A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

The former magistrate of Qingtian County died suddenly, and the new magistrate took office in a hurry, so the position of the county assistant magistrate has been vacant until now.

Jiang Mingyuan passed the imperial examination with the highest score. The prefect, wanting to train and cultivate him, sent him to Qingtian County to temporarily serve as the county magistrate until he went to the capital to participate in the metropolitan examination.

Jiang Mingyuan came tonight to suppress bandits, but he never expected to run into Gu Xixi here.

Gu Xixi bowed and said, "Thank you for your concern, Lord Jiang. I am fine."

Jiang Mingyuan laughed and said, "She's a relative of ours, and she's not in court right now, so you can address her as 'Xixi' as usual."

Gu Xixi nodded slightly and asked, "I wonder what this is all about..."

Jiang Mingyuan then realized that he hadn't explained himself clearly, so he used a few words to state his current identity and purpose.

Gu Xixi bowed again and offered her congratulations.

Jiang Mingyuan returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

Then he looked around and said, "Could it be that Sister Xixi is the owner of this estate?"

Gu Xixi answered truthfully, "That's right, I bought this estate from its previous owner not long ago."

"I also have a question, but I'm not sure if it's convenient for me..."

Jiang Mingyuan understood, "You want to ask why I led the garrison to suppress the bandits tonight, and how the county government found out?"

Gu Xixi nodded.

Jiang Mingyuan said, "There's nothing to hide. The other day, the constables from the yamen were on a routine patrol when they caught a man in black with an arrow wound. They brought him back to the yamen for questioning, and he only knew that his target was to kidnap two women from a farm outside the city."

He glanced subtly to his left and right, deliberately avoiding the crowd, and whispered:

"Now that the Northwest Army has left the country, the top priority for the local government offices left behind is to maintain public order."

"The magistrate then ordered me to lead men to wipe them out and, incidentally, investigate the cause."

"Do we still need to investigate?" Gu Xixi smiled bitterly. "As you can see, one of these women is me."

“The other one is over there,” she said, pointing to He Jinglan and lowering her voice, “the eldest daughter of the He family in the capital.”

Jiang Mingyuan was taken aback again. "The He family? Are they related to that Lord He Jinghui?"

Gu Xixi twitched the corner of her mouth, "...My own sister."

Jiang Mingyuan suddenly realized, "No wonder..."

Gu Xixi nodded, giving him a "you know what I mean" look.

Jiang Mingyuan paid close attention to the political situation, but he didn't know that the fiancé Chen Fang whom Gu Xixi had bought was none other than Mu Nanzhao, the Lord Mu who had come back from the dead and shocked the world.

Therefore, Jiang Mingyuan assumed that the assassins attacked the manor mainly because they were after He Jinghui's sister, and that Gu Xixi, who valued loyalty and never abandoned her friend, was also caught up in the trouble.

Jiang Mingyuan felt sympathy for Gu Xixi, but also a lot of respect for her. He comforted her, saying, "Don't be afraid. Now that the county government knows, they will not allow those bandits to continue their rampage."

Gu Xixi said sincerely, "Thanks to the keen and responsible nature of you gentlemen, you were able to detect the villains in time and save us from danger."

According to He's secret guards, all the men in black who stormed the manor in the past two days have never returned.

The only one caught by the county government was probably injured and escaped outside the wall, but fell into the hands of the constables while trying to go back to report the news.

Ironically, this became the link for Gu Xixi to seek help from the government.

It's clear that sometimes good fortune and misfortune are hard to predict.

"No, it's just my duty," Jiang Mingyuan said, glancing around.

He had already noticed something unusual when he arrived, saying, "Besides, it's not just one person's strength tonight."

"When I arrived just now, there seemed to be two other groups of people. One group was unidentifiable, seemingly martial arts practitioners, while the other group was all on horseback and well-trained, appearing to be cavalry?"

Gu Xixi's eyes flickered; she didn't think she and Jiang Mingyuan were close enough to truly open their hearts to each other.

So he said, half-heartedly, "When Miss He goes out alone, she always has some backup plan for self-preservation..."

Jiang Mingyuan found this reasonable and thoughtfully said, "So these people in plain clothes are all the He family's hidden guards. But who are those cavalrymen...?"

Gu Xixi knew this person was not easy to fool, and was quickly thinking of a reason.

Jiang Mingyuan suddenly realized. "The He family must have formed an alliance with General Huo of the Northwest Army long ago. Now that an emergency has occurred, it is only natural that the Northwest Army, which was stationed there, would send a cavalry squad to protect Miss He."

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that it must be true. "If Miss He is captured and taken hostage, it will not only be a threat to the He family, but also to the Northwest Army."

Gu Xixi secretly breathed a sigh of relief; that's the good thing about talking to smart people.

There's no need to go to great lengths to lie; the other party can find the most appropriate reason on their own.

Jiang Mingyuan suddenly turned to Gu Xixi, bowed deeply to the ground, and solemnly said, "Sister Xixi is so righteous! She disregarded her own safety to protect Miss He from being taken hostage."

"On behalf of the officials and people of Northwest China, I, Jiang, would like to express my gratitude to Boss Gu!"

The Northwest Army was already inextricably linked to the entire Northwest region.

Now that the Northwest Army is determined to purge the Empress Dowager's faction, and many officials within the Northwest continue to perform their duties and maintain stability, it is clear that they have made their stance clear.

Therefore, only when the Northwest Army achieves successive victories will the Northwest truly prosper.

Jiang Mingyuan understood this point, which is why he adopted this attitude.

Seeing his earnestness, Gu Xixi felt guilty and hurriedly raised her hand, "Miss He and I are good friends and will never abandon each other. Lord Jiang, there is no need to thank me."

Jiang Mingyuan looked up at Gu Xixi, looking somewhat discouraged, "You called me Lord Jiang again."

Gu Xixi was stunned. "Huh?"

Why does this person's tone sound a bit like they're being coquettish?

Seeing that Jiang Mingyuan was still staring at her intently, Gu Xixi had no choice but to change her address to "Brother Zichu".

She remembered that Jiang Mingyuan's courtesy name was "Zichu," and this way of addressing him was neither too familiar nor too distant, which seemed just right.

Jiang Mingyuan smiled, looked back at the soldiers still busy at work, called over a captain, and said solemnly:

"Now that the matter has been investigated and clarified, Gu Xixi, as the owner of the estate and also the protected victim, does not need to be questioned by the yamen for the time being."

"In addition, some thugs broke in tonight. The victim's private bodyguard killed some of the thugs to protect his owner. The rest of the survivors were arrested and will be questioned separately."

With just a few words, the aftermath of the matter was clearly arranged, and Gu Xixi and He Jinglan were completely absolved of any responsibility.

This both concealed the killer's true purpose and downplayed He Jinglan's identity.

The captain accepted the order and left.

Jiang Mingyuan said to Gu Xixi, "When I get back, I will report to the magistrate in person. The less others know about tonight's truth, the better."

Gu Xixi smiled at him, "That's what I think too."

Jiang Mingyuan was on official business, and after learning the details from Gu Xixi, he stopped talking about it.

He instructed her to remain at the estate until the yamen posted a notice of case closure. Then he left.

He Jinglan has confirmed that all of her secret guards and coachman Lao Li are present.

She walked over to Gu Xixi and together they looked at the official in blue robes who was talking to the guards not far away.

"Is he a newly appointed minor official in Qingtian County?"

"The way he talks to you makes you seem very familiar."