Chapter 397: Shifting Gaze

Pan Yun and Wang Cong browsed over thirty sets of clothes in the pawnshop — no help for it, the clothes inside were both good and cheap.

Pan Yun couldn't help buying two sets for themselves as well, one men's set and one women's set.

Oh, theirs was the men's set; Wang Cong and Tao Yanbai's was the women's set.

This was for the convenience of disguise and changing clothes later on.

The two of them also bought quite a few cloth bags and cheap second-hand fabric.

Wang Cong felt this still wasn't enough, so she pulled Pan Yun to a cloth shop and bought two bolts of black cloth on the spot. "Little Xiao Shishu, given the frequency with which you two get into trouble, I think we ought to have a set of night-travel clothes made and kept ready."

Pan Yun: "Would one set not be enough? Should we not buy two more bolts and just make two sets per person?"

Wang Cong silently glanced at her, turned around, and went back into the shop.

After night fell, Pan Yun took out a stack of peace talismans, gave each of them one, and said, "Keep your bundles close, we'll be leaving in a bit."

The curfew had been over for half a shichen, the main street was empty by now, and most of the people in the inn had gone to sleep.

Pan Yun directly pushed open the window, led them down the building one by one from the window, and then sent them off to the escort bureau.

The escort bureau's escorts met them halfway.

They knew Jinan Prefecture better, and were also familiar with the patrol routes and schedules, successfully helping Pan Yun's group dodge the patrols and enter the escort bureau.

Once inside the escort bureau things were much easier. The chief escort said, "I've already had people prepare four guest rooms. It's a bit cramped for the misses to squeeze in together, but please stay a few days to recuperate, and wait until things quiet down before we set out."

"May I ask how many days we'll have to wait?"

They were anxious to go home, wishing they could leave right then.

The chief escort thought briefly, then said, "At the soonest, three days; if it's later, five or seven days."

The girls who had been abducted hadn't expected it would take so long, and for a moment said nothing.

Pan Yun said, "Wan Chun Lou has already reported to the authorities, and you've vanished into thin air. If they believe it's haunted, fine; but if they don't, they'll definitely search everywhere, and the city gates are the main place they'll be watching."

"That's why we must quietly wait for things to blow over." Pan Yun said, "When things don't go smoothly, one must have patience, must know how to endure. Just bear with it for now."

"What if they're still watching the city gates after seven days?"

The chief escort said, "Even if they're still watching after seven days, they'll have relaxed quite a bit. I have my own ways to get you all out of the city."

Only then did the girls quiet down.

Pan Yun gave the chief escort a sum of money, saying, "This is for their food, lodging, and medicine for their injuries. Thank you for your trouble, Chief Escort."

The chief escort smiled and said, "Taking a person's money, dispelling their disaster — this is simply my duty. Please rest assured, Miss Pan the Heroine."

Pan Yun cupped her fists in salute, then took her leave. The girls watched Pan Yun's group with reluctance; seeing them turn to leave, they knelt and kowtowed to them.

Even Zhuo Ling and the other two, who had to be supported, pressed their hands to the ground and knelt.

Pan Yun glanced back, quickened her pace to leave, and at the same time said to Pan Xiaohei on her shoulder, 【Stay.】

The girls kowtowed once to them.

Once the girls had finished kowtowing, the chief escort said, "It's getting late, ladies, go back to your rooms and rest."

The chief escort's wife, daughter, and two female escorts came forward to support them and led them off to rest.

Pan Xiao Hei grumbled inwardly as it hid under a tree, waiting for the escorts to leave.

【Didn't you say his face looked upright, that he was a trustworthy person?】

【I never trust a person one hundred percent, including myself.】

Pan Xiaohei: 【You're really paranoid, that's an illness, it needs treating!】

Pan Yun paid it no mind. 【Just keep watch here. Coming back in a couple of days works just as well.】

The result was that the very next day they switched to a different inn to stay, leaving Pan Xiaohei, who had gone back to forage, unable to find Miao He, and finally having to follow its senses to track down Pan Yun, grumbling all the while, "Couldn't you have told me when you switched inns?"

【You're the spirit of a spiritual realm — you still don't know where you are?】

【I know where you are, but I'm not looking for you!】

Pan Xiaohei bared its teeth at Pan Yun, then turned toward Miao He with a pleasant expression, utterly obedient — not only mewing and acting cute, but also flipping over to show its belly for her to pet.

Pan Yun watched, grinding her teeth.

Miao He was overjoyed, scooping Pan Xiaohei up in one hug, patting its head, rubbing its belly, then started pulling food out of her storage space. "I bought you some dried meat strips, they're so good, try it."

Pan Yun took out a paper packet from her storage space, unhurriedly pulling a small fish from inside. "These are wild small fish caught from the river, fried in oil. The aroma — I won't claim it's the finest thing under heaven, but it's certainly not far off ~~"

Pan Xiaohei jerked its head up at once, and Miao He looked over as well.

Cat and person both swallowed at the same time.

Miao He: "Little Xiao Shishu, where did you buy these fried small fish? How come I never saw them?"

Pan Yun: "The fish, I caught them. I paid the inn's cook to fry them for me. Originally, if a certain cat hadn't come back, I was going to bring them over. But looking at it now, it seems to be nursing quite a grudge, like it's about to break off our friendship."

"Meow —" Pan Xiaohei was about to struggle free of Miao He and charge forward.

But there was no need for it to go; Miao He was already holding it and leaning in, the two of them staring together at the small fish in Pan Yun's hand.

Miao He: "Little Xiao Shishu, those small fish look really tasty."

"Meow, they look alright."

Pan Yun gave a tsundere hum and held one out near Pan Xiaohei's mouth. Pan Xiaohei immediately stretched out its mouth, bit down, and lowered its head to eat it seriously.

Miao He, holding it, opened her mouth as well.

Pan Yun took one out and fed it to her.

Seeing the two of them eat so deliciously, she couldn't resist eating one herself.

The fried small fish were still a bit warm, having been fried a second time — crispy and crunchy.

So the two people and one cat crowded together and finished off the whole paper packet of small fish.

"Too few," Pan Xiaohei demanded directly: "Fry some more."

"Then we'll have to go buy some more. Big fish are common, but small fish aren't always around."

Pan Xiaohei looked at her with eyes like glass. "Didn't you say you caught them yourself?"

Pan Yun: "Wait a moment, let me think about how to explain myself."

!. Read

Seeing Miao Zhen pushed the door open and came in, saying: "Little Xiao Shishu, Tang Peng has been captured."

Pan Yun was delighted, immediately tossing Pan Xiaohei aside. "Good, I have important matters to attend to now. Don't bother me with these trivial eating and drinking matters for the time being."

Pan Yun asked: "Who captured Tang Peng?"

Seeing Miao Zhen said with difficulty: "It was someone familiar — people from the Wu Lin Alliance led by Qu Le captured him."

Pan Yun: "The Wu Lin Alliance? They move this fast, all the way here?"

Pan Yun stroked her chin. "You think, could they have bought the information at the Thousand Breath Tower?"

Seeing Miao Zhen nodded: "Very likely. The Wu Lin Alliance isn't short on money."

Pan Yun: "I only hope that fool Qu Le only asked about the information, and didn't think to ask who sold it."

"Thousand Breath Tower has its own scouts; ordinary people buying information wouldn't think to ask about that." Seeing Miao Zhen paused, then asked: "Should we change locations then?"

Pan Yun thought for a moment, then shook her head: "We just changed. Right now, staying still is better than moving. Since Tang Peng has been captured, the Embroidered Uniform Guard guarding the city gate should withdraw, and before long the Embroidered Uniform Guard will leave as well. We'll wait quietly."

Pan Yun guessed correctly. Learning that the Wu Lin Alliance people had forcibly seized their bait and even wounded the Embroidered Uniform Guard monitoring Tang Peng, Liu Jing knew that the Tang Peng lead was dead.

Hu Jing wasn't going to come, and even if he did, he definitely wouldn't show himself.

If it were some other jianghu person, Liu Jing would be absolutely confident he could track them down.

But Hu Jing himself was a very formidable bounty hunter, with excellent criminal investigation skills — naturally, his counter-surveillance abilities were also formidable.

Previously, he didn't know he was being tracked. Taking missions from the government office and turning them in was actively exposing himself.

Now though...

Liu Jing said to Wang Shan: "My lord, we've already startled the grass and scared the snake. Hu Jing won't come again. There's no point in us staying here any longer."

Wang Shan's face darkened. "Are you saying I startled the grass and scared the snake?"

Liu Jing immediately said: "No, I was merely speculating. Those two Japanese pirates pirates should have found Hu Jing by now and crossed swords with him. Hu Jing should have already figured out that everyone is after the treasure map."

Wang Shan then thought of the Wu Lin Alliance people playing dumb, snorted, and said: "Common rabble, still dreaming of embezzling state property. Those treasures were plundered by pirates from Great Ming's common folk — they belong to the national treasury, to Your Majesty's wealth!"

"Yes, they utterly overestimated themselves."

Wang Shan asked: "In your opinion, where should we go to look for Hu Jing next?"

Liu Jing said: "Great Ming's territory is vast, its population numerous. Finding one person who's gone into hiding is extremely difficult, but finding two foreigners is much easier."

He said: "Hu Jing is hard to find, but the Japanese pirates are easy to find — it just requires a large amount of manpower."

Wang Shan understood instantly. "I'll issue orders right now in the name of the Guard Battalion, commanding every prefecture, district, and county town to immediately screen all passing commoners."

Liu Jing said: "Not only will their build and accent be different, but after enough time, when the money on them runs out, given the Japanese pirates's nature, there will inevitably be theft and the like. So we can also trace back through cases."

The Hundred Household officer beside them couldn't stand seeing Liu Jing monopolize the spotlight, and couldn't help but say: "What if Hu Jing has already been captured by those two bandits, or even killed?"

Everyone fell silent.

The Hundred Household officer grew even more convinced of his own reasoning, saying: "My lord, those two bandits' Wu Gong is not low. Along this pursuit, three Embroidered Uniform Guard have already fallen to them, and two more were seriously wounded."

"If they've found Hu Jing, then Hu Jing is probably in for more misfortune than good right now, isn't he?"

A Embroidered Uniform Guard beside them also said: "Perhaps this is why Hu Jing has been slow to show up?"

Wang Shan clenched his fists, his face gloomy.

He turned and asked Liu Jing, "What if Hu Jing has been captured, or killed?"

Liu Jing's face was solemn. "Whether captured or killed, as long as we can seize those Japanese pirates before they leave the sea, we can obtain the treasure map from them just the same."

Wang Shan thought about it and realized it was true — if Hu Jing was captured or killed, wouldn't the treasure map end up in those two bandits' hands?

Then essentially, they still had to catch those two.

Wang Shan immediately rose. "Let's go. Have the navy tighten their watch on the coast — absolutely do not let them leave the sea!"

Doing a serious count, the total owed chapters has reached 24, 8 chapters have been made up, leaving 16 chapters remaining.

(End of chapter)