Oh no! Seven kids at the start, all yellow and skinny.

Chapter 249 Guessing

"You haven't finished dealing with things in the village yet, have you?" Yunyi frowned. "Are you really just going to leave like this?"

"With Xie Li here, there's no need for me. Xie Li is the deputy general of Lan Xuping, the commander of Longdong." Ning Beichen waved his hand. "Let's find a place to eat first. I'm starving."

Yun Yi understood; no wonder it was the army, not the yamen runners, who came.

Fifteen minutes later, the two sat down in a private room on the second floor of Wei's Restaurant.

Because they didn't bring the sixteenth town, it didn't cause panic among the surrounding people.

Ning Xingchen stuffed his hands without any politeness before letting out a burp and putting down his chopsticks.

"Go ahead and speak," Yunyi said, putting down her chopsticks.

"Can you go back to normal? Look at you like this, I..."

"Look at me, I've eaten quite a lot too." Yunyi rolled her eyes at him. "If you want to talk, then talk; if you don't want to talk, then get lost."

"I'll talk, I'll talk, okay? I've only ever seen you chasing after your third cousin before, but I've never seen you so decisive and unkempt!"

Yunyi immediately got up to leave.

"Why has your temper gotten so bad?" Ning Xingchen hurriedly waved her hand. "Can I stop talking nonsense? Sit down, sit down and let's talk."

Yunyi sat down again.

“Didn’t I go to see Bai An before?” Ning Xingchen took a sip of tea. “Then I heard about something.”

"what's up?"

“Isn’t the man surnamed Du dead? The position of prefect of Longxi can’t be left vacant, but a third-rank official needs to be appointed by the imperial court.” Ning Xingchen’s eyes lit up. “You know, although Longxi is not very wealthy, it is a strategically important border area.”

Yunyi nodded.

"The Marquis of Zhenbei recommended someone, and the Earl of Chengen also recommended someone."

"Hmm?" Yun Yi frowned. "Shouldn't these two be on the same side?"

“Yes, that’s the strange thing. The person recommended by the Marquis of Zhenbei is from my third cousin’s side, but the person recommended by the Earl of Chengen is clearly from my fifth cousin’s side.”

"Did these two have a falling out?"

"I don't know. I've already written back to ask my mother, but I don't know when I'll receive a reply." Ning Xingchen shook her head. "I just wanted to tell you, and guess who the Emperor will send."

Yunyi fell silent; she really couldn't guess this.

"Actually, after you disappeared, the Marquis of Chengen wanted Fang Yunduo, that innocent little white lotus, to take your place, but Consort Chen didn't agree, and he couldn't ask the Emperor for help, so the matter was put on hold. Do you think the two of them might have fallen out because of this?"

Yunyi looked at him like he was an idiot: "You grew up in the lap of luxury in the capital, and you're a spoiled brat, how can you be so naive?"

Ning Xingchen wasn't angry at being teased; instead, she chuckled and scratched her head, saying, "I was just guessing, wasn't I?"

"Alright, stop guessing. Or you could go back to Beijing and see what's going on."

"Yes." Ning Xingchen nodded. "So many things have happened here, I have to go back and tell my mother. Maybe I can even get a government position. Miss Fang, I will remember this kindness."

Yunyi waved her hand: "Just remember it."

"When are you going back? I'll throw a banquet for you then."

"We'll see." Yunyi waved her hand, got up and walked out. "Remember to pay the bill."

"You...you stole all of the village chief's private savings, didn't you?"

"Who said that?" Yunyi turned to look at him.

"The village chief said his savings were stolen, and I really can't think of anyone else who could have done it." Ning Xingchen raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Do you have evidence?"

Ning Xingchen shook his head. Where would he get evidence?

"Don't make things up without evidence, or I'll sue you for defamation."

Ning Xingchen's lips twitched: "Even if you don't, what's wrong with you treating me to a meal?"

"You, the heir of a noble family, the son of the eldest princess, are you going to argue with a mere widow like me over a meal? How dare you?"

"I……"

"Don't embarrass yourself, I still have a whole family to support." Yunyi waved her hand, then suddenly remembered something and pulled a string of beads from her satchel. "Keep this with you, consider it payment for this meal."

"So ugly?" Ning Xingchen looked at the string of beads in her hand, the material of which was unidentifiable, and her beautiful brows furrowed into a knot.

"You don't have to."

"Yes." Ning Xingchen didn't know why, but he put the bead on his wrist. His intuition told him that although it was ugly, it was useful, though he didn't know what it was for.

It was this intuition that saved his life, but that's another story.

Yunyi curled the corners of her lips, then picked up her satchel and walked away, holding up the cloth banner.

Ning Xingchen pursed his lips, then called the waiter to settle the bill before leaving the restaurant. After all, there were still so many things waiting for him to clean up. Sigh, he originally came here to watch the excitement and join in the gossip, but he ended up being busier than anyone else. Oh well, that's just how outstanding he is.

Yunyi didn't change her clothes and still looked like a blind woman. When she arrived at the entrance of Lin's Cloth Shop, she said, "I can tell your fortune and tell your luck. If it doesn't work, you don't have to pay."

After calling out twice, an old man came out of the cloth shop. It was Uncle He, the manager of the cloth shop. However, the old man who was quite cheerful before was now frowning.

Yunyi stepped forward directly: "Do you do fortune telling, face reading, and predicting good or bad fortune?"

Although Uncle He didn't recognize Yun Yi, he still handed her a five-tael silver ingot: "Master, you should go look elsewhere, we don't need it here."

“Since you’ve given me silver, I can’t just take it for nothing. That would involve karma. So I’ll give you a divination.” Yunyi tossed the silver ingot into her satchel. “Something’s happened to your master’s family.”

Uncle He gasped, "Master, what makes you say that?"

"Some villains are causing trouble."

"This..." Uncle He hesitated for a moment. He used to believe in ghosts and gods, but after General Gu and the former crown prince got into trouble, he stopped believing. After all, good people don't always get good rewards. But now, he was suddenly tempted again. "Why don't you come in and have a cup of tea?"

Yunyi nodded, held up the banner and walked into the shop. She glanced around and then followed them to the backyard.

"Please have a seat, Master. I'll have someone go and inform the master." After serving tea and snacks, Uncle He went out to find a waiter to deliver the message. After all, it was a matter concerning the master, and he, as a servant, had no authority to make decisions.

Yunyi wasn't in a hurry. Although she had just eaten lunch, she still ate a snack.

Soon someone came over.

It was Lin Yanran, an old acquaintance of Yunyi, who came.

"Uncle He, did someone really foresee that something bad would happen to my family?" Lin Yanran said as she walked. "Take me to see them quickly."

The Lin family originally lived in Longdong Prefecture, but because of recent troubles in the prefecture, the family temporarily moved to Qingshui Town, so they arrived quite quickly.