"Some things are just surface phenomena," the second private glanced at the private who inexplicably envied Mu Anxiao and chuckled. "I worked as a servant in the Mu estate before. The people there were all formidable, and they acted with ruthless efficiency. So, don't be envious. You'll never be a lost young lady from some family in this lifetime."
Young lady?
The private, hearing the second private's changed tone, froze for a moment. He then glared fiercely at the second private and turned his head. Unintentionally, he spotted a man in black behind a tree not far away. "Look over there," he said, pointing at the tree and looking at the second private.
Over by the tree.
The man in black clearly saw the private's finger pointing at him. He then glanced at the second private approaching him, muttered "Idiot" to himself, and turned to walk away.
At the same time, the second private looked in the direction the private was pointing. "I was just joking with you, do you have to be like this?" he retorted, glaring at the private before turning and walking away.
The private blinked in surprise, turned back to look in that direction, lowered his hand, and rubbed his eyes. "Huh, I must have seen wrong." He then winked.
The woods.
As she walked leisurely, a woman's cry for help suddenly came directly towards her.
Immediately, she stopped, casually placed her hand on the dagger at her waist for self-defense, looked left and right, and was about to step forward when she heard footsteps behind her. She then tilted her head, quickly turned, and hid in a nearby bush.
The next moment, two men in black stopped together at the spot where she had paused. After looking at each other, the first man in black said, "Based on my observations, the guards are all show and no substance. As long as we give them some silver at night, we can enter the city."
The woman who had been 'calling for help' fell silent as soon as the two men in black spoke.
Hearing the woman fall silent, the second man snorted, "Dead girl, sharp ears." He then glanced at the first man in black, walked to the pile of weeds, bent down, and removed the weeds one by one.
Youxian squatted behind the bushes, watching the second man in black's actions through the gaps. She thought, 'I knew it, I only heard the voice but couldn't see the person. They must have hidden her.' Thinking this, she decided to wait and see.
The first man in black, unaware of Youxian's presence in the bushes, walked forward and looked down at the little girl in white, her face covered in dust, with her hands and feet bound. "Well, you're quite a looker."
The little girl looked at the two men in front of her with a face full of fear, trembling all over.
The second man in black chuckled, "Of course. This is Jin City. They have to be good-looking to be brought in. But," he shook his head, "only bringing in one this time is a bit of a shame."
"It's alright, we've only just arrived. There's plenty of time."
"You're right," the second man in black said, reaching out and yanking the little girl up.
The first man in black smiled.
Sensing this, Youxian watched the little girl being pulled up by them and thought about their words. She couldn't stand it anymore. "To conduct such business in broad daylight, it's truly disgusting." She stood up, stepped over the bushes, and walked towards them.
Upon hearing this, both of them turned to look at Youxian and smiled.
Seeing this, Youxian stopped, looking puzzled. "What are you laughing at? Be careful, I'll gouge your eyes out." She raised her self-defense dagger.
The first man in black glanced at the dagger in Youxian's hand and chuckled, "I said there's plenty of time, and look, here comes one." As he spoke, he took out a small plate of hemp rope from his懷 and walked forward.
Youxian narrowed her eyes. Just as she was about to make a move, the first man in black threw a soporific at her.
Seeing this, Youxian suddenly remembered their earlier talk about entering the city. She then thought that in the past six months, they had searched almost every town and small city without finding Yue Ci. Perhaps Yue Ci was in Jin City.
Of course, even if she couldn't find him, saving this little girl wouldn't be a loss.
Thinking this, she sniffed the soporific, which had no effect on her, feigned rolling her eyes, and slowly collapsed.
"She's down," the first man in black said, stopping beside Youxian. "Another self-proclaimed heroic woman." He then crouched down and began to tie her hands and feet.
Youxian closed her eyes, clearly hearing the first man in black's smug voice, and thought to herself, "Fool."
The second man in black looked down at Youxian's face and said faintly, "This girl won't fetch a good price."
"It's alright, having money is better than not having money," the first man in black said optimistically, casually snatching the dagger from Youxian's hand and putting it into his own embrace.
Youxian endured it.
In the city.
Mu Anxiao walked down the street, looking at the food stalls on both sides of the road. She swallowed and then turned to stop in front of a noodle stall.
The noodle stall owner smiled foolishly upon seeing Mu Anxiao. "You're here."
"Same as usual, I'll pay you in a couple of days."
"No problem," the noodle stall owner said with a beaming smile, then turned to get to work.
Mu Anxiao knew that the people who had secretly discarded her at night were all hired to do so for money. Therefore, she basically never carried money on her because she was afraid those people would steal it.
As a result, every time she returned from outside, she was penniless.
These shop owners were all snobbish. The first time, she thought they would all believe her and entered one by one. To her surprise, not only did they not believe her, but they also drove her away in various ways.
Only the owner of this noodle stall made her noodles and believed her.
It was for this reason that she always came here as soon as she returned.
Meanwhile, the surrounding shop owners, unaware of what was happening here, would chatter and make sarcastic remarks whenever Mu Anxiao patronized this noodle stall.
The owner paid no attention to their discussions.
Seeing that the owner didn't care, Mu Anxiao also didn't care.
"Add some chili," she said, sitting down with her back to them, and removed her veil.
"Coming right up."
However, just as the owner responded to Mu Anxiao, they gathered together and, as usual, began.
"That's the young lady from the Mu estate. She always goes there to eat noodles without paying. I really don't know how she has the nerve."
"Can't be helped, who made the noodle seller a fool?"
"No, you don't know this. As the saying goes, profit comes first. The owner of this shop used to be a scholar, but he failed the imperial exams. I think he just wants to climb the social ladder."
"You're right, it really is."
"I think the young lady from the Mu estate is not ordinary either. Perhaps they are meeting in secret."
"Definitely. I think she's already... involved with this owner."
"Tsk tsk, if the master of the Mu estate knew, he'd skin her alive."
"As expected of a found daughter, she has thick skin."
"Exactly, shameless."
Normally, their discussions would be about the noodle stall owner not making money or being foolish. She usually dismissed these remarks as the owner's jealousy.
Who knew that today they would be so bold?
Hearing their increasingly excessive words and the slander against her, Mu Anxiao could no longer tolerate it. "Just because I don't speak doesn't mean I'm easy to bully." She picked up her veil, put it on, stood up, and turned to give the owner a look, signaling him to mind his own business.
The owner understood Mu Anxiao's meaning and withdrew his gaze.
Seeing Mu Anxiao stand up, an old woman opposite quickly nudged the woman next to her and said, "She's getting up."
"Who's afraid of her?"
"Exactly. They say she's a soft persimmon, easy to knead."
Soft persimmon?
From the day she awoke reborn, Mu Anxiao had seen through half of the people in this world.
Initially, she didn't understand Zhang Yan's words: "Before becoming an immortal, one must first see through people." At first, she thought, people just like to gossip. As long as they aren't provoked or engaged, it's nothing.
Since her post-immortal mission scope did not involve them, she had never paid much attention.
As the saying goes, one can never truly understand the complexity of things without experiencing them firsthand.
In her previous missions, she viewed everything from a bystander's perspective, so naturally, she didn't have such strong feelings, and some matters could be summarized in words.
However, after experiencing it herself, she realized that some things cannot be described in words. That kind of hardship, that kind of frustration, she could only bury in her heart and savor it herself.
In the nearly a year since, she had lost count of the times she had been framed. And, to her knowledge, the people who harmed her were mostly those she trusted the most.
However, this identity was crucial to her, so she could tolerate those who harmed her for the sake of this identity.
As for these people, they could be dealt with separately.
"You say I'm a soft persimmon." She turned around and looked at the woman who had spoken.
Seeing Mu Anxiao looking at her, the woman became embarrassed.
Then, Mu Anxiao glanced at the others who were standing with them and discussing her, took a step forward, and continued, "Who was it just now that said I was meeting the owner in private?" After speaking, she looked towards the young woman who had said it based on instinct.
Seeing Mu Anxiao looking at her, the young woman avoided her gaze. "It wasn't me."
"It wasn't you, but I heard that voice, and it was yours." Mu Anxiao didn't want to be too ostentatious, so she deliberately focused all her attention on this young woman to warn them that she... was not to be trifled with.
The young woman smiled awkwardly, "It really wasn't... me."
"Say it's not you again, and I'll tell your husband about your unspeakable affairs." Mu Anxiao said, deliberately glancing at the young man standing beside the young woman.
The young man's eyes widened upon hearing this. "What's going on?"
"Then I'll tell you," Mu Anxiao said, deliberately drawing out her tone.
The young woman hurriedly said, "Don't talk nonsense, what secrets could I have?"
"You still have secrets? One morning, I saw..."
"Don't say it."
"I just said, I didn't want to talk about your messy affairs, but you're getting more and more presumptuous, making up stories that don't belong to me and ruining my reputation. Fine," Mu Anxiao said, walking directly in front of the young woman, "I'll tell your husband about your situation."
"How dare you."
"..." Mu Anxiao calmly looked at the young woman's agitated expression, then glanced at the young man staring at the young woman, and said, "If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear."
"I'm anxious, I'm just afraid you'll talk nonsense and ruin my reputation."
"I think you were quite self-righteous when you were ruining my reputation."
"What I said was the truth. That owner is about your age, and he's handsome. And you, you basically find ways to eat noodles there every few days. You tell me," the young woman said earnestly, "do you have a relationship with him?"
"Indeed," Mu Anxiao sneered, "you say it as if it's true."
"What I said is the truth," the young woman asserted.
Mu Anxiao stared at the young woman for a few seconds, put on a stern face, and said coldly, "Then I'm also telling the truth. One morning, I saw..."
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Shut up," the young man growled impatiently, looking at Mu Anxiao. "You say it."
Mu Anxiao looked at the young man's serious expression, then at the young woman who was intimidated by her words, and continued, "She was meeting... someone from next door to your house."
"..." The young man's eyes widened, and he grabbed the young woman's arm. "Is she telling the truth or lying?"
"Husband, it's a lie."
"I saw it too," the second young woman suddenly said.
Upon hearing this, the young woman's eyes widened, she turned her head to look at the second young woman, and said, "You're talking nonsense."
"I'm not talking nonsense," the second young woman glanced at the young man and continued, "I saw you and Boss Ge talking at the doorway, very close."
"I didn't," the young woman said excitedly.
"You did," the second young woman said, beginning to recount various suggestive details.
Listening to the 'story' told by the second young woman, Mu Anxiao suddenly realized that she had been 'used' by this second young woman. If she continued to speak, once the young man investigated everything, they would surely turn their attention to her, and by then, the situation would be irreversible.
Thinking this, her heart sank. She raised her head and saw the young man raising his hand to hit the young woman. She shouted, "Stop," and quickly stepped forward, grabbing the young man's wrist.
The young man blinked in surprise.
Mu Anxiao flung the young man's hand away, turned to look at the young woman who was pouting and crying, and asked, "How does that feel?"
The second young woman blinked in surprise.
The young man frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
The young woman looked up at Mu Anxiao and started crying.
Mu Anxiao glared at the young woman, then turned to look at the young man and said, "I was talking nonsense." She then looked at the second young woman without saying anything.
The second young woman disliked the young woman on a daily basis, so she had always wanted to see her embarrassed. She thought she had found a good opportunity, but unexpectedly... Mu Anxiao had blurted out the truth.
Thus, she was embarrassed.
The young man heard this and looked at the second young woman. "What do you mean?"
"I... I hate you all," the second young woman said casually, turned, squeezed through the crowd, and walked away.
The young woman began to sob.
The young man's eyes darkened, and he looked at Mu Anxiao. "Why were you talking nonsense?"
"..." Mu Anxiao rolled her eyes at the young man, turned to look at the young woman, and said, "Stop crying. Being wrongly accused, it doesn't feel good, does it?"
The young woman sobbed and shook her head.
"I know I was found and brought back, and you all don't accept it, but," Mu Anxiao looked at everyone present, "you all remember this: I, Mu Anxiao, am not to be trifled with. Whoever bullies me, I will retaliate a hundredfold. If you continue to spread rumors, the gates of the Mu estate are always open to you." After speaking, she scanned them all, turned, and had taken only one step when she heard the sound of horses. She then calmly looked at the large group not far away and muttered, "It seems the old man of the Mu family has returned from hunting with King Jin." She then clicked her tongue and knelt down with the other civilians.
The next moment, a horse stopped in front of her. The man on the horse said, "Lift your head."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao felt that the voice was familiar. She thought for a moment, then slowly looked up and widened her eyes. "Shen... you madman, what are you doing here?"
On the horse, the man dressed in martial attire, whose appearance was the same as Feng Qishi, looked at Mu Anxiao with a blank expression and said coldly, "If you insult me one more time, I'll kill you."
Mu Anxiao's heart sank. "You..."
"Step back, you're blocking the way." The man still had a cold expression, completely different from Feng Qishi and Shen Yan.