Chapter 269: Entanglement

Chapter 269: Entanglement

"Closed?" Chi Yu's tall figure was filled with bewilderment.

"Closed?"

Another carriage team pulled up beside Meng Wan's and theirs. A short, stout middle-aged man alighted from the lead carriage. Coming forward, he waved a hand and asked in an unfriendly tone, "First I've heard of an inn being closed. It's about to pour rain—what's this 'closed' nonsense? Out of my way!"

The stout man, with a cocky expression, lifted his stubby leg to kick the door panel.

"You!" The innkeeper was clearly not one to be trifled with either. His veins bulging, he raised a hand to strike.

"What do you think you're doing?" The stout man, evidently a bully who cowered before the strong, retreated behind his own page and shouted when he saw the innkeeper was no pushover.

His men crowded menacingly toward the entrance. Quality aside, at least they had the advantage in numbers.

"Come on in, if you're so eager." The innkeeper's face changed colors several times before he finally smiled coldly and opened the door.

Seeing that the innkeeper seemed to yield, the stout man stepped out from behind his page and swaggered into the inn, blustering, "That's more like it. Who turns away money? Only an idiot."

The stout man appeared to be a wealthy merchant, with a dozen or so hired thugs at his side and six carts of goods. The last to alight was a coquettishly beautiful concubine.

Their entourage was large, conspicuous, and laden with possessions—in this lawless borderland, it was like they were waving a flag at bandits, declaring themselves easy prey.

Meng Wan and his party followed the stout man in discreetly. They heard the innkeeper yawn and say, "Our backyard is too small for your carriages and goods. There are only six rooms left, not enough for so many of you."

Without a word, the stout man pulled out a money pouch from his bosom, opened it, tossed a ten-tael silver ingot into the innkeeper's arms, and said, "Put the goods at the entrance; my men will guard them. We'll take all six rooms. Uncle Tang doesn't haggle!"

Tang's concubine was nearly swooning over his lavish gesture, clinging to his arm and coquettishly flirting.

Before the innkeeper could stash the silver, Meng Wan suddenly interjected, "Boss, shouldn't we observe a first-come, first-served principle? We're not greedy—we'll take three of the six rooms."

Meng Wan pulled out three small silver bits, totaling ten taels as well—exactly the same amount as the merchant surnamed Tang. Politely, he placed them on the nearby table.

Earlier, Xia Yuan, Meng Wan, and their group had blended into the crowd, dressed modestly, with only two or three attendants. They looked far from wealthy, especially compared to the conspicuous Tang merchant.

But when Meng Wan stepped forward, it suddenly made the brownish thin cotton jacket he wore seem several grades finer, and even the half-new wooden building behind him seemed to exude a rustic charm.

A series of gulps echoed in the hall. Tang, a lecher at heart, stared at Meng Wan's face, his eyes glued to it.

"Let—let's make way. Three rooms, right? I'll cover this young master's room fee." Tang's eyes were practically drilling into Meng Wan, his hand already reaching into his money pouch.

Meng Wan said warmly, "No need to trouble yourself, sir. It's been a long journey. I need to take my grandfather upstairs to rest."

"Ah! Yes, yes! Rest first, young master. If you need anything, just come to my room."

His words were unduly familiar. Meng Wan found his lecherous demeanor nauseating. He instructed Chi Yu to take their carriage to the backyard, tie it up by the woodshed, and then he and Chu Ci each grabbed some luggage and went upstairs.

The rooms upstairs were small, barely fitting two people. Chu Ci and Xia Yuan's page shared one room, while the two cautious masters each took a room with their own bodyguard.

Once in his room, Meng Wan didn't leave for the rest of the evening. His dutiful "son" Chu Ci fetched water for him to wash, and then Chi Yu took out the dirty water.

"That lecher is seriously ill. Every time I open the door, he pops out to look." Chi Yu came in, rolling up his sleeves. If not for Meng Wan telling him to keep a low profile, he would have gone down right then to punch the merchant Tang a few times.

Meng Wan had already changed into his underclothes and was hanging his freshly washed clothes on a wooden rack to dry. "Ignore him. From his accent, he's not a merchant from Qinzhou. With that kind of ostentation, if he lasts ten days, I'll be impressed."

When he turned around, Chi Yu was stripping off his clothes, already bare to the waist. His honey-colored muscle definition was neither exaggerated nor lacking in smooth, flowing lines.

Meng Wan glanced once, then again.

Confirmed—it was indeed better-looking than Song Tingzhou's.

"Why aren't you bathing!" Seeing that Chi Yu was about to sleep in his pants, Meng Wan couldn't help asking.

Chi Yu blinked. "We're only staying one night. It doesn't matter if I wash or not—we didn't wash on the road either, did we?"

Meng Wan had had enough. "On the road was one thing. There's water here—why wouldn't you wash?" They had paid generously, so the innkeeper had stopped sleeping and was boiling pot after pot of water. The kitchen behind the inn was still sending up smoke.

Rejected by Meng Wan, Chi Yu reluctantly put his clothes back on and went downstairs. His husband also wanted him to wash his own clothes after bathing. He hadn't even sweated much—why be so diligent in the middle of winter?

Chi Yu didn't understand, but he had to obey, because his husband's look was terrifying, as if he had flowers blooming on his face.

The innkeeper was still squatting by the stove, boiling water. The merchant Tang's men took shifts guarding the goods at night, and several of them squeezed into two rooms to take hot baths, using quite a bit of water.

There was a well in the yard. Chi Yu took a bucket of hot water and then drew a bucket of cold water, planning to mix them upstairs.

"Oh, quite the strong young man!" A cloyingly sweet female voice came from the inn.

Chi Yu turned to look. Behind him stood a woman in her twenties or thirties, dressed in a red padded jacket and skirt, with a white fur sleeveless vest over it. Her thin eyebrows arched, and her lips were pale.

Her eyes appraised Chi Yu seductively, traveling from his slightly youthful handsome face to his strong arms, and then lower, as if she wanted to lick him from head to toe with her gaze.

Chi Yu broke out in goosebumps. He gave an awkward smile, picked up the water, and hurried upstairs, trying to hug the wall as he passed the woman.

The woman was probably the innkeeper's wife. Behind him, he could hear the couple arguing. Even as dense as Chi Yu was, he knew it was because of him.

He pulled the cloth band covering the pregnancy mark on his forehead lower. Couldn't be helped—these past two years, he'd eaten well and grown taller, now almost matching Song Tingzhou's height. If you didn't look at his slightly smaller Adam's apple and hid the mark on his forehead, he looked as masculine as any man.

Being flirted with flustered Chi Yu for a moment. Carrying two large buckets of water, he took the stairs at a near run and almost collided with a guest staying downstairs.

"Sorry—are you alright?" Chi Yu set down the buckets to help the person up.

The man was skinny and short; Chi Yu's bump had sent him stumbling back several steps.

"Are you blind? ... N-next time, be careful." The skinny man saw Chi Yu's large frame and then noticed another man coming down the stairs who seemed to be his companion, so he quickly changed his tone.

"What's wrong, Xiao Yu?" The bodyguard accompanying Xia Yuan happened to be coming downstairs to pour water too.

Seeing that the skinny man was fine, Chi Yu picked up the buckets again. "Nothing, Brother Chu. I accidentally bumped into someone."

Brother Chu's gaze swept over the skinny man, who was about to turn away. Before he joined Xia Yuan, Brother Chu had been a wanderer in the underworld. He could tell at a glance that the skinny man's demeanor was off.

He hurled the bucket in his hand with precision, hitting the skinny man and sending him stumbling. In the next instant, Brother Chu leaped directly from the stairs, pinned the skinny man down, and barked, "Hand it over."

The skinny man's arm was nearly twisted off. He cried out in pain, "Spare me, master! I don't know what you're talking about."

Chi Yu came to his senses and felt his waist. Sure enough, the pouch hanging there was gone.

So that skinny man was a pickpocket!

"What took you so long?" Meng Wan was already half-asleep from exhaustion.

Chi Yu told him about the thief downstairs. Meng Wan sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes. "That's to be expected when traveling. Even in our West Wu Prefecture, there are petty thieves. Here in Qinzhou and Beihai, where governance is lax, there are certainly more, not fewer."

Chi Yu was about to undress for a bath. Meng Wan turned his head away to avoid seeing anything inappropriate. "Learn from Feng Chu. If you notice anything slightly off, come tell me."

Soaking in the tub, Chi Yu thought about being flirted with by the woman he suspected to be the innkeeper's wife. He was too embarrassed for a long time, only deciding after his bath to mention it to Meng Wan. But Meng Wan was already fast asleep.

They had a fairly good night's sleep. In the morning, Chi Yu carried the luggage and accompanied Meng Wan downstairs for breakfast.

Xia Yuan and the others were already waiting downstairs. The wealthy merchant they encountered yesterday was not present, likely still asleep. Besides them, there was an unfamiliar traveler sitting in the inn's lobby, though it was unclear if he had checked in before them or arrived this morning.

The innkeeper's wife was promoting the steamed meat buns she and her husband had made early that morning to all the guests.

Meng Wan sat down and kept stealing glances at the stranger as if by chance, as if he was very interested in him.

"Sir, you think he looks strange, don't you? He's not from our Yu Kingdom. Once you enter the North Sea region, you'll see more foreigners." The innkeeper's wife said to Meng Wan with a smile, while also winking at Chi Yu.

Meng Wan exchanged a look with Xia Yuan, then took out half a tael of loose silver from his money pouch and placed it in the innkeeper's wife's hands. "Sister, I heard that because the North Sea borders Annam, it's forbidden to go out to sea, isn't it?"

They were heading there due to Xia Yuan's role as an imperial censor and the emperor's special privileges, so how was it that the North Sea port seemed to allow free passage?

The innkeeper's wife accepted the silver but kept her eyes on Meng Wan's money pouch. Seeing that it contained only copper coins and loose change, with not much bulk, her enthusiasm cooled slightly. Still, for the sake of half a tael of silver, she offered a tip: "Money talks. There are always people who find ways to go out to sea."

"Out to sea? Sir, do you also want to go out to sea?" The Tang merchant came downstairs, with his arm around his concubine.

Everyone could tell that even a concubine should have official government registration. The one this Tang merchant brought was probably not legitimate. Sure enough, when she saw the Tang merchant voluntarily striking up a conversation with Meng Wan, her expression turned extremely sour.

So the Tang merchant's purpose for this trip was also the North Sea port?

Meng Wan's mind spun, and he suddenly smiled at the Tang merchant without answering his question. Instead, he asked in return, "Brother Tang, what business do you have at the North Sea port? Have you found a boat yet?"

Seeing that the Tang merchant was completely enchanted by Meng Wan's smile, the concubine cut in before he could respond: "Brother Tang is going on business. You're a married man, running around outside, and now you're casually chatting with another man. Have you no shame?!"

As soon as she said that, Chu Ci and Chi Yu shot up from their stools, glaring at her with hostility.

A flicker of panic showed in the concubine's eyes. "What are you trying to do? Brother Tang... Ah!"

Seeing her words offend Meng Wan, the Tang merchant slapped her himself and shamelessly explained to Meng Wan: "Don't be upset, sir. She's just a worthless thing. I'll drive her away to appease you."

Ignoring the red handprint on her face, the concubine clung to the Tang merchant's arm, crying and pleading: "Brother Tang, don't throw me out. I won't speak out of turn again. Please don't send me away... sob sob..."

Meng Wan grew annoyed at their pointless arguing, so he got up to go cook.

When the Tang merchant saw Meng Wan about to leave, he looked away and said to the innkeeper's wife, who had been watching the drama: "Ahem, bring five baskets of buns for my men, and for our table, one basket of meat buns and two bowls of fine rice porridge."

"Coming right up, honored guest. I'll have my husband start cooking the porridge now." The innkeeper's wife was delighted. All her promotional efforts had only sold one basket of buns to the foreigner, but now the Tang merchant had cleared out the entire kitchen's supply.

Meng Wan was always cautious when away from home. This small inn was in the middle of nowhere, and he had his doubts. So he called Xia Yuan's servant and Chi Yu, and they took their own rice and flour into the kitchen.

Since she had just received half a tael of silver from Meng Wan, the innkeeper's wife let them use one pot and free firewood.

Chi Yu drew fresh well water. Meng Wan washed the rice and first cooked a pot of fine rice porridge, then kneaded dough and baked many flatbreads. Although they had brought canned goods and lotus root starch, eating those all the time got boring. Mixed with some buns and flatbreads, they'd be more filling.

Meng Wan was generous with the oil, so the flatbreads turned out crispy and fragrant. Since there were many of them, he baked two full baskets.

Most of them were packed into cloth bags, leaving two plates to be carried to the table by the servant.

Meng Wan brought up the bowls and chopsticks and noticed that the same people were still in the inn. The thief Chi Yu had mentioned the night before was nowhere to be seen.

He pondered for a moment, then pretended not to notice and sat down steadily to eat.

The weather cooperated: it was still raining while they ate, but by the time they finished, the rain had stopped.

"Grandfather, let's set out now." Meng Wan called to Xia Yuan, whose beard had become slightly crooked from eating, and discreetly helped him adjust it.

Xia Yuan, while coughing, straightened it himself. "Ahem, let's go then."

They left the inn smoothly, but the Tang merchant chased after them: "Sir, where are you and your grandfather heading? How about I give you a ride?"

Once outside, Meng Wan's expression turned cold. He snorted, "If you want to die, feel free to follow."

Feng Chu promptly drew his blade and stepped forward, glaring at the Tang merchant. His gaze was as cold as ice shards, and his murderous aura suggested he had truly seen blood.

The Tang merchant stopped in his tracks, his spine chilled by that look. He forced himself to stay calm, cursed under his breath, and retreated to his carriage.

The concubine he had slapped back at the inn hadn't been dismissed, as he had claimed. Instead, she meekly followed him again.