I insist

Chapter 104: Showing Goodwill

"I'm just an old woman, I just brought my apprentice here to see what the market is like."

I don't want to watch it at all if I can.

Song Miqiu rolled her eyes inwardly, but quickly looked away at Wu Hanxue, who was staring blankly to the side.

Wu Hanshuang, who also noticed something was wrong, turned her head to look at her sister and found that she was still staring blankly in one direction, so she couldn't help but follow her gaze.

Yu Huailin was suddenly being stared at by three people, and he couldn't pretend nothing was wrong, so he could only turn his gaze to Song Miqiu.

"Master?"

"Looks like someone has their eye on you."

As the other person turned their head away, Wu Hanxue immediately looked away, lowering her head to prevent anyone from seeing her expression.

But Song Miqiu and her sister both noticed the bright red ears, yet their expressions differed.

As the older sister, Wu Hanshuang even reached out and poked her younger sister's head.

"You're inexperienced; you'll get scammed someday."

"What are you saying? My apprentice looks honest, how could he lie to you girls?"

Wu Hanshuang didn't respond, but just shook her head, pulled her younger sister, who was still peeking, behind her, and turned to leave quickly.

Once the person had gone far away, Song Miqiu withdrew her gaze and stared intently at the face that had lost its usual beauty, tilting her head in confusion.

"Did that girl notice something?"

"It's just that they lack experience."

Lack of experience? I always feel there's more to it than meets the eye.

However, Yu Huailin didn't care. As an outsider, she didn't need to pay much attention. She just needed to do her own thing.

But when Song Miqiu thought about how there were only a few female contestants, she still sighed, stood up, and went into the kitchen.

"Why did you come to the back? Is there something you need?"

Having finally encountered someone, she immediately approached them and explained her thoughts.

The man looked troubled, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he looked away and hesitated for a moment before glancing at the stove that was still busy next to him.

"If you can guarantee that you won't be discovered, it's not a problem, but there's a curfew here, so you don't have much time."

"This is nothing special. My recipes are simple and can be ready in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Song Miqiu stuffed the silver notes he had pieced together into the other person's hand and looked at him with a big smile.

The man quickly stuffed the money into his pocket, and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure no one had seen it. He then carefully slipped a folded piece of paper into Song Miqiu's hand.

I quickly walked to a secluded spot, unfolded the document, and saw many unfamiliar names inside, realizing it was the kitchen schedule.

Knowing that everyone would be leaving after a while, Song Miqiu casually found a spot and waited until everyone came out of the kitchen.

I tiptoed inside, but the scarcity of materials made me frown again.

What can these do?

After much deliberation, Song Miqiu finally turned her attention to the steamed glutinous rice and the soybeans next to it.

I was in too much of a rush today, so I'll wait until later when I've changed some things in the system before doing anything else.

But just as this thought began to form, Song Miqiu remembered her meager remaining balance, and her face darkened.

Fortunately, she remembered when the others would return, and quickly prepared the two items and put them into the lunchbox she had prepared.

She quickly left with her things, but Song Miqiu forgot to erase the traces of her visit and almost got discovered.

"Didn't I tell her not to let anyone find out? How come she didn't remember?"

The man looked at the stove with some powder on it and the large pit of glutinous rice next to it, sighed, and then quickly finished dealing with the matter.

Song Miqiu was unaware of these things. She simply walked quickly back to the room that the palace maid had introduced earlier, and after searching for a while, she heard a girl's clear voice.

"In short, you should listen to me. Those people are our enemies, and we absolutely cannot befriend them."

"But her mother-in-law didn't seem bad, and most importantly..."

Hearing her sister's mournful cries, Song Miqiu looked at the lunchbox in her hand and gave an even more helpless smile, but still knocked on the door.

She heard two people making a flustered noise inside the room, but she didn't panic. Instead, she stood quietly by the door and waited for the person inside to open it.

"Wait, why are you here? Is there something else?"

Knowing that this was to maintain the bare minimum of etiquette and avoid others tripping them up behind their backs, Song Miqiu smiled slightly before raising her hand to reveal the small snacks in her hand.

"I made some local snacks from my hometown, would you like to have some together?"

"No need, we arrived early and are already full."

Hearing this refusal, Song Miqiu didn't react too aggressively; she simply handed over the lunchbox.

Wu Hanshuang was about to push the things away when she heard her younger sister's voice coming from inside.

"Sister, this is all thanks to Elder Song's kindness. We shouldn't refuse. Anyway, I can..."

"I'm so sorry, my sister is just greedy. How about we exchange it for something else?"

Wu Hanshuang turned and went into the room. After searching around, she returned to Song Miqiu with her hands empty.

"I forgot this isn't home; there's nothing here. Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?"

Looking at that somewhat awkward smile, Song Miqiu finally shook her head, handed over the item in her hand, and smelled a sweet fragrance.

For some reason, she felt that the taste was different from the desserts she had brought. She wanted to ask the two sisters what kind of incense they had brought, but she found that Wu Hanshuang, the older sister, was staring straight at her, so she had to give up.

"I don't know what valuable it is, just enjoy your meal."

"Thank you."

Before Song Miqiu could say anything more, the door in front of him was slammed shut.

She was caught off guard by the closed door, but there was nothing she could do but turn around and walk towards her room.

But for some reason, I always feel a bit weak.

Song Miqiu thought that his rest had been interrupted, so he wanted to go back to rest as soon as possible and quickened his pace.

Just as they were about to touch the door to their own room, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

"You came back so quickly, but didn't get the information you wanted?"

"It's all because of you. If that little sister hadn't been so stunned, Wu Hanshuang probably wouldn't be so wary of an old woman like me."

Yu Huailin didn't say anything, but just stared at Song Miqiu before turning to leave.

Seeing that he was about to enter the room, Song Miqiu quickened her pace to catch up, but felt that her body was losing control and she staggered forward.

Song Miqiu tried to tense up and regain her balance, but found that she could no longer control her body and could only let out a soft gasp.

The next moment, I felt a tightness around my neck, and I froze in place.

She looked up in confusion, trying to see what was holding her back, when she heard another cold laugh.