After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

Tong Niang wholeheartedly agreed, "This method is good."

"Hey~" The two women moved closer to each other. "Then why don't you run away?"

"I don't know anyone here. Besides, how many women have you seen who can outrun a man?"

If she had run out recklessly just now, those burly men outside would have caught up with her in less than ten breaths.

Or you could just slash her with your knife during the chase and turn her into a char siu bao (barbecued pork bun).

And then there is...

She had no idea what the situation was like in Shucheng. It had rained all night yesterday, and it was a minor matter if she ran out and fell to the ground and got caught.

Being tortured to the point of wishing for death is the real issue.

It's better for her to stay in this space, which is relatively more advantageous to her.

"But why did you come back?"

With her holding them off, and these people targeting her, plus Tongniang being from Shucheng, there was a good chance she could escape.

“Heh…” Tongniang laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Then why did you save me?"

"You could have hidden perfectly well in the bushes."

"..." Bai Li Ce froze.

It turns out that Tongniang had already seen her back then.

She neither called for help nor revealed her location.

But, "I wasn't the one who saved you."

If it weren't for Wang Qingyan, she wouldn't just ignore it, she would run far away immediately.

"But your friend saved us because of you."

Tongniang had realized long ago that Wang Qingyan was not Baili Ce's husband.

But since he said it so harshly, she had no choice but to echo him.

"And you saved me twice."

Bai Li Ce told her to go out and arrest people because he wanted her to run away first, but he was afraid she wouldn't leave, so he said that.

How could we leave such a gentle woman alone?

"...Alright then," let's just say she saved Tongniang twice.

"Hey, how did you get to know that young master?"

An unpleasant memory instantly flooded my mind: "It was... meeting him on the street."

"Then you two are quite destined to meet."

I'd rather not have this kind of fate.

“Unlike my husband, who was introduced by his family.”

Bai Li Ce frowned. "Your husband?"

Tongniang swung her legs and readily admitted, "Oh, it's the one who bent over the lowest last night and scolded me the harshest."

"..."

Bai Li Ce apologized with a face full of guilt, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry?" Tongniang asked honestly.

"It's not like you bullied me."

Tongniang let out a sigh of relief, her face full of feigned ease. "Actually, he liked me quite a bit when we got married."

"I like him quite a bit too."

"It's probably because I force him to study every day."

“He got more and more annoyed with me. After I had a daughter a few years ago, his whole family disliked me even more.”

“If it weren’t for my generous dowry and my fiery temper, he probably would have divorced me long ago.”

"He's probably been waiting for this day to get rid of me for a long time."

Bai Lize was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about your daughter?"

"She fell into the river and drowned half a year ago," Tongniang said lightly, but her eyes were full of tears.

"They all told me it was the child's own carelessness."

"But I actually know that it was my thieving old woman who pushed her down."

“I was wholeheartedly thinking of him, learning to do business to support his studies and his whole family.”

"But he thought I was shameful, that I wasn't gentle and considerate enough, and actually...had a child with another woman outside..."

"..." Bai Li Ce really couldn't say anything to comfort him.

I just sat quietly with her.

"Bang..." An even louder banging on the door rang out.

The rain started falling again.

The fire that had spread to the roof and eaves gradually receded.

In the rain, Tongniang could no longer suppress her emotions and cried louder and louder.

“Bang—bang—bang!”

"Ugh!" When the door was smashed open and the dark mass of burly men outside could be seen, the woman tied to the tree began to struggle violently again.

His whole body was stretched taut against the tree trunk behind him.

She struggled a few more times, and actually spat out the rag from her mouth. "I just want to live!"

"Why are you arresting me?"

"Let me go!"

"Let me go right now!"

"It's your man's fault, why are you dragging me into this!"

"I don't want to die with you!"

"I don't......"

"Bang!" The door was smashed open completely.

The woman tied to the tree suddenly stopped screaming, tightly closed her eyes and mouth, and turned her head to one side, pretending to be dead.

Tongniang looked at the group of men and slowly raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

"Girl, I've thought it over. I still want to live a good life. I won't jump into the well."

"I want to find a good man and a good family to marry into in the future!"

"If I have another daughter, the most beautiful and adorable one in the world, I'll definitely live a life ten thousand times better than that bastard."

"Huh?" Baili Ce, who was just about to jump into the well.

How did I suddenly feel encouraged at this critical moment of life and death?

So she pulled the foot that had been stuck in the well back in.

"Stinky..." A man was about to utter another curse when he tried to sweep away the shards on the ground with his knife, but found that he couldn't sweep them away immediately.

Nonsense, the black residue from burning fabric can also solidify the fragments on the ground, okay?

Moreover, it will solidify faster and more firmly when it gets cold.

But after a while, it might soften up and become soft.

"Wow, that's quite an idea!"

Seeing the still-hot nails scattered on the ground, the speaker raised his bow and arrow, aiming it at Baili Ce—

Tong Niang, standing beside her, said, "My esteemed master."

Both new and old grudges are contained within the arrow.

The person coming is not someone else.

It was that bandit who tried to take advantage of her back in Sancheng Village, and was punished by her to carry manure, whose name she didn't even know.

He was also one of the eight people who were to be handed over to Lin Yuchuan for disposal.

In Sanchengzhai, he was the twelfth in his family.

"Old Twelfth"

He drew the bowstring taut, saying, "It's kind of you that the master still remembers."

"call out--"

Bai Li Ce hugged Tong Niang and ducked, almost stepping into the trap he had set.

"Hahaha..." But unexpectedly, he deliberately shot the arrow off course. "Look at you, so afraid of death, you seem to be no different from me."

"The difference is huge!"

I'm more afraid of death than you are.

"Hmph! I'll see how different it is!" Twelve angrily fired a second arrow.

"call out--"

The arrow struck Baili Ce at the foot of the ground.

Like a cat teasing a mouse, don't kill the other party first.

His face, once filled with hatred, was now brimming with gleeful mockery. "Would you like to dance for me, sir? Perhaps I..."

"I'll jump on your head, you bastard!"

He didn't understand the profanity, but he angrily fired a third arrow.

Tongniang pushed Baili Ce aside and almost fell into the well...

Bai Li Ce stepped back to steady himself and quickly grabbed her.

The fourth arrow, the twelfth prince was about to fire but had not yet.

The nails on the ground were no longer hot, the fragments were no longer firmly stuck to the ground, and the slippery ground was washed clean by the rain.

His underlings grinned slyly as they cleared a path for him.

Tongniang gritted her teeth, picked up her knife, and was about to rush forward, but Baili Ce held her back tightly, protecting her.

"girl!"

"Don't worry, we will survive together."

Looking at her straight back, Tongniang nodded with unwavering determination, "Yes!"

"Hmph, survive?"

"So, you want to live too."

Twelve tried to lift Baili Ce's chin with an arrow, but she indifferently dodged it.

"What's wrong with me touching it?!" he roared, grabbing her hand directly.

But Bai Li Ce stopped him with a disdainful look. "You'd better not touch that chin."

Of course, what stopped him was the knife that Baili Ce was holding with both hands.

"Otherwise, you will regret being born."

"Hahahaha..." came the merciless mockery from the Twelfth Strength.

He threw away the arrows and raised his sword!

Bai Li Ce also raised his sword!

"Boom!"

Amidst the flying sparks, Twelve's sword was cleaved in two.

Bai Li Ce was thrown backward by the shock, and Wang Qing Yan flew out from behind her, caught her in his arms with one hand, spun around and leaped to dissipate the force, and landed outside the house.