I asked you to go hunting, and you ended up wearing a yellow robe?

Qi Shan's body moved.

There were no fancy moves, no dazzling sword flashes.

Only the simplest and most efficient killing.

Sidestep, block, turn around, stab the throat.

Squat, leg sweep, forward lunge, abdominal dissection.

Every step he took seemed to be the most meticulously calculated, and every strike of his blade precisely targeted the enemy's most vulnerable vitals.

A flash of light, and a life is ended.

Blood splattered, limbs severed.

This is not a fighting arena, it's a slaughterhouse.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, only three or four of the more than twenty bandits remained, terrified and throwing down their weapons, running away in a panic.

"He's a devil...he's a devil!"

Behind the boulder, Jia Qinghan covered her mouth, desperately trying to keep herself from making a sound.

She looked at the man covered in blood, as if he had walked out of hell, and her beautiful eyes showed not only fear but also an indescribable shock.

Qi Shan did not chase after him.

He leaned on the knife, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath.

The physical exertion was too great.

However, before he could catch his breath, more torches lit up behind the mountain path.

"Over there! Surround him!"

The second-in-command of Black Dragon Stronghold led fifty or sixty men, a dark mass, and swarmed over, surrounding him completely.

"Good lad, you've got guts!" The second-in-command's eyes twitched violently as he looked at the corpses scattered on the ground. "One man killed more than twenty of my brothers!"

He didn't dare to advance immediately, but instead waved his hand: "Archers, prepare! Let's wear him down!"

More than a dozen bows were aimed at Qi Shan.

A desperate situation.

Qi Shan's eyes narrowed, and he gripped the hilt of his knife tightly.

Just then!

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

A series of heavy, orderly footsteps came from the direction of the county town, accompanied by a unified roar.

"Border troops investigating the case! Bandits have been captured!"

Under the firelight, more than a hundred soldiers in standard armor and holding long guns stood in neat rows, like an iron torrent, instantly breaking through the bandits' chaotic formation.

The leader was none other than Chen Chong, the county magistrate, riding a black horse and holding a long spear.

"It's government troops! Run!"

The bandits, who had just been fierce and menacing, scattered like birds and beasts the moment they saw the regular army, wishing they had more legs.

Chen Chong ignored the fleeing soldiers; her gaze was fixed on the man in the center of the field.

He was covered in blood, and at his feet lay the corpses of more than a dozen bandits, including some of the leaders of Black Dragon Village.

One man, with a knife, carved out a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Chen Chong dismounted and strode to Qi Shan. Looking at the horrific scene before him, even though he was used to seeing battlefields, he couldn't help but gasp in horror.

"I'm late."

Chen Chong's gaze fell on him, a burning admiration in his eyes: "You did it all by yourself?"

Qi Shan said, "County Commandant Chen, do you still stand by what you said before?"

Chen Chong was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter, laughing heartily.

He patted Qi Shan on the shoulder:

"It counts! Of course it counts!"

"From this day forward, you are the head constable of Qingyang County!"

At the entrance to the county town, the night wind was bleak.

The torchlight cast long, thin shadows.

Zhou Xue, Lin Wan, and Su Yue stood side by side, staring intently at the direction of the mountain road. Their pretty faces were pale from the cold, but their eyes burned with the same anxiety.

Not far away, Jia Hui, dressed in military uniform, also reined in his horse and stood there. On his usually stern face, a rare hint of unease appeared.

She had been waiting here for two hours.

Suddenly, a figure appeared on the dark mountain path, approaching from afar.

"It's my husband!" Su Yue exclaimed first, her heart instantly sinking back into her stomach.

Qi Shan is back.

His black short jacket was soaked in blood, making it impossible to tell whether it was from the enemy or his own clothes, and a strong smell of blood filled the air.

The three women disregarded everything else and pounced on her like madwomen.

"Husband, are you alright?"

"That scared us to death..."

Jia Hui also breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Just as she was about to step forward, her gaze fell on Qi Shan's back.

There followed a stunningly beautiful woman with a slender figure and unsteady gait.

Jia Hui's pupils suddenly contracted.

Almost at the same time, the woman also saw her, and her previously dazed eyes widened instantly, filled with disbelief.

"Sister... Sister?" Jia Qinghan's voice trembled with tears in it.

"Qinghan?!" Jia Hui was startled, and her movement of dismounting was so fast that it left a blur.

Their eyes met, and tears streamed down their faces.

Two sisters who had struggled in their respective desperate situations for years were reunited in this way outside the small town of Qingyang.

Without a word, the two staggered toward each other, embraced tightly, and wept uncontrollably.

Qi Shan touched his nose, looking somewhat bewildered at this sudden turn of events.

Looking at his three equally bewildered wives, he coughed lightly and said, "This isn't the place to talk."

Chen Chong, who had returned with him, took out a bunch of keys and a land deed from his pocket and handed them to Qi Shan.

"This is the residence allocated to you by the county government, the official residence of the newly appointed head constable. It's located in Fu'an Lane in the east of the city, a three-courtyard house."

A courtyard with three sections!

Zhou Xue and the other two gasped in shock.

That was one of the best locations in Qingyang County. Even wealthy families couldn't rent it for fifty taels of silver a year.

Now, the government has directly given them a set?

"Let's go home," Qi Shan said succinctly, taking the keys.

……

Fu'an Lane, Qi Mansion.

When the vermilion wooden door was pushed open, revealing a spacious and bright bluestone courtyard and three rows of brand-new red brick houses, Zhou Xue and the other two were completely stunned.

This...this is their new home?

The walls are walls, the courtyard is a courtyard; it's no longer that dilapidated thatched hut with drafts coming from all sides.

Su Yue was the first to react. Like a happy little swallow, she cheered and rushed inside, her little hands touching the cool, smooth red bricks, and then pushing open the carved wooden window.

"Wow! What a big house! Honey! We have a new home!"

She turned back to look at Qi Shan standing in the courtyard, her eyes sparkling as if stars were shining: "Our husband is the best husband in the world!"

Although Zhou Xue and Lin Wan did not speak, their red eyes and hands tightly gripping the hem of their clothes had already betrayed their inner turmoil.

They recalled the days when they were still daughters of respectable families, living in a similar brick house, carefree and without worries.

It's like an eternity.

Inside the main room, candlelight shone brightly.

The Jia sisters finally calmed down and began to tell their story.

"We are the daughters of the Marquis of Dingbei, the Jia family." Jia Hui's voice was low as she revealed a shocking secret.

Three years ago, the Marquis of Dingbei's family was framed for treason and executed. A former subordinate of her father, a commander of a thousand men, risked his life to rescue her, allowing her to disguise herself as a man and take the place of her son who died in battle, hiding among the border troops until now.

"Then how did your younger sister... survive?" Jia Hui looked at Jia Qinghan, her eyes filled with heartache.

Jia Qinghan bit her lip and slowly said, "During the chaos of that year, my sister and I were separated, and later I was... imprisoned in Wanyu Tower in the capital for three years."

"Wan Yulou?" Qi Shan frowned; he seemed to have heard the name somewhere before.

"It's a secret prison of the imperial court, specifically for imprisoning women of status who still have some use," Jia Qinghui added, her face grim. "A few days ago, I don't know who it was, but they took me from Wanyu Tower and brought me here, wanting me to marry the young master of Black Wind Stronghold..."