Living in the Capital City was no easy task.
Gu Changsheng, who had never worried about food and drink, was deeply troubled. Why? Renting a small courtyard cost money, eating cost money, buying groceries cost money, and money was a good thing!
Xiao Cui was usually good at managing household affairs, but even the cleverest housewife couldn't cook without rice. Gu Changsheng, troubled, looked at the empty little package that had nothing left to pawn and vented his dissatisfaction by practicing all-out brawls at a crooked willow in the courtyard.
Fortunately, Xiao Cui's legs had mostly healed, and Little Meat Bun was growing plumper and healthier. If one ignored the occasional people wandering and lurking outside the courtyard, life was quite satisfying.
According to Gu Changsheng, they were already poor enough to not afford a house guard, and since Li Mansion's people were worried, they shouldn't disappoint them. Let them wander as much as they liked outside their house.
"Madam, we are running low on rice and flour. Should we buy some more?"
Gu Changsheng looked resentfully at Xiao Cui, "How much silver do we still have?"
"One tael."
"Are you sure you didn't count wrong?"
"I've counted several times, there won't be one more coin more."
Well, one tael then. Gu Changsheng slapped the table. "Xiao Cui, pack up. First thing tomorrow morning, we're moving!"
True to his word, Gu Changsheng got up at dawn the next day, when it was still dark, and set off with Xiao Cui and Little Meat Bun, carrying a bundle on his back.
The man keeping watch outside was doing his duty, dozing against the wall.
Seeing no one around, Gu Changsheng swiftly went up, covered him with a sack and gave him a thorough beating, and also robbed him clean.
Robbing was indeed a good path to quick riches, no investment, high returns, although the risks were high, but Gu Changsheng was skilled in martial arts. See, a mere watcher was richer than them.
Seven taels of silver!
Gu Changsheng's eyes sparkling, he stuffed the robbed silver into Xiao Cui's hand, waved his hand, and holding the still half-asleep Little Meat Bun, led Xiao Cui towards the city gates.
Leaving the city was easy, after all, they were law-abiding citizens.
Gu Changsheng stood outside the city walls, gazing at the tall towers.
In this lifetime, she never wanted to return to the Capital City again, goodbye to the trash of Li Mansion, goodbye to the riches and glories of the Capital City.
"Destination, Liuzhou, let's go!" Gu Changsheng shouted, and the three of them started on their way back to their hometown in Liuzhou.
As the saying goes, being home is comfortable for a thousand days, but traveling for one day is difficult. With their own tael of savings and the seven taels robbed from the watchman, food and drink still weren't problems.
Gu Changsheng looked Xiao Cui up and down, front and back, left and right; indeed, the past month had been quite prosperous for her. Xiao Cui had gong from sallow and skinny to blooming like a flower, with her delicate oval face and sparkling big eyes, wasn't she just attracting ruffians by the dozen?
Then, Gu Changsheng's family fortune increased some more and their journey back home accelerated.
That day, Gu Changsheng was leisurely lying inside the carriage splitting seeds. Little Meat Bun was grinding away at learning the "Three Character Classic" next to her, and Xiao Cui was counting the silver, quite comfortably indeed.
But someone wasn't cooperating.
"This mountain is mine, this tree I plant, if you wish to pass this road, leave behind some toll money." A sudden shout startled the carriage.
A seed caught in Gu Changsheng's throat, and she coughed harshly several times.
"Madam… Changsheng's Mother, we are being robbed…" the hired coachman, Old Man Lau, trembled as he lifted the carriage curtain.
Recovering from the fit, Gu Changsheng curled her lip. As if she needed him to tell her—it was such a classic robbery line, passed down through ages! Glancing casually at her son, she signaled it was his turn to step up.
Little Meat Bun, Gu Ze, in sync with his mother, exchanged a silent look with Xiao Cui and hopped down from the carriage, his small legs striding forward.
The little fatty tumor on his neck jiggled as he ran to the front of the carriage.
"One, two, three… Mother, five of them!" he turned and shouted back at the carriage, this time the numbers were a bit high.
"Hmm, son, ask them."
The five bandits were still dumbfounded by the sight of the lump on Little Meat Bun's neck, while the little lad took a couple more steps forward.
"You, my mother asked me to ask, did you bring any money?" Standing in front probably was the bandit leader, right?
"We did."
With a dazed nod, the bearded strong guy hadn't grasped the meaning yet when Little Meat Bun dashed back.
"Mother, they said they brought silver."
Gu Changsheng was pleased, patted her clothes, and jumped down from the carriage.
This time they really encountered bandits. The lead was a bearded strong guy, followed by a scar-faced man, no need for makeup to look like robbers. At first glance, they were clearly not good at heart.
Seeing a young woman descend from the carriage, the bearded man's earlier bafflement disappeared, exchanging glances with his men, sensing an opportunity! It seemed this transaction wouldn't be a loss—not only was there silver, but also a woman. Although she wasn't exceptionally beautiful, she was quite a sight, and stealing her to be the Bandit Chief's Wife seemed not a bad idea at all.
"You're robbing us?"
Is that even a question?
"Enough chatter, leave the silver and the carriage and we'll spare your lives." The man with the bushy beard's voice boomed, and his face jiggled with flesh.
"Ah, Xiao Cui, get off, they want the silver and the carriage," Gu Changsheng said, cooperating as he fiddled with his ear.
Xiao Cui obediently clutched a small bundle and stepped down.
The eyes of the five bandits immediately lit up.
"Boss, there's a beauty!"
"Boss, we've struck it rich this time!"
The man with the bushy beard, chuckling, shook the large saber in his hand, and suddenly changed his tune: "Leave the silver, the carriage, and the beauty, and we'll spare your lives!"
The coachman, Old Man Lau, took one look at this and, terrified, hid under the carriage, shivering—this was not going to end well...
"This is somewhat difficult; without this girl, who will take care of us two?" Gu Changsheng shook his head, suggesting they negotiate some more.
"I don't care about that, brothers, attack!" The man with the bushy beard pointed with his saber. Robbing and still bargaining—truly asking for death!
Xiao Cui, holding Little Meat Bun, retreated to the side of the carriage, looking worriedly at Gu Changsheng. They were up against bandits this time, and not just two or three, but five. Could she handle them?
Five against one, the bandits had the numerical advantage, but unfortunately, they were lacking in quality...
Grasping Hand... Shoulder Throw... Sweeping Leg...
Horizontal Chop... Diagonal Kick...
In a blink, five men were sprawled on the ground, sabers and clubs scattered, curled up and howling in pain.
"That's for not choosing the right path, instead learning to rob and pillage..." A punch to the left, a punch to the right, and suddenly the bushy beard's face lost its flesh, looking like a pig's head.
"Hey, hey... not the face, not the face, I still have to get married..." The bushy bearded man, now ignoring the pain in his body, hurriedly covered his face with his arms.
"I didn't want to hit, but you stupidly thought of targeting Xiao Cui. Here I am, a flourishing beauty of twenty-one, capable of bearing sons and fighting, standing right in front of you, and you can't see that?" Breaking free of his hands, she punched him in the left eye, then the right, promptly giving the pig's head a set of panda eyes.
Xiao Cui and Little Meat Bun couldn't bear to watch and closed their eyes, still pondering what she meant by her words just now.
After the exhilarating fight, Gu Changsheng casually stood up, dusted off her hands, then beckoned to her son with a commanding air: "Collect the loot!"
Little Meat Bun, swinging his little arms, swaggered over, babbling as he went along, soon holding quite a few items in his hands.
Gu Changsheng, looking at the purse handed to her, felt her anger dissipate and, narrowing her Red Phoenix Eyes, smiled contentedly: "Oh, not bad business, eh? This was all stolen, right?"
Lying on the ground, writhing in pain, Scarface cried: "That was my six years of savings, for marriage..."
After raiding Bushy Beard and grasping a purse, Little Meat Bun, looking at the pitiful face in front of him, sighed: "My mom says a true hero is brave enough to face a bleak life..."
Bushy Beard: "..."
He actually didn't want to be a hero...
After wrapping up, Gu Changsheng clapped her hands, took Xiao Cui and Little Meat Bun back onto the carriage.
"Old Man Lau, it's time to go. If you're cowering under the carriage, who's going to drive?"
Old Man Lau quickly crawled out from under the carriage, whipped the horses, and ignoring the bandits sprawled across the ground groaning, drove off.
"That was the money I've saved my whole life for a wife..." Bushy Beard watched the disappearing carriage and cried to the heavens...
Actually, it was they who had been robbed, right?
"Madam, there's one hundred and thirty-six taels of silver here!" Xiao Cui exclaimed.
Gu Changsheng nodded, adding up the takings they had so far, it amounted to three hundred taels, making the journey a bit more comfortable.
"Madam, isn't it wrong for us to rob like this?"
"If it comes to us, why refuse it? Consider it helping the government office out," she replied.
"Madam, those words you said to the bandit leader, they don't have the meaning I think they do, right?" Wasn't it because they tried to rob her instead of the Madam, that the bandit leader got beaten so badly?
"Xiao Cui, definitely not the meaning you're thinking of, but when navigating the Itinerant World, keeping one's moves bright is still a must. I just think fighting isn't right, so I gave myself a good excuse..."
"Mom, I want to learn to rob when I grow up, but I don't want a bleak life, what should I do?" Little Meat Bun furrowed his brows and asked very seriously.
Gu Changsheng: "..."