Tao Lengshuang followed the direction indicated by the hidden guard and saw a masked man holding a sharp sword in one hand and carrying Luo Yang in the other, running rapidly into the distance.
"That person just tried to sneak attack you, Doctor," the hidden guard explained.
Tao Lengshuang broke out in a cold sweat. She thanked the hidden guard and then heard Luo Yang's hoarse, furious roar.
"Tao Lengshuang, I will not let you go. You wait for me. Next time, I will definitely make you kneel before me and beg for mercy!"
Tao Lengshuang's face showed a hint of anger. She said with a cool, mocking tone, "You? Luo Yang, after so many times, when have you ever been able to defeat me? You, a defeated foe, might as well not boast, lest you embarrass yourself."
Upon hearing this, Luo Yang spat out a mouthful of blood. Her eyes, filled with scarlet, stared intently at Tao Lengshuang, as if trying to kill her with her gaze.
"Tao Lengshuang, you can only be smug now. Let you be smug for a while longer."
Tao Lengshuang let out a light scoff and raised her voice, "Luo Yang, you look exactly like a stray dog... Oh, I forgot, you are a stray dog."
"You stray dog, what can you do besides keep barking? You can't do anything."
Luo Yang almost fainted from anger.
As she could no longer see Tao Lengshuang's figure and could not say anything more, she vented her anger onto the masked man: "You useless piece of trash, why didn't you kill Tao Lengshuang?"
*Slap.*
The masked man slapped her face, swelling it, and his eyes were filled with killing intent. "Luo Yang, you'd better recognize your status and not do things you shouldn't."
Luo Yang trembled, her face pale, and nodded repeatedly. She had lost all her arrogance and anger from before. "Yes, yes, yes, I promise I won't dare again."
When she becomes the young master's concubine, she will settle accounts with this bastard slowly.
The masked man threw her to the ground like trash. "This time, you acted behind your master's back and played such a trick, almost exposing your master. What do you think your master will do to punish you?"
Luo Yang retreated fearfully and pleaded, "Please, master, forgive me this time. I just wanted to deal with Tao Lengshuang too much."
"I clearly saw Tao Lengshuang being forcibly sent away, but why did it turn out like this?"
She had indeed seen Tao Lengshuang, covered by a red veil, being forcibly taken into that mansion by several servants. She then rushed to watch the show, only to fall into Tao Lengshuang's trap.
The masked man was too lazy to say anything more to this idiot. Even a fool could see that the figure of the person forcibly sent into the mansion was completely different from Tao Lengshuang. Only this idiot believed it.
"There is something I need you to do. Tonight..."
Tonight was a good opportunity.
...
In the evening, in the latter half of the night.
Tao Lengshuang, who was on night watch, was sitting in the main hall, warming herself by the fire and preparing various medicinal powders when suddenly there was a 'bang' sound, accompanied by the smell of something burning.
Her brows furrowed. She cautiously went outside the main hall to check the situation and saw several torches flying towards the house. Her pupils contracted slightly.
Someone was setting a fire!
She then saw the hidden guards kick away several torches and felt slightly relieved.
"Doctor, the kitchen caught fire. Some of the brothers have already put it out with snow."
At this moment, a hidden guard landed in front of Tao Lengshuang. "It's those bandits from the village throwing torches, trying to burn down the people in the mansion. There are about twenty of them."
Tao Lengshuang immediately knew that the other party had a plan. Her pretty face turned terrifyingly cold. No wonder the bandits in the village had been inactive these past few days. They were waiting for today.
"There's no need to show mercy to these bandits. Just capture the leader and interrogate him. Also, see if there's anyone else nearby."
The hidden guard took the order and went to handle the matter.
Tao Lengshuang's brows were tightly furrowed as she stared at the torches being thrown again and again. This incident was likely related to the mastermind.
The mastermind was going to extreme lengths to kill her.
"Mò family, someone is setting a fire?" Aunt Shen Er and a few others came out upon hearing the commotion.
Tao Lengshuang hummed, told them to be careful, and watched the children before continuing to observe the bandits' movements.
The bandits hidden in various corners kept throwing torches at Tao Lengshuang's house. But when they saw the torches being kicked back, they quickly hid aside.
"Boss, this won't work," a bandit said to the leader. "It seems someone is protecting this family. We can't set fire and kill them."
The leader, with a fierce and menacing appearance, looked like he could scare a child into crying. "What are you worried about when we have so many people? Let the brothers throw more torches. This family has a lot of good things, enough for us to have a good meal."
The bandit responded and shouted, "Everyone, put in more effort..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly clutched his neck, his eyes wide open, and then fell heavily to the ground.
He was dead!
This scene silenced the bandits present for two seconds, then they nervously picked up their weapons and looked around. "Who, come out."
But at this moment, several bandits were killed with a single sword strike and fell to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, several more bandits were killed.
At this point, how could the remaining bandits dare to stay? They panicked and ran towards the villagers. "Run quickly, there must be ghosts."
But before they could run a few steps, all the bandits except the leader were dealt with.
Then, the leader was brought before Tao Lengshuang by the hidden guards. The other hidden guards searched the surroundings for anyone else.
"I, I don't know anything. Someone told me there were many good things here."
The terrified leader trembled and said, "It was an old man who looked like a farmer and acted very arrogantly who told me this."
"Please spare me. I promise to reform myself from now on and will not engage in such activities again."
Upon hearing this, Tao Lengshuang knew it was Old Man Luo. She couldn't help but sneer. The Luo family was truly resorting to any means to scheme against her.
She asked the hidden guards to take the leader away for processing, thinking about how to resolve the hidden danger of the Luo family and prevent them from scheming against her again.
But the problem was, she didn't know where the Luo family was hidden.
If she designed a way to lure the Luo family out, she might be schemed against by the mastermind, or something might go wrong in the process.
She needed to find a foolproof method.
What kind of foolproof method could both lure the Luo family out and investigate the mastermind?
As she was deep in thought, she remembered Sheng Li, and an idea struck her. Perhaps Sheng Li could help her greatly.
...
Sheng Li found A Jin again and asked him about the secret Tao Lengshuang mentioned. "Tell me honestly, what is the secret Tao Lengshuang spoke of?"
A Jin was somewhat impatient but had to deal with Sheng Li. His tone was not very good. "I've told you, don't believe what Tao Lengshuang says. She's trying to sow discord between us."
Sheng Li didn't quite believe him and felt uneasy. For some reason, she had a sense of unease, as if something bad was about to happen.
"Don't you think Tao Lengshuang resembles someone? I can't quite recall who she resembles, but it should be someone very familiar to me."