Yan Qing felt himself drooling like crazy, and Ying Rushi curiously asked, "Rice Dumplings?"
Shang Xinlei explained, "It's similar to dumplings, but the fillings include shrimp, fresh pork, char siu, bamboo shoots, and crab meat, making it extremely tasty and sweet..."
"Enough!" Pharmacist's Wish slammed the table hard, "You all might as well take off your masks, glasses, and bandages, and just appear directly in Chang'an, instead of attracting so much attention—"
"Confirming all members are present."
"Mission begins in five seconds countdown. Location: Vermilion Bird Avenue, Chang'an City. Five, four, three..."
A familiar yet strange narration voice echoed in everyone's ears. Before they had any reaction, the five-second countdown vanished in a blink. As their vision went dark, before even opening their eyes, the sound of bustling footsteps from afar rushed into their ears.
From the start of the countdown, Yan Qing had been holding his sword hilt tightly. His body was tense, and as he opened his eyes while retreating, he found the four of them were at the end of a small alley. To reach the main street, they had to pass a corner, so it was impossible for people on the main street to witness their appearance.
"This is behind Tongren Hall," Ying Rushi surveyed the surroundings and immediately deduced their location, "Let's go, it's about half a li to An Guo Temple from here."
Pharmacist's Wish was skeptical, as a local of Chang'an, she didn't recognize which alley this was. "How do you know?"
"The sand table has four alleys like this, three of which don't match the surrounding buildings. Naturally, the answer is the alley behind Tongren Hall," Ying Rushi said, "The Thief's House couldn't have transported us outside the sand table."
"You remembered the sand table?"
"We had five days, wouldn't it be obvious to memorize the sand table?"
With that, Ying Rushi started walking out, followed closely by Yan Qing.
Shang Xinlei glanced at Pharmacist's Wish, patted her shoulder and comforted, "Don't worry, I didn't memorize it either, I bet Yellow Dog didn't either. Only White Fox's a genius. Hmph, we should all just isolate her together!"
"Didn't we agree not to contact each other rashly?" Pharmacist's Wish restrained the urge to shake her off, glaring fiercely.
"You're so hard to please, sister. White Fox's the genius, Yellow Dog has the intel, us two little weaklings ought to band together for warmth." Shang Xinlei sighed and shook her head, then merrily caught up with the two ahead.
Who's a little weakling with you!
Pharmacist's Wish thought through gritted teeth, then suddenly felt alarm — had Red Snake discovered she's a woman? Impossible, she'd disguised herself so well!
The four walked on Vermilion Bird Avenue, drawing plenty of attention with frequent glances from passersby.
Luckily, it was only half a li, and they soon arrived at the commerce area near An Guo Temple. With people bustling all around them, they blended in... yet still stood out.
The combination of bandage freak, masked merchant, and sunglasses was way too avant-garde in Chang'an City.
"Let's go over there and get a bowl of noodles to secure a spot first," Yan Qing said suddenly.
The place he pointed to was a noodle shop named "First Noodle."
Pharmacist's Wish frowned, "What's with the noodles, time is pressing, we only have two ke left, we've got to..."
"I want to eat too!"
"I also want to try the flavors of Chang'an."
Shang Xinlei and Ying Rushi interrupted Pharmacist's Wish simultaneously.
As Pharmacist's Wish's face turned dark, Yan Qing explained:
"When we come out later, we'll still have to linger on Vermilion Bird Avenue for half a ke before we can go back. If we don't secure a spot now, we would just wander the streets, which could be more risky."
Yan Qing finished talking and walked over, clearly only informing and not negotiating.
Pharmacist's Wish felt extremely frustrated, in other circumstances, who besides her father would dare to reject her decisions? But in the Thief's House, she couldn't even count the number of times Yellow Dog had vetoed her opinions, and he even formulated the whole plan without revealing the details to her.
Watching the three ahead, frustration built up inside Pharmacist's Wish.
White Fox, self-righteous and mocking her lack of sand table memory, deserves to die;
Red Snake, seeing through her disguise and mocking her as a weakling, deserves to die;
Yellow Dog, ignoring her opinions and usurping her leadership, deserves to die even more!
No, I'm getting more and more angry. I don't want to pretend anymore. I'll just call the Chang'an Shence Army to crush you all!
"Black Wolf! Black Wolf!"
Suddenly, Yan Qing's urgent shout came from in front: "Our table was taken!"
Pharmacist's Wish focused and saw that the table in front of Yan Qing and the others had been taken by two burly men.
The burly men gave them a dismissive look, "What do you mean taken, obviously we got here first. You were slow, so just wait in line obediently—"
Pharmacist's Wish walked up to them, her face expressionless as she stared at them.
The burly man remained disdainful, "What, want to fight? This is Chang'an, do you think you country bumpkins can run wild—"
Thud!
Pharmacist's Wish reached out and grabbed their collars. She had a great figure, tall and with long legs and arms, and despite the fact that they were slightly taller than her, she still lifted these two hundred-pound plus men like dolls! Their legs dangled, knocking over chairs.
Before they could resist, she flung them forcefully, throwing them out of the noodle shop.
Faced with someone so fierce they could lift them with one hand, it was obvious she must be a Martial Arts Messenger. Though Chang'an would protect them from being hurt, the burly men dared not offend the Messenger, and without uttering a single harsh word, they got up and slunk away.
"Luckily, we have Black Wolf with us."
"Yes, Black Wolf, your Qi Blood must be very high, right?"
"We might have to rely on you to break through later, Black Wolf."
Pharmacist's Wish's expression remained indifferent, but whether Qi Blood rushed to her head or not, her face looked much rosier. She sat down and said calmly, "Hmph, I already knew you were unreliable."
Yan Qing, Ying Rushi, and Shang Xinlei exchanged glances secretly.
By the second meeting, they vaguely sensed that Pharmacist's Wish had mood swings that were prone to drastic changes. When her mood kept dropping, she'd directly flip the table — like abruptly ending the second day's meeting.
And yet, Pharmacist's Wish loved to give opinions and even issue orders, and if one disagreed with her, she'd hold a grudge secretly, and when those grudges accumulated, she tended to explode. This type of person would usually be very troublesome, but Black Wolf surprisingly had an easy fix — let her have the upper hand once, and she'd return to normal.
Unanimously, they all knew to leave room for Black Wolf to showcase her strength.
When the server came over, Yan Qing asked, "Four bowls of fresh meat wonton noodles, how long is the wait?"
Seeing these odd customers of various appearances, the server's expression remained unchanged, smiling as he replied, "Sorry, dear customers, we are quite busy; it may take about a quarter of an hour."
"A quarter of an hour is fine. Then cook them now while we head to An Guo Temple to pick something up and return."
"Alright."
Yan Qing lifted his head, and at this moment, the sun hung high, with sunlight nearly falling directly, making one's shadow almost invisible when standing still.
It's time, he thought.
Meanwhile, behind An Guo Temple at Ciji Institute, three uninvited guests arrived. The monk doing chores, on seeing three identical people open the door and enter the porch, asked in surprise, "Who might you three be...?"
"An Qi."
"An Ba."
"An Jiu."