Qingyakou, the mountain stronghold's dungeon.
The flickering firelight illuminated the damp stone walls, and a chilly atmosphere permeated the narrow space.
Shen Jintang was awakened by a stinging pain in her wrist.
The rough hemp rope dug deep into his flesh, and beads of blood slowly slid down his arm, dripping onto the cold ground with a soft sound.
She tried to move, only to find that her feet were also firmly tied to the wooden post and she could not move.
"woke up?"
The voice sounded like it was squeezed out from between teeth, carrying a hint of gritted teeth, full of anger and resentment.
Shen Jintang raised her head, her loose hair sticking to her sweaty cheeks, her vision slightly blurred.
She managed to catch her breath and finally saw the person standing in front of her.
A man dressed in a bright red wedding robe had an ordinary face, but his small eyes gleamed with a cold light, like the eyes of two venomous snakes, exuding a dangerous aura.
“Young master of the trading company,” Shen Jintang coughed lightly, the bitter taste of the sleeping drug still lingering in his throat, his voice a little hoarse, but his tone remained calm, with a hint of mockery, “I didn’t expect that besides running a fabric business, you also worked part-time as a bandit leader?”
The young master's face twisted instantly, his already unattractive face becoming even more ferocious, with veins bulging on his forehead.
The thought that the beautiful woman he had gone to great lengths to marry had turned out to be a man made him feel utterly disgusted.
What was even more unexpected was that this marriage was a complete conspiracy.
If it weren't for the tunnel he specially built at Qingyakou, they would all have been captured alive by Shen Jintang and his men by now!
He suddenly grabbed Shen Jintang by the neck, veins bulging, eyes filled with madness, and roared, "How dare you bring this up? The bride I spent a fortune to marry turns out to be a man! You all ganged up on me!"
Shen Jintang was struggling to breathe as he choked her, but her eyes remained firm, showing no fear whatsoever.
"You plotted against me?" She narrowed her eyes and said with difficulty, "Wasn't it you who set up a trap for Boss Qi, lured him to the casino, made him lose a lot of gambling debts, and then took advantage of his misfortune, using the pretense of proposing marriage to have Miss Qi kidnapped to Qingyakou?"
"Isn't it you who lusts after Miss Qi's beauty, yet repeatedly resorts to underhanded tricks and crooked paths?"
"The devil may be one foot tall, but the Tao is ten feet tall. You're less skilled than me, yet you have the nerve to accuse me of plotting against you?"
Inside the dungeon, the torches flickered, their faint light illuminating the terrified faces of the dozens of bandits around them.
They were all wounded and covered in blood, and some of them kept looking towards the entrance, clearly having been chased by the soldiers and had nowhere else to go, so they retreated to this hiding place.
Shen Jintang slightly raised his eyes, glanced around, and estimated that although there were many people on the outside, the situation was hopeless.
She silently calculated in her mind that there were probably more than two hundred people in total, but now it was just a desperate struggle like that of trapped beasts.
Enraged by Shen Jintang's words, the young master suddenly drew a dagger from his waist, pressed the tip against Shen Jintang's throat, and roared through gritted teeth, "Shut up!"
Shen Jintang felt the cold blade against her neck, glanced down slightly, but didn't even flinch. Instead, she tilted her head back, exposing her neck more clearly to the blade, her eyes calm as if watching an insignificant farce: "Who are you trying to scare with a knife? If you've got the guts, then do it."
The young master's hand trembled violently, and the tip of the knife drew a small bloodstain on Shen Jintang's skin, the blood slowly sliding down her neck.
He said viciously, increasing the pressure on his hand, "You think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"
Shen Jintang's voice was soft, yet sharp as a knife, piercing the young master's heart: "Of course you wouldn't dare."
She smiled slightly, her tone laced with a mixture of sarcasm and certainty, "Gu Zhixing's cavalry has surrounded Qingyakou like an iron barrel. You are now trapped like turtles in a jar, and I—"
She deliberately dragged out her words, her eyes sweeping over the terrified bandits around her, "This is your only way to survive."
"How many mice could fit in this burrow you dug?"
Shen Jintang's words struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.
A torch suddenly burst into a spark, which was particularly glaring in the dim dungeon and made the young master's face turn ashen.
He knew perfectly well what the madman was implying.
You can hide for a while, but you can't hide forever!
The tunnels they built could only provide temporary shelter; there was no water or food down there, and if they continued like this, they would all die.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the tunnel. A blood-covered henchman stumbled in, too terrified to speak clearly, stammering, "Young...Young Master! The men outside are at the gate! They say...they say if they don't see anyone within half an incense stick's time, they'll set the mountain on fire!"
These words were like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil, instantly causing an uproar in the dungeon.
Setting the mountain on fire... even if the fire doesn't kill them, the billowing smoke will be enough to suffocate them.
In an instant, chaos erupted in the dungeon. Some began to curse under their breath, others paced back and forth in a panic, and a few cowards collapsed to the ground, clutching their heads in despair.
Shen Jintang glanced to her left. The young bandit guarding her was trembling violently, and the blade of his knife occasionally grazed her back, making a soft scraping sound.
Cold sweat beaded on the young master's forehead, his ordinary face now filled with fear and resentment.
The veins on his hand gripping the dagger bulged, as if he was desperately trying to control his inner turmoil.
For some reason, he suddenly picked up a knife and approached Shen Jintang, his eyes filled with a hint of ruthlessness, and said, "I'll chop off one of your fingers first, throw it out, and see if they dare to come forward again."
Even though he had lived in Lin County for many years, he had heard about the outrageous things that Gu Zhixing, the heir apparent, had done for Shen Jintang.
He stormed the Eastern Palace, attacked the Crown Prince, and offended almost all the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital. In the end, he even went to the plague-stricken area in Yanzhou, risking his life.
He refused to believe that Gu Zhixing wouldn't back down since he had Shen Jintang in his hands!
Shen Jintang smiled slightly, her eyes full of mockery. She said coldly, "You can try. But I must remind you, how did Gu Zhixing deal with those bandits who injured his informants in Yanzhou last year?"
She deliberately raised her voice so that everyone present could hear her clearly, "It sounded like she was skinned alive and hung on a flagpole to dry for three days and three nights?"
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the glimmer of hope that had just been ignited in the dungeon.
Such vindictive people, even if they manage to escape now, how can they expect to have a good life in the future?
The dungeon fell eerily quiet instantly, with only the crackling of torches and the rapid breathing of the people inside.
The young bandit knelt down with a thud, his voice trembling with tears: "Young master, how about we...we..."
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