Master Zhou, holding a crossbow, stepped out from among the constables and spoke, "The tragedy in Dongning Prefecture is the court's answer. I know that if I can't hand over all the children and surrender again, I will only be captured and killed. Lord Pei's rank, even if he returns to the court, will not save my life, so I have to find another way out."
"Sir Zhou." Pei Zhiyuan's tone suddenly became cold, and his expression became much more serious. He glanced at the constables who were gathered around him, and seeing that none of them hesitated to raise their crossbows, he said coldly, "Since you know that I can't save your lives, how can you be so confident that you can fight your way out of me?"
Chen Xu stared at Pei Zhiyuan with a cold gaze, and said, "Master Pei is a skilled warrior, and perhaps he can escape our rain of arrows, but so many of your men will surely perish here today. The court will see you return defeated like a stray dog. Who do you think they will blame for alerting the enemy and causing such heavy losses?"
Pei Zhiyuan sneered, “Miss Shen seems to be very confident in her crossbow.”
"Of course. Even though I have no martial arts skills, I can still kill an expert with this crossbow. If Lord Pei is really confident that he can escape from so many deadly weapons, I'm afraid you would have twisted my head off by now."
Pei Zhiyuan stared at the flawless face with sharp eyes. He narrowed his eyes slightly, raised the corners of his lips and said, "I will treat beautiful girls with sympathy and tenderness. I will never do something as rude as twisting off a girl's head."
"Everyone says that Master Pei is ruthless and murderous, and is the living devil of the Xuanjing Division. I think Master Pei is kind and friendly, not as scary as the rumors say."
"You are really smart." Pei Zhiyuan narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the person who was pointing the crossbow at him. The yew earrings emitted a charming red light in the afterglow of the setting sun, making the beautiful face look even more elegant.
She looked at the sky, which was as bright red as if it was burned by fire, and a blazing red like a flame appeared in her clear eyes.
Shen Xu gently put down the crossbow and winked at Master Zhou, asking everyone to put down their crossbows. He also did not forget to flatter each other: "Master Pei is also a martial arts expert and a meticulous thinker."
Seeing that the other side had withdrawn their crossbows, Pei Zhiyuan signaled everyone in the Xuan Jing Division to lay down their weapons as well, allowing Song Lin and his nephew to escape from the encirclement. All the envoys in the Xuan Jing Division were completely surrounded.
He praised, "I've heard the story of Miss Shen's bravery in capturing bandits, and I admire her greatly. Did you make these crossbows and arrows, or did your husband?"
"I made it myself." Shen Xu helped Xiao Mingcheng up from the ground and patted the dirt off his body. She took off the quiver and walked in front of Pei Zhiyuan with the crossbow.
"Xiu Xiu!" Song Lin shouted worriedly, and with a rustle, he pulled out the sword of the constable next to him.
The atmosphere at the scene became tense again, and the Mirror Users of the Xuan Jing Division also gripped their weapons tightly, as if they were ready to fight to the death.
Shen Xu handed the empty crossbow to Pei Zhiyuan, and a cold female voice said in a resounding voice, "You and I are both trapped beasts fighting each other at this moment. Instead of fighting to the death, why not sit down and discuss a deal?"
"You are so brave, girl. This crossbow is so ingeniously made." Pei Zhiyuan took the crossbow from her hand and looked at it carefully. He ordered everyone to put down their weapons.
One of them hurriedly called out "Master Pei" and pulled out a hidden weapon from his sleeve, ready to step forward and hold Shen Xu hostage. However, Shen Xu took out a folding crossbow from his sleeve, pressed the mechanism, and it only took a moment from extending the crossbow to winding it.
She pulled the trigger and was about to knock the man to the ground, but she saw Pei Zhiyuan blocking the opponent's hidden weapon with his arm in a lightning-fast manner, and his other hand tightly grasped the firing buckle of the crossbow in Shen Xu's hand.
When the mirror user saw blood flowing on Pei Zhiyuan's arm, his face suddenly changed. He quickly put away his weapon, lowered his head and knelt on the ground.
“Miss Shen’s skills are indeed qualified to discuss cooperation with Pei.”
Pei Zhiyuan released the firing catch of the crossbow with an indifferent expression, threw the crossbow in his hand to the kneeling Mirror User, and said coldly: "Although the young lady is not good at fighting, she is much more useful than the useless men under my command. If I had not acted in time, my Xuanjing Division would have lost another member."
"I am guilty, please forgive me, General Pei!" The mirror user held the crossbow and bowed his head to apologize.
"Please come to the main hall of the yamen, Lord Pei." Shen Xu calmly put away the folding crossbow that he had damaged and made a gesture of invitation.
Pei Zhiyuan nodded and ordered everyone to stop attacking and surrender.
The detectives confiscated the weapons of the Mirror Users, put them in shackles, and took them to the prison. The injured and the dead at the scene were also carried into the yamen. The open space outside the door was quickly cleaned up, leaving only the lingering smell of blood that still permeated the air.
In the central hall of the yamen, Mr. Zhou served a cup of tea to everyone present. Song Lin had changed into clean clothes and sat next to Shen Xu with a stern face. Chen, the coroner stationed at the yamen, had some medical skills and bandaged everyone's wounds one by one.
Captain Song said that he was worried that the young men could not keep an eye on so many experts, so he bandaged his leg injury and went to the yamen prison.
Master Ma sat on the chair with Master Zhou. Everyone watched Pei Zhiyuan take off his clothes, revealing his smooth muscles. The Mirror Master's hidden weapon had pierced a wound in his arm, and blood was gushing out.
Coroner Chen cleaned his wound neatly and applied medicine to stop the bleeding.
"Xiu Xiu." Song Lin frowned slightly. He knew that Chen Xu loved to look at muscles. His voice was low and a little sour. "Your eyes are almost touching them. Do you want to touch them again?"
"Eh?" Shen Xu turned his head to look at Song Lin and said, "Is it okay? Will it be too offensive to Master Pei?"
"No." Pei Zhiyuan said in a devilish voice, with the corners of his mouth raised: "Is Pei's current situation considered as your prisoner? The girl wants to see and touch, but I can't do anything about it."
He looked at Song Lin’s increasingly dark complexion and added smugly, “It’s good to be liked by Miss Shen.”
Song Lin clenched his fists and threatened, "How dare you openly seduce my wife? I think it's better to just kill this guy, use his token to charge the Jiangling Mansion card, and send Cheng'er to Jiangling."
Pei Zhiyuan smiled indifferently and said to Shen Xu, "Miss Shen's husband is really bad-tempered and brainless. He is obviously a man who will not respect the girl's ideas. He is so fierce, he won't scold you often, right?"
Song Lin's face turned even uglier when he heard this. He said unconvincedly, "That's more righteous than a villain like you who kills his father for fame. Xiuxiu, there's no need for us to cooperate with such a person and negotiate terms. Who knows, he might stab us in the back one day."
Pei Zhiyuan was not annoyed, and said calmly: "If you have been wronged, you can tell me and I will take care of it for you."
"You can't even protect yourself, yet you're still being stubborn!" Compared to Pei Zhiyuan, Song Lin seemed a little exasperated. He stood up and was ready to fight him to the death.
"Okay, stop arguing." Shen Xu gently held Song Lin's fist and said gently, "Don't worry, husband, I know my limits."
She walked up to Pei Zhiyuan, took out the token and a piece of paper from his clothes, flipped through them, and then looked at Pei Zhiyuan and said in a serious tone: "Since we are cooperating, let's be polite to each other."
“What kind of business does Miss Shen want to discuss with Pei?”
"A deal that will save everyone's life."
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