"Don't blame me."
"It's not that I don't want to save people; it's just beyond my capabilities."
Hu Ma quietly sat in the inner courtyard's main hall, his eyes downcast, a despondent look on his face. Little Hongtang was perched on the threshold, glancing outside, then back at Hu Ma in the main hall.
Zhou Datong and the others, as Hu Ma had instructed, had tightly shut the outer courtyard gate. They hid in the side rooms of the inner courtyard, leaving only the Red Lantern Lady's lantern in the outer courtyard.
Logically, the Red Lantern Lady's lantern was the most important item and should have been brought inside for protection first. But now, as the wind and rain battered it, no one seemed to care. After all, even the Red Lantern Lady herself could no longer concern herself with the Manor.
Because they had all retreated into the inner courtyard, they were farther from the main gate and, consequently, farther from the pleas for help from the people outside.
