Chapter 24
Wen Weili listened to Aunt Zhou's advice but didn't take it to heart. "It's just right to finish cooking now. I don't want you to rush me later."
"Miss Huixin, just make your own decision." Aunt Zhou was happy to have someone share the kitchen work with her, and she turned and left the kitchen. As if remembering something, she turned around and called Huixin, "If those boys dare to disturb your leisure time, feel free to slap them in the face."
Wen Weili was stunned for a moment and thanked Aunt Zhou sincerely.
"You're welcome, young lady," Aunt Zhou said, smiling as she walked out the door. "If you're tired, you can rest in the next room. It won't be a problem."
With Aunt Zhou's departure, the kitchen grew increasingly quiet, save for the sizzling sound of cooking in the wok, which irritated the two jailers guarding the door. In the past, Aunt Zhou, while cooking, would constantly engage in banter with them, regaling them with gossip and trivial matters. But now, with the new arrival, Miss Huixin, they suddenly found the atmosphere dull.
The jailer on the left is called Wang Dayong. He winked at his brother Li San, and his meaning was very clear: Why don’t you talk to Miss Huixin?
Li San shook his head. He didn't want to anger Miss Huixin and then be chased and scolded by Aunt Zhou. It would be so embarrassing if it happened under the eyes of his brothers.
Coward. Wang Dayong cursed Li San in his heart, but he also felt itchy. When he first met Miss Huixin, he thought she was a virtuous and good girl. She had a pretty face and a delicate body, which made her very lovable. However, her butt was a little small and her breasts were not big. However, Huixin was a good cook, which made her worthy of him. If she married him, she would not show her face outside and should just stay at home and serve him quietly.
As he thought about it, Wang Dayong became more and more greedy. He wanted to go in and do it to Huixin right there.
Li San saw Wang Dayong's dreamy look and kicked him. "What are you thinking about? You'll be in trouble if you get caught by the jailer."
Wang Dayong's fantasy was kicked out by Li San, and he complained to him angrily: "What are you doing?! Leave me alone."
"Hey, you're showing off," Li San curled his lips. "You're a toad wanting to eat swan meat. Don't you know how cowardly you are?"
"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Wang Dayong was extremely alert. Could it be that Li San also wanted to compete with him for Hui Xin? Then don't blame his brother for being ruthless.
"Who wouldn't know what you're thinking?" Li San was extremely amused. He looked at Wang Dayong, who seemed to regard Miss Huixin as his own, and reminded him, "Look at you, you look so dirty and smelly. How could a girl like you?"
"What's wrong with my conditions? My conditions..." Wang Dayong calculated in his mind. He only earned one tael of silver a month, was only in his thirties, and had enough food and clothing at home. Huixin's monthly salary wasn't much higher, and she was an old woman in her late thirties, with no one to rely on here. Aside from her good looks, she wasn't worthy of him in any way!
Wang Dayong made a careful comparison and realized that his only disadvantage was his appearance. His other qualities were much better than Huixin's. If he proposed marriage, Huixin would definitely be overjoyed. However, he had to be engaged to Huixin. If they couldn't have a son, he would have to take a concubine. He had to stop being jealous. What a shame!
Wang Dayong shook his head and said, "Alas, this jealous concubine needs a good lecture."
"???" Li San was confused, not understanding why the topic suddenly turned to this. He hesitated a little, "Dayong, if you have a fever and feel confused, go home and rest."
"You're the one who's confused!" Wang Dayong was furious. He glanced at the kitchen and told Li San with a mixture of pity and boasting, "If Huixin marries me and can't give birth to a son, I'll be so disappointed."
"Huh?" Li San was even more confused. What had he missed? Miss Huixin hadn't even left the kitchen yet? When had she married Wang Dayong?
Wang Dayong was very proud after hearing Li San's puzzlement. "You don't understand. My family has money, land, and a big house. If she marries into our family, she can serve me and my mother. Wouldn't that be happier than working here? As soon as I propose, she will be eager to marry me."
Li San was speechless. It turned out that it was all Wang Dayong's imagination. He said helplessly, "Dayong, you...you can try it, but I heard that Miss Huixin is a self-combed woman and will never marry."
"How is that possible?" Wang Dayong was initially shocked by the news that Huixin was a spinster. He hesitated and said, "Could it be that she is infertile? Then I can't marry her. My mother said..."
Li San straightened his clothes, glanced at Wang Dayong who was talking to himself, sighed helplessly, switched to his left foot, faced the right wall, and could no longer communicate with Wang Dayong, so he decided to save his energy.
Wen Weili, who was busy in the kitchen, had no idea that there were two jailers outside the door who had different opinions about her. She cooperated with the jailer who was going to come in and take roll call to put the food into the basket.
"Miss Huixin is very clever. It will be easy for us to distribute the food today." The jailer who came to bring the food praised.
"You're welcome," Miss Huixin was as cold as the rumors said. Even the praise from her colleagues could not move her. "It's just some simple crafts."
"Uh, let's go take roll call. See you later, see you later." Seeing Huixin didn't respond, the jailer forced a smile and hurried away with the wooden basket.
"...No. 19, Zhiyun, a criminal servant in Prince Huai's Mansion," the jailer filled a wooden bowl with food and placed it in front of the railings, "Eat quickly, and don't die." After that, the jailer kicked the bowl into the cell until it got into the railings.
In the cell, Zhiyun was lying on thick straw with wounds all over her body. The strong stench of blood emanated from her dry prison uniform. After hearing the words of the jailer, she remained motionless, curled up there as if dead.
Since the day she was captured, the prince's men asked her what she could say, and she made up a few random things about Prince Huai's habits. Those people believed that she was not telling the truth, so they tortured her severely, hoping to make her say something more useful.
But Zhiyun would never betray Wen Weili. No matter how the jailer tortured her, she continued to say the things she had made up. This attitude annoyed the interrogating officer, so he ordered someone to sharpen bamboo sticks and drive them into Zhiyun's nails, one after another, each time inserting them very deep, but with very long intervals between them. He would make sure she suffered a lot of pain before he would insert another stick.
The torture lasted a very long time. Zhiyun's speech became slow due to blood loss and excessive pain. Her mind was in a daze. When questioned again and again, she always said one thing, but the answer was different when asked again.
The interrogating official thought that as long as he asked enough questions, Zhiyun would tell the truth, but even after all ten of Zhiyun's fingers and toes were pierced with bamboo sticks, Zhiyun was still talking nonsense.
He helplessly realized that the prisoner had deceived him and knew nothing at all, so he ordered his men to beat the prisoner to death with sticks.
Unexpectedly, when she was beaten half to death, Lord Wang ordered all the women in Prince Huai's palace to stay with him, as he had some use for them. Zhiyun was thrown back into the prison. In order to cooperate with Lord Wang's plan, the doctor in the prison also tried his best to save her, barely saving her life.
Lord Wang originally wanted to parade all the women in Prince Huai's mansion through the streets as a warning to the public, but Zhiyun's wounds were too deep and the doctors couldn't cure them. Even this maid could only hang on to her last breath, and after being jolted around the streets, she was probably going to die on the way.
After listening to the doctor's advice, Lord Wang abandoned Zhiyun and the officials who came to interrogate her no longer came. Only the doctor who was in charge of examining her came over from time to time to take her pulse, so that her anger would not dissipate easily.
In this way, the half-dead Zhiyun became a strange case in the imperial prison. She was no longer tortured and had no hope of getting out. She could only wait for death quietly in prison.
There were not many prisoners like this in the prison, and most of them died after two days. However, there was only one person, Zhiyun, who was particularly different. The doctor thought several times that she would die at any moment, but when he came to see her the next time, Zhiyun was still struggling to live. No one knew what had allowed her to live so tenaciously for four days.
The jailer in the prison also felt that Zhiyun must be a little strange, so he didn't dare to provoke her. He also wanted to see how long she could live, so he never missed a meal or water delivery. A betting game was opened in the prison to bet on how many days she could survive. One jailer bet that she would survive the longest, more than seven days. In order to increase his chances of winning, he even put some hay for her to cushion his bet.
And Zhiyun did not disappoint the jailer. Today was the fifth day, and she was still curled up like dead, but still breathing, and she tried her best to eat every meal that was delivered to her.
The rice bowl was not far away, and a faint floral fragrance wafted out of the bowl, along with the aroma of eggs with a hint of homeliness. Unlike the scrambled eggs with red persimmons from a few days ago, today's dish carried the fragrance of flowers from the neighbor's yard and a warm and blooming vitality.
Slowly and firmly, Zhiyun lay on the ground, exerted force on her shoulders, and moved on her knees. She surged on the ground like a worm, rolling to the wooden bowl full of food.
Smelling the fresh fragrance of jasmine scrambled eggs, tears welled up in Zhiyun's dry eyes, which had shed all the tears during the punishment. They silently slid down her stained face. There was a wound on her face caused by the torture stick, and it had formed a shallow scar. But when the tears passed over the scar, a slight burning pain made her blink.
She wasn't dreaming. It was the young lady, the young lady had come to save her. Zhiyun's abdomen, which had been severely kicked on the day of her torture, began to gurgle. Her ten fingers were no longer usable, but she opened her mouth, buried her face in the food, and chewed it with big mouthfuls.
The sweet fragrance of jasmine lingered through Zhiyun's body. Wherever it reached, the place seemed to come alive and tremble with excitement. Tears fell on the slightly yellow petals, which shone with the faint scent of oil. In the hazy vision, Zhiyun saw a mountain covered with white jasmine flowers swaying, just like the handkerchief the young lady had given her, and the white jasmine flowers on it, sacred and moving.
She finally waited for the young lady to come and take her home. She once again climbed back to the world from hell.
After the guard finished rolling the names, he collected the bowls of the prisoners, whether they had finished or not. When he arrived at Zhiyun's cell, he was shocked. The wooden bowl was as clean as if it had been washed with water, and even the oil had been licked clean. Zhiyun was not lying on the straw pile as she had done in the past few days. She lay flat on the ground, raised her head as much as she could, and told them, "The food is really delicious."
The jailer, dazed, took Zhiyun's bowl away. Even as they returned to the kitchen with the wooden basket, they were still in disbelief. They exchanged glances, feeling that the house might win the entire gambling game. Judging from Zhiyun's condition, she wouldn't survive more than seven days; she was likely to endure for a long time.
When she took the wooden basket, Hui Xin asked casually, "How is my craftsmanship? Are they satisfied?"
The jailer quickly replied, "That's very satisfying. One prisoner even ate all the oil-flower seeds."
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