Jiang Jin gave the three of them time to adapt. After a moment, she said, "I'm going out to find some food now. Replenish your strength as quickly as possible. There will be a tough battle later, and I hope you won't become a burden to me."
Yao Ji raised his somewhat confused eyes: "Tough battle? What tough battle?"
Jiang Jin looked at him with dark eyes: "What do you think I came into Liang City specifically for? To kill Jiao Liang, of course."
Yao Ji and the other two had their mouths slightly open, dumbfounded. It took them a good while to react.
Xie Nanxiao turned to look at Zhou Sui: "Great General, are you sure she is Princess Jinyang?"
Zhou Sui resisted the twitching at the corner of his eyes and nodded expressionlessly. He actually had somewhat guessed what Jiang Jin was going to do.
Perhaps because he was mentally prepared, hearing her say it now, he actually felt that although it was arrogant, it was also a matter of course.
Jiang Jin looked at Yao Ji: "By the way, do you know where more people live nearby? Preferably a wealthy family."
People in this era mostly only ate two meals a day, but nobles and the wealthy mostly ate three.
So if she wanted to find ready-cooked food at this time of day, she could only start with wealthy families.
Yao Ji lowered his eyes, fell silent for a moment, then dipped his finger in some water and began to draw a map of the vicinity on the ground.
A few breaths later, he pointed to a direction and said, "The nearest wealthy family I know of is here, the location of the granary of Cao Rui, the biggest grain merchant in Liang City."
Jiang Jin's eyes lit up: "Granary?"
Yao Ji nodded: "The one helping him guard the granary is his brother-in-law Wu Heng. Wu Heng is a man who values pleasure, so he will definitely eat lunch at noon."
Jiang Jin was puzzled: "Jiao Liang didn't rob his grain?"
A trace of hatred flashed in Chen Xi's eyes: "When Jiao Liang entered the city, he surrendered, handed over 2,000 shi of grain, and..."
He gritted his teeth: "He also told Jiao Liang the hiding place of the commandery governor and the old, weak, women, and children of my Chen family."
No one knew where Cao Rui got the news, but he traded the lives of 283 people from the two families for merit.
Jiang Jin understood and made a decision in her heart: "Then I'll go to his place."
In that case, she wouldn't hold back.
She searched through a wooden box, found a set of clothes that suited her, and left the cellar.
Before leaving the small kitchen, she moved the firewood back to the cellar entrance and slightly camouflaged it so it couldn't be discovered without paying close attention.
Jiang Jin casually found a room in the private courtyard, changed her clothes, and changed her makeup. After all, triangular eyes were too recognizable, and Jiao Zhu's people were probably already looking for her.
Before long, a delicate and pretty young girl appeared in the mirror. Jiang Jin smiled at the mirror, put the mirror into her spatial dimension, and left the room.
Cao Rui's granary was indeed not far from the private courtyard, just a few alleys away. It took less than a quarter of an hour walking to get there.
She didn't enter immediately, but walked along the outer wall of this courtyard.
Although this place was called a granary, its layout was built like a four-courtyard compound, covering quite a large area.
The surrounding wall was very high, estimated to be 3 meters, and there were some unknown sharp spikes on top.
She came to the main gate, above which was written 'Cao Residence'.
Because this place was remote, there were no idle people around, only two burly men guarding the gate.
Seeing Jiang Jin walking towards them, both became vigilant: "This is a private residence, little lady, please leave quickly."
Jiang Jin smiled at them: "Two big brothers, I'm looking for Erya in the kitchen. Could you help pass a message?"
The dark-faced burly man standing on the left stepped forward expressionlessly to shoo her away: "What Erya or Sanya? We don't have such a person in our kitchen..."
Before he could finish speaking, he felt something pressing against his abdomen. Before he could look down to check, a severe pain spread through his body, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
The other burly man was bewildered, not knowing why he suddenly started shaking. He patted the dark-faced man's shoulder with one hand: "What's wrong with..."
So one infected the other, and the two of them shook in sync.
After a few breaths, Jiang Jin felt the time was about right, so she put away the stun baton. This was one of the good items in her space.
The two went limp and collapsed on the ground.
Jiang Jin stepped over the two men, pushed the door open, and entered the courtyard.
The courtyard was very quiet. She took a few steps, sniffed, and a faint aroma of food drifted over.
Her eyes lit up. The Cao Residence was actually making chicken soup, and chicken soup with ginseng at that. This was too perfect for her.
She was just about to walk towards the kitchen when she saw two strong men in uniform clothing walking towards her.
Jiang Jin's expression switched to anxious mode: "Quick, the gatekeeper Er Gouzi and his companion somehow fainted. Go take a look quickly."
The slightly shorter man looked at her strangely: "Which courtyard are you from? Did you mistake the person? I am Er Gouzi. The ones guarding the gate today should be Zhang Shan and Li Niu."
Jiang Jin couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth. She had just called out a random name, but didn't expect to run into the real person.
She showed some embarrassment on her face: "I'm from the small kitchen. I've only been here for a few days, so I don't recognize everyone yet. Sorry for the mistake. Oh right, you guys hurry and go look at the main gate."
Er Gouzi didn't suspect anything. Jiang Jin's expression was too natural, and her anxiety over her colleagues' injuries was handled quite reasonably.
Moreover, she had called his name right. There were many people in the courtyard, so it was normal to mistake someone. Didn't he himself not recognize this new maid?
Er Gouzi walked quickly towards the door. The burly man next to him scratched his head, a bit puzzled: "Why do I feel something is weird?"
Er Gouzi: "What's weird? Let's move faster. I wonder what happened to Zhang Shan and the others?"
The burly man stopped in his tracks and suddenly realized: "I know what's weird!"
Er Gouzi was startled and hurriedly asked: "What's the problem?"
The burly man slapped his forehead: "That maid wasn't wearing the clothes of a kitchen maid."
Er Gouzi was stunned for a moment, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It scared him; he thought something was wrong.
He waved his hand carelessly: "Didn't she say she just arrived? Her clothes probably haven't been made yet."
Jiang Jin passed through several verandas and arrived at the kitchen radiating the aroma of food.
There were two cook women busy in the kitchen, as well as a fire-tending maid and a maid washing vegetables and helping out.
The four of them were all bewildered when they saw Jiang Jin come in. The slightly plump cook asked: "Who are you? Which courtyard are you from? Why did you come to the kitchen?"
Jiang Jin was unhurried: "It's nothing, I just came to borrow a fire poker."
