61: Chapter 0061 A Bed

"Ah! Murder! Help!"

The panicked cry of the concubine alerted the guards of the Qiu Residence.

The female assassin in black did not kill the concubine; instead, she rushed out like a gust of wind and began fighting the arriving Qiu family guards.

The female assassin possessed superb martial arts. The group of guards was no match for her, and many soon fell to her strikes.

Just then, a man wearing Border Army armor led several patrolling soldiers and charged into the Qiu Residence!

"I am Qin He, Deputy Commander of the Border Army! Who are you to dare commit such violence in the middle of the night?!"

The female assassin sneered, "Cut the crap. If you have the ability, come and catch me!"

Qin He's brow furrowed as he stepped forward to engage the female assassin in a fierce battle.

The group of guards and servants watched with racing hearts.

Before long, the female assassin seemed unable to hold her own and began to retreat steadily.

"As expected of Lin Xiao's subordinate, what impressive skills!"

With that, the female assassin used her light-body technique to fly directly over the courtyard wall, vanishing into the night.

Qin He led his men in pursuit, but they ultimately failed to catch her.

"Quickly, go report this to Commander Lin!"

Such a large commotion naturally drew many onlookers from among the commoners.

By the time Lin Xiao arrived on horseback, the bodies of Qiu Kangyuan and his daughter, Qiu Yuehong, had already been carried out.

"Qin He, what happened?" Lin Xiao's brow was tightly knit, his face full of surprise.

"Commander Lin, this is one of Master Qiu's concubines. Let her explain."

Qin He pushed the concubine forward.

The concubine knelt on the ground, weeping with lingering fear. "Reporting to Your Excellency, it was a female assassin. She broke into the mansion in the middle of the night and killed the Master and the Eldest Miss."

"Where did this assassin come from? Is she an enemy of Master Qiu?"

The concubine trembled. "The assassin said she was... she was sent by His Highness Prince Bai."

"Preposterous!!"

Lin Xiao cursed loudly, "That scoundrel! Killing Prefect Lu wasn't enough, he won't even spare his father-in-law and the widow!!"

Qin He stood by with a hesitant look. "General, could the assassin be framing Prince Bai?"

Lin Xiao nodded. "It's possible. In that case, seal off the Qiu Residence. We'll go inside and conduct a thorough search to see if there are any other clues!"

"Yes! Men, seal the Qiu Residence!"

The search continued all the way until dawn.

In the morning, Lin Xiao finally left with his men, looking sorrowful, and requested that Qiu Kangyuan and his daughter be given a proper burial.

When he returned home, Xiao Qingxuan and Mu Wanying were waiting for him to have breakfast, alongside a visibly impatient Leng Bingyan.

"Husband, you're back! You've worked hard."

"Lin Lang, how did it go?"

The gloom on Lin Xiao's face vanished instantly as he smilingly gestured for the two women to sit down.

"The Fiscal Officer is still there doing the inventory. That old man was truly dripping with wealth. By a rough estimate, the asset seizure alone will yield two hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"If you include his land deeds, property deeds, and various businesses, it should be more than enough to support our current army of ten thousand!"

Mu Wanying was incredibly excited. "That's wonderful! An army is most expensive to maintain. With money, the troops' morale will be more stable, and we can even expand the army!"

"Husband, did the people of the Qiu family just stand by and watch you seize their property?" Xiao Qingxuan asked curiously.

"Haha, of course they have complaints, but the Qiu family has lost its backing and they were usually immoral. Who would speak up for them?"

Lin Xiao said dismissively, "Besides, they haven't even figured out who their enemy is yet. Right now, they're still worried about being assassinated by Prince Bai's killers!"

At this point, Lin Xiao looked toward Leng Bingyan.

"Miss Leng, I didn't realize your acting was so good!"

The one who carried out the assassination last night was, of course, Leng Bingyan. She and Qin He had long since rehearsed their roles.

"Hmph, you shameless man. Why did you insist I say, 'As expected of Lin Xiao's subordinate'? Is there anyone who praises themselves like that?"

Lin Xiao clicked his tongue. "Raising my prestige is good for everyone. We've been through so much together, we've long since been in the same bed!"

"Who is in the same bed as you? What nonsense are you talking about?!" Leng Bingyan's face turned red.

"I said boat. Since when is a bed a boat?"

Lin Xiao shook his head and sighed. "Miss Leng, your thoughts are very dangerous."

"You..." Leng Bingyan was speechless. This guy was doing it on purpose!

Xiao Qingxuan watched the two bickering and quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Alright, husband, stop teasing Yaner. It wasn't easy for her to go and play the assassin for me; she's been wronged."

"I'm not wronged! Those people tried to hurt you, they deserved to die!" Leng Bingyan said, feeling vindicated.

Xiao Qingxuan gave a gentle smile and squeezed her friend's hand, then turned back to Lin Xiao.

"Husband, regarding the Qiu family's thousand-plus acres of fertile land, I want to hand them over to the tenant farmers to continue farming as usual."

"When it's time to harvest, just like the land we reclaimed, aside from the twenty percent kept as Yongye Fields, the eighty percent of Koufen Fields will be taxed at one part in five. What do you think?"

Lin Xiao didn't understand much of this, but he knew it was lower than the imperial taxes and countless times better than Qiu Kangyuan's previous bone-deep exploitation.

"My wife can make the decision!"

"Thank you, husband!"

Xiao Qingxuan nodded happily.

By noon, the entire city knew about Master Qiu and his daughter being murdered by Prince Bai's assassin.

"Have you heard? Master Qiu is dead! It was Prince Bai's assassin!"

"Could Prefect Lu really have been a loyal official? Prince Bai wouldn't even spare his own father-in-law?"

"A cousin of mine is a servant at the Qiu Residence. I heard the assassin was incredibly powerful; many people were injured!"

"If the Border Army soldiers hadn't happened to be patrolling nearby, the Qiu Residence would have likely seen a river of blood!"

The mainstream talk in the streets was all about whether the mastermind was truly Prince Bai.

However, there were also some rumors that caught many people's interest.

That was the rumor that Qiu Yuehong, in order to retaliate against Commander Lin and his wife for occupying the Prefects Mansion, had actually bribed a group of children to throw mud at the heterochromatic-eyed Mrs. Lin.

If it were just rumors, that would be one thing.

But when connected to the previous 'Calamity Star' and 'Lucky Star' talk regarding Lin Xiao and his wife at the Baiyu Pavilion, it inevitably sparked associations.

Consequently, some people began to feel that the Qiu family tragedy happened because Qiu Yuehong had provoked Xiao Qingxuan.

To the point that when Xiao Qingxuan went to the manor, many people looked at her with eyes full of exceptional fear.

Those mischievous children who had previously thrown mud at her were all severely disciplined by their parents and hadn't been seen for days.

Having resolved his inner concerns, Lin Xiao could finally focus on dealing with the upcoming mounted archery competition.

Two days later, the Drill Grounds of Baishui City were packed with people.

Except for those on sentry duty, almost all the soldiers were present to watch, and even hundreds of residents had been drawn to the scene.

Lin Xiao intentionally placed no restrictions, wanting the people to see the strength of the garrison and boost their confidence.

General Wu Jinzhe, leading four mounted archery experts from the Mu Family Army, faced off proudly on horseback against five garrison representatives including Chen Chuan and Li Xu.

Lin Xiao and General Zhao Kuan sat on the viewing stands, with Old Yu yawning beside them.

"Old Yu, will this work? Why are my hands shaking a bit..."

Although Lin Xiao had seen his five men training, the Mu Family Army was indeed very strong, and victory was not guaranteed.

"Ten jars of Xinghua Village wine—just you wait to pay up!"

"Fine, but if we lose, I'll have your head!"

Old Yu slumped directly to the ground, his face full of panic. "Wait... you didn't say there was a punishment for losing before!?"

Lin Xiao said with a beaming smile, "Now you know, don't you?"

Old Yu lowered his head and gave himself a slap. "At such an age, still getting tricked by a junior, you deserve it..."

As they spoke, General Zhao Kuan gave the order, and the mounted archery competition officially began!