Chapter 177 Being Targeted

That day, the Li family’s door was knocked open.

Li Erhu opened the door and saw a strange man in gray, about 30 years old. He asked, "Who are you? Who are you looking for?"

The gray-clothed man said politely, "Thank you, sir, for sending me to give Miss Li a message."

"Wait a moment."

Li Erhu closed the door and found Li Wanyue: "Sister, there is a man outside who said that Lord Xie asked him to bring you a message."

Li Wanyue followed Li Erhu to the door.

When the man saw her, he said politely, "Miss Li, Mr. Xie has something to ask you. Please follow me to the county government office. The carriage is over there."

Li Wanyue took a look at him, who was dressed as a servant. Thinking of what Xie Yan had reminded her of last time in the county government office, she became alert.

"You go back first, I'll ask my brother to go with me later."

"This... Mr. Xie said that it is about sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes, so please go quickly."

"I understand. You go back and tell Mr. Xie first. I will go with my brother later."

Seeing that Li Wanyue was so wary, the man had no choice but to leave in disappointment.

Li Erhu asked: "Sister, what's going on?"

"Nothing, brother. Last time, Xie Yan told me that there are many outsiders in Anping County during this period, so he asked me to go out less on weekdays, and it would be best if I didn't go out at all. Even if he wants to find me for something, he will ask Qingfeng to pass the message. We don't know this person, so we'd better be on guard."

Li Erhu suddenly realized that Mr. Xie was indeed thoughtful.

On the other side, the man walked out of the village and came to a hillside.

There are two big, strong, rough men waiting here with a bandit-like demeanor.

Seeing him coming, one of the bearded men asked, "Isn't he here?"

"No, that girl is very alert. I looked carefully at the new house. The wall is a bit far from the main yard, so it's not easy to do anything."

The man in gray was a little annoyed.

It doesn't matter if Xie Yan can't be lured out. He will eventually leave the government office, so we will tie him up after he leaves.

I didn't expect that a country girl could be so cunning.

The bearded man slapped the tree with his palm and said, "Mr. County Magistrate gave the news too late. I have inquired and found that this family was still living in that small broken courtyard a few days ago. If the news had been passed on earlier, the family could have been solved with a fire. There would have been no need for such trouble."

Another man said: "I found someone secretly watching this family. They don't look like enemies, but just surveillance."

The bearded man sneered, "There's only one big house in the whole village, who wouldn't be jealous? There must be a lot of people eyeing it, what's so strange about that?"

The man frowned, and what the bearded man said seemed to make sense.

The gray-clothed man said, "The master hasn't used your men for a long time. I'll leave this matter to you. If you do a good job, you will definitely get some benefits."

The bearded man said, "Tell Lord Cao to rest assured that we will definitely get rid of this family."

"The master said that we need to keep them alive." The gray-clothed man thought of something and reminded, "There are several strong laborers in this family. You'd better send a few more people."

"Don't worry, we know what to do."

Several people then left.

And Xie Yan also got the news at the first time.

"Someone came to my house and borrowed my name to pick up Li Wanyue?"

"Yes."

"But did you see clearly who it was?"

"The man has an ordinary appearance, dressed in gray. I don't recognize him."

"Keep watching, and report any news promptly."

"Yes." The bailiff responded and left.

Xie Yan lowered his eyes. Someone had been staring at him these past few days. It seemed that County Magistrate Cao was holding a grudge and wanted to tie up both him and Li Wanyue.

In that case, let them do as they wish.

Xie Yan ordered: "Go tell Lu San to get ready in the next few days and sharpen the knives faster. Also, have someone notify Lord Zhao Kuo to be ready, as we may take action at any time."

"Yes." Qingfeng responded and went out.

Two days later, it was a dark and windy night, and the yamen runner reported to Xie Yan: "Sir, a group of people went in the direction of Qingshi Town, about ten people, I don't know if they are going to Daohua Village."

Xie Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, stood up, picked up the sword and left the study.

He took a dozen yamen runners with him and disappeared into the night on horseback.

Seeing this, the person guarding in the dark immediately went back to report.

Cao Qiecheng snorted coldly: "Sure enough, you are on guard against me."

The sturdy man, who was sitting on one side with his feet on the table, picked up a peanut and threw it into his mouth.

He said, "Don't worry, Lord Cao. The ten people we sent to Daohua Village are the vanguard. There are another twenty people hiding in the mountains near Qingshi Town. They have also gone there. The people surnamed Xie can use in the county government are only about a dozen people. The rest of them are also grateful to you.

Don't worry, today we will make sure that Mr. Xie never returns, and by then the county government will be in your hands again."

"We have been working together for so many years, so I naturally know the abilities of the second in command and his brothers. Come, let's have a drink." County Magistrate Cao picked up the wine pot and poured him a glass, then raised his own glass.

The two cups collided, making a crisp sound.

Rice Flower Village

It was already Chou time, and the only sound in the silent night was the chirping of insects.

The Li family’s new house was at the end of the village, so the group went directly to the end of the village and did not cause the dogs in the village to bark.

The bearded man led his men to the high wall of Li's house. There were no trees outside the yard, so there was no way to climb up with the help of trees.

I asked several people to take out iron hooks and throw them onto the high wall, but there was no place for the iron hooks to get stuck, so this method was even less effective.

The bearded man looked at the height of the wall, pointed at two people to squat, and asked another person to step on the shoulders of the two people and drag the man up.

After finally reaching the wall, they grabbed hold of it with both hands and exerted force. Immediately, a scream was heard, and then three people fell to the ground.

The bearded man cursed impatiently: "You idiot, you can't even climb a wall. If you call the villagers over later, I will beat you to death."

The man named Lao Liu said with trembling lips: "Fourth brother, it's not that I'm stupid, it's that there are broken pieces of porcelain on the wall, and they pierced my hand."

The bearded man was startled and cursed: "Damn it, that's really cruel."

He cursed and kicked the wall.

"Fourth brother, what should we do?"

Bearded Old Man took off his short outer coat, tore it in two pieces and tied them around his hands, then let the others drag him up the wall again.

Li Wanyue had already been woken up by the heat because the ice had melted. Just as she was about to get some ice, she heard a noise and became alert.

He put on his coat, put the dagger on his waist, picked up the cloth bag containing chili powder and lime powder from the drawer, and walked to the backyard wall to listen for any movement.

When she got closer, she found a dark shadow here, and she was so scared that she immediately grabbed lime powder.

Li Erhu whispered: "I am the second brother."

Only then did Li Wanyue breathe a sigh of relief.

The two listened to the noise outside and looked up at the courtyard wall.

Li Erhu quietly walked to the corner, picked up a hoe, and got ready.

After a while, a figure climbed up the wall and jumped down. Li Erhu hit the man on the head with a hoe. The man groaned and became motionless.

Li Wanyue climbed up the wall along the ladder and quietly glanced at the distance.

Even if lime powder is sprinkled at this distance, it will not have much effect, so we have to think of other ways.

The people outside the wall waited for a while, but no sound came from inside the wall.

Just as he was getting anxious, Xie Yan and his men arrived quietly.

The cold sword flashed in the dark night.

He raised his hand and waved it, and a man was slashed on the neck and fell to the ground.

When the others heard the noise, they immediately started fighting with their swords.

At this time, another group of people approached, and Xie Yan discovered that there were more than ten bandits.

He swung his sword faster.