Chapter 13：Returning To The Shack (1/2)
Lin Mu could smell the tantalizing aroma's arising from the various food stalls. The owners of the stalls shouting out their prices with many people standing around and sitting at the benches set up near the stalls eating their food. There were various dishes being sold by the stalls. There were buckwheat noodles, skewered barbecued meat, fried chicken drumsticks, big buns filled with meat, soups and vegetable filling, stir-fried rice, braised meat soup, and many more.
There were also some teahouses along the street where people could be seen relaxing and enjoying some tea with some light snacks. Lin Mu decided to buy some buns as they would be cheap and very filling. He had to save some money to buy rice as well as some spices so that he would not have to eat the sour apples every day. He did not even have any salt with him to season anything he caught to eat, thus he especially wanted to buy a set of spices.
Lin Mu walked up to a stall that was selling buns and spent 3 coppers coins to buy two meat-filled buns for his meal. He sat down on a bench nearby to eat the buns and take in the sights of the people in the town. He had been missing the town after three days, even though his days had been relatively exciting due to all the events that had happened ever since acquiring the mysterious rusty ring.
After finishing the buns, he wanted to find out when the merchants would be coming to the town next week so that he could sell the fragrant wood box.
'I should head to a teahouse to find out when the merchants would be coming next week.'
Most people liked to go to teahouses to drink some tea and gossip with the other patrons. It would be the best place to find out information as most people would answer questions rather easily and without any suspicion. If one was lucky one could even hear about events happening in the city or gossips about what schemes the officials were planning or what merchant was getting punished for cheating people and such many things which people gossiped to satisfy their need for entertainment and drama.
Lin Mu walked into a relatively popular teahouse and looked around for an empty chair to sit. The place was packed with people. Looking around for a minute, he found a table that had one empty chair left. He spent two copper coins to order a cup of tea for him from the waiter. There were three people already sitting on the table talking with each other.
The people that were sitting on the table gave him a momentary glance before going back to talking amongst themselves. The waiter soon brought with him a tray on which there were four cups and a pot of tea. He placed a cup in front of each person and then poured them some tea before walking away to serve other patrons of the teahouse.
The tea in the cup was steaming and gave off a faint fragrance that gave one a sense of calm. Lin Mu picked up the cup and blew at it before taking a sip of the light green liquid. Most of the patrons were talking with each other while some just sat in silence, some were talking out loud and their voices could be heard on the other side of the teahouse yet no one minded it.
The people sitting on the table with Lin Mu were talking in a normal voice, and he was listening to all that they were saying. Most of it was just about how their days were going, how was their work or family, most topics being pretty mundane until he heard something that made his ears perk up.
”Did you know that the city mayor was in an outrage yesterday?”
”What? Why, what happened?”
”Apparently the mayor lost something important and in a fit of rage broke and destroyed a lot of things in his mansion. All the servants and the officials in the mansion could hear it, and it was not until the mayor's wife went in to calm him down that he stopped.”
The third person who was sitting on the table opposite to Lin Mu the asked in a doubtful voice,
”And how do you know this?”
”My wife's brother works as a servant in the mayor's mansion so I can vouch that it's true.”
The man still had a doubtful look but allowed him to continue.
”The lord must have lost something precious for him to break into a fit of rage as he is a rather composed man.”
”Did he just lose it somewhere or was it stolen, I think it was stolen as if it was lost inside the mansion it would have been found.”
The three men conversed without giving a mind to how the surrounding tables were now also paying attention to them as the information they revealed was a rather juicy piece of gossip. Not much gossip came out of the mayor's mansion and now that some had come everyone wanted to hear it. Even Lin Mu was listening attentively, without missing a word.