Halfway there, dozens of men in black suddenly appeared and surrounded the oxcart.
Qiao Qingran, assuming they were business rivals, asked coldly with a serious expression, "Which company are you from...?"
The assassins exchanged glances, then bypassed Qiao Qingran, their swords aimed directly at Jin Shanyao's face.
Qiao Qingran's face changed drastically in fright. Before she could finish the word "heart," Jin Shanyao dodged to the side and slapped the assassin on the head with a backhand.
I'm dizzy???
With dozens of loud thuds, the assassin fell to the ground.
Seeing the situation was bad, the remaining assassin turned to flee, but was dragged back by Jin Shanyao, who grabbed his ankle.
Jin Shanyao pinched the assassin's chin, her eyes sparkling, and said, "You were sent by Master Ji, weren't you?"
Upon hearing this, both the assassin and Qiao Qingran were stunned. Was this girl seriously ill? Who wouldn't run away when faced with an assassination attempt? Why was she getting so agitated?
A scholar can be killed but not humiliated. The assassin steeled himself and tried to commit suicide by biting into poison, but his jaw was clamped shut by the Jin Shanyao and he couldn't close it at all.
Qiao Qingran asked in a daze, "Miss Jin, isn't there some misunderstanding here?"
A misunderstanding??? Jin Shanyao casually made a hand Hand Seals and slapped the assassin on the forehead. The assassin's eyes widened instantly, and his mouth opened and closed as he muttered something.
"Since the Jin Shanyao can no longer be used by me, it cannot be kept."
Jin Shanyao, fearing Qiao Qingran might not understand, crossed her arms and leaned close to her ear to translate, "They wanted to collect protection money, but I didn't agree..."
Qiao Qingran stared at her blankly.
The assassin's voice suddenly rose, "Kill him... and dump him at Old General Fu's doorstep."
Wow, you've even copied the tone!
Jin Shanyao stared at the assassin and said to Qiao Qingran, "This is an insult to Old General Fu, saying he's blind and a bootlicker..."
"I'm that stinky foot."
Qiao Qingran's lips twitched. "He didn't say it was sent by my father-in-law."
With a look that seemed to say, "Are you stupid?" Jin Shanyao slapped the assassin unconscious, then picked him up and threw him onto the oxcart.
Then, following the same method, they threw the remaining assassins onto the cart, instantly creating a small mountain on top.
Meng Anci calmly pried open the assassin's mouth, while Meng Anzhi opened her purse, poured out pills, and threw one to each of them—fair and just.
Qiao Qingran looked at the car full of people, "What's going on here??"
Jin Shanyao her hands, completely unconcerned, "I won't go to your house. It's rare to meet someone as interesting as your father-in-law. I'll go keep watch at the Ji Household's gate."
After saying that, Qiao Qingran and quickly shouted to it, "Let's go..."
The oxcart started moving, Qiao Qingran felt she had finally grasped the knack of driving oxen. Sitting in the cart, she asked, "Why did my father-in-law want to kill you?"
Jin Shanyao remained silent, thinking to herself, "Your skills are not even as good as Madam Su's. How did you survive in the Ji Residence?"
"Didn't I already say? I didn't agree to his demand for protection money. This is just a show of force... trying to scare me."
Qiao Qingran was speechless. Her father-in-law was a third-rank official in the imperial court, yet he was collecting protection money like a petty thug. How could she even think of such a thing?
The oxcart returned to the gate of the Ji Residence.
Jin Shanyao produced a bunch of ropes from somewhere, tied them to the assassins' limbs, and hung them upside down one by one at the entrance of the Ji Residence in front of Qiao Qingran.
Qiao Qingran felt she should remind her, "Miss Jin, if I remember correctly, this is my home..."
Jin Shanyao was taken aback. "You still consider this your home?!"
"What's the meaning?"
Jin Shanyao finished hanging the last assassin, clapped his hands, and said earnestly, "Give me a thousand taels of silver, and I'll tell you why."
Qiao Qingran had a bad feeling. She took out a thousand taels of silver and handed it to Jin Shanyao, "You say what you want to say."
Seeing how readily she agreed, Jin Shanyao felt it wasn't enough, so she casually tossed the silver notes to Meng Anzhi.
He leaned close to Qiao Qingran's ear and whispered sinisterly, "Your father-in-law is borrowing lives; your son will be next."
Boom... Qiao Qingran's ears were ringing, her mind went blank, and she instantly lost the ability to think. Borrowing a life???? Was this the kind she was thinking of?
Cold sweat soaked her back, and a gust of cold wind made her shiver involuntarily.
Qiao Qingran suddenly snapped out of her daze, her eyes widening in disbelief. "My father-in-law borrowed his life? Who did he borrow from? What about my husband? How is he??"
Jin Shanyao sat cross-legged on the oxcart, saying, "Your father-in-law borrowed from your eldest brother-in-law first, and because he borrowed too much, your eldest brother-in-law got sick."
She made a throat-slitting gesture... "Your father-in-law was afraid that his sons would die one after another and arouse suspicion, so he divided the years of his life-saving ability equally among all his descendants."
In this way, the son can continue to have grandsons, and the grandsons can have grandsons, thus allowing him to continuously extend his lifespan by borrowing from their lives.
Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi silently linked arms with their aunt, telling ghost stories late at night—it was too scary...
This was too unbelievable for Qiao Qingran to accept for a while.
Thinking back to when her brother-in-law passed away, and how her father-in-law was so grief-stricken that he almost fainted, she felt a chill creep up from the bottom of her heart, making her feel cold all over.
Jin Shanyao nudged her arm. "Do you still need an exorcism? If not, you'll have to pay a service fee."
A fierce glint flashed in Qiao Qingran's eyes, "Qing... dare to touch my son, I'll kill him."
Jin Shanyao grinned and said, "Alright... you'll have to treat me first thing tomorrow morning."
Thinking of her child at home, Qiao Qingran didn't dare linger and hurriedly entered the courtyard. She dug the child out of the quilt and began to get dressed.
Dabao and Xiaobao were suddenly woken up and burst into tears. Nanny Qi, carrying a shawl over her shoulder, hurried in. "Miss, what are you doing?"
"Stop talking... Immediately have people prepare the Qiao Residence; we'll move in there for the time being."
Nanny Qi frowned. "Miss, did you have a fight with the Third Master?"
Thinking of her husband, Qiao Qingran stuffed Dabao into Nanny Qi's arms, picked up Xiaobao, and walked towards the main room, then suddenly threw off the quilt.
Startled, Ji Xiansong snapped back to reality, and breathed a sigh of relief after recognizing who it was. "What's wrong, Madam?"
"Hurry up and get dressed, come with me..."
Ji Xiansong a little dazed, finished dressing. "Madam... where are you going so late at night? The child is still crying..."
"There's no time to explain," Qiao Qingran, shoving the child into Ji Xiansong's arms and pulling her husband out through the side gate.
As soon as the door opened, a large face appeared directly in front of Ji Xiansong. He was so startled that he was about to shout when Qiao Qingran quickly covered his mouth.
"Don't shout..."
Ji Xiansong pointed at the string of assassins before him, trembling, and said, "Could it be that someone is planning to wipe out an entire family??"
Qiao Qingran, recalling what Jin Shanyao had said, sneered, "Isn't it wiping out an entire family?"
Jin Shanyao saw Qiao Qingran and her husband come out carrying a child, and looked surprised, "What's going on here??"
"Run for your lives!"
Jin Shanyao out and wiped away Xiaobao's tears. "Where do you think you're going to run to with a child in this freezing weather? He's set up a formation; your birth dates are already bound together. No matter where you go, he can borrow your life."
A flicker of sorrow and ruthlessness flashed in Qiao Qingran's eyes, "Five thousand taels... I want to eliminate them completely."
I do not kill.
"Eight thousand taels..."
"Killing affects one's cultivation level."
"Ten thousand taels..."
Jin Shanyao looked at her with a chilling gaze, "Do you need to leave her with a complete corpse?"
Qiao Qingran... Oh no, I gave too much money.
Ji Xiansong confused, but he knew that his wife was cautious and decisive, and would never make trouble for no reason. Something terrible must have happened in the family.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have dragged him out so late at night.