Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Arriving at the County

The Xiao family didn’t waste any more time. They boarded a neighbour’s ox cart, even giving them double payment to be able to arrive at the county as fast as possible.

It was just that... the only available ox cart happened to be from the Sun family.

Sun Daniu seemed to suffer a fright from the yamen officials’ treatment, yet he still wanted to curry favor with them. As soon as he saw them coming out of the Xiao family’s house, he offered to lead them to the county with his ox cart.

In the process, he also offered the ride to the Xiao family, who were wearing anxious expressions.

Unfortunately, it took very long for them to arrive in the county. According to the plot, the swindler will do the so-called ritual today at night, so they still have some time.

[This is because of the butterfly effect...] The System began to speak. [In the original plot, your family can’t find any ox cart until the sky starts to turn dark. By the time they arrived at the county, your eldest brother had swallowed the poisonous pill.]

Xiao Qingya, however, still felt it was puzzling. [System, since there are medicine boys, why don’t they detect that the pill is actually poisonous?]

The System didn’t know whether it should be happy that its host was getting smarter. It fell silent for a while. This wasn’t written in the plot, after all.

[Little Ya, there are a lot of plants in this world. Most likely, the swindler is using a plant that is a native to his place, so it’s understandable that the medicine boys wouldn’t recognize it.]

Xiao Qingya nodded, and she leaned back in her mother’s arms. Her small face was all scrunched up.

She temporarily accepted the System’s explanation. As for the real situation about her eldest brother, they needed to wait until they arrived in the county.

If she kept thinking about her eldest brother, she would only grow more anxious, so her mind began to wander as she tried to distract herself. Fortunately, she had the System to accompany her to chat... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Her eyes caught the sight of Sun Daniu, who was sitting at the front as the coachman. She pursed her lips.

[System, that uncle at the front is suspicious, isn’t he? It was such a coincidence. After his wife was murdered, he was gone for a whole month.] She tapped her small chin.

[Little Ya...] The System suddenly called her name, its tone filled with hesitation.

The little one perked up, listening.

[Your family should stay away from Sun Daniu after this.]

Curious, Xiao Qingya went to check the plot, and unfortunately, she was blocked again. The little one huffed in annoyance.

She had been so anxious about her eldest brother that she checked the plot too many times yesterday. As a result, they blocked her from checking it again.

[Why?] She directed the question to the System.

The System was working hard on how to explain to its host. Finally, it decided to be honest. [He will bring a lot of trouble to your family. Do you look at his face? He is not a good person at all.]

She glanced at Sun Daniu, who was merrily conversing with the yamen officials. "Brothers, if you have time, you can come to my house for a drink."

There was no longer an ounce of sadness from his wife’s passing at all. However, it was unknown whether this Sun Daniu was too confident or was simply idiotic.

He showed this side of him in front of the people who were supposed to investigate him. These officials weren’t going to consider him a friend at all. Trying to bribe them with just a drink?

Zhou Anran glanced at Sun Daniu briefly and inwardly shook her head. Hmph, men! The Sun family’s young children probably could only rely on themselves for a living now.

The twins also glanced at the men at the front, and then hurriedly looked away.

One yamen official didn’t look impressed. "We are busy with the official duties all day, Mr. Sun, so we will have to decline your invitation."

Sun Daniu’s face stiffened slightly, but soon he adjusted his expression. He smiled. "You can come anytime you are free, Officers. I always have some wine at home."

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt the moment Sun Daniu stopped his oxen. They had arrived near the yamen office. Now, it was also time for the Xiao family to get down from the ox cart.

"Anran, do you need me to wait?" Sun Daniu flashed Zhou Anran a smile.

The latter twitched her mouth, and hurriedly declined. "We won’t trouble you, Mr. Sun."

She didn’t like the way he was calling her name, as if they were already familiar with each other. Although their houses were located close to each other, their families rarely had any dealings together.

"Are you sure? It’s not a problem at all," Sun Daniu continued.

Xiao Fenghao frowned, and he stood in front of his mother. He looked rather imposing. "Mr. Sun, we will stay in the county for a while, so there’s no need for you to wait at all. You still have a few young sons at home and they must be waiting for you."

The man’s eyes darkened at Xiao Fenghao’s impudent words. He climbed back to his ox cart and spurred his oxen. He finally left without glancing at them.

Zhou Anran let out a breath and turned to the yamen officials who were trying to maintain their patience. "Officers, I apologize for keeping you waiting. I hope that you can show us the way to my eldest son."

The surroundings had started to become dark.

"Follow us " The yamen officials’ expression eased, and they began to take large strides toward a quieter alleyway.

Fifteen minutes later, they pointed to a slightly dilapidated looking inn. "Your son is there."

The Xiao family thanked them profusely before they stepped into the inn. There weren’t many people inside, and the moment they appeared, the innkeeper immediately went to them.

"Madam, do you want to rent some rooms in our inn?" The middle-aged woman’s eyes appeared a little shifty, and somewhat it made her shrewd.

"Yes, we would like to rent two rooms," Zhou Anran muttered, inwardly frowning.

"Four hundred copper coins per night for two rooms, Madam." The middle-aged woman flashed a smile, and her lips curled up into something else.

She had her arms crossed over her chest with a slightly arrogant look.

Zhou Anran was so anxious about her son that she didn’t argue. She took out a pouch and gave two strings of copper coins, each filled with two hundred coins.

The middle-aged woman took the money, and her smile became wider. She called over her worker and told her to attend to the Xiao family.

The young girl smiled at them and led them to a few rooms. Along the way, the Xiao family members couldn’t help but look around, trying to find any sign of their eldest brother.

[Little Ya, the scammer did his ritual in a separate courtyard. He wants to do it before Xiao Jingran’s Master returns.]

"Are there other rooms besides these?" Zhou Anran asked after the young girl showed them the rooms.

The places looked too old and dilapidated to be called a decent inn. It was also more expensive compared to a normal inn.

The young worker was taken aback. She gestured to her left. "There is another courtyard, but..."

"We will take the rooms in that courtyard." Xiao Fenghao said impatiently, and he headed there with long strides.

"Young Sir, no!" The young worker was panicking. "Don’t go that way!"