Upon hearing this, Xu Dongsheng quickly held his breath, took out a porcelain bottle from his waist, poured out a pill and put it in his mouth, lit a tinderbox, and walked to the table to light a candle.

Following Zhao Qingyan's voice, one could see Zhao Qingyan slowly squeezing out from the gap between the bed and the wall.

"Yan'er, is it scary?"

Xu Dongsheng is now filled with lingering fear, wondering why he didn't insist on sharing a room with Zhao Qingyan.

The constables who rushed in from outside were overjoyed to see Zhao Qingyan.

After all, what they saw through the window was the human-shaped object the thief was carrying running away, so they assumed Zhao Qingyan had been deliberately kidnapped by the thief.

Even though they knew Zhao Qingyan was skilled in martial arts, they were still worried that a weak woman would be at a disadvantage, after all, even a fierce tiger cannot fight against a pack of wolves.

Upon seeing three more people inside, he was about to enter when he heard Zhao Qingyan mention the sleeping potion, so he quickly took a few steps back.

Zhao Qingyan reached out and opened the window. Soon, fresh air came in, and the smell in the room dissipated considerably.

Constable A: "Miss Zhao, what's the situation with these three?"

Zhao Qingyan said, "The two by the bed were drugged with sleeping powder, and the one by the door was knocked unconscious by Xu Dongsheng. You should know that as well."

There were two more under the bed; they were the first group to come in through the door, but were killed by the people who came in through the window.

Two people just went out the window. Did your men follow them?

Constable A nodded.

"We've caught up, Miss Zhao, don't worry. Miss Zhao, please change rooms, we need to clean up the scene."

Zhao Qingyan then followed Xu Dongsheng to the next room.

At this moment, Xu Dongsheng no longer cared about the strict separation between men and women.

He pulled Zhao Qingyan into the room where the constables had been, closed the door, and then held her in his arms.

"Yan'er, please don't scare me like that again. If anything happens, you must let me share the burden with you, okay?"

Xu Dongsheng's voice trembled.

After all, who wouldn't be scared if they listened to their wife's room all night?

Zhao Qingyan thought to herself, "It's more dangerous for me if you're with me."

But his face showed gratitude. "Okay. I'll definitely put you at the forefront."

Xu Dongsheng hugged Zhao Qingyan tighter again, and the two stood there for about fifteen minutes. Zhao Qingyan felt that her legs would go numb if they continued.

She gently nudged Xu Dongsheng. "Alright, aren't you tired? Shouldn't we rest?"

Xu Dongsheng's face flushed red.

Because the candles hadn't been lit, Zhao Qingyan hadn't seen Xu Dongsheng's shy expression clearly; otherwise, she would have teased him again.

After lighting the candles, Xu Dongsheng saw that the bed had already been slept on by the constables. He gave the waiter a reward of more than ten coins and asked him to change the bedding before letting Zhao Qingyan lie down to rest.

He went outside, greeted the constables in his and Zhao Qingyan's room, and handed them ten taels of silver.

"Brother Cha, you've worked hard, brothers. Here's some silver. I'll treat you all to breakfast when it gets light."

The head constable was naturally happy to receive the money.

Although handling cases is their duty, being respected and thanked makes them feel good.

After exchanging pleasantries and accepting the money, the constables worked with even more enthusiasm.

Those who need to carry the corpses should carry them, those who need to be tied up should be tied up, and those who need to be taken down should be taken down.

The unconscious thief was bound up, and two people, each pulling on one shoulder of his clothes, dragged him down from the second floor.

As long as the head doesn't get hit, whether other parts of the body are injured is not within the scope of the constables' consideration.

In the quiet night, the "duangduang" sound from the inn's building could be heard very clearly.

The guests in the inn, upon hearing that it was a government case, did not dare to come out and join the fun, at most peeking out from their own door cracks.

Seeing many people being dragged out of rooms, I assumed they were all dead.

They dared not come out to watch the excitement.

Seeing that the constables had driven the thieves away, the innkeeper quickly ordered the waiters to fetch water and clean the guest rooms that very night. While cleaning, he muttered to himself...

"This is really something. We're just sitting at home, and trouble comes out of nowhere. Isn't this just adding bad luck to the old man?"

The shopkeeper grumbled as he watched the waiter work.

As the one at the center of the trouble, Zhao Qingyan tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.

Looking at Xu Dongsheng, who was pretending to sleep on a chair on the ground, I was worried that if the kid stayed in that position for a few hours, he would be ruined.

He then asked, "Hey, are you asleep?"

Xu Dongsheng opened his eyes. "No, Yan'er, what's wrong? Can't you sleep?"

Zhao Qingyan nodded, then, remembering the poor lighting indoors and that Xu Dongsheng might not be able to see, she said...

"A bit, it's exhausting."

You must be so tired. Why don't you come lie down on the bed with me?

Xu Dongsheng's mind exploded like fireworks.

"Yan'er, you mustn't! This will damage your reputation."

Zhao Qingyan laughed out loud.

"We're engaged, don't you want to take responsibility for me? Besides, don't you trust your own self-control?"

Even if you lack self-control, don't you trust me? If I don't want to, I can beat you to a pulp.

Xu Dongsheng's mind was in turmoil, he thought to himself,

“I really don’t trust my self-control in front of you.”

Fortunately, Xu Dongsheng was still young. Although he lay on Zhao Qingyan's bed in a daze, he simply hugged Zhao Qingyan and quickly fell asleep.

As for any other thoughts, she had none. Zhao Qingyan blinked in the darkness, listening to the steady breathing of the person beside her, and thought to herself,

Am I really that unattractive?

Soon Zhao Qingyan also fell asleep.

After Zhao Qingyan fell asleep, Xu Dongsheng opened his eyes. Although he couldn't see Zhao Qingyan's face clearly, he smiled when he saw his new wife's face.

He held Zhao Qingyan a little tighter and then fell asleep peacefully.

Tonight is destined to be an unsettling night.

The yamen held a court session overnight to interrogate the thieves.

The constables who went out to follow the thieves soon returned with the news, and Magistrate Qiu quickly mobilized manpower to arrest them.

By daybreak, the constables who had followed the first group of men carrying sandbags had caught all the thieves.

They also extracted all the details from the unconscious thieves.

That night, Magistrate Qiu reaped a rich harvest.

The group of thieves who ran away carrying sandbags were part of an organization that specialized in recruiting beautiful women across the country; the organization had 15 members in total. Their leader had connections to a high-ranking official of the third rank in the capital.

The young girls they found would be divided into different classes based on their appearance and other specific circumstances, and then sent to brothels in the capital and other places.

The first wave to enter through the door, the one that killed two people, was the infamous Flower Picker.

There were five people in total. They had seen Zhao Qingyan's portrait by chance and felt that it suited their taste. Now that they saw Zhao Qingyan had come to Qingyang County, they naturally took action.

The second wave of people who came in through the door, the ones who were unconscious, were indeed there for money; they were a professional human trafficking gang.

Those girls who recently went missing and looked exactly like Zhao Qingyan were kidnapped by them.