Chapter 10 - Hard Earned Money

"Why are you doing this to us? What have we done to you?" Dou Chai asked in a pleading tone.

Going through his pockets one by one, I absently answered, "Hmm? No real reason. You simply happened to be a young master."

"Where is the money by the way?" I asked back as I started inspecting his waist, looking for any pouches he might've hidden.

"We left them back in the town," answered Guoguo whose hands were tied by the black scarf. He had a tendency to speak in Dou Chai's place.

"Is that so...?" I said, standing up and dusting my trousers.

"Chunu, will you kick that idiot for me?"

She didn't answer and kept looking at the sword. For her, the weapon was more interesting than Guoguo. And I'd feared she was interested in him...

"Chunu!" I called again.

"Y-yes big brother? Who should I kick?"

"That one." I pointed at Guoguo, but she hesitated a little and looked at me again.

"Do I really have to? Can't we just go now?" Her face morphed into that of disgust. "I don't want to dirty my feet as well..."

"Huff, give me that sword." I walked up to her and snatched the metre long weapon.

Placing it right over Er Guo's neck, I asked in an obviously threatening manner, "Either give me your coins or be minced into commercial pieces of meat."

The sun was already down by the time the fight had started. So, only our vague silhouettes were seen thanks to the pale moonlight. No one could be recognized.

However, the blade's edges shined dangerously and so did Guoguo's eyes. The boy was not afraid at all! Instead, his expression showed only resentment and smugness.

"Elder Dou won't let you guys off. He'll hunt you dow- Ou!" Suddenly, his expression took a 420 degree turn.

A solid kick from Chunu was really what he needed now.

"Good job, Chunu! Beat him!" I encouraged her and the effect was more than excellent.

"Ou!" One kick on his face.

"Aaah!" One on his neck.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell- Gaah!" He was already down? I overestimated him.

"Ou! Ou! Ou! No, Aaaaa!" Hearing his screams, even I couldn't help but join in the fun. Who refused free entertainment anyway?

"Wait hear me out! Agh, not there... not there... Nooooo!" That... must have hurt. She was merciless.

After full 10 minutes of professional face-kicking, we got bored of him and stopped.

"It-It's... uh-In his sho-es..." Guoguo weakly pointed at Dou Chai and our gazes went back to the young master.

As expected, he'd already taken out the hidden pouch and was offering it to us. I snatched it from his hands and counted the coins one by one. However, there were only 10 golds. They were supposed to have 30 gold kins. Where were the other 20?

I looked at Dou Chai and started idly playing with the sword while kicking up the sand.

Intimidated, he stuttered, "Th- that's all we have! Y-you have to believe us!"

"He must be lying!" Chunu spoke from behind. Coming near me, she asked, "Should I kick him too?"

Dou Chai grimaced at the thought of having his face destroyed, though a substantial amount of damage was done to it already. [1]

"No, we won't beat him anymore. I have a better way," I said and walked upto him.

Handing the longsword back to Chunu, I told her to go back to the town. "It's getting late, soon cold winds will start blowing."

"Take this with you, I'll meet you at Tuo's shop," I whispered.

Delighted to have the sword again, she immediately started running back, only to be stopped by my voice.

"Silly girl, sheath it first!" I shouted.

For sometime, I lectured her on how to avoid people and not do anything until my arrival. After she was gone, I turned my attention to the two boys again. Rubbing my hands nefariously, I giggled.

"Hehe..."

"It's time to strip!" My voice accompanied the chilling breeze, with a hint of schadenfreude mixed in it.

...

After a thorough search of their bodies, that would've raised a questionable brow from even the greatest of security guards, I collected my loot and packed it in my scarf.

Packed in it was; a folded metallic fan, some unknown vials of medicine, a red pill that had this fiery fragrance, a broken piece of sticky wood, and two of Yellow Rock Mansion chamber tokens.

Unfortunately, these fellas had left more than half of their money back in the town.

So despicable.

'I knew it. "Earning" money wasn't easy, even by robbery. Still, a man can only seek more,' I sighed.

Along with Dou Chai's somewhat luxurious clothes, I made my way towards the town. As for them, I tied their feet with Guoguo's green robes and left them naked. I pretended to be deaf when they started yelling and cursing.

Humming a catchy tune that I heard back on the earth, I went to Tuo's shop which was fortunately still open.

Reuniting with Chunu who had already changed out of those uncomfortable clothes, I quietly handed her the suspicious looking bag and entered the shop.

After minutes of talking and tea sipping, which in my honest opinion was a complete waste of my precious time, I came out clad in my usual clothes.

"Let's go Chunu. Ah, keep these in it as well." I handed her my 'robbery outfit' as I started walking. That was what they were for anyway.

Going through the items in my makeshift bag, Chunu confusedly asked, "Where's the money, big brother?"

"In my pouch. Actually, that's your pouch but oh well. Wanna see what I got?" I juggled it up and down and her head bobbed respectively.

I laughed and untied the pouch. She immediately put her hands inside and fished out a coin.

In the moonlit night, it gleamed dark yellow. The allure of money was the same everywhere.

The road to the inn was dark and cold. However, there was a sense of safety that was absent before in the desert.

"Big brother, what did you do with the two of them?" she asked.

"Why does it matter? We got the money." She didn't talk for a while and nor did I.

"I didn't kill them," I continued, casually kicking a pebble on the road.

"Why not? What if they report us to that Elder Dou?" She asked worriedly.

...I was expecting her to heave a sigh of relief, but the girl wasn't as innocent as I'd thought she was.

"Because killing them would lead to serious investigations," I said.

"And leaving them alive wouldn't? After what we did to them..."

"It's different, Chunu. Sure, the Dou family of that young master would be enraged after he gets back, but they might go crazy if they found him dead. We are currently weak. We can afford to offend a trashy young master but not a whole family, no matter how trashy it might be."

"But he's still a young master, surely he'd have some cultivators at his disposal..." She was still not convinced.

I stopped and showed her the black clothes, "Look, we were disguised. They don't know us. That Guoguo might've guessed something, but he wouldn't be able to use his mouth for about two months. He doesn't know our names either. Also, for a young master, Dou Chai is really poor. I think his position in the family isn't as good."

Chunu nodded her head and started walking again.

I had small talks with her as we went towards the town lights. Apparently, the more we went towards the centre, the more lit the town was. We hadn't noticed that before.

Various stalls had opened near the inns and pavilions. It looked sort of like a festival. They reminded me of my hometown, where I lived on earth.

Vendors and customers engaged in a battle of haggling, parents strolling with their children who had candies in their hands, guards patrolling the more prominent establishments; I came to realize that the fair had already started.

With so many merchant companies flocking to the town in a daily basis, it was no wonder actually. This made me correct my assumptions of the fair's size and of the desert itself.

'If so many people have already come to the town before a month, how many would there be at the official day? Can this town even accommodate them?'

The measly amount of money I 'earned' was nothing compared to the money that would circulate in the fair. We were still poor.

"No! I need to earn more," I muttered.

Suddenly, Chunu looked at me with wide eyes. She covered her opened mouth with her palm and exclaimed, "You're... going to rob more people?!"

Unable to hold it in, I burst out laughing.

Her expression was priceless.

[1].. "The face," as in pride and dignity, but can also be taken literally.