Chapter 229: The Weier Situo Checkpoint at Night, [Hanshui Linli], Pickpocket

Everyone ate and drank, continuing from the afternoon until the evening. In the process, they even reheated the stews and such on the table several times and added two extra dishes.

The merchants who organized the gathering still underestimated Knight Jier's appetite. Jier not only finished the several large mugs of ale on the table but also ate most of the dishes on the table clean.

He chewed the fish bones into small pieces and swallowed them, and the goose leg bones were also crunched to pieces by Jier with a "crack-crack" sound, turned into pulverized bone dregs, and eaten into his stomach. This made the others at the table realize all at once just how terrifying the young knight's appetite was.

This was still with Jier having only eaten some water-spitting crocodile liver chunks last night; if Jier hadn't eaten monster meat, he could have eaten even more if he let himself go.

When settling the bill, the four merchants who were about to part ways split the cost of this grand meal equally. The price was also quite staggering; a single meal actually cost several Gold Coins. Of course, the bulk of it was the cost of the drinks. Although the food itself was delicious, there were no particularly expensive ingredients or wasteful preparation methods, so the price of the food wasn't very high.

After coming out of this tavern and restaurant place called 【Yanzhupaojiu】, Jier burped with satisfaction. He was satisfied with this meal. One must know that because the region where he was located had relatively backward development, similar restaurants that produced and sold meals to the public were very rare. Basically, smaller taverns just had whatever was available that day, and they would just make some small snacks to accompany the wine. To have a hearty, good meal, one had to find this kind of high-level restaurant in important towns along the Shanglu.

Because the development and economic level of small places could not support such professional restaurants; after all, just stocking those ingredients, considering the freshness and storage of the ingredients, was all very troublesome and consumed quite a bit.

Only in this kind of trade distribution center could there be enough passing merchants to support the operation of such professional restaurants.

"How did you both eat? You two."

Jier patted his bulging stomach, which was almost filled with the food he had eaten, while the alcohol he had drunk had long since been urinated out in the tavern's backyard Toilet.

"Really great. I haven't eaten many of these things, and some things I've eaten before, I didn't expect them to be able to make them taste so good." Xueya Site patted his stomach with satisfaction. He was about the same as Jier, both having eaten until their bellies were round. When he opened his mouth to speak, the smell of alcohol drifted out.

However, it could be seen that Xueya Site's capacity for alcohol was very good. With a whole bottle of expensive spirits down his throat, he was still clear-headed and spoke coherently.

"It's alright, but after so many years, I still haven't gotten used to the food here. After all, most of the people in the Saint Hors Kingdom are composed of immigrants from the Empire, and I can't ask for more. But if only I could eat a meal from our Lianmeng Wangguo, sigh, my hometown that I cannot return to~~ my melancholy~~ may the Moon God be above~~ can you recognize my face~~~"

Weier was not doing so well. As he spoke, he actually started singing in a low voice, not caring that the few of them were walking on the main road of the checkpoint, causing others among the many pedestrians still on the road at night to look at this handsome drunkard one after another.

Jier gave a wry smile and had no choice but to join Xueya Site in supporting Weier, who was staggering after drinking too much and singing a ditty about a homesick traveler, as they walked toward the inn where the caravan was staying tonight.

It had to be said that although Weier was drunk, the homesick ditty he sang while intoxicated was still quite good. Some passing pedestrians even intentionally stopped to listen for a while, and only after the three of them had walked far away did they go back to doing their own things.

By the time the three returned to the inn, the alcohol had already gone to Weier's head, his consciousness becoming dim and muddled. Of course, he couldn't sing the ditty anymore, and his whole body was weak in the legs, unable to even stand.

"Ha, seeing him pick a pot of Wine, I thought he could drink a lot. Wine is just like that; it tastes good when you drink it, like freshly squeezed fruit juice, but in reality, the alcohol content is not small. The more happily you drink at the beginning, the more miserable you will be after drinking too much."

After returning to the inn, Jier threw Weier to his subordinate Warrior, telling the Warriors to find any room and throw Weier in, but he could not be allowed to stay overnight alone; there had to be others in the room to stay overnight together.

Because if a drunk person vomits in the middle of the night, it is fine if they turn to the side, vomiting on the floor is just vomiting on the floor; if they sleep lying on their back, it is easy for them to have their mouth and nose blocked by the vomited matter, leading to death by suffocation.

This required others to be nearby to watch.

Xueya Site also took off his outer garment, leaning on a wooden chair in the inn lobby with his upper body bare: "Jier, are you going to ask for information in a while? Do you need me to accompany you? Don't worry, I can put on my full set of armor very quickly."

"Hey, in such a lively and prosperous trade checkpoint, there's no need to wear such serious gear. If people see us, they'll think we're afraid of them just because we're asking for information. Wouldn't that be a laughingstock?"

Jier waved his hand, considered it, and handed his Sword to his companion: "You take my 'Hunter', and just help me watch over the inn here. Let Aoni keep an eye on my 'Spirit', don't let that guy sneak out in the middle of the night and cause trouble. I'll go back to my room to change my clothes and wash my face before setting off to ask for information. If something happens while I'm away, find Lao Tiequan and let this old Dwarf decide."

"I understand. After all, there are many people here and the situation is complicated, which cannot be compared to the situation on the wild Shanglu where there is no one in front or behind."

After saying this, Xueya Site did not go anywhere else, but just held Jier's precious Sword in his arms, guarding the inn lobby. There were also other Jier's subordinate Warriors on night watch, as well as the inn's own Shop Assistant.

Jier nodded and quickly went upstairs.

The inn had three floors and was built entirely of wood. The overall structure was quite large; after all, right next to it was the Ke'er Shan Jun surrounded by mountain forests, so there was no shortage of low-priced but high-quality and large-sized logs here.

As before, there were two Warriors guarding the door of Jier's room. After greeting them, Jier went in to change his clothes.

His clothes smelled of alcohol, and he had gotten quite a bit of sauce on them while eating, so Jier had to change his clothes.

Most of his things were kept in the carriage in the inn's backyard. Here, there were only two Wooden Boxes containing his personal belongings and commonly used clothes. These small matters were always handled by his companion Xueya Site, and Jier never worried about these things.

After picking and choosing, Jier did not wear armor, nor did he put on his beloved 【Night Ambition】 cloak. He simply wore a set of exquisite fine cloth clothes, left the collar open, rolled the two long sleeves up to his elbows, put on a pair of breeches captured from an enemy, and then put on a pair of long-tube hard riding boots. That was enough.

He had a very sturdy build, and no one would think he was an ordinary person wearing this outfit.

"A bit plain, it looks." In the best room of the inn where Jier stayed, there was a rough mirror that was not large in area but was long and thin, convenient for travelers to look in the mirror to examine their own attire. Jier gestured a few times in front of the mirror, tucked the 【Heart Fire】 Dagger into his leather belt, and put the power-enhancing Arm Guard that came with his armor separately on his left forearm.

After rummaging through his luggage for a while, Jier found a steel Short Sword. He couldn't remember when or from whom he had captured it, so he just tucked it on the other side of his belt as an accessory. Of course, the most important money bags, Jier also brought two. One was filled with copper and Silver Coins, bulging, and the other was not large in volume, but also contained dozens of Gold Coins.

"Done, let's go."

Before leaving, Jier pointed at the Yueshui Skull Two-Handed Axe in the room, letting this powerful spiritual weapon guard the safety of the room, and only then did he walk out of his room.

"I'm going out for a trip. If Xueya Site comes over with my Sword in a while, let him into my room." Jier gave instructions.

"Understood, Lord Jier!" The two Warriors responded, straightening their bodies.

In the inn lobby, Jier nodded to his companions and called over the inn's Shop Assistant, asking in a low voice where the Red House 【Hanshui Linli】 was. The called inn Shop Assistant showed a knowing smile on his face: "Young Lord, if you can be generous, I think I can remember where that place is."

Jier did not hesitate, took a copper coin from his money bag, and flicked it to the other party.

The inn Shop Assistant put his hands together and caught the copper coin with a clap: "Ha, I remember now. 【Hanshui Linli】 is the largest Red House in our Weier Situo. Those who can go there to play and stay overnight are all big shots passing through on the Shanglu. It is too suitable for you to go there."

"Don't talk nonsense, where is the place?" Jier pointed at the copper coin in the other party's hand, the meaning was very clear: if he didn't say it, he would take back the rewarded money.

"Oh, just turn right after leaving our inn and go straight. At the second intersection you encounter on the road that turns right, the intersection is very small, you have to pay attention. After walking a few steps past the entire building of the shops on the main road, you can find a whole row of Red Houses on the back street behind that don't open during the day but are full of people at night. It's not the one with the most people, but the one with the largest shop is 【Hanshui Linli】!"

This Shop Assistant seemed to want to say some opinions and judgments that a local like him had about that Red House, but Jier had no interest in listening to this nonsense. After flicking another copper coin to the other party, he turned and left.

The Warriors on duty in the lobby laughed as they watched Jier, as if finally seeing Knight Jier himself go to a Red House made them feel it was very interesting.

"I'm going to ask for information." Jier defended himself.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, you are going to ask for information." They replied like this, the expressions on their faces not believing it at all.

Only Xueya Site, who was burping from alcohol, shrugged, knowing that Jier was really going to ask for information. But no one believes it when you say such things yourself; people often only believe what they are willing to believe.

Following the inn Shop Assistant's directions, Jier turned right after leaving the inn and walked straight. After walking to the second intersection where he could turn right, he didn't stop his pace and turned into the small path between two shops.

In the shadows on both sides of the small path, several people were squatting or standing. With Jier's eyesight, he looked over and found that the people squatting and lying down looked like displaced refugees, wearing rags and having nothing of value on them.

As for the few guys standing and leaning against the shop walls, hiding in the shadows and sizing up the passersby, these people had secret and sharp eyes, and their attire was very capable and convenient, all dressed for easy movement. Especially these people had hidden foldable hoods under their clothes behind their necks, and face-covering cloths hidden by their clothes under their collars in front of their chests.

'Could it be people from the Thieves Guild?'

Once Jier thought about it, he felt it was very possible.

He had had some grievances with people from the Thieves Guild before, and he only hoped that no one here had heard of him.

After walking a few steps, Jier's eyes lit up. The back street behind the main road was quite lively. Not only were there street stalls selling small items by the roadside, but there was also a whole row of Red Houses with colorful, ambiguous lights shining on this short street, making every man passing by with a smile look like he wasn't a good guy.

Jier was the same. The red and green lights shone through the color-spliced glass from the first and second-floor shops of different Red Houses, shining on him in a way that didn't make him look like a decent guy either.

Curling his lips, Jier bit the bullet and walked through the people with smiles on their faces. Some people held wine glasses, drinking while commenting with their companions on the street, which was not wide, about the level of the girls in a certain Red House, with foul language constant, which was very annoying to hear.

And every Red House had burly thugs standing at the door, wearing Daggers and short sticks at their waists, with colorful tattoos that were meant to intimidate on their arms and faces. Hey, they were even colored tattoos!

"Let me see, the largest one..."

Glancing over a row of eleven or twelve Red Houses of various sizes and decorations, Jier quickly found the largest one—"Hanshui Linli."

Actually, there was no need to look; this Red House not only had the shop's name marked in the common tongue at the entrance, but it also had an eye-catching colorful wooden sign: a bald man covered in sweat walking toward a bed.

Someone who didn't know better might think this place was a gym.

Jier muttered to himself, casually swatting away a hand that was stealthily reaching for his money pouch from behind.

"Get lost, don't look for trouble."

After this warning, Jier ignored the light-fingered young man and strode toward the "Hanshui Linli" Red House.

Seemingly provoked by Jier's reaction, within a distance of just over twenty meters, several other young men with ordinary, indistinguishable appearances immediately reached their hands toward Jier.

Jier wore a smile on his face as he swatted away, one by one, the hands reaching for the Gems Dagger at his waist, the hand reaching for the Magic Bracer on his left arm that looked more like a work of art than a Magic Tool, and the hands reaching from both left and right directions toward the two money pouches behind his back.

"Kid, do you want to die?"

"Just honestly give us brothers some drinking money, and we won't give you any trouble."

Jier ignored them entirely; sure enough, when he reached the entrance of the "Hanshui Linli" Red House, the shop bouncer at the door glanced at Jier and didn't stop him, instead reaching out to block the few young men following behind Jier: "Get lost! Don't come to our place to cause trouble!"

"If you want to pick pockets, go far away to do it, and don't appear in my line of sight, or I'll break your hands!"

These few incompetent young men were just cursing and preparing to walk away, but they didn't expect the shop bouncer to hear what they were muttering, so he stepped forward and unceremoniously kicked one of the guys over.

The others didn't dare to fight back at all; they shut their mouths, helped their companion up, and scurried away.

Seeing Jier turn his head to watch them drive away the pickpockets on the street, one shop bouncer said to the young Jier: "Guest, sorry for the spectacle. You're from out of town, right? Our Weier Situo is just like this; public security is better during the day, and the Soldier from the checkpoint barracks will patrol the streets, so not many people will cause trouble. But it's hard to say at night; every dark street is the best place for pickpockets to strike. Keep an eye on your money pouch; after all, the good things inside are the ultimate capital for you to spend and have fun in the shop."

Another shop bouncer gestured toward the inside of the shop: "After all, rather than losing a large sum of money while walking, it's better to spend it in our shop. Rest assured, the girls in the shop guarantee that you'll feel it's worth paying so many shiny little trinkets."

"Is that so."

Jier chuckled, thanked the hired shop bouncers for driving away the pickpockets, and pushed open the shop's door; as soon as he entered, his arms were grabbed by two young girls who, while fanning Jier with fans carrying a fragrant scent, giggled and pulled him toward the inside of the shop.

This enthusiasm was for no other reason than the fact that the two money pouches hanging from Jier's belt made a crisp clinking sound of coins with every step he took.

An experienced person could tell whether they were Gold Coin or Silver Coin just by listening to the sound!