Young Lady~

Abnormal!

Utterly abnormal!

Shen Tang couldn't help looking around, rubbing her eyes.

After making sure the scene before her wasn't a dream, she asked Qi Shan, "Yuan Liang... we didn't come to the wrong place, did we? Did we accidentally stumble into some strange illusion, or maybe pass through some kind of portal to another world...? This, this isn't right..."

She couldn't help turning to look back at the city gate they'd come through.

The endless line of people was still inching forward.

Most of the commoners wore ragged clothes and looked weary, while the people inside the city were rosy-cheeked and neatly dressed.

The jarring contrast was so bizarre it made her question her own sanity.

Qi Shan remained expressionless. "What isn't right?"

Shen Tang pointed toward the city gate.

"Look outside the city, then look inside. What about this is right?"

After seeing so many desolate, bleak, dilapidated scenes, the bustle and prosperity inside Xiaocheng made her wonder if the two scenes could really exist beneath the same sky. And yet, in reality, they were separated by nothing more than a city wall and a moat.

At her words, Qi Shan lowered his eyes. At some point, a trace of scorn had appeared at the corner of his lips, and he wore the air of an old hand. "Young Master Shen, you'll have to travel around and see more. Before long, none of this will surprise you."

Shen Tang protested, "Are you saying I'm making a fuss over nothing?"

Not even a little face-saving?

"That's exactly what I mean."

Right, not a shred of face-saving!

Shen Tang: "..."

She wanted, as usual, to leap up and perform brain surgery on this man.

As they passed a tavern, Qi Shan pointed to a spot beside its entrance and instructed her, "Young Master Shen, wait here for me. I'm going to ask around about something. I should be back in about an hour. Make sure you stay here. Don't wander off."

"Ask around about something? Looking for your debtor?" Seeing that Qi Shan hadn't given her a straight answer, Shen Tang waved a hand indifferently. "Then go early and come back early. We still need to find somewhere to stay tonight. I don't want to sleep on the roadside or under a bridge..."

Qi Shan: "..."

His heart had been burning with complicated feelings, but Shen Tang's words interrupted them, and they deflated like a punctured ball. The feeling wouldn't rise or fall; it churned and tangled in his chest before finally turning into a long sigh.

He repeated helplessly, "All right. You too—don't wander off."

Shen Tang obediently waited beside the tavern entrance, watching Qi Shan's back disappear at the end of the street. Once he was completely out of sight, her eyes suddenly lit up. Though she'd been transported to this world nearly a month ago, she'd spent almost every day traveling with Qi Shan and had no time to herself.

Naturally, she hadn't had a proper look at this world, either.

After waiting in place for a while, she turned and rented a little folding stool from the tavern owner. The Motorcycle obediently crouched down beside her to keep her company.

"What should I call you, little maiden?"

About a quarter of an hour later, an affectedly dignified male voice came from above her. Shen Tang looked up and immediately spotted a middle-aged man with a somewhat plump build and coarse features staring right at her.

She pointed at herself and asked, "Are you talking to me?"

Only an emoticon could express how she felt.

Oh my god! ()

In nearly a month since she'd arrived in this world, this was the first time anyone had gotten her gender right!

Every commoner she'd met before had been led astray by Qi Shan.

What a calamity, Qi Yuanliang!

The middle-aged man smiled and leaned closer. "Yes, yes, I am."

Shen Tang was pretty and handsome-looking. Though she was only a little over ten years old, her beauty already showed promise; raise her for another year or two and she'd be ready to sell for a handsome sum. She had fair skin and a clean, fresh air about her. Her clothes weren't luxurious, though, so her family probably wasn't very wealthy.

She looked around at everything with the curious air of a country bumpkin. At a glance, she was a naïve, inexperienced child.

Easy to swindle.

He'd noticed Shen Tang and Qi Shan when they appeared.

He hadn't initially entertained any ideas, since Shen Tang had been accompanied by Qi Shan. After all, among the people you most shouldn't provoke in this world were refined men dressed as scholars, with their hair secured by crowns and hairpins. Who knew whether they had a Literary Heart? It would be bad to kick an iron plate. But then Qi Shan had left, and Shen Tang was all alone.

Their accents had given them away as outsiders.

If he didn't fleece such a fat sheep, when would he ever get any business?

Once he spirited Shen Tang away, Qi Shan's return would be useless.

Shen Tang sat obediently on the little stool, her eyes innocent. She even gave the man a wholesome smile. "What can I do for you?"

The man smiled. "Well, the young gentleman who was with you earlier asked me to take you to the inn."

Shen Tang asked, "Yuan Liang asked you to come get me?"

"That's right. I work at Fanghua Inn. Was the young gentleman with you dressed in a moon-white robe, tall, and rather slender? He said you'd be waiting in front of this tavern." As he spoke, the man gestured a couple of times.

Shen Tang wore an air of innocent naivety.

Each time the man described something, she nodded.

"Right, right, that's Yuan Liang... But he said he was going to ask around about something, and told me to wait here..."

The man cut her off. "Oh, that. It seems that young gentleman ran into an old acquaintance and can't get away just now."

Since he didn't "seem to be making it up," Shen Tang was half convinced.

The man asked again, "Are you worried I'm a swindler? How about I wait here with you until that young gentleman comes back? It isn't safe for a little girl like you to be out on the street alone."

Shen Tang hurriedly shook her head.

"No, no, that's not what I meant."

After thinking it over, she asked him another question.

"Won't waiting here keep you from your work at the inn?"

The man waved his hand generously and laughed heartily.

"That's no trouble. Even if it delays things, I can't just leave a little maiden like you out on the street. It isn't safe."

At his words, Shen Tang seemed to waver.

The passersby noticed the scene, too.

The tavern owner glanced at the man and gave a disdainful snort, but didn't expose him. The owners of the other shops knew the middle-aged man as well. He was a notorious thug in the area, often visiting villages near Xiaocheng to scout out boys and girls with promising looks. He'd keep them at home for a couple of years, then sell them for a high price if they hadn't grown up ugly. Outsiders who didn't know any better were also among his targets.

It was obvious he'd set his sights on this little maiden.

The tavern owner spat inwardly.

But he still kept out of it.

These days, nobody's business was doing well.

Cutting off someone's livelihood was like murdering their parents.

If he offended a thug like this, he could forget about doing business in Xiaocheng. Better to avoid trouble; he'd pretend he hadn't seen anything.

He also privately scoffed, mocking Shen Tang for being naïve and dim-witted.

The man had a pair of narrow, beady rat eyes. When Shen Tang wasn't looking, his gaze roamed between her face and her clothes, and his leering manner made it obvious he was no good. Only a sheltered child from a wealthy family, inexperienced in the ways of the world, would fall for it.

And she was actually chatting with him so cheerfully.

Little did they know, Shen Tang had a reason for being so patient.

He was the first person to get her gender right, after all.

Shen Tang smiled sweetly. Only then was she willing to exchange a few more words with him.

Then—

If he gave up on the idea, all well and good. If he still tried anything—

She'd send him to an early grave.