Chapter 15: Too Many Words

“Then be careful. I’ll go wait for you by the ox cart,” Granny Sheng said, squeezing Sheng Wanqiu’s hand.

Having received Granny Sheng’s approval, Sheng Wanqiu immediately sprinted off.

She was the first to find a group of little beggars—about a dozen of them—each of whom was looking at her with eager eyes.

This young lady first gave each of them a coarse wheat bun, asking them to help find a person wearing black shoes with green leaves embroidered on the heels, and who had a black mole on their eyebrow.

If they could successfully provide a clue and find this person, they would be rewarded with ten meat buns.

The little beggars were tempted; these were meat buns falling from the sky, and finding people was right up their alley.

Squatting in corners every day and watching the passersby, reading people's expressions and mannerisms was nothing difficult for them. Especially since they were small, the things they observed most were people's shoes.

Quickly finishing the coarse wheat buns in their hands, the little beggars immediately split up to take action.

Sheng Wanqiu sat at a tea stall, leisurely eating a coarse wheat bun she had just bought from a roadside vendor while waiting for news.

This was the Beggars' Gang, after all!

There was no reason not to use them. Otherwise, why did everyone in wuxia novels want to be the Sect Leader of the Beggars' Gang? Their connections were the widest, and they were definitely top-tier at gathering information.

Soon, there was progress. A little beggar, who looked even shorter than her, came running back, panting heavily.

"Sister, there are several people wearing those shoes you mentioned. They are all at the City God Temple over there!"

As expected, they were a gang. Sheng Wanqiu had already suspected this; it was impossible for so many people to be robbed by a single person at once. Her prediction was correct.

"Thank you. Can you lead me there?"

"Once I've finished my business, I'll take you to buy meat buns!" Sheng Wanqiu reached out and patted the little beggar's dark little face.

The little beggar's ears instantly turned bright red. No one had ever touched his face so gently before; he almost failed to react in time.

"I'll take you there right now, Sister!" As soon as the little beggar finished speaking, he ran off, and Sheng Wanqiu followed closely behind.

Soon, the two arrived at the so-called City God Temple. It was a dilapidated temple; tiles had fallen off the roof, half the wall had collapsed, and it looked as if it were on the verge of crumbling.

"Sister, they seem to be bad people. They have knives!" the little beggar warned from behind Sheng Wanqiu.

At this moment, Sheng Wanqiu was crouching by the half-collapsed wall, peeking inside stealthily.

There were about five people inside. They didn't look like they were from the Great Yue Kingdom, because their beards seemed yellowish and their hair was wrapped up, though she couldn't tell the exact difference for now.

"Wait outside. Do not come in, do you understand?"

"Wait obediently for Sister to come out and take you to buy meat buns!"

Sheng Wanqiu gave the little beggar a gentle instruction, then her figure blurred as she moved to the side of a half-fallen pillar, carefully observing the people inside.

*Those bastards, what are they saying? Gibberish... it sounds like those little Japanese fellows.*

Sheng Wanqiu picked up a few small pebbles from the ground, tossed them in her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, launched them directly.

This was the concealed weapon technique she had learned back at the Base. She had ranked first in that training, so of course, people had held a grudge against her!

"Ah!" After four consecutive screams of agony, four of the five men fell to the ground. The remaining one clutched his knife, staring in terror at the entrance.

"Who is it! Stop playing ghost tricks!"

"It's your grand-auntie! You were the one who just stole the money bags, weren't you!" Sheng Wanqiu jumped out directly, glaring at the young man with the mole on his eyebrow.

"You aren't from the Great Yue, are you? What kind of gibberish were you just speaking?"

"Stealing from ordinary citizens... your morality is utterly depraved!"

"If you have the guts, go steal from the national treasury! There's plenty of silver in the treasury; the Emperor can't spend it all anyway. Why don't you go help His Majesty spend some?" The person eavesdropping felt their mouth twitch. *Steal from the national treasury? You really have some nerve!*

Ling Yi was also stifling a laugh. This young girl was truly interesting—good skills and interesting speech.

However, something even more interesting happened. Lu Yu and his servant watched with wide eyes as Sheng Wanqiu subdued the last man, and then stripped him until he was left in nothing but his underwear.

Of course, the other four unconscious men were no exception; they were all stripped as well. She then stuffed all five of their mouths and used hemp rope to tie them all to the pillars.

It was early spring; being half-naked looked quite cold.

"You clearly aren't good people. Whether you live or die is up to fate!"

Sheng Wanqiu looked at the dozen or so money bags she had recovered and found Granny Sheng's among them, tucking it into her pocket.

She also found about two strings of cash on two of the others and took those as well. She then threw the five knives on the ground into the dry well in the courtyard before dusting off her hands and leaving.

Lu Yu and his servant were left dumbfounded. Was this girl planning to rob the robbers?

Once Sheng Wanqiu had walked far away, the two of them jumped down from the tree and found a letter among the shoes of the five unconscious men.

"Master, how should we handle these people?" Ling Yi asked.

"Didn't you hear her? Leave it to fate!" Lu Yu sneered. Even if they didn't freeze to death, they would starve. Ordinary people wouldn't come to this place.

"Oh!" Ling Yi nodded and followed behind Lu Yu.

By now, Sheng Wanqiu had finished buying the buns with the little beggar. She had bought an extra dozen and handed them to the boy.

"This is your reward. Also, take this bag to the others and thank them on my behalf."

"Thank you for today. If fate allows, we shall meet again!" Sheng Wanqiu waved goodbye to the little beggar.

"Thank you, Sister!" The little beggar bowed politely.

"Go back quickly, I have to leave too. Goodbye!" Sheng Wanqiu gave the little beggar a parting smile and jogged away.

The little beggar stared at her retreating figure until it disappeared, then lowered his head desolately, tightly clutching the steaming buns in his hands.

Sheng Wanqiu was not a greedy person. Since these money bags didn't belong to her, she couldn't keep them—unless, of course, she encountered corrupt officials!

Presumably, the people whose money bags were stolen had already reported it to the authorities, as there were all sorts of people among the victims. To save trouble, Sheng Wanqiu used a piece of scrap cloth to bundle the remaining dozen or so money bags and, as she passed the yamen, stuffed them under the stone lion at the entrance.

In this era, there were no surveillance cameras, so she shouldn't be exposed. After stuffing them in, she picked up a stone and struck the large drum at the entrance, piercing it.

She stood at the street corner, watching the people in the yamen discover the money bags under the stone lion, before finally turning to leave.

"Master, what kind of person do you think she is?"

"If you say she loves money, she just threw all that silver back to the yamen."

"If you say she doesn't love money, she chased the thieves just for a few small money bags. It's quite baffling, isn't it?" Ling Yi continued to chatter away.

"You're talking a bit too much today!" Lu Yu glanced at him, and Ling Yi immediately shut his mouth.

(End of Chapter)