The next day, the child was carried back, suffering the same fate as the previous one, except that both of them were soon taken away and their whereabouts became unknown.

With only three people left, even if the last one arrives, he can only survive for two days.

Knowing he couldn't just sit and wait to die, the boy squatted down and pretended to have a stomachache. To make it look real, he even slammed his stomach hard against the corner of the table.

"Oh no, my stomach hurts! Help!"

Hearing this, the person guarding outside pushed open the door and entered. Seeing that he was sweating profusely from the pain and clearly wasn't faking it, he asked, "What do we do now?"

"Second Master likes lively and energetic people, he doesn't care for sickly ones like this."

"But if we can't call a doctor, how can we treat this child?"

"Never mind, if we can survive it, we will; if we can't, we'll just throw them out and find someone else to replace them."

He quickly closed the door again. The boy lay on the ground in pain for a long time before he recovered. He listened to their conversation and knew that he only had one chance. As long as he was about to die, he could avoid being sent to that second master.

There was nothing in the room. I couldn't let myself get to the brink of death, so I decided to wait until night to see what was going on.

Because he cried out in pain during the day, it was someone else who was taken away.

Only a little girl and he were left. The little girl was pale and terrified. "What should we do? Tomorrow it will be either you or me."

The boy ignored her; he was struggling to survive, let alone help others.

That night, he didn't sleep on the bedding; instead, he took off his clothes and slept on the cold floor. Outside, there was thunder and lightning, and the little girl in the bedding also didn't sleep; she kept crying.

When it got light, the boy's wish did not come true, and he showed no signs of catching a cold.

However, the boy returned safely last night because the so-called Second Master was summoned away overnight and said he wouldn't be back for several days.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The little girl tugged at the boy's sleeve and asked, "What did they want you to do?"

The boy stood there, stunned, as if he hadn't recovered from what happened last night, looking as if his soul had been stolen.

I don't know if it was the Second Master who gave the order, but they were allowed to go into the courtyard, but that was all they were allowed in the courtyard; there were still people guarding the outside.

The little girl and the boy went to the yard together. The boy who had been taken away last night was still sitting on the quilt without moving, as if he had no life.

The courtyard is not separate; there is a circular archway next to it, but it has been sealed off.

Apart from a well, there was nothing else.

The boy's gaze locked onto the well, remembering his mother's words, "Keep an eye on your little sister. The well water is warm in winter and cool in summer, so you mustn't play in it."

He lowered the bucket and filled it with water as he remembered it; it felt really cool to the touch.

Then he took off his clothes, leaving only the inner garment, and poured the icy well water over himself.

The little girl stared in disbelief, "What...what are you doing?"

The boy thought about it and couldn't help but say, "If you want to live, do what I do and don't talk."

Although the little girl didn't know what it meant, she still took off her clothes like him and poured well water on herself. When it was almost time to eat, the two of them put their other clothes back on.

The girl shivered from the cold. "I'm so cold! Will we be able to escape like this?"

The boy was also cold, his wet clothes clung to his body, and he was deliberately hiding in the shade, so how could he not be steady?

"As long as we get a serious illness, we won't have to be taken away and tormented."

The little girl's hope was rekindled. She said, "My name is Song Sisi, and my father is Song Liangde, the richest man in Wushan. What's your name?"

The boy said, "My name is Liu Anzhi."

The boy was Anzhi, who had been arrested a few days ago. He was also very glad that it was him who was arrested and not Anran.

Song Sisi looked him up and down happily, "Your name is so nice and you're so good-looking. If we can get out of here, I'll definitely ask my dad to give you a lot of money."

Anzhi remained unmoved upon hearing this, replying, "No need, my family is wealthy."

The servants who delivered the food were completely unaware of the changes in them, and only left after watching them eat.

For two days in a row, the two of them soaked their bodies with cold water in the yard. The little girl even said that she felt uncomfortable all over and wondered if she was going to die.

That night, Anzhi was awakened by crying and shouting; it was Song Sisi.

She was burning up, completely disoriented, and crying incessantly. Anzhi knew she had succeeded; he himself only had a stuffy nose and should be done soon.

In just one night, the little girl not only developed a fever, but also developed rashes and pustules all over her body, except for her face.

Seeing this, Anzhi popped the pustules on her hand and then bit a wound on his own hand, smearing the pus onto the wound.

To be absolutely sure, he even licked the pus clean.

After thinking for a moment, he bit the boy's hand again and put the pus on his wound. He broke all the rashes on the little girl's hand, and the boy didn't react, so he let him do it.

The person who delivered the food initially thought it was a cold, so they somehow got some medicine and fed each person a bowl.

It wasn't until the third day, when rashes started appearing on the faces of all three, that they hurriedly reported it to the housekeeper.

Upon hearing this, the butler didn't come to the courtyard. Instead, he said, "Could these people have picked up something unclean outside?"

"What should we do then?"

The steward thought for a moment and said, "Second Master won't be back for another two days. We need to deal with those three people quickly and find three clean ones. If the whole mansion gets infected, neither of us will escape death."

That night, the servants brought straw mats, wrapped the three unconscious children in them, covered their mouths and noses, and dumped them on a desolate mountain outside the city.

"Let's do it here. There are often wolves around here, and we might get eaten tonight."

"It's eerie here, let's get out of here."

"There are wolves howling over there, hurry up and run!"

Anzhi was awakened by a tearing sound. When she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of eerie green eyes that looked particularly terrifying in the moonlight.

He nudged the person next to him, but there was no response.

Seeing the saliva dripping from the wolf's mouth, he shrank back but dared not move an inch.

He watched helplessly as the wolf bent down towards his legs, closing his eyes in despair, but the pain he had imagined did not come.

It was only a slight stinging sensation, like when the doctor drew blood from his finger when he was sick.

The wolf kept licking until it licked his face, and the sticky sensation made him afraid to even breathe.

Finally, the wolf left him and went to the other two, opening its mouth wide as if to bite down.

"No, please let us go."

Upon hearing Anzhi's words, the wolf turned its gaping maw into a smaller one and reluctantly licked the two men's arms.

Then he sat down to wait, as if waiting for them to wake up.

The other two woke up at dawn, rubbed their eyes, got up, and saw a huge creature sitting next to them. They were so scared that they hugged it and screamed.

The wolf glanced at them, then silently walked a little further away.