Chapter 72: A Night of Terror

  As night deepened, the yamen runners and constables in the alleys of Xijiao Lane did not dare to slack off for a moment.

  The room was brightly lit, and Mrs. Mao was curled up on the bed, her eyes fixed on the flickering candlelight. She slowly reached out her hand to Xiao Bao's shoulder and pulled him tightly into her arms, almost suffocating him.

  At some point, a wind started blowing on the street. The hot air brought by the wind was stifling, but even such stifling wind was better than none. Those officials felt somewhat relieved as they were blown by the wind.

  It's just the long night that makes people feel bored.

  Before long, those three or five yamen runners sat together chatting. Those who had wine on them would take turns drinking a mouthful, and then laugh and chat loudly.

  "It's so late already, the murderer shouldn't be coming anymore, right?!"

  "Who says it isn't?"

  "What can we do if the county magistrate insists on keeping us here?"

  "Well, I'll just have to stick with it then!"

  Everyone outside was chatting, Ma Shi tightly hugged Mao Xiao Bao on the bed, and Mao Xiao Bao's whole body was covered in hot sweat. Due to physical contact, a certain part of Mao Xiao Bao's body also became hot and swollen, but Ma Shi didn't care at all, still hugging him, not allowing Mao Xiao Bao to make any movements.

  The wind blew against the window frames from time to time, and some of it blew into the house through the gaps in the door, blowing out the lamp flame, making Mao Shi even more frightened.

  It was like this that another hour passed, and it was almost midnight when a sudden commotion came from outside, followed by the conversation of several bailiffs.

  "Hurry up, don't just stand there watching. Zhang was killed by someone. Master Hua told me to come and get you all to guard the scene."

  "But we received orders from our superiors and have been guarding this place all along!"

  "Zhang has already been killed, what are you still guarding? Are you saying the murderer will kill twice in one night?"

  After the officials had discussed it at length, they all hastily departed.

  After hearing the conversation outside, Mao Shi and Mao Xiaobao became even more frightened. When they heard that all the yamen runners had left, Mao Shi's soul was not at peace, and she said to Mao Xiaobao: "You... you go out and take a look, have those yamen runners really left?"

  Bao Xiaobao slipped out of the fat body of the Mao family, and quietly opened the door. He looked around and found that it was quiet all around, with no one in sight. Bao Xiaobao closed the door tightly and turned to the Mao family saying: "They're all gone!"

  At this time, Mao Xiaobao's face had a strange expression. When the Mao family saw that Mao Xiaobao seemed to be excited, they suddenly became angry and said: "They all left, who will protect us? You're actually pleased."

  Mao Xiaobao came to the bedside, stroking Mao's plump body, and said: "They've all left, can't we do something serious now?"

  Mr. Mao's eyes widened, just about to shake off Mao Xiaobao's hand, but at this moment, Mr. Mao's smile suddenly became sinister, and in his hand, a sharp knife appeared out of nowhere, shining brightly under the lamp light.

  Seeing Mao Xiaobao like this, Mrs. Mao was suddenly frightened, she retreated continuously, and finally when there was no way to retreat, she suddenly opened her mouth and asked: "You... what do you want to do?"

  Mao Xiaobao tested the blade with his hand and then blew on it, saying coldly: "I've had enough of you, what do you think I'm going to do?"

  As they spoke, Mao Xiaobao suddenly swung his knife towards Mao Shi, but just at that moment, the lights in Mao Shi's room suddenly went out, and the room was plunged into darkness, followed by a blood-curdling scream.

  After a loud scream, the lights in the house came back on. However, when the lights turned on, there was no bloodshed inside. Instead, there was only a plump woman shivering with fear on the bed, a tall and thin man groaning incessantly on the floor, and a figure clad in black clothes with an icy gaze - Yin Wu Cuo.

  After the light came on, Mao Xiaobao's door was suddenly kicked open by someone, and Hualang Bao and others rushed in with a group of yamen runners. Seeing the situation inside, although everyone was surprised, they could also guess something to some extent.

  After seeing those yamen, Ms. Mao suddenly rushed down from the bed, her fat body jumping off the bed, and that action was astonishing, nothing else.

  Mao rushed forward in a rolling motion and fell to his knees before Bao Gong, saying: "Great... sir, this man wants to kill me, quickly seize him."

  At this time, Mao Xiaobao was lying on the ground, groaning in pain. One of his arms had been disabled, and the knife was now in Yin Wuchang's hand. Yin Wuchang glanced at the knife in his hand under the lamplight and said coldly, "It is indeed a deadly weapon."

  Mao Xiaobao's eyes were filled with hatred. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, leaning against the edge of the bed, asking: "How did you get in?"

  A faint, meaningless smile appeared on his face as he said, "I've been in your room all along, you just didn't notice."

  It was a bit stuffy in the house. With a loud order from Bao Zheng, two bailiffs took Mao Xiaobao to the county government office.

  After arriving at the county government office, the sky was already slightly cool, and everyone had a sense of fatigue, so they took a short rest. They would continue the interrogation after dawn.

  Everyone rested for less than an hour before they all rushed to get up, the government office raised the hall, and those civilians couldn't care about their sleepiness, rushing to come and watch the excitement.

  After the sound of "Wei Wu", Bao Zheng looked at Mao Xiaobao kneeling in the hall and asked, "Mao Xiaobao, don't you quickly confess your crimes truthfully."

  Mao Xiaobao was disdainful and just stared at Bao Quan without saying a word.

  Everyone who saw this was very angry, and Hua Lang saw that Mao Xiaobao actually dared to look into Judge Bao's eyes. Suddenly, he felt that this person was not easy to deal with. If it were any other criminal, they would probably only have the chance to plead for mercy at this time. How dare they look at County Magistrate Bao? Moreover, Judge Bao had a dark face and piercing eyes, which made even ordinary people feel afraid. Yet Mao Xiaobao, a prisoner, was so bold.

  Mao Xiaobao remained silent, and Bao Zheng was at his wit's end. If he continued to refuse to speak, the case would be impossible to try, and even if they managed to extract a confession from him in the end, it wouldn't sound good when it got out.

  Bao Zheng couldn't help but glance at Hua Lang, who understood and stood up to walk in front of Mao Xiaobao, with a somewhat playful smile: "Your scheme has been foiled, you must be furious?"

  Mao Xiaobao's eyes had an unspoken anger in them, but he just glared at Hua Lang and still refused to speak.

  Hualang didn't get angry either, and calmly said: "You must be very curious about how I knew you were the murderer!"

  These words really moved Mao Xiaobao, he looked at Hua Lang and said coldly after a long time: "I am not a murderer, don't talk nonsense, I just want to get rid of that damn wife of mine."

  Hualang smiled faintly and nodded slightly: "You indeed want to solve your wife, but before solving your wife? Kill Yu Tingting and Yuan Fang, two people, kill them and then frantically stab the corpse a dozen times to vent their anger, is that right?"