Transmigration: I, the Dragon Overlord, start by protecting my beautiful bride!

Long Aotian was delighted to hear this and immediately took the hairpin out of his bosom and handed it to Shen Juanxin.

"This hairpin?" Shen Juanxin was quite surprised as she looked at the hairpin in her hand.

"When we were shopping the other day, I noticed you were reluctant to part with it, so I figured my wife must like it." Long Aotian smiled slightly. "That's why I bought it for you today as a gift. Do you like it?"

Long Aotian gently embraced her waist and gave her a light, fleeting kiss on her moist lips.

Shen Juanxin was deeply moved and immediately hugged Long Aotian, whispering, "It's beautiful, and I like it. But such a pretty hairpin must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Long Aotian knew she would say that, after all, if it weren't for her diligence and thrift, he probably would have been sleeping soundly long ago.

"Look, the reward for that case from last time has finally been approved." Long Aotian took out a heavy money bag and handed it to her.

Shen Juanxin opened it and immediately parted her red lips slightly, saying, "How come there is so much silver?"

Long Aotian was very pleased with himself, saying that this was all a reward. He hadn't told her the details after killing Wang Wu last time, because he was afraid she would worry.

“With this money, opening a shop won’t be a problem,” Long Aotian said excitedly. “I can also ask my friends in the Zhenye Division to help me find a good location for a shop with a good rent. Then you won’t have to stay in this courtyard all day and can become the boss’s wife.”

"You, you really want to open a clothing shop?" Shen Juanxin looked at Long Aotian, somewhat surprised.

"If you want to open another shop, my wife, I have no objection," Long Aotian said with a slight smile.

"No, what I meant was, do you really want me to take charge of this shop?" Shen Juanxin asked, clearly a little nervous.

Although she was a noblewoman from a high-ranking family and had been proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting since childhood, and even knew a little about ancient poetry and arithmetic, it was still rare in Qianzhou City for a woman to manage a shop.

Unless she's a widow or there's absolutely no other choice, women are generally not allowed to manage shops. In some places, women aren't even allowed to participate. She's rarely encountered someone like Long Aotian, who simply hands over the shop and the money.

"Is my wife worried that she won't do a good job?" Long Aotian pulled Shen Juanxin's hand and made her sit on his lap.

“That’s part of it.” Shen Juanxin leaned against his shoulder and said softly, “What I’m more worried about is whether it’s appropriate for me to manage this shop. You’re the head of our family, so you should be in charge of the shop. Even if I help you manage it, you can just be a figurehead…”

Before she could finish speaking, Long Aotian interrupted her, "If this family doesn't have you, then it's not a family. There's no such thing as a head of the family. We'll discuss everything together."

Hearing Long Aotian say this, Shen Juanxin stopped worrying. She simply wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, "Husband, you really have changed a lot. You feel like you're a completely different person from before..."

Long Aotian was startled by these words, but he tried his best to remain calm on the surface.

He smiled and said, "I was in a daze before, until Lin Boguang was about to take you away, I suddenly realized that I had seen how good my wife was to me."

“It’s okay, I don’t blame you.” Shen Juanxin hugged him, the two of them very intimately. “Ever since that incident at my family’s house, everyone has been avoiding me, but you’re the only one who accepted me and gave me a place to live.”

"Besides, now that I've married you, it's only natural for me to treat you well..."

Long Aotian felt a sweet warmth in his heart upon hearing this.

He had never encountered a woman like this in the 21st century...

"Please put it on for me." Shen Juanxin looked at Long Aotian and handed him the hairpin.

Long Aotian had never styled anyone's hair before, so he exclaimed "Ah!" and clumsily began to fiddle with Shen Juanxin's beautiful hair.

"Hey, hey, be gentle, be gentle."

"Tighten it a little more, wait a minute, wait a minute, it's too tight, loosen it a little more..."

Before long, under Shen Juanxin's guidance, Long Aotian finally managed to put the hairpin in her hair.

It was a silver hairpin with pink floral patterns on the head. He didn't know what kind of stone was inlaid in it, but it was quite pretty.

"looks good?"

"My wife is the most beautiful woman in Qianzhou City. She looks good in any hairpin!" Long Aotian praised sincerely.

“The Lantern Festival is in two days, let’s go together.” Shen Juanxin looked at Long Aotian and said with a sweet smile.

"Okay, then this should come in handy." Long Aotian said, taking out the rouge and face powder he had bought from his pocket.

Seeing these long-lost things, Shen Juanxin smiled with delight.

Since the Shen family fell into decline, she has never used such a thing again after marrying Shen Congxin.

After all, her meager savings had to be used to supplement household expenses and pay off Shen Congxin's debts.

Now that Long Aotian has money, he naturally has to buy these things.

After all, no girl doesn't love beauty.

Why did you decide to buy this?

"I've been wanting to buy you one, but I haven't found the right one yet," Long Aotian said with a smile. "On the day of the Lantern Festival, you should dress up beautifully, and we can go out for a stroll together."

"Okay," Shen Congxin said, nodding sweetly.

late at night.

Today, dark clouds covered the sky, and lightning flashed and thunder roared. Outside the city, a carriage was slowly making its way towards Qianzhou City.

“Young lady, it’s late now, and there’s a curfew in Qianzhou City.” The coachman outside spoke to the woman inside the carriage, “I’ve heard that the temples and farmhouses near Qianzhou City have recently been targeted by a lecherous thief. Let’s stay away from there and go into the city early the next morning.”

“But look at the sky, it’s covered with dark clouds. I’m afraid we won’t make it; it’ll rain heavily soon,” the woman in the carriage said. “We can’t spend the night in the rain. Besides, what if the thunder startles the horses and the carriage goes out of control?”

"This..." Clearly, what the woman said made a lot of sense. If it really rained heavily, they would easily run into trouble in this desolate wilderness.

Actually, he had already noticed that the weather was bad tonight, but there was nothing he could do, since the girl in the car had cured his elderly mother's illness.

If it weren't for repaying a debt of gratitude, he would have had no choice but to send this girl and the item she wanted to take back to Qianzhou City together.

“Let’s walk a little further, not staying at the temple, and see if there are any houses nearby that would be willing to take us in for the night.” Inside the car was Shi Yiguang, who had recently left Qianzhou City to search for his master.

"In that case, let's go a little further." The driver couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he had no choice but to continue driving forward.

"Hey you, why are you getting involved in this too?" In a Taoist temple not far away, Luo Hongyan and Jiang Beichuan were huddled together on the beam behind the statue.

"Young people should gain more experience, don't you think, Chief Inspector Luo?"

"Let me tell you, if we run into that lecherous thief later, don't try to take it from me!"

"No, my father has high hopes for me this time, and I can't let him down."

"Alright, alright, let's see who has the best skills then!"

The two had been staking out this spot for a whole day, their goal being to catch that cunning lecher.

Actually, the city of Qianzhou didn't really care about this lecherous thief.

However, half a month ago, this lecherous thief accidentally kidnapped the daughter of the county magistrate from a neighboring county who was visiting a friend in Qianzhou City. He then raped and brutally murdered her, enraging the county magistrate of the neighboring county.

It just so happens that the magistrate of the neighboring county is a longtime friend of the prefect of Qianzhou City who is about to take office, so he gave Luo Qian of the Zhenye Division a death order, instructing him to bring this lecherous thief to justice!

"I was wondering why you were assigned to this task. Where is your master, Lord Shen?" Luo Hongyan asked curiously. "The conditions he offers in the current Zhenye Division should all be the same: whoever can catch that lecherous thief will be promoted to chief inspector."

“My family says he’s not interested in these positions.” Jiang Beichuan repeated Long Aotian’s words to her verbatim.

"What a fine 'no desires and no wants' statement. It seems that Brother Shen's ambitions truly lie elsewhere." After listening, Luo Hongyan sighed, "Perhaps the only thing that could make him fight so desperately as before is the safety of his wife."

Jiang Beichuan, being young, didn't notice the subtle sourness in Luo Hongyan's tone when she said those words.

"Young lady, where do you think you're going?" In a farmer's house outside the city, a young woman who had just gotten married was pinned to the bed by a handsome man in white with fair skin and greasy hair.

On either side of the bed lay the woman's deceased in-laws, their faces contorted in horror and covered in blood...

"Help! Help!" In the struggle, the woman bit the white-clothed man's hand hard, then took advantage of his pain to let go and pushed him away with all her might.

But just as she was about to run away, the man in white grabbed her hair and said viciously, "You filthy woman, if you want to die, I can grant your wish! But you have to let me have my way first!" As he said this, he gripped the woman's throat tightly.

Just as they were about to strangle her, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" the man in white roared.

"Is anyone home?" The voice outside sounded like a young woman. "We're just passing through and are heading into the city tomorrow. It looks like a downpour is about to begin. Could we stay the night?"

Upon hearing a woman's voice, the man in white immediately released the woman from his grasp, bound her hands and feet with rope, gagged her, then got up, tightened his belt, and pushed open the door to leave.

Soon, with a creak, the door slowly opened, and the man in white leaned out halfway, his eyes lighting up as he looked at the two people outside—an old man and a young boy, a man and a woman.

"Young master, we are disturbing you so late at night. We would like to ask if it is possible for us to stay the night?" The coachman asked the man in white with a smile. "We have some silver on us and can do you a favor."