Border Cook

There is only one official road. If you want to go further, you will have to walk for more than an hour to find a place to eat. The food stalls here have few customers. If you lose a business, you will be very sad.

Xia Mingyue and her group understood the implications. Yin Lingyou and Mao Sanli, who were sitting at the table at the edge, took the initiative to give up their table and squeezed in with Xia Mingyue and the others.

Upon seeing this, the shopkeeper first thanked Yin Lingyou and Mao Sanli repeatedly, and hurriedly brought over the unfinished dishes and meals. He wiped the table clean with the rag on his shoulder and greeted them, "Sir, please take a seat."

Seeing that there was a place, the group of four stopped.

The two little girls pursed their lips and said nothing, while the middle-aged woman looked around, glanced at the middle-aged man, and asked nervously, "Husband, how about we eat here?"

"Okay, just have a bite." The middle-aged man nodded reluctantly.

Perhaps because he didn't like crowds, or perhaps because he was worried about the identities and whereabouts of this group of people, the middle-aged man frowned as he looked at Xia Mingyue's huge group of people, and then warned his two daughters beside him, "When you go out, there are a lot of people around, so be careful, don't run around, and don't talk nonsense, otherwise if you offend someone, it won't be a joke."

The two little girls said "yes" timidly, then lowered their heads, not daring to look at anything else, and just followed the two men to the table.

In order to avoid the children making trouble, the couple specially chose seats next to Xia Mingyue and her group to separate the two sisters.

When the shop owner saw people sitting down, he poured tea very warmly and introduced the dishes and food.

However, despite the store owner's introduction, the middle-aged man just frowned and said, "I don't want anything else, just four bowls of clear soup noodles, please hurry up, we have to hurry."

"Yes, four bowls of clear soup noodles, right away." Seeing that the other party was in a bad mood, the shop owner no longer insisted and hurriedly asked his wife to roll and cook the noodles.

The family of four continued to drink tea.

The two little girls were obviously very thirsty. They drank one bowl of water after another and soon finished all the water in the pot.

"I'll go ask the store to bring us another pot of water." The older of the two girls stood up and walked to the back carrying the teapot.

"No need." The man stopped her and shouted loudly, "Shopkeeper, add a pot of tea!"

"Here it comes." The shopkeeper came hurried over, took the teapot away, and scooped up boiling water from the pot at the back.

Seeing this, my sister had no choice but to sit down.

After a moment, my sister also stood up and said, "I want to go to the toilet."

"I want to go too." The elder sister agreed, looking at the middle-aged man tentatively, "Can we go to the toilet?"

"Go one by one." The middle-aged man was obviously a little unhappy, and pointed at his sister, "You go first."

Then he reached out and tapped his sister, "Wait until she comes back, then go."

"Hurry up, don't delay any longer, otherwise when the noodles come, those who don't come back won't have anything to eat. Also, don't talk too much, otherwise if you get into trouble, no one will be able to have a good life."

The middle-aged man spoke in a low voice, but his tone was very serious and full of warning.

The two girls looked at each other, pursed their lips and stopped talking. They just followed the instructions of the middle-aged man and went to the toilet one by one. The actions of the family fell into the eyes of Xia Mingyue and Fan Jinglan, and they couldn't help but look at each other.

"What a strange family." Fan Jinglan muttered softly.

"They are not from the same family, and they probably don't even know each other." Xia Mingyue lowered her voice and moved closer to Fan Jinglan. "The two girls look similar, so they must be sisters. But they and the couple have never addressed them since they arrived here."

"After the couple sat down, the man kept looking at us, while the woman stared at the two sisters. They even went to the toilet one by one. It was obvious that they wanted to use the other as a handle to threaten the other and prevent the other from asking for help."

Fan Jinglan agreed with Xia Mingyue's analysis and kept nodding her head. "Just now, the man asked the two sisters to behave themselves. It really seems inappropriate. Could it be that the two sisters were kidnapped by the couple?"

There were constant wars at the border, and many people had to leave their homes and rely on relatives and friends. There were many people on the road, so some lawless people set their sights on these people.

They cheat and deceive people, not only to take their money, but also to sell it to others in order to get more money.

Xia Mingyue and Fan Jinglan had both heard of these things, and had even heard Zhang Heming mention a related case in Changzhou Prefecture. Now seeing such an unreasonable scene, it was hard not to associate it with this incident.

"This is just speculation at the moment and cannot be completely determined, but we can try to ask a few questions."

However, for such things, it is better to believe it. Even if it is a mistake, it is done with good intentions. The worst that can happen is an apology. It is nothing more than embarrassment and loss of face, which is nothing.

But if it's true...

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Xia Mingyue raised her eyebrows and whispered something in Fan Jinglan's ear.

After hearing this, Fan Jinglan nodded repeatedly and said, "Just do as Madam Xia said."

"Okay." Xia Mingyue smiled, stood up, and called the shopkeeper over, "Excuse me, where is the toilet?"

"It's over there." The shopkeeper pointed out the place warmly, and added shyly, "It's a remote place, and the hut is a little small, please don't mind it, ma'am."

"It's okay." Xia Mingyue walked towards the thatched house in the corner.

"Will the maid go with you, my lady?" Yin Qiao had no idea what was going on. She was just used to taking good care of Xia Mingyue in everything, so she stood up.

"No need. Ask the store owner to prepare some hot water and fill our water bags. We'll set off after I come back." Xia Mingyue ordered with a smile.

Seeing this, Yin Qiao no longer insisted and let Xia Mingyue walk over there by herself.

The middle-aged man at the table had already winked at the woman sitting next to him when he saw Xia Mingyue was going to the toilet, but when he saw that Xia Mingyue and the others behaved very naturally and were about to leave soon, he put his hand back on the table, tapped it gently, and signaled the woman to continue sitting still.

The other party obviously had no intention of interfering in other people's affairs. If they did something too conspicuous, it would only cause more trouble.

It would be better to just continue like this and avoid any trouble.

The middle-aged woman saw this and no longer cared. She just picked up her chopsticks and put the noodles that the store brought to her into her mouth. (End of this chapter)