Because of the attack they encountered en route, the group arrived at the inn in the middle of the night.

The old man's guard went up and knocked on the door. After a while, a sleepy postman carrying a lantern came out, rubbing his eyes. As soon as he saw the scene outside the door, he immediately perked up.

After opening the main gate and letting the horsemen in, he jogged into a nearby courtyard. Soon after, another person hurriedly came out, putting on his robe as he went, and headed straight for the carriage: "This humble postmaster, Yang Shuzheng, greets Lord Wei."

"Yes, Yang Yicheng, go and settle the people in that carriage for me first," Lord Wei said as he got off the carriage.

Yang Yicheng immediately agreed and walked towards the donkey cart.

Just as I was about to ask how many people were on the bus and how many rooms they needed, the door opened and a child of about eight or nine years old jumped out, followed by another, and then…

The last one seemed to be the smallest, and the young woman driving the carriage reached out and hugged it.

One, two, three, four... seven? The postmaster glanced at the carriage door again to make sure no more children came out before turning to Hong Xiaoduo and asking, "Young lady, are it alright for two people to share a room with the eight of you? Or would you prefer four people to share a room?"

"Are there any shared dorm rooms? We'd like to stay together," Hong Xiaoduo said.

"Staying in a shared dormitory?" the postmaster asked uncertainly, then turned to look at the old man.

The old man nodded, indicating that he would listen to her.

"Then please follow me." The postmaster quickly stepped forward to lead the way, and another postman came over to lead the donkey cart to the stable.

Tian Shu followed as usual. Hong Xiaoduo wanted to call him back, but seeing the old man's guards leading the horse and following, she let Tian Shu go.

Upon entering a shared room with multiple berths, the postmaster said that someone would bring water for washing up later, and told him where the latrine was. He also said that if he needed anything, he could just tell the postman outside.

It was clear that this man was in a hurry to entertain Lord Wei.

Although the children seemed to be making the bed and arranging the pillows as usual, Hong Xiaoduo knew that they were frightened by what happened tonight.

Even though I had spent my days being beaten and scolded by that wicked man, that was completely different from what happened tonight, and it was also different from what happened when I encountered the three robbers on the road.

In the middle of nowhere, at night, so many men in black appeared at the same time.

Even at night, when the fighting scene is too far to see clearly, the sounds of clashing swords and the screams of the wounded are exceptionally clear in the open wilderness at night.

Besides, the two scoundrels she dealt with were right next to the donkey cart.

Actually, she had considered luring them away before making her move, but those two bastards made their intentions very clear: they wanted to kidnap the child to threaten Lord Wei.

After laying out the bedding, Yuheng saw that Yaoguang was still nestled in Hong Xiaoduo's arms, so she quickly reached out to pick her up: "Sister will help you wash up?"

The usually obedient Yao Guang shook her head and refused to go over.

"Yaoguang, be good. Mother is very tired today," Tianquan said from the side.

Hearing that her mother was also tired today, Xiao Yaoguang reached out and let Yuheng take her in.

Hong Xiaoduo knew that Yao Guang was acting this way because she was frightened by what happened tonight. The other children were noticeably quieter.

At this moment, the courier brought a bucket of water, one bucket of cold water and one bucket of hot water.

Tianxuan first prepared lukewarm water and told Hong Xiaoduo to wash first. After washing her face, she wiped it with a cotton towel. Tianji then placed a foot bath basin that had been scalded with hot water next to her feet and moved a small stool over.

When Tian Shu returned, Hong Xiaoduo noticed that his expression was strange, so she quietly asked him what was wrong.

I learned that on my way back I happened to run into Lord Wei's guards escorting several wounded men in black, who were supposedly being interrogated in the back courtyard of the post station.

There was a man in black carrying on horseback, his face was injured and covered in blood, which was quite frightening.

"Mother, why don't you stay in one room tonight? We're afraid some of us will have nightmares again, and that will keep you from sleeping." Tian Shu

In an empty hall in the backyard of the inn, several guards were interrogating the prisoners they had captured.

Xu Chengan, who had worked as a coroner, was dragged to a corner of the hall by A Dian, who pointed at the two men in black on the ground and asked him, "Can you take a look? What's wrong with this guy? I can't find any injuries, but he just can't move."

Upon hearing this, Xu Chengan stepped forward and bent down to examine the man. There were indeed no injuries. He scratched his chin and pondered for a while. Suddenly, he thought of a possibility and turned the man in black, whose body showed no visible injuries, over onto his back.

Then, he took out a dagger and cut open the back of the man in black's robe, revealing his entire back, which had several scars from previous injuries.

Hmm? Xu Cheng'an looked at the black-clad man's thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, narrowed his eyes, and gestured for A-Dian to bring the lantern over so he could shine it more carefully.

A-Dian was also watching from the side, but he didn't see anything unusual. Suddenly, he saw Xu Chengan squinting and excitedly extending his finger, slowly sliding it down from the black-clad man's thoracic spine to his coccyx.

"So that's how it is." His voice was filled with barely concealed excitement.

A-Dian couldn't figure it out and anxiously asked, "What's going on?"

Xu Chengan then gestured for him to do as he had just done.

A-Dian did as instructed, and as soon as his finger slid down less than an inch, he understood what was going on.

The vertebrae below the thoracic spine of this man in black were all broken.

"Why didn't I think of that?" A-Dian was very annoyed.

Although he didn't know anything about medicine, he had heard people say that if a person's vertebrae were hit and injured, it would damage the tendons and veins there, and in severe cases, it could lead to paralysis.

"But how did you do that? Ah Dian, is this you?" Xu Cheng'an pointed at Ah Dian.

A-Dian quickly shook his head: "It wasn't me. By the way, take another look at his injuries." He then pointed to another man in black.

"Which brother did this? His weapon was lost and he couldn't use it, so he used a whip?" Xu Chengan muttered curiously after looking at the injury on the face of another man in black and his limp forearm.

"And here?" A-Dian asked, pointing to the bloody hole in the man's knee.

Xu Chengan examined it carefully again and again: "The wound here is irregular, I can't tell."

After saying that, he straightened up and thought for a moment, then said, "This doesn't seem like the work of us brothers."

A-Dian responded softly, "Indeed, it really wasn't our own brothers who did it."

"What? Who did that? Could it be that a martial arts master was secretly helping them?" Xu Chengan wondered.

Looking at his brother A-Dian in front of him, his expression was somewhat strange.

"You don't know who did this, do you?" Xu Ancheng asked immediately.

A-Dian sighed: "You might not believe it if I told you..."