She was now dressed in coarse cloth clothes. Her hair was all loose, with bits of straw in it. Her face and body were unevenly smeared with ash, making her look no different from a beggar.
All of them were dressed the same way. The only discordant thing was that they all had extraordinary looks, but it was hard to recognize their original appearances without a close look.
Xiaomu was most adept at disguising as a beggar. In the past dozen years, he had lived such a life every day, so he was very familiar with the life of a beggar.
"You wait here for a while. I'll go and inquire to see if there's a place we can stay," Xiaomu said, and then ran off.
The others scattered and sat on the ground. Suddenly, a group of guards walked towards them. They were all stunned and looked at the approaching guards warily.
It was obvious that the guards were coming straight for them. Had they been recognized?
The guards walked up to them with pictures in their hands and shouted, "Have you seen the people in these pictures?"
Hearing this, Yuan Yuhan secretly put the dagger back in his hand and showed an obsequious smile on his face. "Sir guards, those people seem to have gone towards the city gate. Hurry up and go after them before they escape."
The guards immediately ran off at full speed, afraid that those people would escape through the city gate. People at the nearby stalls began to whisper among themselves.
"I wonder why they're suddenly searching for these people in the city. With such a large - scale search, they must be serious criminals."
"Whether they're criminals or not has nothing to do with us. Now that the world is at peace, we just need to live our peaceful lives!"
"That's true. The emperor loves his people like his own children. There will never be war in Beiming in the future."
Mu Fengqie listened carefully to the conversation between the two people and scoffed at their words. Although the emperor of Beiming had always adhered to the concept of peace, there had been no shortage of wars in recent years.
She always remembered what Lian'er had said yesterday. The emperor of Beiming was not a simple man. He was most adept at winning people's hearts. Otherwise, these common people would not love him so much.
Not long after, Xiaomu came back in a hurry. "I've found a temple. No one will ever find us there. How about we go there to rest tonight?"
"Fine. You lead the way."
In their current situation, they naturally couldn't stay in an inn openly. It was already very good to find a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
They followed Xiaomu to a nearby temple. The temple was located in a remote place, but there were quite a few beggars inside.
A Ru couldn't help but frown, but she didn't say much and just followed Yuan Yuhan and Mu Fengqie obediently.
"Let's rest here tonight. This is Third Master. This area is his territory. We'd better not provoke him," Xiaomu said indifferently.
Even beggars had their own rules. Third Master was the local bully in this area. Xiaomu had paid fifty copper coins to get permission for them to stay here. Fortunately, the thing they lacked the least now was silver, so fifty copper coins was nothing.
They all nodded. They wouldn't provoke strangers, especially strange beggars.
When Third Master saw A Ru and Mu Fengqie, he frowned. He had a feeling that these two people seemed very familiar, but he just couldn't remember where he had seen them.
Moreover, their demeanor didn't seem like that of beggars. Third Master became even more puzzled and curiously walked up to them.
"These two young ladies look very familiar. Could it be that they're young ladies from a wealthy family who have fallen into hard times?" Third Master asked puzzledly.
Judging from their demeanor, they didn't look like beggars at all. Instead, they looked like young ladies from wealthy families. Even though they were dirty at the moment, it didn't affect their beauty.
Third Master immediately had evil thoughts. If he could sell these two beautiful young ladies to a brothel in the dead of night, he could have a good time for a while.
Mu Fengqie nodded accordingly. "Third Master is right. My younger sister and I were originally young ladies from a wealthy family, but our family declined and we've ended up in such a situation. Thank you, Third Master, for not despising us and taking us in. I wonder if we can stay here for a few more days?"
Before coming here, Mu Fengqie had heard from Xiaomu what had happened here. Since it was a matter that could be solved with money, she would never be stingy.
As soon as she finished speaking, she took off the jadeite bracelet on her hand. This bracelet was originally a reward from the Empress Dowager. Since she had so many things, keeping it was of no use. It was better to use it to gain favor.
"This is just a small token. Please accept it, Third Master. This is the only valuable thing I have on me. Please take it," Mu Fengqie said indifferently.
When Third Master saw the jadeite bracelet in his hand, he grinned from ear to ear. This jadeite bracelet clearly looked extraordinary. If he sold it to a pawnshop, he would surely get a good price!
The evil thoughts in Third Master's heart were all bought off by the jadeite bracelet in his hand. Since this little girl was so sincere, he would be kind - hearted.
"In that case, you can stay here. But since you're here, you have to follow my rules. I'm the boss here," Third Master said slowly while looking at the bracelet.
Mu Fengqie nodded obediently, looking like an innocent little rabbit and very harmless. "Don't worry, Third Master. We will definitely listen to you and won't cause you any trouble."
Although the conditions here were a bit poor, they could barely get by. The letter might have just been sent out. If they had to wait for someone to come and rescue them, it might still take some time. So they would probably have to spend this time in this dilapidated temple.
A Ru quickly put away the bracelet on her hand. That was a birthday gift from her mother. She didn't want her precious item to be seen by that greedy man.
Time passed by minute by minute. They lit a fire in the dilapidated temple. After such a long time without eating, they were all starving.
But in their current disguise as beggars, they couldn't openly go out to buy food. So they had to send Zhu Fei and Xiaomu to hunt in the forest, while Yuan Yuhan stayed to protect A Ru and Mu Fengqie.
Not long after, Zhu Fei and Xiaomu returned with a full load. Their hands were filled with prey they had hunted in the forest.