The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 20 Haunted
The border of Qi and Lu, Dongchang Prefecture, and Pingshan Wei.

Li Miao and his group of four rode to the city gate on horseback.

The soldiers guarding the city gate looked up and one of them saw that the people looked exhausted and thought they were merchants, so he was about to step forward and demand a bribe.

Someone with sharp eyes noticed the scabbard exposed at Mei Qinghe's waist, and realized that these people were from the underworld. He quickly grabbed the man who was about to demand a bribe and waved his hand to let him go.

People in the underworld are all poor and arrogant. They have no money, love to fight, and care about face.

There are so many people passing by in a day, and there are always traveling merchants who are easy to control and have good profits, so it is not worth asking for money from the gangsters.

Wang Hai saw this scene, turned around and said to Li Miao with a smile: "Brother, do they want to ask us for money?"

"We have always raided other people's homes and they want to ask us for money. This is the first time."

Of course Wang Hai couldn't call Li Miao "Qian Hu" in public.

Li Miao said nonchalantly: "If you really want it, just give it to him. If a soldier doesn't pay for a bowl of wontons, he will be considered as taking advantage. How much can he ask for?"

But this caused Xiao Si behind him to complain: "Master, we can't afford it."

"We have no money!"

"Hmm?" Li Miao turned to look at Xiao Si: "Didn't you bring a lot of money with you before you came out? Have you spent it all?"

"You're still talking!"

Xiao Si stretched out his fingers and counted them one by one: "Yesterday you were listening to a storyteller in the teahouse. When you were happy, you gave him five taels. The storyteller was almost crying because he thought you wanted to buy his life!"

"And the wine we drank the day before yesterday. A pot cost three taels of silver, and you drank five pots."

"The day before yesterday you said the saddle was too hard and uncomfortable to sit on, and you insisted on changing it to a softer one. Then when it was made, you said it was too soft and uncomfortable, so you asked us to make one that was soft but not too hard."

"The master thought you were here to rip off the market. He made six in a row before you were satisfied. One was three taels of silver, and this is eighteen taels."

"The key is that in the previous incident in Northern Zhili, you gave the local yamen runners 100 taels of silver to help them settle down."

"And the day before yesterday..."

Xiao Si told Li Miao everything about the family, which gave him a headache and he quickly waved his hands.

"You know I can't save money. It's not just one or two days."

"Just tell me how much is left."

He really never cared about money. When he was in Shuntian Prefecture, he kept all his money with Xiao Si. When he was short of money, he would go to the Jinyiwei's warehouse to withdraw some. Anyway, some of the money was originally his.

It’s not that he really couldn’t figure out the accounts, but he was used to this lifestyle and never cared about it. He just treated Xiao Si as a housekeeper.

People are lazy, and Li Miao has long been spoiled by Zhu Zai and Xiao Si. When Xiao Si gets married, he may learn how to manage money.

Xiao Si spread his hands and said, "It's gone!"

"Our meals these past few days were all paid for by Sister Mei!"

Li Miao turned and looked at Mei Qinghe.

Mei Qinghe closed his eyes and took out a cloth bag from his arms expressionlessly: "I still have ten taels..."

She turned her head to look to the side and stretched out her hand in front of Xiao Si: "That's all..."

Seeing her heroic appearance, Li Miao hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, take it back."

"I'm not at the point where I need to eat with my subordinates' money."

"Hai'er." He turned and looked at Wang Hai.

Wang Hai laughed and said, "Brother, I am also your lackey. How dare you ask me for money?"

"I'll return it to you when I get back to Shuntian Prefecture. It's all official business anyway. I'll just go to Curry and grab a few handfuls and settle the account for you." Li Miao said.

Wang Hai spread his hands and said, "I gave all my money to Xiao Si. Xiao Si has no money, and I have no money either."

Hearing this, Li Miao glanced at Wang Hai, then looked at Xiao Si: "Where's his money?"

Xiao Si held his waist bag tightly with his hands: "No!"

"Brother Hai's money should be used for serious matters. I can't afford you to waste it!"

"Oh." Li Miao said with a smile: "You haven't even married yet, but you're already managing money. You won't even give money to your parents when they ask for it, right?"

"When the time comes to ask for the betrothal gift, aren't you afraid that I will ask for too much and take all the money?"

When they were in Shuntian Prefecture, Wang Hai and Xiao Si had developed a secret crush on each other, but Wang Hai couldn't always go to Li Miao's house at that time, and they couldn't say much when they met, so they were a little embarrassed before. But during this period of time, Li Miao was either dozing off or running around watching the fun all day, and didn't pay attention to the two of them.

Mei Qinghe is a quiet person and follows behind without saying a word all day long.

The two of them talked together every day, and Li Miao was always teasing them. Now that their relationship was almost clear, they were not as embarrassed as before.

Xiao Si blushed when he heard what Li Miao said, and whispered, "You don't even know how much money you have, I'll just bring more when the time comes..."

Li Miao smiled and said, "That's a solution. It looks like I can't come out with you."

"Xiaomei."

Mei Qinghe had just put the money into her arms, but when she heard this, she closed her eyes and took out the money and handed it to Xiao Si.

Li Miao waved his hand: "Let's just deal with it today. I'll go and ask the local officials for money tomorrow."

"There are Jinyiwei who were hacked to death, but I have never heard of any who starved to death."

"The Jinyiwei captain came to his house just to ask him for some money. I'm afraid he will be so happy that he will cry."

The four of them chatted and laughed as they walked to a restaurant.

It was only noon at this time, but the restaurant was crowded with people and there were few empty seats. It was obvious that business was good.

Several people tied up their horses in front of the door. Li Miao walked in first and a waiter came over to greet them.

"Sir, what would you like to eat?"

"Four of you, what good wine do you have?"

"Master!"

The voices of three people overlapped.

Li Miao looked back and saw Xiao Si looking at him angrily, making a gesture of ten taels with his hands.

Looking at Mei Qinghe again, she was looking up at the ceiling, not saying a word.

He couldn't change his habit, and just now he almost said, "Just bring us some delicious wine and food," forgetting that he only had ten taels of silver, which he had to force from Mei Qinghe.

Even if we eat as much as we want here, it won't cost more than ten taels of silver, but after all, our wallet is empty, so it's better to spend less.

Li Miao smiled, turned to the waiter and said, "The four of you, have a simple meal."

"Serve us a few dishes based on our appetites and some tea."

"Okay, sit here."

The waiter agreed and led the four people to sit down. He served them some tea and then went to the kitchen to order the menu.

The four of them sat down. Wang Hai and Xiao Si sat together and whispered. Mei Qinghe closed her eyes and regulated her breathing. She placed her hands on her knees and gestured with her fingers from time to time. She must be thinking of sword moves in her mind.

This left Li Miao behind.

When they first went out, Wang Hai and Xiao Si were too embarrassed to talk alone, so they always talked to Li Miao. Since the two of them made their relationship clear, they spent the whole day together, and Li Miao had no one to talk to.

Mei Qinghe was not a good person to chat with. If you talked about martial arts with her, she would have something to talk about. But if you talked about something else, she would just listen for a long time and then say "yes" or "I don't agree".

Li Miao had no choice but to pour himself a cup of tea and use his ears to eavesdrop on other people chatting in the tavern to relieve their boredom.

Suddenly, Li Miao's eyes lit up and he put down the teacup in his hand.

"Have you heard about the ghost incident at Mr. Wu's house?"

"Oh, everyone knows that. Didn't it scare away many servants?"

"My brother-in-law works for Mr. Wu's family. He actually saw the ghost when he was patrolling a few nights ago!"

"His hair was disheveled, his body and face were covered in blood, and he was floating in the air without touching the ground. My brother-in-law fainted on the spot and lay in the yard for half a night before being found. He is still taking medicine now!"

Li Miao stood up, ignoring Xiao Si's angry look, took some silver and went to buy a pot of wine.

He turned around and walked to the table next to them, sat down and bowed.

"Hey guys, I was waiting for the food over there and overheard you guys talking."

"I travel a lot, and I like to hear some local anecdotes. This bottle of wine is just to moisten your throats."

"Can you tell me about this haunted thing?"

(End of this chapter)