Chapter 143: Fury

Ling'er did not dare to say more and quickly followed behind Ning Yaxin.

Stepping downstairs, Ning Yaxin hurried toward the warehouse and soon spotted Niu Da, who was currently directing the team members in unloading cargo.

"Captain Niu," Ning Yaxin called out as she approached.

Niu Da turned around, saw it was Ning Yaxin, and immediately cupped his fists politely. "Greetings, Miss Ning."

Seeing that there were quite a few people around, Ning Yaxin pulled Niu Da aside.

"Captain Niu, I heard that you had a fierce battle with bandits the other day, and that people died?" Ning Yaxin asked.

Niu Da nodded with a light sigh and said, "Yes, we lost three men on our side, and five were heavily wounded, currently still lying in the medical clinic. The rest of us suffered injuries to varying degrees..."

"However, Miss Ning, that gang of bandits has been completely wiped out by us, and both bandit chiefs were captured as well. Our boss is currently delivering them to the county magistrate's office; they should have arrived by now."

Ning Yaxin asked, "Captain Niu, was your boss injured?"

Niu Da nodded. "Injured, but not seriously. Just a cut on his lower arm."

With that, Niu Da pointed to his own left forearm.

Learning that Xu Mo was fine, Ning Yaxin instantly felt much more at ease and let out a silent breath of relief.

Next, Ning Yaxin began asking about matters related to the bandits.

Niu Da held nothing back, spilling everything about the battle situation and the casualties of the bandits in one go.

Toward the end, as Niu Da grew more and more spirited in his recounting, he even revealed that the bandits had been hired by someone else.

Greatly startled, Ning Yaxin quickly asked, "Captain Niu, who hired them?"

Niu Da shook his head. "The bandit chief said he didn't know the man's full name, only that his surname was Zhang and he was from Heyang."

"From Heyang, and surnamed Zhang?" A shock went through Ning Yaxin's heart, and she immediately thought of Zhang Zishen.

The first time, Xu Mo rescued Ning Yaxin at the teahouse, thereby offending Zhang Zishen.

The second time, to help Ning Yaxin shake off Zhang Zishen's harassment, Xu Mo engineered a scheme to have him thrown into prison and sent back to Heyang.

The third time, right in front of everyone at Gushan Village, Xu Mo gave Zhang Zishen a severe beating.

Based on these three points, besides Zhang Zishen, Ning Yaxin could not think of a second person!

Niu Da nodded. "Right, that's what the bandit chief said. Who knows what kind of grudge the boss had with that Zhang fellow to actually make him hire bandits! Damn it, what a truly despicable bastard!"

Ning Yaxin did not reply, but the anger in the depths of her heart was already burning.

If she had previously felt a trace of guilt when Xu Mo beat up Zhang Zishen...

...now Ning Yaxin no longer had any psychological burden whatsoever, and even felt for a time that Xu Mo had been too lenient, and should have beaten him much harder back then.

Seeing that Ning Yaxin remained silent, Niu Da immediately assumed that his crude speech had offended her.

"Miss Ning, I'm sorry. I'm just a country bumpkin and not very good with words, please don't mind it," Niu Da apologized.

Ning Yaxin shook her head and then asked, "Captain Niu, will your boss be coming over later?"

Niu Da said, "The boss said he won't be coming. Later, we have to go to the medical clinic to check on the five severely wounded men, and we agreed to meet up there."

"Oh, I see..."

A sudden wave of disappointment washed over Ning Yaxin. After acknowledging his words, she said, "Captain Niu, go back to your work. I have some matters to attend to and won't disturb you any longer."

"You are too polite, Miss Ning. Please take care," Niu Da said, cupping his fists.

Ning Yaxin nodded slightly and then turned to leave.

Walking to the stairway, Ning Yaxin suddenly stopped, turned her head, and said to Ling'er, "Ling'er, go find out which medical clinic the injured men are staying at. Later, buy some goods and go visit them on my behalf."

Ling'er could not help asking, "Eldest Miss, are you not going?"

Ning Yaxin frowned slightly and retorted, "What do you mean by that?"

Ling'er lowered her voice. "Eldest Miss, since you are so worried about Young Master Xu, why don't you take this opportunity to go see him? This is such a good excuse."

For reasons unknown to herself, as soon as Ling'er said this, Ning Yaxin instantly flared up in anger. "Audacious!"

Struck with terror, Ling'er turned pale, dropped to her knees on the spot, and repeatedly lowered her head to confess her wrongdoing.

This scene was quickly witnessed by Xie Yuqing, as well as the store clerks and customers, but no one dared to step forward to inquire. They could only watch from afar, inwardly wondering what had happened.

The next moment, Ning Yaxin realized she had lost her temper, and a trace of regret welled up in her heart.

Hastily calming her emotions, Ning Yaxin said coldly to Ling'er, "Get up. Such words are not allowed to be spoken ever again!"

"Understood, Eldest Miss. This servant will never dare do it again," Ling'er said in a fluster.

Immediately afterward, Ning Yaxin walked swiftly up the stairs.

Ling'er hurriedly offered her thanks, then got up and followed closely behind.

Once Ning Yaxin had vanished around the second-floor stairwell, a female clerk walked over to Xie Yuqing's side and asked in a low voice, "Shopkeeper, what is wrong with the Eldest Miss? Why did she suddenly lose such a big temper? We've never seen her like this before."

Xie Yuqing frowned, glanced at her sideways, and snapped irritably, "Are you too idle with nothing to do?"

"No, no, I have work to do, work to do..."

Scared, the female clerk immediately stuck out her tongue and scurried away.

Meanwhile, inside a teahouse near the Xinzhou County Magistrate's Office, Xu Mo and Master of Records Qi were seated at a table, drinking tea and conversing.

Just moments ago, Xu Mo had handed over the gang of outlaws, including White-Haired and Peng Dong, to the county office.

However, County Magistrate Hu Maochuan did not grant him an audience to commend him for killing bandits; instead, under the pretext of being occupied with official business, he sent Master of Records Qi out to handle the situation.

Consequently, Master of Records Qi had no choice but to invite Xu Mo to the nearby teahouse and offer a sincere apology.

Finding it quite baffling, Xu Mo asked, "Master Qi, the last time I met with the county magistrate, his attitude seemed... Why, after just a few days, has such a massive change occurred?"

Without beating around the bush, Master of Records Qi asked Xu Mo whether his various previous misdeeds were true.

Xu Mo instantly understood. It turned out that these matters were the reason County Magistrate Hu's attitude toward him had taken a complete one-eighty-degree turn.

Having nothing to explain regarding this, Xu Mo readily admitted that they were all true.

Master of Records Qi immediately frowned and said, "Young Master Xu, why didn't you tell me about these things earlier? The magistrate has always valued the virtue and character of young men. If this is the case, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will be very difficult for him to employ you heavily!"

Hearing this, Xu Mo merely smiled faintly and said calmly, "Since that is the case, I shall not press the matter. I respect County Magistrate Hu's decision."

The reason Xu Mo had agreed to help County Magistrate Hu think of a solution that day was primarily with the thought of drawing closer to the magistrate.

After all, Xinzhou County was his base of operations, and establishing a good relationship with the local magistrate would lower the likelihood of being bullied by others.

However, since the county magistrate minded his past, Xu Mo would not force it.

With that, Xu Mo stood up, cupped his fists, and said, "Master Qi, please forgive me, but I still need to visit the wounded villagers at the medical clinic. I won't stay to chat any longer. Farewell!"

Having spoken, Xu Mo walked out of the teahouse and left with Qin Mutou and his men.

"Alas!"

Master of Records Qi could not help but shake his head and sigh.

To be honest, Master of Records Qi was feeling quite depressed right now because, due to County Magistrate Hu's prejudice, he had just watched a talent slip away.

In truth, over the past few days, Master of Records Qi had already investigated Xu Mo's situation. Although his various misdeeds were real, it was undeniable that Xu Mo's commercial capabilities were also exceptionally outstanding.

From the bottom of his heart, Master of Records Qi did not agree with County Magistrate Hu's mindset. After all, no one is a sage without faults—so what if he had some misconduct in his past?

Right now, they only wanted to invite him to revitalize Xinzhou County's commerce, not abdicate the magistrate's seat for Xu Mo to sit on!