"Ah, my money pouch—my money pouch is gone—"
From one of the cabins came a shriek like a pig being slaughtered.
The scream shattered the peaceful silence of the pleasure boat, and countless guests jolted awake from their dreams.
"Mine too, my money pouch is gone too—"
"There's a thief on board! Hurry and report it to the authorities—"
With a series of banging sounds, cabin doors were thrown open. Students in disheveled clothes shouted furiously about something.
"Boatman, boatman, hurry and get whoever's in charge over here—" Zhang Linpu stumbled out while fastening his belt and shouted, "All one hundred Gold Coins in my pouch have been stolen! Hurry up and find them for me. Otherwise—otherwise, you'll have us to answer to."
"Exactly, and my fifty Gold Coins—"
"My one hundred and twenty—"
--
Li Mu Yang opened his eyes. After making sense of the shouts outside, the first thing he did was reach toward his crotch.
Fortunately, the Gold Coins and his essence chamber were still there.
So he closed his eyes, intending to sleep a little longer. It was his first journey far from home, his first time leaving his parents and family. Last night, he had lain in bed thinking about all sorts of things and had only managed to fall asleep in the latter half of the night.
The sky outside was still dim, and the moon was no more than a faint shadow hanging at the edge of the heavens. Yet he had actually been woken up by someone?
All at once, he sprang up from the bed. He pulled his luggage bundle out from beneath the cabin floor and rummaged through it.
He found nothing.
All the Gold Coins hidden inside the bundle had vanished.
Luo Qi had divided the Gold Coins into