Emperor's Cunning Wife

The sun rose at its peak. It was time for lunch and so Ning Lou found a stall selling noodles and meat buns to fill her stomach and dehydrated throat. Her clean and neat appearance and the clothes made of cotton differ in contrast to the rough men and commoners, a few stares were sent on her way. Still every one maintained their courtesy and swallowed their questions.

After her bowl was empty, Ning Lou thanked the stall owner and tossed a few more bronze coins as a tip.

Waving the fan she purchased earlier, she assumed the posture of an elegant scholar blending with the commoners. Two pairs of eyes constantly scanning the surroundings of any peculiar activity, on hand held the fan, the other was folded at the back. Her ears were honed to catch any interesting things.

The market was filled with various goods ranging from pins, sachets, tassels, flowers, ornaments, snacks, and so on so Ning Lou spent some time to marvel at the ancient's unique selling strategies. Take for example; a few feet away, she could see a fellow customer persuading another customer to buy the old man's good as it was of high quality and one of a kind. The other customer falling prey to their scheme also bought one never expecting the old man and the one chattering a while ago was winking at each other. Moreover, there was also a middle aged woman selling some loquats switched the bags secretly and passed the already packed loquats mixed with rotten ones to the customer paying some bronze coins. These activities whether it's the past or the future very much existed. It was entertaining to be a bystander watching them staging their plays accompanied by the sounds of qin and guzheng from a nearby brothel.

Suddenly, she caught another performance from the corner of her eyes, a boy with the age from 11 to 13 bumped into a man dressed in a navy blue steward's clothes. The steward had a terrible look and lashed out a kick to the boy's abdomen.

Thud-

The boy landed a meter away. Its kneecap and elbow got scr.a.p.ed. He did not get up and instead sent dagger glares at the steward.

"You should look at the way next time! Presumptuous slave!"

The steward sneered at him and dusted off the part where the boy touched and walked away. He never got to see the boy's small conceited smirk hidden beneath his fury façade.

Ning Lou opened her fan and covered half of her face leaving the crescent eyes to see the boy's situation. Others had witnessed the boy got beaten up and pitied him. But, Ning Lou saw a whole different story, especially that minute reaction which disappeared like an illusion.

"Get up now. He's gone, just don't cross paths with that arrogant guy." An aunty helped him up and advised him in case he ended up like this in the future again.

A few people also sympathized with him and echoed the aunt's word's

Finally confirming that the steward's silhouette was gone, the boy wiped the dirt and limped towards an empty alley.

Swoosh-

Ning Lou closed her fan followed him discreetly, she noticed the boy turning his head a few times probably making sure that no one was tailing him, so she hid every time the boy's neck would creased.

Their short walk turned into a long one as Ning Lou noticed that the little guy was making detours after detours. It seemed her stalking was detected so that little guy was trying to get her off his tail.

When another two paths appeared, she stopped and stepped back finding an inconspicuous corner to hide.

Feng Hong tightly gripped the small pouch on his hand while strolling in an unfamiliar part of the town. He constantly changed routes for half an hour, coupled with hunger and exhaustion, his feet didn't want to continue anymore. He looked at the unfamiliar scenery and was pissed off. If it wasn't for that person following him, he would long reached their hideout, unfortunately he was unsure of the other person' intention and didn't want to implicate his other siblings, so this was the only option.

He exhaled and stuffed his looted earnings inside his clothes and traced back his steps to his hideout. In the midst, he remained alert of any person with malicious intention.

Thump. A small rock hitting another rock sounded at the back.

He stiffened and searched for the source of the sound. A few feet away from where he stood, there was that rock that must have been the culprit. His heart skipped a beat and his instinct told him he was not alone, he had a bad premonition.

Just as he was about to escape again, someone grabbed the collar of his clothes, his feet couldn't make a run and there was a mischievous voice and hot breath sprayed on his neck bringing shivers to his spine.

"I caught you. By the way, nice trick."

That concluded their game of cat and mouse.