"By the way, have you found out how Xing'an and the others escaped?" Zheng Quchi asked.
"Because we were worried they would get suspicious, we arranged for our surveillance personnel to be far away. They only saw that they knocked out the guards and escaped, but they didn't see how they escaped from the prison," Wei Yao said.
"That's strange. How did they open the cell door and remove the shackles on their hands and feet?" Wang Zebang wondered.
The cell door was locked, and the heavy iron shackles could not be broken by prying or tearing. Even the most skilled martial artist would need some sharp iron tool to cut them. However, there was no such tool in the dungeon, and they had undergone a rigorous body search before entering the dungeon, so there was no way they could bring in any contraband.
Furthermore, it would take ample time to unlock the shackles on so many people. If a sharp weapon were to go missing from the dungeon, surely it wouldn't have gone unnoticed for so long.
"Let's go check out the dungeon together."
Zheng Quchi also couldn't quite understand this.
They descended into the dungeon, which was now deserted, but still had an unpleasant odor—a mixture of musty, sweaty, bloody, and various excrement smells that made people want to stay away.
Zheng Quchi showed no unusual expression as she held up an oil lamp and observed the prison from the prison gate.
She first checked the lock on the cell door; thick iron chains bound the two hinged doors together and then locked them.
This is a common type of lock, consisting of a lock cylinder and a metal ring. The metal ring is placed on the door handle, the lock cylinder is inserted into the ring, and the lock cylinder is turned to open the lock.
Pull-ring locks have a simple structure and are easy to operate. Of course, if you understand the working principle of this type of lock, it is also very easy to open without relying on a key.
She picked up the lock and carefully examined the inside of the lock cylinder by the light of the fire, and immediately understood.
Wang Zebang and Wei Yao waited quietly to the side. When they saw that the lady seemed to have figured it out, they approached her.
Zheng Quchi said, "The lock cylinder is not broken, and there are no signs of forced dismantling on the outside, but there are signs of excessive friction on the edges, as if they found a mismatched key and kept trying to find the trick. I guess one of them must be an expert thief. Sure enough, they had planned this in advance."
"Madam knows about this?" Wei Yao and the others were surprised.
“People in our line of work are connected to wheels, carriages, bows, houses, craftsmen, carts, and carpenters, as well as ironworkers, stonemasons, masons, and so on. It’s not surprising that we know a little about these things,” Zheng Quchi said.
After finally figuring out how Xing'an and his group managed to break free of their confinement, she split up with Wang Zebang and Wei Yao. They went to check on the other cells, while she went alone to the cell where Xing'an had been held.
She always had a strange feeling, as if she knew he would leave her something.
He would lure her over with a question every day, and today...
She was making her rounds in the cell when she felt something hard under her foot, and Zheng Quchi lowered her head.
Upon digging through the straw and picking it up, they discovered it was a silver ingot.
Is this for real? Is there really such a good thing?
She held the silver in her palm, gently stroking the rough texture of its surface with her fingertips. She brought the light closer and saw a peculiar symbol on the silver, along with two small characters: "See you later."
She paused for a moment, then clenched the silver tightly in her hand.
"Madam, have you found anything?" Wang Zebang and Wei Yao also rushed over from the other side.
Zheng Quchi shook his head: "Let's go back."
——
That evening, Zheng Quchi, wearing a dark-patterned light blue cloak, came alone to the water dungeon.
Since its construction, this water dungeon has only imprisoned one person—Qiu.
"Madam, please stop."
The nearby guards stepped out from the shadows and blocked her way.
Zheng Quchi pulled down her hat and looked at them: "I ask you, do you recognize me as the general's wife?"
They looked at each other, then bowed their heads and clasped their hands in unison, saying, "Please forgive us, Madam."
"If you agree, then step aside."
Over this period of time, the soldiers in the camp had all heard about the Lady's deeds and actions, which was also information that Wang Zebang and Wei Yao had intentionally revealed to them.
They knew perfectly well how much the lady had sacrificed for them, and they understood that she deserved their respect.
This time, she displayed the dignity befitting a general's wife; if they dared to disrespect her again, it would truly be a grave act of disrespect.
So they had no choice but to back down.
As Zheng Quchi descended the stone steps, she could occasionally hear the dripping sound of water from the stone wall. The closer she got to the water prison, the colder she felt; it was even more chilling and gloomy than the dungeon.
Most of the streams in Mingmingfu County have long since dried up, and the Water Prison was originally an underground tributary that was dug to connect the stream and the river. Now that the upstream has dried up, the tributary has naturally been cut off. Therefore, the Water Prison is now just a symbolic cage, and there will no longer be a scene of water gathering and flooding.
The water dungeon was dark, so dark that it was reluctant to let the firelight shine into the coldest and quietest corners. The prisoners were placed in a pool that was four feet deep. Now the pool has dried up, leaving only a rough, uneven dry pool.
Who is it?
Hearing the rustling of footsteps over pebbles, something moved in the deepest shadow, followed by the clanging sound of iron chains being dragged on the ground.
Zheng Quchi adjusted his collar and remained silent for a moment.
"say!"
He suddenly spoke sharply in a hoarse voice.
"Autumn."
She finally spoke.
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