"It's just a mouse hiding in the dark." Cheng Ying glanced at Xia Ning, who immediately understood. He took out a white brocade handkerchief from his arms and wiped the stone bench in the pavilion clean.

Cheng Ying lifted up his skirt and sat down on the stone bench. He was clearly here to arrest someone, but he was calm and relaxed, as if everything was under control.

Yes, he has sharp minions and each of the spies of the Eastern Depot should not be underestimated. Even if Cheng Ying comes with him, he won't have to do it himself. Xia Ning alone is enough, Yu Jiao thought to herself, but she became more and more worried about Wei Lichu.

"Sir, there is blood here." A guard jumped onto the wall at some point and was examining the blood on the wall.

Hearing the sound, Xia Ning walked to the crushed osmanthus flowers, pushed away the branches and leaves with his hands, and then took a deep leap and jumped onto the wall where Wei Lichu had climbed over.

Yu Jiao's heart skipped a beat. She and Li Jing were so busy covering up the blood dripping from Wei Lichu on the ground that they neglected the traces left on the wall.

Xia Ning jumped down from the wall and said to the guards, "This man should be hiding in the house. Search thoroughly."

Yu Jiao restrained herself from looking at the back house. Cheng Ying's eyes fell on her fair face. "Since they are hiding in this house, Yuning, you really didn't see anyone escape in? Do you know what the consequences are for harboring someone I want to catch?"

It seemed that since the day he adopted her as his adopted daughter, Cheng Ying seldom referred to himself as "Mr." in front of her. Now that he did so again, there was an added chilling sharpness in his words.

Although Yu Jiao felt guilty, she had been practicing medicine for many years and had developed the instinct to remain calm in times of danger. She responded calmly, "Before my foster father came, Yuning had only been in this house for an incense stick of time. If there really was a thief who escaped here, it might have happened before Yuning entered this house."

Cheng Ying glanced at her and smiled grimly, "Really?"

Yu Jiao tightened her hands in her sleeves slightly. When she saw the guards coming out of the back room and finding that they had not found Wei Lichu, she felt relieved. "How dare Yu Ning lie to my foster father?"

Cheng Ying pinched her chin, exerting a little force, and stared at her coldly with her gorgeous phoenix eyes, "You have a cat-like temperament and are very brave, but you only look obedient on the surface."

Just hearing a scream from the front yard, Xia Ning's face turned grim, and he alertly took the servants to the front yard to check what was going on.

Yu Jiao recognized it as Jianjia's voice and noticed that Li Jing was no longer in the yard at some point. The tension in her heart finally relaxed.

Cheng Ying still held Yu Jiao's chin tightly, two cold white fingers pinching her jaw. Yu Jiao was forced to look up at him. Her eyes were calm, but her words were not very obedient. "Godfather likes well-behaved people?"

Cheng Ying chuckled. Because they were so close, Yu Jiao could feel his breath on her face, as well as the light, pleasant sandalwood fragrance on his body. The fragrance seemed to be emanating from the black wood Buddhist beads bracelet on his wrist.

"The more obedient the people working under me are, the better. As for you..." Cheng Ying seemed to think about it, and his narrow eyes raised a beautiful arc, looking at Yu Jiao's face for a moment, "You are my adopted daughter. No matter what your personality is, I will treat you differently."

Xia Ning went to the front yard to check what was going on, bringing Jianjia over with him, and reported to Cheng Ying, "Superintendent, there is blood at the side door. Someone must have entered the yard and escaped. I will lead some people to chase him."

Cheng Ying nodded slightly, and Xia Ning took the guards away to continue the investigation.

Jianjia saw Cheng Ying pinching Yu Jiao's chin, and felt worried. She took out the house deed from her arms and placed it on the stone table, "Miss, it's done. Here is the house deed."

Cheng Ying's eyes fell on the contract paper. He loosened his fingers. The little girl's fair skin was not made up, delicate and clean. He did not use much force, but he left two purple handprints.

Cheng Ying felt disgusted. She had obviously not been pampered all her life, so how could her skin be so delicate? With just a slight touch, such obvious marks were left on her. Shouldn't she be protected from bumps, bumps, or even beatings? Raising a girl was indeed a hassle.

Although she felt disgusted, the soft touch remaining on her fingertips seemed quite good, and Cheng Ying strangely did not use a handkerchief to wipe her fingers.

"It's okay for girls to be a little spoiled and willful. It's rare for me to have such a little girl to sit on my lap. Even if you act wild and unrestrained in front of me, I will still spoil you." Cheng Ying looked at the purple marks on her chin and felt that they were very annoying. Her voice became much lower and gentler.

Being unruly in front of Cheng Ying? With this man's moody and unpredictable character, Yu Jiao didn't dare to believe his words. She just treated them as a gust of wind passing by her ears. She opened her lips and said, "Yu Ning is so frightened by my adoptive father's high regard for me."

Cheng Ying glanced at the deed and asked, "Why did you buy this house? There is no place for you in the Liu Mansion? How much did you spend?"

Yu Jiao didn't want to mention Yu Qizhe in front of Cheng Ying, so she just said, "Father, you're joking. I bought this house for someone else, and it cost seven thousand taels."

Cheng Ying originally thought that she bought this house for herself, but when she heard that she bought it for someone else, she asked, "Who did you buy it for?"