Chapter 409: All Dead

Chapter 409: All Dead

And she could sleep whenever she wanted.

Insomniacs would envy her to death.

She remembered there was a young general by Xie Peiyu's side who seemed to be an insomniac. She wondered if he had recovered after finishing the few packets of medicine he bought.

Unable to sleep, she closed her eyes to rest, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, she was awakened by the sound of a lock turning.

Moments later, she heard the creaking sound of a door opening.

Zheng Jinyu sat up quickly.

Beside her, Cui Yongnian was still snoring, then someone kicked him.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

The person sneered, "Hmph, you sure know how to enjoy yourself. Get up."

Cui Yongnian hurriedly sat up and said, "Sir, I don't know what we did to offend you. Please tell us, and we'll change."

"Did you kill Lu San?"

Zheng Jinyu's heart tightened.

Cui Yongnian looked bewildered, "Who?"

"Don't play dumb. He's the one who drove the carriage that brought you out here."

"Oh, him. Yes, I killed him. So what?"

Zheng Jinyu: "..." Cousin, do you have to be so bold when you're in their hands?

She couldn't see, but she wondered what expression the person had upon hearing his confident response.

The person laughed in anger, "Good, good, you bookworm. You've got guts. I thought you were just a weak, pale-faced little boy, but you managed to kill Lu San. I underestimated you. Men, cripple both his hands to prevent any trouble."

"Hold on." Zheng Jinyu quickly intervened, "It wasn't him who killed Lu San. It was me; I stabbed him in the back with a hairpin. He was injured and fell off the horse, breaking his leg. That's why he couldn't fight my cousin."

"So what? He still killed our man. If it weren't for his usefulness, do you think crippling his hands would be enough? Proceed."

Hearing this voice, Zheng Jinyu pleaded again, "No, you can't cripple his hands. Do you know who he is? He's not just any bookworm; he's Mr. Qinghe. With these hands, he presented the map of Nanjiang to the current Emperor.

Great Qi is vast, and there are many more cities that need his skills. If you destroy his hands, you're opposing the current Emperor and the people of Great Qi. Aren't you also citizens of Great Qi? You should understand the importance of Mr. Qinghe to Great Qi."

Hearing her words, the person was indeed moved.

He coldly hummed and pulled a jade pendant from Zheng Jinyu's neck before leaving.

Hearing the sound of the door closing and locking, Zheng Jinyu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Cui Yongnian remained silent, and Zheng Jinyu worried he might be scared stiff.

"Cousin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Hearing his voice, she felt relieved.

"That's good. Be careful with your words next time; they might really cut off your hands."

Cui Yongnian chuckled, "Thank you, Cousin."

Zheng Jinyu: "... You can still laugh. Seems like I overthought it."

"They took the jade pendant from around my neck."

Xie Peiyu's people haven't come yet. Sigh!

I wonder if the Empress Dowager knows about my disappearance, and if Chunmei has been rescued.

"They took the jade pendant as a token to threaten someone."

"Yes, if the token doesn't work, they might use me instead."

Hearing his words, Zheng Jinyu felt terrified.

Worried for a while, the sound of the lock turning came again.

Zheng Jinyu frowned, "Why are they coming back so soon?"

Cui Yongnian said, "It's mealtime; they're here to bring food."

"How do you know?"

"I smelled cooking earlier."

Sure enough, the person came to deliver food.

Okay.

An old lady arrived, placed a basket down, and squatted in front of Zheng Jinyu, "Young lady, open your mouth. I'm here to feed you."

Zheng Jinyu turned away with a cold smile, "I won't eat. How do I know you haven't poisoned it?"

"Well... Young lady, rest assured. This food was made by me, and I ate some myself. There's definitely no poison."

Zheng Jinyu still refused to open her mouth.

Cui Yongnian, who was beside her, said, "Granny, feed me instead; I don't mind if there's poison."

Zheng Jinyu: "…"

The old woman laughed and said, "Alright, alright, you each get a bowl; there's enough for both of you."

She then proceeded to feed Cui Yongnian first.

If he didn’t mind the potential poison, it likely meant there wasn’t any.

After he finished eating, when the old woman came to feed Zheng Jinyu, she finally opened her mouth.

The meal consisted of thin porridge with wild vegetable leaves, with barely any rice grains—mostly just wild vegetables.

It seemed that there was indeed no poison; otherwise, they wouldn’t have served such a poor meal.

After feeding them, the old woman left, locking the door behind her. Zheng Jinyu then whispered, "How did you know there wasn't any poison?"

Cui Yongnian replied, "If they wanted to poison us, they would have used a whole bowl of white noodles, not a bowl of boiled wild vegetables."

That made sense; she had thought the same thing.

"How did you know it was boiled wild vegetables?"

"I smelled it."

This... his nose was really sharp.

She only knew after tasting it herself.

No one came again after that. With the door shut, it was impossible to tell day from night. Soon, she fell asleep.

The snoring next to her stopped. A finger pulled, and the rope knot loosened.

Cui Yongnian glanced at Zheng Jinyu, then squatted down and tapped several points on her body before standing up and leaving.

The broken wooden door was no match for him; with a slight push, he removed it from its hinges, leaving the door panel hanging on the iron lock.

This made it easier to put the door back without damaging it.

That night, Zheng Jinyu slept soundly. When she woke up the next morning, she smelled a strong scent of blood.

As her mind cleared, she sniffed deeply and, in terror, reached out to touch Cui Yongnian beside her.

"Brother-in-law, wake up."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You have a good nose; smell what that is."

Cui Yongnian sniffed, "Hmm, it might be villagers slaughtering pigs."

"Why would they slaughter pigs right after the Flower Festival? If they were going to do it, it would be before the New Year. Come on, let's see what happened."

Zheng Jinyu untied the loose knot around her wrist, removed the blindfold from her eyes, and walked towards the door.

Peering through the crack, she saw bodies strewn everywhere, haphazardly.

Shocked, she instinctively took a few steps back.

Cui Yongnian approached, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Jinyu grabbed his arm, trembling slightly, her hand cold, "They're all dead."

And the deaths were gruesome.

Cui Yongnian also peeked through the crack. After a moment, he said to Zheng Jinyu, "Great, let's run away."

Zheng Jinyu stared straight at him.

Cui Yongnian was taken aback, "What's wrong?"

Why did everyone suddenly die? Why... Zheng Jinyu bit her lip, feeling a mix of emotions.

But the door was still locked, and the lock was intact.

"How do we get out?"

"This..." Cui Yongnian was also stumped. He looked up at a small window high above and said, "Let's climb out from here."

The window was over a person’s height, and the room was filled only with dry straw.