Chapter 81 Exchange
Qin Yao was really worried that nothing had happened during the month she was here.
If she took the two taels of silver, Mr. Ding would definitely feel uncomfortable because he thought she had done nothing but took so much silver.
But now, she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.
Everyone in the mansion was sleeping soundly, and Qin Yao could still hear Dou'er snoring in the next room even from the ear room.
Only two guards were left at the Ding Mansion, and there was a storehouse in the second courtyard, so one person was left behind.
The remaining person was guarding outside Miss Ding's gate, but he seemed not to hear any movement outside.
Qin Yao picked up the knife and quietly opened the door, then walked to the corridor quietly and hid behind a pillar.
I originally thought that the thief was going to climb over to the backyard, but unexpectedly, a dark shadow appeared on the wall and he was heading for the second courtyard.
The purpose is obvious, to steal money.
Qin Yao was hiding in the shadows, and he didn't notice her at all. His eyes swept across the inner courtyard and passed her directly by.
To do something like this, they usually work in pairs. Qin Yao watched the thief enter the second courtyard, walk out from the shadow of the corridor, jump lightly, grab the eaves with his hands, and jump lightly onto the roof.
Standing high up, I could spot a piece of wood on the back wall of the house at a glance.
The thief had climbed up the courtyard wall using this piece of wood as thick as an adult's arm, and then followed the wall like a cat to crawl into the second courtyard.
There was a person standing at the foot of the wall, looking around with a nervous expression.
It was too dark to see his face clearly, but from his figure I could tell he was a tall and thin man in his early twenties.
Qin Yao suddenly jumped down from the wall and appeared in front of him. This man had a very poor mental quality and let out a frightened low cry.
With this low cry, the guards in the courtyard woke up immediately and shouted loudly:
"Who is it?!"
Obviously, the accomplices in the yard have been discovered.
The man in front of Qin Yao wanted to run away, so she swung the back of her knife at him, and the black shadow fell down quickly.
Qin Yao rushed forward in two steps, raised her hand and stabbed the man on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.
She picked up the knife, and as if she had eyes on her back, she swung it with her backhand.
"ah!!!"
Screams were heard from the top of the wall. The thief who was trying to escape was discovered by the guards and was chopped down with a knife. A shiny knife was stuck in his thigh and blood was flowing.
Seeing the knife, Zhang Ba and the guards woke up and realized who had cut the thief back from the wall.
"Madam Qin!" Zhang Ba shouted in the yard.
Qin Yao responded from outside the yard and carried the unconscious thief in front of her into the yard.
With a "bang", the two thieves were thrown together.
The guard pulled the knife out of the thief's leg and returned it to Qin Yao, which caused the thief to scream again.
Qin Yao frowned and said, "Gag them, tie them up together, and send them to the authorities after daybreak."
The guards and Zhang Ba immediately found some rags and ropes, blocked the two thieves' mouths, tied their hands and feet, and threw them into the woodshed without giving them a chance to beg for mercy!
Butler Yu hurried over. The matter had been resolved. He nodded gratefully to Qin Yao and told her to go back and rest while he would take care of the rest.
Qin Yao nodded and retreated to the inner courtyard.
The lights in the main room came on, and Miss Ding's nervous voice came from inside the room: "Did you catch the thief?"
Qin Yao replied: "They are just two petty thieves. I found them as soon as they arrived. Now they have been dealt with. It is late at night. Miss, please continue to sleep."
There was a pause in the room before a voice said, "Okay."
Then the lights went out and the room returned to silence.
Qin Yao first went to the small kitchen to scoop water to wash the knife, then wiped it dry with a cloth before returning to her room to sleep.
I had a good night's sleep, as if what happened last night had never happened.
However, she could ignore it, but Miss Ding and her two servants couldn't. They waited for Qin Yao to get up and immediately asked her about what happened last night.
Qin Yao briefly explained, then asked, "Are we still studying today?"
Miss Ding's attention was diverted and the two began a pleasant role-playing game.
At noon, Butler Yu came and reported the progress to the young lady.
"The two thieves have been sent to the government. Thanks to Madam Qin's early discovery, the two thieves failed to succeed and there was no loss of property in the house."
There was just a little blood on the tiles on the roof of the inner courtyard wing, but he had asked Zhang Ba to clean it early in the morning.
Miss Ding said "Oh" to indicate that she understood.
In the past, the house had often been robbed, but most of the thieves failed. So for Miss Ding, as long as there was no loss, it was fine. She just told the housekeeper to arrange more people to be on duty at night and that was it.
She is still more interested in teaching.
"Madam Qin, we have been reading for so many days. Can I teach you how to draw today?"
Qin Yao asked curiously, "What are you drawing?"
"Well, the day after tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, let's draw a zongzi!"
Is the Dragon Boat Festival coming soon? Qin Yao calculated the date in her mind and it seemed to be coming soon.
I don't know how Liu Ji and his five sons plan to live at home.
Drawing is much more difficult than studying. Qin Yao is not used to holding the brush. She feels sad when she wastes sheet of drawing paper again and again. However, Miss Ding is still interested in it and insists on teaching Qin Yao how to draw rice dumplings.
Only one side of the waste paper was used, and the other side was left empty with a lot of blank space. Qin Yao couldn't help but ask out of curiosity what to do with the waste paper.
Miss Ding was stunned for a moment, "I don't know, the old aunt would have kept it, and she should have taken it to the kitchen to burn."
Qin Yao frowned, "The empty space can be used to practice calligraphy, it would be a pity to burn it."
"Do you want it?" Miss Ding asked.
She knew that the servants would sometimes collect the waste paper and use it as toilet paper, but she didn't need it anyway, so she just let them do it.
She originally thought that Qin Yao was not that vulgar, but she didn't expect that she would also be greedy for such a small advantage.
Qin Yao didn't care what Miss Ding thought. She just thought that the blank spaces on the paper could be cut out and used as a notebook.
He nodded and asked if she could give him the scrap paper, "I can catch two birds for the young lady to play with."
"Really?" Miss Ding asked excitedly, "Is it a live bird?"
Seeing Qin Yao nodding confidently, she suddenly felt that Qin Yao was not so tacky. At least she was exchanging with her, not trying to take advantage of her.
Catching birds was too easy for Qin Yao. During the day, while Miss Ding was taking a nap, she went to the mountain where she had cut down trees before and caught two sparrows.
Cao'er hurriedly went to find a birdcage, put the two sparrows in it, and happily brought it to Miss Ding.
"You really caught it!" The little girl was very happy and waved her hand, "Aunt Qiao, all the waste paper in my room this month is for Madam Qin!"
"Oh, if you can catch me another squirrel, I'll give you the enlightenment illustration book that you've read so many times before!"
Qin Yao raised her eyebrows. Is there such a good thing?
He confirmed with a smile: "Miss, you want a squirrel, right?"
Miss Ding didn't care about her image and nodded vigorously.
So Qin Yao went to the mountains again, caught a gray squirrel with a trap, and exchanged it for a copy of the "Enlightenment Picture Book".
She wanted to change to another book, so she asked Miss Ding if there was anything else she wanted.
Unfortunately, Miss Ding thought that she had enough with the squirrel and the bird, but she allowed Qin Yao to read any books on her bookshelf.
Qin Yao smiled faintly, this is not bad.
(End of this chapter)