Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 551 Assassination further update (4)

Dugu Chen followed his wife’s gaze and saw that indeed, while he wore shabby clothes on top, below he had on a pair of fine shoes, which looked strikingly out of place. He twisted around and ran to change into a pair with visible holes.

Yueyue circled around her mother, "Mom, will you look like this when you get old?"

Feng Xuxu pulled a face, "So, if mom looked like this, you wouldn’t want her anymore?"

"Hehe, a child cannot despise their mother’s plainness. No matter if mom looks like this or even uglier, Yueyue will never disdain you."

"Hmph, that’s more like it." She reached out to pinch her daughter’s pale and tender little face.

Qiqi saw that her mom’s hands and face didn’t match and took hold of her hand, "Mom, your hand is not done yet."

Feng Xuxu looked at her hands, still exceptionally fair, and hurried over to pick up the blended medicine. She applied it to her hands, and seeing them instantly age, Feng Xuxu smiled with satisfaction; now her appearance matched her current disguise.

"My lady, are you finished?"

"Finished, let’s go out."

"You must be good, got it?" Dugu Chen, still worried, gave them another piece of advice.

Qiqi and Yueyue vigorously nodded, "Mom’s not taking us, so we can’t leave. We’ll play with Xiaobai, and we’ll be good."

Feng Xuxu glanced around stealthily to make sure no one was nearby, then grasping Dugu Chen’s hand, they disappeared from the space.

Once they left the space, one walked hunchbacked while the other steadied and supported him. Moving slowly, they gradually proceeded forward. Before long, they reached the bustling street. Feng Xuxu, with a basket on her arm, supporting her husband beside her, pointed towards an old lady selling shoes, "Old man, let’s buy you a pair of shoes."

"What did you say?" Dugu Chen pretended to turn his head to the side, deliberately leaning his ear closer to Feng Xuxu, calling out with a slowly tearing voice.

Feng Xuxu, holding his hand, gently twisted it, nearly bursting into laughter, then raised her voice a bit, "Let’s buy you a pair of shoes," she said, pointing to his feet.

This time Dugu Chen dared not pretend he hadn’t heard; otherwise his arm would soon be alternating shades of blue and purple, "If they’re expensive, we won’t buy them."

The old lady selling shoes had been watching them for a while and, hearing that they wanted to buy shoes, cheerfully said, "Big sister, don’t worry, my shoes are definitely cheap, and not only that—they’re good quality and durable too."

Feng Xuxu let go of her husband’s hand, squatted down, picked up the shoes from the basket, and after inspecting them carefully, nodded, "Find a pair that fits my old man well."

"Alright, coming right up." The shoe-selling old lady, hearing they would buy, squatted down and glanced at the shoes on his feet, then began to rummage through her basket.

"Try and see how this pair fits."

Feng Xuxu took the shoes from her hand, placed them beneath Dugu Chen’s feet, and said loudly into his ear, "Try these on."

"Oh," he took off the worn-out shoes and put on the new ones, which felt all right. He nodded at Feng Xuxu, "Not bad."

"Older sister, how much silver?" Feng Xuxu clutched her purse tightly, nervously asking the shoe seller.

"Seeing as you two seem rather pitiful, I’ll give you a discount. Just give me thirty copper coins," Feng Xuxu nodded, the price was indeed not expensive.

"Look, can you make it any cheaper? My old man and I have come a long way from Wanzhou to find our girl. This is all the copper coins we have left, and we haven’t even had lunch."

The shoe-seller granny furrowed her brows tightly, looking at the two pitiful figures before her and waved her hand, "Alright, I’ll do a good deed. Twenty-five copper coins, and I really can’t go lower."

"Thank you, older sister," Feng Xuxu looked at the shoe seller gratefully, excitedly opened her purse, and tremblingly took out all of her copper coins, counting back and forth to only twenty-four. She poured them back into her purse and finding indeed there were no more, she looked at the seller with some difficulty, "Older sister, it’s only twenty-four copper coins. There’s really none left in the purse. If it won’t do, I can always pay you back once I’ve found my girl."

The shoe-selling granny, seeing her purse indeed empty, reluctantly nodded, "Fine then, give me twenty-four copper coins."

After collecting the copper coins, the shoe-selling granny looked at the old man shakily putting on the shoes, and then at his wife whose face bore the traces of hardship, and felt pity, "Yezhou is rather large, do you know where your girl is?"

"She said she’s working as a maid in some Prince Residence," Feng Xuxu slightly furrowed her brows, trying hard to recall the name of that place.

Upon hearing this, the shoe-selling granny followed up with a hushed question, "Could it be Prince Fu Residence?"

"Ah, right, right, right, that’s the one..." Before Feng Xuxu could finish, the shoe-selling granny shushed her.

"Shh, shh, shh, keep your voice down," the shoe-selling granny looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before she relaxed.

Feng Xuxu was momentarily stunned, then also whispered softly, "What’s wrong, sister?"

Seeing that they did not look like bad people, the shoe seller simply advised, "If you find your girl, just hurry back. And if... she’s not there, don’t make a fuss, just pretend... she was never born." After saying this, she bowed her head and began to pack up the shoes on the ground.

"Why... why?" Feng Xuxu hadn’t understood, how could one simply act as if they had never given birth?

"There’s no why. Just listen to my advice, you won’t regret it. I have to hurry off now. The place you are looking for is just up ahead, there are a pair of majestic stone lions. Beside the stone lions there’s a path, that leads to the back. Go look for her at the back gate." The shoe-selling granny picked up her basket and sighed, then left.

Feng Xuxu and Dugu Chen exchanged glances and, following the bustling main street, slowly made their way forward. After exhausting half an hour, they finally reached the entrance of Prince Fu Residence. The two stood at the corner, looking at the majestic stone lions and the formidable gate, with a pair of sharp-eyed guards scanning the passersby back and forth.

"See that? That’s Prince Fu Residence, but from the look of it, the guards’ martial arts are no simple matter," Dugu Chen whispered into Feng Xuxu’s ear.

Feng Xuxu dared not take it lightly and merely nodded slightly, "Darling, you said they bought so many grains, they probably wouldn’t keep them in the residence, nor would they have sent it to the Marshals ahead of time. Do you think they might be in some place in Yezhou?"

"Smart thinking, let’s go and have a look," he responded.

Supporting each other, they walked on, with Dugu Chen relying on his memory of a few properties he had in Yezhou Prefecture. They turned a corner and then disappeared into the crowd.