Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 86 You're Just Not Smart

The dusty young man walked quickly into the main entrance of Yunchen Inn.

He did not go out through the back door of the yard.

Jiang Xuan nodded to the enthusiastic waiter and staff of the inn, and walked all the way to the backyard through the corridor connecting the front and back yards.

The backyard and front yard of Yunchen Inn are both two stories high, but their uses are different.

The front yard is mainly responsible for receiving local and passing guests. Of course, there are also some guests who come here just to eat fish. It is also a place for guests who are not staying overnight to eat, stop and rest.

The backyard is responsible for receiving overnight guests. Guests in the backyard can go to the front yard for activities, but guests in the front yard are not allowed to enter the backyard without permission.

Jiang Xuan came to the counter on the first floor of the backyard, and sure enough, the waiter was still there waiting for him.

But it seemed that the waiter's mental state was somewhat different from before, and his expression was a little more tired.

"I've brought the money." Jiang Xuan took out a silver note from his pocket and handed it to the waiter.

The waiter heard the voice, looked up and saw the person coming. The tiredness on his face dissipated a lot and he said, "You are here!"

After taking a look at the banknote in the young man's hand, the waiter asked, "Sir, do you have any cash?"

Jiang Xuan shook his head. The waiter took the banknote and asked the young man, "Sir, are you staying in our inn tonight?"

"Well, let's continue for two more nights." Jiang Xuan responded calmly.

"okay!"

The waiter made a few more entries in the account book and said to Jiang Xuan, "Sir, the total is thirteen taels and one hundred and fifty wen."

Jiang Xuan nodded, but the waiter looked a little hesitant.

After some hesitation, the waiter finally spoke: "Sir, the shopkeeper is not here right now, so I don't have enough cash to give you."

"How many?" Jiang Xuan asked.

"There's no place to spend money in the guest room at night, so we only have fifty taels of cash," the waiter replied.

"Then give me fifty taels first. You'll have to eat here for the next few days, so leave the rest of the money on the counter."

The waiter was a little nervous at first, fearing that the boy would take the money back using the excuse of not having change, but he turned out to be a trustworthy, considerate and straightforward man.

The waiter smiled and said to the young man, "Okay, thank you for your understanding."

The waiter poured a bag of change onto the scale and showed it to the young man in front of him.

Seeing the young man nod, he put the silver coins on the scale back into the bag and handed it to the young man: "Today is not my night watch, but our staff are always downstairs. If you need anything, please let us know."

"I'm sorry for taking up your time today." Jiang Xuan replied.

Hearing the young man's words, the waiter felt a little embarrassed and pursed his lips: "Excuse me, sir. I was inconsiderate and did not handle things properly today. Please don't take it to heart."

"No problem." Jiang Xuan tied the bag and went upstairs without saying anything else.

……

"I am back."

Jiang Xuan stood in front of a candlelit room and knocked on the door frame a few times, neither lightly nor heavily.

"Come in now that you're back. You're waiting for me, the old man, to open the door for you!" a voice came from the room.

Jiang Xuan pushed the door open and saw that the layout of the room was a little different from when he left.

Mr. Sha was lying on the bed with his feet up leisurely, while several packages of different sizes were scattered on the table.

"Mr. Sha, what are you doing?" Jiang Xuan glanced around and asked.

"I packed up my luggage while you were out. If I were any later, I'd probably have to pay again."

Jiang Xuan smiled helplessly and said, "We'll stay for two more days."

"Stay two more days? Have you got the money?" Sha Lao was a little nonchalant. Seeing that Jiang Xuan didn't answer immediately, he felt something was wrong. He put his legs down and sat up on the bed. With a hint of doubt, his voice became a little softer: "You can't go home in such a short time, right?"

"How could we possibly go home?" Jiang Xuan walked to the table and touched the black rhino and Yan Xing that were wrapped up by Sha Lao. "Then how did they let you in if you didn't get the money?" Sha Lao asked in a low voice.

"I got the money." Although Jiang Xuan was talking back and forth with Old Sha, his attention at the moment was all on his two guns.

Old Sha looked at Jiang Xuan's actions, feeling a little anxious. He said, "Stop being so mysterious, little brat. Tell me in detail."

Jiang Xuan sighed softly, "When I sent Miss Ning Wei into the city, I gave the guard at the city gate an inner elixir, so I went to collect my reward today."

When Old Sha heard what Jiang Xuan said, he saw stars. He got off the bed and walked up to Jiang Xuan: "Give him the inner elixir? Why didn't you say it earlier? What inner elixir did you give him?" He spoke faster and faster, and became a little anxious.

"You didn't ask!" Jiang Xuan pursed his lips when he saw Mr. Sha's anxious look.

"Don't talk about anything else. What kind of inner elixir did you give me?"

"The inner elixir of a first-level ferocious beast. There's nothing I can do about it. The city gates are too strictly checked. Who would want to give the inner elixir? But Miss Ning Wei is anxious to enter the city..." Jiang Xuan muttered in a low voice with some grievance.

Old Sha finally breathed a sigh of relief, stroked his beard, and said, "It's not bad, it's only a first-level one."

"If I had known earlier, I should have taken the beast's true form, so I wouldn't have to sacrifice my inner elixir." Jiang Xuan said with some reluctance when recalling it.

Elder Sha waved his hand and said, "As I said before, don't use it to exchange for rewards, so as not to get into trouble. But the inner elixir is better than directly using the beast's body to exchange for rewards. At least it won't match the number."

While Jiang Xuan was still pondering what Sha Lao had said, Sha Lao looked at him with an intriguing expression and said, "It's a bit of a loss, but if you say it's for Miss Ning Wei, you're the one who made a profit!"

Then he looked left and right at Jiang Xuan and let out a silver bell-like laugh, which made Jiang Xuan feel a little uneasy.

Jiang Xuan's face was a little unnatural, and he said, "Old Sha, please don't talk nonsense. There is nothing going on between Miss Ning Wei and me. Don't talk about her behind her back."

"Alright! You're just not smart. Since you won't let me talk, I won't talk anymore."

Mr. Sha smiled and immediately changed his tone: "How much money did you get?"

"Two thousand... five hundred taels." Jiang Xuan saw how quickly Sha Lao's expression changed, and he was a little slow to react, so he replied hesitantly. "So much?" Sha Lao was inevitably shocked.

"Well, originally it was said that I should receive 400 taels, but because it was an inner elixir, a senior brother helped out and finally gave me 2,500 taels."

"What senior brother?" asked Mr. Sha.

"He said it was Senior Brother Qiu Yi from Qizhou Martial Arts School."

"you know?"

"He was the guard who was on duty at the city gate when I entered the city before. He wasn't there today."

After hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Sha Lao nodded, thinking about something.

Jiang Xuan's tone became a little more cheerful, and he added, "I met a few disciples from the Qizhou Martial Arts School today. They were all very welcoming."

"We don't know each other, why should we help each other?" Old Sha said to himself.

"Maybe he feels that exchanging his inner elixir for a reward is a bit of a loss, so he's willing to say a few words for me." Jiang Xuan replied indifferently.

After hearing this, Old Sha looked at Jiang Xuan and analyzed his situation, "But do you know that something strange has been going on in the city these past few days? At this critical juncture, there's no time to bother with such trivial matters, unless he knows you, or wants to know you."

"This city is indeed strange, otherwise I wouldn't be in such a mess." Jiang Xuan pointed to the mud on his body and continued, "The guards of the City Lord's Mansion were so arrogant that they almost stepped on a child."

Sha Lao teased: "If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you were going to do hard labor."

After saying this, he stopped joking and continued, "Since the city is not peaceful, we should hurry out of the city. Otherwise, it will be even more difficult to leave the city if we delay any longer."

Jiang Xuan was somewhat helpless and said, "The two people I met today are willing to help me find out about the Tongyan merchant I told you about before. I thought it would be a good thing if we could get some definite information. It would make the search easier, so we'll stay for two more days."

Old Sha had told Jiang Xuan before that a merchant with a childlike appearance and carrying a wooden box should have left the city through the west gate. According to his route, he might have gone to the Qixi Desert.

"Is it that this guy doesn't fully trust me yet? Or is that ring really important to him? Or is he being used and deceived?"

Old Sha thought about it again and again, but finally felt that since Jiang Xuan did not hide this matter from him, but told him about it openly, there must be no other reason, it was just that the ring was too important to Jiang Xuan.

In fact, Jiang Xuan didn't think much about it. Although Old Sha was indeed a bit mysterious, he didn't distrust him. He just wanted to find the merchant as soon as possible, or find out the whereabouts of the ring through some clues.

If the ring was bought by someone from Qizhou, why bother going so far to look for that merchant?
The two looked at each other. Mr. Sha didn't ask any more questions, but he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

(End of this chapter)