"Fifth brother, quickly come in! Where have you been all this time? Sixth sister and I have been so worried about you. We thought something had happened to you."
Seeing the topless man carrying Zhao Wu inside, Li Huowang followed them; he had a feeling the situation was not as simple as it looked.
"Why are you back?"
As soon as Li Huowang heard what the man with the abacus said in such a calm voice, he knew he was right.
The excited expression on Zhao Wu's face immediately disappeared, replaced with a moody one. His voice shook as he spoke, "Father, I was kidnapped and taken far away. My friends over there helped me so I could come back."
Looking at the group of people standing in front of the entrance with their black-veiled bamboo hats, he grunted impatiently. "Go away! Shoo! How am I supposed to run my business when you're all blocking the entrance?"
Li Huowang was quite pissed at the man's attitude.
Why are you treating us rudely? We are not related to you in the slightest!
At that moment, Li Huowang took the sword that was in Zhao Wu's hands and unsheathed it before pressing the sharp blade onto the table, almost splitting it apart.
"What are you trying to do? The head guard is my cousin!" Zhao Wu's father crawled backward in fear.
Li Huowang took out a piece of silver and shaved a small part of it before placing it right in front of Zhao Wu's father. He then pinched the small piece of silver and pushed it toward the man. "I'm here to buy rice."
Now in the backyard of the grain shop, Zhao Wu was pouring tea for Li Huowang. "Calm down, Senior Li. That's just how my father is; however, he has a good heart."
Li Huowang drank the tea in one go. He couldn't afford to care too much about this matter. After all, there were other things to deal with besides sending Zhao Wu home.
"These are the last words of the guiding drug ingredients, whose families should be located within the kingdom. Since you know Jianye Town best, find a reputable escort service and send these to their respective recipients," Li Huowang said as he took out eight pieces of paper and passed them to Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu received the pieces of paper with both hands and nodded. "Don't worry, Senior Li! I will make sure this is done properly!"
"Sure. You should rest well at home now. We are leaving," Li Huowang said as he stood up.
"So soon? How about having lunch at my house? After all, it was thanks to all of you that I could make it back safely."
Zhao Wu was quite sad about parting ways; it was very likely this would be the last time they met.
"No need to trouble yourself." Li Huowang patted Zhao Wu's shoulder. Based on the attitude of Zhao Wu's father, having lunch here would likely be far too troublesome.
"Remember to memorize the words I've taught you over the past few days, especially your name. At the very least, you won't be completely illiterate if you can at least write your name."
Just as Li Huowang was saying goodbye, one of the guiding drug ingredients, who had black hair all over her body, whispered to Zhao Wu, "Make sure to find out and confirm whether it was your dad who sold you off; it might not have been just a simple kidnapping."
These words shocked everyone, leaving them speechless. It was only after Zhao Wu's third brother brought them their rice that they left.
They walked through the streets, trying to find an inn to stay in.
"Why do you think Zhao Wu was sold off by his own father?" Li Huowang turned and asked the girl. The girl, afflicted with hypertrichosis, usually stayed silent, but her words today had shaken everyone.
"Even a tiger would care for its cub. Maybe he's not that evil?" Li Huowang continued.
Li Huowang had just said that when the girl trembled. With a voice filled with sadness, she said, "A tiger wouldn't abandon its cub! But humans are much more evil than tigers! I was sold off by my parents!"
Everyone stopped and stared at her in shock.
"Two pieces of silver! For just two pieces of silver, they sold me off! They didn't even look back at me!" she continued in a trembling voice.
Sensing the pain in her voice, Bai Lingmiao carefully walked over and hugged her, gently patting her back to calm her down.
Li Huowang remained silent for a moment before he said, "Since they already sold you off, do you still want to go back?"
"Yes! Absolutely!" The girl clenched her teeth and growled.
Sensing her agitation and rapid breathing, Li Huowang somehow knew her reason for going home was different from the rest of them.
"Tong Lai Inn. Let's rest here tonight." Li Huowang pointed at a signboard on the left and walked in.
"Welcome, dear guests. Would you like to rest for a while or stay the night?"
"We are staying the night. How much is it?"
"We have three types of rooms. The deluxe room includes meals and costs 90 coins. The superior room costs 60 coins, but doesn't include meals. The normal room costs 20 coins, but it's like a dormitory. I see you have seven adults and five children. For a group of 12 people, I would recommend choosing four superior rooms. Those rooms would be large enough to allow three people to sleep in them comfortably. It would also be safer if each child is supervised by two adults."
"Okay, let's just go with what you recommend."
"All right! Twelve guests! Four superior rooms~ The rooms are upstairs; please watch your step as you go up."
Soon, it was nighttime, and Li Huowang was silently observing the people walking in the streets outside the window. He finally had time to relax after traveling for so long. This was a good opportunity to observe the strange world he was in.
Strong men guiding horses by reins, a scholar holding a folding fan, children with lanterns, and even a hunchbacked man selling food from a shoulder pole.
Everything seemed so real yet so awkward; it was as if it just didn't fit.
The faces of the various strangers soon began to blur. Li Huowang continued staring until he saw a familiar face, immediately causing his muscles to tense up in shock.
He had just seen Yang Na!
Her pretty face was wet with tears; she was crying and gasping for breath as she screamed, "Huowang! Wake up!"
"Huh?!" He fell backward from the shock but immediately got up and rushed back to the window, looking outside once again.
Unfortunately, he realized it wasn't Yang Na, just another girl who looked like her.
"Yeah... Even I've aged this much in this world. If Yang Na really existed here, how could she still be a young girl..."
Li Huowang slid down with his back against the wall, his eyes looking soulless as he stared at the wooden beams of the room. "Are my hallucinations coming back?"
Suddenly, there was a knock on his door.
"Come in. The door is unlocked." Li Huowang thought it might be Puppy, who was supposed to sleep with him, but instead, it was Bai Lingmiao who entered the room.
She smiled as she showed him something wrapped in lotus leaves. Li Huowang opened it and saw several hot buns inside.
"Senior Li, you must be hungry. Please eat some buns," said Bai Lingmiao.
Li Huowang ate them one by one. He was indeed hungry.
Meanwhile, Bai Lingmiao held the lotus leaf and buns in her hands as she sat beside him and quietly watched, passing him another bun each time he finished one.
"What a wonderful place. To think someone is still selling buns so late at night," Li Huowang said, curious.
"Is that so? I think it's quite normal to sell buns even at night. However, if we're talking about something really special, it would be Simpleton dipping his buns in vinegar before eating them!"
"Haha. I wonder where he's from. To think he has such weird dining habits."
At that moment, Li Huowang realized something while talking with Bai Lingmiao. "Wait, I didn't give you any money. How did you buy these?"
Bai Lingmiao's eyes flickered, but she still gently placed the food on her lap before taking out a few pieces of silver from her waist and showing them to Li Huowang.
"Senior Li, I sold the golden anklet. You're already working so hard for us. This is the least I could do for you."