He Zhiran listened to Mo Jiuye speak in such a matter-of-fact tone, and knew that he was also very helpless, so she didn't intend to continue teasing him.
"When I went to the kitchen just now, I saw Li Rou'er fooling around with an officer."
Chatting about this kind of gossip was not Mo Jiuye's forte, so he did not respond.
Seeing that he was no longer speaking, He Zhiran simply closed her eyes and continued to brew her sleepiness.
Perhaps it was because Mo Jiuye was by her side, He Zhiran's vigilance relaxed a lot.
That night she slept exceptionally soundly, and still got up early the next morning.
Just out of the door, she saw Mrs. Zhao waiting there.
Mrs. Zhao looked left and right, then pulled He Zhiran into a corner.
"Auntie, what's the matter?" He Zhiran knew that Mrs. Zhao wanted to tell her something in private, so she spoke very softly.
Mrs. Zhao looked around cautiously again, and after making sure no one was around, she said in a low voice:
"Auntie got up last night and saw the maid from the Li family fooling around with an officer."
He Zhiran had also witnessed this with her own eyes, so she was not particularly surprised.
"Auntie, that's their business. Let's just turn a blind eye."
"I wanted to turn a blind eye, but I heard what they said, and I feel I should give you a reminder."
From Mrs. Zhao's words, Li Rou'er must have mentioned her when messing around with Li Hu. Otherwise, Mrs. Zhao would not have come to find her so early in the morning.
"Auntie, did they talk about me?"
"I was a little far away at the time, but I vaguely heard that officer seem to promise Li Rou'er that he would make trouble for you."
Upon hearing this, He Zhiran's face darkened a little.
Li Rou'er really was asking for death. She saw her acting like a clown all day long, and was too lazy to pay any attention to her, yet she was still relentless.
"Thank you for the reminder, Auntie. I'll be careful."
Seeing that He Zhiran's response was nonchalant, Mrs. Zhao couldn't help but remind her.
"An officer wanting to make trouble for you is no trivial matter. You should discuss it with Jiuye and see how to deal with it!"
"I understand, Auntie. I'll discuss it with my husband in a moment."
He Zhiran verbally agreed, pretending to chat idly with Mrs. Zhao so that no one would notice anything unusual.
After sending Mrs. Zhao away, He Zhiran went to the inn's kitchen, intending to borrow a wooden basin to wash up.
At this time, Peng Wang and several officers also came out of their respective rooms.
The officers were preparing to distribute breakfast of black flour buns to the exiled prisoners. Of course, now the only recipients were the He and Li families.
As for the Fang and Xie families, Peng Wang could see yesterday that Mo Jiuye was deliberately befriending them, so of course he could not continue to watch them nibble on black flour buns, and did not go to call them to receive it.
Needless to say about the Mo family, with such a capable woman there, they certainly would not eat black flour buns.
Moreover, they had money on hand to buy some food at the inn, which was not a big deal.
He Zhiran did intend to buy more ingredients from the inn owner.
However, this time she only gave the owner one or two taels of silver.
Breakfast didn't need to be so extravagant, just some rice porridge and side dishes would suffice.
Seeing He Zhiran enter the kitchen, sister-in-law and fifth sister-in-law knew she was going to prepare breakfast, and they hurried to follow her.
Breakfast was simple, and sister-in-law and fifth sister-in-law did not need He Zhiran to lift a finger.
Seeing this, He Zhiran was also happy to relax.
As she walked out of the kitchen, she was called over by Peng Wang.
"Today I will send two officers into town to purchase supplies for the road. You can go with them to purchase."
Being able to go out and shop, He Zhiran couldn't hide the smile on her face.
She had been here for many days and still had not toured the market!
Now she finally had a chance. Not only did she want to get a feel for the market conditions here, but also to replenish the supplies she would need for the future.
"Thank you, Officer Peng." He Zhiran sincerely thanked him.
"We still have to continue on the road in the afternoon. Make good use of the morning time." Peng Wang kindly reminded her.
"A morning is enough." He Zhiran said and then went to prepare.
She had just walked out a few steps when she heard a shrill scream coming from the thatched hut.
"Ah... what's wrong with my son..."
When the officers distributed the black flour buns just now, they cringed at the heavy smell and simply threw a package of black flour buns over from afar, without bothering to check.
Hearing this sound, the officers rushed towards the thatched hut in unison.
He Zhiran thought to herself that this must be Mo Jiuye's doing, she just didn't know how miserably the two brothers had been tormented by him to make their family members scream so painfully.
With a gossipy mindset, He Zhiran followed the officers running to the thatched hut.
Through the gaps in the crowd, two bloody masses could be seen lying inconspicuously on the ground.
To be precise, they were the He brothers, He Ming and He Liang.
At this moment, their faces were completely unrecognizable, smeared with blood, and their long hair was matted against their faces.
There seemed to be no visible wounds on their bodies. On closer inspection, the injuries were actually on their wrists and ankles.
This scene frightened the women and children to hide far away. Some huddled in the corner sobbing but did not dare come closer.
A woman who looked to be around fifty years old knelt next to the two men, crying her heart out.
"Which heartless bastard did this... Woo... Inflicting such cruelty on my sons... Woo... Our He family is already miserable enough, suffering this unjust calamity of having our home raided and being exiled, yet my son is also injured like this... Woo..."
Although He Zhiyuan saw his two sons' miserable state, he did not wail loudly. Instead, he stood there with his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth, looking extremely vexed.
Seeing the officers come over, He Zhiyuan was as if he saw a savior.
He grabbed Peng Wang's sleeve.
"Officer, you must do justice for my sons. They were still hale and hearty pushing carts for you yesterday. This morning they became like this. "
Peng Wang also felt this was a headache when he saw this scene.
In all his years working as an escort officer, this was still the first time he had encountered such an incident.
If it was said the He brothers held a grudge against someone?
Then it could only be the Mo family.
Other than Mo Jiuye, who was bedridden with serious injuries, the rest of the Mo family were all women.
Even though He Zhiran was quite capable, she was still just a frail woman. Bullying and intimidating people with some fancy fist and foot work was one thing, but Peng Wang did not believe in his heart that He Zhiran could inflict such injuries on someone.
Just as he was frowning in thought, He Zhiyuan's eyes landed on He Zhiran, who was standing at the back of the crowd watching the commotion.
He pointed at He Zhiran and said, "Officer, it must be her, this venomous woman who injured my sons so badly.
Other than the Mo family, we haven't offended anyone. This venomous woman beat up my sons last night too. Officer, you must do justice for my sons..."
Peng Wang impatiently pushed He Zhiyuan aside.
"How could you think she, a weak woman, could injure someone like this?"
