997: Chapter 618_2 997: Chapter 618_2 Those female subordinates, although less capable than them, dare not confront Du Jiaolan!
The black-clothed men under control, with their high masculine vigour, could make a quiet move and would be gone!
As they moved their bodies, their steeds also shifted their feet; horses too would get hungry and tired, opting to lie down!
“Hurry up…!” Yingzi urged, whipping the irritable horses that had lain down!
The others encountered the same situation; now they could move, but their mounts would not cooperate.
“Shall we continue to follow this road, or return to the small town we passed earlier and keep going forward?”
Du Jiaolan had no choice but to take some dry food from the luggage on her horse to eat.
Wanting to drink water, she found it had frozen into ice, and it was too bitterly cold!
This happened in the dead of night when they could not gather twigs to make a fire.
They took out horse feed from the luggage in the cart, and others followed suit, eating dry food and feeding the horses to make sure they were well-fed and had the strength to travel!
Indeed, animals adapt faster than humans.
After having good feed, the horses, thirsty, ate some snow and were surprisingly lively again!
Whereas humans, after eating dry food and feeling thirsty, longed for a drink, yet found the ice water too chilling; even so, to quench their thirst, some still ate a few mouthfuls of snow.
“Let’s hurry up!” Yingzi commanded, with no one objecting.
On such an icy road, they had to find a place to stay!
They lit torches and arrived at a small town in the dark, finding an inn.
At this point, they couldn’t care less that it was deep into the night!
The inn’s doors were already closed, and the town was quiet as a whisper!
Occasionally, the sound of a dog barking could be heard.
As they approached the inn, a “woof woof” came from inside!
Yingzi sent her subordinates to climb over the wall into the inn, their primary objective being to check if Tang Feiyang’s people were staying there!
A few women climbed over the wall, using their unique abilities to open the inn’s main gate, subdued the frantically barking dog, administered a drug to make it sleep, and surveyed the area without finding any trace of those people, then they reported back to Yingzi.
Yingzi silently surveyed everyone; pursuing those people now might be futile.
Yingzi gave Du Jiaolan a glaring look: “Knock on the door, have the inn’s staff arrange our lodging!”
Du Jiaolan remained silent, merely giving a subordinate a look, and the subordinate nodded, then performed a respectful bow and walked into the inn’s courtyard to knock on the door!
This was just a small-town inn; the inn was not large, and the knocking in the middle of the night frightened the sleeping people, leaving them unsure whether to go and open the door or continue sleeping!
At first, the sound of the dog barking could still be heard, later amidst the noise, the dog fell silent, making them wonder if something bad had happened to the dog!
The inn’s servant dared not take charge, hiding in his blanket, too lazy to go out!
The shopkeeper waited for a moment, listened for any noise, and realized that the knocking was not at the courtyard gate but at their own inn’s door; this scared him – someone had entered, could they be here to steal the guests’ belongings?
Such a late hour, could it be a break-in?
So bold, in the dead of night, could the knocker be a bandit?
The shopkeeper dared not move, shaking in fear with his wife, unable to flee if they were indeed bandits.
He only thought about the Shopkeeper opening the door or an employee going to check if it was a guest or a bandit?
The sounds were indeed frightening!
The Shopkeeper was scared too; here, she was also just an employee and inwardly chastised the employee for not checking, while the shopkeeper pretended to be asleep!
As a Shopkeeper, if she didn’t go, they might just want to stay, but due to their tardy response, they could offend them if they were bandits or troublesome guests!
While the Shopkeeper hesitated over whether to go open the door, the knocking outside grew louder, and those who were outside previously had now entered the inn, bringing their horses into the courtyard!
The sound of horse hooves informed the others just how many there were!
In the middle of the night, the courtyard was covered with freshly fallen snow, previously cleared, now thick again; the squeaking sounds of footsteps on the snow revealed there were dozens of people!
The Shopkeeper, still hesitating, finally dressed herself, shaking cautiously as she stepped out, quietly cracking the inn’s door to peek outside!
In the faint light of the inn’s lanterns, they saw some men in black clothes; among them were also women, some dressed in black, but there were two ladies wearing luxurious clothes, and although their faces were covered, it was clear these people were not to be trifled with!
“Aren’t you going to open the door?
Such a long time knocking, and you only now open it!”
The tone was unpleasant, and the nasty voice did not belong to a man, nor to the women in black clothing, but indeed to one of the richly dressed women!
“In the dead of night, we heard knocking and thought it was bandits.
Sorry, sorry, are you looking for lodging?”
The Shopkeeper’s voice was timid; with so many people on the other side, and she alone here, angering them could lead to an accidental slash or stab, unjust and tragic.
She could tell, with weapons in their hands, were they perhaps Martial World travelers?
“Arrange rooms for us!”
“Fairy, our inn only has a bit more than ten rooms available.
With so many of you, perhaps you could squeeze in?”
Yingzi sent a fierce glance over; her first thought was that she did not want to share a room, speaking harshly: “Wake up the other guests, each of these women gets a room, the men can huddle together!”
“This…
in the middle of the night, we can’t just drive people out!
They’ve paid for their rooms; wouldn’t this make me offend customers?” The Shopkeeper felt like crying; was this woman a female tyrant?
So unreasonable, disturbing others from their rest in the middle of the night, and the others have yet to blame them.
But the Shopkeeper dared not speak out, already having caught sight of the dog lying motionless on the ground to one side!
What a skillful group of guests, to have put the watchful dogs of their inn to sleep!
Did they drug them?
Or did they knock them unconscious?
“Forget it, let’s have one room each for the two of us; the others can squeeze in together, so as not to cause them trouble and stir up more issues!”
As soon as Du Jiaolan’s words fell!
Yingzi gave her a disdainful glance, “Hmph, always the soft-hearted one!”
Yingzi didn’t continue with throwing people out of the inn; the Shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest secretly, wondering why she was so startled in the night!
The Shopkeeper immediately called out to the attendants, to those hiding and pretending not to hear, to cautiously dress and come out!
Carefully attending, arranging for them!
“By the way, did you see a group of over a hundred people during the day?
Some of them in carriages, some on horseback?”
Du Jiaolan recalled this matter and inquired of the Shopkeeper!
If someone else had asked, the Shopkeeper would have surely demanded money, for selling information merits a tip, right!
However, in light of the female tyrant’s harrying they had just faced, this woman seemed quite kind, so she offered a piece of information for free.
“Oh, around noon, such a group did come here to eat, but they didn’t stay overnight, they left right after their meal!”
Du Jiaolan fell silent for a moment, about to speak!
“Which direction did those people go?”
Yingzi had climbed a few stairs, overhearing their conversation pausing, she turned back to interject!
“They went in that direction!” The Shopkeeper indicated a direction!
Du Jiaolan immediately took out a map from her luggage!
Under the candlelight, she made out the direction pointed by the Shopkeeper!
Travel 100 miles from here and you’ll reach the Beast Surge area.
Du Jiaolan sighed softly; it seemed they would not catch up, but they would definitely meet there.
Yingzi ignored her and went upstairs alone, then demanded hot water for a bath late at night!
The attendant cursed many times in his heart at the woman tyrant, distressing him late at night, with it nearly dawn by the time the hot water was ready!
The breakfast cook was about to wake up!
Yet he dared not refuse, the woman was holding a sword, and that look in her eyes suggested that should he refuse, she might split him in two!
Du Jiaolan did not request hot water; however, she asked the Shopkeeper for a brazier to warm the room!