Chapter 127 – Quietly Driving Away Thieves
Earlier today, in order to intimidate the Chen brothers, she overused her psychic power. Although doing so was somewhat harmful to her body, it did not harm her consciousness.
Staring at her consciousness, which had grown to the size of a child’s fist, Yan Xiaosi breathed a sigh of relief.
The ancient book stated spiritual power was cultivated based on one’s consciousness. The stronger one’s consciousness, the stronger one’s spiritual power could be. As long as her consciousness was undamaged, there would be no major issues.
With the soothing incense to aid their sleep, Ms. Zhong and the others would not wake for a while. She was at ease cultivating in the cultivation room for an hour before going to the bathroom to shower.
She turned on the shower and warm water cascaded down, the sound rushing loudly.
“That family of five is so poor, what treasures could they have? The master must have seen wrongly. If they had treasures, they would have pawned them long ago instead of holding onto them.”
“Speak softer, in case you wake that family of five. The master said they have a treasure so they must have one. The master ordered us to steal it so we’ll steal it. Be careful of messing up the master’s affairs, we can’t afford to get in trouble.”
Although Yan Xiaosi was in the bathroom, she could clearly hear the conversation from the outside world.
She turned off the shower, the corners of her lips hooking into a cold smirk.
She had long noticed Yao Jin’s designs on that luminous stone.
After quickly dressing, she exited the portable space.
“Two guard brothers, you’re still patrolling so late?”
The two attendants had sneakily approached the woodshed door, just about to pry it open, when a voice suddenly sounded behind them. The two were so frightened their expressions changed. Turning around, they saw a small, thin figure.
The lighting was somewhat dim now but the small boy was smiling at them. They could see clearly that he was smiling quite innocently.
Since they had been discovered, they couldn’t sneak in to steal anything anymore. Seeing Yan Xiaosi’s harmless smile, one attendant responded, “That’s right, Young Master Yan is the one General Zhan named wanting to see, so you’re an honored guest of the county court. The master was afraid of being negligent to Young Master Yan, so he sent us two brothers to patrol late at night.”
The other attendant asked, “Young Master Yan, why aren’t you resting so late?”
Yan Xiaosi rubbed her nose and answered, “I had to pee urgently so I got up to find the toilet, but the county court is so big I circled around before finding it.”
Seeing her silly appearance, the two believed her. But with this silly boy awake, it would be hard for them to steal anything.
“Since Young Master Yan is done with the toilet, hurry back to your room to sleep. This is the county court. Wandering around late at night can easily get you mistaken for a thief,” one attendant reminded indifferently, unhappy at being unable to accomplish their mission for Yao Jin.
Yan Xiaosi yawned at the two. “Many thanks for the reminder, guard brothers. I’m going back to sleep now.”
The attendants heard a bang, then more sounds of movement from the woodshed.
Yan Xiaosi had entered the room, first banging the door shut, then shoving the chairs, stools, table and other things against the door to block it.
“Guard brothers, go get some rest. I’ve blocked the doors and windows. Thieves can’t get in,” her voice called from the woodshed after a while.
Outside, the corners of the attendants’ mouths twitched as they listened.
On a rooftop near the woodshed, Murong Qinjian watched the attendants sneakily come and leave in low spirits. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help curving up.
He was curious what the man Long Yu valued so highly looked like, so he had asked a county court maidservant about Yan Xiaosi’s whereabouts and came to take a look late at night.
Now after seeing him, he discovered Long Yu really had discerning taste in taking interest in such an amusing boy.
He had clearly discovered the attendants came to steal, yet was able to pretend he didn’t know anything and tactfully drive the two attendants away. A smart one.
Not only smart and interesting, the boy’s looks weren’t bad either. Could it be Long Yu truly fancied this boy and planned to keep him as a toy?
He couldn’t be blamed for thinking this, since in all the years he’d known Long Yu, Long Yu didn’t have a single woman by his side.
The scene shifted.
The two attendants who had just gloomily left the woodshed went to see Yao Jin in the study room in the county court’s rear courtyard.
The study room was brightly lit by candlelight. Yao Jin sat at the desk awaiting good news.
Seeing the two attendants return empty-handed, he frowned and asked, “Where is the item?”
Whether he could get promoted and strike it rich depends completely on that treasure.
The two attendants glanced guiltily at Yao Jin. One cautiously reported, “Master, when we went to the woodshed, that poor brat Yan Xiaosi happened to come out to pee. He caught us two.”
Yao Jin angrily slammed the table and rose.
“So the item wasn’t obtained.”
The attendants were frightened by his table slamming. They lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.
Yao Jin gritted his teeth. “Truly useless. What’s the point of me keeping you?”
“Sir, I beg for an audience.”
Just as Yao Jin was furious, Yan Bozhang brought Yan Wenfeng outside the study room.
Afraid they would discover he had sent attendants to steal the treasure, Yao Jin quickly hid his anger.
Why were Yan Bozhang and his son visiting so late?
“Steward Yan, come in,” he called.
Yan Bozhang brought in Yan Wenfeng. The two attendants retreated out.
“Sir, are you interested in that glowing stone?”
After bowing to Yao Jin, Yan Bozhang came straight to the point.
Afraid Yao Jin would be wary of him, he quickly added, “If sir wants the large glowing rock, this subordinate has a way to help master achieve his wish.”
Hearing this, Yao Jin let down his guard and asked solemnly, “What method does Steward Yan have?”
Yan Wenfeng interjected, “To not hide from sir, that family of five are the widow and orphans of my third uncle. Ms. Zhong and Yan Xiaosi are the bane of their father and husband’s existence. The mother and son cursed my third uncle to death. In anger, my grandfather drove them from the Yan manor. These years, with no care from the Yan family, that family of five has lived in bitter poverty outside.”
Yan Bowen became a scholar at the age of twelve and was a famous talent in Xize County, as well as the third son of the Yan patriarch. Yao Jin knew all of this, of course, but what he hadn’t expected was that such a poor family of five turned out to be members of the Yan family.
Since they were Yan family, Yan Bozhang must understand the situation.
Yao Jin looked interestedly at Yan Wenfeng. “Go on.”
Yan Wenfeng continued, “Previously, their family of five lived in the straw temple at the end of Shaoyao Village. But Shaoyao Village currently lacks drying grounds, so the village chief Liu Qianhe decided to demolish the rear temple to build new drying grounds. Thus, their family of five was driven out of the straw temple by Liu Qianhe.”
