Chapter 40 (1/2)

After their afternoon tea, Lin Xiao head straight back to his room while Xia YuanFeng managed to coax Long YinLian to accompany him, saying that he needed some help with training the new member of the Thunder Hawk. Knowing that both adults are not around, Lin Xiao began to execute his plan.

Lin Xiao glanced over at Wang Lan, Wang Fan and Wang Zan who seems content to have their afternoon sleep. Then, he looked out to the windows towards the sky gauge the current time of the day. “Looks like it is still Wei Shi… as long as I return before You Shi, I should be alright,” Lin Xiao murmured in a soft voice.

He then looked around outside and saw that there were actually no guards at this time, “Oh? Seems like someone will be in trouble for slacking off,” Lin Xiao said with a mischievous grin on his face. “Not that I care. As long as I don’t get found out, you won’t be in trouble anyway,” Lin Xiao snickered as he jumped out from the window. When Lin Xiao left, the two guards who were supposed to keep guard nearby finally returned.

“Seriously, why do I need to keep you company just because you want to take a leak?” one of the guards asked his partner.

“Well, you know that there are three tigers living here. I don’t want to go alone. Plus, can you handle standing guard alone? What if the tigers decided to make you their meal?” the other retorted. Hearing this, the first guard can only shiver at the thought.

“Ugh… Let’s just stay together whenever we have our shift in the patriarch’s courtyard…” the first guard muttered softly as they returned to their duty. Unfortunately, the person they were supposed to keep watch on has already left the area.

Lin Xiao was careful as he made his way to the walls that surround the Xia family’s residence. The walls were quite tall, so Lin Xiao had to look around to see if there is anything that he can use to climb the wall. This was the farthest that Lin Xiao had actually gone ever since he started his escape. While looking around, he saw a tree not too far from the wall and he made a mental calculation on the jump distance.

“I should be able to make it,” he murmured in a soft voice. He crouched towards the tree as to not attract any attention from the patrolling guards. He made sure to keep hidden, using the bushes and blind spots to his advantage. When he reached the tree, Lin Xiao patiently waited for the guards to go out of view before he climbed up the tree.

Since he lived in the mountain for two years of his life, tree-climbing became one of his hobbies. In addition, when he’s on a tree, it’s easier for him to see the distance and even keep hidden from his prey as he takes aim with his bow.

After climbing up the tree, he then jumped onto the wall and down to the other side. Having succeeded, Lin Xiao felt a sense of achievement. After finally getting out after a few days of feeling locked up, Lin Xiao was excited to finally see the capitals.

“Since I’m here, I may as well see what the capitals have to offer! When we arrived before, Ping Jianyu mentioned that there is a market to the east side of the capital, but it is located in the middle district,” Lin Xiao once again looked up to the sky but this time, he wanted to get the direction. “The middle district shouldn’t be far, right?”

With the decision made, Lin Xiao turned back to the walls and bowed down. “Shizun, please forgive Lin Xiao for being mischievous…” he said in an apologetic tone before he finally walked away. Luckily, he has few gold pieces with him which were his profit from selling his spoils to Ping Jianyu a week ago. Before, he never would have thought that he would be spending them in the capital. Regardless, since he is now stuck here until the court hearing, he may as well enjoy himself.

It did not take Lin Xiao too long to arrive at the market. Here, he learned that the market was divided into several parts, north, east, south and west, with the plaza as the center. The northern part is where they sell clothes and accessories. The eastern part is where they sell foods of all kinds. The southern part is where they sell raw materials and ingredients. The western part is the mercenary’s favorite shopping area as they sell all kinds of equipment there.

Lin Xiao first went to the eastern part of the market. He could see several stalls at the side of the road as well as some restaurants. Amazingly, the restaurant didn’t drive away these food stall owners even if they set their stall near the entrance of their restaurant. In fact, they even work together to attract customers.

If someone entered the restaurant to eat and wanted something from the stall, the restaurant employee would come out and help order from the stall. Meanwhile, if the stall near the restaurant still hasn’t had their foods ready, they would suggest waiting inside the restaurant. This way, each of them will earn no matter what.

Lin Xiao was amazed when he saw this kind of community. He thought that since there are many stalls and restaurants, the competitiveness will be ruthless. But instead, he saw how they all work in harmony. After walking for a while, he went to one of the stalls that sell meat skewers. The aroma had been calling out to Lin Xiao ever since he got close and it made his mouth water.

“Mister, how much for one?” Lin Xiao asked as he eyed the skewers that were currently being cooked.