Chapter 348.1: It’s a Conspiracy

When the innkeeper saw that a customer had arrived, a wide smile immediately appeared on his face. “Guest, hurry and come in. You’re all wet! You should hurry and come in to get changed, then have some hot ginger soup!”
The scholar was still worried about what he had heard about fifty taels from Tang Doudou, so there was no way he dared to casually follow the innkeeper in.
“I-I’ll pass for now.” The scholar pushed aside the cordial innkeeper and sat down beneath the eaves next to Tang Doudou.
The innkeeper’s smile stiffened with confusion. He didn’t understand why the scholar reacted this way, but the arrival of three more people soon took away his attention.
He went over with a smile to greet them and started leading them towards his inn.
The scholar was still nagging Tang Doudou about what she said about the fifty taels. Although he wasn’t very loud, the newcomers were martial arts practitioners and were able to hear everything he said clearly. Hence, they stopped walking and even stepped back out of the inn.
One of them glanced around the empty inn, then at Tang Doudou and the scholar before asking, “Innkeeper, why is there no one in your inn?”
“Heh, dear guest, you’re sure good at joking. What do you mean by there’s no one at my inn? A-aren’t I here?”
“I’m talking about guests. Why are there no guests in your inn?” These three didn’t seem like pushovers, and reality proved it true. The moment they noticed that something was off about the inn, their tone immediately turned displeased.
The innkeeper’s smile turned rigid and he rubbed his hands together nervously. “That’s because, because…”
“Were you trying to make money through unjust means?” One of the men, a large man dressed in gray, abruptly lifted the innkeeper by his collar.
The innkeeper had never been in such a threatening situation before, so he hastily shook his head and tried to explain, “It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?” asked another person. However, he didn’t wait for an answer and just pointed towards Tang Doudou. “You two, come here and explain what exactly is going on!”
Naturally, Tang Doudou didn’t move. However, the scholar got up and walked over. “Sirs, you see, it’s like this…”
He stated everything Tang Doudou said earlier in clear and plain terms. The person who told them to come over earlier then asked Tang Doudou, “Is he telling the truth?”
“I’m just an old lady. I don’t know anything.” Tang Doudou yawned, then leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
Everyone’s attention turned towards the scholar again.
The scholar stammered an explanation, but it didn’t clear up much of anything. The innkeeper’s eyes whirled quickly with a new thought and he said, “Sirs, this is definitely a misunderstanding! It’s definitely a misunderstanding! How could my inn charge such a high price? There’s no way!”
“Then mark your price clearly. At that time, wouldn’t the price naturally become clear?”
The innkeeper nodded hastily. “Right, right! I’ll go write the price right now!”
The man dressed in gray released him and shoved him towards the inn. “Hurry up.”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
After saying that, he walked in and quickly grabbed a wooden tablet. Then he picked up a brush and wrote one tael on it.
The three shared a gaze. One tael wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either!
“Too much!”
The innkeeper’s hand froze, then he wiped away that ‘one tael’ and wrote ‘eight coins’ instead.
“That’s more like it!”
The three finally stepped into the inn. They had the innkeeper hang the sign up at the door, then ordered food before heading to their rooms to get changed.
The scholar took a look at the sign hanging by the door and happily entered the inn.
However, Tang Doudou still stayed where she was.
The innkeeper knew that she was behind all of this and was quite annoyed at being cheated out of his profit, so he didn’t ask her to come inside.
At the same time, he was worried about leaving her at the door. If she continued saying nonsense to other people, he wouldn’t get any customers!
After considering it for a while, he finally headed over with a forced smile. “Ma’am, it’s eight coins now. Will you be taking a room?”
This was exactly what Tang Doudou was waiting for. After sighing, she said, “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”
After saying that, she lifted her chest and started heading into the inn.
Although the innkeeper was unhappy, the waiter’s service was still pretty good. There had been hot water prepared inside the room. Tang Doudou washed up, changed into clean clothing, then opened the chest to check if anything inside got wet before finally hiding the chest away.