Chapter 199: King of Clowns

“Can you step out for a moment?”

“Oh, come on, hurry up.”

“Oh, right, can you keep an eye on the pot for me? If the water starts boiling, add the ingredients.”

A few minutes later, Bai Ya pushed Lu Wei out of the bedroom.

After closing the door, she first took off her filthy, bloodstained clothes and changed into a clean long dress. Then, she stood on a small stool, on her tiptoes, and took down the money pouch hidden on a ceiling beam.

“Hess, what were you and the captain just doing?”

Hopping down from the stool, Bai Ya turned and asked, “Did the captain bully you?”

“Mrph…”

Hess continued to stare at the ceiling, its whimper sounding numb.

“No…”

“Oh, well, get some rest. The food will be ready soon.”

Bai Ya didn’t notice its strange behavior. She immediately opened the door, ran out of the room, and found Lu Wei by the stove, bent over and doing who-knows-what.

“Captain, what are you doing?”

“I’m studying this stove.”

Lu Wei straightened up and pointed at the firebox with a serious expression. “I just realized it doesn’t have a bellows. That’s completely unreasonable.”

“A bellows?”

Bai Ya blinked blankly. “Why would a stove need a bellows?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you… So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Lu Wei turned his head to look at her.

“Oh, right, this.”

Bai Ya untied the money pouch, took out two gold coins, and handed them over.

“This is the money you used to bribe Uncle Reck.”

“What bribe? Don’t make it sound so ugly.”

Lu Wei took the money and corrected her seriously, “Don’t you need to thank someone when you ask them to do something for you? This is a fee for their trouble.”

Bai Ya muttered under her breath, “Doesn’t seem like there’s much of a difference…”

“How could there not be a difference… Huh?”

Lu Wei had been about to lecture her on the ways of the world when he looked up and saw her holding out another small pile of coins.

3 gold and 5 silver.

“What’s this?”

He paused for a moment. “Is this a fee for my trouble?”

“What? No, it’s the bounty for that bag of ears.”

Bai Ya stuffed the money into his hand and answered truthfully, “130 goblin right ears, 43 kobold right ears, one bear goblin, and two Elite Level goblins. The total came to 3 gold, 4 silver, and 95 copper coins.”

“The rest of the ears were rotten, so the Adventurer Association wouldn’t take them. As for the points, since you weren’t back yet, they were all credited to my name…”

A dense cluster of bubbles floated to the surface, then burst one after another with a crackling sound.

Seeing that the water was boiling, Bai Ya started adding the ingredients to the pot, mumbling the story as she went.

Chunks of potato, strips of onion, and pieces of meat fell into the pot, soon releasing a faint, fragrant aroma.

But Lu Wei, standing behind her, was completely dumbfounded.

“Wait a minute. The ears you’re talking about… are they the ones from the monsters we killed that night at the Dome Pillar?”

“What else would they be?”

Bai Ya turned her head back, completely bewildered. “What other ears could they be?”

“No, I’m just a little confused.”

Lu Wei grew even more perplexed. “Why did you have the bag of ears?”

“Huh? Didn’t Furen have Mirana bring them back?”

Bai Ya became even more confused, and her hands stopped moving.

“When I got back from town yesterday afternoon, the ears were right at the courtyard gate.”

“I thought you were back at first, but I waited and waited, and you never showed up. In the end, I had no choice, so I went to the Adventurer Association to exchange them for the bounty.”

“Then I waited until seven o’clock, and when you still weren’t back, I ran out to look for you and happened to run into Mirana.”

“She told me that Furen had asked her to bring the ears back.”

“She also said you were still at the general store and hadn’t come back yet, so I just went to sleep.”

After briefly recounting last night’s events, Bai Ya saw Lu Wei still standing there like a fool. Growing more and more puzzled, she waved a hand in front of his eyes.

“Hello? Did you hear me?”

“There’s nothing wrong, is there?”

“…”

‘Nothing wrong?’

‘Everything is wrong…’

‘Fuck! So Mirana didn’t steal the ears after all?!’

“It’s just…”

Lu Wei snapped back to his senses and swallowed hard. “Why didn’t you mention this at noon?”

“Ah, I forgot.”

Bai Ya lowered her head, a little embarrassed. “I was so busy thinking about Silas and Watson that I forgot. By the time I remembered, you’d already left.”

Lu Wei’s eyes widened. “So you couldn’t have just called out to me???”

Bai Ya froze. “Ah, I didn’t think it was necessary. After all, the bounty had already been claimed.”

“…”

‘Not necessary?!’

‘Do you have any idea?! Because of your “not necessary,” I’m now a complete clown!!’

‘The kind with the biggest, reddest nose!!!’

‘Wait, why didn’t Mirana explain things clearly either?!’

‘She just wanted to watch me make a fool of myself, didn’t she?!’

Stunned and frozen in place, Lu Wei felt his scalp tingle, and his nose began to itch inexplicably.

It’s not so scary to be a clown without knowing it.

But suddenly realizing you’re the clown is absolutely terrifying!

Especially when you’ve performed such a clownish act in front of your enemy!

‘How is this any different from those memes from my past life? The cucks who raise another man’s kid, the simps who pay for their “Goddess” to get a hotel room with another dude, or that legendary Emperor Jia Hao doing military drills in the rain?’

‘No! This is even more clownish!’

‘I’m practically the King of Clowns!’

‘I guess it’s time to end this whole transmigration journey…’

‘Maybe I should go find a job at the circus…’

‘Or maybe it’s time for Gotham City to fall into panic once more…’

“Captain? Captain?”

Suddenly, Bai Ya’s voice broke Lu Wei out of his thoughts.

Looking closely, he saw her staring at him with a worried expression.

“What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly freeze up like that? Are you not feeling well?”

“…”

‘Please, I’m begging you, don’t ask!!!’

‘If you ask again, my nose is really going to turn into a red ball!!!’

…

…

‘First, could this be a setup orchestrated by Furen, Bai Ya, and Mirana together?’

‘Okay, probably not.’

‘But I shouldn’t bear too much of the blame, right? After all, neither Furen nor Bai Ya said anything about it. They have to take part of the fall.’

‘Yeah, that makes sense…’

Ten minutes later, Lu Wei was sitting on his bed in the bedroom, trying his best to console himself.

But it was having little effect.

Because every time he thought about the things he’d said to Mirana, he felt like he wanted to die.

And now, he was facing a very serious problem—

Should he return the money to Mirana?

Without a doubt, as a Crafty Merchant, there was no way he could return the money.

No matter what Mirana’s motive was, now that the money was in his pocket, there was no reason to give it back.

The problem was, if he didn’t return it, he would never be able to face Mirana again.

No, that’s not right.

Even if he did return it, he still wouldn’t be able to face her.

But at least he’d have a tiny bit more confidence.

‘No, I still have to give it back.’

‘But I have to think of a plausible excuse, or this will be too damn embarrassing.’

After thinking it over for a long time, Lu Wei decided he had to return the money.

It was better to rip the band-aid off. Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately got up and walked out of the bedroom, planning to come up with a face-saving excuse on the way.

“I’m heading out. I’ll be back in an hour.”

Soon, under Bai Ya’s astonished gaze, he tossed out that one sentence and left without looking back.

At that same moment, Mirana had just walked out of the Silver Moon Corridor and was about to head back to the Red Rose Inn.

Her pace was unhurried, her short hair swaying gently in the breeze, a trace of shock still lingering in her eyes.

“The Dusk Shadow Association…”

“How is that possible…”