Chapter 124 -

Chapter 124: Chapter

Master Bai turned his head toward Madame Chen, his face twisted in deep annoyance as he stared down at her sobbing form in the snow.

"Look at you!" Master Bai snapped, his voice sharp and full of disgust. "Why did you bring all those gold ornaments and dress like a walking treasure chest?! Wearing those loud silk robes and flashing jade bangles in a blizzard, you were literally begging those bandits to come over and rob you!"

Madame Chen didn’t even have the breath to argue back. She sat slumped on the frozen dirt, slapping her thighs and crying hysterically as snow dusted her shoulders. "My bangles! My silver! All my life savings gone!"

Beside her, An Yulan sobbed into her ruined silk sleeves, her hair hanging down in a messy, tangled lump without her pearl pins. Her sisters-in-law, Bai Wenxiu and Bai Shishi, huddled together on the ground, crying loudly alongside her.

Right then, Wenliang rushed over, his face red with pure anger as he grabbed An Yulan tightly by her shoulders.

"You complete fool!" Wenliang shouted, shaking her hard in front of everyone. "I told you not to wear those flashy clothes! I told you to look plain like everyone else! Look at what you’ve done! You made us lose everything!"

An Yulan shoved his hands off her chest, her eyes wide as she screamed back at him through her tears. "You dare yell at me?! Where were you when they were pulling the jewelry off my neck, huh?! Why couldn’t you be a bigger man and try stopping those bandits?! You just stood there trembling like a coward!"

SLAP!

A sharp, hard crack echoed through the snowy air as Madame Chen’s palm slammed right across An Yulan’s cheek. An Yulan’s head whipped to the side, her crying cutting off instantly in shock as she held her burning face.

"Shut your foolish mouth!" Madame Chen roared at her daughter-in-law, her face pale and full of panic. "Are you out of your mind?! Did you want my son, your own husband to fight off a whole gang of armed bandits and get himself killed over a few pieces of gold?!"

An Yulan bit her lip hard, fresh tears streaming down her bruised cheek, but she didn’t dare say another word.

Standing a few feet away, Madame Zhang pressed her hand over her mouth to hide a bitter smirk. She and her husband, Third Uncle Bai Chenghao, had listened to Old Madame Bai and dressed plainly from the start.

Because they looked like ordinary commoners, the bandits hadn’t even bothered searching them closely, allowing Madame Zhang to keep the small stash of gold and jewelry she had secretly sewn into the inner lining of her son Bai Jun’s heavy winter cloak.

Madame Zhang glanced over at Madame Liu and Madame Chen, her eyes glittering with cold satisfaction. Both of those arrogant women had lost every single coin they sneaked out. Serves them right, Madame Zhang thought gleefully. Without a single piece of silver left, they will literally starve on the road to the southeast.

Just the thought of seeing those two greedy women begging for scraps of dry bread later made Madame Zhang want to laugh out loud.

Old Master Bai Tianming shook his head in frustration, leaning heavily on his wooden walking stick. "Enough crying! Staying out in this storm will freeze us all to death. Everyone get inside the inn right now!"

Liu Feng immediately stepped forward, grabbing the handles of Zhengyu’s wheelchair and pushing him up the wooden ramp toward the inn doors. Yimei walked calmly beside them, her plain brown and white hanfu fluttering slightly in the wind, with Qinqin following closely behind.

The heavy double doors of The Wild Willow Inn swung open, letting out a blast of warm, smoky air mixed with the smell of cheap wine and roasted meat.

Inside, the inn’s main hall was dimly lit by flickering oil lamps. A few local travelers sat around low wooden tables, eyeing the large, chaotic group as the Bai family stumbled through the door, shivering and covered in snow.

The landlord, a fat man with a greasy apron and sharp, small eyes, wiped down the front counter with a dirty rag and smirked at their miserable appearance.

"Welcome to the Wild Willow Inn," the landlord said in a loud, gruff voice. "Rooms are two silver pieces a night. If you don’t have silver, you can sleep on the cold floor in the main hall for five copper coins a head."

The moment Madame Chen heard the price, her face turned pale again. "Two silver pieces?! That’s highway robbery!"

"Take it or leave it, lady," the landlord scoffed, tapping his knuckles on the counter. "There’s a blizzard outside. Pay up or go sleep with the horses."

Madame Chen turned around in panic, grabbing Second Uncle Bai Chengbang’s sleeve. "Brother-in-law! Please lend us some silver! We were just robbed clean!"

Second Uncle shoved her hands away instantly, his own face dark with fury. "Lend you silver?! The bandits took all of my gold and silk too! I don’t have a single copper to spare for you!"

Madame Liu let out another loud wail. "What are we going to do?! Are we really going to sleep on the freezing floor?!"

While the two robbed branches stood in the middle of the hall screaming and fighting with each other, Yimei quietly stepped past the noisy crowd and walked right up to the front counter.

She reached into her inner pocket, pulled out a small pouch, and set three clean silver pieces onto the wooden counter with a soft clink.

"Two clean private rooms upstairs," Yimei said, her voice smooth and unbothered. "Bring a pot of hot tea and a plate of warm steamed buns to the first room right away."

The landlord’s small eyes lit up at the sight of real silver. He quickly snatched the coins off the counter and handed over two rusty iron keys with a broad grin. "Right away, Young Madame! First two rooms at the top of the stairs on the left!"

An Yulan turned her head and saw Yimei taking the keys. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head in shock and rage.

"You!" An Yulan shrieked, pointing an angry finger at Yimei. "An Yimei! Where did you get that silver?! Why didn’t the bandits take your money?!"