Chapter 1361 — Returned Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Qiu Lingshan, standing to one side, was so angry she could hardly bear it. She nearly leaped up and jabbed a finger at Wei Zhao to demand: just what is wrong with me? Why would you rather take some female thief as a concubine than even consider me? I'm furious, furious!
"Heh—" Wei Zhao thought this girl Yu Xiaoke was a rather amusing sort.
"You... how much are you worth?" After a spell of silence, Yu Xiaoke suddenly asked.
"Hm?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.
"It's nothing, really. I just want to see how much you're worth, whether it's worth my being your concubine. That is, how much bride price can you give me?" Yu Xiaoke asked, as though quite in earnest.
"I was joking," Wei Zhao said. Seeing how serious Yu Xiaoke looked, he suddenly felt a pang of discomfort.
Wei Zhao had more or less guessed what was in Yu Xiaoke's mind. She probably assumed that the husband-and-wife thieves must be very rich; grave robbers, how could they not be rich? Or perhaps she had also seen that robbing graves for others was simply too dangerous, especially this time, when one misstep meant death. And so the notion of selling herself had come to her again: if she could fetch a good price and leave the orphanage free of worry, then Yu Xiaoke would very likely have nodded and agreed.
In her eyes there seemed to be no thought at all for her own interests or happiness, only for the children of the orphanage.
"Heh heh, I was joking too..." Yu Xiaoke smiled.
In truth, Wei Zhao had guessed right. Yu Xiaoke was thinking exactly what he imagined. If Wei Zhao could produce a sum of money that would build the orphanage up fine and beautiful, a sum that would keep it free from want for a very, very long time, then she would be glad to be his concubine, or his serving maid.
But then Yu Xiaoke shook her head with a touch of self-mockery. She was no golden phoenix; on what grounds would anyone spend that much money on her? Was it even possible? She reckoned her own fancies could ruin Male Thief outright. Even if he truly meant to take her as a concubine, once he heard her terms he would be scared off.
The four of them waited there a while. After roughly half an hour, disordered footsteps suddenly came again from the passage ahead.
"They're back?" Qiu Lingshan asked upon hearing the footsteps.
"Seems they're running back?" Chen Yuxuan frowned in some perplexity.
"This is bad!" Wei Zhao's heart sank with a jolt. The jade pendant's warning signal was growing stronger and stronger, which meant that Elder Yu, Old Black, and the others had brought the danger back with them.
Sure enough, mingled with those disordered footsteps came shrill, anguished screams.
"Help!... We're done for! A ghost... there's a ghost in this tomb, it's going to eat us..."
It was Old Black's voice. From the sound of it, he had been frightened out of his wits; his voice had gone piercingly shrill. Even so, he kept howling without pause: "Elder Yu, wait for me! Don't leave me behind!"