Chapter 216 Liao Ye is Dead

The next day, everyone thought they hadn't heard the gong, so no one woke up and slept until almost noon, listening to the sound of rain outside the window.

Some people got up early, but didn't hear any noise, so they went back to sleep.

I woke up around noon because of hunger. I got up, dressed, and stretched at the door. "I haven't had such a good sleep in ages."

In the wild, the ground is hard and there are mosquitoes biting you. You also have to worry about being attacked by large wild animals. You can't sleep soundly or sleep well.

"Sigh, I don't want to think about anything right now, I just want to get a good night's sleep and have a good meal."

"I used to think that ordinary people were hopeless, just staying in their little plot of land with their wives for the rest of their lives. Now it seems we didn't know the hardships of life. They say that when you're well-fed and warm, you think of lust. If you're not full, how can you have the energy to think about anything else?"

"That's right. Who doesn't want to stand out from the crowd? Who doesn't want to get promoted and make a fortune? Who wants to be a merchant who is looked down upon? Some things can't be achieved just by hard work. If hard work could make people rich, they would have been rich long ago."

"Yes, that's right."

"The rain outside isn't too heavy, is it? It's almost noon, why aren't we leaving yet? Old Liao is too kind to us, letting us rest for another half day. I wonder if we'll be able to rest this afternoon. It would be great if we could leave tomorrow."

"Something's not right. This isn't like Lao Liao's usual style. He said yesterday that he had to leave because of the heavy rain. He usually doesn't even give us an extra half-day's rest, let alone give us a break. Could something have happened?"

The words had barely left his mouth.

A loud 'bang!' rang out.

When everyone looked downstairs, they saw a guard standing at the door, soaking wet.

"Officer, what's wrong?"

"Something happened to Brother Liao."

"What happened? Is...Is Old Liao going to die?"

They addressed him respectfully as Lao Liao or Master Liao on the surface, but in private they still called him Lao Liao.

In the past, even the guards weren't worthy of carrying their shoes.

"Yes, he... he's dead." The escort, who was closest to Lao Liao besides Zhao Jiu, had reddened eyes, turned his back, and wiped away a handful of tears, whether from rain or tears, it was hard to tell.

He didn't turn around for a while, and his back was trembling, as if he was crying.

Someone upstairs noticed that the escorts seemed off, and someone downstairs went to the outside of the corridor and saw someone carrying another person through the rain on the street.

"Something's happened! Look outside! It looks like Master Liao."

Both of them were soaked to the bone and had walked in the rain for at least an hour.

The person on my back is unconscious and motionless.

Zhao Jiu's knees buckled and he tripped, both of them falling to the ground. He used his body to cushion Lao Liao's fall, "Bang!"

"Brother Liao, just wait a little longer. We'll be done in ten more trips, and then you'll be saved." Zhao Jiu put the man back on his back, intending to carry Old Liao on his back and crawl on his knees to finish the journey.

When they were being beaten, they hated Lao Liao and wished him dead, but now that they saw him on the verge of death, they suddenly remembered his kindness.

Even when bandits came, he didn't abandon them; instead, he let them go first. When wolves came, he risked his life to save them.

The comparison is painful. Although Lao Liao is not a good person, Yan Wanshan is even worse. If the team were under his command, they would all suffer. They might be skinned alive and sent to exile, leaving them with nothing.

"What to do? What to do?"

Wang Youcai said, "Master Liao can't be in any danger. Let's go and get a doctor for him. Whoever is fast on their feet, go and get a doctor. I'll pay for it. No matter how much it costs, we must save him."

The escort shook his head and said, "It's no use. We've already consulted the doctor, and he said there's no hope."

"Then how can we save her? Why should we beg the Third Prince's wife? Does she have any medicine? What are their conditions? Let's go and buy it from her, let's crowdfund it."

"The medicine was the blood from the Third Prince's wife. I heard this morning that the Third Prince was also poisoned. She cut off her own blood and gave it to the Third Prince to drink, which saved him. We also retrieved Liao Ge's body from Yan Wanshan's hands."

Zhao Jiu went to her for medicine, kneeling and begging for a drop of her blood to save Liao Ge. She offered him a condition: he had to carry Liao Ge through the streets a hundred times.

"Is this person deliberately making things difficult for someone? The person is almost dead and is still being soaked in the rain."

"She must be holding a grudge against Brother Liao for hitting him and wants to take this opportunity to get revenge. She won't give him the medicine."

"She promised that if they didn't give it to us, she would get it herself."

Yun Zhaoxue also knew that Yan Wanshan was no good. If Lao Liao could save him, he had to; if he couldn't, Yan Wanshan would die anyway.

She took an umbrella and went out to Yang's room.

She went downstairs and said to Hu Feng, the escort who was standing at the door, "Come with me to bring them back."

...

Yun Jiaoyue was sitting in front of an inn across the street, drinking tea. After taking a sip, she smashed the teacup at the foot of the brewery, shattering it into pieces.

"Let's go, just one last trip."

Zhao Jiu knew she wanted him to kneel on the broken porcelain shards as she passed by.

Just as he was about to kneel down, a hand suddenly lifted him up from behind, and at the same time, his back felt light.

Yun Zhaoxue tossed Lao Liao to Hu Feng, then supported Zhao Jiu's arm with one hand, "What happened to the wound on your forehead? Did they force you to kneel?"

“No one forced me. Yan Wanshan and the others wanted to drag Liao Ge’s body to the wilderness to bury it. I stopped them and fought with them. They forced me to kneel and kowtow. I was not convinced and fought back. After I rescued Liao Ge, I heard that the Third Prince was also poisoned. It was the Third Prince’s wife who saved him with her phoenix blood, so I knelt down and begged her to give him medicine.”

“Princess, the doctor said that Brother Liao is beyond saving, but he still has breath, just a little bit of breath, there is still hope. This is the last time. After I leave, Brother Liao will be saved. Give him to me.” Zhao Jiu reached out to grab Old Liao.

Hu Feng pressed his hand down. "Zhao Jiu, you're tired. Take a rest. I'll carry the rest."

Sitting at the entrance of the inn, Yun Jiaoyue said, "No one is allowed to be changed. If someone is changed, we have to start all over again and do it a hundred times."

"Elder sister, what brings you here? You are a princess, and you used to disdain even lowly guards. I heard that your stepmother used to have a crush on guards, and now you like guards..."

She deliberately left things unsaid, leaving the reader to speculate.

Tsk tsk, this mother and daughter have such unique tastes. The escorts and guards are all lowly people, and they're not afraid of their rough skin.

Yun Zhaoxue retorted, "That's a rumor about my mother, but it's true that your mother and the housekeeper had an affair. If there really is a mother-daughter relationship, then you also like the housekeeper, right?"

Yun Jiaoyue seemed to have been struck on a sore spot, her voice sharp, "You're the one who likes the steward! She's her, and I'm me. I would never betray His Highness. I even saved him today! You and your mother both enjoy being surrounded by men to prove your charm. You're unchaste, unfaithful to your husbands, and disobedient to your wives. You're despicable!"

They have utterly disgraced the women of the Great Zhou!

With Lao Liao dead, Yan Wanshan is now the most powerful. The Xiao family and Yan Wanshan are enemies, so they're doomed. She doesn't need to feign politeness towards them.