Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

Chapter 142 Is This Your Former Guest?

Xiao didn't understand Meng Liyun's intention and looked her up and down.

Meng Liyun felt as if two sharp rays of light had scraped her from head to toe, as if a thorn was on her back. When Xiao withdrew his gaze, she did not receive a response for a long time, and she could not help feeling a little nervous.

Come to think of it, it seemed a bit over the line for her to suddenly ask him this, after all, they had just met not long ago...

"Okay." Xiao finally spoke, glancing up at the sky. "When the time comes, Li Heng and I will wait for you for an hour. If you don't come, we'll leave."

Hearing this, Meng Liyun nodded and agreed, "Okay, okay, then it's a deal."

After the two of them had reached an agreement, Meng Liyun stopped paying attention to the people who were still arguing and left with the old lady.

As expected, until we passed Xiong'er Mountain and reached the surrounding towns, we no longer saw any bandits, only a few strange-looking monsters.

Meng Liyun took the old lady into the city and asked her where her daughter was. They followed her directions, but ended up at a restaurant, and her daughter was not there either.

"No, that's impossible. My daughter told me that she is right here." The old lady looked at the account office at the entrance of the restaurant in disbelief and asked anxiously, "Is there a mistake?"

"Auntie, it's you who made a mistake, right?" The accountant looked at his hand being held and said helplessly, "We have been running a shop here, you——"

"No, no!" The old lady waved her hands repeatedly, seeming a little absent-minded. She leaned on the counter and thought for a moment, then stretched out her finger again, "I remember, I came here a few years ago, and my daughter was still here at that time."

"That's...how many years?" the accountant said helplessly.

"Not much... just about seven or eight years?" The old lady stretched out her finger and gestured.

When the accountant heard this, he suddenly realized: "Ah, our boss moved here seven years ago. When he bought this building, the owner was indeed a girl. Her last name was... last name——"

The old lady: "My surname is Qin."

The accountant: "Yes, yes, the last name is Qin!"

"Oh, then your daughter should have moved out a long time ago." The accountant patted the old lady's hand, "This building was sold at a low price. They said something happened at the time..."

The accountant didn't finish. The old lady lowered her head slightly, her eyes sparkling. Although she was still smiling, for some reason, every deep wrinkle on her face revealed a deep sense of loss, and people who looked at her couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"Then..." the old lady said, her slightly cloudy eyes brimming with tears, "Why didn't you tell me..."

"This..." Seeing her like this, the accountant looked at Meng Liyun with some embarrassment.

Meng Liyun also felt that this was a bit tricky. She looked at the sad old lady, hesitated for a moment and asked the accountant: "Did she say where she was going?"

"That's indeed... not the case." The accountant shook his head and spread his hands apologetically.

"Forget it, forget it." The old lady waved her hands repeatedly and said sadly, "Five years ago, my daughter sent me the last letter. Since then, I have not heard from her. She broke her leg in the past two years. Now she is almost recovered and came here..."

The old lady said, pounding her leg and sighing heavily: "Forget it, I'll take another look."

After leaving the restaurant, Meng Liyun looked at the old woman and felt a little worried about her being alone, so she suggested that she follow her so that she could help inquire about things on the way.

The old lady, who was immersed in disappointment, did not answer immediately. The two walked on the road in silence for a while. Looking at the passers-by, the old lady finally agreed.

……

"I'm so sorry to trouble you." The old lady said apologetically while sitting in the carriage.

Meng Liyun was just about to wave her hands and say it was nothing when the woman next to her suddenly spoke.

"Why are you following me if you know it's trouble? You're talking so much nonsense."

Meng Liyun looked at Ran Ran. Ran Ran was riding a tall horse, and seemed to feel that she was looking at her, so she glanced at her.

Meng Liyun met her eyes and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

The owl sitting next to her had his eyes closed, seemingly paying no attention to the conflict on their side, and stood still as a mountain.

The old lady was startled when she heard this, her expression dimmed, and she slowly shrank back, looking a little uneasy.

"Just sit down." Meng Liyun saw what she was thinking, and pushed her back into the car, saying with a smile, "We'll take you back when we're done."

The old lady was a little surprised. She nodded repeatedly with a wave in her eyes, as if she was a little touched: "Oh, okay."

Ranran sneered disdainfully, but said nothing more. She whipped the horse whip to speed up.

Not long after leaving town, problems arose.

This question is mainly for Xiao.

The matter was very simple. As soon as they entered the forest, the owl suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

"I have no money." Xiao looked at Meng Liyun without changing his expression.

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun: So what?

Meng Liyun was a little confused. She felt that she might know what Xiao meant, but was afraid of misunderstanding him, so she could only stare at him blankly.

"What do you want to say?" Ranran stopped her horse with a worried look on her face.

"Nothing. I just have no money." Xiao glanced at her, "I need some money."

"But... there are mountains all around here, and it will take some time to find a job in town. How do you plan to make money?" Li Heng walked over with his horse, bent down and asked him.

"How about we give you some?" Meng Liyun asked tentatively. Before she finished speaking, she heard Ran Ran speak.

"impossible."

Ran Ran glanced at her with a cold look, and snorted, "You are really generous... Our money is also money, why should we give it to him? It was originally an agreement, and now he has a problem, so why should we bear this responsibility?"

Meng Liyun knew that she was right. She looked at Xiao with some embarrassment, then looked at the silver she had left and gritted her teeth.

"Ran Ran's words are harsh, please don't argue with her." Li Heng apologized to Xiao, "But it is true, and we really can't wait. How about you use the jade on your neck as collateral, and we will help you to pay it back when you have money?"

Hearing what he said, Meng Liyun knew without even thinking that Xiao would refuse.

As expected, Xiao shook his head, looked at her, and then looked at Li Heng: "I mean for you to wait here for me, I'll go get some money."

"Get money? Do you think money comes from the wind? Or do you think there is a mountain of gold and silver here that you can take at will?" Ran Ran couldn't help but said sarcastically.

Meng Liyun frowned uncomfortably, looked at her coldly, and turned to look at Xiao who was getting out of the car.

Xiao acted as if he didn't hear anything. After saying hello to Li Heng, he walked away along the mountain road without looking back.

"What on earth does he want to do? I've said it before, he's unreliable." Ran Ran looked at the direction where Xiao left and complained, "Look, he didn't dare to say a word among the bandits, and now this has happened again, and he still makes us wait for him..."

"Okay." Li Heng patted her hands and whispered to comfort her, "Just wait a moment."

Meng Liyun glanced at Ranran, hesitated for a moment, talked to Li Heng, and then drove to follow.

Xiao's speed was quite fast. Although his figure disappeared for less than a moment, Meng Liyun took some time to catch up with him before he entered the mountain.

"What are you doing back here?" Meng Liyun looked at Xiao walking up the mountain, very confused, "Aren't you here to make money?"

"Yeah." Xiao glanced at her and kept walking.

"What are you going to do?"

"Suppress the bandits."

Xiao said lightly.

Meng Liyun:?

"Suppress bandits?" Meng Liyun was stunned, somewhat unbelievable.

"Not really." Xiao thought for a moment and said, "I just want some money from them."

Meng Liyun: ...

Meng Liyun hesitated: "...Will they give it to you if you want?"

Xiao gave her a strange look and said, "Of course not."

Meng Liyun: "...Then why did you——?"

Xiao turned his head and said, "Just hit it once and it will be fine."

Meng Liyun: ...

You are not like this in my memory...

Meng Liyun frowned slightly and was quite speechless.

Xiao glanced at her, seemingly not noticing her expression, and said calmly, "Go back, don't you have an old man in your car?"

Meng Liyun heard him say this, hesitated for a moment but did not turn back, instead she said: "I'll go with you, I feel uneasy with Li Heng and the others."

Having said that, she turned around and asked the old lady in the car for her opinion. The old lady nodded and had no objection to her decision.

Meng Liyun saw this and looked at Xiao again. She felt relieved when she saw that he didn't say anything else.

"But you said you wanted to intercept those bandits...but do you know where their village is?" Meng Liyun asked.

"I have a rough guess." Xiao glanced at her, followed her advice, and got back in the car.

"Is this how you make all your money?" Meng Liyun thought about it carefully. She didn't seem to have seen how he made money before. She only knew that he was not short of money.

"Some people pick up jade from the mountains and sell it." Xiao had no intention of hiding it, "There are also gold mines on some mountains, and we can take some and have people refine it."

"You know about gold mines?" Meng Liyun was stunned and looked at him in surprise. "Then why don't you do more and hire some people to open a mine and do the gold and silver business?"

Seeing Xiao was a little surprised, Meng Liyun paused and added: "Although this is not allowed, it is still okay to secretly do some small business and make a little money occasionally."

Xiao's eyebrows moved slightly, as if he was amused, and he shook his head: "I'm not interested in treasure, as long as I have enough money to spend."

"There has to be a standard for being able to spend." Meng Liyun disagreed with his idea. "Enough to spend, how to spend? Is it enough to spend two steamed buns a day, wearing ragged clothes, sleeping in the open and eating frugally, or is it enough to spend every day, wearing gold and silver, living in a luxurious house? You have to know that the standards of the two are worlds apart."

Meng Liyun wanted to refute what Xiao said about "enough flowers", but she didn't expect him to tilt his head and think for a moment, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I can't explain it either." Xiao's expression was calm, but his tone was very serious, "I just think it's enough..."

Seeing Xiao's eyes drooping, Meng Liyun waved her hands quickly: "I don't mean to blame you, I just have some doubts. After all, most people would choose to open a mine or report to the court... because they will get a lot of money."

"Mining..." Xiao paused, as if recalling something, his eyes were a little gloomy, "It will hurt the mountain too much."

Hurt the mountain?

Meng Liyun was confused for a moment, then she thought of a mountain that was almost hollowed out when she went down to the fields before, and she fell silent.

"...But I heard that the imperial court would fill and repair it after it was mined..." Meng Liyun thought for a moment and said, "Although I haven't seen it, it should be similar...right?"

Xiao shook his head and said nothing more.

Although neither of them said anything, the atmosphere didn't feel awkward. After traveling quietly for a while, the bandits finally appeared again.

"Eh, no...why do you look so familiar?"

The group of bandits had just surrounded the car. The leader looked at Meng Liyun, then at Xiao, touched his chin in confusion, and stared at the two of them.

"Brother, I remember them!" A younger brother had some impression of them and quickly stepped forward and said, "They didn't have much money and just went there this afternoon."

"Hiss..." The boss became more and more confused, "What are you doing with nothing to do?"

"No." Xiao said, looking at him with a calm face and serious eyes, "I want to find you and ask for some money."

"What?" The leader thought for a moment that he had misheard.

Although he asked again, the bandits around him became nervous at the same time. They all gripped their knife handles tightly and stared at Xiao with murderous eyes.

The leader stared at Xiao, his knuckles turning slightly white as he held the knife, his eyes cold and stern: "What do you want?"

Facing so many sharp gazes, Xiao remained calm and repeated, "I said, I want some money."

"You can get what you want if you want it. What do you think of us?!" A sturdy man with a scar on his neck next to the leader shouted, "I don't think you know how powerful we are!"

As he said this, he raised his arm and was about to use the knife.

“—Wait!!”

Suddenly, a long female voice sounded, breaking the atmosphere that the gangsters were about to explode.

Meng Liyun looked over when she heard the sound and saw a dark shadow jumping down from a tall tree not far away. As the footsteps grew louder, the appearance of the person gradually became apparent.

"Madam?!" The leader's expression changed, and he asked in surprise, "Why——"

lady?

Meng Liyun raised her eyebrows slightly and squinted at the person who came. Suddenly her eyes changed and she felt that the person looked familiar.

"Didn't I tell you? Don't keep shouting for war and killing all day long. We must win people over with virtue." The man had a ponytail and was wearing a brown tight suit. Snow-white hair of some unknown animal hung diagonally on his shoulders. He had a red whip wrapped around his waist and shiny boots that were made of real leather.

The woman wore light makeup, her eyebrows were long and thin, her eyes were upturned, her eyes were bright, and the bright red lip balm made her look particularly bright.

"But, but Madam, they are going to steal our things!" When the leader saw the woman, his momentum instantly dropped. He looked at Xiao and said unwillingly.

"Oh?" The woman raised her eyebrows, walked closer slowly, and stopped seven steps away from the two of them, sizing them up. "Apart from the imperial court suppressing bandits... This is the first time I've heard of someone robbing mountain bandits in return. You—"

Suddenly, the woman narrowed her eyes and stared at Xiao's face, as if she was recalling something.

"You—look familiar..." the woman murmured softly, but the voice was clearly heard by people around her.

"Husband, Madam, is this your former...guest?" the man with the scar on his neck asked tentatively, very tactlessly.

The leader's eyes became fierce, he first glared at Scar with a sharp look, and then looked at Xiao fiercely.

The woman glanced at Scar and said nothing.

Scar realized that he had said something wrong, and added: "What I mean is, either we kill him--"

"Oh!" The woman suddenly realized, tapped her fingers, looked at Xiao, and patted Scar's shoulder, "You are right."

what?

Meng Liyun and the other bandits around were all stunned, looking at the two men in disbelief.

"Then are we going to kill him?" the leader asked murderously.

For a moment, the air around seemed to freeze.

"Need not."

Unexpectedly, the woman patted his shoulder with a smile, and strode towards Xiao in full view of everyone.