Even though the nights in early winter aren't freezing yet, they're still a bit cold.

Wang Shoucai lay sprawled on the collapsed wall, shivering from the cold. He peered inside countless times, growing increasingly impatient. Didn't these people ever sleep?

He heard that it was a couple with six children, more children than adults, and he felt that he had a chance to make a move.

The money and valuables should be on the two adults. The children are said to be well-dressed and probably have some money on them.

Ah, it's all my fault for not paying attention when I heard others talking about those passersby that day; otherwise, I wouldn't have only known this little bit of information!

Wang Shoucai felt that he had come in a bit of a hurry tonight. He knew too little about the out-of-towner who was renting a room in the courtyard. It was late at night, and even if he wanted to find someone to learn more, he couldn't. If he did, even if he succeeded, he would easily be suspected if the out-of-towner in the courtyard reported him to the authorities.

However, his luck was terrible, and the money he had was snowballing due to interest. If he didn't find a way to make some money to turn things around, he was afraid he would really have to force his father-in-law to sell the house to pay off the debt.

But if the house is sold, I'll have nowhere to live!

Thinking of this, Wang Shoucai gritted his teeth and felt that the suffering he was currently enduring was nothing.

But what time is it? Why aren't these people sleepy? What are they doing in the stable? Why don't they go back to their rooms and rest?

At this moment, in Hong Xiaoduo's room, she lay in the quilt that Feiyan had warmed with a hot water bottle, and soon fell asleep.

Yao Guang got a zither today, and as soon as she got back, she followed Fei Yan around, waiting for her to tune it. She figured by the time it was tuned, it would be too late, and Fei Yan wouldn't let her sleep in this room anymore.

Of the nine people together, Hong Xiaoduo was the first to fall asleep.

In Feiyan's room, she first tuned Yaoguang's zither, then Yuheng's, and finally her own.

When Quan Jinghuai returned, he learned that Hong Xiaoduo had spent more than seven hundred taels of silver to buy a zither for the three sisters. He immediately took Tian Shu out and found a shop that was already closed. They bought boards, a saw and nails.

Then, he led a few boys to rummage around in the stables, sorting out the items from the Wei family's carriage and loading them into the Fu'an Marquis's carriage.

In the empty carriage, he pondered for a while what kind of frame to make that could hold three kites with minimal space and not interfere with people's seating in the carriage.

Having already decided to set off tomorrow, they didn't want to let such trivial matters delay their journey. Besides, these kinds of things should be handled by the men.

Quan Jinghuai felt that if Hong Xiaoduo had to personally take on such matters, then he could start wearing women's clothing from now on!

Four male disciples helped brainstorm ideas, carry the boards, and assist with the tasks. After a flurry of activity, they finally got it done. Quan Jinghuai even sat in the carriage to experience it for himself and found it to be perfectly fine.

"Alright, go back and wash up properly and go to bed early," Quan Jinghuai said loudly to his disciples.

"Is it Master?" Tianquan called out softly.

"What master? Aren't you sleepy? You're all so energetic now, but you won't be able to get up when the sun is high in the sky tomorrow morning," Quan Jinghuai said angrily.

Tianquan wanted to say something, but Tianxuan stepped forward, put her arm around his shoulder, shook her head at him, and said, "Listen to Master."

Seeing that his four disciples had left, Quan Jinghuai took down the lantern hanging above the stable and left as well.

Tianquan, who had left first, stopped after thinking for a moment and turned to look at his three older brothers: "I don't believe that you three brothers didn't notice that there was clearly someone on the other side of the broken wall."

Upon hearing this, Tian Shu reprimanded in a low voice, "Are you stupid? If you can sense something amiss, how could the three of us not? If we can all sense it, how could Master be inferior to us?"

"Exactly, why don't you use your brain?" Tianxuan also criticized in a low voice.

"Ah, so Master sent us away just to make that person show himself?" Tianquan finally realized and asked.

Tianji muttered from the side, "You're overthinking it. In my opinion, the reason Master sent us away was because he wanted to deal with that fool himself and have some fun."

“That’s right, it’s rare that Mother is resting and not here. Big brother, are we really going back? I don’t think that guy is a trained fighter. We brothers can handle this kind of guy, right?” Tianxuan whispered.

“That’s right, big brother, I also want to have some fun. I’ve been practicing martial arts diligently all day long, and finally a suitable opponent has come knocking on my door.” Tianji said to Tianshu.

“The last time it happened, it was that Black Impermanence, but Mother had already drugged him first, so he couldn’t resist,” Tianxuan continued to incite.

Tian Shu listened to his younger brothers' words and thought about it seriously for a moment. He then beckoned to them with his three fingers, and the three little ones leaned over knowingly: "If you really want to have some fun, then listen to me. We'll go around from the other side, like this... and then... remember to tell Master afterwards that we thought this kind of thing wasn't worth Master's trouble, so we did it. Got it?"

The three little heads nodded vigorously, looked around, and then followed Tian Shu in another direction toward another collapsed wall.

I've lived in this courtyard for almost a month now, and I'm quite familiar with it.

Quan Jinghuai, the master, hid his figure in the shadows. He was a little excited, but he also shook his head with a wry smile and sighed in his heart. He had experienced so many bloody storms in the martial arts world, but now he was excited to be able to deal with a petty thief by hand!

From the previous commotion, he was already able to determine that it was just an ordinary thief who didn't know martial arts.

Wait a minute, make sure to give them a good talking to, but be careful not to overpower them.

Outside the collapsed courtyard wall, Wang Shoucai finally waited until everyone inside finished their work and went back to rest. To be on the safe side, he decided to wait before going in. It would be safest to act when they were sound asleep.

While waiting, he didn't sit idle. In addition to the dagger he brought, he also found a large piece of bluestone brick at the base of the wall.

If they're discovered when we make our move, we can just smash this thing down on their head. They won't die, but they'll definitely be knocked unconscious.

Avoid using daggers if possible; your goal is to make money, so try not to cause any deaths.

If the other party really resists and tries to fight him to the death, then he can't be blamed for being ruthless.

Wang Shoucai's plan was very thorough, while Quan Jinghuai's plan was even more comprehensive and detailed. He had even figured out how to deal with the petty thief and have a good time fighting him, which part of his body to hit first to make him feel excruciating pain without losing his ability to resist, and most importantly, to silence him by pressing his acupoint...