The Heaven-Fated Bandit Girl Delivered Takeout, Selling Her Lightness Skill for Half a Tael

At the entrance of Mixue Ice City.

Su Yao, who should now be called " Young Master Su," laid out seven or eight numbered bamboo tallies in a row on the table and cleared his throat.

"Besides tea and beverages, this shop also hires 'courier services'."

A number of idlers gathered around.

Some were doing manual labor, some were running errands, and some were simply there to watch the fun.

A short, stout man asked, "What is a courier service?"

"Deliver tea." Su Yao said calmly, fanning herself with a folding fan. "The customers in the city placed orders in advance. You will carry the teacups to their homes."

That's it?

"There's only one rule." Su Yao took out a teacup filled eight-tenths full with water from under the table and placed it in the center of the table.

"Carrying this bowl of water, I ran from the entrance of Mixue Ice City in the west of the city to the Fortune Comes Alley in the east of the city, arriving within half an incense stick's time, without spilling a drop."

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Half an incense stick? From the west side of the city to the east side?"

"Running around with a bowl in your hand? That's not..."

"Are you crazy? Who can outrun that?"

Su Yao calmly and deliberately placed the written wooden sign upright on the table.

The wooden sign reads, "Those hired will receive three meals a day and a base salary of half a tael of silver."

The laughter stopped.

Half a tael of silver is enough for a strong laborer to work for half a month in Yi Prefecture.

The short, stout man swallowed hard.

"Really?"

"Really. You'll know once you try."

Three people immediately stepped forward to try their skills.

The first person ran twenty steps, spilled a third of the water, and then turned back.

The second one hadn't even reached the city's main crossroads after using half an incense stick's worth of time, so he squatted down by the roadside, panting.

The third one learned his lesson and slowed down, carrying the incense stick carefully. By the time he reached the alleyway in the east of the city, the incense stick had almost burned out.

More and more people gathered to watch, and discussions arose.

"This job is absolutely inhuman."

"You can't get half a tael of silver even if it's given to you for free."

Just then, a small, thin figure squeezed through the crowd.

He was dressed in men's clothing, wearing an old cloth short jacket, his face smeared with ash, and his hair tucked into a crooked old hat.

He was not tall, had narrow shoulders, and a waist as thin as a bamboo pole.

"I'll do it."

His voice was deliberately lowered and husky.

Su Yao looked up.

This person's figure...

It looks somewhat familiar.

She lowered her eyes, didn't ask any more questions, and simply pushed a full bowl of water in front of the other person.

"Did you hear the rules?"

"I heard you. From the west of the city to the east, half an incense stick's time, no spillage." Yun Shuyue took the bowl, her fingertips surprisingly steady.

Su Yao nodded, and the waiter next to her raised the incense stick.

"Start."

Yun Shuyue held the bowl and lightly touched the ground with her toes.

Then, it disappeared.

It didn't really disappear; it just disappeared so quickly that most people present didn't even see it.

The figure leaped onto the roof of a fish stall on the street, jumped off the wooden beam, and landed on the eaves of a general store across the street.

The water in the bowl remained completely still.

Before the onlookers could react, the person had already leaped across the rooftops, his short blue cloth shirt casting a blurry afterimage in the early autumn sunlight.

The crowd erupted in uproar.

What the hell?!

"Flying? Is that a person?"

Su Yao stopped folding her fan.

She glanced at Lin Qingdai standing beside her.

Lin Qingdai's hat brim was pulled very low.

She didn't speak, but her lips tightened slightly.

This is a martial artist's reaction when assessing another martial artist's skill.

Less than half an incense stick's time.

The figure flipped down from the roof and landed steadily at the entrance of Mixue Ice City, holding a bowl without spilling a drop.

There was even a water droplet hanging precariously on the rim of the bowl, refusing to fall.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted in cheers.

Yun Shuyue put the bowl back on the table.

His breathing was abnormally steady, and there wasn't even a drop of sweat on his forehead.

Then he looked at Su Yao with bright, sparkling eyes.

"Shopkeeper."

"Um?"

"You got the job?"

"... He's been hired."

"Um..." Yun Shuyue took half a step forward, her voice lower, her eyes filled with a familiar longing.

"Could you give me more food?"

Su Yao tightened her grip on the folding fan.

She recognized him.

The "boss" who blocked our way on the Black Wind Pass mountain road last time.

Su Yao did not point it out on the spot.

She simply pushed a bamboo tally stick over.

"Express delivery number one, starting work tomorrow at 7 AM. All meals are provided, and you can eat as many meat buns as you like."

Yun Shuyue took the bamboo token, her eyes shining brightly.

"Really, you can eat whatever you want?"

"Real."

Yun Shuyue clutched the bamboo tally in her hand as if she were holding a gold ingot.

"There are still meat buns? Can I take the rest?"

"Can."

She turned and walked out of the crowd, her steps so light she almost skipped.

Lin Qingdai leaned close to Su Yao's ear. "The one from Black Wind Stronghold?"

"Um."

Why did she come down the mountain?

Su Yao shook her folding fan.

"I guess she's just here to watch the fun with Tuoba Mang and Tiedan. Half a tael of silver is enough to get her to run errands for me..."

She paused for a moment.

"This deal is worthwhile."

Second-floor private rooms.

Gu Moran back in the armchair by the window.

Beside me was a bowl of medicine soup that had long since gone cold.

Several candied fruits were spread out on the table.

The commotion downstairs was clearly visible.

Children sing, idlers gather around to test their running, a figure in blue robes flashes across the rooftops, and Su Yao calmly sends out bamboo tokens.

He didn't say anything.

Tap your knuckles lightly twice on the wooden handrail.

The system's light curtain opened at the edge of the field of vision.

Let's look downstairs first.

[ Yun Shuyue ]

[Status: Her father, Yun Zhengze, secretly joined the Second Prince's camp and colluded with local powerful figures. Yun Shuyue, disgusted by his actions, fled and hid in Black Wind Pass, where she sheltered refugees under the guise of bandits.]

[Attitude towards host: No hostility. Favorability 12 (due to the kindness of receiving medicine).]

[Core Needs: Raise money, raise food.]

Gu Moran's gaze lingered on the light screen.

Inspector Yun Zhengze.

Holy crap.

Isn't this just a combination of the provincial discipline inspection commission secretary, the provincial high court president, the provincial public security bureau director, and the provincial party committee inspection team leader?

It turns out he's one of the Second Prince's men.

He shifted his gaze to the tea stall across the street.

Two men in blue robes got up and walked one after the other toward the " Mixue Ice City " sign.

[ Zheng Hao: A spy for the Prince An's Residence, from a collateral branch of the Zheng Clan of Xingyang ]

[Mission: By Prince An Gu Mochen, investigate the inner workings of Prince Yi's Residence.]

[Martial Arts Prowess: Late Seventh Rank ]

[ The Chen Qing: A spy for Prince An's Residence, the son of Gu Mochen's former retainer]

[Martial Arts Prowess: Middle Sixth Rank ]

[Intelligence Status: First wave of peripheral information has been collected. The analysis is now deviating significantly from the truth.]

[Host assessment: A puppet, a sickly man, a figurehead whose power has been completely usurped by his six wives.]

Gu Moran picked up a candied fruit, popped it into her mouth, and bit it open.

The sweetness spread between my teeth and cheeks.

The spy sent by my second brother doesn't have very good eyesight.

This assessment report is perfect; it doesn't even need any revisions.

Continue sending messages back along this line; the more soundly the Prince An's Residence sleeps, the better.

Their gaze returned to the storefront of their own shop.

Several women dressed as men were maintaining order.

Su Yao waved a folding fan, displaying the smooth demeanor of a merchant when greeting and seeing off guests.

Murong Xue stood guard at the gate, arms crossed.

The fake mustache on his chin was slightly curled up from the sun.

Lin Qingdai leaned against the alley wall beside the shop, her straw hat pulled low, her gaze sweeping over every passerby.

Xie Wanqing hid behind the counter and used an abacus.

The yellow stain from the walnut juice on the back of my hand was partially washed away by sweat, revealing its original pale white color.

She kept her head down, and no one noticed.

Liu Ruyan was the most at ease.

She stood on the long street, behaving like a brother with a sugar merchant, her haggling skills even more shrewd than those of a real shopkeeper.

I heard the sound of a door opening behind me.

"That bowl's cold, and you're waiting for me to replace it?"

The sound was crisp and clear, with a faint scent of mugwort.

Gu Moran turned her head.

Shen Ling'er stood three steps away, holding a steaming porcelain bowl.

"I'm watching the spies my second brother sent."

"The spies have arrived?"

"Watching the show."

"Then let's watch and drink at the same time." Shen Ling'er stepped forward, forcefully stuffed the hot medicine into his left hand, and took away the bowl of cold, dark soup from the small table.

Gu Moran looked down at the porcelain bowl in her hand.

The bitter taste is pungent.

" Ling'er."

"Um?"

"You look much better in this blue robe than that fake shopkeeper, Su Yao."

Shen Ling'er's hand, holding the cold bowl, froze in mid-air.

"Shut up and drink your medicine."

Gu Moran his head back and took a big gulp. The bitterness rushed from the back of his tongue to his brain, and his eyelids twitched.

He reached out and touched the plate on the table.

Empty.

"What about candied fruit?"

"There's none for you." Shen Ling'er placed the old medicine bowl on the wooden tray. "I wrapped the last three in oiled paper."

Gu Moran stopped.

Who will receive the contract?

"That little female bandit in the straw hat, she has a lot of children."

Gu Moran remained silent.