Chapter 3: The Captive Flower Thief

  The old lady's face turned pale at the shout.

  Rong Shu opened the door and asked, "What's wrong with Little Cui? Where is Second Miss?" Rong Shu also looked tense.

  The maid known as Little Cui cried with tears streaming down her face, "Second Miss... she hanged herself."

  "What?" The old lady felt dizzy and almost fainted, luckily, Rong Shu supported her in time, otherwise she would have fallen to the ground.

  "Hurry...hurry...take me to see Xiao Er..." The old lady's heart was like a knife twisting, her intestines were broken into pieces.

  Xiao Cui also came back to her senses and hastily said: "Old Madam, don't worry, Second Miss is fine now, I've already rescued her."

  The old lady heard that the second young lady was fine, and the stone in her heart fell down involuntarily, but she was still anxious. Originally, she shouldn't have left Xi'er, but unfortunately, she still had to settle this unseemly matter. It took only a short while, and almost led to a disaster. The old lady blamed Small Cui with a glare, the latter dejectedly lowered her head.

  The old lady was so anxious and uneasy that she didn't even take her cane, hastily rushing to the second miss's room.

  Rong's sister quickly caught up.

  Xiao Cui is now also unable to intervene because of her mistake, which almost cost the life of the second young lady. The old madam will not settle accounts after autumn, she is most worried about the second young lady now. The second young lady treats her like a sister, and she is willing to accept punishment after the incident. For now, she only hopes that the second young lady is safe and sound, and picks up the old madam's cane and follows her.

  Bai Miao's current state of mind is very calm, to be precise, numb. Tonight's events have dealt a deeper blow to her than the incident three years ago, piercing her soul even more deeply and painfully.

  She sat there, motionless, her eyes fixed on the red mosquito net, with a million whys in her mind but no one to ask, all the pain accumulated in her chest, like needles pricking and knives stabbing, piercing to the bone, hurting until numbness.

  Looking at her old grandmother's exhausted face, she wanted to cry again and throw herself into her grandmother's arms for a good cry.

  "Xie'er, how could you think of such a thing? Are you going to abandon your grandmother...?" The old lady's eyes also welled up with tears as she comforted her outwardly strong but inwardly extremely vulnerable granddaughter.

  "Grandma, I'm wronged..." A hoarse voice, the face that had been disfigured was covered with a red veil, only her watery eyes could be seen, quietly turning red again. Her starry eyes lost any luster, dull and sorrowful.

  Rong and Xiao Cui both knew what was good for them and withdrew from the room.

  "It's grandma's fault, it's grandma's fault. If you want to cry, just let it all out!" The old lady gently sat down on the bed and placed Bai Miao Xi's head gently on her shoulder.

  "Ah……" Bai Miao couldn't control herself anymore and burst into heart-wrenching sobs.

  Rong Shu and Xiao Cui outside the room door also secretly shed tears.

  In the spring of March, it was still a bit cold. Yue Kang only wore a pair of shorts and was locked in the woodshed. There were no quilts or even a place to block the wind. The walls on all four sides let in the wind.

  Shivering with cold after a night of freezing, finally made it till dawn.

  The sunlight pierced through the clouds, refracted into the thatched cottage. With both hands and feet bound, Yue Kang slowly crawled like an insect to a spot with sunlight.

  Bathing in the sunlight, Yue Kang felt enveloped in warmth all at once. What a wonderful feeling.

  Yue Kang, who hadn't eaten for a long time, was already starving, his stomach growling loudly, and he hated the mice that kept disturbing him so much that he wanted to stew them alive. A large piece of cloth had been stuffed into his mouth, and at first, it didn't feel like anything, but after one night, the sour pain was unbearable.

  I don't know what method the old lady will use to deal with me, is it skinning? Buried alive? Or even cooking me, thinking about it makes Yue Kang shiver. It shouldn't be that cruel, right! The answer is unknown.

  Run away? Now hands and feet are all tied up, can't run at all. Listening to the sound, there is still someone guarding this woodshed.

  There was a commotion outside the door, followed by the sound of footsteps and then the clanking of iron chains. The door to the hut was pushed open, and sunlight suddenly flooded in. Yue Kang looked up to see a 17- or 18-year-old girl standing in the doorway. She was wearing a white dress with red trim, her hair styled in a butterfly knot, and her eyebrows were clear and elegant. Her overall appearance wasn't stunning, but she had a youthful energy about her that was captivating.

  That face was gritting its teeth and staring fiercely at Yue Kang, holding a basket in her hand. Yue Kang recognized the woman as one of those who had held torches at the scene of the case last night.

  "I really don't know what the old lady is thinking, not killing you with one sword and still asking me to deliver food for you to eat." Xi'er muttered to herself, then heavily put down the basket. "The wolf-hearted, despicable, and shameless Duntuzi, Madam has arrived to bring you food. The old lady is afraid that you will starve to death, so she'll feed you first before sending you to your death." After finishing speaking, Xi'er still couldn't help but snort in disdain.

  I'm going to die of hunger, Yue Kang's mouth was making "tsk" sounds and his eyes were looking down, wanting the woman to help him remove the napkin from his mouth. Never mind about the beheading meal or whatever, let's eat first.

  The towel was very tight when it was pulled out of the mouth, and Xiao Er struggled to pull it out. After his mouth was finally freed, Yue Kang felt that pulling out the towel just now was like opening a bottle of red wine - first twisting hard, then pulling hard, and finally popping open with a "bang".

  It took a good while for Yue Kang to bear the pain and close his mouth, trying to open it twice before closing it again. Fortunately, there were no aftereffects, and he was really afraid that his jaw would dislocate and he wouldn't be able to close his mouth again.

  "This beautiful girl, can you untie my hands? I won't be able to eat like this!" Yue Kang begged and asked.

  Xi'er seemed to have heard a huge joke and laughed inexplicably, "Alright" she said as she turned behind Yue Kang.

  "I knew it, beautiful women are always kind-hearted. You're even more beautiful than the Seven Fairies, ah... Ah, miss, I asked you to untie me, why did you tie it tighter instead?"

  "Hey, you big pervert, don't think that lady will untie for you, go dream on! The meal is already placed here, my task is done, whether you eat or not has nothing to do with me, and how you eat even less so."

  Xi'er finished speaking and put the bowl of rice, the bowl of green vegetables, and a small jug of water all on the ground. She picked up the basket and went out the door, closing it behind her with a clang, using an iron chain to lock it again.

  "It's rare for the old lady to show mercy and let me take out the gag from your mouth, but she said you'd better behave yourself. The old lady needs peace and quiet and doesn't want to hear any unwanted sounds. If you shout once, the old lady will say throw you into the oil pot and fry you once; if you shout twice, she'll fry you twice, until you're too exhausted to shout. And don't even think about trying to escape - there are people watching from the shadows in this woodshed, and if they see you try to run, they'll cripple one of your legs. You can try it out and see how many legs you can afford to lose." The crisp voice was not music to Yue Kang's ears.

  There aren't many useless ones, and adding **that one makes only three.

  Your eggs are so arrogant, if I go out and don't pull all your clothes off, I'll execute you on the spot. Be careful not to do it in the haystack, or I'll make you scream "I want, I want" and see if you still dare to be arrogant in front of me.

  Yue Kang is now very down, let alone the mood to get excited, at present it's still thinking about how to eat that bowl of rice.

  Without **there would be no new China**. A staunch and loyal supporter, Mr. Yue Kangyue, felt that this was the most humiliating meal he had eaten in his twenty-odd years of glorious history. His hands and feet were unable to assume a posture for eating, it was truly unseemly, extremely unseemly!

  ........................

  Collect and recommend, it's hard for new people!