"Who's there?" Bai Liuli sprang to her feet in alarm, her slender brows bristling as she shouted toward the door, "Who dares barge into the Bai Household in the dead of night?!"
The next instant, a middle-aged man in brocade robes smashed through the door with a bang, flying inside like a torn sack.
"Aah!!!"
Bai Liuli and Nan Zhiyi paled with fright and hastily darted to either side.
With a crash, the middle-aged man landed squarely on the table, overturning the exquisitely packaged box of delicate pastries and scattering them across the floor.
Rumble, rumble-
A chrysanthemum-shaped pastry rolled toward the doorway.
Squish!
A foot in a black boot ground the yellow pastry to crumbs.
"Heh, the Bai Household's young lady certainly knows how to enjoy herself. Up in the dead of night, sipping tea and sampling pastries."
The newcomer was a man with a sparse beard and a knife scar over his right eye. His small, ratlike eyes roved brazenly over Bai Liuli.
"Father, are you all right?" Bai Liuli and Nan Zhiyi turned pale with alarm and hurried to help the disheveled Bai Qinghai off the floor.
"I'm fine." Bai Qinghai struggled to his feet, clutching his chest and wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Then he bent humbly toward the newcomer, his face showing no anger, only terror.
This man was none other than Shi Qing, the District Superintendent who governed their Maple Forest District.
"District Superintendent Shi, why have you forced your way into the Bai Household at this hour and injured my father?"
Bai Liuli stared at Shi Qing, fury blazing in her eyes as she clenched her teeth.
"What do you mean, forced my way in?" Shi Qing sneered. "Do I really need to remind you how many underhanded things