Chapter 30
Wen Weili wasn't exactly good at extracting information from others, but Yin Yi had mentioned that someone in the Imperial Prison was secretly watching the jailers. To avoid alerting the intruder, Wen Weili could only try to find out something herself.
The first person Wen Weili thought of was the jailers who would take roll call in the imperial prison every day. They had a list of names and might be able to find out where Zhiyun was in the cell.
So how could she get the list from the jailer? Wen Weili thought, if the jailer holding the list was forced to put it down, she would have a chance to see it. So how could she make the jailer put down the list? Wen Weili looked at the greasy ground and decided to give it a try.
Thinking about how to implement it, Wen Weili placed the washed and slightly transparent gardenias in a wooden basin, filling it up.
The flame in the stove rolled under the iron pot, and the well water had already boiled. Wen Weili poured a full pot of gardenias into the boiling water, blanched them for a while, took them out and set them aside, waiting to drain the water.
Wen Weili brought a basket of washed eggs to the counter, picked up one at random, and lightly touched the edge of the kitchen counter, and a crack appeared. Wen Weili pressed her finger lightly inside the crack and felt the eggshell break. With a little force, she was able to separate the eggshell and pour out the egg liquid inside.
Wen Weili was originally slow at cracking eggs, but after practicing with so many eggs, she could now complete the steps quickly. With each egg, she would stir the egg mixture with a wooden chopstick. One by one, after another, in no time, a basket of eggs had been cracked open by Wen Weili and poured into a bowl to be beaten.
The full amount of egg liquid swayed slightly in the brown wooden bowl, showing a strange golden color like satin. Wen Weili added a little salt and a small spoonful of soju.
Heat oil in a wok. When tiny bubbles appear in the oil, Wen Weili pours the whole bowl of egg liquid into the wok with her left hand. Holding a spatula in her right hand, she pauses for a moment and then begins to stir-fry. She does not deliberately scramble the eggs, and tries to keep the eggs fried in large chunks.
When the color of the scrambled eggs turned into golden yellow, Wen Weili didn't want to wash an extra bowl, so she directly poured the chopped ginger, green onion and garlic into the scrambled eggs and continued to stir-fry. This time, she controlled the strength to break the egg pieces into smaller pieces.
When the shredded ginger was slightly softened, Wen Weili picked up the gardenia flowers prepared on the side, poured them all into the pot, sprinkled some sugar granules on them, and then stir-fried the whole pot twice before serving.
The fried gardenias are no longer as white and quiet as before. The petals are burnt yellow, but because they are not over-fried, they appear stretched and narrow. Compared with the finely chopped egg pieces, they still retain their beauty.
After one pot of frying was done, it was still not enough, so Wen Weili continued to prepare the ingredients, crack the eggs, and stir-fry. When she was about to pour oil into the second pot, the oil bottle was probably a bit heavy, so Wen Weili dropped it on the ground because she didn't hold it firmly, leaving a large pool of oil at the door.
Huixin had no choice but to hurriedly finish cooking the dishes and go to the well to fetch water for washing. Because of this delay, she didn't prepare dinner as early as yesterday. She waited until the jailer came to call the roll before she put away the last pot.
"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Huixin." No matter what Huixin's attitude was, the jailer who called the roll still had to put on a show. He stood outside the door bored, holding the list in his hand, waiting for Huixin to put dinner into the lunch box.
Huixin had been busy preparing dinner and breathed in exhaustion. Fatigue had made her less arrogant than before, and she greeted him with a touch of peace, "You've worked hard too. Is dinner ready?"
What does Miss Huixin mean by this? Could it be that she is... The jailer was startled and smiled, but he was secretly thinking in his heart, Miss Huixin, who usually has a cold face, is so gentle... No, Miss Huixin is a self-combed girl, how could she fall in love with others so easily?
The jailer looked up and saw Miss Huixin scowling at him with her arms folded, a look of dissatisfaction on her face. "What are you looking at? Whether you've eaten it before or not, come here and try it!"
Oh...it turned out that he was being asked to taste the food. The jailer felt amused by his own little thoughts. Miss Huixin was only willing to give a good face when others evaluated her cooking skills. She really deserved to be the kitchen that Aunt Zhou had specially asked the boss for.
The jailer was impressed by Miss Huixin's focus on food. He was standing at the kitchen door, ready to take the pair of chopsticks handed to him by Huixin, so he took a step forward. At this step, he suddenly felt that his body could not stand and he leaned forward involuntarily. In a panic, he waved his hands, and his fingers couldn't help but loosen, and a piece of rice paper fell from his hands.
The jailer ignored the list falling from his hands. His body swayed back and forth, becoming increasingly unstable as he panicked. Finally, as he tried to grab the door frame, he fell backwards. Before he fell completely, the jailer shielded his head with his arms, his body hitting the ground with a heavy thud.
"What's wrong?!" His teammates who were waiting for him ran over to check, but they only saw the jailer lying on the ground, and Miss Huixin was about to reach out to the jailer's hand.
"stop......"
"Come and help me!" The fallen jailer interrupted his teammate impatiently. It was embarrassing enough that he fell in front of Miss Huixin, and his stupid teammate hadn't realized the situation yet, looking like a fool who thought Miss Huixin was going to attack him!
The teammate also realized that things were not as he thought. He touched his head awkwardly and helped the fallen jailer up. "Brother, are you okay?"
"You're fine!" The jailer was a little embarrassed and annoyed. He felt a burning pain in his buttocks. He must have fallen hard and there would be bruises for a few days. His elbows and back hurt so much that he was gasping for breath. He just wanted to see how serious his injuries were as soon as possible.
Wen Weili slowly squatted down, picked up the piece of paper that fell to the ground, and scanned it very quickly. While slowly getting up, she found Zhiyun's name: No. 19, Prince Huai's Mansion - Criminal Servant - Zhiyun.
Found it! Wen Weili handed the rice paper to the jailer, "Something fell down."
"Ah... it's the list. Thank you, Miss Zhiyun." The jailer touched his back with a grin, shuddering in pain. "Brother, go by yourself when the roll call is called. I need to see a doctor."
"No, I have to take roll call, serve food, and clear the dishes. You have to come with me." The jailer's teammate obviously didn't want to take it all on his own.
"Where are the other brothers? Ask them to take over the shift," the jailer felt his buttocks were almost numb and became more and more worried.
"They went back to the yard to play a long time ago. Who will take your shift?" Seeing the jailer's face turn blue and unable to walk, the teammate became anxious. He didn't want to do the work of two people alone.
What to do?! The jailer was already worried, but Miss Huixin, like adding fuel to the fire, brought over a wooden basket filled with food. That's right! Miss Huixin had some free time after making dinner, so she could help.
The jailer's eyes lit up, and he tried to grab Huixin's hand, but was dodged. However, he didn't care and begged excitedly, "Please be kind, Miss Huixin. My back and hips hurt from the fall, and I can't even walk. Please do me a favor and just go to the prison to take attendance."
Wen Weili was shocked by this sudden change at first. She thought the jailers had ways to deal with emergencies, but she didn't expect the camaraderie among the jailers to be so weak. An idea began to stir in her mind.
She deliberately placed the basket filled with food in front of the jailer as a subtle reminder, and the jailer, sure enough, thought of asking the cook for help. But now was not the time to agree; she had to refuse first, so that the jailers would truly feel that they were asking Huixin to do something, not that Huixin wanted to go to the prison.
"No," Hui Xin refused decisively, "You can take a break if you can. I'm working for you, and you can't take my shift."
"Miss, Miss Huixin..."
"No means no." Huixin was very impatient. She pushed the wooden basket outward and pretended to close the kitchen door.
Seeing that the solution was right in front of him, but he couldn't implement it, the jailer was very anxious and his tone became fierce, "Miss Huixin, please think carefully, this kitchen is your responsibility. If I fell here, it must be your fault!"
Wen Weili thought to herself that it was my fault, but her face became more and more angry. She waved her hand and told the jailer to go out, "Go away, don't bother me."
The jailer's teammates couldn't bear to watch this, so they put on a red face and advised: "Miss Huixin, you don't know, we brothers are all men who know how to repay kindness. If you help us this time, if you have any problems in the imperial prison in the future, how can we not take care of you?"
"That's right," the jailer softened his tone. "Miss Huixin, I apologize for my poor attitude. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. Hiss... Look how much pain I'm in. I really can't stay in the cell. I don't need you to patrol, just help my brother carry food."
The two persuaded and persuaded, threatened and flattered, and finally Hui Xin reluctantly agreed, "Okay, just this time, there won't be a next time."
Seeing that Miss Huixin finally agreed, the jailer breathed a sigh of relief, half-leaning against the wall, and limped off to find a doctor. The jailer felt the numbness in his hip pass, and the excruciating pain left him. Worried that his hip was in trouble, he ignored his teammates' calls and left without looking back.
"Hey..." The jailer's teammate wanted to call him, but after a pause, he turned around and said to Miss Huixin very embarrassedly: "My name is Wang Ping, and his name is Zhao Cai. If you have any problems in the future, just come to us brothers."
"Hui Xin, I have cousins in the Imperial Prison. What could I possibly need from you?" Hui Xin wasn't interested in Wang Ping's promise. Instead, she was anxious to finish her work and get some rest. "Hurry up! I still have to clean up the kitchen. If it weren't for what happened in the kitchen, I wouldn't even look at you."
"Miss Huixin..." Wang Ping felt helpless. Miss Huixin's personality was indeed difficult to get along with. She didn't understand the ways of the world. No wonder she complained about Wang Dayong to Aunt Zhou last night.
After hearing this morning that Wang Dayong was punished, Wang Ping decided to stay away from Miss Huixin. Even when he came in to get food, he asked Zhao Cai to go in to get it. But he didn't expect Zhao Cai to be injured, so he had to ask Miss Huixin for help. Thinking of this, his idea of not wanting to get close to Miss Huixin in order to avoid trouble seemed particularly unbearable.
"If Miss Huixin doesn't mind, could you listen to my thoughts?" After entering the prison, Wang Ping stopped and called out to Huixin.
"Hmm?" Hui Xin looked at Wang Ping doubtfully, "What do you think?"
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