Chapter 382 - 382 Shedding Her Shell
382 Shedding Her Shell
Song Jingchen said that they had to speed up the next part of the journey. It would be more boring, so they went out to take a walk in the morning before departing.
Shen Yijia pulled Madam Li out to shop with the children.
Qiu Ning County was much larger than Anyang County. There was a dazzling array of food on the streets and some trinkets that Shen Yijia had never seen before.
It was true that compared to Anyang County, the prices here were more expensive.
After a month of traveling, they either stayed in the carriage or in the inn. This was the first time they had come out to shop.
Shen Yijia waved her hand and bought whatever she liked. She paid.
Sister Huan and the others were sensible. They only watched and did not buy.
Shen Yijia asked repeatedly before they chose a trinket each.
Although they didn’t buy it, it didn’t affect their enthusiasm for shopping at all.
No matter where it was, there was no lack of poverty. Shen Yijia and the others walked out of the busy city and arrived at the impoverished area of Qiu Ning County.
It was as if there was an invisible barrier here, isolating this area from the commotion outside.
Shen Yijia looked at the women and children sitting by the roadside or in the corner. She rolled her eyes and walked over.
Half an hour later, the largest inn in Qiu Ning County welcomed a large group of people who looked like beggars. They instantly blocked the entrance of the inn.
The innkeeper and the waiter were shocked and quickly chased them away with brooms. “Hey, hey, what are you doing? Is this a place you can enter?”
“I invited them.” Shen Yijia squeezed out of the crowd and stood at the front. “Hurry up and bring up all the food in the kitchen. Put the bill on Eunuch Deng.”
“Madam, this isn’t a good idea.” The shopkeeper was in a difficult position.
“Why wouldn’t it be good? Our emperor is benevolent, so Eunuch Deng is naturally the same, since he is His Majesty’s attendant. What’s there to worry about?”
“What’s wrong with treating these people to a meal out of pity? Or do you look down on these people, even ignoring Eunuch Deng’s generosity?”
The shopkeeper wiped his sweat. This person even dared to use His Majesty’s name. Where did this crazy woman come from?
“Why don’t we ask them first?” the shopkeeper asked tentatively.
Shen Yijia puffed up her cheeks. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a corner of a shirt flash past the door to the backyard. Her eyes lit up and she jumped over to pull out the person hiding behind.
She grinned at the man. “Eunuch Deng, what a coincidence. You heard what I said just now, right? You have no objections, right? I believe His Majesty will definitely feel sorry for them if he sees them so hungry.”
As if they had discussed it, as soon as Shen Yijia finished speaking, that group of people knelt down and shouted, “Long live His Majesty. His Majesty is benevolent.”
Eunuch Deng thought to himself, “Damn it, I can’t dodge it.”
Helpless, Eunuch Deng could only nod with tears in his eyes. At the same time, he was thinking about how to ask Emperor Chong’an for money when he returned to the palace.
With his nod, the waiter at the inn suffered. This was not a restaurant, and most of the people who usually ate here were guests who stayed at the inn.
They had to buy ingredients at the last minute.
The group of people were grateful again before finding a place to sit down. Those who could not sit down simply stood. The entire hall was in chaos. The food was snatched up in less than two breaths.
Everyone remembered what the kind madam had said and ate their fill.
One group of people had just finished eating and left when another group arrived. It was not until curfew was about to begin that the inn became empty.
The shopkeeper took a look. They had worked hard, but the woman who brought these people had already returned to her room.
Under the moonlight, more than ten black shadows landed in the courtyard like ghosts.
The courtyard was silent. The leader looked around and finally fixed his gaze on one of the windows.
He gestured, and the others quickly headed for the room before silently sneaking into the room through the window.
However, they only saw two people lying face down on the bed. Before they could attack, another group of masked people entered.
The two sides looked at each other. After confirming that they were not on the same side, they immediately fought.
The sound of fighting woke the sleeping people.
“Who are you? Help, there’s a thief!”
The two of them screamed in fear.
The two parties who were fighting stopped and looked at the bed at the same time. They frowned. There were clearly two sallow men lying on it.
They had fallen into a trap.
The leaders of both sides knocked the people on the bed unconscious at the same time. The two groups looked at each other.
After confirming their gazes, they had the same goal. At least for the time being, they were not enemies.
After the two of them retracted their gazes, they each brought their men to other rooms to check.
There were people in every room, but none of them were the person they were looking for.
What a good escape!
“Boss, only Eunuch Deng is not in the courtyard next door.”
Rooster unceremoniously threw the sack off his shoulder.
The unconscious people woke up and screamed in fear, “Who are you? Do you know who I am? Do you want to die?”
He crawled out of the sack in a panic. His screams stopped when he saw the people in front of him.
“What do you want?” Eunuch Deng shrank back.
Shen Yijia giggled. “Eunuch Deng, we saved your life again.”
“But you don’t have to thank us too much. Just pay the silver for renting this boat.”
When Eunuch Deng heard this, he looked around and realized that he was on a large ship.
The ship had already left the shore. They could still see sporadic lights in the distance.
Eunuch Deng had been tricked by Shen Yijia. When he saw her, he would think of the copper coins and the money he had spent along the way.
He looked at Song Jingchen. “Young Master Song, what’s going on?”
Song Jingchen raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Shen Yijia. “How much did it cost to rent this boat?”
“Originally, they refused to leave at night, so I had no choice but to add more silver.” Shen Yijia shook her head with a pained expression and extended five fingers. “A total of 500 taels.”
The corners of Song Jingchen’s mouth twitched. Previously, this girl had even proudly told him that she had only spent 150 taels to rent a boat.
He looked at Eunuch Deng silently.
Eunuch Deng was speechless.
He was forced to write his first IOU.
As the only person beside Emperor Chong’an who could challenge Eunuch Li, he decided that the first thing he would do when he returned was to return the silver and destroy the evidence.
Otherwise, if that Li fellow found out, wouldn’t he laugh at him?
Shen Yijia put the IOU into her pouch in a good mood and told him the whole story.
After entering the city today, they sensed that they were being watched, so Song Jingchen thought about Shen Yijia treating those people to a meal.
At that time, there were too many people, and the entire inn was in chaos.
Taking advantage of the chaos, they brought the children and adults to their courtyard and gave them money to stay there for the night.
They changed into their clothes and mixed in the crowd before leaving. Then, they left the city and took a boat to the ferry.
Eunuch Deng was furious with Shen Yijia and sent her out. He rested alone in his room, making it easier for Shen Yijia to stuff him in a sack.