Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

12. The Crafty Pickpocket

Translator: Snowball

“Go ahead if you have a death wish…”

Nongyue knew if he moved a little closer, Mu Yingxue would definitely pick the candlestick up and pierce his neck with it. “I was just kidding. Don’t let it get to you!” With that, he left with an awkward look on his face.

Mu Yingxue neither looked at him nor showed the slightest intent of chasing him. This man was too dangerous, so it would be better for her to stay away.

It didn’t clear up until the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month, which was fifteen days before the Spring Festival.

With the coming of the lunar New Year, the whole capital city was immersed in a festive atmosphere, but as if they were under dark clouds, people of the Mu’s Mansion failed to lift their own spirits up.

Though Xu Min had tried all her efforts to cover the scandal up, Lord Song refused to settle the matter in a peaceful way and soon, everyone in the city knew about what had happened to Mu Xiangqin, which became the topic of gossip at dinner-parties. It was said that Xu Min was so annoyed that she hadn’t eaten anything in two days!

As the scandal was so sensational that it led to little attention being paid to another piece of shocking news—Marquis Mu’s retarded daughter, Mu Yingxue, had regained her intelligence.

Mu Yingxue had a good appetite and slept soundly recently. Now that Xu Min stopped finding fault with her and her living conditions were much better than before, Mu Yingxue’s face was getting ruddy. As she was in a good mood today, she decided to hang out with Liu’er.

“Miss, I don’t think that’s appropriate. It’s said that Miss Shuilian and Miss Yueli will come back today and everyone in the mansion will have to greet them upon their arrival.”

“How is their coming back relevant to me?”

Liu’er rolled her eyes at Mu Yingxue and continued, “Miss Shuilan and Miss Yueli will accompany the empress and Princess Xian to the Eternal Temple to pray for blessings at His Majesty’s will, so Madam Xu ordered everyone in our mansion to meet them.”

“As the Eternal Temple is a royal temple, shouldn’t the emperor attend the prayer in person?”

“Miss Shuilan is sharing His Majesty’s concern. To reward her, His Majesty especially asked his henchman, Eunuch Fu and the imperial guards to escort her back.”

“She is sharing the emperor’s concern, not praying for blessings for me, so it should be the emperor, not me, who is supposed to greet her.”

Liu’er let out a sigh while blinking her eyes. “Miss, can you be a little more reasonable?”

Watching Mu Yingxue leaving, Liu’er had to quicken her pace to catch up with her master.

The busy streets were decorated with beautiful lanterns and streamers, and all the shops selling New Year goods were crowded with people. Even the vendors selling spring festival scrolls were packed with people.

Everyone was about to celebrate the lunar New Year, so pickpockets were especially rampant at this time of year.

Mu Yingxue had noticed that someone peeping at the purse around Liu’er’s waist for quite a while, but as Liu’er’s attention was on the acrobatic troupe nearby, she didn’t sense that a pickpocket was onto her.

Xu Min had been mean to people of the Snow Courtyard. Though the food and clothes she provided to them were better than before, she didn’t give Ouyang Ruo a penny for the daily expenses. Liu’er earned a little money by selling her needlework. Before they left the mansion, she put the money into her purse carefully and intended to buy Mu Yingxue some snacks.

At this point, a hand approached her from the side with a sharp, tiny blade between two fingers.

Mu Yingxue was planning to catch the pickpocket red-handed and teach him a good lesson. However, before the pickpocket could cut Liu’er’s purse open, his hand was grabbed by another soft hand with jade-like skin.

The owner of the hand was a young childe with fair skin and a delicate face. Though dressed in a man’s attire, Mu Yingxue could tell that this ‘childe’ was actually a girl at first glance.

Through the black bag on her bag, Mu Yingxue saw a pile of banknotes and some clean clothes in it. Obviously, this girl was going on a long journey.

An Ning shouted, “Stop! You pickpocket!”

Liu’er was taken aback and immediately lowered her head. When she found that her purse was still around her waist, she heaved a sigh of relief.

Everyone stopped what they were busy with and looked in the direction of the voice.

The pickpocket under An Ning’s grip was a short, thin, middle-aged man who had a pair of small eyes gleaming with a sinister look.

“How dare you steal under my nose? You’re digging your own grave!”

However, as there was nothing in his hand, though the pickpocket couldn’t move under An Ning’s grip, he didn’t seem to be in panic but retorted calmly instead.

“Who are you talking about?”

“I caught you in the act when you were about to steal this girl’s purse just now. How dare you deny it? Go with me to the Governor of the capital city!”

With that, An Ning pulled the man toward the government office.

“Dude, you look like a well-educated person. How could you wrong others randomly?”

“I wronged you? If I hadn’t stopped you in time, the girl would have lost her money!” An Ning said surprisingly while pointed at herself with the index of the other hand holding the fan.

From what she said, the pickpocket could tell that the young ‘childe’ seldom went out and was inexperienced. “Has anybody else saw it? As the saying goes, to accuse people of adultery, you must catch the adulterers on the scene; to accuse people of stealing, you must  find the stolen goods. Now there’s nothing in my hand, how could you accuse me of stealing?”

At this point, the pickpocket’s accomplice stepped out of the crowd and yelled, “Come on! Show us the stolen goods!”

An Ning turned to be a little anxious. She wanted to tell the others that she caught the pickpocket when he was about to steal, but she couldn’t provide any evidence. “I…”

Seeing An Ning was choked by his words, the pickpocket suddenly broke free from her grip. “Humph! Let go of me if you can’t provide any evidence! You look like a childe from a noble family, but no matter how powerful your family is, you can’t bully people at will!”

Most of the onlookers were ordinary people who hated most those who threw their weight around. Moreover, the ordinary people were much more easily to be fooled, so soon, they stood on the two pickpockets’ side.

An Ning’s face blushed with anger, but she didn’t know how to fight back.

“I’m a woodman from Wang’s Village, on the outskirts of the capital city, and I make living by cutting firewood. I’m going downtown to do some Spring Festival shopping, but I didn’t expect that I was so hapless to have encountered you! Anyway, you must make up for my loss. Average people are not that easy to be trifled with!”

Now more people were speaking for the pickpockets, some even started denouncing An Ning angrily.

An Ning was about to cry. She didn’t expect that she would have been blamed for her righteous action.

Seeing An Ning stand still, speechless, the man gave her a push. “Humph! Since you have wronged me, you have to make it up to me!”

Mu Yingxue almost couldn’t help applauding for him. She had thought that there were such racketeers only in the modern time, so she was quite surprised when she found that the pickpocket was so skilled in racketeering.

“You… What do you want?”

“If you pay me 1000 ingots of silver, this can be the end of the matter. Otherwise, I’m going to the government office to sue you! I won’t spare you just because you’re from a rich family. With so many people watching, I won’t go back on my word.”

An Ning said angrily, “It was you who tried to steal. Why should I pay you?”

“Do you have any evidence? Show us!” the pickpocket said in a defiant tone.

“I…”

With a smile on her face, Mu Yingxue pushed her way through the crowd.

“I can prove you’re indeed a pickpocket. Not only did you want to steal my maid’s purse, but you’ve already stolen the purses of others.”

When she heard that someone was helping her out, An Ning’s face immediately lit up.

Seeing Mu Yingxue walk over, the shrewd pickpocket sized her up quickly and felt much relieved when he found it was just a little girl aged fourteen or fifteen.

“Humph! Don’t tell me you saw me stealing, too. Show me the evidence!”

“The evidence is on you.”