18 I’m afraid of thieves (I)
◎If you want to save your life, the first priority is to buy saffron◎
"Lu Fei?"
In the Prince of Dongping's Mansion, Xie Linchuan looked at the name on the note with interest.
"Yes." Pinglin answered with a bow.
"Lord Lu was a Jinshi in the 11th year of the Chengping reign, ranked first in the second class, and is currently serving as a writer in the Ministry of the Interior."
Xie Linchuan sneered:
"I didn't even know there was such a person in Lin'an City?"
Pinglin knew what his master meant and replied:
"My Lord, Young Master Lu lived in Shaoxing Prefecture when he was young. After losing his father at the age of twelve, he and his brother moved to Lin'an."
"His Cuju skills must have been learned since childhood in Shaoxing Prefecture. But since arriving in Lin'an, he has been completely absorbed in his studies and has never participated in a Cuju competition."
"Oh." Xie Linchuan tapped the two words "Lu Fei" on the paper with his index finger, making the rosewood desk clatter.
The phantom figure that had shifted during the daytime competition flashed through his mind.
He snorted and said disdainfully, "It's just some empty tricks."
After saying that, he rolled the piece of paper into a ball, and with a "pop", threw it into the moon-white glaze slag bucket under the table.
He immediately picked up the whip and walked out like the wind.
"My Lord," Pinglin hurried after him. "It's so late. If you need anything, just tell me. If I leave now and the princess asks..."
Xie Linchuan turned a deaf ear to him, walked out the door, turned around and kicked the door shut with a bang.
Pinglin followed so closely that his nose was almost broken!
When he pinched his bleeding nose and chased to the back door, the only response he received was the sound of horse hooves in the long street.
——
Three quarters past midnight, Jiangmi Lane.
Jiang Qinglan suddenly opened his eyes.
The night was deep and dark, without a single star in the sky. Thunder rumbled faintly—it looked like it was going to rain.
There was a small lamp on the beech table.
Jiang Qinglan deliberately didn't blow out the light.
One reason is that Tuantuan sometimes needs to go to the toilet at night, and she finds it troublesome to light the light.
Secondly, she was accustomed to modern light pollution, and was a little scared to suddenly fall asleep in the pitch-black night.
She woke up and instinctively reached out to touch the sleeping girl. Fortunately, the little girl was breathing steadily, and her chubby arms and legs were still there.
Jiang Qinglan then pricked up his ears and listened to the noise outside.
Yes, that was not her hallucination just now. There was a rustling sound, as if - someone was rummaging through things!
Oh my god, is this... attracting thieves?
Thinking of this, Jiang Qinglan felt his hair stand on end.
There were only the two sisters in the house. There was a neighbor on the left, but the man had gone out on business, leaving only the orphan and the widow at home.
On the right is an empty yard that has not been rented out yet.
In other words, even if she shouted now, no one would come to help chase the thieves away.
But if she didn't shout, she was afraid that the money would be stolen. This was the money she had saved with great difficulty!
Just as he was thinking this, the door to the inner room opened gently with a squeak. In an instant, Jiang Qinglan's heart jumped into his throat!
The thief must have failed to find the silver in the outer room, so he came to the inner room to look for it!
Yes, she had a total of more than forty taels of silver, part of which was placed in a secret compartment under her pillow, and the other part was buried in the broken chicken coop in the yard.
Forget it, saving your life is more important!
Jiang Qinglan closed her eyes tightly, pretending to be asleep, hoping that the thief wouldn't find the secret compartment. Even if he did, she'd consider it a loss to avoid disaster!
The thief rummaged around for a while, then went straight to the bed, groping under the quilt and the bed board.
Jiang Qinglan had his back to him, his heart pounding like a drum and his teeth chattering.
Her lips were bitten and her mouth was full of blood, but she was so nervous that she didn't feel it.
I searched all over the bed, except under the pillow.
The thief came over quietly and was about to put out his hand when he saw the little girl inside suddenly sit up and mumble:
"Sister—I need to pee—"
At this time, he was standing at the head of the bed with his hand under the pillow.
The little girl looked outside and suddenly opened her eyes.
Immediately, in the dim light, four eyes, the big one staring at the small one, saw panic in each other's eyes.
Time froze at this moment.
“Ahhhh——” Tuantuan screamed in fear, “There’s a ghost!”
Jiang Qinglan immediately turned over.
She pulled her sister to the foot of the bed, covered her eyes, turned her face away, and said tremblingly:
"My dear fellow, I know you must be in trouble, so I came to borrow some money. There are ten or so taels of silver under my pillow. Take it."
"Take the silver and leave quickly. The husband of Lady Cao on the left is a soldier from the Lin'an Prefecture Office. He's about to return from patrolling the streets."
"If I happen to meet you, I'm afraid there will be misunderstandings."
She said this beautifully, and every word was for the thief's benefit.
Sure enough, the thief listened without saying a word.
He lifted up the pillow, took out the secret compartment, and found about twenty taels of silver. He was about to run away.
At this moment, Tuan Tuan suddenly broke free from Jiang Qinglan's hand and shouted:
"I know you. You are the coachman!"
Jiang Qinglan felt a thousand horses galloping through his mind:
You idiot! If you don't reveal their identity, they will just want money. If you reveal it, they will want your life!
Sure enough, the man paused and turned back. It was Chen Si'er, the driver of the carriage.
During the day he was always smiling and looked very honest, but now his eyes were gleaming and his face was full of ferocity.
Tuantuan, this fellow, was rather bold and reckless, saying:
"You...what do you want?"
"I'm telling you, my brother-in-law is a high-ranking official in the imperial court. If you dare to do anything, he will definitely not let you off!"
"Haha," Chen Si'er sneered, "Little kid, are you still dreaming?! If you had a brother like that, would you be able to live in a place like this with your sister?"
Chen Si'er was originally a gangster in Xiuzhou, and had some mediocre kung fu skills.
He committed a crime in his hometown and fled to Lin'an under a false name, where he worked as a carriage driver and made a lot of money.
Unfortunately, he became addicted to gambling. Whenever he earned money, he would go to the gambling house and lose everything immediately.
Guan Pu has been playing Cuju these past two days, also with borrowed money, and he has lost every game.
He caught up with Jiang Qinglan's work and saw that there were only two girls there and they were generous, so he thought of stealing.
The punishments in Lin'an were harsh: stealing 20 taels of silver would result in at least 40 strokes of the cane, with the possibility of death or disability.
Now that his identity had been recognized anyway, he might as well knock the fat boy unconscious and then have a taste of what that little girl was like. He would then steal the silver and disappear into the mountains.
As he thought this, he moved closer to the foot of the bed with a lewd smile.
Jiang Qinglan saw his expression and knew what he meant, and his heart beat wildly like a drum.
Suddenly, she had an idea. She clenched her teeth, bit her cheek deliberately, and then coughed violently, spitting a mouthful of blood into her palm.
She trembled, coughed, and opened her palm to show Chen Sier the blood:
"Well, cough cough... My dear, to be honest, cough cough, I... I have tuberculosis, so my husband's family divorced me... cough cough..."
She looked at Tuantuan sadly and said, "Sister, I'm afraid you've also...cough cough...infected..."
Tuantuan finally wised up for once and coughed a few times as well.
Chen Si'er was shocked when he heard this.
Tuberculosis is incurable and will spread the disease to those around him. If he gets it, even if he becomes a bandit, the king won't accept him.
When he thought of this, he took a few steps back and began to hesitate.
Jiang Qinglan was waiting for his hesitation. Taking the opportunity, he grabbed Tuantuan, jumped out of bed and ran out!
But she is a woman after all, and her hands and feet are shorter than men, and she has Tuantuan as a burden.
So, before they could reach the door, Chen Si'er grabbed their arms and pushed them onto the bed, one in each hand.
Chen Si'er sneered, "You little smooth talker, you're full of tricks! If you had tuberculosis, why would the government office give you a permit to sell drinks?"
As he spoke, he was already unbuttoning his belt.
Jiang Qinglan hugged Tuan Tuan tightly, his whole body trembling.
It's all over!
Her heart sank to the bottom and she closed her eyes dejectedly.
The strong smell of sweat was getting closer and closer, and the man's hot breath was almost spraying on her face.
Jiang Qinglan gritted his teeth and thought:
I'm a modern man, I'm just sleeping, what's there to be afraid of? Just treat it like a dog bite!
She was still thinking that if she was lucky enough to save her life, the first thing she would do would be to buy saffron.
But then there was a "clang" sound and something fell to the ground.
【Author’s words】
Tuantuan is still young after all, and her mind isn't thinking straight yet, so please don't scold her.
My dears, no update tomorrow, see you the day after tomorrow. [Milk Tea]
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