C1

The night of August 1932.

In the small city of Xiang City beside Yu Hang.

The river bridges intertwined, and the moon's shadow reflected the waves.

When he was little, a few loud gunshots rang through the night sky, waking the sleeping people.

Qiao Ruo Chu was also woken up from her sleep.

She was wearing a light green dress embroidered with hibiscus silk, with a thin silk cloth wrapped around her armpits. Her slender arms were exposed, and her long hair was flowing down her back.

After a few minutes of waking up, the sound of gunfire gradually faded away.

He turned over and fell back asleep in a daze.

The window seemed to tremble, and Qiao Ruoxi felt a gust of wind. With a touch of coolness, she abruptly sat up.

Before she could see clearly in the dark, her mouth was covered by the hand that came around her back. She had no room to move as the other hand was holding a cold gun against her temple.

Her teeth instinctively chattered up and down, and she almost fainted from fear.

"Don't make a sound." a young man commanded in her ear.

The man's mouth was almost touching her ear.

Almost at the same time, she heard the creaking sound of the Qiao family's iron gate, followed by the sound of heavy, urgent footsteps, as if many armed people had arrived.

Her father's voice came from downstairs: "Sir, it's late at night. May I know what you need?" He's read a lot of books and he's got a fine tongue.

"Mr Qiao has offended you. By the order of Governor Wu, we caught up to this place and the thieves have disappeared. Afraid of disturbing the manor, we have come here to search. " It was the voice of an officer.

Qiao Ruo Chu understood.

The person who pointed the gun at her was an assassin.

Wu Du was in charge of all the soldiers and horses in Zhejiang province. Because he had married a prostitute in the red house of Xiangcheng, he had been visiting the city for a long time.

The garrison headquarters in Xiang City became his de facto office, while Hangzhou became a decoration.

Xiang City had its European style garden villa, which took up a large area. The tall courtyard walls isolated the possibility of outsiders spying on them, and there were armed guards guarding it day and night.

Commander Wu and his prostitute aunt lived in this European garden villa.

With her small hand, she plucked at the large, powerful hand that was under her nose.

The man took his hand away and snatched it away.

In the dark she only felt that he was tall, and that it was unlikely that she could hide him under her bed or in her closet.

The soldiers had finished their search and were coming up the stairs. She could hear them going upstairs.

There was really nowhere to hide in her room.

Or, if she did manage to hide him, her whole family would be in trouble once the Cupples found out, and she really didn't want to take the risk.

"I, my room, can't hide you." Qiao Ruo Chu said in a low voice.

She no longer had any hope of living.

A pair of large hands immediately grabbed her neck. She was out of breath and had a suffocating dizziness.

In a few seconds, he let go, and in the darkness, by the light of the downstairs curtains, he scanned her room. A large bed, a wardrobe, a dressing table, there really was no place to hide.

He quickly put the bullet in his pocket into his pistol, ready to fight to the death.

Suddenly, Qiao Ruojie pulled him, pointing to the inside of his bed. "Lie down." she said shortly.

He hesitated, then lay down on the side of the bed against the wall.

Qiao Ruoxi pulled out two quilts from under the bed and spread them on him. He leaned his body into the gap between the wall and the quilts and held his breath.

Qiu Ba had already arrived at the door, knocking loudly on it. Qiao Ruo had placed two pillows at the head of the bed, covering the area in front of the bed that was arched. Behind the bed sat a long-eared rabbit pillow.

"Xiao'er, open the door." After knocking on the door, he heard Qiao Qingya's voice.

Qiao Ruo Chu grabbed a blue cloth jacket with a ingot collar and wrapped it around his silk pajamas. She used her slender and white hands to smooth her hair, and wore a pair of handmade slippers embroidered with spring flowers to open the door.

A knoll had broken into her house and thrown it at her, saying, "My lady, I apologize for my offense." She went through her closet, under her bed, behind the curtains on her dressing table.

Qiao Ruo Chu's face was pale as he lowered his eyes and bit his pale lips as he stood at the door.

Qiu Ba didn't find any assassins. He glanced at the neatly hung curtains and Qiao Ruochu's bed, then left.

"No, sir." Yakuza reported, and the officer standing downstairs told him to back down.

"Go to sleep, Chu'er." Qiao Qingya said with a pained heart and followed Qiu Ba and the others down.

Qiao Ruoxi closed the door, turned off the ceiling light, and leaned against the door, feeling weak all over.

She had completely forgotten that there was still a plague god on the bed that had yet to be sent away.

"They'll be back soon. Hurry up and put some precious things inside." The man had come out of the quilt and stood in front of her, speaking coldly.

In the dim light from downstairs, she saw that the man was wearing a blue cloth gown that revealed a pair of black leggings and a pair of old handmade black shoes. The man was taller than she was, and she did not look up at his face, afraid he would kill her.

Silence.

"Thank you for just now." "No," the man said, and by the time his voice reached her ear, he had already disappeared through the window.

After falling into a trance for a few minutes, Qiao Ruo Chu moved her legs to the window and tightly closed the door. Remembering the man's words, she placed her jewelry and personal belongings in the place where the man had hidden them, pretending to be the same as before.

It wasn't that she didn't trust the words of a man. Rather, she didn't want to create the slightest bit of trouble for herself. Even if there was the slightest possibility, she had to consider it.

In less than a quarter of an hour she heard the door open again.

The lights came back on downstairs.

"My apologies, Mister Qiao. We just exposed ourselves because we were afraid that the assassin might take advantage of the loophole. Your home is not safe either." Qiao Ruo recognized it at first. It was the voice of the leader just now.

"Oh, where?" Qiao Qingya was already impatient.

Qiao Ruo put on her jacket again and opened the door without waiting for him to knock.

He rushed up to Qiao Ruo Chu's bedroom, rushed into her bed, pointed the gun at the bulging edges of the bed, and quickly lifted two layers of the brocade quilt with his other hand. Qiao Ruo Chu's jewelry box and her daughter's personal belongings rolled all over the floor.

Little Qiu Eight was dumbfounded. "Miss, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." As he spoke, he quickly left Qiao Ruozhu's room.

As he was walking away, he conveniently took a glance at Qiao Ruo Chu. Qiao Ruo Chu saw it and his face immediately turned red.

Qiao Qingya was filled with rage.

He said to his officers, "You are robbers. That's my boudoir, look clearly, my boudoir! "

"Apologies, Mr. Qiao. "Let's go!" With a wave of his hand, a few of them followed him out.