‘Qi Town’ is a small town on the outskirts of the Xiong Kingdom, not very large but bustling with a considerable population.
‘Xinglong Inn’ is one of the more upscale inns in Qi Town.
It was evening, and the inn was quite lively.
Most of the people coming and going were merchants or Jianghu people looking for a meal or a place to stay.
The innkeeper, with his small, squinty eyes, was smiling as he looked at the crowded hall, his face full of joy.
Business had been good lately, not only because of the traveling merchants but also due to the influx of Jianghu people into the town for some unknown reason, bringing more business to his small inn.
Just then, the innkeeper noticed a beautiful carriage parked at the inn’s entrance, driven by two elegantly dressed, beautiful women.
Seeing the carriage and the attire of the women, the innkeeper guessed that a big business deal was coming his way.
“Innkeeper, we need five upper rooms,” said one of the women as they got off the carriage, followed by three other equally beautiful women.
This group was none other than Meng Xiaoyu and her companions, and the one who had just spoken was Ling Yuer.
She was not in disguise, wearing a fiery red dress that matched her charming and cute face, catching the attention of many men who loved the ‘loli’ type.
Ling Yuer casually placed a gold ingot on the counter.
“Innkeeper, we need five upper rooms. Also, prepare some hot water and send it to each of the rooms,” she said, pausing for a moment before adding, “Oh, and have your staff feed our horses.
We need to continue our journey early tomorrow morning!” The innkeeper, whose eyes had been glued to the gold ingot since Ling Yuer placed it on the counter, nodded in agreement to everything she said.
Realizing she had finished speaking, he immediately shouted to one of the busy staff in the hall, “Er Gouzi, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and take these esteemed guests to their rooms! If you keep slacking, I’ll break your legs!” The innkeeper yelled at the staff while nodding and bowing to Ling Yuer and the others, “Sorry to keep you waiting, esteemed guests.
I’ll have Er Gouzi take you to the upper rooms on the second floor right away, and we’ll prepare the hot water as you requested.
Of course, we’ll also take good care of your horses.”
“Rubing sister, I’m tired and want to sleep,” Meng Xiaoyu said, standing behind Han Rubing, holding her arm and leaning her head on Han Rubing’s shoulder, yawning and speaking in a slightly spoiled tone, completely ignoring the strange looks from all around the inn.
Meng Xiaoyu and her companions were already eye-catching beauties, and from the moment they entered the inn, Meng Xiaoyu felt the various gazes from around her—surprised, envious, lecherous, vulgar, appreciative, and even some jealous and hostile looks from other women in the inn.
But Meng Xiaoyu didn’t care; she was suddenly very sleepy and wanted to sleep.
So she habitually clung to the arm of the person next to her, acting spoiled, not noticing how many eyes widened at her actions.
“Isn’t that too intimate? Even if they’re close sisters, they wouldn’t act like this, right? It feels so strange,” thought the other people in the inn.
“Are you tired, little one?” Han Rubing asked, gently rubbing Meng Xiaoyu’s head resting on her shoulder, speaking in a doting tone.
After receiving a slight nod from Meng Xiaoyu, Han Rubing unhesitatingly pulled Meng Xiaoyu into her arms, letting her lean against her, and even gave her a light kiss on the cheek, completely ignoring the dark faces of the other women and the wide-open mouths of the surprised people in the inn.
“Hey, how long are you going to stare? Hurry up and take us to our rooms,” Ling Yuer said with a dark face, sounding quite displeased.
Han Rubing must have done that on purpose.
“Ah! Ah! I’ll take you to your rooms right away, esteemed guests, please follow me,” the staff member named Er Gouzi quickly snapped out of his daze, completely forgetting his surprise at what he had just seen, and hurriedly nodded and bowed, leading the esteemed guests to their respective rooms.
When they reached the first room, Meng Xiaoyu immediately slipped out of Han Rubing’s embrace, cheered, and ran to the bed, then without caring about the others present, flopped onto the bed.
“I’ll take this room, you guys can sort out the rest,” she said, kicking off her boots and diving under the covers to sleep comfortably.
She was really too tired, though she didn’t know why she suddenly felt so sleepy, but when tired, she had to sleep—that was Meng Xiaoyu’s motto.
Watching Meng Xiaoyu snuggle into the bed, wrapped in the covers, the others couldn’t help but twitch their mouths.
“Is this little thing really that tired?” they all thought in unison.
Then they all turned to look at the staff member, who was once again stunned.
“Take us to the other rooms,” Han Rushuang said coldly, seeing the staff member staring blankly at Meng Xiaoyu sleeping on the bed.
“Oh! Oh! Esteemed guests, please follow me,” the staff member quickly said, bowing, while internally complaining, “That girl is really bold, taking off her boots and sleeping right in front of me, a man.” Though he was complaining about Meng Xiaoyu’s boldness, he dared not pause his actions, as Han Rushuang and the others were all giving him cold looks, as if they wanted to kill him, making him tremble with fear and question himself, “Did I offend these esteemed guests somehow?” After thinking for a while, he confidently shook his head internally.
He was sure he hadn’t offended these beautiful guests.
With that thought, he wasn’t as scared anymore, comforting himself that these guests were just naturally imposing, and it had nothing to do with whether he had offended them.
Poor Er Gouzi, enduring the oppressive aura of the women while constantly comforting himself.
But he didn’t know that there was something called ‘misdirected anger,’ and the reason for their anger was Meng Xiaoyu taking off her boots and sleeping in front of him.
Although she only took off her boots and not her clothes, the women were still displeased.
After all, people in ancient times were more conservative, and these women were quite domineering.
So even taking off boots was unacceptable, but they couldn’t vent their displeasure on their beloved, so they took it out on the innocent staff member.
Though they couldn’t physically harm him, they could freeze him with their glares and aura for seeing Meng Xiaoyu’s feet (Xiao Wu’s complaint: Actually, little Meng was still wearing socks! Was that necessary?).
After nervously leading Han Rubing and the others to their respective rooms, the staff member quickly found an excuse to leave.
Less than half an hour later, Meng Xiaoyu, who was sleeping soundly, heard a persistent knocking on the door.
Initially, she didn’t want to respond because she was still very sleepy, but the knocking seemed relentless.
Unable to bear it any longer, Meng Xiaoyu jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her shoes, and angrily ran to open the door.
“Enough already! Can’t a person get some sleep?” she yelled at the person without even seeing who it was.
“Esteemed guest, I’m here to deliver hot water,” the staff member said, startled by Meng Xiaoyu’s roar, looking at the obviously angry girl with some trepidation.
“Oh! Come in then,” Meng Xiaoyu said, stepping aside to let the staff member and the others carrying hot water into the room.
She yawned again and squinted her eyes as she walked back to the bed.
Just as she was about to lie back down and continue sleeping, the staff member spoke again.
“Esteemed guest, the hot water is ready, so I’ll take my leave.
If you need anything else, just call for me,” the staff member said nervously, looking at Meng Xiaoyu lying back on the bed.
He was really afraid of Meng Xiaoyu’s roar, which almost burst his eardrums.
“Mm,” Meng Xiaoyu replied softly from the bed, ignoring the staff member.
After hearing her response, the staff member quickly left the room with the others, closing the door behind them and hurrying downstairs.
As soon as the staff member left, Han Rubing and the others hurried to Meng Xiaoyu’s door.
They had heard Meng Xiaoyu’s angry shout earlier, but they were all bathing at the time, so they couldn’t rush over immediately.
After quickly washing up, they changed clothes and headed to Meng Xiaoyu’s door, where they saw the staff member and two others carrying water buckets quickly leaving Meng Xiaoyu’s room.
Seeing this, they understood why Meng Xiaoyu had shouted earlier; the staff member delivering hot water had disturbed her sleep.
Understanding the reason, Han Rubing and the others exchanged glances and then returned to their rooms.
After Han Rubing and the others returned to their rooms, the door of the third room on the left of Meng Xiaoyu’s room slowly opened, and two beautiful women, one in fiery red and the other in snow-white, stepped out.
“It seems we really are fated to meet that little one,” Yan Rumei said with a charming smile.
Clearly, they had also heard Meng Xiaoyu’s voice and recognized it.
The woman in white, however, frowned slightly and remained silent.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been looking for that little one, and now that you’ve found her, you’re not happy? Is it because of the women around her?” Yan Rumei asked, curious about Ye Wushuang’s frown, her tone teasing.
Ye Wushuang ignored Yan Rumei’s teasing, frowning and pondering, “Why is Xiaoyu here? Gui Mei clearly sent me a message this morning saying no one had left Juexin Cliff.
How did Xiaoyu and the others appear here today? Where did they come from without being noticed by Gui Mei and the others?”
