A few days later, the Zhou family finally saw an inn. There were not many guests staying or eating at the inn. Zhou's eldest son and his group had just booked two rooms when another group of guests arrived. They were three men who said they were merchants passing through the area.
As usual, Zhou Laoda and his five sons shared a room, while Zhao Guihua, Xingxing, and three female guards shared another. They didn't go downstairs for dinner; the waiter brought it to their rooms instead. Zhao Guihua and the others ate in Zhou Laoda's room.
"This inn is too deserted. It's in the middle of nowhere, and this road leads to Nanyang Prefecture. There should be a lot of people passing through here. Something just doesn't feel right," Zhou Laoda said in a low voice.
Everyone had finished eating, but instead of having the waiter clean up, they gathered together to chat.
Zhou Sanfu took out a map and studied it. He pointed to a location on it and said, "We should be here now. This place is far from Nanyang Prefecture and also far from Quanshui Prefecture. There are indeed no villages in this area. It's very desolate. However, we don't know if the inn was originally here."
Because Nanyang Prefecture and Quanshui Prefecture are both coastal areas, and there are large rivers between the prefectures, many people choose to travel by water, while only a small number of people travel by land. Moreover, the land route is more prone to accidents than the water route, which leads to even fewer people taking the land route.
“We need to be even more careful then. If this is a shady business, we’ll be in big trouble.” Boss Zhou’s face was grave, his brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a fly.
"This inn looks like a shady business no matter how you look at it. The owner and the waiter are acting strangely too. Although they seem fine on the surface, it's best to be careful." Zhao Guihua felt numb from repeating similar things all the way.
The family was talking in hushed tones when suddenly someone knocked on the door, causing everyone's expressions to tense up. A moment later, they heard the waiter calling from outside, "Sirs, I've come to clear the dishes. Have you finished eating?"
Zhou Laoda glanced at Zhou Dafu, who immediately got up to open the door. Xiao Er hunched over and came in, clearing away the leftovers on the table. As he left, he reached out to ask for a tip.
Old Zhou was very unhappy. "Your room rates are expensive enough. Other inns aren't this expensive. Why are you asking for tips?"
The waiter was also unhappy and sneered, "If you can find another inn in this hundreds of miles of Fanghe, I'll admit defeat. It's not easy to open a shop and do business in the wilderness halfway through the road. It's not unreasonable to charge a little more money. It's only right for me to ask for a little tip. No need to give more, just one or two taels of silver will do."
The tone had become threatening, and Zhou Laoda's temper flared up. He said in a rough voice, "What if we don't want to give it to you?"
"If you don't give it to me, I won't leave." The waiter actually started acting like a rogue.
Tuesday, Fu was so angry he was grinding his teeth, clenching his fists so tightly they cracked, "If you don't want to go out, we'll just throw you out."
The waiter narrowed his eyes, then suddenly rushed out of the room shouting, "Help! Murder! These people are of unknown origin, and they just attacked me!"
Zhou Laoda and his group were speechless with exasperation, but they were also amused by their own anger.
But their laughter soon turned to silence as the shopkeeper, along with another waiter and the three so-called guests, surrounded them with knives.
Boss Zhou: "..."
I've never seen such an arrogant and shady business owner. They're so brazen in committing murder and robbery. Wait, could they have drugged the food I just ate?
Thinking of this, Boss Zhou subconsciously looked at the stars. This time, the stars did not give any warning. Could it be that even the stars did not sense it?
"So it's a shady inn. No wonder no one dared to stay there. Turns out it's a place that eats people up," said Boss Zhou, his face ashen.
"You misspoke. There really was an inn here, but the owner and the waiter have both passed away. We've been waiting for you in this run-down place for over ten days, and we've finally got you here," the middle-aged man dressed as the innkeeper said with a sneer.
"Who exactly are you people? Are you in cahoots with those masked men in black? What are you trying to do?" Boss Zhou secretly reached for his axe, ready to fight at any moment.
"Can't you see what we're up to? We're here to take your lives, to send you to your deaths." The shopkeeper's eyes were fixed on the stars, as cold and chilling as a venomous snake.
Zhou Erfu hated being cornered and threatened. He couldn't help but rush forward to beat the person up, but he was only a ten-year-old child and had never properly practiced kung fu. Not only did he fail to touch the other person, but he was also kicked back.
"Pfft." The shopkeeper used all his strength in that kick, causing Zhou Erfu to vomit blood on the spot.
"Erfu, how are you?" Zhao Guihua knelt down and hugged her son with heartache.
"Second Brother."
"Second brother."
Several children gathered around, looking at Zhou Erfu with concern. Zhou Wufu rummaged in his pocket and pulled out several packets of oral medicine for injuries, which he then gave to Zhou Erfu.
Zhou Laoda stood alone in front of his wife and children, holding an axe. Seeing this, the three female guards immediately rushed up with knives.
"You hit Erfu, and Xingxing cried. If you dare make Xingxing cry, Tangguo will beat you to death!" Tangguo couldn't stand seeing Xingxing cry, so she stomped her feet and cursed angrily.
This girl's size was no joke; when she stomped her foot, everyone felt the floorboards shake three times.
The shopkeepers exchanged glances. They were the last batch of assassins under Ye Yingtao's command, and also the weakest in martial arts. They knew they couldn't beat the three female guards, so they didn't intend to fight them head-on.
"Retreat!" The shopkeeper gave the order, and the others followed suit, jumping out of the second-floor windows.
When Zhou Laoda ran to the window, he saw that the group had landed on the ground and staggered a few steps before regaining their balance. They then ran away quickly.
Boss Zhou: "?" What kind of operation is this?
He soon found out why those people were behaving strangely.
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