The masked woman was still furious, and her fox eyes almost made Zhu Ping'an bulge out. After staring at Zhu Ping'an for three seconds, she suddenly giggled, "Hehehe... As expected, you are a cunning little official. Your sharp-nosed monkey cheeks and sharp-tongued sophistry really opened my eyes."
Listening to the masked woman calling the official a "little dog" and attacking him word by word, Zhu Ping'an felt that Confucius' controversial words "Only women and villains are difficult to raise" were very suitable for the masked woman.
"Please fulfill your promise, lady." Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his mouth, bowed calmly, and ignored the masked woman's questioning.
"Hmph, don't worry, I'm not like that certain person who doesn't keep his word and is full of bad intentions." The masked woman said sarcastically.
I don't want to listen, it's just a bunch of nonsense. Zhu Ping'an pulled the corner of his mouth and automatically ignored the masked woman's verbal criticism.
"Here is your little lover."
After the masked woman looked down on Zhu Ping'an, she raised her chin towards the bed, then walked to the bed holding Zhu Ping'an at knifepoint.
The light in the inner room was dim, and Zhu Ping'an was held hostage by the masked woman, so he had not noticed the situation on the bed. It was only after he was held hostage by the masked woman to the bed that Zhu Ping'an discovered that Hua'er was indeed lying on the bed.
To be exact, he was tied to the bed.
Huaer's hands and feet were tied to the bedposts, a towel was stuffed in her mouth, and her eyes were wide open.
Uh... this bondage posture feels a bit like a shameful play.
Seeing Huaer's tied posture, Zhu Ping'an even suspected that the masked woman had studied rope art in an island country!
After seeing Zhu Ping'an, two bean-sized tears instantly rolled out of Hua'er's big eyes, and then one tear after another rolled down from the corners of her eyes like pearls with broken strings.
Seeing that Hua'er was fine, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then pulled the corner of his mouth speechlessly. This stupid girl, with her mouth stuffed, can't speak, but it doesn't affect you from humming a few times.
Don't say you were acupunctured?! This is the real world, not a novel. How could there be such an unreasonable thing as acupuncture
"Are you okay?" Zhu Ping'an asked Hua'er with concern.
Huaer shook her head vigorously to show that she was fine, but she cried more and her pillow was wet.
"Hehe... ... You are as cunning as a loach, my little lover, you are really cute in your stupidity."
The masked woman couldn't help but giggle when she saw Huaer, who looked like a wronged little stupid dog who had found its owner.
"What did you do to the painting?" Zhu Ping'an asked with a frown.
"I am not a dog official like you who has no humanity." The masked woman sneered and rolled her eyes at Zhu Ping'an. While holding Zhu Ping'an hostage with a dagger, she reached out and took the towel out of Hua'er's mouth and said to Hua'er, "I will take the towel off, and you can speak now, but don't shout, or the dog official will die."
"Uncle-in-law... wuwuwu..." After Hua'er was able to speak, she pouted and started to cry.
"It's okay, don't cry. What did she do to you just now? Why was there no sound at all?" Zhu Ping'an asked.
"Uncle, wuwuwuwu... She stuffed a towel in my mouth and didn't let me speak. She threatened me not to make any sound, otherwise, if she got scared... wuwuwuwu... she would stab you to death with a flying knife."
Hua'er sobbed softly, her nose twitching and tears flowing out like crazy.
Wow! You believe this?! Zhu Pingan was speechless to Huaer.
"Wuwuwuwu... Really, uncle, she just did that. She flicked her hand and a flying knife flew out. Then, with a sound of Duang, a poor spider was nailed to the pillar."
Hua'er's hands were tied and she couldn't gesture, but her head was still trying hard to imitate the masked woman's movements of throwing the flying knife on behalf of her hands, and her mouth was also trying hard to dub. The silly and cute Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but twitching his mouth.
This stupid girl is really...
Zhu Ping'an finally understood why Hua'er dared not make any sound. It turned out that this stupid girl was worried about him. After the masked woman showed Hua'er her special skill of nailing a spider with a flying knife, Hua'er believed the masked woman's threat. She could even nail a spider, not to mention such a big target as her son-in-law. In order to prevent her son-in-law from being stabbed to death by the masked woman's flying knife, Hua'er did her best to keep quiet.
"Okay, don't cry, you did a good job..." Zhu Ping'an pulled the corner of his mouth and comforted.
"Wow, son-in-law, it's all my fault... I went out to buy groceries today, and I met her on the way back. At that time, her father wanted to sell her to Yichunlou so that she could treat her mother's illness and buy food for their family. She cried so pitifully, and I felt so distressed watching her, so I took out ten taels of silver and gave them. She was very stubborn and insisted on selling herself as a slave to me, otherwise she would not take the money. So I had no choice but to accept it. Everything was fine at the beginning. She came back with me and was quite diligent. She cleaned the yard and helped me stew chicken soup... But... Wow... But she turned hostile as soon as dinner was ready, tied me up, scolded son-in-law as a dog official, and said she would settle accounts with him..." Hua'er blamed herself and cried aggrievedly.
So that's how it is. Zhu Ping'an nodded. He was just wondering how the masked woman got in, and now he understood.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an knew that even without the painting, the masked woman would still be able to sneak in.
At night, with Liu Mu and Liu Dadao, the county yamen backyard was completely safe; but during the day, Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and others followed him out, leaving Huaer alone in the county yamen backyard. There was only one runner watching outside the small door, which had a blind spot, and the patrol runners only patrolled once every half an hour, leaving a gap in between. Without Huaer, the masked woman would have a chance to climb over the wall and hide in the backyard, and could still attack him unexpectedly. But there was no guarantee that there would be any accidents, so the masked woman chose to act and sneak in by "selling herself as a slave."
This is a lesson that a gentleman does not build a dangerous wall. In the future, we must strengthen the security of the backyard of the county government during the day.
The sudden deaths of several former county magistrates in Jingnan are a lesson for us. In addition, there is no guarantee that County Magistrate Zhang, Secretary Yao, and Dianshi Li will not retaliate... ... and there may even be other people whom we have offended intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhu Ping'an put this item on the agenda in his mind.
"Wuwuwu... Cui'er, why do you repay kindness with evil?!" After blaming herself, Hua'er turned around and questioned the masked woman while crying.
"My name is not Cui'er!" The masked woman giggled.
Huh?! Huaer was stunned for a moment.
"She was lying to you. The things about selling yourself into slavery were all fake." Zhu Ping'an said to Hua'er, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Ah..." Hua'er was not really stupid. After Zhu Ping'an's reminder, she was stunned for a moment and then reacted belatedly. She glared at the masked woman.