Hearing Shao Mingyuan’s words, Qiao Zhao immediately stopped struggling and was quickly pulled by him behind a tree.

Although it was an old tree, it still couldn’t completely hide two people’s figures, so Shao Mingyuan righteously pulled the young lady into his embrace.

Though Qiao Zhao felt helpless, she had no intention of arguing with him at such a time and quietly peeked out to observe the situation.

In the night darkness, she lacked the keen perception of the man beside her and found nothing unusual after looking around.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but suspect that it was another rogue playing tricks again.

“Over there—” A low voice suddenly sounded in her ear, and the familiar icy fragrance brushed against her slightly warm cheek, inexplicably making her heart flutter with panic.

However, Qiao Zhao quickly calmed down and squinted to watch the person approaching stealthily.

That person was looking around cautiously with a sneaky appearance, walking to the back courtyard wall of the tofu beauty’s house and stopping there.

“Let’s see what he’s up to.” Shao Mingyuan’s voice was very soft, and sensing the young lady in his arms being quiet and obedient, he unconsciously smiled.

This barely audible chuckle, in this particular situation, was inexplicably heart-stirring.

Qiao Zhao immediately felt embarrassed and quietly shifted her body outward.

She was fine when not moving, but with this movement, she suddenly felt a hard object pressing against her waist.

Qiao Zhao looked down in confusion.

Now it was Shao Mingyuan’s turn to be embarrassed, but his body’s reaction was beyond his control. He could only stiffen and step back, but there was a tree trunk behind him with nowhere to retreat.

Shao Mingyuan’s face reddened, and in his desperation, he said: “Quick, look, that person has climbed onto the wall.”

Qiao Zhao’s attention was immediately drawn.

The visitor had already climbed onto the wall and was peering into the courtyard.

“Should we go capture that person?” Qiao Zhao asked in a low voice.

“No need.”

Qiao Zhao looked at him in surprise.

What did “no need” mean? Were they going to let that suspicious person go?

She soon got her answer.

Suddenly, a hand reached out from the wall and pulled the person lying on top of it inside.

It happened so suddenly that the person didn’t even manage to cry out.

“Let’s go.” Shao Mingyuan naturally took Qiao Zhao’s hand and walked back.

Only when they were almost at the door did Qiao Zhao react, pulling her hand free and warning in a low voice: “Shao Mingyuan, don’t push your luck.”

The young general leaned close to her ear and chuckled softly: “This subordinate obeys orders.”

Miss Qiao’s face instantly flushed red.

Where on earth did he learn these techniques for teasing young ladies?

The two entered the door and immediately saw Ye Luo with one foot pressing the person to the ground, who was struggling desperately and could only make muffled sounds.

Chi Can and the others stood nearby, all looking shocked.

“Ye Luo—” Shao Mingyuan called out while walking inside.

Hearing his voice, Ye Luo looked over, immediately withdrew his foot, and saluted: “General, there’s a spy!”

In an instant, Shao Mingyuan had walked up close, looked down at the person on the ground, and said calmly: “Bring him inside first.”

Everyone entered the room.

The interior was bright as daylight, clearly revealing the visitor’s appearance to everyone.

It was a sturdy middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, who looked like a frightened bird being watched by so many people, struggling continuously.

“Remove what’s stuffed in his mouth.” Shao Mingyuan ordered.

Ye Luo didn’t hesitate and removed the cloth stuffed in the man’s mouth.

“You, what do you want to do?”

Shao Mingyuan sat down, curved his lips in a smile, and said unhurriedly: “We should be the ones asking you that question. In the dark of night, what did this big brother want to do, climbing onto someone else’s wall?”

The young man sitting in the chair spoke gently, but the man instinctively sensed danger. He shrank back and stammered: “I, I was just curious to take a look—”

Shao Mingyuan chuckled lightly.

Chen Guang, standing beside him, rolled his eyes: “Big brother, are you stupid or do you think we’re stupid? How curious would you have to be to climb onto someone’s wall in the middle of the night to look?”

The man cringed and honestly said, “I thought coming to look during the day would get me discovered.”

Chen Guang: “…” This reason left him speechless.

“What should we call this big brother?” Shao Mingyuan asked calmly.

The man lowered his head: “My name is Tie Zhu.”

“Why was Big Brother Tie Zhu curious about us?”

Tie Zhu raised his head and scratched his hair: “Isn’t this place haunted? I heard people had moved in, so I was curious how you adults weren’t afraid, and couldn’t help coming to see what was going on. Sir, I don’t have any bad intentions, and I’m not a thief!”

He said this while repeatedly bowing to Shao Mingyuan: “You’re magnanimous, please don’t hold it against me and let me go back.”

“Alright.”

Shao Mingyuan’s agreement was too quick and caught people off guard. Tie Zhu didn’t react for a moment: “What?”

Chen Guang rolled his eyes: “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear our general agree to let you go? Hurry up and leave!”

Only after being shooed out the door did Tie Zhu wake up as if from a dream: “Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!” After saying this, he ran off without looking back.

“Tingquan, you just let him go like that?” Chi Can asked.

“Do you think he’s very suspicious?”

Chi Can sneered: “Those words of his would barely fool a ghost. We came here openly and were led by the village chief, we didn’t sneak in secretly. Could that arouse someone’s curiosity to such an extent?”

Shao Mingyuan nodded: “You’re right.”

“Then you—”

Shao Mingyuan smiled: “Even so, we could only let him go back. He’s a villager here, not a criminal. Moreover, we just arrived and don’t understand anything clearly, so we can’t easily alert our enemies.”

“Tingquan is right, but we should keep an eye on that person.” Yang Houcheng said.

Shao Mingyuan smiled: “Don’t worry, Ye Luo has already followed him.”

Only when he said this did Chi Can and Yang Houcheng realize that Ye Luo had disappeared at some point.

The two couldn’t help but look at each other, feeling somewhat discouraged.

They were all the same age, yet they were far inferior to their friend. Did the battlefield train people so effectively?

Yang Houcheng couldn’t help but sigh: “Tingquan, if you keep undermining us like this, we won’t be able to be good friends anymore.”

“They’re just doing their job. You shouldn’t compete with them for their livelihood.”

“Won’t you take me to the battlefield in the future?” Yang Houcheng asked hopefully.

Shao Mingyuan patted his shoulder: “Being too much of a burden would make it hard to find a wife.”

Yang Houcheng pouted: “You talk as if you have a wife.”

Realizing he had misspoken, he quickly glanced at Qiao Zhao, then at Chi Can. Seeing that neither had any reaction, he touched his nose: “Ahem, I’m tired, I’m going to sleep.”

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, Shao Mingyuan sent someone to invite the village chief over.

“Did Your Lordship rest well last night?” Upon coming to this haunted house, the village chief felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Thank you for your concern, village chief. We all rested quite well.” After exchanging pleasantries, Shao Mingyuan asked about Tie Zhu’s situation.

“Tie Zhu? He used to be a blacksmith in town and only came to live in the village a few years ago.”