A small token made of maple wood, no larger than a child's palm, hung from a red silk ribbon and carved with a pair of stylized bee wings.
Xue Ling turned the Beehive token over and over in her hands, but she did not ask what the token was for.
This was the credential of a Bee Wing; receiving this token meant she had officially obtained the status of a Bee Wing.
"Sister Ping, when will there be a mission?" Xue Ling asked respectfully in front of the woman dressed in emerald green clothes.
The woman had black hair and green clothes, with a delicate and beautiful appearance. At first glance, Xue Ling almost thought she was her peer, but upon closer inspection, one could still see traces of time on her face.
She was He Ping, the Innkeeper Fang Bie spoke of, and also the Sister Ping she needed to address. She was not only the owner of this Xiao Hun Inn but also the Bee Attractor for both her and Fang Bie.
According to the rules of the Beehive, Bee Stings and Bee Wings were ultimately just tools for assassination. They were not qualified to contact the Beehive directly; all missions and instructions were handled by this Bee Attractor.
He Ping tilted her head and smiled at Xue Ling: "Missions will come when they are meant to."
"But before we start discussing missions, we have more important things to do."
What could be more important than an assassin's mission?
Xue Ling did not know at first, but she soon found out.
..
..
"I disagree!" After hearing He Ping's explanation, this was Xue Ling's first reaction.
Are you kidding me?
She was here to be an undercover assassin, not a waiter.
Yes, this was the more important matter He Ping had mentioned.
"A normal inn needs an accountant, a waiter, a cook, and someone to do odd jobs," He Ping said to Xue Ling in front of the table in the main hall.
"So we also need an innkeeper, right?" Xue Ling replied.
"If that is what you think, you are not wrong." He Ping tilted her head and smiled. Her smile was faint, not showing her teeth, and felt like it was only for the sake of politeness: "Before you arrived, I was the accountant and cook, and Fang Bie was the waiter and did the odd jobs."
"I will be the accountant!" Xue Ling said firmly.
To increase her persuasiveness, Xue Ling continued: "I can calculate, I can keep accounts, and I can write with a good hand."
He Ping looked at Xue Ling: "Then I will be the cook?"
Xue Ling did not dare to claim she had a good hand for long.
The accountant was definitely the easiest job, but how could she be so bold as to snatch it from her superior?
"But why must we run an inn?" Xue Ling finally asked back: "Aren't we assassins of the Beehive?"
"Can assassins of the Beehive go without eating or drinking?" He Ping stared at Xue Ling and asked back: "Or do you think there are missions every day, and we can just keep killing people non-stop?"
Isn't that what assassins are like?
Living through wind and fire, killing one person in ten steps every day, leaving no trace for a thousand miles?
Xue Ling suddenly felt that her understanding of assassins had been mistaken.
"This Xiao Hun Inn is also an intelligence outpost for the organization in Luocheng. We are not just a Wood Bee of the organization, but also a beehive chamber," He Ping explained to Xue Ling calmly: "So we need to support ourselves, and we need a proper profession to cover our tracks."
This is not quite the Jianghu I imagined. Isn't being a Great Hero a profession in itself?
Could it be that all Great Heroes have another job on the side to support their families?
Isn't that too disillusioning to think about?
It is like knowing that the money a Great Hero spends like water at a brothel was all earned by mopping floors, keeping accounts, or escorting goods for others.
Such a Jianghu is too disillusioning.
"I will be the cook," Xue Ling said, biting her lips: "Although I don't know many dishes, I can learn."
Yes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you think about it carefully, isn't being a cook better than being an assassin?
Is that the benefit of a cover profession?
"Very well, then let's distribute the monthly wages first." He Ping nodded: "Fang Bie works as both a waiter and does odd jobs, so he gets two shares of the wages, totaling six silver shards."
"You are the cook, the cook gets four silver shards a month, and I am the accountant, four silver shards a month."
As she said this, He Ping took a few silver shards from her sleeve, weighed them, and pushed them one by one to the two people at the table.
Fang Bie accepted them in silence, but Xue Ling weighed the light silver nugget in her hand, feeling a bit dazed for a moment.
When she was a young lady at home, she usually received two taels of silver as a monthly allowance, and her red envelopes during festivals could amount to nearly a hundred taels. Even the salary of an Imperial Guard was one hundred and twenty shi of millet a year, which converted to sixty taels of silver.
However, Xue Ling immediately leaned forward on the table: "Thank you, Sister Ping."
"What is there to thank? It is money earned by one's own ability, there is no need for thanks," He Ping smiled faintly: "So from today on, our division of labor is set. When there is a mission, we will talk about it then; when there is no mission, everyone should do their own job. Wages are settled once a month, and this is the advance payment."
Just as she was speaking, a snow-white pigeon fluttered into the inn's courtyard, poked its head, saw He Ping, flapped its wings again, and landed on He Ping's shoulder.
It cooed three times.
Xue Ling looked at the snow-white carrier pigeon, only its eyes were blood-red. Such a carrier pigeon was worth a fortune; one probably could not buy it for twenty taels.
He Ping gently scratched the carrier pigeon's chin, removed the copper tube tied to its leg, and then grabbed a handful of grain from her pouch and sprinkled it on the table. The white pigeon jumped down from He Ping's shoulder and hopped onto the table to peck at the grain.
On the other side, He Ping opened the copper tube, which contained a slip of paper as thin as plain silk. He Ping unfolded it, took a look, clicked her tongue, rolled it back up, and pushed it to the center of the table.
"Better to come early than to come by chance."
"There has been no mission for a whole month."
"You have only been here for two days, and there is a new mission."
Xue Ling did not move, but Fang Bie reached out, took the paper slip, unfolded it, took a look, and then rolled it back up and put it down.
He glanced at Xue Ling sideways.
Only then did Xue Ling nod, reach out to take the thin paper slip, and open it.
She saw it written in tiny characters:
"Xuan-rank Mission.
Assassination of Ning Huaiyuan, a renegade disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.
Mission Introduction: Ning Huaiyuan killed his fellow disciples and betrayed the Mount Hua Sect. He will pass through Luocheng in three days. Please seize the opportunity to assassinate him.
Mission Reward: 20 Assassin Points, 50 silver ingots.
Note: According to the Mount Hua Sect, this disciple may be carrying a copy of the Purple Cloud Divine Skill."
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