Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots
Chapter 1140 - 49 Seven watches (of the night)

Chapter 1140: 49 Seven watches (of the night)

A cool breeze brushed against Lin Yuan’s face, and she involuntarily shivered, continuing to walk forward and slowly starting to ask around.

As she had expected, many didn’t wait for her to finish speaking before shooing her away, after all, it was approaching noon, and many were out shopping, it was the busy time for business.

Lin Yuan left an old man’s stall, feeling the hope in her heart gradually diminish to nothing.

Just as she was about to move to the next stall, Lin Yuan suddenly saw a young woman selling small jewelry on a street stand, her head bowed as she fiddled with a hairpin in her hands. Her small stand was on the ground, with not many customers; had it not been for the fact other stalls were surrounded by people while hers was deserted, Lin Yuan might not have noticed her.

As if by some mysterious force, Lin Yuan found herself walking toward the woman’s stand.

"Big sister, may I ask you something?"

Only when she drew near did Lin Yuan realize what the woman was doing—she was holding a broken hairpin, which, despite being broken, was very delicate and beautiful, with some dirt visible on it. Lin Yuan’s first thought was whether the hairpin could have been picked up from the ground.

Upon hearing the voice, the woman raised her head. When she looked up, Lin Yuan almost gasped and fell backward. The woman had a large red birthmark on her pretty cheek, which covered nearly one-fifth of her face, coincidentally right near her right eye.

"What is it, young lady?"

Despite the birthmark on her face, the woman still smiled softly, even her voice was gentle, and she made no attempt to cover her face with her hair.

Lin Yuan couldn’t help but inwardly admire the woman’s openness and strength. If it were someone else saddled with such an unsightly face, they surely would spend each day cooped up at home, afraid to go out and meet people. And if they did go out, they would definitely wear a mask.

Lin Yuan was not one to judge by appearances, especially since, apart from the affliction on her face, the woman had not a single flaw, particularly her hands—pale, nimble, and slender. She handled the broken hairpin with proficiency.

Lin Yuan smiled, "Big sister, I wanted to ask if you saw a seven-year-old girl here this morning. She had her hair in two horn braids and was wearing a dirty, gray cloth dress."

In fact, after seeing the woman’s appearance, Lin Yuan regretted approaching her, for the woman had been so engrossed in her hairpin, how could she have noticed Xiao Linshuang?

However, she felt too embarrassed to just walk away, fearing that her indifference would wound the kind-hearted and skillful woman.

What was meant to be a small act of kindness yielded an unexpectedly great reward.

When Lin Yuan had lost all hope, the woman gently nodded and smiled, "Are you talking about that little girl? Yes, I saw her."

What? What?

Saw her?

Lin Yuan’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at the woman, feeling as if she had lost her voice, "What did you say? You saw her? Really saw her?"

The woman pressed her lips together in a smile, "Yes, that little girl liked the jewelry I made myself and even bought a bell bracelet meant for children, saying that a madam was about to have a baby, and she wanted to give it as a gift to her."

After speaking, the woman seemed to think of something and laughed even harder, "That little girl didn’t bring any silver, and since this little bracelet of mine isn’t worth much, I gave it to her. That child was also interesting, claiming she would come back later to help me with herbs to treat the birthmark on my face."

The woman chuckled again but clearly didn’t believe what the young girl had said, taking it merely as a child’s joke.

However, Lin Yuan shuddered violently as if struck by a hammer, clutching her chest tightly, feeling certain that it was heaven’s blessing that had led her to this savior at her most desperate moment.

"Big sister, do, do you remember which direction that little girl went?"

Feeling Lin Yuan’s excitement, the woman was somewhat puzzled, but still pointed ahead and said, "After that, I saw the little girl walking towards the steamed bun shop over there. She seemed hungry and stayed there a while. I had customers at the time, so I didn’t see her after that."

Steamed bun shop! Steamed bun shop!

"Thank you, big sister!" Lin Yuan hurried towards the steamed bun shop, not forgetting to turn back and gratefully say to the woman, "Big sister, you must continue to set up your stall here, she said she could remove the birthmark, and she will do it for sure, you must believe her!"

The woman was slightly stunned, not expecting Lin Yuan to suddenly leave her with such words. Watching the young girl’s retreating figure, the woman smiled softly, shook her head, and continued to work on the hairpin she had found.

When Lin Yuan arrived at the steamed bun shop following the woman’s directions, she found only several customers eating, with a husband and wife who were the shop owners busy inside.

Seeing Lin Yuan, the woman laughed loudly and ushered her inside, "Little girl, coming for steamed buns? You’ve come just in time, if you came at mealtime, we’d be full!"

Lin Yuan grinned and, with a turn of her eyes, pulled out a few copper coins from her purse and said, "Auntie, actually, my younger sister came to buy steamed buns this morning without any silver, so here I am, bringing the money for her."

The shop’s madam was taken aback and somewhat confused, "Didn’t she pay?"

Suddenly thinking of something, she turned and called out to her honest husband who was working inside, "Hey Dad! Have you been giving away steamed buns again? How many times have I told you, our shop isn’t that big to be giving credit all willy-nilly!"

The man who was kneading dough looked up in surprise, "No, I haven’t given credit! That little girl didn’t bring any money, so she didn’t get any buns, and left hopping and jumping!"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan immediately became alert and asked, "Where did that little girl go after that?"

The man stared, a bit confused, and unconsciously said, "She went straight on!"

"Did you see her talking to anyone, or someone taking her away?"

The man frowned, "No, she was alone. Oh, not correct, shortly after she left, I happened to look up and saw two women taking her away into that teahouse. Those two women were dressed pretty well, I was wondering how that dirty little girl without any silver came to know these rich folks... Huh? I haven’t finished yet, why have you run off? Such a strange child."

The man said something else, but Lin Yuan was no longer in the mood to listen. She now knew that Xiao Linshuang had indeed been taken away by someone, and it was two women. They knew so few people in the Capital City, those who took Xiao Linshuang couldn’t be good people.

Could it be a madam from a brothel? Or perhaps a trafficker with honeyed words who had deceived her?