Black-haired rat
Wen Jingzhao opened his eyes for only a moment, as if in a last glimpse of life, and then fainted again.
He Yingchun breathed a sigh of relief. She was frightened. She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, but she still had to be cautious.
The interior of the inn was dim and crowded, and the air was filled with a mixed smell of dampness, mold, and wood smoke.
He Yingchun shrugged her nose. She felt that her sense of smell had become more sensitive.
The prisoners' living quarters were naturally very poor, with crude wooden beds placed in all directions. The prisoners could only huddle in the narrow space and struggle to find a slightly warm corner.
The bedding on the bed was old and tattered, and the few intact ones had been snatched away. He Yingchun relied on her thin body and barely managed to grab a relatively clean one.
She smelled it and it smelled musty.
At this time, Su He had simply cleaned Wen Jingzhao's wound. She walked to the housekeeper and Li Bin.
"Uncle Zhang, Li Bin, let me show you."
Li Bin waved his hands a little embarrassedly, "It's okay, just a minor flesh wound, it will heal after the scab forms."
At this time, a woman came over, her face was smeared with black, and she walked in front of Su He.
"Su He, come here and show it to my mother."
Hearing this arrogant voice, He Yingchun realized that the black man in front of her was the second daughter of Zhou, Wen Wanrou.
All the people in the general's mansion were exiled, including more than a hundred guards who have now been sent to the army. The remaining servants who were exiled were mostly servants, totaling less than fifty people.
The largest area is occupied by Zhou's yard. Now that the house is about to collapse, the servants are probably not treated very well on a daily basis. I think the mother and daughter will not have an easy time.
Su He followed Wen Wanrou, and Xiao Zhi said angrily, "Why did Sister Su He go? They always like to bully people!"
Mom told her to shut up and even smeared dirt on her face until it was black. In this world, they have to know how to protect themselves better than anyone else.
It was about to start cooking. He Yingchun peeked outside. She had to find a way to cook and earn points. The spiritual spring water could at least keep her alive. Just look at Wen Jingzhao. He was vomiting blood like that, but he was still holding on.
But the yamen runners were guarding outside all the time, and they would keep an eye on anyone going to the toilet. There was a special place for cooking in the post station, and she watched the smoke rising and the aroma of food wafting out.
The shackles on her hands and feet jingled as she walked. She suppressed her impatience and sat back.
The people at the post station had smiles on their faces and first invited the yamen runners to come over for dinner.
After a long while, the yamen runner named Wang Kui came in with a large bucket of simple food in his hand. He had a cold and arrogant expression on his face, and he did not hide his contempt for these exiled prisoners.
He held an iron spoon in one hand and knocked it on the rice bucket like feeding a pig, and shouted in a hoarse voice,
"It's time to eat! Grab your bowl and come and eat!!"
With only two meals a day and tens of thousands of steps a day, people were already very hungry. They hurriedly got up, their faces full of desire for food.
Wang Kui sneered, took the iron spoon, and gave each person a spoonful, cursing, "Hurry up and leave! You're wasting my time by dawdling!"
He Yingchun picked up the bowl and followed them over. She licked her lips. At least it was hot food. Her hands and feet were worn out after walking all day, and she was starving.
She grabbed a bowl of rice. It was very rough rice at the bottom and cooked vegetables on top. There was no meat at all. She sighed and swallowed it. Her throat felt like it had been cut by a knife.
You have to eat it, He Yingchun stuffed her mouthfuls of rice.
"Sister Su He, please eat." This bowl of rice will be searched after today.
"No, the young master didn't eat anything today. Leave these to him. I'm not hungry yet." Su He shook her head.
He Yingchun looked down at Wen Jingzhao and thought that if she didn't eat something, she would probably die.
She scooped up the rice, swallowed it, and carefully picked up an empty bowl to scoop some rice. With so many people crowded together, Wang Kui couldn't notice anything at all.
"Why did you order so much food?" A familiar female voice came from the side. He Yingchun cursed her bad luck. She turned her head and saw that it was Wen Wanrou.
He Yingchun pretended not to hear, looked around, and then responded, "Who? Who?"
She took advantage of her short stature and bent down to leave, "It's you! Shorty!!"
He Yingchun couldn't help but hurriedly pull her and whispered, "This is for Wen Jingzhao. He fainted and can't take it. Don't shout."
Wen Wanrou said righteously, "If you take one more bowl, we will have one less bowl to share! If everyone is like you, so many people will not be able to eat!!"
Damn, are you sick, sister?
He Yingchun was so angry that she laughed. She had not had much dealings with Wen Wanrou. She only knew that this second young lady had a bad temper and was straightforward. She didn't expect that she also had problems with her brain.
It's such a late hour, and we're still talking about civility, fairness, and politeness? Didn't you see that guy next to you ran three or four times?
"What are you doing?! What are you doing?!" Wang Kui approached with an unhappy look on his face. "Eating can't even stop you from talking. Who is causing trouble here?"
Everyone dodged backwards, and He Yingchun followed suit, but was suddenly grabbed by Wen Wanrou.
"Brother, the yamen runner, this person should eat one more bowl." Wen Wanrou pulled her.
He Yingchun shook her head repeatedly, "I didn't, I didn't."
"Eat more, huh? Looking for trouble, huh?" Wang Kui looked at the two men and suddenly a fierce look appeared on his face.
"Snap" "Snap" two whips were swung over,
"Just be quiet, if you want to die, just tell me!!!"
"Ah!!" Wen Wanrou was whipped in the face, part of the whip hit her face and part of it hit her body, and she screamed in pain.
"Don't eat tomorrow, both of you!! I'll keep you from behaving badly!!"
Now, it's finally quiet.
Wang Kui weighed the whip in his hand. No one dared to make any more unnecessary movements. He put his hands behind his back and walked out cursing.
Damn it.
He Yingchun was beaten so hard that tears came out. She bit her tongue hard to prevent herself from crying out. The whip hit her arm right on the spot, and even her fingers were hurt.
Wen Wanrou is such a big fool.
He Yingchun took the food and sat back down. She placed it in front of Su He and said, "Eat."
Su He's eyes were still swollen, tears streaming down her face again. "Thank you, Yingchun." She quickly rolled up He Yingchun's sleeves, "Let me take a look at your wound."
He Yingchun did not refuse. Her body was very white, and the bright red marks were very deep. Blood would flow out when she moved, which was particularly creepy.
Su He used a cloth dipped in water to slowly wipe the dirt off her wound. "It's okay if I skip a meal. Why are you so stupid, Yingchun?"
"It's okay, I won't die." He Yingchun just drank another sip of the spiritual spring water and recovered.
Wen Jingzhao had already woken up at this time. He was eating the bowl of hard-to-swallow rice with chopsticks, his face gloomy and difficult to read.
"Master, I'm sorry for putting you through this." Su He had tears in her eyes.
No way, don’t love me too much, He Yingchun felt sad, yes, I was just whipped, but the young master had to eat a bowl of cold coarse rice.
Uncle Zhang was more realistic. "Master, eat quickly. Only when you're full can we continue our journey tomorrow."
Mum also choked up and said, "Just make do with it. We are not... like before."
He Yingchun raised his eyelids and looked at Wen Jingzhao, "Eat quickly, brother, this bowl of rice is worth a whip."
Wen Jingzhao seemed to notice her gaze and looked at her as well.
He Yingchun shrank her neck. In fact, she was a little afraid of Wen Jingzhao. She didn't know why, but whenever those eyes looked at her, she always thought of her nerdy deskmate, who frowned and told her to do the questions quickly.
"Ah! There's a rat!!" Someone put the empty bowl aside, and a black shadow "whoosh" past, shuttling along the edge of the dilapidated wall like lightning, its fur was shiny black, and it was flashing a faint gray light.
Rats are most rampant in the dark, nimbly moving through narrow crevices and abandoned corners, sometimes hiding under broken wooden boxes, and sometimes slipping past right under people's noses.
When those things ran, they would make slight gnawing sounds and rapid panting sounds. Their tails were extremely long and danced up and down in the air.
Whoosh came over.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" He Yingchun screamed three times in a row. She was most afraid of this kind of black-haired thing. When she was a child, the kitten in her grandmother's house had just given birth and was eaten by several black-haired mice. Two days later, the kitten's tail could still be seen on the ground.
She took the bowl in her hand and smashed it towards the black-haired rat, quickly, accurately and fiercely.
This thing is just going to kill you!
But her other hand was held, and the force of her fingertips deflected and missed the target!
Instead, she fell into a somewhat cold embrace, and Wen Jingzhao's voice came from above her head, "Don't move." The voice was clear.
He Yingchun didn't dare to move. She put her hand on Wen Jingzhao's chest and could feel her cheeks getting slightly hot.
Wen Jingzhao handed the food in his hand to Li Bin and whispered in his ear.
He Yingchun also wanted to hear what the two were talking about, so she tilted her ear to listen, but a big hand held her head down.
Li Bin nodded and left with the bowl.
Wen Jingzhao pinched the hairy head of the girl in his hand, pushed her aside, and wiped his hands on her clothes.
"Why don't you let me smash it?" If the mouse is not killed, it will definitely come back at night. Who knows what the fat and strong mice raised in such a place will eat.
Wen Jingzhao curled his lips and said, "Let's wait and see."
This man, in such a dilapidated place, still smiled like a gentleman, gentle as jade, like a bright moon in the darkness.
He Yingchun stepped aside awkwardly. She touched her hair and found it was a little greasy.
Li Bin came back quickly, "It's settled."
After a while, Wang Kui let out an angry shout, "This rat has become a spirit, I'm going to kill you! You still want to get on the table? Damn it! Zhao Wu! Get me a knife!!"
Then came the sounds of shouting and cursing mixed with the sounds of tables and chairs moving. After a while, a shrill cry came from the yamen runners.
“Squeak—”
Everything returned to calm.
"Bang!" The black-haired rat was thrown out and fell to the ground outside the house, with its eyes open, its body stiff and motionless.
Without the rats causing trouble, the yamen runners continued to drink and chat.
Everyone was very sleepy, so they spread out their bedding and prepared to rest.
He Yingchun and Su He slept together, Mum and Xiao Zhi slept together, Li Bin and Zhang Bo slept together,
Wen Jingzhao was alone, resting his head on one hand, unable to sleep. He looked up at the spider webs on the beams and closed his eyes, thinking of the scene when Wen Dingan committed suicide.
He Yingchun didn't sleep either. She always felt like someone was staring at her, so she turned over.
In the darkness, Wen Wanrou's little black face was facing her. Looking at her through several people, only the whites of her eyes were left hanging on her face, which was very scary.
She was startled.
Wen Wanrou glared at her fiercely and turned away.
The tired people soon fell asleep. In the darkness, there was a constant rustling sound, and the cold wind blew against the broken door, making it creak.
He Yingchun tucked her arms into the quilt anxiously.
Something was bound to happen this night.
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