And so, Lin Yi quickly made a move and stepped out of the ancient well.

Of course, when he reached the edge of the well, he paused for a moment, first sticking his head out to carefully observe the surroundings.

What surprised him somewhat was that there was no one guarding the area; this allowed Lin Yi to breathe a long sigh of relief.

This also indicated that the well’s concealment was adequate; otherwise, someone would have surely been guarding it.

Another point was that the location of this ancient well was also extremely hidden; it’s likely not a place that would attract attention.

However, thinking about it made it clear. If this guy could dig a secret passage here, it showed he was very confident in the location.

He returned to the well and took the old man out with him. Seeing the silence around them, the old man also breathed a long sigh of relief, and gave Lin Yi a grin:

"Hehe, when I designed this back then, I considered all of this, so I made it very hidden. And since this is near the center of the courtyard, the guards can only stay on the perimeter and cannot come inside.

As long as I don’t make any fundamental mistakes, they won’t interfere with the normal life in my wife’s family."

Lin Yi naturally understood the old man’s words, nodding in agreement. As the old man said, he went to war for the Royal Family, so he not only wasn’t at fault but earned merits.

If they were too harsh on the family of a meritorious official, it wouldn’t make sense. All they needed to do was supervise, to ease the worries of the general who went to war.

In fact, they wouldn’t harshly treat such a family; rather, they’d take good care of them. They knew he was a meritorious figure; as long as the old man didn’t rebel, he was a loyal servant of the Royal Family. They’d reward such families, not suppress them.

Therefore, even though the outside is heavily guarded, the inside is unwatched. After all, they know that as long as they surround the place tightly, even a mosquito couldn’t escape.

Of course, they also wondered if there might be a secret passage of some sort.

Thus, the Grand General’s Mansion, both inside and within a few kilometers outside, was thoroughly searched. It was just that the well’s exit was extremely well hidden.

After exiting the well, Lin Yi followed the old man towards the large hall in the courtyard.

Seeing the old man’s return, people were momentarily stunned. No one expected their master could come back, and so quickly at that.

For a moment, everyone couldn’t believe what they were seeing, but they weren’t foolish. Even in shock, they made no sound.

Even if someone wanted to exclaim aloud, they immediately covered their mouths; joking aside, if their master returned secretly, it must not be known to outsiders.

Thus, they could not cause trouble for their master. If a shout disrupted the master’s business, they’d be sinners for eternity.

Even Lin Yi was very impressed, admitting that the old man wasn’t just skilled in battle, but his family was also very shrewd.

The old man didn’t idle about. He immediately summoned the people within the mansion, but only family members, not a single servant.

This was to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Though his family was considerable, it wasn’t excessively large. Compared to the servants, the number of proprietors was much smaller.

Therefore, when they carefully gathered in the central hall, they didn’t attract the attention of the outside guards.

As for the household servants, naturally, no one told them that their master had returned, nor what had happened.

Each master instructed them to stay put, while they went alone to the hall. Seeing their grandmaster seated inside, everyone was shocked.

The adults managed to keep their composure better, but the children were instantly fearful upon seeing the old man.

Even infants in swaddling clothes, upon seeing the old man, stopped crying and showed a frightened expression.

Lin Yi really wanted to comment on how intimidating the old man must be at home for even the little children to fear him so much.

But on the plus side, the scared children didn’t dare to scream out loud.