She stayed in Qingyun Town for another two days, and with her devout prayers, her menstruation finally ended. Early in the morning, she took a bath, changed into clean clothes and came to bid farewell to Aunt Zhou’s family.
Upon hearing that she was leaving for the Capital, Aunt Zhou naturally felt very sad. Holding her hand, Aunt Zhou told her many things like taking care of her safety and health; Uncle Zhou didn’t say much, but silently took out twenty taels of silver from his purse, asking her to keep it as traveling expense.
Twenty taels was no small sum to the Zhou family. Cai Wei had plenty of silver thanks to her ability, but the good intentions of an elder, if declined, could cause Uncle Zhou and Auntie Zhou upset, so she happily accepted the silver, put it into her purse. Only when she did so did Uncle Zhou and Auntie Zhou smile contentedly. Jiujin proposed accompanying her back to the Capital, to protect her from being bullied by bad guys when a girl was traveling alone!
Upon hearing Jiujin’s suggestion, Cai Wei couldn’t help but laugh, "Brother Jiujin, do you think any bad guys could really bully me?"
Aunt Zhou also laughed as she lightly tapped her son’s head with teasing words, "Such a naive boy, haven’t you seen what your Sister Wei’er is capable of? How could anyone bully her?"
Jiujin’s good intentions were turned down by both women and he let out a hearty laugh. He lowered his head and started fiddling with his weathered hands, feeling a little lost. Sister Wei’er was leaving again, she didn’t need him anymore....
After breakfast, Cai Wei climbed into the horse carriage which Uncle Zhou had kindly arranged. As Aunt Zhou showered her with last-minute reminders and advice, she rode away.
In fact, she didn’t intend to take the carriage back to the Capital but wanted to find a quiet place to retreat to her space, and wait to ride the white fur tiger back to the Capital at night. But upon leaving Aunt Zhou’s house, she had to appear as if she left by carriage, otherwise, if she just disappeared or bring out the white fur tiger to ride, she would surely scare the Zhou family members!
Cai Wei left. The horse-drawn carriage she rode rattled to the end of the street, turned a corner, and disappeared...
Jiujin was still at the entrance, staring blankly in the direction where the carriage disappeared, lost in his thoughts....
"Jiujin, hurry back to the restaurant to work. If customers show up later, you’ll be busy!"
Seeing her son’s absent-minded appearance, Aunt Zhou of course knew what he was thinking, but she didn’t point it out, just pulled him back to the restaurant.
At this time, the door of Zhou Ji’s Roasted Meat was pushed open, and two young men walked in. Their clothes were quite decent. As soon as they walked in, they greeted Zhou Laowu, who sat behind the counter, without waiting for anyone else’s invitation.
"May I ask you, the shopkeeper, does a girl with the surname Mu and the name Caiwei live nearby?"
Zhou Laowu became alert once he saw the strangers asking about Cai Wei, but being a modest man, he didn’t lie. Instead, he neither denied nor confirmed, but ask cautiously: "Who are you? What do you want with her?"
This unintentionally suggested that Mu Caiwei knew the shopkeeper and was closely associated with him, otherwise, he would not have asked who they were or why they were looking for Mu Caiwei.
The two men looked at each other at Zhou Laowu’s question, then quickly averted their gaze. One of them made a gesture with his hand and bowed to Zhou Laowu.
"Dear shopkeeper, we are from Qing County. Our master once received a kindness from Miss Mu. Therefore, he specifically sent us to give some gifts to Miss Mu to express our gratitude. We hope the shopkeeper can help us and point out where we could meet Miss Mu!"
With that, he took out a palm-sized box from his sleeve. It seemed to contain small items like jewelry, but judging by the box, the items inside were of high value!