Zhou Qionghua smiled and pointed into the distance, "That's the capital city we've been longing for."
Chang'an may not be good, but it is better than exile.
Jiang Shixu stared into the distance. "Is that the capital?"
"Yes, it's huge! It's said that fifteen carriages can travel side by side on Zhuque Street. How magnificent and splendid it is!"
Jiang Shixu fell silent, lost in his beautiful fantasy.
This was their last night staying in a hotel.
Jiang Mingfu had just fallen asleep when he started having diarrhea due to the change in environment.
Seeing that Jiang Mingfu hadn't returned for a long time, Zhou Qionghua felt strange and went downstairs to check. Jiang Mingfu rushed out of the outhouse, pulling her so hard that she almost collapsed. Zhou Qionghua hurriedly went to help her up, "Husband, what's wrong with you?"
"It's just an upset stomach, it's nothing serious."
The two prepared to return to the inn.
But at that moment, the two saw a dark figure flash by in the distance through the alley. They were both curious and wondered, "Why is there someone here in the middle of the night?"
"They probably use the outhouse like me."
But Zhou Qionghua didn't think so. "Could they be robbers?"
Driven by curiosity, the two hurriedly headed towards the person.
Being close to the capital is indeed different from being in a remote and impoverished area. Even at night, the area is still crowded with people. There are many people wandering around in the middle of the night, with groups of three or five people, men and women in colorful clothes looking at the lanterns and pointing at the flower houses in the moat.
A sense of extravagance washed over them as the two entered the alley, only to find the man in black nowhere to be seen.
"Selling hairpins! Don't miss out if you're passing by! Hairpins made of boxwood, walnut wood, and Lantian jade. Good quality and inexpensive."
A man's voice, as loud as a broken gong, resounded through the clouds.
Soon a crowd gathered across from the vendor, picking and choosing. The hairpins were indeed of good quality, inexpensive, and came in many styles, but strangely, the people here seemed to be used to being picky.
Someone grabbed the hairpin, looked at it, dropped it, and left.
However, some people made a few comments, saying, "This hairpin? It's not as good as the one my brother-in-law gave me last year. That one was more elaborate, with full cloisonné enamel work."
How much does it cost?
"Short ones are three coins, long ones are six coins, that's the lowest price, miss."
"I won't buy it, it looks bad."
Several girls came rushing in and then rushed away.
The shopkeeper was good-natured; even though people had made a mess of his things, he still greeted them with a smile and put the disheveled hairpin back.
At that moment, Jiang Mingfu and Zhou Qionghua arrived.
Zhou Qionghua was a woman too, so she naturally liked it very much. She picked up this one and liked it, and put this one down and looked at that one and liked it. What attracted her most was the low price and exquisite craftsmanship. She almost thought she had misheard. "This can really be bought for six coins?"
"Madam, you know the market well. This is indeed the lowest price. Please let me make a little profit. We business people work so hard."
The shopkeeper wore a bitter expression. "Fine, fine, I'll take one less coin, five coins then, how about that?"
"Alright."
The deal was made for five coins.
Zhou Qionghua was overjoyed, like a girl in love. Seeing his wife's beaming face, Jiang Mingfu leaned closer and pinned the hairpin in Zhou Qionghua's hair. "Now we are upper-class people. We will live well in the capital from now on."
"Yes, my husband."
Zhou Qionghua was deeply moved.
The tigress suddenly transformed into a gentle rabbit, tenderly entering Jiang Mingfu's arms. Jiang Mingfu was astonished and even dared not embrace her.
But secretly, he was delighted, thinking to himself, "Truly, the environment shapes people," and he had changed as soon as he arrived in the capital.
Having obtained the hairpin, Zhou Qionghua, feeling smug, prepared to return home.
"Now that we're here, we can live diligently, make money, and never worry about not having a place to use our skills."
"Even if I become a manure carrier in the future, I will still make sure you two live a good life."
"What are you saying? There's plenty of work we can do."
But with their savings exhausted, they were already living paycheck to paycheck, which worried Jiang Mingfu and Zhou Qionghua.
Jiang Shixu was practically raised by them to be a good-for-nothing spoiled brat, but the two of them were completely unaware of it. Now, in the dead of night, the two of them were preparing to return to the inn. They had only gone halfway when they suddenly heard someone groaning.
That's really strange.
Who is groaning in this deserted alley?
"Someone's there?" The two said almost simultaneously. Zhou Qionghua turned around and followed the sound. Sure enough, she found a man who looked miserable and half-dead in a bamboo basket next to her.
The man had his eyes closed, and there was blood on his chest, indicating that he was injured.
The two were about to leave, both knowing that this matter was extraordinary.
"Let's go, it's better to avoid trouble. Let's just pretend we didn't see anything."
Zhou Qionghua was always timid and afraid of trouble. She turned to leave, but the sound of their footsteps aroused the man hiding in the box. "Madam, sir, please have mercy and save my life. I will be very grateful to you."
Zhou Qionghua ignored her.
Jiang Mingfu not only did not stay, but also quickened his pace.
But the heart-wrenching cries from behind were even more painful: "Madam, I'll give you gold and silver treasures, please save me! I can't die, I can't die!"
The sound was extremely painful.
Jiang Mingfu turned around and looked curiously into the distance.
Zhou Qionghua remained silent.
A moment later, the two of them walked into the bamboo basket without prior arrangement.
This bamboo basket was used by the butcher from the neighboring butcher shop to hold pig offal. He would put the basket under the eaves at night, and now, a man lay inside, barely alive.
This man was dressed in black and held a bloodstained Emei dagger in his hand; he was clearly a notorious bandit.
When Zhou Qionghua confirmed the man's identity, she secretly groaned. They hadn't even arrived in Chang'an yet, and they had already attracted this bad luck. This man must be carrying a lot of murder cases, big and small.
If this is investigated in the future, I might be suspected of covering it up.
"Help."
"Help!"
The man was almost screaming in pain. Zhou Qionghua looked at him and asked, "Are you a bandit?"
"I am, madam, I am. If you save my life, I'll give you silver, as much as you want." The man behind the left ear was clearly spouting nonsense. Zhou Qionghua looked at him, suppressing her primal fear. "It's not that I can't save your life, but what exactly can you give me?"
"Here, take this, how about it?"
The man dropped the Emei dagger and presented a jade thumb ring to the two of them.
The jade thumb ring was pure and lustrous; even a layman who didn't know its value would know it was priceless. "How about it? How about it? I beg you, Madam and Master, to have mercy. I have so many things to thank you for."
At this point, the man slowly pulled a wet, blood-stained silver note from his chest, with a face value of fifty taels.
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