The Emperor and His Thief - Chapter 40

After their afternoon tea, Lin Xiao head straight back to his room while Xia YuanFeng managed to coax Long YinLian to accompany him, saying that he needed some help with training the new member of the Thunder Hawk. Knowing that both adults are not around, Lin Xiao began to execute his plan.

Lin Xiao glanced over at Wang Lan, Wang Fan and Wang Zan who seems content to have their afternoon sleep. Then, he looked out to the windows towards the sky gauge the current time of the day. “Looks like it is still Wei Shi… as long as I return before You Shi, I should be alright,” Lin Xiao murmured in a soft voice.

He then looked around outside and saw that there were actually no guards at this time, “Oh? Seems like someone will be in trouble for slacking off,” Lin Xiao said with a mischievous grin on his face. “Not that I care. As long as I don’t get found out, you won’t be in trouble anyway,” Lin Xiao snickered as he jumped out from the window. When Lin Xiao left, the two guards who were supposed to keep guard nearby finally returned.

“Seriously, why do I need to keep you company just because you want to take a leak?” one of the guards asked his partner.

“Well, you know that there are three tigers living here. I don’t want to go alone. Plus, can you handle standing guard alone? What if the tigers decided to make you their meal?” the other retorted. Hearing this, the first guard can only shiver at the thought.

“Ugh… Let’s just stay together whenever we have our shift in the patriarch’s courtyard…” the first guard muttered softly as they returned to their duty. Unfortunately, the person they were supposed to keep watch on has already left the area.

Lin Xiao was careful as he made his way to the walls that surround the Xia family’s residence. The walls were quite tall, so Lin Xiao had to look around to see if there is anything that he can use to climb the wall. This was the farthest that Lin Xiao had actually gone ever since he started his escape. While looking around, he saw a tree not too far from the wall and he made a mental calculation on the jump distance.

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“I should be able to make it,” he murmured in a soft voice. He crouched towards the tree as to not attract any attention from the patrolling guards. He made sure to keep hidden, using the bushes and blind spots to his advantage. When he reached the tree, Lin Xiao patiently waited for the guards to go out of view before he climbed up the tree.

Since he lived in the mountain for two years of his life, tree-climbing became one of his hobbies. In addition, when he’s on a tree, it’s easier for him to see the distance and even keep hidden from his prey as he takes aim with his bow.

After climbing up the tree, he then jumped onto the wall and down to the other side. Having succeeded, Lin Xiao felt a sense of achievement. After finally getting out after a few days of feeling locked up, Lin Xiao was excited to finally see the capitals.

“Since I’m here, I may as well see what the capitals have to offer! When we arrived before, Ping Jianyu mentioned that there is a market to the east side of the capital, but it is located in the middle district,” Lin Xiao once again looked up to the sky but this time, he wanted to get the direction. “The middle district shouldn’t be far, right?”

With the decision made, Lin Xiao turned back to the walls and bowed down. “Shizun, please forgive Lin Xiao for being mischievous…” he said in an apologetic tone before he finally walked away. Luckily, he has few gold pieces with him which were his profit from selling his spoils to Ping Jianyu a week ago. Before, he never would have thought that he would be spending them in the capital. Regardless, since he is now stuck here until the court hearing, he may as well enjoy himself.

It did not take Lin Xiao too long to arrive at the market. Here, he learned that the market was divided into several parts, north, east, south and west, with the plaza as the center. The northern part is where they sell clothes and accessories. The eastern part is where they sell foods of all kinds. The southern part is where they sell raw materials and ingredients. The western part is the mercenary’s favorite shopping area as they sell all kinds of equipment there.

Lin Xiao first went to the eastern part of the market. He could see several stalls at the side of the road as well as some restaurants. Amazingly, the restaurant didn’t drive away these food stall owners even if they set their stall near the entrance of their restaurant. In fact, they even work together to attract customers.

If someone entered the restaurant to eat and wanted something from the stall, the restaurant employee would come out and help order from the stall. Meanwhile, if the stall near the restaurant still hasn’t had their foods ready, they would suggest waiting inside the restaurant. This way, each of them will earn no matter what.

Lin Xiao was amazed when he saw this kind of community. He thought that since there are many stalls and restaurants, the competitiveness will be ruthless. But instead, he saw how they all work in harmony. After walking for a while, he went to one of the stalls that sell meat skewers. The aroma had been calling out to Lin Xiao ever since he got close and it made his mouth water.

“Mister, how much for one?” Lin Xiao asked as he eyed the skewers that were currently being cooked.

“One for five copper coins! Buy five for twenty copper coins. My meat skewers are the best in this street, you won’t regret buying from me, young man!” the owner replied with a smile.

‘Oh? Five for the price of four? Such a good price!’ Lin Xiao thought as he took out a gold piece. “Then I’ll have five,” Lin Xiao said as he handed the gold piece to the owner.

When the owner saw this, his eyes went wide, and he gave Lin Xiao a nervous look. “This… Young master, do you have a smaller change?” the owner asked, changing the way he addressed Lin Xiao.

“Smaller change…? Well…” Lin Xiao was also feeling troubled now. When he sold his spoils to Ping Jianyu, he priced them as he usually would. So, all he has was gold, he didn’t even have any silver on him.

“Brother Lin?”

At this time, a soft, gentle voice called out to him and Lin Xiao can’t help turning his head around. He saw Fei YuXing, accompanied by a maidservant and a guard from the Xia family.

“It is brother Lin. I wasn’t sure if I got the right person before,” Fei YuXing said with a smile on her face. Then, she noticed that Lin Xiao actually looked troubled. “Brother Lin, what’s wrong? Are you in trouble?” she asked as she glanced between Lin Xiao and the stall owner. Figuring out the problem, she turned back to Lin Xiao, “Did brother Lin not have any money to buy food?”

“Huh? No! I do have money with me but… the owner asked for a smaller change which, I don’t have with me right now,” Lin Xiao said with a sheepish smile. “Ah, Sister Fei! Since you’re here, you must be out to buy things, right? Can you help me and exchange this with smaller change?” Lin Xiao asked as he held out the gold pieces in his hand.

“So, this is the case. Sure, no problem at all!” Fei YuXing said before she glanced over at her guard. “Chang Bo, give Brother Lin ninety silver and a thousand copper coins,” Fei YuXing said and Chang Bo, went forward as he took the pouch tied on his waist. Chang Bo carefully calculated a thousand copper coins before tying the pouch up once again. Then he reached into his cloth and took out another pouch and this time, he calculated exactly ninety silver before handing it over to Lin Xiao. In return, Lin Xiao handed a gold piece to Chang Bo.

“Many thanks, brother Chang! And to you too, Sister Fei! If you were not around, I wouldn’t know what to do,” Lin Xiao said in a merry tone. Now that he solved his money problem, he should be able to enjoy his freedom.

“You don’t have to mention it, brother Lin!” Fei YuXing replied. “Actually, since we’ve met out here, how about going together?”

Lin Xiao, who had just received his five meat skewers after paying the owner, turned to Fei YuXing once more. “Go together?” Lin Xiao pondered about it for a moment as he took a bite on one of the meat skewers he has. ‘Though it would be more advantageous if I go with Sister Fei… Shizun said that it is not proper for a man and a woman to go together alone unless they are close. Though we spent a few days together, I don’t think what we have can be considered close. But then again, she has a guard and a maidservant with her, so it’s not considered alone…’

While Lin Xiao was in deep thought, a falcon suddenly flew over and circled above Lin Xiao. This made Lin Xiao look up and a smile formed on his face. “Oh, hey! You’re here again,” Lin Xiao said as he held up his arm so that the falcon can rest on his forearm. “When we arrived at the capital, you flew off again. I thought I won’t see you until a month later,” Lin Xiao chuckled before he lifts the meat skewer in his other hand close to the falcon’s beak. “Want some?”

The falcon, in return, simply stared at the meat skewer in a confused manner but it didn’t move to eat it. “I guess not,” Lin Xiao concluded. “Now where was I… ah, yes! Sister Fei, if you don’t mind, let us go together! This is actually my first time out in the market ever since we arrived a week ago, so if you could show me around, that would be great!”

“Alright. Then let’s go to the northern part of the market. I heard that there is a new shipment of accessories and ornaments coming over at one of the popular shops. I also plan to buy something as a token of appreciation to Master Long. Maybe you can help me?” Fei YuXing’s face beamed up when Lin Xiao agreed to go together.

“A present for Shizun?” Lin Xiao thought for a while. “Hmm… that’s actually a good idea. No, if I buy something, Shizun will find out that I went out…” Lin Xiao mumbled to himself. After a while, an idea popped in his mind and Lin Xiao grinned as he turned to Fei YuXing.

“Sister Fei, can you do Lin Xiao a big favor?”