Chapter 21 (2/2)

And so, Feng Ning decided to clean herself up a bit first. She secretly sneaked into a farmer’s house, where there was n.o.body inside, since they were probably all out doing agricultural work. She found a mirror on a table, and took a good look at her reflection, and she really scared herself with the way she looked, just how dirty her face was and how messy her hair was, it was such a terrible sight.

She used some water from the farmer family’s water jar, to wash her face and hands, and found some clothes that probably belonged to the family’s daughter, combed her hair, and found a belt to tie the container tightly onto her body with, and she put the clothes on, Feng Ning was happy that she finally looked like a regular girl again.

She spoke to the empty house: “I’m really sorry that I was forced by the circ.u.mstances to steal some clothing, I’ll definitely return this tenfold in the future, thank you very much!” She turned around and was about to leave, but just as she stepped across the door, she felt like she was starving, and she thought about it a bit, and turned back around again and spoke the the house once more: “uhh, can you loan me some money as well?”

She immediately took action to borrow money right after saying it, and Feng Ning started going through the family’s cabinets and containers, until she finally discovered two rolls of coppers in a small earthenware jug. Feng Ning thought to herself that she would make a really good thief, she was able to discover it even though it was hidden so well. She put her palms together and thanked the jug, and was about to leave, when she suddenly thought, then they would starve too, if she took everything, what will they do? She felt guilty about it, so she turned around again, and placed one roll of coppers back in the jug, and then thought about it some more, this family seems to have many people in it, and she’s just one person, she hesitated a bit, and counted the money, how many meat buns can a roll of coppers buy? She finally gritted her teeth, and placed another half a roll of coppers back inside the jug.

She placed the jug back in its original location, and said: “when Long San returns, I’ll ask him for some money, I’ll definitely return it to you tenfold, don’t hate me.” After saying that, she carefully held on to the half roll of copper and finally left the house.

Since Feng Ning was wearing rough clothing, she looked a bit like a country b.u.mpkin, and she didn’t have much money on her, so she couldn’t afford meat buns, and had to settle for a few vegetable buns instead, and as she ate them, she went towards where it was crowded, deciding to mingle amongst the crowds and leave town.

After finis.h.i.+ng her last vegetable bun, she thought to herself: “Long San, I’m so hungry, you absolutely have to treat me to a good meal when you return.” Just as she finished her train of thought, she saw two suspicious looking men in cyan colored clothing standing by the town gate, they weren’t leaving but were just looking around the area. The way they looked and acted, seemed like people up to no good.

Feng Ning panicked a little, and then calmed herself down, and took two quick steps to reach the side of a man with a carrying pole on his shoulders, there was a child by the man’s side, supporting the pole, probably the man’s son. Feng Ning stuck close to the kid, lowered her head and smiled at him, and that boy wasn’t afraid of strangers at all, seeing a pretty girl smile at him, he smiled back, and Feng Ning kept sticking by his side, while gently patting his head all the while, from an outsider’s perspective, they looked just like a happy family of three.

Feng Ning pa.s.sed the men in cyan just like this right in the open, and exited the town gate without incident. Just as she was about to sigh in relief, in turned out that a woman was waiting outside, and she said to the man in a loud voice: “our son’s father, you’re finally here. Huh, who’s this?”

This woman’s voice was supremely loud, and caught everyone’s attention on them, and Feng Ning thought to herself that this was bad, and as expected, the two men in cyan looked over in this direction and met Feng Ning’s eyes, and Feng Ning immediately turned around and started running, and those men in cyan were indeed members of the a.s.sa.s.sins from last night, and started chasing her.

Feng Ning didn’t know where she was going, she just kept running straight forward, and when she looked behind her, there was more than just two people chasing after her, she felt really angry about it inside, but she didn’t have any choice but to keep running away.

Feng Ning ran all the way to the neighboring town, and without even a chance to rest, she was chased to the next town over as well. While fighting and escaping all the way, she ran out of money long ago, and she could only steal clothes to wear and food to eat, and since she was afraid of rivers, lakes, and wells, she was unable to take care of her appearance for several days, and she was only able to take an opportunity to scrub herself a little by borrowing a bowl at a farmer’s house. She starved and slept outside during all this time, and was rather pitiful.

One day, while she was secretly stealing food in a restaurant’s kitchen, she heard a cook and a server chatting, saying that some family’s mysterious illness was cured in Baiqiao City, how great and wonderful Baiqiao City was. Feng Ning suddenly recalled that Long San said before that the leader of Baiqiao City, Nie Chengyan, was one of his good friends.

Feng Ning considered things that day, she might as well go ask Nie Chengyan for a.s.sistance, and give this container to him, while she leads away the people chasing her, that way she won’t have to worry about the container falling into their hands, and Nie Chengyan probably will have some method of contacting Long San, so that Long San can come to pick both her and the container up.

These days that Feng Ning spent as a vagrant, she’s been thinking about a lot of things, she remembered back to that day, the way Grandma Yu viewed her with suspicion, the surprise that all the guards and servants showed when they found out that she knew martial arts, and her fight in the study where she gave it her all, and the Long Family guard asking her if she knew those crooks, at the time she didn’t think things over carefully and didn’t notice anything, but now with time to think about things she suddenly felt so, so wronged. The Long Family probably thought she was acting again, and that she joined with the outsiders to steal things from them.

Well, thinking about it, it does seem that way, since she took the item with her but she didn’t bring it back to the Long Family, and escaped with the item to somewhere unknown, plus all the things that she did when she lost her memory, it’s probably very difficult to leave a good impression on everyone.

The more that Feng Ning thought about it, the sadder she got, she could only console herself by thinking, this will all be over soon, as long as she returns the item safely to the Long Family, the truth will be revealed. She doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, and will do her best to do good deeds. Besides, Long San won’t just leave her alone, Long San will definitely believe her, and come to look for her.

She curled up under a big tree, and lit a small fire for warmth, and as she prayed for those crooks to give her some time to rest and stop chasing her, she thought about where she should go looking for food tomorrow.

Before she fell asleep, she said something to herself: “Long San, I’m hungry, I don’t have any clothes to change into, I’m dirty and smelly, n.o.body is here to have a conversation with me, n.o.body cares about me…… Long San…… I miss you……”

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