The crowd outside was still there.
"If the princess locks her up here and no one discovers her within three to five days, her life may be in danger," Bai Mei warned.
"That's perfect. This way of dying is exactly what I wanted. Killing her with a single blow like before would be too easy on her. Let her stay here and experience what it means to wish for death but not to live." Xiao Shu'er clapped her hands, completely satisfied.
She also instructed everyone present not to reveal Chang Lili's whereabouts.
After completing these tasks, she felt her trip was worthwhile and prepared to return to the palace. Looking at the shelves full of medicinal herbs in the warehouse, she suddenly became interested and started picking out some herbs.
"Kudzu root? This is a good thing, pack it up for me!" Xiao Shu'er urged, pointing to a pile of medicinal herbs.
After looking at this, he continued to look at others: "This is Eucommia ulmoides and licorice root. These are all beauty and skincare treasures. Wrap them all up for me."
Bai Mei hurriedly led several burly men to make arrangements. Before long, Xiao Shu'er had selected seven or eight kinds of medicinal herbs, and half of the luxurious little carriage was filled with them.
In the secluded room, Chang Li hugged herself tightly, feeling heartbroken. She thought about the medicinal herbs that had been burned to ashes and felt sorrowful. Where could she find these herbs for her mother-in-law now?
She unfolded the crumpled prescription in her hand, which was damp with a thin layer of sweat, and in a fit of anger, tore it to shreds.
It seems this doctor was bribed by Xiao Shu'er. He prescribed such an expensive medicine, and then, for money, he leaked the prescription to others, acting as an accomplice to evil and cutting off their escape route.
Even if someone with some medical skills is somewhat accomplished, a person who lacks medical ethics is still a quack.
"Without these medicinal herbs, this prescription is useless," Chang Lili thought angrily.
Being in this secret room, she was neither afraid nor flustered, but rather seemed used to it.
In fact, being locked in a dark room was a common occurrence for her.
She used to make a living in brothels, insisting on selling her art but not her body. However, her skills were nothing more than witty banter, so she was often locked in a dark room.
But she was clever enough that no secret room or dark room could confine her.
She got up and examined the door to the secret room, where she found a familiar wooden shaft on one side.
The hollow wooden pivot is an ingenious design, allowing the door to rotate and open, but its drawbacks are also obvious.
Chang Lili smiled slyly and began to grope around.
To be honest, after all these years of hard work, she hasn't learned many skills, but she has discovered some of her talents, or rather, interests.
She was surprisingly interested in tools and enjoyed tinkering with them.
She became excited when she saw the medicine-pounding tools in the dimly lit secret room.
On a table inside the room were a medicine bowl for pounding herbs, a small guillotine, and some strange iron utensils. Chang Lili couldn't figure out the purpose of those iron utensils, but having them was better than not having them.
She rummaged through the pile of things, thinking to herself that it was truly a blessing that there were these tools here, in addition to the medicinal herbs.
Among a pile of things, she found a piece of wire. On a whim, she started to work, twisting two pieces of wire together, pressing them into a thin sheet, and then using a small guillotine and other tools to polish it a little, thus making a simple small hacksaw.
Chang Lili even gave this saw, which was as thin as a silk thread, a name: wire saw.
Holding a wire saw, Chang Lili went to the door and sawed at the part below the wooden shaft.
If you saw off the part at the bottom that connects to the door, and then saw off the part at the top that connects to the door, the lock will be useless.
Chang Lili quickly completed the action, and the door, now without support, wobbled.
She carefully pried the door open enough for her to crawl through, then pulled it back into place.
All of this was done quietly. As soon as she stepped out the door, she heard faint voices coming from the warehouse. She didn't want to hear those arrogant and domineering voices anymore.
Separated from row upon row of herbs, Chang Lili arrived outside the warehouse unnoticed. Looking at the pile of ashes in front of the warehouse door, she couldn't help but spit out a curse.
Thinking of the path she remembered, she hurriedly ran out of Mingyi Pavilion. The servant who had led her to the warehouse earlier caught a glimpse of her, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
Having escaped, Chang Lili was not entirely resigned to her fate. She had always been someone who didn't like to suffer losses, and since Xiao Shuer had bullied her like this, she had to retaliate in some way.
She didn't leave immediately, but hid on the side of the street to secretly observe, and discovered that a large and luxurious carriage was parked in front of Mingyi Pavilion.
Two burly men dragged bags out of the door, laboriously threw the bags onto the carriage, and said something to the coachman with a helpless expression. When they returned to Mingyi Pavilion, they dragged the coachman away with them.
Chang Lili, driven by wickedness, saw the coachman leave and actually moved towards the carriage, climbing inside in the blink of an eye.
The carriage was filled with the smell of medicine. Chang Lili thought to herself that Xiao Shuer, as a noble lady of the royal family, was so greedy, loading the medicine into the carriage sack after sack.
She wanted to steal some medicinal herbs to take back with her; even if she didn't need them, she could still sell them for some money. The herbs Xiao Shu'er took must be valuable.
She was carrying a bag in each hand, trying to drag it off the bus, but found that she couldn't even lift one bag, let alone two.
During the exertion, she slumped into the carriage, her hand touching a hard, cold wooden box. The box felt smooth and delicate, quite unusual.
Chang Lili immediately picked up the box, and in the light streaming in through the car window, she saw that it contained some gold and silver jewelry, inlaid with jade and agate. It was more exquisite and beautiful than any jewelry she had ever seen.
Without a second thought, she took the jewelry out of the box, muttering to herself, "You ruined the medicine I wanted, so consider this your compensation."
She threw down the empty box and tried to get off the carriage, but after a few steps she turned back, took out the wire saw she had hidden on her person, and looked at the carriage wheels with a malicious smile.
Xiao Shu'er watched the burly man and the coachman each carry a bag of medicinal herbs out, still feeling unsatisfied.
"Princess, if this continues, the carriage won't be able to fit anyone," Bai Mei said with a grin.
Xiao Shu'er frowned and said, "What? If there's nowhere to sit, can't we call another carriage?"
She glanced at the medicinal herbs, thought they were about ready, and said slowly, "Never mind, let's go back."
The last few bags of medicinal herbs were loaded onto the carriage, which could barely accommodate one person. Xiao Shu'er was helped onto the carriage, while Bai Mei could only sit outside with the driver.
Xiao Shuer felt very relieved, finally getting rid of Chang Lili, this thorn in her side.
She was immersed in joy when the coachman raised his whip, struck the horse, and drove the carriage forward. But after only half a turn, a sharp squeak and the sound of wood breaking rang out, and the left wheel of the carriage actually detached from the carriage.
Amidst the panicked cries of Xiao Shu'er, the coachman, and Bai Mei, the carriage tilted to the left, and Xiao Shu'er fell onto the left side of the carriage, where the various medicine packets landed on her.
Chang Lili hid behind a vendor, peeking and almost bursting out laughing.
She had been lingering near the carriage for a long time, and judging from her current appearance, the vendor seemed to have guessed something and was about to say something.
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