Xiao Baozhu had taken on a brand-new look from head to toe. She was dressed in silk, wearing all kinds of ornate jewelry for a rich mistress. Even more striking was the change in her disposition. Showing no hint of her once modest shyness, she was dignified and stubborn with indifferent eyes. In short, she was no longer her old self. Besides, she was attended to by a compliant maid holding various gifts, including clothes and meat.
Seeing her transformation, Li Hongmei was so excited and stunned that she failed to utter a word.
Xiao Baozhu said softly, “Mom, don’t you remember me? I’m your daughter.”
“Oh, it’s so hard to believe what I see!” Tears suddenly rolled down Li Hongmei’s face.
As she strode up to hold Xiao Baozhu’s hands in hers, she noticed that her skin had become much more delicate. She wore a jade bracelet, which was a sign of a rich and carefree life.
Li Hongmei wept as she said, “You’re finally living a good life. I don’t expect Wang Jiaxiu to be devoted to you. I just hope that you can get better treatment and will never be hurt in his family.”
Xiao Baozhu gave a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. Look, I’m well treated.” She then asked her maid to give the gifts to Li Hongmei, Xiao Baofeng and Ye Xiaoxian.
Ye Xiaoxian thanked her dryly as she took the gift. The gift for her was a roll of cloth, but she wasn’t in the mood to doll herself up now.
When they sat down, Xiao Baozhu said apologetically, “Mom, Sister Ye, I know what you’ve been through, although I didn’t come back. I’m sorry that I didn’t stand by your side when you needed help.”
Ye Xiaoxian smiled warmly. “Baozhu, it’s not your fault. You were also busy at that time. Besides, everything is all right now. Both Mom and I are fine.”
“But my brother…”
The smile suddenly froze on Ye Xiaoxian’s lips. “I’d rather believe he is dead.”
Silence suddenly fell over them after Ye Xiaoxian had said that.
At the same time, the men on the roof were also stunned. Yes, at this moment, two men were lying on the roof. They hid well, even in broad daylight, showing their excellence in martial arts.
After a long silence, Xiao Baozhu showed an embarrassed smile and said, “Sister Ye, my brother did fail you, but I don’t think he meant it. After all, you have spent some happy times together, which makes me envious. He loves you. But no one’s loved me, not even for a single day.”
As the heart-to-heart talk continued, the three women gradually became sentimental. Xiao Baozhu left after chatting a while longer.
There was silence again. After a moment, Ye Xiaoxian heaved a deep sigh and said, “Mom, I have to prepare tomorrow’s snacks now.”
Li Hongmei replied, “I can help you.”
The two men on the roof remained there until it became dark. Then, they jumped down into the lane beside the yard. One of them was strikingly handsome, aged around 18. His black robe was made of the finest cloth, displaying his distinguished identity. In contrast, his tone and expression were not that steady and he seemed to have a short fuse. His gracefully arched eyebrows furrowed as if someone owed him a large sum of money.
He said arrogantly, “No wonder those fatheads couldn’t find Xiao Baoshan. Even his wife treats him like he were dead and doesn’t expect him to return.”
Beside him was a 16-year-old boy who appeared to be a footman or bodyguard. He looked more stable than his master.
“Young Master, do we still need to question this woman?” asked the footman, called Fengsheng.
The ill-tempered man was named Li Chengru. Li Chengru snorted and said, “No. We need to wait patiently. Those people failed just because they exposed their aim so easily. We can’t act as rashly as they did. The top priority is to get those women sussed.”
“Shall we take a rest at an inn? It’s dark now,” Fengsheng warned cautiously.
“Of course!” replied Li Chengru impatiently as he frowned. In Li Chengru’s view, the county was small and remote. He felt disgusted, thinking that there wouldn’t be a decent inn around here.
…
Li Chengru and Fengsheng soon arrived at Jun Lai Inn, the best of its kind in the county. But Li Chengru still frowned with dissatisfaction.
This is the best inn?
The sheets smelled of mildew, the kettle was coated inside with thick limescale and the edges of the cups had turned black. Besides, the room was so small, despite being the biggest in the inn, that he felt suffocated.
He had suffered a lot all the way down here, including staying at in inns worse than this. What was more, his money bag had been robbed when they passed a town. Fortunately, Fengsheng was agile enough to steal money from the county magistrate’s house without being noticed. Otherwise, they might have had to beg on the street.
Reminding himself of his aim, Li Chengru tried to put up with all of this. He gave a waiter one silver tael and asked him to sterilize the cups with boiling water and prepare water for him to take a bath. Then, he sent Fengsheng to buy two new sheets.
After finishing his tasks, the waiter showed up with great hospitality. He asked enthusiastically, “Where do you come from? Why are you here?”
Li Chengru didn’t want to talk with the waiter, leaving the boring chat to Fengsheng. Since they might have to stay here for several days, Fengsheng tried not to upset the waiter. After all, he didn’t want to be poisoned when having meals.
He said, “We’re just passing through.”
But the waiter was so overly friendly that he kept talking. “Are you on a business trip or visiting relatives?”
Fengsheng replied, “Neither. We’re just having a trip.”
The waiter should have realized he wasn’t welcome and left, but he didn’t. Instead, he asked a surprising question. “As you’re not on business or visiting relatives, have you come to find someone? Someone like Xiao Baoshan?”
Li Chengru was stunned, as was Fengsheng. Was their target written on their faces? Or was the waiter so smart that he could easily figure out their aim?
Seeing their surprised looks, the waiter explained with a smile, “There are too many people searching for Xiao Baoshan to take vengeance. They come in group after group, causing quite a stir in the county. It’s clear that they come from large cities because they only stay at the best inn and are quite liberal with money. You just behave the same way.”
Dammit!
Li Chengru cursed to himself. He had thought that he was much smarter than those stupid guys. But then, he saw the issue from a different perspective. Perhaps they couldn’t get the information because they acted so rashly that they exposed their aim. As such, he must be more patient.
The waiter continued, “You have to ask Ye Xiaoxian if you want to find Xiao Baoshan. But she… tut-tut, she looks gentle but is actually quite vicious. She’ll yield neither to persuasion nor to coercion. Oh yes, she ran a restaurant before, but now she’s selling some snacks in front of her house. I guess that she really doesn’t know where Xiao Baoshan is, or she might have told other people about it.”
Li Chengru thought the opposite. He was convinced that he was wiser than the others and could get the information.
Fengsheng knew that his master didn’t like to be bothered, so he sent the waiter away immediately. After the door was closed, Fengsheng began helping Li Chengru undress for a bath.
“Young Master, what do you want to do tonight?” Fengsheng asked.
Tired, Li Chengru replied, “Nothing. We can deal with it tomorrow. Right now I just want to have a good sleep.”
…
Ye Xiaoxian had been getting up very early since she began selling snacks. But she liked her new way of living. After all, she would finish her job once the snacks were sold out. Then, the rest time was all hers and she could do anything she liked.
Her business was prospering as there was a longer queue to buy her snacks in the morning. Most of her customers were locals and a few came from outside the county. Clothes and accents were easy clues to differentiate between the local and non-local people. People from different places had different accents which one could distinguish between quite easily. Besides, since Qinghe was a small, remote county, people’s style of dressing was relatively more conventional and their cloth was much coarser.
So, in this morning, Ye Xiaoxian recognized the two outlanders immediately. While one of them was queuing, the other was standing under a willow tree and staring at her fiercely. Her heart couldn’t help jolting. They were not ordinary people.
They looked quite handsome, especially the one under the tree. He had fair skin, frank eyes and an elegant manner. He had clearly been living a very privileged life with the best food and the finest clothes.
“What would you like to eat?” Ye Xiaoxian removed the cover off a steamer and let Fengsheng select the snacks he wanted. In the steamer were some freshly-made snacks of different shapes which looked alluringly delicate.
Fengsheng had thought her business was good just because her snacks were delicious. But at this moment, he was amazed by her ingenuity in kneading the dough so vividly into cute animals. Fengsheng was hesitant, his eyes fixed on the rabbit-like bread.
“Do you want the rabbits? Seven copper coins for one. How many do you want?” Ye Xiaoxian asked with a smile after noticing him staring at the “rabbits” for a long time.
Her smile was so sincere that he failed to keep a straight face. “Yes, two rabbits, please. I also want two of each of the other shapes.”
