Chapter 37: Setting Up Defenses

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Old Master Zhou had been an official for dozens of years, so he had naturally encountered many people with psychic abilities. He also had an amulet given to him by a Daoist which could protect him from evil spirits and strengthen his mind.

He did not want Liu Sanniang to tell him his secrets and memories, so he stopped her.

Liu Sanniang wanted to speak up, but since Old Master Zhou said so, she withdrew her power. This time, she felt very tired.

What Liu Sanniang did not know was that she had just fought with a psychic.

When Liu Sanniang withdrew her power, Old Master Zhou could clearly feel that the power, which had been invading his memory, disappeared. He narrowed his eyes and stood up. “Magistrate Wei, you can start deploying the troops in my mansion. I’ll get my people to cooperate with you.”

Wei Shilai smiled and nodded. “Alright, I’ll definitely do my best to protect Miss Zhou.”

Butler Zhou, “Old Master, this…”

Old Master Zhou stood up and instructed. “Pass down the order. Magistrate Wei will be in charge of the mansion. When Master comes back, get him to see me.”

Butler Zhou was extremely confused. He glanced at Liu Sanniang suspiciously. But as a servant, he had to listen to his master.

Initially, Wei Shilai was only sixty percent convinced by Liu Sanniang, but now he was ninety percent sure. The remaining ten percent came from evidence.

Wei Shilai asked Butler Zhou to take him to the backyard.

The courtyard where First Madam Zhou lived was in the east. First Madam Zhou’s name was Li Yazhi, and she was the daughter of the minister in the imperial capital. She had been married into the Zhou Mansion for three years and gave birth to Zhou Yanshu last year.

Zhou Yanshu had just turned one year old and was extremely pretty. When they arrived at the courtyard, the nanny and servants were playing with the child under the sun.

Liu Sanniang looked at the fair and tender dough and recalled that in her dream, she heard Hong Ying say that this girl would definitely be a beauty when she grew up. Apparently, it was true.

The old nanny asked. “Butler Zhou, who are they?”

Butler Zhou whispered. “Nanny Li, this is Magistrate Wei. The other two are his subordinates. They are here to inspect the courtyard and protect Miss.”

Hearing that, Nanny Li heaved a sigh of relief. They had been under enormous pressure protecting this child.

Butler Zhou lowered his voice. “Granny Li, you have to be careful. I heard that the criminal is eyeing our miss.”

Nanny Li kept her voice low as she asked. “What is going on? My heart is about to jump out.”

Nanny Li was an old servant whom Li Yazhi brought over from her family. Hearing what Butler Zhou said, she knew how serious the matter was. She quickly got the servant to carry the child back into the house.

If the little girl was abducted, her miss would definitely cry her heart out.

Wei Shilai walked around with Zhu Zongyang and already had a plan for the deployment.

After looking around, Wei Shilai deployed the troops.

Li Yazhi’s courtyard was very high. There was a small garden in the courtyard with two osmanthus trees leaning against the corner. When the sky turned dark, shadows would lengthen, making it easy to hide people.

There was a dog hole at the back door of the courtyard that needed to be blocked off.

The backyard was connected with a small courtyard occupied mainly by the servants. Wei Shilai immediately instructed all the servants to leave the courtyard for the time being.

They had to empty this courtyard for constables.

Liu Sanniang didn’t know much about these things, but she followed suit. There was no problem with the deployment plan Wei Shilai came up with.

The Zhou family guards were also assigned to patrol the other courtyards.

From the looks of it, the entire Zhou Mansion seemed impenetrable. There was no way the criminal could get in.

Even if the criminal could get in, she couldn’t get out.

The only thing Wei Shilai was worried about was what Liu Sanniang said about the criminal’s ability to change her appearance at will.

Wei Shilai looked at Liu Sanniang and said, “Miss Liu, I have another request.”

Liu Sanniang smiled and said, “Magistrate Wei, feel free to tell me.”

As long as she could help.

Wei Shilai sighed. “Miss Liu, my assistant and I have already set up the defenses. The constables will be in place soon. However, I’m still worried because you said the criminal has the ability to change her appearance at will. If it’s really the case, then these defenses will be useless.”

Liu Sanniang was also worried. What if Hong Ying became one of the servants of the Zhou Mansion?

Wei Shilai said, “Miss Liu, do you have a way to identify the criminal?”

Liu Sanniang thought for a moment and said, “There’s a way. Assign a special code word for every servant, and change the code word every two hours. If someone can’t answer their code word, there must be a problem with that person.”

For example, if someone was assigned the code word ‘leaf’, but he answered ‘flower’, then there must be something wrong with him.

Wei Shilai was enlightened. “That’s a good idea.”

Wei Shilai quickly told Butler Zhou to go and give every servant a code word. After all, Butler Zhou knew the mansion the best.

After instructing him, Wei Shilai came back to Liu Sanniang and said, “Miss Liu, I can only get the constables to keep an eye on the outside, but I don’t know if anything will happen inside. You’re very meticulous. Can you dress up like a servant girl for a few days and protect Miss Zhou?”

Wei Shilai frowned and looked at Liu Sanniang, worried that she would reject him. No one knew what the criminal looked like, but Liu Sanniang was a psychic. He would be rest assured if she was with Miss Zhou.

Liu Sanniang did not agree immediately.

After a while, she looked at Wei Shilai and nodded. “Alright, but I have to go back and tell my mother.”

Wei Shilai smiled. “Miss Liu, thank you so much.”

Liu Sanniang thought for a moment and said, “Magistrate Wei, I’m worried that the criminal might give up her plan when she sees how heavily guarded the Zhou Mansion is. If she doesn’t come…”

If the criminal went to another family to abduct a child and get away, everything they did in the Zhou Mansion would be useless and Magistrate Wei would be in trouble.

Wei Shilai smiled. “Miss Liu, don’t worry about that. If the Zhou family is her target, she will definitely come.”

Criminals were all proud and cocky, especially this kind of criminal who had committed several crimes in a row. Wouldn’t they get a greater sense of achievement to steal Miss Zhou under such strict guard?

To criminals, the thrill of committing crimes under the nose of the government was enormous. Therefore, he was sure that as long as the Zhou family was the target, the criminal wouldn’t change her mind so easily just because of the tight security.