Ji Zhaoxi and the others thought they were keeping a low profile, but in reality, they had already caught someone’s attention.
Not far away, a young servant stared at Ji Zhaoxi in shock. Wasn’t she the female bandit who had beaten up their master at the inn that day?
He rubbed his eyes, and his expression grew increasingly grave.
“Master… Master!”
The servant’s voice was somewhat tense.
The fat-bellied master sat slumped in his chair, his eyes fixed on the dice cup. The dice rattled inside it as he panted heavily.
“Master!”
Unable to hold back, the servant nudged him. But to the fat-bellied master, that nudge was no more noticeable than a mosquito bite. He did not react at all.
“Big! Bet big!” the fat-bellied master shouted excitedly, the layers of fat on his body wobbling with every movement.
The servant grew frantic. With no other choice, he fiercely pinched the fat-bellied master.
The fat-bellied master had thick skin and still felt nothing. The servant glanced at him, as if he had discovered some sort of pattern, then pinched him several more times with even greater force.
Since his master had not noticed, he might as well take the opportunity to pinch him a few more times and vent some of his frustration…
Their master was truly difficult to serve.
The fat-bellied master finally felt an itch on his hand and reluctantly spared him a glance. “Speak!”
The servant hurriedly leaned closer. “Master, those people who bullied you last time are here—the ones from the inn…”
He had even been injured back then.
The fat-bellied master followed the direction the servant pointed and immediately flew into a rage. Sure enough, it was those same people from last time.
A bandit, a sickly man, and a pair of shameless lovers!
“How dare they show their faces in front of me again? Go and get rid of them!” the fat-bellied master spat furiously.
The corner of the servant’s mouth twitched. His master made it sound so easy. If he had been capable of killing those people, would he still be working as a servant?
The man beside them shook his head disapprovingly. “This is Ninth Master’s territory. Just teach them a lesson.”
The man lowered his head and whispered something into the servant’s ear before waving him away.
People quarreled in the gambling house from time to time, and if one was not careful, a stool might come flying through the air.
Xu Ancheng was still observing the gambling house when a waiter hurried over enthusiastically.
“This way, honored guests.”
The waiter led them to an empty table and brought over a pot of hot tea.
Xu Ancheng’s gaze came to rest on the private rooms upstairs. That area was the quietest, and there was no one guarding the entrance.
Ji Zhaoxi took a sip of tea and nearly spat it out.
“So bitter.” Her face scrunched up.
Fu Xianyan glanced at her and took a sip himself. “The tea was roasted too heavily.”
He took out a small box containing several candied fruits.
“When did you buy those?” Ji Zhaoxi asked as she picked one up.
The corner of Fu Xianyan’s mouth twitched slightly. “You bought them yourself.”
She was always buying things wherever she went, then forgetting to mention them and making him carry them. Once he had them, she often forgot to take them back. In only a few days, he had already accumulated quite a collection of her odds and ends.
The candied fruit masked the tea’s intense bitterness, and Ji Zhaoxi’s expression finally relaxed a little.
Fu Xianyan handed her a handkerchief, then put the candied fruit away.
“Please bring us a pot of warm water.” Fu Xianyan raised his eyes toward the waiter.
The servant acknowledged him and left with the pot of hot tea.
The servant was gone for quite some time.
Xu Ancheng tried to make his way upstairs, but before he could even reach the steps, someone stopped him courteously. He had no choice but to return to his seat.
“We need to find a way to get inside,” he said quietly.
Qin Qiwu frowned. “We can’t get in with this many people around. Wouldn’t it be even harder at other times?”
Fu Xianyan had no idea what they were investigating. Whenever Xu Ancheng and the others discussed it, they deliberately avoided him and would usually have someone keep an eye on him.
Still, he guessed it probably had something to do with the official silver, because someone mentioned looking for silver every single day.
Ji Zhaoxi looked toward the nearby gambling table and frowned. “What are they betting on?”
Fu Xianyan followed her gaze. His tone remained calm. “High or low.”
Ji Zhaoxi glanced at him. Fu Xianyan tapped his fingers against the table.
“Three dice. A total of eleven to eighteen is high, while three to ten is low.”
Ji Zhaoxi propped her chin in her hand and watched the gamblers shouting themselves red in the face.
Just then, the servant returned with a pot of sorghum liquor, smiling broadly.
“Honored guests, our proprietor is in high spirits today, so every table gets a complimentary pot of liquor.”
Qin Qiwu looked at the servant and smiled. “I’ve long heard that the proprietor is generous.”
Ji Zhaoxi sniffed the liquor. It carried a scent of almonds.
The servant stood nearby, watching them with a smile so wide that his eyes had narrowed into slits.
Xu Ancheng saw a burly man heading upstairs and pretended to ask curiously, “Can we gamble in one of the private rooms?”
The servant followed his gaze but did not answer. Instead, he smiled and asked, “What would you like to gamble on, Young Master?”
“Pai gow.”
Xu Ancheng and the servant continued talking across from her, but Ji Zhaoxi could not understand a word of it.
Sometimes Xu Ancheng’s words carried three layers of meaning. The longer she listened, the more irritated she became.
Even her father could not understand such things. Their Ji family was simply born to wield swords and fight with spears.
The liquor sat before her. Ji Zhaoxi had just decided to take a sip when Fu Xianyan stopped her.
“What are you doing?” Ji Zhaoxi asked unhappily.
What was wrong with Fu Xianyan? She had told him to listen to her, and now he had started trying to control her!
Looking at Ji Zhaoxi’s puffed-up cheeks, Fu Xianyan seemed a little helpless. “This is bitter.”
Ji Zhaoxi gave a cold snort. “The people of the Ji family fight bloody battles on the front lines. We fear neither hardship nor exhaustion. What’s a single pot of liquor to us?”
Fu Xianyan looked at the suddenly fired-up Ji Zhaoxi and fell silent for a moment.
Then he raised an eyebrow. “This liquor is even more bitter than that tea.”
Ji Zhaoxi was silent for a moment before obediently setting down her cup.
Those who understood the situation were wise.
Across from them, the servant was sweating under Xu Ancheng’s relentless questioning.
Of course he knew that Xu Ancheng was trying to fish for information, but this Xu Ancheng was far too difficult to deal with. He talked so much that the servant’s head was spinning.
Qin Qiwu frowned. It seemed there was no chance of getting in openly. They could only sneak inside.
She surveyed the surroundings and noticed that several people had been watching them the entire time. A bad feeling rose in her heart.
Could the authorities have set their sights on them?
Meanwhile, the people spying on them were having a discussion.
“Why aren’t those people drinking? If they don’t drink, how are they supposed to pass out?”
“It was your terrible idea to use knockout drugs. Look at us now—they won’t even drink it!”
“Why are you dragging this out? We could just attack them together. Why bother with knockout drugs?” the bearded man said impatiently.
It was humiliating. Since when did they need to drug people before beating them up? Hadn’t they always just charged straight in?
The other servants silently stepped aside, clearing a path for the bearded man.
Go ahead, then—if he could defeat that bandit.
The moment they recalled how the female bandit had beaten people up last time, they felt a chill run down their spines.
The bearded man coughed. “I was just saying.”
Meanwhile, the servant on the other side had already been questioned by Xu Ancheng until his eyes went blank.
