I manage female characters in all the heavens.

Chapter 174 On Demon King-Level Mounts

"Playing tricks!" Xiahou Tan glanced at Nie Yan and ordered his soldiers to pry open the box.

The moment the box was opened, the scenery inside was revealed to everyone, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief—it was a person, not a ghost.

Looking at the woman inside the box, her clothes disheveled and twisted, yet her smooth, fair skin still visible, Xiahou Tan couldn't help but be surprised and looked at Nie Yan with a strange expression.

He sighed inwardly, thinking that Nie Yan was a virtuous gentleman, but he never expected that he would secretly engage in such acts of abusing and trafficking beautiful women.

His original plan was to frame Nie Yan and his group for stealing intelligence, and then kill them and take the woman, which is exactly what he did.

Unexpectedly, the other party didn't need him to falsely accuse them; they were genuinely committing a crime!

How to solve the problem of being wrongly accused? It's very simple: just make sure the charge is substantiated.

The atmosphere at the scene instantly became eerie.

All eyes were focused on the pitiful woman in the box and on Nie Yan, their gazes filled with a complex mix of shock, disdain, and disbelief.

Nie Yan was stunned on the spot, and even his grip on the sword became unsteady.

He recognized the box; it was the one he had brought from Jinhua Prefecture, the box that contained his treasured calligraphy and paintings.

But now, the lid of the box has been opened, and inside there are no paintings or calligraphy, only evil.

By the light of the torch, everyone could see that a person was huddled inside.

It was a woman who should have had a good figure, her clothes were a little messy, and her hair was loose, but now she was curled up in a strange posture in the small box.

If it weren't for the clearly visible rise and fall of his breathing, everyone would have thought it was a corpse.

Because of the deep darkness, her face was not clearly visible even in the flickering firelight, but one could vaguely guess that it must have been an extremely beautiful face.

What a pitiful woman, suffering such torment; people couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of pity for her.

But they all seemed oblivious to how a human being could survive for eight or nine days without food or water under such conditions.

Nie Yan was completely bewildered.

His mind raced, but he couldn't figure out why the box that clearly contained calligraphy and paintings had turned into a person.

Xiahou Tan walked to the box, looked down at the "pitiful" woman inside, and then turned to look at Nie Yan.

The expression on his face could be described as bizarre; it was the first time tonight that he had failed to control his facial expressions.

“Lord Nie,” he began slowly, his voice carrying an indescribable emotion.

"I originally thought you were a gentleman, but I never expected..."

Nie Yan's face flushed red, and he waved his hands repeatedly: "No! No! I didn't put it in there! I had no idea there was someone in this box! Someone must be framing me!"

"Framed you?" Xiahou Tan finally dropped the pretense, sneered, and pointed at the suitcase. "The people found in your luggage, could they be framing you?"

"You brought this box yourself. There's no pretty young lady in our camp who would be willing to put it in a box to frame you. Tell me, if it wasn't you, then who was it?"

"Your seal and your wax stamp are not something we can break and then forge!"

Nie Yan opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't explain it at all.

That box was indeed brought by him.

The seal was intact, and he had personally stamped it with the sealing wax.

If he hadn't put it in himself in Jinhua, how did that grown man get inside?

He couldn't figure out this problem no matter how hard he tried.

The way the soldiers and officers around Nie Yan looked at him had completely changed.

"You really can't judge a book by its cover..."

"He looks so refined, I never expected him to do such a despicable thing..."

"I've heard that the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital now prefer this kind of style..."

They had all planned it out long ago: first, to frame Miss Nie, then to frame Nie Yan, and finally to kill Xiahou Tan and his group in a perfectly legitimate way to win the girl.

As a result, what should have been a pleasant scene of them wrongly accusing innocent people suddenly turned into them conducting a righteous trial of evil, which made everyone feel quite uncomfortable.

What kind of nonsense is it that when we do evil, it suddenly becomes doing good?

Whispers rose and fell, like knives stabbing into Nie Yan's heart.

Nie Yan felt a sudden dizziness, his legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

Butler Xu quickly helped him up, saying anxiously, "Master! Don't worry! There's definitely a way to explain this!"

But Nie Yan was already unable to speak.

Explain? How do you explain it?

The man was found in his suitcase, which he had brought himself, and the seals and wax were intact.

He can't clear his name even if he jumps into the Yellow River!

He even wondered if he had amnesia.

Xiahou Tan looked at Nie Yan's distraught appearance and a hint of pleasure flashed in his eyes.

He stepped forward, patted Nie Yan on the shoulder, and said in a tone of disappointment and frustration:

"Lord Nie, Lord Nie, why are you doing this? If you're short of money, just tell me, and I'll help you. If you're short of beauties, I can arrange that for you too."

"But you insisted on taking this crooked path, and now you've been caught red-handed. Even if I wanted to help you, I can't now."

He sighed deeply, turned around, his back to Nie Yan, and said in an extremely sorrowful tone, "Men, seize Nie Yan and the others!"

Abuse and human trafficking are capital offenses, even in this era. No one can control what high-ranking officials do in private, but since it has come out in the open and fallen into his hands, then the evidence is conclusive!

Let alone a mere third-rank official like you, even if a prince were proven guilty of such a crime, he would be lucky to escape with his life!

"Yes!"

Dozens of soldiers rushed forward, intending to pin Nie Yan and his group down.

Qingluo trembled with fear, hiding behind "Nie Xiaoqian," tears streaming down her face: "Miss...Miss, what should we do..."

"Nie Xiaoqian" patted the back of her hand and whispered, "Don't be afraid, watch me."

She took a deep breath and said slowly in a languid tone, as if she had just woken up from a nap, "Wait a minute."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it had a strange penetrating power that drowned out all the noise.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and involuntarily looked at her.

"Nie Xiaoqian" walked out, her skirt swaying gently in the night breeze. The firelight shone on her exquisite face, as if gilding her with a golden halo.

She walked to the box, glanced down at the Yin Wind Demon Mother huddled inside, then looked up at Xiahou Tan and smiled slightly:

"General Xiahou, you've misunderstood. What's in this box isn't a kidnapped woman, but my steed."

Xiahou Tan was stunned for a moment, thinking he had misheard: "What? A mount?"

Nie Xiaoqian nodded, her tone very natural: "Yes, it's my mount. I always ride it when I go on long trips."

"However, she was too conspicuous and not convenient to be in the light, so I kept her in the box for easy carrying."

Xiahou Tan opened his mouth, then closed it again, his expression incredibly interesting.

He served in the military for decades and experienced countless trials and tribulations, so he considers himself to be well-informed and knowledgeable.

But today was truly the first time in my life I had ever seen someone so naturally and openly refer to another person as their own mount.

Is it a lack of humanity or a decline in morality?

The surrounding soldiers were also stunned, looking at each other, not knowing how to react.

Xiahou Tan pointed to the Yin Wind Demon Mother curled up in the box and confirmed again: "Miss Nie said that this is your... mount?"

"Nie Xiaoqian" nodded, and fearing that no one would believe her, she beckoned to the box: "Come here."

Upon hearing this, the Yin Wind Demon Mother twisted and squeezed out of the box, and surprisingly, she was able to regain her human form and lay on the ground.

After she climbed out of the box, she didn't stand up. Instead, she crawled on all fours like a docile cat to "Nie Xiaoqian's" feet and rubbed her face against her shoes.

"Nie Xiaoqian" reached out and gently patted her head. The Yin Wind Ghost Mother squinted her eyes and made a purring sound similar to that of a feline, looking quite content.

This scene froze everyone present.

Especially the soldiers, their eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.

What they saw was a living person, a young woman with a perfect figure and fair, delicate skin, kneeling on the ground, rubbing against another person's feet like a pet.

If this is acting, then the acting is just too good!

Because of the poor lighting at night, the people did not see the tiger-like features on the Yin Wind Ghost Mother and did not know that she was a monster, so they just thought she was a person.

When someone makes such a humiliating gesture towards another person in full view of everyone, everyone stares wide-eyed.

They were shocked by "Nie Xiaoqian," an incredibly beautiful woman who was actually a beast in human form and turned others into slaves!

Damn it, she's a complete hypocrite!

When Nie Yan saw this scene, he almost fainted. He never expected that his daughter would do such a beastly thing!

Nie Yan felt that the worldview he had built up over the past twenty years was collapsing in an extremely tragic way.

His proud daughter, the apple of his eye on whom he placed his hopes, turned out to be such a beast in human form!

"Yao... Yao Guang!" Nie Yan's voice trembled. "How... how could you... how could you treat someone like this!"

Nie Xiaoqian turned her head, looked at her father's expression as if he was about to faint, and raised an eyebrow: "Dad, I told you, she's not human, she's my mount, and she did it willingly."

She patted the Ghost Mother's head and asked, "Don't you think so?"

Faced with the king's question, what could the ghost mother do but nod repeatedly in agreement?

Human trafficking is a capital offense. Abusing others, treating a living person like an animal, and forcing them to say it was their own choice is an even greater crime!

As a learned man who had read many classic texts, he simply could not accept that his daughter would do such a thing!

"Outrageous!!" Nie Yan's beard trembled with rage. "What mount! She's clearly a person!! You...you...you!"

He was speechless, utterly dejected, and no longer had the will to stop Xiahou Tan from capturing "Nie Xiaoqian".

Xiahou Tan realized what was happening and his eyes lit up with joy. Now, not only could he get the beauty, but he wouldn't even have to risk getting rid of Nie Yan, the Minister of Rites.