At the neighboring table, several townspeople chatted as they ate their wontons.
“Have you heard? It was the Old Gambler who set the fire. They say he did it to steal the government silver.” A loafer at the table spoke as he finished drinking the wonton broth.
A patched-up laborer curled his lip. “You believe that nonsense? The Old Gambler is a coward.”
He glanced around and lowered his voice. “My aunt saw it when the fire started that night. There were a whole bunch of men in black. All of them were well trained.”
“Tsk, tsk. The Old Gambler really got unlucky. But what actually happened?”
“Who knows? As long as it has nothing to do with us, who cares?”
The group spoke animatedly, showering the place with spit. Everyone nearby seemed used to it, but the table beside them was unusually quiet.
Ji Zhaoxi carried her bowl over and joined in as she ate.
“That’s awful.” She frowned and took another sip of broth.
The elderly man beside her watched her expression and slapped his hand on the table. “Exactly!”
“Sure, the Old Gambler likes to gamble, but he’s never stolen or robbed anyone, and he’s a coward besides. Everyone on the street knows that.” The old man spoke passionately. “To beat him up like that—that’s just bullying!”
Ji Zhaoxi shouted angrily, “How could they do that?”
Seeing how intently Ji Zhaoxi was listening, the person beside her stopped eating his wontons. His lips drooped, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. “They had to carry him home yesterday. He was beaten terribly.”
The others could only shake their heads helplessly.
The more Ji Zhaoxi heard, the angrier she became. “They’re bullying ordinary people!”
Fu Xianyan glanced at Ji Zhaoxi, who had completely merged into the neighboring table. One moment she was frowning deeply, the next she was listening with rapt attention, and then she looked as though she might rush over and beat someone herself.
Fu Xianyan fell silent for a moment. In all his life, he had never met anyone with such an astonishing range of expressions…
The old man had originally planned to leave for work after finishing his meal, but Ji Zhaoxi was such an enthusiastic audience that he could not resist telling her the entire story from beginning to end.
By the time he finished, his throat was hoarse. He studied Ji Zhaoxi’s face, suddenly puzzled.
“Miss, are you from Pingyuan County?”
Why did she look so unfamiliar?
Ji Zhaoxi had already finished her wontons. She smiled and said, “Grandpa, I’m from out of town. I came to Pingyuan County to visit relatives.”
The old man immediately became interested and thumped his chest. “Who are you looking for? I know everyone in Pingyuan County.”
Ji Zhaoxi suddenly had no idea what to say. The two of them stared at each other.
The old man looked at her encouragingly.
Go on, tell him. He definitely knew them!
Ji Zhaoxi forced out a dry laugh. “Grandpa, I should get going. I’ve finished my wontons.”
“Wait—”
Before the old man could say anything else, Ji Zhaoxi had already carried her empty bowl back to the other table.
Watching her retreating figure, the old man sighed regretfully.
“Why did that girl leave? I still had so much to tell her.”
There were plenty of interesting things happening in Pingyuan County.
The old man ordered another bowl of wontons. Then he suddenly raised his head. “Could that girl be from the Old Li family? She looks a little like them.”
The others shook their heads to show they had no idea.
The old man burned his mouth on the hot broth and cursed. Then he continued eating, muttering to himself, “She must be. I know everything that happens in Pingyuan County…”
The four of them arrived at the entrance of the inn.
Xu Ancheng looked hesitantly at Fu Xianyan. “Young Master Fu, you’re still weak. You should rest at the inn a while longer.”
Ji Zhaoxi immediately nodded in delight. “That’s right, that’s right.”
Qin Qiwu glanced at Ji Zhaoxi, a trace of amusement flickering in her eyes.
Pretending not to notice their concerns, Fu Xianyan smiled and nodded. “Then I’ll return to the inn and rest first.”
Looking at Fu Xianyan’s lonely back, Xu Ancheng and Qin Qiwu both felt a little guilty.
Over the past few days, they had kept their conversations and outings hidden from Young Master Fu. Although he said nothing, he must have felt as if they were shutting him out.
But Ji Zhaoxi felt no guilt whatsoever. She was only happy.
“Let’s hurry and find the Old Gambler!”
They had finally managed to shake off Hua Wuyan.
The three of them followed the direction the old man had indicated. The weather grew hotter and hotter as they went, while the number of people dwindled. Only a few scattered villagers could be seen working in the fields.
Several villagers were working as they cursed under their breath. One sharp-eyed farmer spotted Ji Zhaoxi and the others and suddenly nudged the person beside him with an elbow.
The cursing stopped at once, and smiles appeared on their faces.
Qin Qiwu wiped the sweat from her forehead and walked up onto the field ridge.
When the villagers saw Ji Zhaoxi and the others heading toward the fields, they exchanged glances.
As the three of them drew closer, the nearest villager suddenly began reciting poetry.
“The magistrate is benevolent as a parent,
And Pingyuan’s people live in peace.”
“The Son of Heaven sits upon his throne in the sacred court…
The realm enjoys peace…
The harvests are… are full.”
One line followed another, with a different person reciting each one.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng exchanged a glance and waited for them to finish.
Ji Zhaoxi stared at them in utter confusion. Then she simply squatted down and began plucking foxtail grass beside her.
The farmers saw that the three of them still had no intention of leaving and began to look troubled.
Why weren’t they leaving? They had already finished reciting everything they knew.
The farmers stumbled through a few more lines. In the end, they could not force out even a single word.
Qin Qiwu said gently, “Those are wonderful poems.”
The old farmers looked at one another.
Of course they were wonderful. The government had forced them to memorize them.
“Uncle, we’re here to find someone. Do you know where the Old Gambler lives? He owes my father some money, and my father sent me to collect it.”
The old farmer immediately relaxed. Her voice was a little hoarse, as though she had to squeeze the words out. “That Old Gambler doesn’t even have a home. He lives in that thatched hut beneath the old locust tree. He spends all day groaning and moaning. I doubt you’ll get any money from him.”
At the mention of this, the old farmer became displeased. She pursed her lips. “He owes me money too. Whenever I call out to him, he pretends he can’t hear me…”
Qin Qiwu looked at the old locust tree in the distance and smiled as she placed a piece of broken silver in the old farmer’s hand.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
Xu Ancheng’s gaze lingered on Qin Qiwu, amusement flickering in his eyes.
The old farmer watched the three of them walk away, then silently exchanged a glance with the others.
She wiped the mud from her hand, and the wrinkles on her face suddenly smoothed out.
“Looks like this old woman has run into a god of wealth…”
The group broke into quiet laughter.
By the time Ji Zhaoxi and the others reached the old locust tree, they fell silent as they stared at the thatched hut before them.
The hut was terribly dilapidated. Its walls had been built from mud bricks made of yellow clay and dried straw, while the withered thatch on the roof seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
When they opened the door, the Old Gambler did not even open his eyes before he began to groan.
“Ow… ow… it hurts so much. It’s not that I don’t want to repay you, but does this place look like I have any money? If you don’t mind, take some of the dried straw from my hut.”
He rolled over on the bed and fell silent.
He listened carefully to the sounds inside the hut. When he realized that the visitors still had not left, he began wailing again.
“I have no money! If you want my life, then take it! If you insist on making me repay the debt, just kill me! I’m an old man with these old bones…”
Still wailing, he pushed himself up from the bed. He had assumed that the villagers had come to demand money again.
But when he lifted his head, he saw several unfamiliar faces.
The Old Gambler froze.
Ji Zhaoxi lounged against the earthen wall, perfectly at ease, tossing a few gold nuggets into the air with his right hand. Sunlight glinted off them, and when the nuggets landed in his palm, they gave off a crisp clinking sound.
The Old Gambler’s eyes lit up at once, his gaze following the gold as it rose and fell.
“Smack—”
Ji Zhaoxi closed his hand over the gold.
The gold vanished, and only then did the Old Gambler’s gaze finally settle on the group.
Ji Zhaoxi raised an eyebrow, his eyes brimming with amusement. “Old Gambler, we don’t want your money, and we don’t want your life.”
“We just want to ask you a few questions.”
