Well...
"Looks like you're just out of luck."
The others looked at the girl with regret.
"Maybe they really were bluffing."
"You weren't as cool-headed as they were."
"They bluffed you into giving yourself away."
The girl fell silent...
Looking back on it afterward, she thought the same thing.
In the end, she hadn't kept her cool.
Madam Xiao and the old lady had no idea where she was hiding...
"It's good you came out."
The others comforted her. "Sneaking into someone else's courtyard without permission was wrong of you in the first place."
"Turning yourself in and asking for leniency was the right thing to do."
"Otherwise, if they really called the police and the officers came to drag you out..."
"That would've been trouble."
"Got it?"
"Maybe when they didn't find me in the courtyard, they would've gone looking for me somewhere else..." the girl muttered.
"Then I could've taken the chance to leave the courtyard and go back to the teahouse."
"And acted like nothing had happened."
Unless Madam Xiao and the old lady had stayed right there in the courtyard... and decided not to look anywhere else, calling the police instead...
Was she stupid?
Why would she keep hiding in the courtyard...
and wait to be caught like a turtle in a jar?
"There's no 'maybe.'"
The others spread their hands.
"And then what?"
"They'd catch you a second time..."
"What would they think?"
"Didn't they give you a good scolding?"
The girl tilted her head.
"Not really."
"Maybe because they run a teahouse, they've spent years surrounded by an elegant atmosphere..."
"So they're very mild-tempered."
"They just warned me, then took me back to the teahouse."
"They really are good people."
The others sighed.
"Qingqing, they're so nice, and you