Qiaomu looked at the old man who had walked out from inside, frowning slightly.

Had she said she wanted to inspect anything?

“Female Hero, all my herbs are good herbs, please have a look.”

The old man walked over, casually pulled out a drawer, and set it on the table.

“Please, take a look!”

The old man looked at Qiaomu, gesturing with his hand.

Qiaomu didn’t move; Feng Jiu’er walked over instead.

She reached into the wooden box, took a pinch of herbs, and brought it to her nose to smell.

“The herbs are quite pure.”

Hearing Feng Jiu’er’s words, the old man let out a soft breath of relief.

“I’ve run this herbalist shop for over twenty years. Every herb has passed through my own hands for selection — they won’t be too poor in quality.”

“Old sir, you said your herbs are all purchased — do you have a fixed supplier?”

Feng Jiu’er put the herbs back.

“No.”

The old man shook his head. “Sometimes common folk bring herbs in, and I take a look.”

“If it’s suitable, if it’s good, I’ll take it. There’s no fixed source.”

As he said this, the smile on the old man’s face looked somewhat forced, a little strained.

“Miss, as you can see, my little shop isn’t big. What need would I have for a fixed supplier? Those doing big business wouldn’t even look twice at a shop like mine.”

Feng Jiu’er thought about it — that did seem to make sense.

Panlong Stronghold needed to support a population of ten thousand; their main income was herbs — how could that possibly rely on just this one shop?

Feng Jiu’er pondered for a moment, then continued: “Old sir, when you purchase herbs, do you keep records?”

“That, I do keep.” The old man walked, somewhat slowly, back to the table where he did business.

He bent down and pulled open the drawer beneath it.

“Today, in fact, I took in a batch of herbs, quite good ones, and I’ve recorded it all here.”

The old man took out a small notebook and set it on the table, flipping it open.

“Miss, take a look — this is the person. Well, two people came, but only one name was recorded.”

“He brings herbs out to sell now and then, and he said that after selling the herbs, he’d go to the rice shop and bring some rice back for the family.”

Two people, buying rice?

This piece of information caught the attention of both Feng Jiu’er and Qiaomu.

Feng Jiu’er went over and took the little notebook, reading it carefully.

“A’Cai?”

She looked at the signature, frowning slightly.

“That talkative one — I think that was his name, A’Cai.”

Qiaomu looked at her and said, “Old sir, you said these two come from time to time?”

Qiaomu turned her head to look at the old man.

“Yes, yes.”

The old man retreated half a step.

Even with a table between them, he still looked rather afraid of Qiaomu.

Qiaomu raised an eyebrow — she really wanted to ask, exactly which part of her looked so terrifying?

She’d been able to captivate Feng Jiang, the third prince of the Feng Clan — was she really that unappealing?

Of course, Qiaomu wouldn’t say a single extra word about that — and besides, Feng Jiang was no longer a prince, and Feng Qiongcang would soon no longer be emperor either.

“Old sir, do you still remember how these two were dressed?”

Feng Jiu’er asked.

The old man described the two men’s clothing and even their physical appearance, and it matched exactly with the two men Feng Jiu’er and Qiaomu had seen.

Neither of them said anything; the old man fell quiet as well.

The shop was silent for a moment, then Feng Jiu’er asked: “You said these two people — about how often do they come?”

“Hard to say,” the old man replied. “Sometimes it’s eight or ten days, sometimes three or four.”

“But whatever herbs they bring, I take them all — they’re good herbs, and ones I happen to need quite a bit.”

“You two young ladies, may I ask, is there some kind of problem with these two?”

The old man asked timidly.

“We heard they’re from Panlong Stronghold — didn’t you know?”

Feng Jiu’er countered.

The old man frowned slightly, then said: “I did seem to notice something written on the back of their necks, but I didn’t look closely.”

“People used to say that everyone from Panlong Stronghold has the character ‘Dragon’ on the back of their neck.”

“But later on, I heard many of the younger ones stopped wanting to get the mark, saying it hurt too much.”

“Panlong Stronghold may be called bandits, but they’ve never done anything truly bad — better, even, than the people of Pingyuan City and Xiang City.”

“So I never paid much attention, and even when someone from Panlong Stronghold came to buy medicine, I never asked too many questions.”

Once the old man finished speaking, he looked up cautiously at Feng Jiu’er.

“Has something happened? Surely the people of Panlong Stronghold haven’t harmed the people of our city?”

“No.” Feng Jiu’er shook her head. “We just want to understand more about Panlong Stronghold.”

“You know how it is — what officials say is often less true than what the common people say, so we have to trouble you all instead.”

“No trouble at all, no trouble!”

The old man waved his hands vigorously.

He had long since realized these two women were no ordinary people, but this wasn’t something he was meant to know, so he wouldn’t ask further.

“To us, Panlong Stronghold isn’t really bandits — more like a neighboring town.”

“One could even say they’re better than the people of the nearby cities. You two heroines needn’t worry too much.”

The old man’s mouth curved up slightly; he no longer looked as frightened as before.

“That’s good to hear.”

Feng Jiu’er nodded. “Besides these two, old sir, do you know of any other people from Panlong Stronghold who’ve delivered herbs to you?”

“There have been.”

The old man nodded in response. “But not often — every so often, there’ll be one or two people claiming to be from Panlong Stronghold.”

“This A’Cai never said he was from Panlong Stronghold; I never asked either, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Miss, is there anything else you’d like to know? I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Feng Jiu’er glanced around the whole shop, then looked back at the old man and shook her head.

“That’s all, we won’t trouble you any further.”

“No trouble, no trouble at all.”

The old man waved his hands and shook his head again.

“Thank you.”

Feng Jiu’er nodded to him, patted Qiaomu’s shoulder, and turned to leave.

Qiaomu said nothing more, turned, and followed.

The two of them left the herbalist shop, untied their horses from where they’d been tethered, and mounted in one smooth motion.

“You think I look fierce too?”

Suddenly, Qiaomu said this.

Feng Jiu’er frowned and looked at her.

She blinked several times before catching up to what Qiaomu meant.

“Nonsense! How could my sister-in-law possibly look fierce? One word: beautiful. Two words: very beautiful. Three words: gorgeously beautiful.”

“How could that possibly be connected to ‘fierce’?”

“Feng Jiu’er, is that really the extent of your intelligence?”

Qiaomu shot her a sideways glance.

“A bit more than yours!”

Feng Jiu’er curved her lips slightly.

“I doubt it!”

Qiaomu looked away.

“If you were truly so brilliant, thinking of words to describe my beauty, there’d be no less than a hundred — no, ninety at the very least. How could there be just one?”

“Qiaomu.” Feng Jiu’er said with a smile, looking at her, “Are you overestimating your looks, or your intelligence?”

“Feng Jiu’er, are you asking for a beating?”

With that, Qiaomu reached for the whip tied at her waist.

Feng Jiu’er left behind a teasing laugh, tightened the reins, and dashed off.

Qiaomu let go of the whip’s handle, tightened her reins, and chased after her.