The boy named A-Kuan stood there, stunned, watching the crowd pointing and whispering at him with mocking expressions, then looking at the group of seven—one adult and seven children—who had followed the innkeeper.
“She really has a problem,” he muttered to himself.
"If you don't leave now, do you believe I'll arrest you and lock you up? Isn't it good enough that the people in this town are living peacefully? Why do you have to go looking for trouble? Do you think I've been a constable for so many years and I'm just sitting around doing nothing? Can't you tell?"
"You think you're so great? If you're so great, then you should come and be a constable in the yamen!" The head constable got angry when he saw that Ah Kuan still wouldn't give up.
Seeing this, one of the constables who had been silent all along stepped forward and kicked Ah Kuan: "Aren't you going to get lost?"
He was kicked and scolded, but Ah Kuan didn't dare to talk back, let alone fight back.
He's only arrogant at home, towards his mother and stepfather. Outside, he bullies the weak. But this guy in front of him is a constable. He can easily fabricate a crime against you and throw you in jail for days without any consequences.
Then they say they've investigated and found you're innocent, and then they'll release you. People who have been wrongly accused for days don't dare to protest their innocence at all.
Meanwhile, Hong Xiaoduo and her group had already arrived at Fuyunlai Inn with the innkeeper, Wan Quan.
"This is it. You're all staying in a shared dormitory? The lodging fee is sixty or fifty coins. Is that reasonable?" Wan Quan asked, pointing inside.
The price for a shared room is calculated per person, and he usually charges fifteen coins per person. However, seeing that Hong Xiaoduo was with a pitiful child, he couldn't bring himself to charge more.
Since the space is empty anyway, it's not bad to earn a few dozen coins more.
Hong Xiaoduo wasn't very familiar with prices, but since she felt that her employer hadn't overcharged her, she immediately nodded in agreement.
"Shopkeeper, can I ask you something? How about this? I'll pay 100 coins, and could you provide two bath tubs? Also, could you please boil some hot water and find an auntie or uncle who doesn't mind getting dirty to help me bathe them? Is that alright?" Hong Xiaoduo asked with a smile.
Otherwise, if the children are covered in dirt and grime, and they aren't properly soaked and scrubbed, she's afraid they won't get clean enough if she lets them wash themselves. It's too much work for her to do it all, and she's exhausted!
"Sure, don't worry, young lady, I'll take care of it. I'll make sure all the children are clean." Wan Quan hadn't expected this young lady to be so generous.
Why not take the extra fifty coins? So what if they're a little dirty? They're just kids.
“Young lady, if you want to take a bath, the single room next to the dormitory is empty. You can go there to bathe first. That bath tub was just made by a carpenter last month and hasn’t been used yet.” Wan Quan had a very good impression of this kind young lady.
He has a large family to support, and he needs to save money for his grandchildren's schooling, building houses, and getting them married. He can treat this as a good deed and not accept a single penny.
"Listen up, everyone. Take your new clothes and wait for the shopkeeper to find someone to help you take a bath. Then you'll all change into clean new clothes. After that, I'll take you to eat something. Got it?" Hong Xiaoduo instructed the children around her.
"Yes, Mother!" The children were overjoyed to hear that they could take a bath and change into new clothes, and they responded in unison.
"Mother?" Wan Quan thought he had misheard.
Hong Xiaoduo chuckled dryly, "Hehe, they're just kids, they don't know any better and they're just making noise, don't take it seriously."
"Oh, I understand now," Wan Quan said, shaking his head and smiling. "Fortunately, even if they shout nonsense, no one will believe them, otherwise the young lady's good marriage prospects might be affected."
As they were talking, two people came out from inside. One was the wife of the clothing shop owner, and the other was much older.
"Hey, Auntie?" Hong Xiaoduo greeted her affectionately.
The woman then introduced the girl to the old woman, saying that this was the kind-hearted young lady.
"You've arrived! Wan Quan found you? I was worried he wouldn't be able to find you," the old woman said with a kind smile.
Upon hearing this, Wan Quan rushed forward and said, "Mother, I found her as soon as I went there. Wasn't her shop assistant fired? He went to the street to cause trouble for this young lady. Fortunately, Jin Hu and the others are not foolish. They didn't believe them and even asked me to let them come and stay."
The old woman and the woman laughed when they heard this, saying that the shop assistant deserved it.
Hong Xiaoduo understood what was going on from their conversation and thanked the woman again.
After watching the woman leave, Wan Quan told his mother that he wanted to help bathe the children. His mother took the initiative to do it, saying that she would take care of the two little girls, and that the other five boys could be bathed by Uncle Tong, who did odd jobs in the back, and that he could give Uncle Tong some money to buy wine.
"Young lady, what about the clothes these children will change out of later?" Wan Quan's mother asked, remembering the question.
"Please help me throw them away, Grandma. Also, if their hair is too messy to comb, could you please cut it?" Hong Xiaoduo said, then remembered that she should ask the children if they were allowed to have their hair cut.
Because she was afraid the children would resist having their hair cut, she had to ask them what they thought.
The children all nodded obediently, indicating their willingness. They knew their mother was doing it for their own good, so they listened to her.
Moreover, Brother Tian Shu just secretly reminded me to try not to call for my mother in crowded places in the future.
The group of one adult and seven children split into three groups and went to take a shower.
Hot water was quickly delivered to Hong Xiaoduo's private room. The bathtub was indeed new, and the cotton towels brought were also new. She locked the door and began to take off her robe.
Soaking in the warm bathtub, all my fatigue disappeared, it felt so good.
However, there was no shampoo, no shower gel, only an ugly bar of soap that didn't smell very good.
That damned old man! He didn't arrange anything for me. I'm lucky today. Otherwise, if I had been questioned and locked up in jail without a travel permit, I would have just spent my life in jail. Let's see what use it is that you tricked me into coming here.
Hong Xiaoduo kept her eyes closed, muttering angrily, when suddenly a voice called out to her, "Hong Xiaoduo?"
She immediately opened her eyes and screamed, clutching her chest.
Because right now, in front of her was an empty space with a projection on the wall, showing the old science museum elder she had just cursed.
They were so close that the projection was so clear that Hong Xiaoduo could even see the old curator's nose hairs.
"Calm down, I swear I can only see the bathtub and your head, nothing else," the old man declared in the projection.
"Calm down my ass! Why did you suddenly appear without giving me any warning?" Hong Xiaoduo looked down at herself, confirming that the old man was probably not lying.
But anyone would have been scared in that instant, right?
"Ahem, I'm sorry, how can I contact you? This system isn't perfect yet, it just happened by chance." The old man in the projection said with apology and barely concealed excitement.
"How dare you say that? Do you know how badly this lousy system you made has ruined me? There's nothing here at all." Hong Xiaoduo protested rudely.
"For example?" the old man immediately pushed up his glasses and asked...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
