Chapter 279 Violating the Rules

Chapter 279 Violating the Rules

Inside the carriage, a slim and tall figure gently lowered the carriage curtain. Old Hu, the bushy-bearded man sitting next to her, patted his chest in fright, unable to hold back, “...Are you really that confident? We’ve been waiting here for half an hour... If that lame man had succeeded in hurting the girl, my conscience would be tormented!”

The slim figure gave the bushy-bearded man a light glance, her eyes soon settling on the fluttering corner of the carriage curtain.

“You don’t understand anything.”

The oil lamp inside the carriage flickered as the wind from the gap in the curtain blew in, casting a light that moved upward, illuminating the narrow and sharp face of the slim figure. Though a woman, her face had distinct features. Her small face, as if the size of a palm, with its full forehead and upright brow bones, gave off a daunting presence.

“How often do heavenly soldiers descend from the heavens?”

The woman’s voice was calm. “That girl has weapons in her hands and shadow guards behind her. On the other hand, the man has disabilities in his legs and arms, his body is swollen, and his steps are unsteady. Even though men naturally have the advantage of strength, as long as she’s willing to risk her life, the road is wide enough—she wouldn’t be able to fight her way out.”

Old Hu clicked his tongue. “If this were our daughter, could you stand to see her little head get bumped twice?”

“If this were our daughter, I’d remove all the shadow guards behind her.”

The woman’s gaze swept over and lifted the curtain again, her eyes landing on the black-clad shadow guard following closely behind the young girl, his hands making large gestures, seemingly trying to communicate something one-sided.

The woman frowned, her slender fingers casually pointing, “Old Hu, is that the mute pirate who’s always around Baoyuan?”

Old Hu peeked out and laughed, “Yes! He’s the second-in-command among the mute guards, called Liu Shanhu. Talks the most; even being mute can’t stop him from talking.”

Old Hu slapped his thigh. “Hey, wait a minute! Didn’t Baoyuan say that his wife and the mute guards were not to be borrowed for others? How come Liu Shanhu is still left protecting this paper-selling girl?”

Old Hu went on to criticize Baoyuan for being untrustworthy, changing his orders, being hypocritical, and possibly discriminating against him…

The woman raised an eyebrow, her thin lips curling slightly. “This is getting interesting.”

She then handed over a thin, gilded name card, on which a vividly depicted crane was drawn.

“Pass this to Master Qiao and get down to business.”

Something was handed to Master Qiao, and at the same time, something was inserted into Sanlang’s body.

Of course, Xianjin was unaware of either event.

Shoutou Tuo had run off, and the mute guard, acting as the coachman, wielded the sturdy mule with such vigor that for a moment, he thought it was a horse.

A journey that should have taken over half an hour was shortened to less than half an hour.

The mute guard tied up the mule and exaggeratedly gestured towards Xianjin: his right thumb first touched his upper lip, then swept up from his right ear, and finally touched the lobe of his right ear.

He repeated this series of gestures several times.

Xianjin tilted her head, puzzled.

The mute guard searched through his pockets—he hadn’t brought paper or a pen on the mission—and then exaggeratedly pointed at Xianjin’s tattered clothes and the blood on her face, followed by exaggeratedly miming washing clothes and wiping her face.

Xianjin waved her hand. “I have my own plan.” She then patted the mute guard on the shoulder. “You go first. Since Baoyuan secretly left you behind, don’t expose yourself to others.”

The mute guard reluctantly left, glancing back every few steps, jumping onto the roof and continuing to gesture to Xianjin.

Xianjin waved him off and, with a turn, her expression changed. She pushed open the door of the Jixi Workshop with a loud bang, startling the young attendant at the door half to death.

“Where is Steward Zhong?”

Xianjin turned to ask the young attendant.

The young apprentice saw a face covered in blood in an instant and was about to scream, but upon a closer look, he realized, hey, wasn't this their incomparable Manager He?!

He trembled and said, "Steward Zhong is waiting for you in the gatehouse..." and then turned to shout, "Steward Zhong! Steward Zhong! Come out quickly!"

Aunt Zhong stepped out, and as soon as she saw the bloodstains on Xianjin's face and the tattered clothes with half a sleeve missing, revealing the plain white inner sleeve, she was visibly shaken. She immediately retrieved a long robe from behind the door and draped it over Xianjin's shoulders. Turning her head sharply, her expression stern, she barked at the gate attendant, "I know you came with Manager Qi. Keep your mouth shut! If I hear even a hint of gossip, I'll cut out your tongue!"

The attendant nodded trembling.

Aunt Zhong asked Xianjin in a low voice, "Would you like to clean your face?"

Xianjin shook her head and deftly put on her outer garment with one hand. As she moved her mouth, a wound on her tongue was aggravated, and she tasted blood again.

Xianjin spat the blood-tinged saliva onto the blue brick floor, her eyes bloodshot, and said, "To the back quarters!"

Xianjin walked quickly, and Aunt Zhong followed behind her, feeling as though their usually composed Manager He had grown to two meters tall, emitting a deadly aura as if ready to kill.

Aunt Zhong quickened her pace, casually gesturing to a young man, and whispered, "Go! Start a fire in the kitchen and boil two pots of water!"

Their Manager He had killed someone; wasn't she tired? Wouldn't she want to take a proper bath?

Aunt Zhong hurried to keep up.

The quarters were quiet now. The Eight-Zhang Xuan Paper had been successfully produced, and Xianjin had given the attendants five days off. Those whose homes were not in Xuancheng had submitted notes to go home and visit, while some attendants, whose homes were in Xuancheng, had also submitted notes, wanting to go home to sleep and recover. No more than five attendants remained in the quarters.

Thus, when Xianjin kicked open the wooden door of Sanlang's room in the back quarters with a loud bang, the sound was particularly deafening in the silence, startling the birds in the backyard.

The quarters were dark, but Xianjin knew Chen Sanlang was still there.

Xianjin accurately rushed to Sanlang's bed, grabbed an oil lamp, and with one hand, forcefully threw off the quilt from Sanlang's bed.

"Ah—" Sanlang's shrill voice was so piercing it nearly drove the newly awakened birds mad.

Xianjin held the oil lamp high, stunned for a moment—oh! Her eyes! Her once-pure eyes were now dirty, ruined, and pus-filled!

Under the quilt, Sanlang was sleeping with a dark-skinned man. Both wore light jackets and exaggerated shorts.

As Xianjin was stunned, Aunt Zhong reacted quickly, rolled up her sleeves, and pulled the dark-skinned man off the bed. She swiftly took the curtain ties, rolled them into a ball, and stuffed them into the man’s mouth. She then threw a jacket from the bed over the man and said furiously, her voice on the verge of collapse:

"Put it on! You dare to mess around under my nose! Go figure out whose territory this is! I've been the head instructor at the Jixi Workshop for two years and have never encountered such a mess! How dare you mess around under my nose!"

"To prevent you from fooling around with women, I didn’t even allow young maids into the training camp! I did all the water-carrying and firewood-carrying myself!"

"And what do you do? Instead of fooling around with women, you fool around with men!!"

"In the training camp, are two people allowed to sleep in one bed?! What if the bed collapses? This is clearly prohibited in the Twenty Rules of the training camp!"

"Do you still have me, Steward Zhong, in your eyes? Ah! What about the Twenty Rules I carefully wrote? What about the discipline I repeatedly emphasized! Discipline! Discipline!"

Xianjin closed her mouth, timidly glancing at Aunt Zhong, who was even more furious than she was.

Although her mind was a bit chaotic now, she wanted to weakly raise her hand and ask:

In this situation, getting angry because "the bed might collapse"... does it seem a bit crazy?!