Fan Changyu had already witnessed Xie Zheng killing people in the pine forest, so she didn’t find it strange. She nodded and said, “My husband used to be a caravan guard. His martial arts skills are quite good.”

Having grown up seeing few caravan guards, with her father being highly skilled in martial arts, Fan Changyu naturally assumed that all caravan guards had excellent kung fu skills. After all, they had to deal with desperate bandits who attempted to rob their caravans.

Zheng Wenchang stared at Xie Zheng with an inscrutable expression.

Carpenter Zhao had already squeezed into the loft. Upon seeing the room full of dead bodies, he immediately exclaimed “Aiya!” Though frightened, he and his wife had experienced warfare in their earlier years.

Back then, nine out of ten houses in the countryside were empty, and people dying by the roadside was a common sight. Now, he remained relatively calm. Fearing to aggravate Xie Zheng’s injuries, he didn’t rashly move him but instead crouched down to check his pulse by holding his hand.

Only half of the blood-stained face was visible, and it wasn’t very clear. Zheng Wenchang suddenly said, “Turn him over and take a look.”

Carpenter Zhao didn’t understand why this military officer would make such a request, but he dared not disobey his order. Thinking that these were military men, with the leader wearing armor and carrying a sword, looking quite imposing and seemingly of higher rank than the county magistrate, he hoped they might help Fan Changyu investigate her enemies.

He immediately began to pour out his woes: “Officers, please help us seek justice. This girl has had a hard life. She lost her parents just last month, and finally took in a husband. Now her husband has been injured like this by these villains. If we don’t find out who these criminals are, how will they live their days to come…”

When Zheng Wenchang heard that this man was a live-in son-in-law, most of his suspicions instantly dissipated.

Knowing that man’s temperament, even if he fell on hard times, or if the Emperor forced him to marry a princess and become a live-in son-in-law, he would never agree to it.

Just then, a cry came from downstairs: “Sir, there’s a survivor here!”

Before Carpenter Zhao could turn Xie Zheng over, Zheng Wenchang felt his earlier suspicions were absurd. He lost interest in examining the man closely. Remembering his general’s instructions, he hurriedly went downstairs, only ordering two of his guards to drag the corpses from the loft down as well.

Fan Changyu was unaware of how dangerous the situation had been moments ago. With soldiers watching downstairs, she wasn’t worried about her younger sister and Mrs. Zhao’s safety. She asked Carpenter Zhao, “Uncle Zhao, how is he?”

After checking the pulse, Carpenter Zhao doubted his skills. He hadn’t practiced veterinary medicine for over a decade and suspected his medical skills might be lacking.

The man before him was covered in blood, appearing to be severely injured, yet his pulse showed no signs of danger.

His already wrinkled forehead furrowed even more as he concentrated on checking the pulse again.

His grave expression frightened Fan Changyu, who thought Xie Zheng was beyond saving. She sat dejectedly on a low stool: “I should have written him a divorce letter earlier and let him go elsewhere to recover. Otherwise, how could he suffer like this…”

Carpenter Zhao checked the pulse once more, finding it still steady. He fell into deep self-doubt, his old face growing increasingly serious. Just as he was about to examine Xie Zheng’s wounds…

The man lying on the ground slowly regained consciousness.

Fan Changyu’s eyes were already rimmed with red. Seeing him awake, her emotions swung wildly, and she couldn’t help but break into a delighted smile, exclaiming, “You’re awake!”

Xie Zheng noticed her reddened eyes and that overjoyed smile, momentarily stunned.

Was she about to cry because she feared something might happen to him?

The strange feeling in his chest grew stronger.

He lowered his gaze, coughed weakly twice, and a few words escaped his blood-stained lips: “I’m fine.”

Most of the blood on his body was from the men in black, and the cuts on his clothes were self-inflicted to feign injury, only breaking the skin superficially.

Although Zheng Wenchang wasn’t under his command, they had met a few times. If he had recognized him, tonight would have ended with either Zheng Wenchang taking him back to hand over to Wei Yan, or with him killing Zheng Wenchang and his soldiers before fleeing elsewhere.

Fortunately, he had managed to avoid detection, and neither of those worst-case scenarios had played out.

He said he was fine, but Fan Changyu and Carpenter Zhao, having seen him seriously injured twice before, were still very worried. After helping him lie down on the kang bed, they found some medicine to dress his wounds.

When they removed his outer robe, Fan Changyu noticed that his inner garments weren’t soaked in blood like before. They looked much cleaner than his outer robe. As she was puzzling over this, Mrs. Zhao called her downstairs, saying the soldiers wanted to take a statement.

The man lying on the kang bed, his face only lightly cleaned of blood, appeared almost beautiful in the candlelight with the remaining bloodstains. He opened his eyes slightly to look at her, his voice unusually gentle: “You should go.”

Fan Changyu thought it must be because he was so weak that he looked so frail and pitiable now.

Before leaving the room, she looked back at him worriedly: “I’ll be back soon.”

The dead men in black had already been dragged into a row by the soldiers. People in the alley, hearing the commotion and seeing the street full of soldiers, came out in their nightclothes to watch the excitement.

After the soldiers finished counting the bodies of the men in black, they found only one survivor – the one Fan Changyu had knocked unconscious earlier with a slap.

The soldiers, having seen several men in black commit suicide by biting into poison capsules hidden behind their teeth, were now experienced. Finding him still breathing, they first removed the poison capsule from his mouth. Now he was bound tightly, with his mouth stuffed full of cloth, making suicide impossible.

The personal guard of the high-ranking officer asked Fan Changyu some questions, and she answered honestly, mostly with basic information about her household.

After finishing the questions, the high-ranking officer told her, “Just wait for news for now. Once we have results from the interrogation, the government office will notify you.”

Having experienced tonight’s events and witnessing how ruthless these people were, Fan Changyu feared they might come back for revenge and involve Mrs. Zhao’s family. She asked, “Sir, what should we do if these people come back seeking revenge?”

The high-ranking officer almost said something but stopped himself. After frowning and thinking for a moment, he said, “This general will leave a few soldiers hidden nearby to keep watch. They won’t withdraw until the interrogation results are out.”

Only then did Fan Changyu feel reassured, and she praised the high-ranking officer profusely.

As the high-ranking officer was leaving, he glanced at her, his expression somewhat peculiar.

After the soldiers left, Fan Changyu first went to the well at the end of the alley to fetch water and clean up the blood in the courtyard and the loft. However, a faint smell of blood still lingered.

Fan Changyu thought about climbing over the wall to her own house to get some of the incense her mother used to make to freshen the air, but remembering what the high-ranking officer said about leaving people to monitor the area secretly, she didn’t dare move rashly.

The shock of the night’s events had left the elderly Zhao couple wide awake. They rekindled the fire in the main hall’s hearth and sat there with Chang Ning, warming themselves and sighing from time to time.

Chang Ning, being young, didn’t understand what the adults were worried about. With the danger gone, she carefreely went back to watching the gyrfalcon in the chicken coop.

The coop had become the gyrfalcon’s nest.

Fan Changyu asked her younger sister, “Ning’er, are you still tired?”

Chang Ning shook her head and pointed at the coop holding the gyrfalcon: “Elder Sister, Junian is very well-behaved. Can we not keep Junian caged anymore?”

The last time she and her brother-in-law were at home, it was because she mischievously opened the chicken coop door that the large falcon was able to kill one of the villains when the group of bandits burst in.

In her little mind, she thought that if the large falcon hadn’t been caged, it might have been able to injure the bad guys tonight as well.

The coop wasn’t locked by Fan Changyu. Mrs. Zhao said, “A piece of meat hanging by the hearth was pecked off last night. I was afraid this big falcon would steal meat to eat, so I casually closed it before going to bed.”

Fan Changyu then said, “We’ll have Yan Zheng train it again later.”

Mentioning Yan Zheng inevitably made her think of his injuries again. She asked Carpenter Zhao, “Uncle Zhao, how are his wounds?”

Carpenter Zhao wanted to say that this time they all seemed to be superficial wounds, but fearing he might have misdiagnosed and delayed Yan Zheng’s treatment, he sighed and said, “You know that this old man used to treat pigs, cows, sheep, and horses. Treating people is somewhat a matter of luck. I don’t think it’s too serious, but to be safe, let’s invite a doctor from the medical hall to take a look tomorrow morning.”

Fan Changyu agreed. When she went upstairs to check on Xie Zheng, she saw that the blood on his face had been cleaned off, and he was lying on the kang bed with his eyes closed, resting.

Probably hearing her footsteps, he opened his eyes as she entered and asked, “How is it?”

Fan Changyu said, “I think these soldiers are more reliable than the county magistrate. I heard that the county magistrate wrote a memorial to the prefecture government. When the prefectural officials learned of the rampant banditry here, they sent troops to suppress the bandits. Coincidentally, they encountered them tonight.”

Speaking of this, Fan Changyu was somewhat happy: “The bandit problem in Ji Prefecture has persisted for years. It seems the government is truly determined to deal with those mountain strongholds now. That military officer said they would thoroughly investigate these two assassination attempts and assigned soldiers to protect us secretly. You should rest easy and focus on recovering for the next couple of days, no need to rush to leave.”

Xie Zheng’s expression was far from pleasant. “Secret protection?”

Fan Changyu nodded, “Yes.”

Xie Zheng almost couldn’t catch his breath. He had just barely managed to deceive them temporarily, and now the Ji Prefecture government was directly watching him under his nose.

However, the sudden actions of the Ji Prefecture government truly left him unable to guess their intentions.

Never mind, the most dangerous place is also the safest place.

He said, “Bring that falcon up to the loft for these two days. Don’t let it out. That creature is hard to tame and might hurt someone if not properly trained.”

Fan Changyu said, “No wonder! Grandmother just said that falcon stole meat hanging above the hearth last night!”

Xie Zheng: “…”

Fan Changyu had already stood up: “I’ll go get it now!”

Xie Zheng could only weakly respond with a soft “All right.”

By daybreak, Zheng Wenchang had already ridden swiftly back to Ji Prefecture.

He walked quickly through the winding corridor, carrying the confession obtained from interrogating the man in black. In the courtyard full of snow cedars, the armored guards saw it was him and let him pass.

Zheng Wenchang entered the study and stood at attention below. Whether from excitement or from walking too quickly, his voice was somewhat breathless: “Sir, as per your orders, I led men to guard Lin’an Town early on, and indeed captured those who committed multiple murders in Qingping County last night. However…”

His hand, presenting the confession, trembled slightly: “Please review the confession, sir.”

The man sitting at the desk, his hair and beard graying, seemed to already know the identity of those men in black. He calmly said, “Wenchang, you were just going to catch mountain bandits and thieves. What is there to fear?”

Zheng Wenchang lowered his head: “This subordinate is afraid.”

“All right, put down the confession.” He Jingyuan put down his brush and looked up. Despite being a military man, he had the refined face of a scholar. Knowing his beloved general’s concerns, he said, “Just pretend you never saw this confession. You may go.”

Zheng Wenchang saluted: “This subordinate obeys the order.”

Just as he turned to leave, he heard another question: “Was anyone in that household injured?”

Zheng Wenchang thought for a moment and said, “That woman took in a husband, and her husband was injured by those people.”

He Jingyuan merely nodded.

Zheng Wenchang gathered his courage and asked, “Does that household have some connection to you, sir?”

“Wenchang, what principles of officialdom did I teach you?”

With just one sentence, Zheng Wenchang broke out in a cold sweat: “This subordinate spoke out of turn.”

“You may withdraw.” He Jingyuan picked up a memorial from the desk and began reading it, seemingly uninterested in what was written in the confession.

After Zheng Wenchang left the study, his aged eyes finally turned to that confession. After some hesitation, he ultimately opened it.

Upon finishing, he let out a sigh.

He stood up and opened a hidden compartment in the bookshelf, taking out a brocade box. However, he didn’t open it. Speaking as if to someone unseen, he said, “When you originally entrusted this item to me, you must have anticipated a day like this, wanting me to protect those two children for you…”