head was flushed with anger. He immediately picked up the gold ingots on the ground and looked at them under the firelight. Then he looked back at the small treasury. Only then did he realize that this The door of the small treasury was already wide open at some point, and most of the side of the door was burned. At this moment, Magistrate Wu understood it clearly in his heart. Magistrate Wu jumped up in anger and immediately pointed at the guard. He shouted loudly: "You are a bunch of thieves who dare to steal your uncle's property while there is a fire. I'll tell you why there's no one around. You can all divide it up, right?"
The officer looked at Magistrate Wu who was so fierce that he almost wanted to fight him, and said with some confidence: "No, no, no, the little one just took these few pieces, there are still more inside, there are still more inside," he said After that, the officer didn't even bother to pick up the ingots on the ground and fled as fast as he could.
Mr. Wu didn't know whether it was because the boy's legs and feet were so nimble that he could walk as fast as flying or because he was so angry that he was dizzy. Before he could go up and catch the boy, the guard had already disappeared without a trace.
Shi Qian, who played a guest role as an official, finally deceived the Wu county magistrate to come here according to Wu Xuexue's arrangement. Shi Qian was very impressed by Wu Xuexue's strategy, but what happened now made him more and more curious. Shi Qian left Magistrate Wu but did not go far. Instead, he climbed up to the rockery in the small garden and silently looked towards the direction of the small treasury.
At this moment, Magistrate Wu was completely lost. Seeing that the capital he had saved for the rest of his life was turned into ashes in this fire, Magistrate Wu, who was anxious and anxious, watched crazily as the person gradually appeared in the flickering light of the fire. The shadow of that big house and compound, yes, that is what he wants first. When he retires and returns to his hometown, he will build such a big house in his hometown, with three entrances and three exits. It is extremely grand compared to the house of Mr. Chai; In the firelight, he gradually saw Aunt Li's daughter. She was wearing a thin shirt as wavy as in the dream, standing there with all her grace, waving to him; in the fire, he also saw others treating him respectfully. With such an extreme appearance, he saw his own dignity and status, and his value in the world... However, the flames grew bigger and bigger, soaring up, like a terrible demon swallowing up everything that was transformed in his eyes.
"No," County Magistrate Wu saw everything in front of him being destroyed into ashes. He rushed into the small vault like crazy, and entered the sea of fire that Wu Xuexue had prepared for him...