“I told you, Big Brother isn’t a bad person.” Gong Xing’er laughed.

“If he were bad, would he have treated me to such a delicious candied hawthorn?”

“Big Brother.” Gong Xing’er turned back and took hold of Long Shiyi’s hand.

“Don’t you want us to travel together? Let’s go together, all right?”

“I’ve been here two days already, I’m more familiar with the place.”

Long Shiyi glanced at Gong Xing’er, who had grown familiar with him so quickly, then turned and shot a pleading look at Feng Jiu’er.

Feng Jiu’er raised an eyebrow, ignored Long Shiyi, and instead looked at Gong Xinyue.

“Teach her slowly, there’s no rush.”

“There’s nothing else to be done.” Gong Xinyue sighed softly.

She seemed to have noticed Long Shiyi’s helplessness, and slowed her pace to lean closer to Feng Jiu’er. “Jiu’er, is Long Shiyi…”

“It’s fine.” Feng Jiu’er waved a hand.

“He’s just not used to the idea that Xing’er is a girl, that’s all. He’ll be fine soon.”

Hearing this, Gong Xinyue let out a breath of relief.

Long Shiyi didn’t push Gong Xing’er away, nor did he pull his hand out of hers, so Gong Xing’er kept holding his hand and leading him forward.

“Come and see, this is Inn Number One, shall we go in?”

Gong Xing’er turned back to look at the others following behind.

“All right.” Feng Jiu’er nodded.

Gong Xing’er smiled, withdrew her gaze, and swaying, led Long Shiyi by the hand, striding boldly into the inn.

Soon, a waiter inside the inn came forward to greet them.

“Honored guests, is there anything you need?”

“We’d like to go in and look around,” Gong Xing’er said.

“Certainly.” The waiter waved a hand. “Please, this way!”

“We won’t be eating yet, and we won’t be staying,” Gong Xing’er continued.

“No matter, honored guests, please!” the waiter waved again.

Gong Xing’er didn’t stand on ceremony, glanced back at everyone, then turned and walked inside.

From the way she moved, it was clear this wasn’t her first time here.

The waiter led the group into the main dining hall before stopping.

His gaze fell upon Feng Jiu’er, Qiao Mu, and Gong Xinyue — these women.

It seemed the power to speak lay with these women.

“Honored guests, this is our inn’s dining hall. It’s not mealtime now, so there aren’t many people.”

“Dining here gives you more space, though it can be a bit noisy. If you want quiet, our inn also has over twenty private rooms.”

“There are more than sixty rooms in total, divided into three grades. I can take you to see them one by one — you won’t be disappointed.”

“Good.” Feng Jiu’er nodded. “I hear the back courtyard is very large. May we see it?”

“Of course.” The waiter nodded. “The finest rooms are all in the courtyard house at the back.”

“The back courtyard is reserved specifically for guests in the finest rooms.”

“Rest assured, honored guests, our establishment is absolutely worth every coin — you’ll want to come back a second time.”

“Mm.” Feng Jiu’er glanced at Jian Yi.

Jian Yi took out his money pouch and handed her a piece of silver.

Feng Jiu’er took the silver and handed it to the waiter.

“Much obliged. We three sisters rarely get the chance to travel — we want the best in lodging and food.”

The waiter accepted the silver with a beaming smile and waved happily.

“Honored guests, please!”

The waiter led the group along another path. After passing through a corridor, they came out behind the largest house at the front.

Outside was a large courtyard, beautifully decorated, planted with flowers that could be considered famous varieties.

“Honored guests, what you see now are our finest rooms — facing east, south, southeast, and west, we have them all.”

Having taken the money, the waiter grew even more enthusiastic than before.

“In this courtyard, you can admire the flowers, play chess, paint, and more.”

“And there’s the back courtyard, which is very large — there’s a lake for fishing, fields where you can personally pick vegetables and fruit, and a hunting ground up in the hills.”

“For the guests’ safety, the hunting ground isn’t very large, but ordinary game can still be found there.”

The waiter kept chattering away as he led them forward. Everyone following him, except Gong Xing’er, kept a close eye on their surroundings.

Nanshan was so vast — finding the medicine that Mao Linye had hidden would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

They left the first inn and went into the second.

Just as with the first, the staff were very warm and attentive, and of course, they didn’t forget to give a bit of a tip.

After going through all five inns in a row, it was plain to see that the one who had gained the most was Gong Xing’er.

Wherever an inn offered free refreshments, she never missed a single one.

By the time they entered the back mountain forest for the fifth time, it was already past noon.

The sun blazed overhead, and the forest was even hotter than outside.

“Honored guests, have you decided? Will you be staying?” the waiter at this last inn asked, repeating the same line as before.

Feng Jiu’er looked into the depths of the forest and shook her head.

“My little brother loves hunting most of all. All these forests of yours connect to each other — we’ve been through them five times now and haven’t found a single piece of game.”

The waiter looked at her, then at Long Shiyi beside her.

Long Shiyi’s attire today was a bit more dashing than Jian Yi’s, who was disguised as the coachman.

So he had become the “little brother” these several “women” kept referring to.

Whatever requests they had, they were all attributed to Long Shiyi.

“There’s certainly game here,” the waiter said, somewhat anxious.

Most tourists visiting Nanshan Resort would typically walk through all five inns before deciding whether to stay.

Now hearing these guests say they’d come all the way from Inn Number One —

If they reached Inn Number Five without wanting to stay, would they simply leave?

The proprietor and staff wouldn’t much care whether tourists chose Inn One or Inn Five.

As long as they could be kept here, it would benefit everyone working at Nanshan Resort.

“What we want is real game,” Gong Xinyue said flatly.

“If what we hunt turns out to be creatures you deliberately placed there, that would be an insult to a true hunter.”

“Let’s go,” Long Shiyi said, turning away with some disappointment.

“Let’s look around nearby, keep searching — we’ll surely find a forest with genuine game.”

Gong Xing’er, still nibbling on a fruit, saw Long Shiyi about to leave and immediately turned to follow, taking his hand.

Long Shiyi no longer resisted as he had before — it was as if he’d grown used to it.

As the young man and young woman started to leave, the others turned to follow as well.

“They said Nanshan Resort was so special, yet even the hunting grounds are faked.” Qiao Mu sighed softly.

This was already the fifth staff member they’d encountered, and by now they were nearly certain these staff members still had things left unsaid.

“Wait.” The waiter clenched his hands tightly and hurried after them. “Honored guests, please wait!”

“Actually, there’s one more place, but it’s not somewhere ordinary guests can enter.”

“If you truly have the need, I can have someone take you in for a look.”