At this time, the sun had already set and the sky gradually darkened. Tong Wen Yao frowned, but she tried to remain calm. It would be best if she could get to the inn tonight, otherwise it would not be good to sleep on the official road on a rainy day!

When it was completely dark, Tong Wen Yao planned to drive forward for a while. Her intuition told her that there must be an inn not far away. After hearing this, Xing'er did not object, but came out to accompany Tong Wen Yao.

Thanks to Tong Wen Yao's persistence, less than half a quarter of an hour after driving the carriage, they saw a faint yellow candlelight on the hillside.

"Miss, it's the inn!" Tong Wenyao breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to spend the night in the wild on a rainy day! When she arrived at the door of the inn, Tong Wenyao jumped off the carriage and shouted inside, "Waiter, come out and settle the carriage!"

After a while, someone came out of the inn. "Uncle, do you want to eat or stay overnight?" Tong Wenyao said, "Give us two servings of food and arrange a medium-sized room for us!"

After saying that, Tong Wenyao pushed aside the curtain on the carriage, took Xing'er's hand, and helped her down. As soon as Xing'er got off the carriage, she started coughing violently. The waiter asked with some concern, "Miss, what's wrong with you?" Xing'er turned her face towards Tong Wenyao and said softly, "I'm from a common family, how could I be a young lady? Please don't call me that, or others will laugh at me. My father sold some of our land so that I could go to Cangzhou for treatment and take me to see a doctor."

Tong Wenyao heard this and said sternly, "Daughter, you can't leave it untreated. You are my only relative left."

"Ahem, ahem, Dad, we don't have much money at home, so please don't treat me!"

Tong Wenyao's face showed a painful expression, but she still spoke with difficulty, "Just obey me for the last time! Okay?"

Xing'er stopped talking and walked towards the inn. Tong Wenyao asked the waiter to arrange the carriage.

The waiter immediately agreed, took the reins from her, and pulled the carriage to the backyard! Perhaps it was because the weather was too dark, or perhaps it was because Tong Wenyao was holding Xing'er, but neither of them saw the bright red blood dripping from the inn sign.

Tong Wen Yao felt a chill on her neck and frowned slightly. The air was filled with a faint smell of blood. Inside the inn, there was only one table of people drinking and playing drinking games. Although they looked excited, people in the crowd still glanced at Tong Wen Yao!

The shopkeeper was sitting at the front desk counting the bills when he saw an old man and a patient come in. Without even looking up, he asked, "Sir, would you like to have a quick snack or dinner?"

Tong Wenyao spoke again, "Two meals and a medium-sized room."

The shopkeeper lowered his head to count, then looked up and said, "It's one tael of silver in total."

Tong Wenyao hadn't expected this inn to be so expensive. Five hundred coins per person, which would have been enough to stay in Yuguan County for half a month. Seeing the old man still struggling, the innkeeper couldn't help but say with some dissatisfaction, "Don't complain about it. I'm charging you so much to save your life! If you don't want to stay, you can leave now. But don't blame me for reminding you: once you step out of this door, I won't care whether you live or die!"

Tong Wenyao was a little puzzled and asked, "Please explain clearly, shopkeeper!" The shopkeeper glanced at Xing'er and then at Xing'er, then sighed and said, "There are many bandits in this area, and this inn has hired thugs, so the bandits are afraid of it. But if you say you're traveling in the middle of the night, you might be robbed by bandits."

Tong Wen Yao thought about the coldness on her neck when she just entered the room. She subconsciously touched her neck and found it sticky. She looked down and saw blood on her fingertips, which might have been caused when she just entered the room.

Since the shopkeeper said so clearly, Tong Wen Yao lowered her head and gave her a tael of silver. However, she was also cautious. Anyone who could open an inn among the bandits, not to mention having someone behind him, could definitely know the bandits.

She pulled out five strings of 100-wen notes from her pocket, then from another pocket, she pulled out half a liang of silver. "Boss, please keep these. I don't have much money, not even a liang of silver, so I had to scrape together some copper coins."

The shopkeeper counted the silver and then took out a sign and gave it to her. "Second floor, room on the far right." Tong Wenyao took the sign and helped Xing'er up to the second floor. After closing the door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xing'er, please wipe the back of my neck for me. It might have been accidentally stained with blood." Xing'er became nervous when she heard this. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood on the back of her neck, and then whispered, "Dad, do you think it is possible that they are...bandits." Xing'er said the word "bandits" very softly. If they were not close to each other, Tong Wen Yao almost didn't hear it.

After hearing this, Tong Wenyao said, "Don't worry. If they are, they will drug the food we serve, steal all our money, and then brutally kill us and dump our bodies at the bottom of the cliff."

Xing'er felt a chill run down her back and neck when she heard this, as if she were being stared at by a poisonous snake. "Dad, let's run!"

Tong Wenyao raised an eyebrow after hearing this. She didn't expect Xing'er to be so timid. She didn't know where she got the courage to protect her sister in the first place! "Our horses are still in the backyard. How can we escape!"

After hearing this, Xing'er felt a little distressed. "If I had known earlier, I would have taken the narrow path with them." Tong Wenyao tapped Xing'er on the head and said with a smile, "If I had known earlier, there wouldn't be any poor people!"

Xing'er covered her head and said in dissatisfaction, "Dad! You hit me on the head again." A voice came from the door at the right time, "Guests, the food you ordered is here." Tong Wenyao opened the door, took the tray from Xiaoer, and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you."

The waiter replied, "You're welcome, old man." As the child turned to go down the stairs, Tong Wenyao threw a small stone from her sleeve to the stairs. The waiter, who should have tripped over the stone, suddenly turned around and said to her, "Old man, if you hear any noise at night, don't come out."

After hearing this, Tong Wenyao smiled and replied, "Okay, I sleep soundly at night, and no sound like thunder will wake me up."

After the waiter came downstairs, Tong Wenyao closed the door with the food in hand. Her face instantly darkened. According to her earlier probing, the waiter was a martial artist. So, were they connected to the bandits? Was this inn actually a bandit den? She recalled the moment she'd entered the room, the table near the door was filled with men drinking and playing finger-guessing games.

She brought the food to the table, picked up a small piece of chicken with chopsticks, and smelled it carefully. Sure enough, the food had been drugged!

"Xing'er, you can't eat these foods. Pour them under the table!" The table was covered with a piece of cloth, so if Xing'er poured the food in, it could be covered well.