The next day, the marketplace was extremely lively.
Meng Ruji’s stall was set up next to Miaomiao’s noodle stand. She crouched watching people come and go in the marketplace, everyone’s faces showing joy, so she asked Miaomiao, who was resting and drinking water nearby: “Is today some kind of festival? Why is it so bustling?”
“No, today the soldiers transporting goods returned from other places. They bring many fresh novelties we don’t usually have – food, useful items, everything. Much richer than our marketplace!”
“You have other places here?” Meng Ruji was surprised. “Does that refer to the mortal world?”
“No, no, just places outside. The Placeless Realm is huge. It’s just that we usually don’t go out much, so nobody mentions it. Besides our place here, there are cities, towns, mountains, and seas outside the Placeless Realm. There’s also Zhuliu City, which specializes in commerce. I heard that the city is enormous, and its city lord is wealthy enough to rival a nation!”
Meng Ruji now loved hearing such fantasies about being wealthy enough to rival nations.
She perked up.
“So, how did that city lord of Zhuliu City achieve such wealth to rival nations?”
“You want to learn from him?” The boss was cooking noodles nearby and laughed when he heard their conversation. “I want to, too! If I had his opportunities, wouldn’t my noodle stand make more money than his?”
Meng Ruji earnestly asked: “What opportunities does he have then?”
“How would I know? If I knew, I’d go get rich instead of fishing noodles here! But I know that people who make big money must have opportunities others don’t have!”
Turns out they all liked listening to fantasies.
“What other opportunities could there be?” A customer eating noodles interjected. “Just killing and robbing. These big money makers all rely on sending people to their next life, then inheriting their wealth. None of them are good people.”
Miaomiao and the boss glanced at the customer but didn’t respond.
Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow and made a mental note – in the Placeless Realm, sending others to their next life allowed them to inherit their property.
That customer thought he’d revealed the truth of the world and became excited, continuing to speak eloquently: “Moreover, this morning I heard that the goods the government office was transporting from Zhuliu City to our place were almost robbed yesterday!”
Meng Ruji’s eyes lit up again: “Who robbed the government convoy?”
“Seems like a den of bandits.” The boss chimed in. “They’ve been in the mountains north of the outskirts.”
“There are bandits too!” Meng Ruji stood up, her fingers clenching excitedly as if she were already counting money. “They’re still there? Didn’t you say there were no big thieves?”
“Those are bandits! Not petty pickpockets. And they’re quite a distance from here.” Miaomiao tugged Meng Ruji’s sleeve, making her sit down.
“What bandits or not!” the customer said. “I see them as heroes! Zhuliu City’s things deserve to be robbed! ‘Don’t worry about scarcity but about inequality!’ Zhuliu City has so much stuff, why shouldn’t they share some with us? Can that city lord alone eat and drink all that much? Serves them right!”
“The bandits won’t give you their loot for free either. Why are you cheering for bandits here!?” Miaomiao was displeased. Those transporting goods are government soldiers risking their lives. How can you make them out to be wrong?”
The customer, having been contradicted, immediately raised his voice: “Zhuliu City’s things deserve to be robbed! Whoever robs them is right! That’s what I say, so what!”
When his voice rose, people around looked over. The boss didn’t want customers fighting in his shop, so he immediately went to calm things down.
Miaomiao didn’t want to argue further with him. She rolled her eyes and pulled Meng Ruji aside.
“Sister, I know you and Young Master Mu Sui are capable, but you absolutely cannot provoke those people. That’s a bandit lair – they dare offend both Zhuliu City and the government office. They’re all desperados! They kill people! The government has sent people to eliminate them, but they can never clear them out completely. After a while, they appear again…”
Meng Ruji pondered: “How many people could there be?”
Miaomiao shook her head: “I don’t know, but there must be at least thirty to fifty people, otherwise how could they rob government convoys?”
Meng Ruji calculated – if there were thirty to fifty people, going with Mu Sui now would be somewhat rash. She still needed to think and find a way to lure them out, group by group, to catch them.
Moreover, the location of the bandit stronghold, and how many people were there – she’d need to ask the government office. Most importantly, if she wanted to deploy Mu Sui, she’d need to consider how much reward money the government could offer…
“I have discretion.” Meng Ruji patted Miaomiao. “You don’t need to get angry with that customer either. ‘Don’t worry about scarcity but about inequality’ – he shouts the loudest, but if thieves robbed his house, he’d shout even louder.”
Miaomiao stamped her foot in anger: “I just can’t stand him.”
While they were talking, the customer had already been persuaded away by the boss. Meng Ruji watched the customer’s back as he walked into an alley. In a daze, it seemed like a familiar figure followed him into the alley, and that person looked somewhat like…
Mu Sui?
Wasn’t he supposed to stay in the little house?
Meng Ruji craned her neck, trying to see more clearly, but that person had already disappeared into the alley.
At this moment, someone tapped the wooden board reading “Work Available” in front of Meng Ruji with a wooden stick.
Meng Ruji looked up and saw a man dressed in tight-fitting clothes standing before her small stall, carrying a black bundle.
“Help deliver something?” the man said in a low voice.
Business had come. Meng Ruji decided to set aside her doubts and trust Mu Sui, because over the past half month, Mu Sui showed no signs of recovering his memory. He was still like a little wild beast – wary of outsiders but very affectionate with her, completely trusting her and obeying her words, as if he truly treated her as his sister.
He shouldn’t disobey her “orders”…
What Meng Ruji missed was that the figure she’d just seen was Mu Sui.
Mu Sui naturally saw Meng Ruji on the street too. Seeing her chatting with Miaomiao and having business come to her, he restrained his impulse to approach her and quickly walked into the alley.
Since Meng Ruji had forbidden him from catching thieves, Mu Sui had indeed obediently listened to Meng Ruji and stayed in the little wooden house…
For two days.
Because every day when Meng Ruji went out to work, she would instruct him: “Try meditating.”
So he tried for two days and found out – it didn’t work.
It wasn’t that Meng Ruji’s teaching was wrong, nor that he was incapable, but that this place wouldn’t allow it.
He had a kind of body memory regarding cultivation. Mu Sui could sense that his former self must have been able to use spiritual power, but now he couldn’t – he was definitely under some restriction.
Solving the cultivation problem under current conditions was almost impossible. So Mu Sui quickly abandoned the cultivation path.