Chapter 12
Gu Ran and other female prisoners were responsible for collecting firewood on New Year's Eve.
When the kitchen brought in breakfast early in the morning, they told them that, taking advantage of the festive atmosphere of the New Year, they would have extra dishes for their dinner that night, and that the kitchen would boil hot water this afternoon for them to wash themselves so that they could get rid of the old and welcome the new.
Upon hearing the news, Gu Ran and others were delighted.
Gu Ran has wanted to take a bath for a long time.
Not counting how long the original owner hadn't washed, it has been about ten days since I came to the Great Sheng Dynasty.
Now it is not like when she was a cultivator, where she could keep her body clean by just practicing the body cleansing technique. She has to wash with water like in her first life. Thinking back to her first life, she had to wash every day.
It happens to be winter now, and the weather is cold, so it is not as troublesome as in summer, otherwise it will definitely become sour and smelly.
At the same time, the officer also told them another piece of news: "Tonight, on New Year's Eve, the officials of our post station will be gathering for a feast, and we're short of waiters. You're allowed to leave your prison uniforms tonight, but please dress nicely and help at the feast. If you behave well, the officials might even reward you with a bite or two of meat."
When Gu Ran heard the news, he was so happy that he almost died. Aunt Mai patted the anxious Mai Xiang and waved her hand: "Okay, it's just serving people, we get it!"
On the other hand, Pei Liuniang, who was eating quietly in the corner, was much calmer and was obviously used to it.
After dinner, the officials came and drove them out to the woods to find firewood.
They made a sudden decision to spend the New Year at the post station. The post station had never received so many people before, and there was not enough spare firewood, so they had to let the prisoners go to the woods to chop and collect firewood in the cold weather.
The official took them into the woods and selected some trees that could be used as firewood. It was difficult to find live trees for firewood at that time, because even if they were taken back to the post station, they would still be wet firewood after being split. If they wanted to be burned, they would have to be dried in the sun for several days. Wet firewood was not easy to burn, and the smoke was black and thick. People would not burn wet firewood unless they had no other choice.
So after entering the forest, you have to send people to look for dead trees, either completely dead or half dead. The completely dead ones can basically be taken back and chopped up and used as firewood. The half dead ones need to be chopped and dried again, but the drying time is not as long as wet firewood. Sometimes it is enough to just dry them on the stove.
After finding the firewood, they chopped it down and cut it into pieces of transportable size, and had the prisoners carry it back to the post station.
The male prisoners are strong and carry the big things, while the female prisoners are weak and carry the small things, or they carry them together.
While they were chopping trees and cutting firewood, the officers marked out an area and asked the prisoners to help select firewood within this area, but they were not allowed to run around.
Seeing the prisoners disperse, the officers were not afraid.
In this kind of snow and ice, running away means death. Who would want to run around?
Gu Ran is willing.
She was waiting for this opportunity to go into the mountains and find some rabbits, snakes, etc., as long as they were edible.
But she didn't dare to act rashly.
Because this time it was Adjutant Feng who led them into the mountains to chop firewood.
Given what she had learned about Adjutant Feng, she didn't want to do anything too conspicuous and attract his attention.
So she waited silently until Adjutant Feng walked away, and then, like the other prisoners, she pretended to break off dead branches from the trees. In fact, she was patrolling around in the snow-covered forest with her eyes wide open and her ears perked up, hoping to be as lucky as last time and get something.
It is said that one-third of snakes hibernating in winter may die, either by freezing to death or by being eaten by other natural enemies.
She hoped to find other snakes within a third of the mile.
Perhaps he had some good luck and his sharp eyes and ears came into play. When Gu Ran was searching slowly in the snow, he finally found a low slope covered with snow and heard a slight sound.
Gu Ran slowly walked to the low slope, squatted down, reached out, and used his fingers to dig a crack in the snow, revealing a piece of dead grass and a dark hole.
The creature inside seemed to be frightened and shrank back quickly, but Gu Ran still saw a pair of familiar ears.
It's rabbit ears.
This is actually a rabbit hole?
Gu Ran bravely reached in and touched around, but felt nothing. The cave entrance seemed deeper than she had imagined. Her arms were not long enough, and when she was digging up the snow pile at the entrance to make the hidden cave bigger for a clearer look, she felt something furry inside. It felt like rabbit hair.
She grabbed the furry thing and was stunned.
It was a rabbit that had frozen to death.
Okay.
Gu Ran planned to touch two more rabbits, so he put the dead rabbit into the workshop. Just as he was about to lie down and reach into the rabbit hole, he heard a creaking sound coming from the low slope, and his attention was immediately diverted.
As he pricked up his ears to listen, he heard a familiar voice coming over: "I'm telling you, you'd better be sensible and serve me well. I'll protect you all the way from now on. If you offend me, Pei Liuniang, the journey to Minzhou is long, and I have plenty of ways to make you live a life worse than death."
It’s Adjutant Feng.
How did he get here?
Gu Ran was startled and quietly raised himself up and poked his head over the low slope.
On the low slope, standing with his back to her, was an official in a black robe. It was Adjutant Feng. Behind him followed a thin woman. Who else could it be but Pei Liuniang?
Listening to what Adjutant Feng said, isn't it just coercion and inducement?
Shameless.
Gu Ran pursed his lips and subconsciously reached into the workshop to grab the knife.
"How about it, have you thought it through?"
"Think it through, Master Feng!"
This was the first time Gu Ran heard Pei Liuniang speak.
Normally in prison, Pei Liuniang not only kept a distance from them, but also remained silent, like a mute.
At this time, her voice was cold, thin, and a little low.
"Think it over. After dinner tonight, remember to come to my room." Adjutant Feng smiled proudly. "I like sensible young ladies the most."
Unexpectedly, the two of them had actually reached a consensus. Pei Liuniang had made up her mind to commit herself to Mr. Feng!
She felt an inexplicable surge of resentment in her heart, and when she saw Adjutant Feng unscrupulously pulling Pei Liuniang into his arms and rubbing her restlessly, it was simply unbearable to watch.
"Come, let me smell it first..."
Do not look at anything indecent.
Gu Ran was about to slowly retreat when his pupils suddenly widened: Pei Liuniang stretched out a pair of slender hands, as if to embrace Adjutant Feng, but unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, she saw her quickly grabbing Adjutant Feng's throat with one hand, supporting his chin with the other, and twisting it sharply!
She heard the sound of bones breaking, and saw Master Feng's head drooping down limply like a chicken with its neck cut off.
Gu Ran was stunned, then shocked, and then scared.
It turns out that Pei Liuniang is such a powerful character!
I actually underestimated her.
But, he was the deputy officer who escorted them. How could Pei Liuniang dare to do that?
She subconsciously held her breath and quietly retracted her head.
It was too late to escape. Pei Liuniang was on a high place. If she wanted to escape, she would definitely make noise by running on the snow. Pei Liuniang would be able to find out who it was after taking two steps.
She wanted to pretend that she was not there, so she had to hide and hope that Pei Liuniang was not aware of her existence.
Gu Ran squatted down, curled up his body, hugged his knees, wishing he could curl himself into a ball, and silently said in his heart: She can't see, can't see, can't see.
But, what is meant to come will come.
Holding his breath and listening to the creaking footsteps, Gu Ran's heart was beating fast.
Finally, she looked at the snow, listened to the cold voice above her head, and asked in a sinister voice, "Did you see it?"
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