Chapter 248: Zhou Gua
“The horse hoof prints are gone.”
Shi Tou looked at the two forks in the road in distress. Which way should they go?
Not hearing Xiao Huan respond, Shi Tou turned back to look. “Xiao Huan, you… sis?!”
The youth’s eyes widened. How was his sister behind them?
Shang Wan: “…”
The horse hooves were so loud, following all the way, yet these two thought they were tracking pretty stealthily, huh?
“Sis, Shi Tou and I had nothing to do anyway, so we wanted to follow and help out.” Xiao Huan said words that even she felt guilty about, showing a fawning smile on her face.
Before Shang Wan could speak, the little baby girl sitting in front of her sighed first, shaking her little head. “Not good.”
Shi Tou: “…”
Xiao Huan: “…”
Don’t laugh at a hundred steps when you’re only fifty steps away, okay?
Shang Wan looked at the two. “Have you arranged your own matters?”
“All arranged.” Xiao Huan immediately replied. “The new dishes are already out, the cooks all know how to make them, no impact if I’m gone for a few days.”
Shi Tou followed up. “I told Master, I’ll make up the missed lessons when I get back. Skipping this minor examination, I’ll write articles until Master is satisfied.”
Heaven knows how much he hated writing articles, but… he was going all out!
After hearing the two out, Shang Wan nodded. “Alright, let’s go together.”
These two had already come, couldn’t just send them back now.
Shi Tou immediately cheered, Xiao Huan also smiled, and they followed Shang Wan toward Baoji County.
After riding hard for two days and one night, nearing evening, the three adults and one child saw Baoji County’s city gate.
Shang Wan instructed, “Find an inn to wash up, then go into the city to gather information.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Shi Tou and Xiao Huan responded one after another. The three dismounted and led their horses into the city.
Yuan Yuan sat on the tall chestnut horse, her big round eyes observing the passing pedestrians, a bit of excitement on her little face.
“Sis, there’s a notice over here.” Shi Tou noticed the notice posted on the wall and led his horse over to look.
Shang Wan and Xiao Huan also led their horses over.
There were three notices: two for catching thieves with rewards, one reminding folks of mountain bandits appearing, to stay vigilant and not leave the city unless necessary.
Shang Wan glanced at the notices a few more times, then called out, “Find an inn to settle in first.”
“Okay.”
There were three inns in the city; Shang Wan picked the busiest one nearby and checked in.
“Sis, why are we staying here?”
“More people make it easier to gather information.” Shang Wan had the inn shopkeeper open three rooms.
The shop assistant led the three upstairs. Shi Tou said, “Bring some hot water up, we want to bathe.”
The shop assistant agreed. “Customer, please wait a moment, I’ll fetch hot water right away.”
Xiao Huan called to him. “What are your shop’s signature dishes?”
The shop assistant naturally stopped to list the dishes.
After listening, Xiao Huan ordered one meat, one vegetable, one cold dish, one soup, and separately a steamed egg custard for Yuan Yuan.
The shop assistant noted them all down and went downstairs.
“Check the things in the rooms.” Shang Wan said this before pushing open the door to her room.
Shi Tou and Xiao Huan exchanged a glance, then went to their own rooms to inspect.
Two shop assistants brought up the hot water. After the three adults and one child washed up, the meal arrived.
The meal was delivered to Shang Wan’s room. Shi Tou and Xiao Huan came in one after the other and sat at the table.
“Sis, there’s nothing else in my room.” Shi Tou picked up his bowl and said.
Xiao Huan, while feeding Yuan Yuan the steamed egg custard, said, “Nothing in mine either.”
Shang Wan nodded. “Eat first, then we’ll split up to gather information.”
“Okay.”
This inn’s cook’s skills were average; at least the steamed egg custard was poorly steamed. Yuan Yuan took one bite and wrinkled her little face into eighteen folds like a bun in disdain.
This little one’s mouth had long been spoiled by the various ingredients grown in the spiritual field and Aunt Xiao Huan’s great cooking.
Shang Wan didn’t force her and took out a milk bottle from her space and handed it over.
Yuan Yuan reached out to hug it and gulped down the milk.
Xiao Huan looked at the steamed egg custard. “When we get back, I’ll borrow the inn’s kitchen to make some midnight snacks.”
Shang Wan said helplessly, “You’re just spoiling her.”
“Don’t you and brother-in-law do the same?” Xiao Huan smiled. The little treasure at home—who didn’t spoil and pamper her?
The little treasure herself cluelessly kept drinking her milk.
After finishing the meal and resting a bit, the group went out to gather information.
Night deepened; Xiao Huan and Shi Tou had both returned and were waiting in Shang Wan’s room.
“Why hasn’t sis come back?” Xiao Huan worriedly looked out the window. Curfew would be soon.
Shi Tou was about to say he’d go look when he heard a knock at the closed room door.
“Who is it?”
“Yuan Yuan.”
The soft, milky little voice was very distinctive.
Xiao Huan quickly went to open the door, but saw that outside, besides Shang Wan and Yuan Yuan, there was also a man.
The man was around thirty, pale and haggard, with dark circles under his eyes.
Xiao Huan recognized this person.
This was the leader of the merchant caravan’s guards, surnamed Zhou, named Zhou Gua.
Zhou Gua nodded to Xiao Huan and called out, “Miss Xiao Huan.”
Xiao Huan stepped aside to let them in, then asked, “How did you end up like this?”
Zhou Gua looked at Shang Wan. Shang Wan said, “Sit down and talk.”
Xiao Huan said, “I made midnight snacks, warming on the stove. We’ll eat and talk.”
She went downstairs to fetch them.
Shi Tou glanced at Zhou Gua, then curiously asked Shang Wan, “Sis, where did you find him?”
“Ran into him on the road.” Shang Wan said while pinching Yuan Yuan’s chubby little hand.
Actually, Yuan Yuan had found him—or more precisely, a calico cat had.
Xiao Huan brought up the midnight snacks. The four adults and one child ate while talking.
Zhou Gua had poor appetite and put down his chopsticks after a few bites, then took the initiative to recount the caravan’s encounter.
“We ran into mountain bandits.”
The three adults and one child all looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
Zhou Gua inexplicably felt nervous, licked his lips, and said, “The bandit leader was a woman skilled in kung fu. Qin Laoda seemed to know her.
After the bandits surrounded us, that woman had Qin Laoda go aside to talk. They were far away, so I couldn’t hear clearly what they said, but the two kept looking back at us.”
“And then?”
“Then the two suddenly argued, and those bandits turned on us. They had muscle relaxant powder; we weren’t prepared and all got hit. The bandits looted the caravan, people and goods.”
Shang Wan stared at him. “How did you escape?”
“I… I…” Zhou Gua lowered his eyes, pursed his lips several times, then said, “I hid in the chaos; the bandits didn’t notice me.”
“Besides you, did anyone else from the caravan escape?”
“No.” Zhou Gua shook his head. “I was right there watching; the others were all tied up, not a single one missing.”
“No casualties?”
Zhou Gua answered truthfully, “Over twenty injured, no deaths.”
Shang Wan asked, “What about Tan Zhang?”
“Qin Laoda was slashed on the back by that woman,” Zhou Gua said. “Shouldn’t be fatal.”
Shang Wan set down her soup bowl, wiped the soup stain from her lip with a towel, then asked, “Why didn’t you send word back?”
Zhou Gua nervously clenched his hands. “I… I escaped midway, was afraid of being punished by the owner, so I didn’t dare send word back.”
Shang Wan’s gaze turned cold, her voice chilling as well. “So you planned to just leave it be, wait till your wounds healed, and then go?”
