The Patrol Chief, having received his orders, had already led a troupe of officers to surround the Li Residence. However, their momentum was somewhat lacking—after all, news of the events in Fengcheng had long since spread.
When the Nine Gates Commander had directed the operation and the Left Wing Commander himself had personally led the charge, even they hadn't managed to capture this wanted fugitive. With just them...
“Patrol Chief... can we really capture him?” a young constable leaned in and asked in a hushed voice, his face completely devoid of confidence.
“Fool! Stop spouting nonsense that shakes morale,” the Patrol Chief reprimanded before turning his gaze back to the tightly shut gates.
Seeing the unfazed expression maintained on the chief's face, a sudden sense of unexplainable relief washed over the young officer, as though as long as the chief was here, everything would be fine!
As expected of the Patrol Chief! Even when facing such a formidable enemy, he remains as steady as Mount Tai, the young constable thought with admiration. In an instant, the anxiety on his face vanished, replaced by brimming fighting spirit.
What he didn't know, however, was that behind this rock-solid composure lay a mind churning with anxiety: Just one more minute! No, ten seconds and I'm out of here! After all, the Li Family is a prominent noble household in Linchuan City. Barging in to demand people isn't appropriate anyway...
Eight seconds left.
Seven seconds... three seconds... two seconds...
Just as the first light of dawn broke, the young constable beside him suddenly seemed to be injected with adrenaline and roared at the top of his lungs:
“Fugitives inside, get out here right now! Don't force our Patrol Chief to take action himself!”
The Patrol Chief: ...?
He stared at the young constable in utter disbelief, as if the anxious person from a moment ago hadn't been him at all. How had this guy suddenly become so brazen?
Fine if he wanted to act crazy... but why drag him into it?!
“I fucking—” Anger surged into his brain instantly. The Patrol Chief's face turned livid as he prepared to hurl a barrage of curses, but the moment the words were about to burst from his mouth, the gate swung open.
The creaking sound felt like a blow directly to his chest, instantly choking back his rage.
In that instant, a hundred different ways to drag the young constable to the afterlife flashed through his mind. However, the person standing inside the gate was not some bloodthirsty villain as imagined, but Miss Li herself.
Her hair was slightly disheveled, clearly having rushed over in haste. For some reason, her face appeared even paler than usual.
“Patrol Chief, what brings you to our Li Residence?” she asked after catching her breath slightly.
The Patrol Chief cleared his throat softly to ease the panic in his heart. “Miss Li, we received word that there are two wanted fugitives inside the Li Residence, so we have come specifically to conduct a search.”
“Fugitives?” Li Yu'er looked at him with a bewildered expression. “Could there be some mistake, Chief? How could there be wanted fugitives in our Li Residence?”
Seeing her reaction, the Patrol Chief refrained from saying anything further. Instead, he feigned silence for a moment, as if contemplating her words.
Li Yu'er stood quietly, though her delicate fingers resting on the door frame tightened slightly to ease her internal anxiety.
“Very well, Miss Li. Apologies for the disturbance.”
The Patrol Chief seemingly believed her words. Turning around, he ordered the officers to pull back and return, lingering no longer.
Watching the constables gradually recede into the distance, the heavy stone pressing on Li Yu'er's heart finally fell away. Her slender fingers released their grip on the gate; no one noticed how her fingertips had turned slightly red from exerting so much force.
“Patrol Chief... why didn't we just go in and search?”
“According to our intelligence, the suspects are definitely inside the Li Residence,” the young officer said with a face full of confusion, completely oblivious to the Patrol Chief's increasingly dark complexion.
Instead of a response, he received a kick laden with fury.
“When we get back, get your ass over to guard the dungeon!” Leaving these words behind, the chief ignored the utterly bewildered officer on the ground, gave a cold snort, and departed.
The heavy gates of the Li Residence closed once more. Relaxing her tense body, Li Yu'er let out a long breath and turned back toward the inner courtyard.
Upon a pearwood table in the courtyard, a cup of tea had already been brewed. Jiang Moran sat leisurely sipping his tea, while the young girl sat by his side pouring it for him. A subtle tea fragrance wafted through the air, yet no one else was in the mood to savor it.
Fengqingzi had already slipped away quietly from another side after Li Yu'er dealt with the Patrol Chief.
Master Li stood quietly off to the side. Looking at the young man he had warned just yesterday, his heart was filled with profound bitterness. Having spent a lifetime playing with hawks, he had never expected to end up blinded by one.
Hearing the footsteps approaching from outside the courtyard, Jiang Moran finally lifted his gaze from the teacup in his hand.
Seeing Li Yu'er return alone, Jiang Moran was not surprised in the slightest. If there was one truly intelligent person in this household, it was definitely Li Yu'er.
As soon as Li Yu'er entered the inner courtyard, her eyes caught her usually stern and unsmiling father standing off to the side, a faintly flattering smile plastered across his face...
His meticulously groomed hair was somewhat disheveled, completely lacking the dignity expected of the head of a household.
Yet she knew that her father had always cared deeply about his appearance.
At this moment, her feelings could not help but become complicated...
She had thought that ever since her father took a second wife, she would no longer harbor any affection for him as a father figure.
And yet...
Whether seeing the graying hair at his temples or his current humbled posture... an unexplainable pang of heartache struck her.
It felt as though the person before her was no longer the patriarch supporting the pillar of the Li Family, but merely a helpless man.
The household guards had all been slaughtered clean by Fengqingzi... though the servants had merely been knocked unconscious. When Master Li had stepped out earlier and witnessed the scene, he was thoroughly shaken, but he instantly realized that Fengqingzi had broken in.
He had hurriedly ushered Madam Li into the secret chamber inside the study, then frantically searched through most of the Li Residence, unable to find Second Madam Li, the second young master, or Li Yu'er.
In the end, he found them in the side courtyard in front of the guest rooms, only the second young master was already dead, and Fengqingzi was also present.
The moment he entered the side courtyard, he saw the gruesome death of his son, while Second Madam Li lay on the ground, her fate unknown. His eyes turned bloodshot in an instant, red veins spreading like a spiderweb across the whites of his eyes.
Fortunately, Li Yu'er had immediately stepped forward to grasp his clenched fist, comforting him: “Father, stay calm!”
In the fastest speech of her life, she recounted the full sequence of events, including why the second young master had met his demise...
By the end of it, the master of the Li Family—who controlled the economic lifeblood of Linchuan City—was left with nothing but profound despondency. There was cause for this effect; even if the stranger wiped out the entire Li Residence, Master Li would have no right to complain.
His son's death constantly warred with his rationality. Having a son studying at the Fengcheng Academy had always been his proudest boast.
He did not know how to face Jiang Moran, so he could only turn around, intending to deal with the constables outside the gate...
“Father.”
Her hand tugged at his sleeve as Li Yu'er spoke in a firm, resolute tone for the very first time: “Let me handle it.”
Master Li froze for a moment before letting out a helpless, bitter smile. His daughter was even wiser and more meticulous than he had imagined.
She was afraid that grief over his son's death would compromise his emotional control, which was why she volunteered to face the Patrol Bureau in his stead.
Yet he had never once intended to let government officials meddle in this affair.
He understood better than anyone what it meant to incur the vengeance of martial artists from the jianghu...
...
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