The Military and Horse Departments of the five cities in central Beijing are responsible for public security matters such as patrols, thefts, and fire bans. The Imperial College is located in the East City and falls under the jurisdiction of the Dongcheng Military and Horse Departments.
Xin You heard the strong malice in the tone of the leading official, but his face remained calm: "May I ask, Mr. Chai, what did our bookstore commit? Why did we clean out "Painted Skin"?"
A person following the leading officer shouted: "Don't shout randomly, this is our Deputy Commander Han!"
"Master Han." Xin You changed his title politely.
Deputy Commander Han did not soften his attitude due to Xin You's politeness, and said with a sullen face: "Your bookstore spreads demonic books, causing people in the capital to panic. There are people setting fire to books everywhere, causing dozens of fires in just two days. Last night A fire caused even more casualties. In order to restore stability to the capital, these demonic books must be confiscated, and we hope that Miss Kou will cooperate."
Xin You raised his eyebrows when he heard the last part.
She introduced herself as the owner of a bookstore, but the other party called her Miss Kou. It seemed that she knew Miss Kou's deeds. Let’s not talk about Miss Kou’s identity as Taipusi Shaoqing’s niece. The incident of rescuing the eldest princess’ beloved daughter had just happened not long ago. The other party was coming in a menacing manner. She had no scruples about this. I’m afraid it was not as simple as maintaining public order.
People who are bewitched by rumors burn books and cause a fire. Whether the bookstore will be in trouble depends entirely on what the people in the Military and Horse Department think. If you say it has nothing to do with it, the bookstore is a natural disaster, but if you insist that it is related, you can still get into trouble. The people from the Military and Horse Division ignored Miss Kou's connections and seemed to be enforcing the law impartially, but in fact it just showed that there was something wrong.
The commotion made by the Soldiers and Horses Division had already attracted countless people to watch the excitement, and Xin You heard the heated discussion.
"Did you hear that "Painted Skin" is a demon book?"
"It's really scary. Yesterday I asked my kid to burn the book, but he just didn't listen."
…
"Miss Kou, what are you waiting for? Quickly clear out the demon books. If we wait for us to take action, it will be bad if we damage something." Deputy Commander Han urged coldly.
Xin You and Deputy Commander Han looked at each other with cold eyes and raised their voices slightly: "Painted Skin is just an ordinary ghost story. If there is anything extraordinary about it, it's probably because it's so beautiful. It is a grand occasion that almost everyone who loves to read storybooks has one in hand. "Painted Skin" has sold tens of thousands of copies. If it is true that an evil spirit will come out of the book to harm people as rumored, will the action of this evil spirit be too slow? Already?"
When the spectators heard this, they nodded subconsciously.
It makes sense. The female ghost in "Painted Skin" is so powerful that she can't even stop a Taoist priest's whisk. If she really escapes from the book and harms people, she won't just rip out one person's heart, right?
Deputy Commander Han sneered: "Miss Kou is really eloquent!"
"A civilian girl only speaks from her heart."
"No matter what, it is a fact that "Painted Skin" caused all these troubles, and the book must be handed over." Deputy Commander Han stared closely at the calm girl, "Is Miss Kou going to resist the government?"
"People's girls don't dare. People's girls understand Master Han's worries, but there is no need to clean up the books."
Deputy Commander Han raised his eyebrows, waiting to see how the girl in front of him would resist.
Xin You smiled: "Because "Painted Skin" is so popular, it has already been sold out."
"Sold out?" Deputy Commander Han was stunned, never expecting this result.
On the side, Liu Zhou boldly interjected: "We don't have a copy of "Painted Skin" in our bookstore."
I used to feel distressed and worried that the book would be sold out, but I never expected that one day I would feel so relieved when I said I had no more books!
In the crowd, an unknown voice rang out: "Yes, yesterday my friends and I went to buy "Painted Skin" but we didn't buy it. As a result, I just bought a book of poems and fell asleep while reading it when I got home."
Deputy Commander Han came back to his senses and looked at the girl with a smile on her lips, feeling indescribably aggrieved.
Sold out by such a coincidence?
"Go check it out." Deputy Commander Han ordered his men.
Several subordinates quickly walked into the bookstore to check and walked out empty-handed. One of them replied: "Sir, I didn't find "Painted Skin" on the bookshelf."
Deputy Commander Han stared at Xin You with burning eyes: "Behind your bookstore is the book printing shop, right?"
Xin You heard what the other party meant and said calmly: "The craftsmen were very hard at printing books without stopping. They stopped to rest in the past few days, and the printing shop did not have the printed "Painted Skin"."
"The finished product is sold out and printing has stopped. Isn't it a coincidence?"
Xin You smiled: "That's true. For women, although making money is important, it can't be exhausting."
"Go and have a look!" Deputy Commander Han didn't believe it at all and raised his chin at his subordinates.
Shopkeeper Hu was worried that these officials would go on a rampage and cause vandalism. He glanced at Xin You anxiously, saw her nodding slightly, and said hurriedly: "Young men, please lead the way."
Several officials went straight to the printing shop, rushing from one hall to another, randomly grabbing the papers on the table and checking them.
The craftsmen were at a loss and did not dare to say a word.
Shopkeeper Hu looked at the messed up papers with distress and joy.
Fortunately, considering the sales volume, these books generally do not have multiple printings. Even if they are ruined by these people, the loss will not be huge. If there were as many "Painted Skins" as there were a few days ago - Shopkeeper Hu shuddered and didn't dare to think about it at all.
After such a destructive inspection, several officers went out to return.
"Sir, what the printing house is printing is not "Painted Skin"."
After receiving this answer, Deputy Commander Han looked at Xin You with a serious expression.
And Xin You's eyes flashed slightly, and a picture suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.
The craftsmen came out carrying the big box. One of the craftsmen suddenly staggered, and even the book boards contained in the box fell on Deputy Commander Han.
"If there is no printed book, "Painted Skin" will always be stereotyped, right?" Deputy Commander Han asked coolly.
Xin You regained consciousness and did not deny it: "Of course there is."
The other party really tried their best to kill everyone, and no books were found, so they had a rigid idea.
"These stereotypes are hidden dangers if they are left here. Let you craftsmen move the stereotypes out. They must be destroyed openly today!"
"This is too much!" Liu Zhou couldn't help shouting.
Shopkeeper Hu was also so angry that his face was livid.
Those stereotypes are all the hard work of the bookstore, carved out by the craftsmen stroke by stroke. These dog officials are really bullying people.
Deputy Commander Han glanced at Liu Zhou and asked Xin You coldly: "What, Miss Kou doesn't want to cooperate?"
The girl who had always had a polite smile on her face finally turned cold: "Everyone who owns a bookstore knows that book boards are the foundation of a bookstore. Mr. Han wants to destroy the foundation of my bookstore just because of some rumors. Do you still need my smile to cooperate?" "
"Then Miss Kou is going to go against my Bingma Division?"
Xin You sneered: "A civilian girl wouldn't dare. If Mr. Han insists on doing this, then just take out the book board and destroy it yourself. Let me use my own people to destroy my own foundation. A civilian girl can't do that!"
She could still afford the loss of the "Painted Skin" book board. If she hadn't seen that picture, she wouldn't mind cooperating and leaving these wolfhounds. But Deputy Commander Han didn't know the consequences of being hit by such a heavy box, so she couldn't let the craftsmen get into trouble.
It's better to let Deputy Commander Han's men move it.
