Xi Qingyue did not go directly to the city gates to question the guards on duty. Instead, she scanned the resting crowd before finally approaching a kindly-looking old woman.
"Auntie, why isn't the city gate open yet? Isn't it supposed to open at the hour of the Mao?" she asked.
The old woman was sitting at the base of the city wall eating a flatbread, beside her were her honest-looking son, daughter-in-law, and young granddaughter.
Hearing Xi Qingyue's words, she looked up and was quite surprised to see a child.
"Little girl, are you trying to enter the city? Go back and tell your family it's no use. The gates won't let anyone in anymore. They were suddenly shut before the usual time last night, and we were just a step behind."
Speaking of this, the old woman's face was full of regret. If they had arrived just fifteen minutes earlier yesterday, they would have made it inside, and they wouldn't be stuck outside now.
"Why won't they let anyone in? Has something happened in Yao City?" Xi Qingyue asked, puzzled.
The old woman sighed. "Alas, I hear that the people Yao City's magistrate sent to Liang City came back yesterday. They returned at full speed from Liang City on horseback, saying there were dangerous characters among the refugees. They also said that both the magistrate of Liang City and everyone at the county office were slaughtered. Once that news spread, things got serious. The magistrate here must have gotten scared, so he simply shut the city gates."
"Little girl, I suppose you passed through Liang City just like us before anything happened over there, right? The magistrate's men raced back here on horseback yesterday without stopping. We missed it by just a hair. If we had been a little earlier, we could have entered the city yesterday instead of having to take a detour. Such a shame."
Hearing the woman’s words, Xi Qingyue was secretly astonished. So it was because of her that the gates had been shut.
It made perfect sense for the magistrate to station people in Liang City to gather information. That way, they could rush back with news at the first sign of trouble and wouldn’t be caught off guard. The man must have galloped back yesterday while she was resting at the inn. Otherwise, besides her, who else could have traveled to Yao City so fast?
She smiled at the old woman. "Thank you, Auntie!"
The old woman waved her hand cheerfully. "You're welcome, little girl. Go tell your family to rest a bit and then take the detour. There’s no getting in here."
Xi Qingyue left the old woman and walked toward a sparsely populated area near the city wall. Tafeng followed silently behind her, without any rope.
The commoners near the walls were all grumbling, as taking detours was quite troublesome.
The authorities had shut the city gates, but they weren’t strictly controlling the detour routes. If they did, the refugees, with nowhere else to go, would surely cause chaos.
As long as the refugees could take a detour and find somewhere to go, there generally wouldn’t be major problems. At worst, people would just hurl a few curses since no one could hear them anyway.
Ignoring the curses, Xi Qingyue walked for a while before stopping at a secluded spot. Having come all the way to the city gates, there was no way she was going to take a detour.
She used her wind-element ability to sense her surroundings. When she was sure no one was watching from the shadows, she stashed Tafeng into her spatial realm.
The next moment, she shrouded herself in mist, leaped up to the top of the city wall, and with one more jump, landed inside the city.
Xi Qingyue dashed into a small alley and vanished from sight in an instant.
Inside the spatial realm, she returned to the bedroom and gently patted Xi Weilan's little face. "Lan’er, wake up quick. We’re going to buy roasted chicken."
The moment the words left her mouth, Xi Weilan’s eyes flew open, and she sat up with an excited, delighted expression. "Roasted chicken! I want to buy roasted chicken!"
Xi Qingyue tapped her on the forehead. "No ambition. There are plenty of good things besides roasted chicken. Today we're going to buy up everything in Yao City."
With that, she began dressing Xi Weilan and fixing her hair.
Half an hour later, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan appeared in a deserted alley, along with a mule cart.
The two of them sat side by side at the front of the cart, driving it toward the main street. Their plan was to buy all the food from the stalls and shops on that street first.
The first thing they spotted was a small flatbread stall. It wasn’t very big and only made a little over a hundred flatbreads.
Xi Qingyue handed over a small piece of silver. "Auntie, we’ll take all of these flatbreads."
The woman selling flatbreads was taken aback. Hers was a small business, normally selling them as she made them, and the most any customer ever bought was ten flatbreads at once. She had never seen anyone buy up the entire batch. But she wasn't a fool—she happily took the silver and agreed with a smile.
"Give me just a moment, I'll wrap them up for you right away."
In no time, Xi Qingyue packed away the flatbreads and continued driving the cart to the next stop.
They bought everything in sight: steamed buns and stuffed buns, fried goods, roasted chicken, pastries and preserved fruits, and cold drinks and summer beverages.
When they came across a wonton stall, they asked the vendor to cook up all of his remaining stock. Then, taking out a large bucket from the cart, they packed away the freshly-made wontons, leaving the stall owner utterly stunned.
After finishing one street, Xi Qingyue turned the cart toward another. She planned to buy up everything on seven or eight streets. If she couldn’t finish in one day, she’d stay here for two more.
Xi Weilan held a freshly fried sesame ball in her hand, munching happily. "Big Sister, this is really good! Do you want to try some?"
Xi Qingyue shook her head with a smile. "No, you go ahead. If there’s something you really like, we’ll go back in the evening and ask them to make more tomorrow."
The two were busy all morning. When lunchtime came, they arrived at a restaurant.
The waiter inside was surprised to see two children walk in, but noting their clean, expensive-looking clothes, he didn’t take them for beggars and welcomed them with a smile.
"Two young guests, please come in," he said, making a welcoming gesture.
Xi Qingyue shook a silver ingot in her hand. "Find us a quiet private room. And bring us two servings of every dish, pastry, and dessert on your menu—and make it quick."
The waiter was overjoyed. "Yes, honored guests! Right this way."
Xi Qingyue took Xi Weilan’s hand and followed the waiter into a private dining room. The other patrons in the restaurant were all curious about the two children.
Xi Qingyue, with her cold expression, looked like an icy beauty. Xi Weilan, with her round little face and lively, twinkling big eyes, was adorable. But more than that, everyone wondered why two children had come to a restaurant to order so much food. Would they even finish it?
Even a pig might not be able to eat all that.
Since the people dining here had money to spare, they weren’t eyeing the children’s wealth out of greed. They were simply curious about their appetites.
Xi Qingyue, however, didn’t care about any of that. Once the food arrived in the room, they would "finish" every last bite.
She planned to taste each dish. Those that were good, she’d remember to have the restaurant make hundreds of portions later. Those that weren’t, she’d just skip.
While waiting, Xi Qingyue stood by the window and looked down at the street below. She caught sight of a very familiar figure. Looking more closely, she saw it was a man with a small mustache. She turned away quickly, thinking she must have been mistaken.
A quarter of an hour later, as the waiter kept bringing in dishes, Xi Qingyue heard exclamations from outside.
"Oh my god! The city gates are open! The magistrate actually opened the gates! Didn’t they say they’d be closed for the next few days?"
"They were shut early last night, and now they’re open after just one day? What happened?"
“That’s right—yesterday, the rumors were really serious. They said the entire household of the Liangcheng County Magistrate was slaughtered. Those refugees were vicious, but no one said how the massacre happened. Could it be that the refugees have broken into the city?”
Someone said suspiciously, and then a group of people hurried to the entrance of the restaurant to look, afraid that the refugees attacking the city might go on a killing spree.
Xi Qingyue was also puzzled. She had originally planned to go to the county magistrate’s office tonight to visit him in his dreams and persuade him to open the city gates. But had the magistrate come to his senses on his own?
