The people standing outside the herbal medicine shop, constantly peering inside, turned at the sound. Jiang Yingcheng, who had been hidden in the shadows in front of them, craning her head through the crack in the door, was exposed to the bright afternoon sunlight.
"Uh-" Jiang Yingcheng scratched her temple, a rare hint of embarrassment on her face. "Y-you're back-"
Yan Yuebin: "..."
The others behind him: "..."
Well, this was...
Silent awkwardness rapidly spread through the air. They clearly hadn't done anything, yet inexplicably felt the mortification of having a creditor turn up at their door.
Yan Yuebin instinctively softened his voice, asking without much confidence, "W-what are you doing here?!"
He looked fierce and menacing, but in truth, he almost wanted to fall to his knees and beg them to leave at once.
"Please don't take offense. Here's what happened," Zhang Yuke, who had followed the little girl all the way here, said with a light chuckle, handling the situation smoothly. "A patient's medicinal decoction at our home was suddenly spilled, and we urgently need another prescription filled..."
As her words fell, the awkward atmosphere grew strangely thicker.
Beneath their Human-Skin Masks, the ministers wore wooden expressions. In perfect unison, they glanced at the herbal medicine shop across the street, then turned back in equally perfect unison, their faces full of things they couldn't put into words. "Ah, ah, I see..."
If the little girl hadn't been watching them from behind her, they would have politely pretended to believe it.
What a scene of certain death.
They might as well smile.
Zhang Yuke followed their gazes with a glance. Her movements stiffened for only a moment before she turned back as though nothing had happened. Sustained by her powerful conviction, she gave a light cough. "I didn't notice