In fact, when Shen Xu saved Yan'er that day, he had already noticed the gazes staring at him and Song Lin.

She immediately thought of the first time she met Song Lin. He told her that he was attacked by bandits in revenge. His uncle came to their house for a drink that day and also mentioned that two bandits had escaped.

Since their sneak attack failed, they will definitely come back to retaliate against Song Lin again.

So she took out the bounty order her uncle had left at home that day and memorized every face on it.

For a period of time afterwards, Shen Xu had been observing and confirming the range of activities of this group of people, and discovered that they were not only following him, but also Yan'er.

That day, Yan'er and her mother came to Song Lin's yard to propose marriage. Shen Xu noticed that she was always looking at the dark places and looked shocked and scared.

She immediately determined that the people on the wanted list might also be involved in the case of Yan'er being raped.

In order to lure out the gang as quickly as possible and catch them all in one fell swoop, she deliberately revealed the news that Song Lin was going to Beijing to take the imperial examination to the bookstore owner, in order to urge them to take revenge as soon as possible.

Afterwards, Shen Xu used the excuse of getting married to buy a bunch of materials for making weapons under their noses, and acted like a fool to ordinary people, in order to make the neighbors repeatedly mention Song Linke's reputation as a wife.

Provide the bandits with a revenge plan - to artificially kill Constable Song's third wife.

Finally, when Shen Xu saw Yan'er looking at the man who was following her with fear in her eyes, and saw the kiss marks on her neck, she was certain that Yan'er could lead her to the hideout of these people.

Even if Yan'er didn't talk to her, she would take the initiative to talk to her, but she still tested Yan'er's position. At first, Yan'er was relieved, but the deeper she went into the alley, the more anxious she became to pull her into the abyss.

So, when the two men dragged Yan'er into the yard, she could have taken action immediately, but considering Song Lin's rescue time, she allowed the two men to defile Yan'er again.

She knew that Song Lin would go to the east village entrance to handle a case today and would return home an hour or two later than planned. The bandits would definitely confirm this news and thus lower their vigilance.

So she deliberately said she wanted to eat the beef pie next to the bookstall and asked Song Lin to go to work in advance to buy it for her, so that Song Lin could rush to the bookstall in time to know that she had run away. She then left marks along the way with the lily of the valley bracelet so that Song Lin would definitely notice that something had happened to her.

Due to time constraints and the fact that she was often followed when buying items, in order to reduce the bandits' vigilance, she did not have the opportunity to make many better weapons. Instead, she chose a well-concealed piece of equipment, such as a sleeve quiver and needle case, hid it on her body and waited for the enemy to approach.

She spent the night calculating the weapons' killing power, the number of people involved, their positions, and how to catch the enemy off guard. Unfortunately, she miscalculated two people, believing the number of criminals was only the five listed on the wanted poster.

No matter how weak the weapon she had, it could at least help her escape from the alley.

Of course, there is also an element of gambling here.

Bet, whether Song Lin cares about her or not, and whether he will go to work in advance to buy her beef patties.

Obviously, she won the bet.

When Song Lin was really about to stab herself with a knife, she was numb.

"Oh, by the way, where are the beef patties you bought after running two blocks? I want some." Shen Xu spread out his hands with a smile.

"I was just thinking about eating it, but it's already cold." Song Lin took out the still warm beef patty from his arms, sniffed it, and frowned, saying, "It smells like blood. Don't eat it. I'll buy you a new one tomorrow."

Shen Xu grabbed his hand. Song Lin was afraid that she was really hungry and would grab the cake to eat, so he quickly threw it out the window. "You are always disobedient and run around. I would rather give it to the dog than to you."

"Hey, you're really wasting money. You ran two blocks to buy it." Shen Xu grabbed his hand, looked at the cake flying out the window with regret, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Constable Song, now that I'm your wife, I won't run around anymore."

"Xiu Xiu..." Song Lin let go of her shoulders and softened his tone. "Actually, I burned the indenture a long time ago. You really don't have to think of a way to return the money to me, and you really shouldn't take such a big risk just to make money!"

"Constable Song, a gentleman's word is as good as his deeds. Those twenty-five taels are what I must pay to redeem myself. It's my long-cherished wish to become your wife as a free and equal. I hope we are both willing to do so, without any coercion or pressure on either side."

Song Lin gently stroked the gauze on her neck. Looking at Shen Xu's pale little face and the sincere words of willingness, he felt distressed and guilty. "I was too impatient. I shouldn't have forced you to make a choice, and it also caused you to get hurt."

"However, I am very happy that you are willing to marry me, but since you are marrying me, you must have a betrothal gift."

Shen Xu shook his head and continued, "As for the betrothal you mentioned, that's something you should discuss with my parents. As for the amount, we can talk about it after we find my parents. If we can't find them, we'll keep the money and live on our own."

She raised her eyes and smiled faintly, "The reason I'm going to give you 190% of the silver is because I'm planning to prepare a dowry of ten taels. It's not much, but it's more than enough. Since Constable Song is marrying me in a formal way, I have to show my dignity and I won't be short of anything I need."

"I'm not a wild girl who's left alone and knows nothing. I can make money. I can't let my husband treat me like an ancestor."

"Xiu Xiu." Song Lin reached out and held her tightly in his arms, gently stroking her hair, and said in a low, doting voice: "I don't care about those things. Don't work so hard in the future. It doesn't matter if you don't do anything. Your husband can really support you."

"No, I don't want to just eat and wait for death. If you force me to do what I like, I won't marry you."

"You dare!"

"Hmph!" Shen Xu pushed his embrace away, but accidentally pulled the wound on her arm. She covered her arm with her hands and hissed, frowning and saying, "You are so fierce, you only know how to bully me!"

Song Lin's heart softened, and he quickly retorted, "When did I bully you?"

"I don't care. You're bullying me. You're being overbearing and unreasonable. I'll run away anytime if I can't stand it anymore."

"You dare to run."

Shen Xu continued, “Break your legs.”

Song Lin: “…”

She simply stretched her calf out of the quilt and placed it on his knee. "Go ahead and hit me. I'm not free anymore anyway, so what's the point of keeping this leg?"

Song Lin looked down at the legs draped over his knees, reaching out to touch the pair of white and tender ankles. Although his tone softened a bit, it still carried a warning: "Anyway, you are absolutely not allowed to do anything as dangerous as today. If you dare to run into a den of thieves alone again, I won't save you."

Seeing her disappointed and dissatisfied look, he said, "As for the rest, when your injury is healed, you can copy the books if you want."