Chapter 198
After bidding farewell to the shop owner, who was still not satisfied, Bei Qiao left the street with the pigeons that had been fed at who knows when and with a head full of gossip. The gossip the shop owner had provided at the beginning was quite serious, but the rest was a mixture of truth and falsehood. Bei Qiao even suspected that the latter part was purely made up by her to scare the children.
Even now, with introductory physiology classes now universally available, many parents still find it troublesome to explain things and simply fool their children. When children ask how they came to be, aside from the standard answer of "born," there are also various explanations, such as "fished out of the bay," "grown in the fields," and "found in the trash." And when it comes to getting children to sleep, besides telling stories and patting the blanket, there's also the nationwide practice of scaring them if they don't fall asleep.
Aunt Tiger: Don’t cry if you like to cry, and don’t sleep if you don’t want to sleep.
"Having said that..." Seeing the carriage coming from the opposite direction, Bei Qiao hid to the side of the road: If it were another world, there might really be tigers. After all, in this era, tigers are not considered protected animals, and there is no concept of animal protection in other worlds.
"Coo" The pigeon squatted on Beiqiao's shoulder and tilted its head.
"Stop!" Ren Sirong, who was in the carriage, saw Bei Qiao walking on the side of the road and immediately wanted to rob the man. After ordering the driver to stop, without waiting for the servants to bring the bench over, Ren Sirong raised her leg and was about to jump down. However, just as she was halfway through the jump, her brother in the carriage reached out and pulled her back: "Brother, what are you doing?"
"Pay attention to the fan in his hand, that is not a prey you can easily pick on." After withdrawing a love-crazy sister on the spot, Ren Guanli threw her into the carriage in a bad mood: "Don't cause trouble these two days. If you can't help it, do it covertly. Of course, I still hope you can change your target." The prefect has just taken office, and his family has not had time to get familiar with the new official. He has to keep a low profile in the next few days to avoid being caught and making an example of him.
Seeing the carriage stop, the people in the carriage came out and rushed towards Bei Qiao who was forcibly pulled back: "..." The style of the aristocratic families in this city is quite strange.
Qiao Family and Meng Family: No, we are not familiar with his family.
"Change your target, but I just like him!" Ren Sirong pouted unhappily. "It's hard to find someone this good-looking! Why are you so nervous? I hit that guy with a club yesterday, and you didn't even care."
"Is knocking someone unconscious the same as robbing them? Do you think there were no consequences for the last time you knocked someone unconscious?" Ren Guanli slammed his fan on Ren Sirong's arm: "Stop sniffing around and sit up straight!"
"Hmph!" Ren Sirong pouted even higher.
"With your temper, be careful that one day your father won't want to take care of you and throw you out for an arranged marriage!" Ren Guanli poked Ren Sirong's head hard: "I felt satisfied when I beat you up with a club last time. Do you know how much compensation your family paid for this?" The willfulness of the Ren family does not mean they act recklessly. Avoiding people they cannot afford to offend is the Ren family's survival creed. Those who are stubborn are buried in mass graves, and those who are too stupid to be put in the ancestral tomb are not even dared to be put in the ancestral tomb for fear of ruining the feng shui.
"But I want him!"
"Then why don't you wait until he goes to a place with fewer people before taking action? How stupid!" Who did he inherit this from? He is so stupid that he needs to be taught a lesson before he can do bad things.
"All right……"
"You're still reluctant, aren't you? Then don't go out anymore."
"...I just listen to you, isn't that enough! Bro~"
Bei Qiao had no idea that after she left, the people in the carriage had already decided her future in a few words. As the carriage passed, the pigeon perched on her shoulder suddenly took off, as if startled, and then flapped its wings and flew away, heading straight for Linjie City.
Bei Qiao looked up at the pigeons leaving, then turned and walked towards the nearby market, intending to experience the local customs and culture.
That evening
"Brother! He's never been to a place where there aren't many people!" Ren Sirong, who had been followed all day, was so angry that she threw the flowers that the greenhouse had delivered that morning all over the floor: "I just didn't find a chance to do it!"
"...Can't you go to the inn and call someone over?" Ren Guanli, summoned by the servants, was speechless: Do I need to teach you step by step just for this? Those people in the family who were into robbery and plundering were eager to hide their misdeeds, but she was different. She had to ask someone for advice on everything, just like doing homework. She wanted to follow the standard answer strictly at every step. If she encountered an unexpected situation that made the standard answer no longer applicable, she would run to someone for a new answer. If this serious energy was applied to her studies or career, it would be enough for her to enter the core circle of the Ren family. However, she had no interest in serious matters.
"Forget it..." Watching Ren Sirong cheerfully call for help and leave without even bothering to eat dinner, Ren Guanli rubbed his brow and sighed: After all, she's well-liked by the elders, and her misdeeds are under her family's control. Compared to those guys who either don't get into trouble or get into serious trouble, this sister is relatively easy to worry about.
"Brother!"
"Another one..." Ren Guanli rolled his eyes at the sky. Compared to his extravagant, philandering sister, this brother was far more troublesome. Ren Guanfeng, the older brother, had the best temper in the family. Everyone praised his kindness, and outsiders dared to bully him. Yet, while he trembled and dared not resist in front of outsiders, when he returned home, he confidently handed his own messes over to his family, hiding away like a coward, a truly infuriating sight.
Of all the family members, Ren Guanfeng wasn't the most incompetent, but he was the most self-aware. He was ambitious, eager to prove himself as capable as the core staff, yet he was always trusting outsiders. Once, while drunk, he even borrowed a large sum of money from an unofficial source and lent it to someone. Then, unable to repay or get it back, he returned home and cried bitterly to Ren Guanli and his father. Indeed, he didn't dare tell his family until he couldn't repay the money. Meanwhile, the person who had swindled him was happily spending money he couldn't even remember borrowing.
Ren Guanli, already very busy, had to assign some people to collect the debt. After repeated threats failed, he simply beat the person up. The person he wanted to beat the most was actually his brother, who was more trouble than help. Not only did he not trust his family, but he would rather trust outsiders than his family. Was he crazy? He never spent money on his family, and sometimes even tried to take his father's private money. But when he met outsiders, he always acted generously, as if he was really rich.
Ren Sirong had no idea her brother was secretly criticizing her eldest brother again. After receiving the advice, she set out with a group of servants and bodyguards to rob the handsome man, her mind full of fantasies about what to do next. The people she had sent out earlier had already locked onto Bei Qiao's whereabouts. It was an inn with good hygiene conditions, but the staff had a strangely strong cohesion. Someone in her family had tried to bribe them before, but no matter how much they offered, they were unsuccessful.
Inn staff: Bribing you is destroying my iron rice bowl, you know?
Curfew had arrived, and the streets were deserted. For Ren Sirong, this restriction was just a minor expense. After expertly bribing the patrolling constable, Ren Sirong reached the back of the inn, ready to sneak in through the back wall with her men.
However, Ren Sirong failed. This inn looked small, but its security measures were complete to the point of being exaggerated. Several people patrolled the courtyard wall, and several large black dogs were sniffing around. If it weren't for the experienced servants, Ren Sirong would have been discovered by the dogs tomorrow and replaced Ren Yi as the latest hot figure in Chuzhou City.
"Miss, would you like me to take care of those dogs..." The servant made a gesture as if to take action.
"Use your brain, there are people around!" If someone finds out you're touching the dog, aren't you afraid they'll report you to the police? Then you'll still have to run.
"Then take the people as well..."
Ren Sirong kicked him and said: "Drag this idiot away!" She used to think that subordinates who were too smart would be difficult to control, but now it seems that it is not good to have subordinates who are too stupid, as they can easily make people angry to death.
Ren Sirong was no docile woman; she'd bullied women and men before, even indirectly responsible for several deaths. But the current situation didn't lend itself to any major action, as the inn was packed with people, and she was merely a thief caught on impulse, not a killer intent on eradicating the entire inn and then fleeing.
Although the Ren family was headstrong, they had been able to run rampant for so many years without being destroyed, so they naturally knew how to judge the situation. Chuzhou City was not a remote and deserted place. If a murder case became serious, it would easily reach the higher-ups. At that time, the Ren family would be doomed without anyone's help. The interpersonal relationships they had previously cultivated would not be able to protect the wealth and lives of the entire family.
"Really? If there were fewer people here, I wouldn't have to be so restrained." Ren Sirong stomped her feet in frustration: My beauty, how come you are also from a noble family?
"Miss, how about I pretend to be a guest and move in, and then break in from the inside?" Not all of Ren Sirong's subordinates are idiots. There are always one or two who have ideas, but most of the time they are stupid or bad ideas.
"This is a good idea, let's go!" Ren Sirong raised her leg and walked towards the front door: Really, couldn't you have told me such a good idea earlier?
The group knocked on the door of the official inn late at night. The servant from the Ren family who had suggested the idea claimed to be a businessman in Chuzhou City and asked for the best room. The shopkeeper, who had not yet left work, looked at Ren Sirong in her bamboo hat, then at the disguised servants of the Ren family, and cooperated, pretending not to recognize them and opening a few rooms for them.
The corridor was silent, save for the sounds of the Ren family's servants moving stealthily. When the shopkeeper arranged a room for Ren Sirong, the staff had already informed the remaining awake guests, so no one would rush in front of the Ren family's servants. This infiltration was so smooth that the servants found it incredible.
However, this success only refers to the infiltration. When Ren Sirong came to the corridor, she found a problem: she had no idea which room Bei Qiao lived in.
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