Chapter 48: Chapter 48: The Imaginary Treasure Hunter
In the morning, breakfast was simple, sorghum rice porridge mixed with pickled wild greens.
Daisy held her rice bowl and slurped her porridge, peering with her little eyes at the two adults in front of her who were making eyes at each other.
Sothing wasn’t right; these two were definitely acting strange!
“Sister,”
“Sister,”
“Huh?”
Su Yunjin turned around to look at Daisy.
“Where did you go last night? I got up to pee in the middle of the night and didn’t see you.”
At this, Su Yunjin’s face turned red. She glanced at Chen Jie and picked up her rice bowl to hide her embarrassnt.
“Why are you looking at Brother-in-law? Brother-in-law, do you know?”
Daisy turned her head towards Chen Jie.
Chen Jie was very composed as he took a sip of the porridge and said, “Oh, Ruirui is so big now that he doesn’t wet the bed anymore? Your sister told you were still wetting the bed when you were four!”
“Um, Brother-in-law, I don’t wet the bed anymore, Ruirui is a big kid now!”
Ruirui beca anxious imdiately.
Seeing this, Chen Jie smiled and then said, “Is that so? But Ruirui still looks quite small to .”
“Brother-in-law, I’ll tell you, Ruirui is five this year, and five-year-olds don’t wet the bed.”
“Really? Ruirui is that capable now?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Good, very good. Since Ruirui is performing so well, your brother-in-law is going to buy you so treats today, how does that sound?”
“Great!”
Ruirui shouted excitedly, completely forgetting about the matter of his sister not being around last night.
Su Yunjin looked at Chen Jie, eyes filled with gratitude.
Chen Jie responded with a light-hearted expression.
To be honest, it wasn’t just a matter of dealing with a little Daisy – he rarely let any business partners find fault with him, let alone be stumped by a little kid’s question.
After they finished eating, Chen Jie said goodbye to Su Yunjin.
He had intended to give Su Yunjin the Silver Coins he received yesterday, but on second thought, giving her so much money suddenly might not be a good thing; it might worry her.
So Chen Jie didn’t give her the money, thinking it would be better to buy so things for her later.
Now that he had plenty of money, he thought of buying two new sets of clothes for the sisters.
Su Yunjin’s current clothes were patched, and although she was naturally beautiful, and the patched clothes didn’t detract from her beauty, now that life was getting better, why should she continue to live so hard?
He walked out of the house to see several n dressed in black, looking like house servants, asking a few village won questions.
The won were gesturing and chattering away, leaving the house servants confused.
As Chen Jie passed by, he heard one of the won saying, “I tell you, that Golden Chicken you guys are asking about must’ve been taken by that out-of-town treasure hunter.”
“Out-of-town treasure hunter?”
“That’s right, we saw it with our own eyes.”
“You saw it with your eyes?”
A few house servants looked at the village won, and one of them said, “Would we lie about that? It just ca down from the beam up there. We were washing clothes and saw it all clearly.”
“What ti did this happen?”
“It was during the 5 to 7 AM period.”
“Yes, when I left my house it should have been 5:45 AM; it didn’t take past that period to get there…”
“What did the treasure hunter look like?”
The house servants asked, and upon hearing this, one woman said, “He was about this tall, and looking at his build, he wasn’t skinny, probably not a farr.”
The woman gestured with her hands, “Wearing a conical hat, the figure wasn’t clear, but he could be in his thirties, right, Second Sister-in-law?”
“Pretty much. The wind and sun make him look older; he might be just twenty-eight or twenty-nine.”
A few won chatted back and forth, ultimately concocting the image of a Hero of the River.
Tall and robust, clad in black short attire, wearing a conical hat, carrying a hemp sack…
And a house servant stood by with a painter following, sketching based on their descriptions, occasionally asking the won for details.
The won all spoke at once.
“Second Sister-in-law, do you have anything to add?”
“His face should be thinner, right, and there’s a scar from a knife on the left side of the face.”
“Eh, Second Sister-in-law, is there?”
“Yes, you didn’t notice it.”
“Um, so is there one or not?” the house servant asked.
“There is, there is!”
In the end, the painter produced an image of a Hero of the River, and the many house servants thought to themselves that this should suffice to report back.
And that’s when Chen Jie ca walking over from his house.
“Halt, where are you going?”
Chen Jie looked at the house servants and said, “Who are you guys? What’s stopping ?”
“Cut the crap, just answer my question!
A nearby aunt said, “Jiu Si, they’re people from Master Yu’s family in town.”
“Oh, oh, ask away.”
Chen Jie nodded, seemingly coming to his senses only now, and the house servants looked at him and said, “Did you see anyone coming down from the mountain the day before yesterday, carrying a hemp sack?”
“This, I don’t know?”
“Hmm?”
The house servants imdiately beca suspicious, glancing at the won, who looked urgently at Chen Jie and said, “Jiu Si, think carefully, wasn’t there soone wearing a conical hat?”
Seeing this, Chen Jie innocently said, “My aunts, I’ve been studying dicine with Doctor Bai lately, morizing dicine classics every day. My head is all muddled; I really can’t rember.”
Hearing this, the won said, “Yes, yes, Jiu Si has been busy studying these days, how would he have ti to pay attention to this?”
Chen Jie looked up at the house servants and said, “Gentlen, I really didn’t see anything. How about this, why don’t you co with to my master’s place? My Uncle Wu Zhong is always out and about; you can ask him!”
“Is that okay?”
Chen Jie looked at the house servants as he spoke, and their faces instantly beca incredibly embarrassed.
Who did they think they were, to go question Wu Zhong? That would be like asking for a death wish.
What kind of person was Wu Zhong, the Fishery Manager of the Fishing Guild, an equal to their own Lord. For them to question him was like begging for trouble.
And this young man in front of them wasn’t just anybody, he was Doctor Bai’s apprentice. Who didn’t know that Doctor Bai was fiercely protective of his charges, and that Wu Zhong always heeded Doctor Bai’s words?
With this in mind, the house servants quickly changed their tune, smiling at Chen Jie and saying, “Hehe, young man, just kidding. You’re Doctor Bai’s esteed apprentice, you wouldn’t have ti for this. We won’t waste more of your ti; go on with your studies.”
Chen Jie smiled in response and said, “Alright, then I’m off. By the way, what do you need to know about this for?”
The house servants imdiately shook their heads: “Nothing, nothing.”
Chen Jie said, “Very secretive.”
Then he headed straight to Doctor Bai’s place, leaving the house servants behind to continue inquiring, “The day before yesterday, did any of you see…”
After a full round of questions throughout Xiantao Village, they concluded that there definitely had been a stranger wearing a conical hat passing through that day.
How do you know?
When three people repeat a story, it gains credence, and when rumor spreads throughout the whole village, it’s no longer just a rumor.
Chen Jie understood the danger of rumors well, so Yu Biao, you go right ahead and start looking for this Hero of the River with a scar on his face and a conical hat!
As for , I need to lay low and level up!
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