Abandoning literature for martial arts, starting by unleashing the beauty's bow.

Lu Fengnian smiled slightly, "Chief Constable Ye, things have come to this point, so you don't need to blame yourself anymore."

"If I hadn't confessed to you that day, things would probably have been much worse."

Upon hearing this, Ye Zhengtang cupped his hands to Lu Fengnian again, saying, "Lu Fengnian, things haven't reached the final stage yet. Don't be pessimistic. Magistrate Wu and I will do our best."

Lu Fengnian nodded and asked, "If the garrison commander of the prefecture investigates this matter, what are the chances that I will be convicted and punished by joining the army?"

After a moment's thought, Ye Zhengtang said, "I have witnessed your archery skills. In the dark of night, at a distance of sixty zhang, you were able to accurately hit the target. Such archery skills would definitely place you at the level of a divine archer in our Daqing Army."

With the war at a stalemate, the most pressing task for each state is to recruit and conscript soldiers.

If the border war can be fought with elite and capable soldiers, the greatest credit will belong to the garrison commander of the recommended prefecture.

If the garrison commander were to know of your archery skills, he would surely make an exception and recruit you.

If you can successfully join the army, the case of Erlang Village can be closed.

At this point, he sighed again, "Magistrate Wu and I also considered following the path of our Liuzhou garrison commander."

Unfortunately, Qinghe County is just a small county within the prefecture, and Magistrate Wu has no connection to the prefectural garrison commander, so he can't pass the message up to him.

Lu Fengnian simply said "oh" and didn't say anything more.

Ye Zhengtang paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Besides joining the army to atone for my crime, I do have another option."

Lu Fengnian slightly raised his eyelids. "I'd like to hear the details."

Ye Zhengtang cleared his throat. "The fact that Du Sanqiu was able to bring Master Mi to the prison today shows that your relationship with Du Sanqiu is quite special."

Master Mi cares deeply for his nephew. If you can persuade Du Sanqiu to get Master Mi's help, there will be a great deal of room for maneuver in your matter.

As far as I know, the prefect of Liuzhou and the Mi family have a deep connection.

If you are confident you can persuade Du Sanqiu, I can arrange for him to come here and meet with you again.

Lu Fengnian hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, "I have some friendship with Du Sanqiu, but I'm afraid I can't let him get involved in this mess."

Upon hearing this, Ye Zhengtang looked disappointed. He folded Lu Fengnian's letter, put it in his pocket, and said in a low voice, "I will deliver the letter to your family later."

"Thank you, Chief Constable Ye."

Lu Fengnian bowed slightly, then casually asked, "Where are my mother and the others now? Is their place safe?"

Ye Zhengtang, without a second thought, replied, "Manager Fang is quite considerate. He was worried that other places were not safe, so he let your mother, your brother, and your sister stay in the backyard of Fuyuan Fur Shop."

It's a secluded and quiet place, undisturbed by anyone, and there are no safety concerns.

Lu Fengnian nodded. "Then I'm relieved."

Ye Zhengtang hesitated for a moment, then said, "Give me back the dagger I gave you earlier."

Ma Hui is currently under house arrest and poses no further threat to you.

The dagger is useless if it stays with you.

"If the governor comes down and finds a dagger on you, that'll be a big problem."

Lu Fengnian nodded, took the dagger out of his sleeve, and handed it to Ye Zhengtang.

Ye Zhengtang's expression visibly relaxed. He greeted Lu Fengnian, left the cell, whispered a few words to the four constables, and then quickly left.

Lu Fengnian sat cross-legged on the straw bed, slowly closing his eyes, like an old monk entering meditation.

…………

Deep inside the Qinghe County prison.

As night deepened, the four constables chatted and joked for a while, which expended a lot of their energy.

Finally, the two sat down against the wall and started to sleep.

The remaining two stood at the cell door, also dozing off.

Lu Fengnian, who was already asleep on the straw bed, opened his eyes slightly, glanced at the situation outside the cell, frowned slightly, and continued to sleep.

As the hour drew near to the end of the day, the two constables guarding the gate couldn't wait any longer and went to the base of the wall to wake up the two constables who were fast asleep. They then plopped down at the base of the wall and began to sleep.

The two constables, still half asleep, went to the cell and leaned against the door to continue dozing off.

Unbeknownst to them, Lu Fengnian, who had been motionless, suddenly opened his eyes.

When the two constables in front of the prison cell kept pecking at the rice like chickens, he slowly got up, took a long strip of cloth from his sleeve, and soaked it with wine.

Then, he slowly walked to the cell door, took out a small paper package, and slowly opened it.

Inside the paper packet was a clump of pale yellow powder.

Lu Fengnian carefully put the paper packet to his mouth and gently blew on it.

The pale yellow powder immediately and quickly passed through the iron bars of the cell door, flying out in a flurry.

Once all the medicinal powder had been blown away, Lu Fengnian quickly tied the long strip of cloth, which had been soaked with wine, over his mouth and nose.

After waiting for about ten breaths, a series of thuds were heard as the four guards outside the cell collapsed to the ground.

The pale yellow powder from earlier was actually a sleeping potion.

After knocking out the two assassins sent by Ma Hui last night, Lu Fengnian found sleeping potion on them and secretly hid it.

Seeing all four constables fall to the ground, he reached out and pulled over the constable lying on the left side of the cell door, taking the key from his waist.

Soon, the copper lock was opened, and Lu Fengnian slowly walked out.

He quickly glanced at the four constables, then strode to the wall, stripped off one of their outer garments, and put it on.

He then slowly walked out of the depths of the prison.

It was already midnight.

Inside the prison, almost all the guards were asleep, and the others who weren't asleep were also drowsy and yawning constantly.

Lu Fengnian, dressed in the uniform of a constable, slowly walked through the prison, his head slightly bowed.

The jailers who weren't asleep merely glanced at him and then ignored him.

Lu Fengnian walked at a moderate pace and left the prison smoothly without alerting anyone.

Having gotten a little further from the prison, he quickened his pace, using the cover of night and the buildings on the street to hurry towards Fuyuan Fur Shop.

About 45 minutes later, he arrived at Fuyuan Fur Shop.

At such a late hour, Fuyuan Leather Shop would naturally have already closed for the night.

We circled around to the backyard of Fuyuan Leather Shop. The backyard wall was very high, about 12 feet.

After observing for a moment, Lu Fengnian found a section of the wall, slowly retreated more than two zhang away, took a running start, and quickly tapped his feet on the wall. With a final effort, he grabbed the top of the wall tightly.

With a little effort, he easily and nimbly climbed onto the top of the wall.

He estimated that once his archery skills reached level four, his physique would be in no way inferior to a first-grade acquired martial artist, and might even surpass them by a great deal.

He had already confirmed this with Ye Zhengtang.

On that day, Ye Zhengtang took a back road to Qinghe County, wanting to test Lu Fengnian's footwork.

In reality, Lu Fengnian hadn't exerted his full strength yet; his heavy breathing was merely an act to impress Ye Zhengtang.