jdhmnovel Chapter 15 The Crisis of the Post Station
Chapter 15 The Crisis of the Post Station
Chapter Fifteen: The Crisis of the Post Station
Hou Deming and Zhao Hu arrived at the post station exhausted.
As soon as everyone stepped into the inn, Gu Liuli suddenly sensed an unusual emotional fluctuation thanks to the special skill granted to her by her mysterious system.
"Gentlemen, are you looking for lodging or dining here?" A waiter dressed in gray linen clothes, holding a rag in his hand, walked briskly up to Zhao Hu and asked with a solicitous smile.
The waiter quickly wiped the tables, but his eyes never left the group of customers, as if he were secretly observing something.
However, he thought his little tricks went unnoticed, little did he know that Gu Liuli and Xiao Jingchuan had already seen everything.
"Stay here and eat! Hurry up and serve me the dishes, I'm starving!" Hou Deming's booming voice echoed throughout the inn.
"Alright, please wait a moment, gentlemen, I'll go prepare right away!" Before he finished speaking, he shouted loudly towards the back hall.
At the waiter's call, the shopkeeper quickly came out from behind the counter.
With a beaming smile, he bowed to the crowd and said, "Your presence at my humble abode is truly an honor! May I ask how many rooms you would like to stay in?"
Zhao Hu looked around the restaurant and, after a moment's thought, ordered, "There are ten of us. Please give us seven superior rooms. Also, bring out all the restaurant's signature dishes and warm up a pot of fine wine!"
He and Hou Deming naturally couldn't sleep together; each of them had their own room. The others shared rooms, and as for the exiled prisoners, if they had money, they could book their own rooms; if they didn't, they would share a dormitory.
Gu Liuli took out silver notes from her bosom and booked a room for her and Xiao Jingchuan, a room for Xuan Huo and the steward, and even a room for Mu Chun and Liu Lan. Along the way, she noticed that Liu Lan kept coughing, and it seemed that she had caught a cold.
"Cough cough! Cough cough!" Mu Chun, supporting the weak Liu Lan, looked gratefully at Gu Liuli.
"I feel like something's not right here," Gu Liuli whispered to Xiao Jingchuan. "Have you noticed?"
Just then, the waiter came over with a steaming plate of food. He had a smile on his face, but it carried a hint of forced insincerity. "Gentlemen, please enjoy your meal!"
Hou Deming unceremoniously picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth, chewing as he exclaimed, "This tastes good! It's just a pity that I haven't had a hot meal in so long!"
Gu Liuli noticed that all the shop assistants, including the shopkeeper, had sly, lecherous eyes.
"Don't rush, let's finish eating first," Xiao Jingchuan replied in a deep voice.
He knew that now was not the time to investigate the truth; revealing his identity would only bring unnecessary trouble.
After a hearty meal, Hou Deming squinted at the daughter of an adult not far away. The woman was weeping bitterly about her future, unsure of what to do. Zhao Hu noticed Hou Deming's unusual behavior; men are all the same.
"Tonight, I will send that woman to the master's house!" Hou Deming's eyes showed approval as he listened.
Gu Liuli looked at the woman and realized she was Jia Shang's daughter, Mu Zhaoqi's wife, Jia Yuan. This was going to be interesting.
The chefs in the kitchen were timid and dared not make a sound; they could only do what they were told.
Last night, they were tied up by bandits in their sleep, and in order to survive, they had no choice but to agree to their demands.
"Master, this inn is full of bandits from Snow Mountain Peak. The waiter and the manager have been killed! As for the kitchen staff, they've all been tied up." Xuan Huo reported the information he had gathered in a low voice.
Xiao Jingchuan exuded a serious aura, "Tell all our men to be on high alert tonight!"
When the waiter brought the food to them, Gu Liuli realized that something had been added to it that would make them fall asleep at night.
"Ding! Sensing danger to the host, mission triggered—lead everyone to safety from the tiger's mouth. Mission completion reward: Loyalty Pill, which will ensure you never betray your master! Mission failure: Golden Fruit reclaimed!" The mechanical voice sounded once again.
Gu Liuli pouted, cursing inwardly; What a stingy system!
The system sensed her fluctuations and issued a warning, indicating that it had detected the host's discontent.
"Now that the food has been drugged, you have to give me a few antidote pills!" Gu Liuli exchanged a bottle of antidote pills for the drug with the system.
"Host, the exchange has been successful. Please retrieve it from your spatial storage!"
As soon as the system finished speaking, Gu Liuli noticed a bottle on the shelf in her space. Then, looking at her points, she took a deep breath and inhaled again!
Gu Liuli took out the antidote and secretly placed it in the hands of Xuan Huo, Xiao Jingchuan, Mu Chun, and the Great General Mu Zetian, whispering, "Eat it!"
Didn't alarm anyone.
They were puzzled, but they also knew that this was not the time to ask questions, so they secretly ate it.
As night fell, a group of shadowy figures cautiously searched each room. Suddenly, two figures carried a woman into Hou Deming's room.
When Lord Hou, who was quite drunk, saw the woman in bed, he was immediately overcome with lust.
The woman on the bed seemed to be experiencing a long-lost feeling, moaning softly!
Although her fair skin became a little rough during the exile, it didn't affect her appearance at all.
Listening to the sounds inside, Wu Zhong, who was outside the house, felt that he needed to find someone to vent his anger on.
So they immediately suspended the operation.
In the other rooms, Xiao Jingchuan and Gu Liuli were in a deep sleep, actually waiting for their next plan.
Xuan Huo and the others watched from the shadows as Jia Yuan was carried to the corrupt official's room.
The seventeenth guard, Mu Yu, was already ready. Just as one of the bandits was about to attack Gu Liuli, she noticed that Gu Liuli had opened her eyes and was holding a sword to the bandit's neck.
"You're not unconscious?" The bandit looked panicked.
At this moment, Xiao Jingchuan delivered a fatal blow to his throat, sending him to his death.
Hearing the commotion, Pei Ziye, one of the three leaders, hurriedly went inside and found his men dead, bleeding profusely.
"You choose the path to heaven but refuse to take it, while you insist on forcing your way into hell!" Pei Ziye shouted angrily.
This brought everyone together.
The bandits believed that Xiao Jingchuan and Gu Liuli would have no chance of resisting even if they were awake, so they were completely unprepared.
Wu Zhong and Pei Ziye charged straight at Xiao Jingchuan with their swords drawn. As the distance drew closer, Xiao Jingchuan remained calm and composed, sipping his tea.
At a distance of just millimeters, Xiao Jingchuan caught Wu Zong's sword between two fingers and flung him away with a light flick, shattering the inn's door into pieces.
Zhao Hao and the others were awakened by the deafening noise. The moment they opened the door, they saw countless bandits surrounding them. Some of the bandits were even carrying a number of exiled women and were about to ride on them. The scene left them dumbfounded.
Zhao Hao and Hou Deming's expressions changed, and they secretly realized that something was wrong.