Xie Zhaozhao looked at him. His expression was serious, and his fatigue could not hide his imposing and dignified demeanor. His dark pupils were full of awe-inspiring righteousness.

He was praising her friend!

She instantly understood his meaning, and with gratitude in her heart, she nodded earnestly and said, "Yes, the second son of Duke Xun, Yin Jin'an, led Hongying and others to discover and capture the bandits. He is a man of unparalleled wisdom and resourcefulness for the country and the people."

Gu Shaoyu said to Song Lian, "You should write up the memorial to be submitted. I will take it to the Emperor. You must petition for merit for Yin Jin'an, the second son of the Duke of Xun."

On the way back from the Governor's Office, Xie Zhaozhao asked Gu Shaoyu, "Are those black-armored soldiers rebels?"

“Yes!” Gu Shaoyu said, “That man surnamed Niu is a descendant of Li Ziqing, the nineteenth son of Emperor Aizong of the previous dynasty. This time, Li Ziqing’s great-grandson, Li Hu, was captured.”

Li Ziqing was a remnant of the previous dynasty that the imperial court had been trying to catch since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Unfortunately, he was very well hidden. For many years, the imperial court never dared to let its guard down, but it never found any trace of him.

Unexpectedly, they were hiding deep in the mountains of Nanshan, where they had captured craftsmen and were forging weapons in caves. To maintain secrecy, they even created a small village in the mountains.

Those bandits would rob the small mountain village every few days, and the villagers would pretend to be honest and be robbed.

At minimal cost, they maintained a gang of ruthless bandits as a shield. The local people were afraid of the bandits and dared not approach the deep mountains; the bandits became their watchdogs.

So no one discovered the secret in the cave.

The secret was discovered when those black-armored men kidnapped Xie Zhaozhao and were followed by Bei Chen all the way to the cave.

"Zhao Zhao, this is Li Hu's illegal weapons manufacturing den, and also a weapons supplier for the Wei family. Li Hu and the Wei family have a cooperative relationship."

Gu Shaoyu breathed a rare sigh of relief. "You captured those guards. Bei Chen and his men used their methods. The Wei family commissioned them to kidnap you, with the aim of targeting me... You cut off the Wei family's escape route!"

However, since his wife didn't trust him and almost lost her life, he couldn't be happy.

Thinking that Xie Zhaozhao would rather die than become a weakness that others could use against him, Gu Shaoyu was both angry and heartbroken: "Zhaozhao, you should trust me. You want to fight bandits, how could I not support you?"

Xie Zhaozhao lowered her eyes, unable to reveal her true purpose.

Encountering the man in black armor was an accident.

Catching the traitor was also an accident.

**

On the day the bandits attacked the summit, all the women of the Earl's mansion lost their virginity.

The next day, as dawn broke, no one wanted to stay on the mountain to enjoy the spring scenery anymore.

As she descended from the summit, not a single person in the Earl's mansion offered her a helping hand, nor did anyone speak to her.

Of the five maids given to the bandits, Yan Ke and Nian Ke disappeared without a trace, while Ta Xue, Si Qin, and Quan Ling'er were raped by the bandits in turn and died.

Looking at the tragically dead Taxue, the old lady thought of the many years she had served her and regretted her actions.

They begged the people at the Gu family's old house, weeping, to bury them on the spot. Their promise to compensate them upon returning to Beijing had vanished.

Gu Boyu already knew the truth, and silently bought a few more servants from the brokerage firm in Pingyang Town to drive the women of the manor back to the capital in a carriage.

He only found out that his third brother had also come when Nanxing called him over.

The two brothers faced each other, speechless for a long time.

"Third brother, please speak to the county government and tell them that once the bandits are captured, there should be no public trial..." Gu Boyu lowered his head in shame. "I beg you, brother, this is the last time."

"Okay," Gu Shaoyu replied with a stern face.

"I won't let my mother and the others die here in the old house, and I won't implicate the main family. I won't go back to the old house again." Gu Boyu said, then cried in a low voice like a child.

The word "shameful" is not enough to express the shame.

Apart from Madam Lu and Xie Zhaozhao, all the women in the household were defiled. Such a disgrace meant that even in death, they would have no face to meet their fathers and ancestors.

Gu Shaoyu also fell silent. Gu Boyu would not return to the old house, and neither would he.

but--

"Xie Zhaozhao was forced out by her mother and sister-in-law to deal with the bandits that day. Later, she encountered assassins and jumped off a cliff. Fortunately, she was caught by a tree branch and landed not far from the cave where the rebels were making weapons..."

Gu Boyu looked at him in surprise, and after a while, he smiled with relief: "This is fate! Mother even lied and said that Third Sister-in-law hid with the guards... Third Sister-in-law turned misfortune into blessing, good people are rewarded, this is Third Sister-in-law's good fortune."

Gu Shaoyu nodded: "I received a secret report that something was wrong in Nanshan. I rushed to the thieves' den and just happened to rescue Xie Zhaozhao."

Gu Shaoyu essentially used this method to show Gu Boyu that Xie Zhaozhao was the only innocent one: all the women in the Earl's mansion were tainted, while his Zhaozhao was pure and innocent, and he even managed to catch a whole bunch of traitors in the process.

“Brother, let’s divide the residences after we return to the capital!” Gu Shaoyu said calmly. “I’ll move out.”

“Okay,” Gu Boyu said. “Second brother, move out too, let’s split the money.”

The two brothers remained silent for half an hour before Gu Boyu left.

Gu Shaoyu looked at his elder brother, who had spent his life indulging in eating, drinking, and having fun without a care in the world, but whose hair had turned completely white overnight.

After Gu Boyu left, Gu Shaoyu said to Xie Zhaozhao, "I want to give the Gu family of Pingyang Town a share of the credit for this bandit suppression."

Xie Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment, then instantly understood what he meant, and reached out to hug his neck: "Thank you."

Gu Shaoyu patted her back: "You and I are husband and wife, no need for thanks!"

Pai Nanxing brought Gu Yongtai and Gu Yongnian to the county government office.

When Gu Yongtai and Gu Yongnian saw Xie Zhaozhao, whose head was wrapped up like a mummy and who was being helped out by a maid, they asked in surprise, "What's this, niece-in-law?"

"On the day of the bandit attack, my wife and the guards were chasing assassins while trying to go down the mountain to deliver the message, and they fell off a cliff..."

Xie Zhaozhao and Gu Shaoyu told the two clan leaders the same story that Gu Boyu had told them, leaving Gu Yongtai and Gu Yongnian dumbfounded.

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