Nan Yi spent a few days in Qi County. Zhou Ruxue would come to visit her from time to time and sometimes invite her to her home.

This girl has the straightforwardness and honesty typical of girls from the North. She is sincere and warm-hearted, and I took her all over Qixian County.

With Nan Yi, a master, by her side, Zhou Ruxue was safe and sound when she went out, which worried Shi Buping greatly.

Unable to get close to Zhou Ruxue, and having learned that the Zhou family was planning to move, he had no choice but to seek help from his brother-in-law, Prefect Liu.

Prefect Liu and his wife were also troubled by money. He had served in Qi County for three years and had a good relationship with his superiors. Recently, he learned that the Prefect would soon be transferred back to the capital. Prefect Liu was currently a fifth-rank official, while the Prefect was a fourth-rank official.

He had received excellent ratings in the evaluations of Qi County for three consecutive years and wanted to be promoted to prefect. It would have been easy for him, but Prefect Liu was afraid that someone would try to steal his job, so he tried to bribe his way out of it and make it a done deal.

There is a saying among the people that a clean prefect can amass 100,000 taels of silver in three years, but Prefect Liu embezzled far more than 100,000 taels.

Over the course of three years, in order to curry favor with his superiors and to bribe a certain influential person in the capital, he spent nine-tenths of his silver, leaving him with insufficient funds to make ends meet.

Shi Buping went to Prefect Liu's residence and discussed the Zhou family's affairs with Prefect Liu in the study.

"Is what you're saying true?" Prefect Liu asked excitedly, standing up as well.

Shi Buping patted his chest and guaranteed, "Brother-in-law, I swear to God, every word I say is true. I truly love that eldest daughter of the Zhou family, but she is so ungrateful. She is the only daughter of the Zhou family, and I heard that the Zhou family's treasury is piled up like a mountain of silver. My sister just said that you are short of money. So, all I need is a beautiful woman, and the money can go to you, brother-in-law. What do you say?"

Prefect Liu waved his hand, gesturing for him to sit down. "Let me think about it. This matter needs further consideration."

"What are you still thinking about? If you keep thinking, the Zhou family will run away. Brother-in-law, can you stop dawdling like this?" Shi Buping said.

Prefect Liu remained calm and collected, certain that not a single penny of his money would be lost. He picked up the teacup on the table, pondered for a moment, and suddenly had an idea.

He put down his teacup. "I have my own ideas about this. Just behave yourself these next couple of days, and I'll find a way to send the beauty to your home. Just wait and see."

"Brother-in-law, what's the idea? Why are you being so mysterious?" Shi Buping asked, leaning closer.

Prefect Liu shook his head. "It's getting late. Why don't you go see your sister? She's been talking about you these past few days."

Shi Buping touched his nose, knowing that his brother-in-law was worried about him, so he didn't ask any more questions and just waited for the beauty.

Nan Yi escorted Zhou Ruxue home, but she did not stay as a guest. The Zhou family had been in a lot of turmoil these past few days. Master Zhou was busy dealing with the family business, while Madam Zhou dismissed the servants and took stock of the dowry.

Years have passed, and they have no intention of returning; they simply want to travel light.

Master Zhou once said that he wanted to go to the capital, while Madam Zhou preferred Jiangnan. Nan Yi thought that she should give the Zhou family a token so that if they went to the capital, they could have a powerful backer to rely on.

But before she could make a decision, something happened to the Zhou family.

Nan Yi was having breakfast at the inn when the innkeeper walked in with a sigh, saying, "What a pity, what a pity, when will this ever end?"

"What's wrong, shopkeeper? What's the pity?" Nan Yi asked curiously.

The shopkeeper looked somber. He knew Nan Yi was easy to talk to, and they had gotten to know each other well during her stay. They could chat from time to time.

He walked to Nan Yi's table and sat down. After pouring himself a cup of tea, he said, "Qi County is no longer a place to stay. In previous years, the county was very lively. But since the local wealthy merchants left or moved away, Qi County has become increasingly deserted. Among the few remaining wealthy families, the Zhou family has also suffered."

Nan Yi was suddenly startled. "The Zhou family? What happened? They were fine yesterday!"

"Alas, the Zhou family was broken into by robbers last night. The Zhou family's husband and wife died a horrific death, their valuables are missing, and Miss Zhou is missing."

The innkeeper gulped down his tea, slammed the cup down, and snorted coldly, "What strongman? Everyone knows it was Shi Buping who did it. Seeing that the Zhou family was about to leave, and after his marriage proposal was rejected, he resorted to a vicious scheme to destroy the Zhou mansion. He's utterly depraved... Hey, sir, where are you going?"

Before the innkeeper could finish speaking, Nan Yi left the inn like a gust of wind. She was extremely shocked by the destruction of the Zhou family.

At the same time, he was very worried about Miss Zhou's situation. The Zhou family were kind and friendly, and Miss Zhou was lively and pretty, a very good girl.

If it really was that bastard Shi Buping who did it, then Miss Zhou will definitely fall into his hands.

The methods are too ruthless. If she can't force a marriage, she'll destroy the Zhou family. Shi Buping, Shi Buping, if anything happens to Miss Zhou, she will definitely kill him.

They rushed to the Zhou family's residence, where the front gate was wide open and a large crowd had gathered to watch, their faces filled with pity.

"...How pitiful. I heard that Madam Zhou was violated by a rapist and, in her anger, banged her head against the wall."

"That's right. Old Master Zhou had his throat slit by a thug, blood was everywhere, the house was ransacked, and all of Zhou's servants and maids were dead."

"What strongman? It was clearly Shi the bully who did it. It's just a pity for Miss Zhou..."

"Are you out of your mind? How dare you talk such nonsense? Be careful Shi Buping comes after you."

"Hmph, who's afraid of who? I'll fight him to the death if I have to."

An old man sighed helplessly, "If you're not afraid, isn't your mother afraid too?"

"......"

Hearing the onlookers' discussions, Nan Yi was so angry that his lungs felt like they were going to explode. His anger surged to the top of his head. In front of the Zhou residence, yamen runners were cleaning up the corpses, and inside the courtyard, an old man in official robes was directing the operation.

She resisted the urge to go closer. Her intuition told her that she couldn't go in. If she showed up now, she would easily be framed and labeled as a bully.

After all, during this period, she was the one who had been closest to the Zhou family.

The Zhou family, such a good family, has come to such a state. Nan Yi felt a dull ache in her heart.

Not only did she not go in, but she immediately turned back to the inn to pack her luggage, hurriedly settled the bill, and then led her horse out of the city.

There was an official road outside Qi County, but she didn't know where it led. However, she knew that if she kept going in that direction, she could reach Luoyang, which was her next destination.

The official road was lined with woods on both sides. She found a secluded spot, tied up her horse, and quietly returned to Qi County.

Zhou Ruxue didn't die on the spot. If she were alive, where would she be?

Before leaving the city, Nan Yi had inquired about Shi Buping's residence. Tonight, she planned to sneak into the Shi family's house.

If this utterly depraved bully really is him, she will not let him off easily.

Before nightfall, Nan sneaked into Shi Buping's backyard. This bastard must have done a lot of bad things. He's just a small-time hoodlum with a fifth-rank official backing him, yet he occupies a large four-courtyard house.

The house was filled with servants, maids and old women moving about. She hid in the kitchen until most of the lights in the house went out.

The main courtyard wasn't hard to find. She started looking from the east wing of the second courtyard. It seemed that Shi Buping's first wife lived there. The woman was still awake and was whispering something to her personal maid. She only heard two words: "artificial hill."

Nan Yi searched the house thoroughly, even looking through Shi Buping's bedroom, but couldn't find Zhou Ruxue.