After wandering around the streets for a while, Xi Qingyue and her two companions stopped in front of an inn. Glancing up at the sign that read "Destiny's Inn", Xi Qingyue took Xi Weilan by the hand and led her inside.
No sooner had they stepped through the door than a waiter greeted them with a bright smile. "Honored guests, come right in!"
Xi Qingyue gave a slight nod, and Mu Jin, who was right behind her, took out a silver ingot and handed it to the waiter. "We'd like two upper-floor rooms, and prepare a table of fine food and wine to be sent to our rooms."
The waiter happily took the silver and led them to the outside of the Room A on the second floor. "This is Room A, and it's right next to Room B, so the two rooms are adjacent to each other. Please wait a moment, honored guests. I'll go get your meals ready right away."
Xi Qingyue waved the waiter off before stepping into the room. To the waiter's surprise, Mu Jin did not head to the next room, but followed her inside.
After entering the room, Mu Jin carefully inspected every item inside. Only after making sure everything was safe did she nod at Xi Qingyue and say, "Miss, everything is fine."
Xi Qingyue looked around at the room's furnishings. Compared to a regular inn room, this one not only had a bed and a table, but also a soft couch, and the space was much larger than that of an ordinary room.
She lifted Xi Weilan onto a chair to sit her down, then took a seat beside her, and gestured to the empty spot next to her. "Mu Jin, you sit too. We'll all have something to eat together in a moment."
Mu Jin obediently sat down beside her, and then spoke slowly. "Miss, tonight I'll take Nan Yun and the others to wipe out the Guangling Pavilion. You two can just rest here properly."
Xi Qingyue did not refuse. She nodded with a smile. "Alright. Make sure you move swiftly. Start the operation as soon as it gets dark. Remember to leave a few alive to interrogate, and dig out all the dirty forces connected to them. If we're going to clean up, we have to make it thorough."
Mu Jin fully agreed with her. "Rest assured, Miss. We will interrogate them thoroughly."
Xi Weilan rested her arms on the table, propping her chin up in her hands as she listened to the two talking. She suddenly piped up, "Sister, when will Sister Lu Jinshuang arrive? We still have so many watermelons left to sell."
The thought of the mountains of watermelons piled up in her spatial storage made her face light up with excitement. If they did not sell them while the weather was still hot, they would have to wait a very long time for the next chance. All those watermelons were piles of silver after all.
Once Lu Jinshuang arrived, the more than one hundred guards under her would also reach them, and then they could resume selling their goods to earn more silver.
Xi Qingyue smiled and stroked her little sister's head. "There's no rush. We can sell the goods whenever we want. Later, we can even open a proper shop to display all the goods, so we don't have to run around peddling them. Once people have tasted our products, they will definitely love them. We can also put other fruits up for sale together with the watermelons."
She had quite a variety of fruits stored in her spatial storage. Even though she was not short of silver, she still had to sell a portion of them, otherwise they would never finish eating all of them.
Just then, the waiter knocked on the door from outside, carrying food and wine.
The three of them stopped their conversation. They did not speak again until the waiter had set down all the food and wine, closed the door and left. Then Xi Qingyue said with a smile, "Let's stop talking for now. Let's eat first. We can sort out all the other matters later."
As she spoke, she picked up a chicken leg and put it into Xi Weilan's bowl. "Lan'er, eating is the most important thing right now. You are still young, so you don't need to worry about making money. Just focus on eating, drinking and having fun. Of course, you can't stop practicing martial arts, and you still have to keep reading your books."
Xi Weilan happily grabbed the chicken leg and started eating, nodding as she chewed. "Okay, Sister, I know. I practice martial arts every day."
Mu Jin smiled faintly and picked up her chopsticks to start eating too. Following the two sisters, she got to eat, drink and enjoy herself almost every day, and it seemed that the only other thing she had to do was eliminate enemies.
After they had finished their meal, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan went to bed to rest. Xi Qingyue pointed at the soft couch off to the side. "Mu Jin, if you don't want to go to the next room, you can rest here. Nan Yun and the others will find us once they finish their tasks."
Mu Jin shook her head with a smile. "Miss, this subordinate is not sleepy. You two rest well. I'll keep watch here."
She did not trust Xin'an City as much as Xi Qingyue did. There was no way to know who ran this inn. What if it was connected to the people from Guangling Pavilion?
Xi Qingyue did not care much about it. She lay down on the bed and fell asleep right away. Even if something went wrong, she would be able to sense it immediately.
Mu Jin sat alone at the table, sipping tea and keeping a close eye on all movements outside the room.
All of a sudden, she felt a wave of dizziness, and her head grew groggy, making her want to doze off. Her heart jolted with alarm. She quickly pulled the hairpin out of her hair, and without hesitation, she was about to jab it into her own thigh to keep herself awake.
Just then, Xi Qingyue's eyes flew open. Her icy voice stopped Mu Jin right before she could move, "Don't move. Put the hairpin back."
Mu Jin shook her head to clear her senses a little, and tucked the hairpin back into her hair. Right after that, she felt a tiny, hair-thin wooden thorn prick her. In the next second, her mind was completely clear, and the drowsiness that had been about to make her pass away vanished entirely. The knockout drug had been neutralized by Xi Qingyue.
She looked over at the bed, and saw that Xi Weilan was still fast asleep, a happy smile on her face, with a little bit of drool at the corner of her mouth.
Xi Qingyue still had her eyes closed, but she spoke to Mu Jin. "Mu Jin, wait a moment and see what they plan to do. If they intend to move us elsewhere, don't act for now. Let them take us to that new place, and then we can catch all of them in one go."
Mu Jin acknowledged the order, then slumped over the table, pretending to be completely knocked out by the drug. She was still wondering to herself: normal knockout drugs would never be able to knock her out. This colorless, odorless drug was far more powerful than she had expected, and she had almost fallen victim to it.
What made her even more curious was that Xi Qingyue seemed completely unaffected by the drug, and even Xi Weilan was not knocked out by it — she was just naturally asleep. The difference in their tolerance was huge.
It was not long before the door creaked open.
The same waiter who had been all smiles earlier walked in with two burly men. A ferocious look flashed across his face. "Hmph, the knockout drug from our Luoxia Valley has never failed to knock anyone out. Take these two kids to the Shifang Teahouse, and take this woman to the Inviting Moon Brothel."
Mu Jin lay face down on the table, seething with anger. The Shifang Teahouse was a front for Guangling Pavilion in Xin'an City, and the Inviting Moon Brothel was a brothel. The three of them had been treated like goods to be trafficked. There really were not many good people in this place.
They had wanted to keep a low profile and take care of Guangling Pavilion when night fell. But after one single meal in broad daylight, they were about to be hauled off like merchandise. What a lucky coincidence.
Xi Qingyue still had her eyes closed and did not say a word, but her hand wrapped around Xi Weilan casually, holding her little sister tightly in her arms.
One of the burly men walked over to the bed, reached out to grab the two kids one in each hand and carry them away. But when he tried to lift them, he found he could not budge them. He was about to use more force to separate the two children, when the other man stopped him.
"Why go through all that trouble? Wrap them up in a quilt and carry both of them together. They're just two kids, it's not like we can't carry them."
And so, Xi Weilan, still fast asleep, and the fully awake Xi Qingyue, were wrapped up in a quilt and slung over the man's shoulder to be carried away.
Mu Jin, who had not received Xi Qingyue's order to act, was also taken away. The three of them were split up and taken to two different locations.
She understood Xi Qingyue's plan perfectly. Once they were taken to their respective destinations, they could strike, so none of the villains would have a chance to escape. As for the Destiny's Inn, they would deal with it later, and no one from that Luoxia Valley would be spared either.
As Xi Qingyue and the others were carried through the streets, Nan Yun led a group of guards to follow them from behind, while Nanxing took two men to stay behind at the inn to subdue the people left there.
