When Li Lie came back from buying food outside, the sky was already darkening.
Li Lie bought a big bag of white bread buns and a large bag of biscuit-like treats.
Yu Xiaolian’s lips twitched, was this a recipe for dry choking?
"Uncle Lie, I didn’t ask you to save money for me, can’t you buy a roasted chicken or even a bowl of wonton soup?"
Facing Yu Xiaolian’s complaint, Li Lie remained expressionless, "It’s not that I didn’t buy it, it’s that the shops in this town all close too early, couldn’t get anything else, so make do for tonight."
Yu Xiaolian grabbed a bun with grievance and walked into the house, "One bun is enough for me, don’t forget to give two buns to that hunchbacked old man."
Upon entering the house, Yu Xiaolian closed the door and immediately took out a bottle of Lao Gan Ma from the supermarket; who could eat dry buns, but with Lao Gan Ma, she could eat two.
Although she only took one bun earlier, she had buns in the supermarket, the kind with five in a bag, delivered by the bun shop.
She remembered the wholesale price of these buns was fifty cents each, her mom sold them for eighty cents each, earning thirty cents per bun.
When her mom wanted to stock these buns and sticky rice cakes, her dad resisted, saying they wouldn’t make much profit.
But her mom said, don’t fear customers won’t come, but fear the goods will be incomplete; people might buy ready-to-eat items after work, and won’t just buy a bag of buns, they’ll surely buy a few bags of pickles, or a bottle of Lao Gan Ma, selling them together.
Now Yu Xiaolian was especially thankful for her mom’s wisdom, allowing her to fill her stomach now.
Just as she was thinking of grabbing another bun, she felt her throat dry.
The Lao Gan Ma had been salty earlier, forget the bun, a watermelon would ease the thirst.
Yu Xiaolian wielded the knife in the supermarket, cut half a watermelon, then sat on the ground scooping with a small spoon.
After eating the watermelon flesh, she tossed the watermelon rind into the trash corner, where it disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Yu Xiaolian contentedly patted her round little belly, glancing at the pitiful few checks on the cash register.
Buying those two houses nearly bankrupted her; once she brought Sun Fifth’s family back to Luocheng, she’d need to quickly make money.
She spread a summer quilt on the bed from the supermarket, covered herself with her mom’s down comforter, and drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, the Li brothers kept knocking on the door, waking Yu Xiaolian from her dreams.
Yu Xiaolian had slept in her clothes, heard the voices of the Li brothers, quickly put away the quilts and ran to open the door for Li Lie.
"What’s wrong?" Yu Xiaolian asked.
Because there was no light, Yu Xiaolian couldn’t see Li Lie’s expression, but his voice was anxious, "Miss, someone just entered the courtyard, and seemed to come towards your room; I feared you were in danger, so I came to check."
Upon hearing someone entered the courtyard, Yu Xiaolian didn’t dare be careless; maybe someone had really snuck into her room while she slept tightly. Her nerves immediately tightened, she jumped out from the threshold, hiding behind the Li brothers.
She feared someone from behind stabbing her, she hadn’t lived enough yet!
Li Lie held a knife and sternly said to Li Meng, "Brother, I’ll go check inside, you protect the girl."
By the light of the moon’s faint glow, Yu Xiaolian saw Li Lie stride into her room with a knife, shortly after, the oil lamp inside was lit.
Li Lie carefully searched the entire room, including the wardrobe and under the bed, ensuring no one else was inside, before letting Yu Xiaolian enter.
However, after such a scare, Yu Xiaolian dared not sleep; she cherished life, a lot.
She now felt restless, feeling this room was unsafe.
Li Meng and Li Lie asked Yu Xiaolian to keep sleeping, saying they would stand outside the door and let her rest assured. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel⚑fire.net
As Li Lie was about to close the door, a drop of blood fell from the sky, landing right on Yu Xiaolian’s nose, she paused, wiped her nose with her right index finger, then looked at the red on her finger and let out a shrill scream.
Yu Xiaolian realized she had the potential to be a soprano singer, only previously undeveloped.
Indeed, human potential is limitless.
Had it been before, Yu Xiaolian truly wouldn’t have believed she could produce such a high pitch.
As Yu Xiaolian looked up towards the roof, the person on the roof also jumped down.
Yu Xiaolian dashed towards the door, only when Li Meng and Li Lie sheltered her did she stop screaming.
The hunchbacked old man was also summoned by Yu Xiaolian’s scream, "What’s going on? What’s going on?"
Yu Xiaolian explained, "A stranger came into my room!"
The hunchbacked old man thought it was a regular thief from their town, immediately grabbing a wooden stick and rushed into the room, cursing, "Oh, you Scabby Face, you dare to steal again...I’ll beat you to death today... Who are you?"
The hunchbacked old man paused with his stick.
Jun Yian realized that if he continued to confront these people, soon the ones chasing him would follow the noise, and he might die in this small town, so he pulled out his waist badge, revealing his identity.
"Prince Jin...?" The hunchbacked old man was shocked.
Although he didn’t recognize the totem on the badge, Prince Jin indeed came to their town, which he heard, and weren’t they the three living at their house, driven out by Prince Jin from the inn?
The hunchbacked old man knelt.
The Li brothers also knelt, Yu Xiaolian glanced at the tiger-head totem badge, seeing the words Prince Jin in the middle, she followed suit and knelt.
Jun Yian saw them kneeling, didn’t let them rise, turned back inside, blew out the oil lamp, then covered his wounded arm, slowly said, "I was surrounded and chased in the inn because there’s a traitor among my Guards, I can’t trust any of them now, need to temporarily hide here.
If someone comes enquiring, you must act as if nothing happened, absolutely cannot say I’m here."
The hunchbacked old man was the first to answer, Yu Xiaolian and the other two immediately echoed in agreement.
Jun Yian feared they might not be reliable, started promising various benefits, only then allowed them to rise.
"You!" Jun Yian pointed at Yu Xiaolian, "You come in and bandage my wound."
"Me?" Yu Xiaolian pointed at her nose, startled.
Why are you so good at choosing people?
Among these people, only she knew a bit of medical skills.
The hunchbacked old man found a soft white cloth from elsewhere, obviously new, unused.
When handing the soft white cloth to Yu Xiaolian, the hunchbacked old man quietly told her to seize this opportunity well.
Seize what damn opportunity?
Already as unlucky as it gets, okay?
First it rained heavily when she went out, then the inn was cleared, finally finding a place to stay one night, and Prince Jin comes injured to her door.