Commandery Princess Dongyang noticed the strange expressions on everyoneâs faces, including Mu Shaoling, and finally realized there was something amiss with what she had said.
She laughed awkwardly before explaining, "You see, you donât know but Iâm actually very poor. Nobody even bothers to rob me in these tattered clothes Iâm wearing."
The leader looked her up and down through Mu Shaoling, noting her colorful and flashy attire. But what was that fabric? It didnât seem to be anything special.
Honestly, if she were walking alone, he really wouldnât bother robbing her. If he did, wouldnât he end up having to feed her as well?
Seeing the leader still contemplating, Mu Shaoling looked up at the sky, speechless. So here was a bandit whose mind wasnât quite right, facing a would-be victim who was just as mentally unusual?
So there he was, the first divine doctor of Great Zhou, a familyâs young master, dragged down by her to the point where he wasnât even eligible to be robbed?
"Donât you believe me?" Seeing the leader pacing back and forth, still weighing the reality of the situation, Commandery Princess Dongyang jumped down from her horse and said to the man, "Let me tell you, when I was in Jiangsu, someone stole all my silver. By the time I got to Shandong, a thief stole a pouch from me, but it only had five coins in it. Maybe he felt sorry for me because it was so little. He actually returned the pouch to me, and not just that, he even gave me an extra fifty coins."
Whatâs more, that incident had actually happened, and at the time, she felt so embarrassed. How could she be so poor that even thieves were ashamed to steal from her? The thief had said, "Miss, Iâm pretty poor myself, or I wouldnât be out here stealing. So this is all I can give you. Donât scorn it." At that time, she had already separated from her servants and maidens.
At this point, as the leader listened to Commandery Princess Dongyangâs story, Mu Shaoling noticed that the manâs large mustache was trembling.
Finally, the man dropped his hands from his waist and said, "So what youâre telling me is, I canât rob you. Not only that, but I should also give you some silver and let you go?"
When Commandery Princess Dongyang heard this, she nodded vigorously, then added with an embarrassed chuckle, "Of course, if youâre poor, itâs okay not to give me any money."
"Pah... who says Iâm poor?" The statement about his poverty Did not sit well with the bandit leader, "Iâm the number one bandit of Eighteen Mile Slope; how could I be poor? I can easily pull out several hundred taels."
"Youâre that rich?" Now it was Commandery Princess Dongyangâs turn to be indignant, "If youâre so rich, why would you rob a poor person like me? Do you have no shame? No, you have to sponsor me a bit, at least give me a little something. I donât even have fifty taels on me, and you can easily flash a few hundred taels. How about you give me a hundred taels?"
"A hundred taels too little for you?" The leader suddenly said, "How about I give you two hundred taels?"
"Sure, sure," Commandery Princess Dongyang nodded repeatedly.
His followers were left dumbfounded. What was this all about? Werenât they supposed to be robbing her, and now they were offering charity?
This is not right, everything is all twisted!
One of the men quickly pulled the leader aside to whisper.
"Mu Shaoling, do you think heâll really give me the money?" Commandery Princess Dongyang asked Mu Shaoling as she saw this.
Mu Shaoling looked at her, internally crumbling. Was any of this normal?