chapter 20.3

The guest rooms were very simple, with the exception of a wooden bed, a table, four chairs, tea pots and cups, there were no other decorations. Murong Yun Shu tightened her lips and frowned. If they didn’t run into the bandits, they would be in their vacation home in Qing Yuan. She opened the window, what she saw was thick smoke blocking her view. She was startled, she looked around and realized that this inn was built on the edge of a cliff. In addition, the room that she was in was on the cliff side.

Luckily Lu’er got the room across from her, otherwise she’d be screaming right about now. Just when she was feeling lucky about that, she heard a loud shriek coming from next door. What’s more odd was it ended abruptly midway; peace was restored, like nothing had happened at all.

“Feng Ling disappeared!” Nie Qing busted through the door, there was worry in his usually cold eyes.

Lu’er rushed over as well, “Miss, I just went downstairs to order dinner. When I returned, our luggage was gone!”

The look on Murong Yun Shu’s frown deepened, as if talking to herself, “Back in the days, I fasted for three days after seeing just one snake, how do you still have appetite….”

Lu’er was shocked beyond words, she patiently emphasized her point, “Miss, our luggage disappeared.”

“It’s just luggage, they don’t worth much. As for money, we can withdraw some from the bank when we arrive at the next town.”

What Lu’er really wanted to say was that there were several thousands of taels in their luggage, but she didn’t think miss will think that’s a big deal, so she gave up.

“Feng Ling disappeared,” Nie Qing emphasized his point again. Although he was quite curious about how the snakes appeared and disappeared so suddenly, and wholeheartedly agreed with her about the fasting part, but, that’s not the important point right now.

Murong Yun Shu glanced over at him, “And?”

Nie Qing was taken aback, “And we go look for her!”

“You want me to go with you?

Nie Qing frowned, “What are you trying to say?” Did she really need to be so cryptic in everything that she said?

Murong Yun Shu looked at him again, then, in a very merciful way, as though she was helping out the poor or someone who had fallen to bad luck, she said to him, “You want me to accompany you, you will have to follow my lead.”

Nie Qing realized now that Murong Yun Shu was a very controlling person, whether it’s regarding the “silver dollars” or when it came to matters with Feng Ling. But he’s a macho man, why did he have to follow her lead? Sure, she ranked higher than him when it comes to official title, but this was a private and not official matter.

Lu’er could tell that Nie Qing wasn’t going to buck, so she quickly moved to his side and whispered tohi, “Master Nie, the Murong family has always been very hierarchical. One person is the leader, the rest just follow orders; that’s why all members of the Murong family are very self-centered, specially a single child like miss. She had always been more of a stubborn dictator than her dad ever since she was a child…” She paused and took a secret side glance at Murong Yun Shu and found no signs of displeasure. Feeling encouraged, she continued, “If you want her to accompany you, you have no choice but to follow her head. Besides, from my personal experience, it’s always a good idea to listen to her.”

After listening to Lu’er, Nie Qing suddenly remembered Murong Yun Shu’s “it’s my way or the highway1” when they were negotiating about the bank warehouse, leaving him with no choice at all. Back then, he was under order by the emperor and had no choice but work cooperate with her. But now, he had the option to go solo, but he found himself reluctantly decided to follow her lead. It was as though there was a voice inside of himself telling him that, “Whenever she’s around, things just became easier.”

Nie Qing struggled long and hard over it before he gave in, “Okay, what’s the plan?”

“We sit tight,” said Murong Yun Shu as she closed the windows. Her motion was relaxed and her demeanor indifferent. Nie Qing was completed baffled, wasn’t sitting tight the same as no plans? Did he just misplace his trust….. while he was doubting his own decision, Lu’er whispered to him again, “Don’t worry, look at how calm miss is. She’s already got plans.”

Nie Qing snickered, what he really wanted to say was, your miss acted indifferently all the time, who could tell whether she was pretending to be profound or truly a strategist? But he finally decided against it.