The silent night was deathly still, terrifyingly so.
In just a few breaths, it felt like a long time had passed.
The heavy breathing outside clearly belonged to a man. Qi Jiao could even smell a faint trace of blood.
Her inner clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
The room was pitch black. The figure outside seemed to be making a judgment. After a moment's pause, it turned in the opposite direction.
The footsteps became a bit messy. Qi Jiao could tell that the man had groped his way towards the large kitchen in the east. Before long, there came the rustling sounds of rummaging.
She was even more certain that it was a thief!
With a thought, Qi Jiao secretly thought that it was bad.
If there was food in the large kitchen, it would be okay. She hoped that this man would take what he wanted and leave.
However, business had been good today, and all the cooked food had been sold out...
The ingredients were locked in the storeroom. There was only a large basin of fermented dough in the kitchen - it was for making snacks tomorrow morning.
There came the furious curses of the thief from the kitchen. He had found nothing.
Qi Jiao bit her lips. While the thief was a bit far away, she quickly dragged the tables and chairs in the room to block the door.
After doing this, Qi Jiao's palms were trembling. She firmly pressed on the door latch.
The thief had found nothing. He returned. He walked past the rooms in the courtyard one by one.
Qi Jiao's nerves were highly tense. The thief seemed to stop outside the room where Leng Yao and Ye Yun lived.
Thankfully, Leng Yao and Ye Yun were there.
It was too cold in the morning and evening in winter. The bun shop's business was also booming. They had simply moved into the small courtyard in Pomegranate Lane to accompany Qi Jiao.
Now, Leng Yao and Ye Yun were the factors that made Qi Jiao feel a bit more at ease.
However, they seemed to be sleeping soundly.
The two rooms were not far away. Qi Jiao could hear Ye Yun's snoring...
At this point, Qi Jiao only hoped that the thief was only there for money and not to harm people.
Sure enough, the thief also heard Ye Yun's snoring. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he walked over like a ghost.
The night outside was dark, but there was still a trace of moonlight.
The thin moonlight shone on the window paper. Qi Jiao could clearly see the outline of the thief - short and thin.
She tightly held the fire tongs in her right hand and hid her figure in the darkness.
Qi Jiao was secretly praying that the thief would think that there was no one in the room and not break in. However, she had placed agarwood incense in her room, and it had drifted out from the window cracks.
There was a charcoal fire in the room. Even if it was cold at night, Qi Jiao would leave a crack in the window.
Qi Jiao was extremely regretful. In her panic, she had only focused on blocking the door and had forgotten to seal the window!!!
Sure enough, the thief followed the scent and pushed open the window with a palm. He jumped in like a monkey.
Qi Jiao forced herself to calm down. Her only advantage now was that she was in the darkness and was more familiar with the terrain than the thief.
However, the scent on her body instantly betrayed her.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the thief took out the dagger from his waist and pounced over. The cold tip of the knife was aimed at Qi Jiao's neck.
"Damn it, you're hiding here. I'll kill you..."
Like a ghost climbing out of hell, the hand that grabbed her neck made her extremely afraid and disgusted. Qi Jiao could smell the stench of blood on his body, which was disgusting.
Everything happened too quickly. Qi Jiao's mind was blank, but the pain on her neck made her come to her senses.
She had encountered the worst situation. She couldn't fight hard now. She could only be gentle.
Thousands of thoughts flashed through her mind. She silently put the fire tongs into her sleeve and then whispered with a sob, "Hero... hero, please spare my life... I'm just a woman. I usually only cook for my family. I'm illiterate. We have no grudges... no enmities. Please spare me..."
After saying this, the thief sneered, "Do you think that I'll spare you just by saying this?"
Qi Jiao: "..."
They had committed a few major crimes in the northern border with their leader. Just as they were proud, they didn't expect the capital to send heavy troops to encircle them.
The leader was killed, and they suffered heavy losses. There were originally thousands of people, but now they were in disarray.
The remaining people had no choice but to run away at night and flee to the south.
They thought that life would be better here, but they didn't expect the Yulin County government to communicate with the capital. From the prefectural city to the county and township, there were patrols and wanted notices everywhere. They had to hide their heads and show their tails all day long. They were worse than rats crossing the street.
At dusk today, they were unlucky enough to meet the people from the inspection department. Those cruel officials were extremely ruthless. They had disabled many of his brothers on the spot.
He relied on his small stature and managed to escape.
He hid in a donkey cart and was transported into the city before it got dark.
After a long escape and being injured, he was hungry and thirsty. He didn't dare to expose himself. By midnight, he was so hungry that he had no choice but to find some food in the back yard of the restaurant.
However, the kitchen was cleaner than a snow cave. There was only a basin of raw dough. He was extremely angry.
The good thing was that his nose was more sensitive than others. He smelled the warmth and fragrance from the side room.
He listened carefully and confirmed that there was no man in this room. Only then did he break in through the window.
Seeing Qi Jiao's panicked and easy-to-manipulate appearance, the thief couldn't help but be secretly happy. Threatening her and scamming some food and money was a way out.
"Hero... uncle, my family is not rich, but we still have a few taels of silver. Don't hurt me. We can discuss anything..."
Hearing that there was silver to be had, the thief thought for a while. He still looked fierce, but the dagger loosened a bit. "Go get the silver!"
His stomach was rumbling. He was so hungry that it felt like a knife was stabbing him. He asked, "Bring me some food too."
Qi Jiao nodded like a chicken pecking rice. "I'll go. I'll go."
The thief warned, "Don't call anyone!"
Qi Jiao said that she wouldn't dare. She groped her way to the bookshelf in the dark and took out a small square box from the third shelf and gave it to the thief.
The thief held Qi Jiao with one hand and opened the box with the other.
There were two new silver ingots in it, shining a faint light in the darkness. He couldn't help but be extremely happy.
After receiving the silver, the thief still didn't dare to relax.
He held Qi Jiao hostage and came to the kitchen. "Find me something to eat."
Qi Jiao said helplessly, "Our boss is stingy. He locks up the ingredients every night. I don't know where they are..."
Hearing this, the thief immediately changed his expression.
He didn't know the inside story. He really thought that Qi Jiao was a servant of this restaurant.
Qi Jiao quickly said, "Thankfully, there is a large basin of dough here. Hero, please wait a bit. I'll make pancakes for you."
The thief's expression eased a bit. However, he had been out for so long. His stomach was rumbling. He impatiently urged Qi Jiao, "Hurry up!"
There was no lamp in the kitchen.
Qi Jiao sat at the stove door and lit the fire. The sudden burst of fire illuminated her face.
The thief had never seen such beauty before. He couldn't help but feel lustful.
Qi Jiao naturally saw the thief's lecherous eyes. She was extremely anxious, but she couldn't lose her composure. She looked up and gave the thief a harmless smile. "I'll go roll the dough. It'll be ready soon."
The thief was hungry. He thought that he should eat a full meal first. He suppressed his lust a bit.
However, even so, when Qi Jiao passed by him, she was still touched twice.
She suppressed her nausea and thought that she would kill this thief later!