Chapter 33
Chapter 33
“Shengsheng! There’s a town ahead!”
Zhiyu Jiang ran toward Shengsheng Zhou in excitement.
Shengsheng brightened.
Excellent. They had not gone the wrong way.
For days, the two had survived on fruit. Their mouths felt unbearably starved for salt and spice.
“Come on. Let’s hurry!”
Shengsheng caught Zhiyu’s hand, and her leaden steps suddenly became light.
It was called a town, but it was far larger than Shengsheng had expected.
The clothes worn by its residents confirmed that they had reached the Zhen Kingdom.
Some festival seemed to be underway. The streets were crowded. Everywhere they looked, groups of flower-fresh young women strolled arm in arm in brilliantly colored dresses.
Unlike the tradition-bound Zhu Kingdom or the solemn Yong Kingdom, Zhen society was remarkably open. Its people favored bright clothing.
Looking down the street was like gazing over a field of flowers, scarcely any two shades alike.
Shengsheng even spotted fluorescent green.
It was certainly… remarkable.
After sleeping outdoors for several nights and traveling in foreign clothes, Shengsheng and Zhiyu resembled refugees.
One little boy followed them for an entire street because he wanted Zhiyu to have his candied hawthorn. Compassion overflowed from his eyes.
His mother apologized and pulled him away. Even after they had gone some distance, Shengsheng could hear his childish voice.
“Mother, they don’t have a home. They’re so pitiful.”
Shengsheng sighed at Zhiyu, who was happily devouring the candied hawthorn.
True enough.
They had neither home nor mother.
To avoid attracting further attention, Shengsheng decisively led Zhiyu into a ready-made clothing shop.
Only then did she remember that she carried no silver.
She had deliberately kept the phoenix coronet intact, and no one had dismantled it yet. She could not sell it in its present form.
What else could she pawn?
Looking around the shop, Shengsheng found an excellent idea.
“Shopkeeper, bring several outfits suitable for my younger sister and me.”
The shopkeeper was a still-charming middle-aged woman. When she saw Shengsheng and Zhiyu standing outside covered in dust, she assumed they had come to beg.
Apparently, they were important customers instead.
Her face folded into a solicitous smile, and she hurried her assistants into selecting several sets.
The dresses fit well. Shengsheng grandly declared that she would take them all.
At the counter, however, she drew a strip of cloth from her sleeve.
One glance told the shopkeeper disaster had arrived. These beggars were trying to make a fool of her.
She opened her mouth to drive them out.
Shengsheng spoke first.
“Look carefully, Shopkeeper. This is no ordinary cloth. It is densely embroidered with gold thread.”
Gold was loved as currency in every kingdom.
The Zhen Kingdom produced abundant silk and spices but possessed few rich mines. Anything containing even a trace of gold was highly valued.
The shopkeeper knew her trade. On closer inspection, she confirmed that the thread was genuine.
Her expression softened.
“This gold thread is excellent. The dresses you purchased are hardly worth its full value.”
She took a heavy purse from the cabinet behind her and handed it to Shengsheng.
“Your change, miss. Keep it safe.”
Shengsheng accepted it with a smile.
Wearing new clothes and carrying enough wealth to support a household, she left the shop.
Siran Ming truly was useful.
Even after she left the Yong Kingdom, his sleeve could continue contributing to her happiness.
After eating extravagantly with Zhiyu, Shengsheng booked a room at an inn.
The moment the attendant left, she hurled herself onto the soft bed and inhaled deeply.
So comfortable.
This was easily the finest day Shengsheng Zhou had experienced since entering the novel.
Shopping truly was the natural cure for a young woman’s stress.
***
“My lord, that is everything.”
The shopkeeper bent respectfully before a stern man.
“The person who gave you this was a young woman?”
His voice was cold.
She nodded hurriedly.
“Yes. She had a red mole beneath one eye and wore a dress from the Zhu Kingdom. An extraordinarily beautiful woman traveled with her.”
The man examined the strip of cloth in his hand.
Gold thread formed a dragon motif across it. The piece had clearly been torn from someone’s sleeve.
The identity of its true owner invited interesting speculation.
After dismissing the shopkeeper, the man rose and entered a restaurant.
A young lord waited in a private room.
He was handsome without appearing threatening, his features gentle and refined as warm jade. Long, flawless fingers rolled a strand of bodhi beads patterned like qilin eyes.
“Your High–my lord, this subordinate has completed the investigation.”
The black-clad man respectfully repeated the shopkeeper’s account.
The young lord accepted the black strip and examined it carefully.
After a long moment, soft laughter escaped him.
“Interesting. Bring them to me.”
***
Shengsheng had planned to spend the entire day lying in bed.
Zhiyu Jiang’s desire to play proved too powerful. She dragged Shengsheng outside.
“Can we wear matching clothes? So many girls on the street are doing it!”
Zhiyu swung her hand and pleaded sweetly.
Shengsheng did not care either way. She nodded and allowed herself to be pulled along.
The streets were even more crowded than the previous day, so Shengsheng asked about the occasion.
The Zhen Kingdom was celebrating the Rain God Festival.
It was one of the realm’s most important holidays, rather like the Mid-Autumn Festival from Shengsheng’s previous life. The people of Zhen worshiped a rain deity rather than the moon.
Lanterns and fireworks marked the celebration. Vendors also sold novelties rarely seen at other times.
The entire city overflowed with excitement.
The disadvantage of such a dense crowd was that Shengsheng had to grip Zhiyu’s hand for dear life to keep them together.
“Shengsheng, look! That’s so interesting!”
Zhiyu pointed eagerly.
Shengsheng glanced in that direction.
The next instant, her hand was empty.
By the time she turned back, Zhiyu had vanished.
Shengsheng stood speechless.
“Little Thunder–no! Xiaoyu!”
She called at the top of her voice.
The surrounding people assumed she had lost a child and kindly opened a path.
Shengsheng followed it, calling as she went. When she finally recovered her senses, she had reached the end of the road.
There were no vendors here, and therefore no lanterns. Darkness covered the nearly deserted street.
The atmosphere felt wrong.
Shengsheng turned and ran.
She had taken only a few steps when pain exploded against the back of her head.
Her vision went black.
She collapsed.
***
Surprise briefly crossed the young lord’s gentle, jade-like face.
“It’s you?”
Zhiyu looked up at him in confusion.
“Who are you? Why did you kidnap me? Where is Shengsheng? I need to find her!”
“You don’t remember me?”
He raised a brow.
Then he turned a cool gaze on the black-clad man beside him.
“There should be another woman. Is this how you carry out an order?”
Without hesitation, the man dropped to one knee.
“This subordinate failed. Once I find the other woman, I will accept punishment.”
With that, his figure blurred and vanished.