"Let me out, you killed me, I want to see what you have to take in return." Hong Mudan said with her teeth chattering.
He was so self-righteous that he thought he was very important and wanted to control Zhao Yiming, but unfortunately Zhao Yiming was dismissive of it.
"It seems that we can't have a detailed discussion today." After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the cell without stopping.
After Zhao Yiming left, Jingyu looked at the shivering Hong Mudan and kindly explained to her, "Don't worry, even if you die, our master will not fail to complete his mission, not to mention that you are not going to die.
The master just said that you will stay in this dirty, cold place for the rest of your life. This is probably your last bath for the rest of your life, so enjoy it!"
Before leaving, he loudly instructed the jailer, "Don't worry about getting her out. Just keep her breathing. Don't worry about her dying. My mistress is a good doctor anyway. She can save her as long as she has a breath."
Seeing Jingyu walk out of the cell, Hong Mudan finally got scared and shouted, "Come back, come back, let me out."
Unfortunately, the only response he received was even rougher actions from the jailers.
"Miss Hong Mudan's hair is still a little dirty. It seems she needs to wash it more." Then, a jailer grabbed her hair and pushed her into a bathtub filled with snow water.
She choked on the water several times. When the jailer finally lifted her out, she took a few breaths but was pushed down again. This happened several times. When the jailer stopped, her eyes were bloodshot and her body was weak. She could no longer sit steadily in the bathtub on her own.
The other two jailers looked at each other and said, "It seems that Miss Hong Mudan can't wash herself. Why don't we help her?"
As they spoke, the two rolled up their sleeves, put their hands directly into the ice water, and moved them over Hong Mudan's body.
The other prisoners in the cell saw this and thought the jailer was violating her. When they heard her screams, they said disdainfully, "What are you pretending to be, you bitch? You've had sex with beggars, and yet you still despise the jailer."
After saying that, she even fanned the flames, asking the jailer to "serve" her well, lest she, the top girl in Yingchun Tower, be left unsatisfied.
Little did they know that the reason why Hong Mudan's throat became hoarse was because the pairs of big hands under the water actually had no lust at all, but were really pinching her non-stop. All the places on her body, arms, and legs that could be pinched were now blue and black.
They really followed Jingyu's advice, "Just hold on a little while."
It’s no wonder the jailers treated her like this. If they didn’t do that, it would be difficult to relieve the hatred in their hearts.
Although the jailers were not poisoned because they had been guarding the cells all the time, their families were all outside. The lucky relatives and friends waited for Zhao Yiming to arrive, but the unlucky ones had already closed their eyes forever.
They occasionally heard Zhao Yiming's interrogation in the cell these days, and only then did they realize that the natural disasters that people hated so much were actually man-made disasters.
Thinking of those relatives and friends who would never come back, they wanted to tear Hong Mudan into pieces, and there was no desire left at all.
If Jingyu had not instructed them to keep her alive, they would have wanted to kill this vicious woman right now.
Finally, Hong Mudan was tortured to the point of being on the verge of death and with only one breath left, the jailers carried her out of the bathtub.
They threw her on the dirty ground like garbage, not caring whether she was soaked or not. They didn't even give her a pair of clean clothes, leaving her to fend for herself.
As soon as the guards left, the prisoners on either side of her began to denounce her: "Bitch, what are you doing? This cell is already cold and gloomy, and you brought so much ice water in. Are you really trying to make life difficult for us?"
"Your water is flowing towards me, quickly crawl over here and lick it clean for me."
"Even if she takes off her fancy clothes and washes off the makeup on her face, she's no better than a peasant woman in the countryside."
…
Hong Mudan lay quietly on the cold ground. Her whole body was cold and numb, and she couldn't even curl her fingers. Listening to the insults around her, tears flowed silently and mixed with the dirty water on the ground.
After an unknown amount of time, the cursing stopped. Perhaps the jailers were afraid that she was really dead and they would not be able to complete their duties, so they sent people to check on her condition.
The man put his hand under her nose to make sure she was still alive, then roughly dragged her to the haystack nearby. There was no doctor here who could save a patient who was only breathing his last breath. In any case, she had to be alive before being taken away by Lord Zhao from the capital.
It was getting dark. Tonight was New Year's Eve. Zhao Yiming declined the county magistrate's invitation and took his soldiers to set up a stove in the open space in the slum to cook the New Year's Eve dinner.
Some of the people who had been rescued by them saw the grown men picking vegetables, washing rice and cooking, and they spontaneously stepped forward to help.
"You guys are a bunch of grown men, how can you do this kind of work? Let us women do it!"
Zhao Yiming felt that these people had a hard time on weekdays and had just encountered this disaster. He was afraid that their families could not even make ends meet, so he invited them to stay and celebrate the New Year with the soldiers.
When the common people heard that they could celebrate the New Year with the high-ranking officials from the capital, they rushed to spread the word. Word spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In just half an hour, almost all the people in the north of the city had gathered.
Some of them brought their stored food from home, those without food carried firewood, and those without food and firewood simply searched the kitchen, bringing salt, oil, bowls, and tables and chairs...
Seeing so many people outside, Zhao Yiming simply asked his subordinates to move down all the food and fodder they brought, and asked Jingyu to take people to find the people from Peng's Restaurant and ask them to find a way to help buy two pigs. He was determined to ensure that the people would eat well and have enough to celebrate the New Year.
Peng's Restaurant is indeed the largest restaurant in Meixian City. Even at this late hour, the owner immediately sent Jingyu and the others to find the breeder that the restaurant usually cooperates with, and soon they brought back two big fat pigs to the north of the city.
Finally, the shopkeeper decided to let the waiters take the existing ingredients in the restaurant and go to the north of the city with him.
"Sir, I've brought the chef from the Peng Family Restaurant to cook for you. I hope you can give me this opportunity."
Zhao Yiming looked behind the shopkeeper and saw that the chefs and waiters were all carrying pots, pans, and some seasonings.
Turning back, he personally bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "Shopkeeper, for your generosity, I will trouble you and all the brothers. If you encounter Peng Zhang after returning to Beijing, I will tell him the truth about your actions today and let him reward you as appropriate."
When the shopkeeper heard about this unexpected surprise, he felt that his trip today was worthwhile and said excitedly, "Master Zhao, you are too polite. It's getting late, so we will go and get busy first. We must let everyone have the New Year's Eve dinner as soon as possible."
In this way, with everyone gathering from all directions, each doing their part and working together, a special New Year's Eve dinner gradually took shape.
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