Zhao Yuanqing decided to go to the inn first to see if she could find something. She disguised herself and went to the East Market with Meng Jiu and others.

This inn is very famous. It is called Sanniangzi Inn. The owner is a widow in her thirties named Qiao Sanniang. She is kind and generous. She often provides rooms for free or at a low price to people who have no money. Therefore, many people stay at her place.

The inn is divided into front and back yards. The front yard is a two-story building for receiving guests, and the back yard is for cooking and watering horses.

Zhao Yuanqing and her group of five rented three rooms and lived on the second floor. From upstairs, they saw many donkeys tied up in the stable. She asked Qiao Sanniang, "Shopkeeper, why are there so many donkeys?"

"Sir, you may not know that our shop also trades in live donkeys. These donkeys are all purchased from other places."

Zhao Yuanqing nodded, wondering, how could a widow who opened an inn still have the energy to do the donkey business?

Qiao Sanniang served them food, but Zhao Yuanqing and the others didn't eat it and poured it all into the toilet.

In the middle of the night, they groped their way to Qiao Sanniang's room at the western end of the first floor. A dim light shone through, and there was some movement inside.

Meng Jiu and a few others were on guard, and Zhao Yuanqing poked a hole in the oil paper on the window and looked inside with his eyes pressed against the hole.

Qiao Sanniang was busy. She opened a box and took out a half-foot-tall wooden man and a wooden cow. She put the wooden man and the wooden cow on the ground, and saw that the wooden man was driving the wooden cow and it actually started to move.

Zhao Yuanqing's eyes widened. What was this? A mechanical device?

The wooden man plowed the ground under the bed with great effort. Qiao Sanniang took out a bag of wheat seeds from the box. The wooden man planted them and Qiao Sanniang watered them.

A strange thing happened. The wheat seeds that had just been planted broke through the soil and sprouted immediately. Within a stick of incense, they blossomed and bore fruit, and grew heavy ears of wheat.

Zhao Yuanqing covered his mouth. It wasn't mechanical magic, it was divine magic! Who was this Third Lady?

The wooden man harvested the wheat. Qiao Sanniang took out a wooden mill and the wooden man ground the wheat into powder. A bag of flour appeared on the table.

Then, Qiao Sanniang put the wooden man and the wooden cow back into the box, and used the flour to make a dozen or so pancakes with a strong wheat aroma.

Zhao Yuanqing was puzzled. Why did Qiao Sanniang go to so much trouble just to make these ten or so pancakes?

Seeing that Qiao Sanniang was about to come out, Zhao Yuanqing hurriedly hid in the stable in the backyard with Meng Jiu and others.

After a while, Qiao Sanniang came out with some sesame cakes and woke up a few guests who were traveling at night. She handed each of them a bowl of spicy soup and a sesame cake. Several people thanked Qiao Sanniang and ate with big mouthfuls, praising the food as they ate. Qiao Sanniang stood beside them with a smile.

Strange things happened again. After finishing their meal, the guests fell to the ground, gray hair grew all over their bodies, and they made "hmm-hmm-hmm" sounds with their mouths. They actually all turned into donkeys!

It turned into a donkey! It turned into a donkey!

Zhao Yuanqing closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still a donkey! What on earth was going on?! Meng Jiu and the others were also astonished.

Qiao Sanniang skillfully whipped the donkeys to the stable when she suddenly heard a shout, "Catch them!"

Meng Jiu and a few others jumped out and pressed Qiao Sanniang to the ground motionlessly. It seemed that she did not know any martial arts.

Qiao Sanniang pretended to be dumb and asked, "Dear guests, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Zhao Yuanqing sneered, "If I hadn't been awake in the middle of the night, I wouldn't have known that Qiao Sanniang had the ability to turn people into donkeys!"

Qiao Sanniang struggled in panic, "What did you say? I don't understand!"

"If you don't understand, don't listen! Feed her one of those pancakes too!"

Even when the pancake was brought to her mouth, Qiao Sanniang refused to eat it, saying, "Sir, please spare my life!"

"Tell me the truth, what's going on?"

According to Qiao Sanniang, she bought a set of wooden men and wooden cows at a flea market. At first, she thought they were children's toys, but later she found that they could grow wheat. So she made flour into sesame cakes and sold them. Unexpectedly, after the guests ate the sesame cakes, they turned into donkeys. So she fed the sesame cakes to the guests every few days and started a business of reselling donkeys. This business with no capital cost is much more profitable than running an inn.

"It's possible for these people to change back?"

Qiao Sanniang shook her head, "No."

One can imagine the fate of those people. They either turned into donkey meat soup or burned with donkey meat.

This Qiao Sanniang attracted people under the pretext of free accommodation, but her purpose was to turn them into donkeys and sell them. It's so despicable!

"Do you know Zining?"

"I know her. She's a maid in the East Palace. She's been to my shop a few times. Once, she saw a customer turn into a donkey. I begged her not to tell anyone, and she agreed, asking me to sell her some sesame cakes. Another time, two scoundrels followed her, and she brought them to my shop. After feeding them two sesame cakes, they all turned into donkeys."

"How many pancakes did you sell her?"

"Nine in total."

Zi Ning was holding this pancake. Who was she going to give it to? Did someone in the Eastern Palace turn into a donkey?

Qiao Sanniang begged for mercy desperately, but Zhao Yuanqing showed no mercy. He thought that this man had harmed countless innocent people, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he should be torn into pieces by five horses.

Zhao Yuanqing winked at Meng Jiu, who nodded, removed Qiao Sanniang's jaw, stuffed the pancake down her throat, and pinched her mouth tightly.

In full view of everyone, Qiao Sanniang turned into a donkey, braying "hmm, hmm, hmm," but the difference was that the donkey she turned into seemed to still retain human will, and tears were falling from her eyes.

Looking back, all the donkeys on the ground had turned into humans, and all of them were unconscious. Including those already in the stable, there were a total of twenty-four. Qiao Sanniang was so greedy!

It turned out that Qiao Sanniang lied. As long as she turned into a donkey, anyone who ate the sesame cakes she made would be able to turn back into a donkey.

Zhao Yuanqing and others woke them up, but these people didn't remember what happened before. They just felt like they were having a dream. After waking up, they quickly packed up their things and left.

At the same time, in many places in Daqing Kingdom, strange stories of donkeys turning into humans suddenly appeared and spread like wildfire. People thought it was the appearance of the donkey fairy.

Meng Jiu asked, "Master, what should we do with Qiao Sanniang?"

"Take it to the donkey meat shop and sell it."

Of course Qiao Sanniang refused, but Meng Jiu whipped her and took her to a pancake shop to sell it. Two hours later, Qiao Sanniang was chopped into meat paste and made into pancakes. It could be considered a retribution.

Zhao Yuanqing returned to Qiao Sanniang's room and took away the box containing the wooden man and the wooden cow. She kept these things for use.

Afterwards, they woke up the guests and set Qiao Sanniang's house on fire. The entire inn was shrouded in flames. From then on, Sanniang Inn disappeared completely.

After returning home, Zhao Yuanqing tried it out. Under her operation, the wooden man could also grow wheat and grind flour. Zhao Yuanqing put the flour in a dark room and take it out to use when the opportunity was right.

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