Clouds and Moon Shadow

He shrugged, indicating that perhaps this was a gift from God, and he felt helpless about it.

Gu Qingyue gave herself a perfect score for her posturing! She was incredibly talented; she definitely deserved an Oscar!

Rong Qingqing was speechless. Was this a slap in the face? Had she never stayed in an inn before? She claimed to have stayed in many more upscale inns before, so why couldn't she think of one?

Okay, there's another saying in this world called "talent," which can't be learned!

Seeing Rong Qingqing's forced smile, she was secretly laughing.

Seeing that things had gone well, Gu Qingyue spoke again: "I've already figured out where to find them."

Rong Qingqing immediately pressed, "Are you going to a brokerage firm to buy someone? That's not cheap."

Gu Qingyue couldn't help but take another look at Rong Qingqing. After knowing her for so long, why was this older sister getting stingier and stingier? Her beauty was fading a bit.

Straightening her sleeves that Rong Qingqing had tugged at, and smoothing down the stray hairs that might be standing on end, Gu Qingyue solemnly said, "I rescued five children a few days ago, cough cough, young man, one of them is a little younger. They are refugees, homeless. I'm asking them if they would like to come."

Hearing this, what else could Rong Qingqing not understand?

In recent years, the border has been unstable, with a large number of refugees wandering around. Countless adults and children have starved to death, and there are many people selling their children on the streets for a few bites of food. She would be very happy to do her best to provide a place for children to settle down and make a living.

Before dinner that evening, Gu Qingyue brought back five boys of varying ages, the oldest being almost fourteen and the youngest nine.

Looking at the children standing in a row, their faces still bearing bruises, one of the boys was even using crutches. They looked so pitiful!

However, kindness is a good thing, but it cannot be boundless and indiscriminate. They had not thoroughly investigated the origins of these children. In order to keep them in check, Rong Qingqing proposed that each child sign a five-year indenture, which was a flexible contract. They could redeem themselves at any time after two years. During their work at the inn, the four older boys would receive 500 coins per month, and the youngest one would receive 300 coins for running errands. Food and lodging were included. This was equivalent to the monthly allowance of a second-class servant in a wealthy family, which was quite high.

Especially since these are a group of children who know nothing, and they have to be taught from scratch. Apart from signing a contract of servitude, they probably can't find a better place to work.

The boys looked at each other, all very excited, and the youngest one couldn't help but sob softly.

The longest they have been wandering has been more than a year. Because their hometown is barren and they can't get enough to eat, they have no choice but to flee their hometown in the hope of finding a place to settle down.

As a result, the Nanzhao Kingdom continued to harass them, massacring cities and villages, making their situation even more difficult.

Eating dirt and tree bark, digging for wild vegetables and eating insects—I can't even imagine the hardships I endured for so long.

Because they refused to engage in petty theft with other refugees, they often went hungry, resulting in emaciated bodies and injuries, making them look truly pitiful.

After inquiring, we learned the reason why the five of them were injured. This story dates back to noon five or six days ago.

Since the refugees were mainly concentrated at the North Gate, the five of them begged together near the North Gate. A kind-looking middle-aged man saw their pitiful state and gave them a five-tael silver note so they could buy some food.

Five taels of silver is no small sum, and even if they were ignorant, they wouldn't dare to accept such a large amount of money rashly.

But the nine-year-old was so hungry he could barely walk. The middle-aged man kindly persuaded him, and they finally gritted their teeth and gratefully accepted the silver notes.

To their surprise, the next afternoon, an older woman found them and said that the five taels of silver they had received came from their master, Master Zhang. Master Zhang couldn't bear to see his children wandering, so he was willing to give them a place to settle down and work in a dyeing factory. He asked them if they were afraid of hardship. By the time they followed the older woman to Tianluo Lane, it was already dark.

As soon as she entered, thirteen-year-old Xiao Zhen noticed something was wrong, because the address was just an ordinary house, not at all like a dyeing factory.

They tried to leave, but five or six men rushed out, holding long knives, and blocked their way, saying that the dyeing factory was in another city and this was a job posting place.

Xiao Xiao was so scared that she cried. Xiao Zhen and Mi Hu tried to hug her and leave, but the men immediately turned hostile and started punching and kicking them. They were kicked to the ground. The men threatened that if they didn't want to work, they should return the five taels of silver from Master Zhang, plus five hundred taels of interest.

Rong Qingqing and the others were furious and ready to fight. How could this be so ruthless as to not even spare a few homeless children?!

Rong Qingqing: "Scoundrel!"

Wen Qinghong: "Scumbag!"

Wen Qinglan: "You beast!"

Gu Qingyue: "Calm down!"

"Huh???" Rong Qingqing and the Wen brothers turned around to look at Gu Qingyue. Gu Qingyue touched her nose and added, "I told you to calm down! Don't get excited."

If cursing was effective, why would she have needed to go to such lengths to kill people that night?

Turning her head, Gu Qingyue asked the group about the older woman. She remembered that among the people she dealt with that night, there were no women. In other words, the only people who knew about this and knew the group were the so-called Master Zhang and the older woman.

It seems we need to find a way to get rid of those two people before the boys can be considered basically safe.

For the next two days, Gu Qingyue wandered around Tianluo Lane several times, trying to find out about what happened that night, but she was disappointed.

Whether she lingered near the vendors at the alley entrance or strolled among the women and children gossiping in the middle of the alley, no one mentioned what happened that night or anything about those men and women.

It's pretty weird.

Didn't anyone see the person who died in the alley? Didn't anyone report it to the authorities?

Gu Qingyue smelled an unusual odor.

When the night was deep and quiet, Gu Qingyue followed the alley and sneaked to the back door of that courtyard.

She gently climbed over the wall and leaped into the courtyard. Gu Qingyue looked around and saw only darkness and silence; it seemed that no one was there at all.

Gu Qingyue tiptoed to the entrance of the main house, listened intently, and indeed there was no sign of any living creature inside.

Reaching out, Gu Qingyue pushed open the door and stepped lightly into the room. She then quickly closed the door, took out a tinderbox, and lit it. The room was furnished in a very ordinary and tidy manner, with no signs of having been disturbed.

I touched the tabletop and found it was a little dusty, indicating that no one had lived there for several days.

After looking around and finding nothing amiss, and unable to find any useful clues, Gu Qingyue extinguished the tinder and put it back in her bosom, intending to leave first.

Suddenly, a soft "click" came from the bedroom, followed by the sound of a wooden board moving.

Is there a secret passage or mechanism?

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Gu Qingyue immediately hid behind the screen in the outer room, which was close to the inner room. The screen was against a very thick pillar, perfectly concealing Gu Qingyue's petite body in a dark corner.

Within moments, from a hidden angle, Gu Qingyue saw two men in black emerge from the inner room.