Chapter 1002 Seven Men and One Woman
The brighter passageway resembled the brightness of dawn, with even the ceiling overhead displaying the pale navy blue hue of the morning sky.
In the inner part of the passage, in the eighth cell from the front, there is an ordinary, yellowish hand slowly pushing out a food box from the inside of the water curtain door.
The faint sound of the bottom of the food container rubbing against the ground became almost imperceptible in this slow movement.
However, outside the water curtain door of cell number C, a taciturn young man stood close by, silently observing this scene through the "gray glass"-like water curtain.
After carefully examining the palm of the cell owner in cell number C up close, Ouyang Rong temporarily suppressed a thought that had been lingering in his mind for a long time:
The occupant of cell number C was indeed pushing the food box with difficulty, his movements shaky and precarious.
This person's movements were genuinely slow, not feigned. Ouyang Rong, who possessed the Daoist lineage of a sorcerer and was skilled in muscle control, could tell that the veins and muscle twitching on the prisoner's hand were real and could not be faked.
Therefore, this person is either physically disabled or has health problems.
Before this, his previous wariness had perhaps reinforced his suspicions about this person.
In other words, so what if he's the owner of cell number C?
Aren't they still prisoners of Yunmeng Sword Marsh? Locked in this cell with layers of shackles?
Ouyang Rong waited patiently until the owner of cell number C withdrew his hand before bending down and picking up the food box.
He placed his palm on the lid of the box, where the faint warmth of his hand could still be felt.
He lifted a corner of the food box with his finger and glanced at it.
The vegetarian meal was the same as the one that was delivered every night.
The slow-moving inmate of cell number C was one of the few who ate his vegetarian meals the cleanest.
Ouyang Rong's specially made pickled radish and sauerkraut dishes were all eaten up.
He actually had a good impression of this person's attitude. It was a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder that all chefs had, and Ouyang Rong was no exception. He hoped that diners would not waste a single grain of food.
Cell C was the last one to have its food box handed out.
Ouyang Rong picked up the empty food box, along with the other empty food boxes he had collected, and headed straight for the staircase at the entrance.
He glanced at the doors of the water dungeons he passed along the way, and before leaving, he paused in front of the stairwell and looked back at the brightly lit passageway.
Unfortunately, although the black color of the water curtain door had faded, it was still hazy and unclear, making it difficult to see inside.
It should have been just dawn outside the water prison; the sun hadn't fully risen yet, and the morning light was still gentle.
Ouyang Rong wasn't sure if the light outside the water prison wasn't bright enough, which was the cause.
Is it necessary to wait until noon or afternoon, when the sunlight is brightest, to be able to see the scene inside the water prison clearly from outside the water curtain door?
Ouyang Rong could only guess, but was not certain.
Unfortunately, he had no reason to stay any longer.
If he stays any longer, and Yun Xiangyi suddenly returns, he will have no good excuse to explain his behavior, even if Chen Jiaxin, Enting and others outside speak up for him.
To be on the safe side, we must leave decisively and without hesitation.
As for what happens next, we'll talk about it tomorrow night.
Ouyang Rong put his words into action and immediately went down the stairs, returning to the room outside where Yun Xiangyi had been flipping through Buddhist scriptures.
After tidying up briefly, they gently closed the wooden gate, left the water dungeon, and returned to the waterfall above.
They didn't bump into Yun Xiangyi along the way.
Ouyang Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Only then did he have a moment to spare and begin analyzing the eight hands he had just seen.
A rough judgment can be made based on the shape of the palm.
These eight prisoners consist of approximately seven men and one woman.
Based on the texture of the skin on the back of their hands, it is estimated that three of the seven male prisoners were elderly, while the ages of the other four male prisoners are unknown.
However, Ouyang Rong was quite certain that the owner of cell number "C" should be relatively young, because he had observed this person's palm the longest and most carefully.
However, it is not yet possible to definitively determine whether the person is male, because a woman's hands may also be ordinary, such as those of the women who do odd jobs in the Qingliang Valley dining hall, who do not take special care of their hands.
Unlike the occupant of cell number "Xin," whose slender and delicate hands clearly belonged to a woman.
Of course, if you were to ask whether she might be an effeminate woman, that would certainly be a strong possibility, but this is just a superficial analysis, and there's no need to be so rigid about it.
Ouyang Rong pursed his lips, his expression turning thoughtful.
Old Master Sun must be among them.
It should be among those three elderly prisoners.
From this perspective, the target range has been narrowed down from the initial eight water dungeons to three.
They are Room No. Ding, Room No. Wu, and Room No. Gui.
From now on, we can focus our investigation on these three prison cells, which finally gives us some direction and is much better than being completely clueless before.
However, this discovery also shattered a long-held expectation in Ouyang Rong's heart.
That is, the hope is that the embroiderer is also in this water dungeon, in some cell.
But he knew exactly what the embroiderer's hands looked like, and none of the eight hands he saw today belonged to her.
As for whether it might be in the A or B rooms deeper in the passageway, that's almost impossible.
Leaving aside the Queen's Palace, just consider Yun Xiangyi; she certainly wouldn't mistreat her junior sister.
The vegetarian meals delivered each night, besides hers, consisted of only eight portions; those in the deeper rooms, such as Room A and Room B, received no portions.
Yun Xiangyi would never refuse to send even a single meal of vegetarian food, even though she was angry that her junior sister had secretly let Master Sun go while she was away, taking criminals down the mountain to rescue her beloved... Yun Xiangyi would never do such a thing.
Ouyang Rong was unhappy with the Ancestral Hall of the Female Monarchs and disliked Lady Zhishuang and the other female monarchs. However, he also knew in his heart that Xiu Niang and these senior sisters had a sisterly bond, especially with their senior sister, Lady Zhishuang.
Just mentioning one point is enough to illustrate this point:
If the embroiderer leaves the Queen's Palace, and the Ancestral Hall loses Yue Chuzi, the first in line to succeed the Queen, then Lady Zhi Shuang, the second in line to succeed the Queen, will be the biggest beneficiary.
However, despite her fiery temper, Lady Zhi Shuang remained furious at the embroiderer's unwavering resolve and repeatedly tried to forcibly take the embroiderer away.
This concerns status and interests, and there's no room for pretense about it.
So while Ouyang Rong retaliated, and even during the fierce battle at Xunyang Grottoes, he turned a blind eye to the situation, essentially letting Lady Zhishuang go time and time again.
Because he knew perfectly well that he and Lady Zhishuang simply had different stances; in general, they were both "doing what's best for the embroiderer," only they had their own methods.
They also stubbornly believe that their own way is correct.
That's all.
Just like the great path of the various mythical lineages of Qi cultivators, each has its own broad road, only the direction leading to "myth" is different, but they are all correct.
And that's where the most troublesome thing in life comes from...
At one point, in the pitch-black passage, the taciturn young man, who was walking slowly forward, let out a soft sigh.
Although Ah Qing had brought back some inside information, he knew that his hopes were slim.
However, now that it has been completely confirmed, Ouyang Rong still felt somewhat disappointed.
After leaving the waterfall, Chen Jiaxin and En Tingzhen sat on the rocks by the pool.
The sky was already bright, and the golden morning light peeked through the gaps in the leaves of the trees, falling right on the two women.
The girl in the sword-clad outfit had her ponytail tied at the back of her head. Under the brilliant morning light, it took on a brownish-yellow halo, with sunlight like gold, filtering through her hair.
From Ouyang Rong's perspective, almost every strand of his black hair was edged with gold.
When Ouyang Rong came out, Chen Jiaxin kept her eyes straight ahead, while only Enting opened her eyes and turned to look at him.
Ouyang Rong silently passed by the two women, carrying an empty food box.
After he walked away, Enting withdrew her gaze. At this moment, Chen Jiaxin, who was meditating with her eyes closed beside her, stood up and walked towards the woods where Ouyang Rong had left.
Enting ignored him and continued to cultivate with her eyes closed, remaining by the pool.
About an incense stick later, inside a pavilion by a spring.
It's the same old place.
The taciturn young man meets the girl in sword attire.
Ouyang Rong arrived first, and while he was distracted, he waited for a while before Chen Jiaxin walked in and got straight to the point:
"How is the situation?"
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"I saw it."
"What do you see? Are they prisoners? Are those water curtain cell doors really transparent during the day?"
Ouyang Rong glanced at Chen Jiaxin, whose face showed some joy, and shook his head.
Just as the latter's eyes showed disappointment, he nodded slightly and said:
"All I could see were hands, the hands of eight people."
Chen Jiaxin paused for a moment, then asked in surprise:
"hand?"
"Um."
Ouyang Rong replied calmly, and after a short while, he recounted in detail what had happened in the water prison.
Chen Jiaxin looked somewhat dazed, and it took her a while to process what had happened.
He immediately praised:
"You're quite clever, kid. You even managed to see this from this angle and find the flaw... So, the most likely cells right now are D, E, and Gui?"
"yes."
"Well, that's a good result. At least we didn't leave empty-handed."
Chen Jiaxin looked somewhat satisfied and subconsciously raised her hand to pat his shoulder, but then realized that this was a male subordinate, not one of her nine sisters. She couldn't use her bossy attitude on him at close range.
Without changing her expression, she lowered her hand, put her hands back behind her back, circled the dull-looking young man twice, and nodded slightly:
“Then let’s go a little later tomorrow and see if your further guesses are correct. If so, then at noon, the visibility through the water curtain cell doors in the water dungeon will be good enough to see inside. At that time…”
Chen Jiaxin made some arrangements, but then noticed a strange expression on Ouyang Rong's face and asked:
"What do you want to say?"
Ouyang Rong pondered for a moment, then said in a helpless tone:
"In principle, the vegetarian meal is served after midnight, and it should be delivered no later than the third watch of the night. Tonight it was delayed until after the fifth watch, and dawn was breaking. This is already a bit too late. If it continues to be delayed until the morning of the second day, it may upset the prisoners..."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jiaxin's expression remained unchanged, but her tone turned cold:
"So what if they have food? They're already prisoners, why ask for so much? It's good enough that they can eat vegetarian food. It's only because Master is kind-hearted that she has Yutang deliver some vegetarian food to them every night. If I were in charge of the water dungeon, they wouldn't get a single bite. They're so picky, do they really think our Jianze Water Dungeon is a canteen..."
Chen Jiaxin waved her hand dismissively, her tone quite displeased:
"Don't be afraid, just do as I say. If they have the guts, they can come and find me. Humph."
Seeing this, Ouyang Rong was speechless. Faced with this unruly young woman, he could only nod silently and not disobey.
The two discussed for a while and agreed on the arrangements for the following night, including how to deal with the possibility that Yun Xiangyi might suddenly return.
Both were wary and intelligent, so they exchanged some words.
A short while later, they each went their separate ways.
When Ouyang Rong returned to his courtyard, it was already past 1:00 AM. The warm sunlight shone on him, and his clothes gradually became hot.
He pushed open the courtyard gate, not even bothering to wash up, and went straight to the house, intending to lie down and sleep, and deal with it later in the evening.
As soon as I entered, I saw that the house was a bit messy, with many items lying on the ground as if they had been knocked over.
However, the coded message Ouyang Rong left at the door showed no signs of being tampered with.
Clearly, it wasn't an outsider, but a traitor from within.
It's hard to guard against a thief within your own family.
Ouyang Rong seemed to have gotten used to it. He immediately turned his head to look at the wardrobe, then went to open the door.
The door was closed.
The wardrobe door was locked from the inside.
"Mmm mmm mmm."
From inside came the sweet, nasal voice of Xiao Mo Jing turning over in bed, protesting his noise.
Ouyang Rong looked around expressionlessly.
Without even looking, I know who did it.
One of the little ink spirits has a peculiar habit: after she finishes eating, at a certain time, she likes to "parkour around the house," just like a cat. I don't know if she learned it from Li Guo'er's upbringing.
It seems to be a way of expressing happiness and joy.
Judging from the chaotic state of the room, the fairy must have eaten her fill to be running around like this.
Ouyang Rong just couldn't figure out where Miao Si got the food from.
He walked to the table, picked up a pastry box that had fallen to the ground, frowned slightly, and examined it carefully.
The snack box was empty and looked somewhat unfamiliar.
I don't know how it appeared in the house, but it must have made the fairy lady stuffed.
Ouyang Rong walked quickly to the wardrobe and knocked on the door forcefully.
Immediately, a disgruntled voice came from inside the wardrobe:
"Who is it? Such a rude banging..."
The reply came so quickly; it's hard to believe they were really asleep.
Ouyang Rong asked expressionlessly:
"Who sent these snacks? Was it Ah Qing, or Mrs. Li from next door?"
The brilliance of the idea is boundless; let me ask in return:
"What's wrong?"
Ouyang Rong remained silent, but something slipped silently from his sleeve.
The Peach Blossom Spring image peeks out from the suspended bamboo tube.
A brilliant blue sword aura shone brightly.
The little ink spirit inside the wardrobe seemed to hear the "pop" sound of the bamboo tube being opened, coupled with the silence of the little Rongzi outside the door.
She was clearly flustered, but feigned composure and said:
"Hmph, since you're begging me so earnestly, I'll tell you. These snacks were a gift from Sha Ergou to me. It's no use being envious."
Ouyang Rong paused in his movement to break down the door...
(End of this chapter)
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