Since Shen Suqing and Fu Shouan were both men, it wasn't very convenient for them, so they leisurely sat in the outer room drinking tea.

Zhan Xinjia carried the girl in his arms to the bed behind the screen and laid her down gently.

She knew how to use her strength; the force with which she knocked someone unconscious would only keep them conscious for an hour or two, and that should be about it by now.

When the girl's inner garment was removed, the scene was even more shocking.

Bruises, burns, and skin that had been whipped and rolled up by something were mixed together.

Some of them were oozing blood, and some had even started to fester.

How much abuse must one have suffered to have their entire body covered in unblemished flesh?

Zhan Xinjia's face gradually darkened.

Suppressing her anger, she gently and carefully applied medicine to the girl's wounds, using bandages to isolate more serious injuries to prevent infection.

After most of the scars, big and small, had been treated, the girl slowly woke up.

The girl seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, her hands flailing wildly in the air. Her open eyes were empty and lifeless, her lips were dry and cracked, and her hoarse throat kept calling out numbly for her parents.

Seeing this, Zhan Xinjia lifted the girl's head so she could rest her head on his lap, brushed away the sweaty stray hairs on her face, and finally managed to feed her half a spoonful of water.

"Alright, alright, be good."

He offered haphazard comfort, like he was trying to soothe a child, and the girl actually came to her senses.

Upon seeing the little girl who had knocked her unconscious earlier, Qiao Niang was startled and instinctively curled up, raising her hand to shield herself.

"Don't hit me!"

But when she moved, she found that her injuries didn't hurt much anymore, because they had all been treated with medicine.

Qiao Niang looked a little confused. She hesitated for a moment, and finally whispered, "Thank you."

——

Zhan Xinjia had never been so angry before.

According to Qiao Niang, this is a hacker inn that has been open for more than ten years. The innkeeper is Qian Bo, the middle-aged man in the long gown, and the old cook is his mother. There is also a treacherous waiter in the shop.

After opening the inn, the mother and son amassed a fortune. They would selectively choose their targets, drug the guests' food or drinks, and then steal all their valuables.

Finally, he killed the witness and threw the body into the pigsty in the backyard.

Qiao Niang was abducted by that old cook seven years ago.

She was only eleven years old at the time. She only remembered that she went out to fly kites with her maid on the Flower Festival and was then tricked into a carriage by an old cook who pretended to be lost and had her mouth gagged.

Originally, the old cook intended to sell Qiao Niang, but for some reason, she changed her mind and decided to keep Qiao Niang for her son as a child bride.

Qiao Niang ran, struggled, and resisted, but she was just a child at the time and it was no use.

After being taken to the inn, she fell seriously ill, and her previous memories became even more blurred.

In the past few years, Qiao Niang only did some hard labor at the inn. Later, when she grew up a bit, Qian Bo began to have wicked thoughts and wanted to force himself on her.

Every time, Qiao Niang would threaten to kill herself and fight back fiercely. If he dared to touch her, she would bite her tongue and commit suicide. Thanks to Qiao Niang's beautiful appearance, Qian Bo never wanted her to die.

Although Qiao Niang was not successfully assaulted, she was still severely beaten.

This is why she has so many scars all over her body.

Zhan Xinjia clenched his fists tightly, rolled up his sleeves, and rushed out.

"Damn it, I'm going to go and kill their whole family right now!"

Shen Suqing, standing outside, said: "..."

He swayed slightly.

It's fake, it's fake. He must be hallucinating. How could his daughter be so low-class?

Fu Shouan: "...Haha, Brother Shen, your family's upbringing is quite unique...Hating evil as if it were an enemy, that's good, that's good."

Enraged, Zhan Xinjia belatedly realized that Lord Shen was still sitting outside!

She paused for a moment, then immediately switched seamlessly to the persona of a weak, crybaby.

"Waaaaah, Master Shen~ Poor Sister Qiao, how could those people be so mean!"

The little girl wiped her face with a handkerchief, her peach blossom eyes brimming with tears, looking delicate and fragile, overwhelmed by the harshness of the world, her face pale and pale with tears streaming down her cheeks.

It was as if she wasn't the one who had just been clenching her fist, the size of a clay pot, and threatening to kill the whole family.

Shen Suqing slowly raised his hands to cover his face, somewhat silent, yet feeling a little ashamed.

Fu Shouan, who was standing to the side, almost popped his eyes out.

"No...you're mentally ill, you mean, have a split personality?"

"Never mind that! By the way, Lord Shen, why aren't you drinking tea?"

Upon hearing Zhan Xinjia's question, Shen Suqing fell even more silent.

Fu Shouan turned the teapot upside down and shook it vigorously, but what poured out of the spout was not tea, but a fluorescent green liquid as thick as rice paste, which also faintly emitted a pungent odor...

Zhan Xinjia: "..."

Zhan Xinjia: "Is their drug 'sleeping potion' unsold? They've left so much of it here, afraid that others won't notice it's poisoned?"

That's not the point. The point is that she had a feeling this inn wasn't just an ordinary shady business. After all, it was located on the main road from Jiangyuan County to the ferry terminal, with countless people coming and going.

If there were no powerful forces protecting them, how could so many people have disappeared from the inn over the years without anyone becoming suspicious and investigating?

To hell with their power, just chop them down first!

Since neither Shen Suqing nor Qiao Niang could protect themselves, they stayed in the guest room to wait.

Zhan Xinjia and Fu Shouan left the guest room and went around to the lobby on the first floor. As expected, Zhao Jiu and the others had been drugged and were lying unconscious on the table.

Fu Shou'an was disappointed in his son and pointed fingers at him, then angrily rebuked him on the spot.

"They're supposed to be from the Dali Temple, how come they have no sense of caution at all?! Were they all raised to be useless? I'll sell them all to work as cattle in black coal mines!"

Zhan Xinjia touched her chin suspiciously.

In theory, such shady shops bully the weak and fear the strong, and only prey on lone customers. Although Master Shen and his group were traveling in plainclothes, they were still a large group of more than ten people, and each of them looked extraordinary.

If Qian Bo had any sense at all, he wouldn't have laid a hand on Lord Shen and his group.

Unless, of course, Qian Bo is also one of those people from Lanjiang, and he did it on purpose.

She and Fu Shouan quietly went around to the back kitchen and peeked inside. Sure enough, Qian Bo, his mother, and that employee were plotting something.

"Once this matter is resolved, the Goddess will surely reward us!"

"Ah, my child, ordinary people like us shouldn't even dream of ever meeting the venerable goddess. But even a few divine pronouncements from her would be enough to make our lives complete..."

"Shopkeeper, the people we're supposed to meet should arrive around midnight, right? There are too many of them for just a few of us to handle."

Lady Goddess?

Zhan Xinjia was stunned again.

Who the hell is this?

Fu Shouan always thought he had a bad temper, but he never expected there was another expert.

He was still pondering the conversation when the little girl next to him suddenly darted out and stabbed the old cook through the neck with a knife. The white knife went in and the red knife came out, and blood gushed out.

Fu Shouan's pupils dilated.

No, shouldn't there be some questioning process first?

For example, you might condescendingly question the villain about whether they regret their actions and know they were wrong, then watch them kneel down, weeping and begging for mercy, before making some pretentious pronouncements about the light of righteousness, and finally end the villain's life amidst their despairing gaze.

But Fu Shouan is now certain that the old hag will probably be so dead that she won't even know how she died when she gets to the underworld.

This stab terrified everyone else present.

Qian Bo collapsed, catching his mother's lifeless body: "Mother!—"

The waiter standing nearby was so frightened that he trembled and almost peed himself.

He stared in disbelief at Zhan Xinjia, who was expressionlessly wiping the dagger.

"Qiao Niang? No...you're not Qiao Niang, who are you?!"

Zhan Xinjia chuckled, "I'm your father!"

After saying that, he swiftly chopped the waiter's neck with his other hand.

The human head rolled to his feet. Fu Shouan, who had just walked in, was caught off guard and was so frightened that he almost climbed up the roof beam.

Fu Shouan: "..."

Holy crap, where did Brother Shen pick up this little girl from?

If Brother Shen hadn't said anything, he would have thought that this was a death row inmate that Brother Shen had rescued from some execution ground.

Goodness, they chop people up like they're chopping vegetables, without even blinking an eye.

Their Dali Temple needs this kind of talent!