Finally, when passing by the market, Aunt Chen bought some meat buns.
I also followed Wan Xueying's example and brought a basket from home, put a layer of cotton cloth inside, put the buns wrapped in the oil paper bag inside, and then covered it with a piece of cotton cloth.
The smell of steaming meat buns practically spelled out, "We're buns now." Feeling guilty, Aunt Chen tried to explain, fearing Wan Xueying would be upset. But Wan Xueying waved it off, saying, "Aunt Lian is just too kind," seemingly in a fit of pique, and brushed the matter off.
To avoid conspicuousness in the prison, Wan Xueying and Chen Yi Niang both disguised themselves as men. After arriving by carriage, they, led by Shunzi, first met the jailer.
After explaining his purpose, Shunzi, at Wan Xueying's instruction, stuffed a purse containing five taels of silver into the jailer's pocket.
The jailer weighed the weight and nodded in agreement. He then called a jailer to lead the three of them to the cell where Shen Yu and the others from the Bo Mansion were being held.
On the way, Shunzi handed the jailer a purse on behalf of Wan Xueying. The jailer took it with a smile and put it in his arms. He also revealed some news about Shen Yu and the others in the Bo Mansion after they were imprisoned here. Of course, they were all insignificant.
Honestly, one visit to this prison is enough. Not only is it dark, damp, and pitch black, but the prisoners have to eat, drink, defecate, and urinate in a small space. The stench alone is so overwhelming that it makes people nauseous and almost sends them away.
Wan Xueying and Aunt Chen had to take out their handkerchiefs to cover their mouths and noses, but the smell still penetrated their noses. Wan Xueying felt that her clothes were covered with the disgusting smell.
Fortunately, the jailer said that the cell where Shen Yu was imprisoned was just ahead. But before he could reach the cell, he heard hurried footsteps coming from behind him.
When they turned around, the man said to the jailer who was leading them, "Old Ma, Li Tou asked me to tell you that an important person is coming to see the Second Master Shen, and asked you to take them and go somewhere else to avoid it first." The Li Tou he was referring to was the jailer they had just met.
"Didn't you say which noble person it was?" asked Old Ma.
"I don't know yet. But they say it came from the palace."
"Tell Li Tou that I know."
"Okay, I'll tell Li Tou right away." Before leaving, the man gave another warning, "Stay as far away as possible and don't let the noble see you."
"Are you still not confident in my work?"
"Don't worry, don't worry." After the man finished dealing with it, he hurriedly ran to the jailer to go with him to welcome the distinguished guest.
Old Ma thought that they still had to go meet the people from Dingyang Marquis's Mansion. It just so happened that the prison where the people from the Marquis' Mansion were imprisoned was at the innermost part. Without saying hello, he led Wan Xueying and Shunzi there as well.
Although the cell was extremely dark, Wan Xueying had psychic powers and her eyesight was exceptionally good.
When she saw Wan Hesu sitting with his head down on the floor of a crowded cell, and then looked at a person lying on the straw in front of him, and a white-haired person sitting next to him, she stopped.
"Xueying, why don't you leave?" Aunt Chen, who was covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief with one hand and holding Wan Xueying's sleeve with the other, stopped because she was afraid.
Wan Xueying lowered her voice and explained, "The person locked up in the cell in front is from the Bo's Mansion." She added, "Aunt Lian, go by yourself. I'll wait for you here." She really didn't want to have anything to do with the people from the Bo's Mansion anymore. She never expected that Wan Chengji's ability to withstand blows was so poor. In just a few days, his hair had turned gray, his face was haggard, and he looked completely lifeless.
"Okay," Aunt Chen nodded. "Just wait here for me." Over the years, no one knew Wan Xueying's experiences better than she did. So, she understood better than anyone why Wan Xueying had been so determined to sever the relationship on the day her family's property was raided. Never counsel others to be kind without experiencing their suffering. She still thought it was best to sever the relationship, so that Xueying wouldn't be hurt again.
Shunzi wasn't surprised to see only Aunt Chen approach with the basket. He told Old Ma to find a place to rest while he quietly stayed behind Wan Xueying. The two of them disappeared into a darker corner, making them hard to spot without careful observation.
"Uncle! Second Young Master!" Not daring to get too close, Aunt Chen stopped a few steps away from the cell and called out softly inside.
Uncle? Was he being called? Wan Chengji, feeling like no one had addressed him that way for ages, hesitantly turned his head to look at Concubine Chen outside the cell. It took him a while to recognize her, a woman disguised as a man.
Because of injuries to his back and buttocks, he stumbled to his feet and crouched beside the cell door on the corridor side, clutching the wooden fence with his hands. He asked excitedly, "Why are you here?" He glanced behind her again, "Didn't Xueying come with us?"
"Uh..." Aunt Chen didn't dare turn around, fearing that she would reveal Wan Xueying's location. After a moment's thought, she replied, "It was only after Xueying asked someone to arrange for me to come here to see Master Bo."
"Hmph!" Wan Chengji snorted coldly, "I was right back then. She is a person who is hard to please. Her biological father, mother and brother are suffering in prison, but she only wants to break off relations with them and live happily outside. She doesn't even bother to see them." This daughter was really raised in vain.
"Why did Uncle say that about Xueying?" Aunt Chen was a little unhappy. "It's because you never treated Xueying as a family member and hurt her time and time again that she was completely heartbroken."
"Isn't the Bo's Mansion good enough to her? Is there less food for her? Or is there less clothes for her? Isn't her life in the Bo's Mansion much better than in the countryside?" Wan Chengji retorted.
"But you've never treated Xueying the way you treated the eldest lady!"
"How can she be the same as Qing Ling? If she were half as good as Qing Ling, maybe we would have gotten out of this damn place a long time ago?"
After hearing this, Aunt Chen said angrily, "The eldest lady is so capable, why couldn't she get you out of here?"
"Qing Ling must be thinking of a way. Qing Ling will definitely rescue us!" Wan Chengji was still very sure of this. "Unlike Xue Ying, she is a waste! She is useless!"
"If it weren't for Xueying, why would Second Master Shen help you?" Aunt Chen became even angrier.
"Haha, he said he would help us, but isn't he in trouble now?" He asked with a gloating look, "Could it be that Xueying was also arrested and that's why she didn't come to see us?"
Since the men's and women's prisons were not in the same place, Wan Chengji and the others only heard that the Third Prince's group had been arrested, and they didn't know whether Wan Xueying was affected.
"Xueying is fine, Uncle, don't worry about it."
"So what if she's fine? Isn't that unfilial?"
"Uncle, please don't forget that Xueying has severed her ties with your family and no longer needs to be filial to you and your wife." She now feels that it was very wise of Wan Xueying to sever the ties with you.
"Forget it, let's not talk about her anymore." Wan Chengji looked at the basket in Aunt Chen's hand and asked, "Is it for us?"
"Yes." Aunt Chen nodded, "I brought some buns for you, the eldest young master and the second young master." She initially thought she could see Xu, but after arriving here, she found out that male and female prisoners were not in the same place.
Although I was a little disappointed to hear she only brought steamed buns, it was still better than the hard steamed bread I had to eat all day here, which was not only irritating to the teeth but also scratched my throat. They only gave me one bun each morning and evening, which was never enough to fill me up.
"Give it to me, but Jiang Yuan..." No matter how delicious the food was, he could only be fed a little bit with water.
Thinking of Wan Jiangyuan who hadn't woken up yet, he turned his head to glance at the person lying on the ground, then turned back to complain to Aunt Chen: "I don't know what kind of poison Xueying gave Jiang Yuan? It's the reason why he hasn't woken up yet."
"Poison? Even if it was poison, the eldest son took it himself. No one forced him! Besides, didn't he take all the medicine at once and nearly choked to death? Why are you blaming everything on Xueying?" Concubine Chen, born in a brothel, was no slouch, but she had been confined to the backyard of the manor for years, rarely having the opportunity to show her skills. This change in status had also made her more assertive.
"That's her fault! Who told her to give Jiang Yuan so many medicines at once?" Wan Chengji underestimated Aunt Chen's fighting ability and was suddenly at a loss for words. He could only resort to unreasonable tactics. "When you go back, ask her to come over and cure Jiang Yuan first."
"There is poison in my buns, so you'd better not eat them." Aunt Chen turned around angrily with the basket and walked towards Wan Xueying.
"Hey! Come back!" Seeing the buns that he had just grabbed fly away, Wan Chengji no longer cared about his face, "Leave the buns behind!"
Aunt Chen replied without even turning her head, "I'd rather feed this bun to a dog than to an ungrateful wolf!" Humph! She was a little regretful about coming here. How sad Xueying must have been to hear those words!
In reality, Wan Xueying remained quite calm. She had anticipated this. When Concubine Chen came over angrily, she smiled at her and whispered, "Let's go. We'll take the buns to Shen Yu later."
Uh... does that count as feeding the dog?
Wan Chengji was completely focused on the buns. He only watched Concubine Chen and the two men leave together, not realizing that one of them was Wan Xueying. Wan Hesu, who had been following the conversation between Wan Chengji and Concubine Chen, had a much better eye than Wan Chengji. Although he couldn't say he was completely certain, he was almost certain that one of them was Wan Xueying.
He sighed, stepped forward to support the unstable Wan Chengji, and said, "Dad, if you want Xueying to treat big brother, just say it directly. Why throw dirty water on Xueying?" Even the court doctor who had been treating Wan Jiangyuan for a long time said that the medicine was a good medicine. When he didn't know that it was made by Wan Xueying, he even said that he wanted to pay a visit to the god who made the medicine.
Wan Chengji looked uneasy and said, "I just wanted to scare Aunt Chen and ask her to go back and tell Xueying so that Xueying can come to save your brother." Who would have thought that he would lose not only the wife but also the army, and even didn't get to eat the buns.
"Alas!" This man was his father, what could he say? Xueying was right in front of him. If she wanted to save his brother, she would have done it long ago. But he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that his brother seemed to have woken up a long time ago. In the past two days, when he fed him, he was obviously much more anxious when swallowing.
It’s good that he woke up. No matter whether he was pretending or not, as long as he doesn’t suffer physical pain and doesn’t have to face these messy things.
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