Une aura glaçante

Chapitre 61

When Xiao Dao reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Hao Jinfeng helping up the woman covered in injuries. He noticed she was only about ten years old, and his brow furrowed even more deeply. Hao Jinfeng asked her earnestly, "You said someone wronged you? How did they wrong you? Did they seize your space and kill your family? Or did they frame you for treason? Or did they abscond with funds and make you take the blame? Or did someone forcibly take a woman's place, then abandon her and turn around to accuse you?"

The girl startled him too. He nodded, then shook his head, realizing something was amiss. "No..."

Upstairs, Xiaoyue asked Chonghua curiously, "Chonghua, Brother Hao is so strange."

Chonghua chuckled twice. "I always thought he was a bit off. He gets furious the moment he hears the word 'wrongfully accused.' Maybe he's been a detective for too long?"

Xiao Dao caught up and overheard everything. While complaining about her brother's foolishness, she sized up the girl. She noticed that the girl was quite tall, not frail at all, and had a straight back and slender arms, suggesting she might know martial arts.

"You audacious thief!" The female general, seated on her horse and holding the chain, turned and glared fiercely at Hao Jinfeng. "Our Ghost Mother Clan has a long-standing tradition of dealing with traitors, and no one is allowed to interfere!"

Hao Jinfeng ignored her and instead firmly asked the woman, "How did they wrong you?"

The woman then came to her senses and said in broken Chinese, "My name is Yao Duo, and I am a royal guard officer of the Ghost Mother Clan. They wrongly accused me of stealing the Holy Grail, but I didn't!"

Hao Jinfeng nodded slightly after hearing this, then turned back to look coldly at the female general on horseback. "The crime of theft requires that the perpetrator be caught red-handed. Is there any evidence to prove that she stole?"

"The Grand Master's divine calculations have deduced that it was this female thief who stole it..."

"You're the thief!" Xiao Dao, listening from the side, found the word "thief" particularly grating. When she was little, she lived with Yan Ruyu in the village. Whenever someone lost something, the villagers would say it was taken by the mother and daughter, calling them a thief and a thieving daughter. Whenever she heard that, she would fight with them.

Xue Beifan saw Xiao Dao raise his eyebrows and dart out, his face turning hostile like Hao Jinfeng's. "Using torture without any evidence? This is the Central Plains, not a ghost town. You can't just say whatever you want. Release them immediately!"

Xue Beifan helplessly reached out and gently touched the knife, thinking to himself that they were indeed siblings, with the same problem.

Hao Jinfeng took out the official seal of the Golden Detective and raised his eyebrows like Xiao Dao. "This is not the Devil City. We cannot carry out private punishments here. Everything must be handled by the local officials. If someone is released without evidence, the crime of abusing the death penalty will be punished more severely."

"I told you long ago, she's a royal guard officer of my Ghost Mother Clan, and she must abide by the rules of the guard. I don't care where you are, betraying the Queen is treason, and you deserve to be executed. This time, the Queen is being lenient, only requiring her to serve as a slave." The female general said, drawing her whip and glaring at Hao Jinfeng, "Aren't you going to let go?!"

At this point, the onlookers split into two factions. Those from other tribes accused the woman of being a traitor, presumably from the Ghost Mother tribe, but they were relatively few in number. The majority were unrelated bystanders, many of whom expressed sympathy, especially after hearing that it was merely the Ghost Mother tribe's royal advisor who had divined the woman's identity as the murderer, which they found utterly absurd and condemned.

"If she's been enslaved, is she still considered a royal guard officer?" Xue Beifan asked, seeing the stalemate between the two sides.

Xiao Dao blinked, secretly nudged Xue Beifan, and gave him a thumbs-up—brilliant move!

Xue Beifan laughed too, this girl understands things very quickly.

The female general sneered, "Being a royal guard of the Ghost Mother Clan is the highest honor. All guards must be loyal to the Queen and the Ghost Mother Clan. Such a traitor has naturally been expelled from the guard."

“Since she’s no longer a guard officer, why should she follow the rules of the guard?” Xiao Dao decided to argue with her. “Of course, she should be handed over to the authorities for investigation. Without evidence, she should be let off the hook.”

"This is outrageous!" the female general exclaimed angrily.

"So you mean she's still a member of the guard?"

"Of course not."

"Tsk tsk." Xiao Dao shook his head. "Why do you contradict yourself? One minute it's true, the next it's not."

"You brat, you're just spouting nonsense! Where did you come from?"

Xiao Dao blinked and retorted, "You brat, you're just spouting nonsense. Where did you come from?"

"You..." the female general snapped, "I'm talking to you!"

"I wasn't talking about anyone else."

"You mimic my speech!"

"You're the one who's mimicking me," Xiao Dao said, squinting. "You're speaking Mandarin, didn't you learn it from the Han people?!"

"Then...then I'll speak the Western Regions language!"

"I don't understand it anyway, so you can say whatever you want."

The female general was clearly not as quick-witted as Xiao Dao, and her face turned white and red with anger.

Xue Beifan rubbed his forehead. Yan Xiaodao was clearly full, and his fighting power was even stronger than usual.

Seeing that Hao Jinfeng had detained Yao Duo, and noticing the growing crowd around them, the female officer realized the situation was unfavorable and put down her whip. "Officer, do you dare leave your name?"

"Hao Jinfeng".

"Alright." The female general nodded. "I will go back and report to the Queen. You'll be in for it!" With that, she turned her horse around and galloped away.

Many onlookers joined in the jeering.

Hao Jinfeng brought Yao Duo back. Xiao Dao turned her head and saw Xue Beifan looking at her with admiration, "You won the argument?"

Xiao Dao was a little embarrassed. Her anger had subsided, and she stroked her chin, wondering if she had the same problem as Hao Jinfeng: that she couldn't control her temper when she heard "thief woman."

After thinking it over, she couldn't help but ask Hao Jinfeng, "Brother, why can't you stand those two words?"

Hao Jinfeng was stunned for a while before he came to his senses, seemingly also confused. "Oh... I don't know what happened either. Maybe it's because of my father."

What happened to your father?

“In the past, when some people spoke rudely to my mother, my father would say, ‘Don’t wrong her,’ and then he would get very angry and fight with them, and he would be unhappy for a long time.” After saying this, he called Chonghua and the others down to find an inn to stay at.

Xiao Dao stood there, suddenly feeling a stinging sensation in his nose.

Xue Beifan chuckled and poked her shoulder. "Happy, aren't you?"

Xiao Dao shamelessly wiped his eyes, "Go away, don't bother me while I'm thinking about my dad!"

The group found an inn to stay at and asked Yao Duo for more details.

If Xiao Dao and Hao Jinfeng were meddling out of a sense of justice, then Xue Beifan and Chonghua's decision not to stop them also had its reasons.