"Young master, if there's anything I can do, just give the word!"
Seeing that Xu Taiping wanted her help, Fang Lian'er immediately suppressed the fear in her heart and gave him her assurance with a resolute gaze.
Only after briefly gathering his thoughts did Xu Taiping instruct Fang Lian'er:
"Miss Lian'er, someone will knock on our door shortly. After you open it, he'll ask you to play hide-and-seek with him."
"He'll also threaten to eat you if he finds you."
At the words "eat you," Fang Lian'er's pupils abruptly widened, and she murmured, "Could the inn attendant Sun Wang have been eaten because he was so practiced at playing hide-and-seek with that strange man?"
As expected of a storyteller's granddaughter, she immediately connected Xu Taiping's words to the reason for the inn attendant Sun Wang's disappearance.
"If my deductions are correct, that should be the case."
Xu Taiping nodded, then shook his head and said:
"But you needn't worry, Miss Lian'er. When the time comes, just hide under this table, and I can guarantee that strange man won't find you."
As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed to a table behind the room's screen.
"If I hide there, he won't find me?"
Fang Lian'er's face was full of disbelief.
"That's right." Xu Taiping gave Fang Lian'er a confident smile. "Trust me, Miss Lian'er."
Had an ordinary person said this, Fang Lian'er naturally wouldn't have believed them.
But recalling the sword light that had descended from the sky when Xu Taiping stood outside the Liu Residence that day, Fang Lian'er finally nodded and said:
"All right. I trust you, young master."
"Taiping, why must Fang Lian'er be the one to open the door?"
Fairy Lingyue asked Xu Taiping, somewhat puzzled.
Under the table behind the room's screen.
"Sister