Chapter 41

"So, this is why you decided to come back." Bei Qiao picked up Xinji on a donkey cart outside the city and drove to Yuanshan Village: What a pity, I didn't get any business today, what a waste.

"There's no other way. If I stay any longer, not only will I lose money, but I might even lose my life." Xin Ji huddled in the carriage, determined not to show his face until he returned to Yuanshan Village.

It wasn't that he was being overly cautious, but after the news of the Fang Mansion bloodbath spread, the Changling City prefect had gone completely mad. No sooner had he been driven out of the city by Constable Qin than the prefect sent his men to turn the city upside down.

"Isn't it normal to search the city?"

"No, he's truly gone mad. A player in the Changling City group witnessed him sending people to forcibly carry away a swordsman who was recovering from injuries at the infirmary. If the doctor hadn't dissented and the swordsman's family hadn't arrived in time, the swordsman would have died." This swordsman, like Xinji, was one of the jianghu hired by the Fang family. When the woodcutter found him on the mountain outside the city, he was already nearly unconscious. If a kind-hearted person hadn't helped carry him down the mountain, he might have died from his injuries.

"Oh? What's the origin of the Fang Mansion?"

"I really don't know about this. I just heard that he is a relative of the prefect." Xinji closed the spam group listlessly and clicked on the email icon that kept jumping above the forum interface: I was really rash this time. What should I do? I have to bow to my parents... Wow!

Zooming in on the content of the email, Xinji's eyes widened unconsciously: "Anomalous post rewards, but I didn't post an abnormal post... Oh, someone else posted it." Needless to say, the person who posted it must be Qiao Qiao.

Great! Closing the forum, Xin Ji secretly clenched his fists: With this thousand yuan, this month's rent will be settled. Whether to give up "Another World Martial Arts" or not, I will leave it to myself next month to decide!

Xinji was full of confidence in the carriage, continuing to plot ways to make money. Beiqiao, who was sitting in the front compartment, ignored the noise inside the carriage and simply urged Huihui to hurry back, intending to get back to Yuanshan Village early to log off the production line so that he could take his mother to the store to buy a gold bracelet.

Perhaps eager to return home, Huihui happily ran back, even faster than when he came. When Beiqiao got off the line to go to the bathroom, he was worried he would be thrown off the car, so he used a whip to stabilize himself.

These days are probably the peak season for scholars to return home. Bei Qiao met several scholars along the way. Some of them were in high spirits, some were dejected, and some were even unlucky enough to run into bandits and were then cast aside by the bandits in disgust.

"How can they be so sure that the scholar has no money on him?" Bei Qiao waved the whip helplessly to make Huihui speed up so as to shake off the knife-wielding bandit who was chasing them from behind.

"Maybe, because the rich scholars have already taken the car back and don't need to walk." Xinji lifted a corner of the curtain of the carriage and shot an arrow at the mule under the bandit's butt.

"That's right. A donkey, if it's not sold at a low price, is worth two taels of silver, which is enough for the lowest class of people to eat for a year."

Huihui was well raised at the horse farm. In Beiqiao's hands, he was well fed and allowed to run around frequently. When he ran freely, the mule that was raised on a starvation diet was no match for him.

Although the bandits wanted to rob Bei Qiao very much, unfortunately, their mule was not up to the task and they themselves could not outrun the donkey cart. In the end, they could only turn around in a rage, thinking that a thief would never leave empty-handed, and planned to kidnap the scholar and make him his wife. However...

"Thanks, I'll gladly take the mule." The scholar rolled up his sleeves, knocked the bandit unconscious, and happily rode away on the mule: "Where did this foolish young man come from? Doesn't he know the six arts of a gentleman? These days, how many scholars can walk from their hometown to the capital and back alive?

Meanwhile, Bei Qiao urged Hui Hui to run furiously, covering several miles before slowing down. This sprint exhausted Hui Hui, but it also significantly shortened their journey time. By the time the donkey cart returned to Yuanshan Village, it was just after four in the afternoon.

After a day of jolting in the carriage, Xinji paid his fare and jumped off, seeing it was still early. He headed straight for the mountains behind, intending to go hunting again before dark. With the five taels of silver from the Fang family, he could go further afield to find opportunities to make money next time, without having to ride Beiqiao's donkey cart.

"Qiao Qiao, you're back!" Yu Qian, who had been staying at home all day, heard the noise from the door next door and ran over: "Is Changling City fun?"

"It's quite fun. If I hadn't had enough money left to pay for the next day's room and the demon tribe attacked the city, I would have actually wanted to stay there for another night." Bei Qiao opened the side door and glanced at Yu Qian: "What's going on?"

"Oh, you're so cold. Can't I just look for you if I don't have anything to do?" Once Yu Qian got to know people well, it was like she took off her mask, and the socially anxious person instantly turned into a socially cautious person: "I saw this mentioned in the group, but the demon has been caught. Is it safe there from now on?"

"It's hard to say. I think in Changling City, humans may be more dangerous than monsters." Bei Qiao shrugged and let Huihui pull the cart into the yard through the side door.

"Really? Tell me more!" Yu Qian took out a handful of snacks and stuffed them into Bei Qiao's hands: "Just talk for ten minutes, okay?"

Bei Qiao looked at the time and nodded towards the front door of the escort agency: "Okay, then you go wait for me in the front, I'll give today's hero a haircut first." Anyway, my mother insisted on having dinner before going shopping, so ten minutes could still be squeezed out.

The people Bei Qiao mentioned as more dangerous than demons were the people of the Fang Mansion and the prefect of Changling City. The former hired a large number of martial artists to catch demons for unknown reasons, while the latter was so obsessed with his relatives that he didn't even care about human lives.

"Are all the people in the Fang Mansion really dead?" After hearing what happened, Yu Qian grabbed her collar and silently wrapped herself up tightly: "Why?" This is simply the beginning of a horror story! Will it be haunted later?

"According to everyone's speculation in the local spam group, the people in Fang Mansion seemed to want to use the monster to do something, either related to cultivation or life span. Then they were probably backfired or sacrificed, so they all died. Well, that's all." The prefect acted quickly and sealed off Fang Mansion when the incident happened. This information was heard by players from nearby residents. It was somewhat subjective, but it was still very logical when you think about it.

After chatting with Yu Qian for a while longer, Bei Qiao logged off ten minutes later, took off his holographic glasses, and began to search his closet. Although he wanted to wear something casual, his mother wouldn't be happy if he dressed too casually.

Qiao Lin: I run into colleagues easily when I go out. My daughter is so beautiful, how can I not dress up and show off to others? I can't not dress up anymore. I don't want to go out.

After dinner, Bei Qiao dressed up a little and took the bus to the store with her mother Qiao Lin.

"Do you want to buy clothes or food?" After arriving at the store, Qiao Lin looked at Bei Qiao who pulled him to the gold jewelry counter with a puzzled look on his face: "Why are you looking at this? You suddenly want to buy gold stuff?" Don't girls of this age generally prefer silver jewelry and pearls?

"Hey, let's try it first!" Bei Qiao pointed at a gold bracelet excitedly: "Mom, do you think this looks good?"

“Ah, it’s pretty.”

"Okay, let's try it!"

"What to try"

"Try on the bracelet."

Who would refuse gold? Although he had no immediate plans to buy gold, Qiao Lin still reached out when the clerk carefully placed the bracelet on the glass counter.

After trying on a few bracelets, Qiao Lin forced a look of satisfaction on one of the gold bracelets: "This one's pretty good... but I'll have to take a closer look." Gold isn't bad looking, but after looking at the price, your wallet will try to find some faults. After all... it's embarrassing to leave without an excuse!

"Isn't it pretty?" Bei Qiao glanced at the expression on Qiao Lin's face and quietly signaled the clerk to issue the ticket: "I think it's pretty good."

"It's okay..."

"Okay, then take it. I've already paid." Bei Qiao smiled and waved the payment slip in his hand: Well, it feels really good to spend money.

Qiao Lin: “…”

Qiao Lin: "...Why are you spending money recklessly, kid?"

Although she said this, Qiao Lin was actually very happy in her heart. She kept smiling when Bei Qiao dragged her to buy clothes. When she met a colleague who was also shopping, the smile on her face became more obvious, and she greeted him much more enthusiastically than before.

Listening to her mother praising her in front of her colleagues, Bei Qiao calmly put on a sweet smile and obediently served as a tool for the praise. Afterwards, she accompanied Qiao Lin to choose a set of clothes, went to the supermarket to buy a box of supplements for her father, Bei Gu, and bought two bags of food before taking the bus home.

After arriving home, Qiao Lin immediately found a place to put the bracelet carefully, then walked into the kitchen happily and began to prepare semi-finished products for tomorrow's breakfast.

Bei Gu's reaction after receiving the supplements was not as big as Qiao Lin's. He just took out his mobile phone and planned a two-day trip for the whole family, ready to go on the next weekend.

Bei Qiao was also very happy for spending money to make the whole family happy. However, she felt a little overwhelmed by the tone of Qiao Lin's voice when he called others to show off his daughter. She didn't sit in the living room for long before running back to her bedroom.

Bei Qiao: My mother doesn’t usually speak like this.

Qiao Lin: What else can I do? I gave birth to and raised such a promising daughter. Why can't I praise her achievements for so many years? I'm really fed up with it!

Bei Qiao returned to the bedroom and took out his mobile phone to check the price of the holographic cabin, and was not surprisingly persuaded to give up.

"With this money, I might as well use it as a down payment and buy myself a house... Oh, I digressed. I'm unemployed now, so I probably won't be able to get a mortgage." Bei Qiao regretfully closed the webpage: Forget it, there's no house I'm interested in right now anyway. Forget a mortgage, I haven't even saved up enough for a down payment!

"I still have to make money..." Bei Qiao sat cross-legged on the yoga mat and logged into the game with the support of the cushion he bought from the supermarket: If you are not born as a second-generation rich, you can only work hard to become a first-generation rich.