Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1332: Chapter 1334: Chu Hai Faces Danger_1

Soon, the crowd noticed that Jin Wanliang reeked incredibly, with not only ulcerating sores oozing pus but also attracting swarms of flies. The commoners all kept their distance, watching from afar, and it was unclear who shouted, ”People like him with such vile diseases should be quarantined. Sneaking into the city—isn’t that deliberately trying to harm others?”

”Exactly, even if he wanted to seek blessings from the Holy Hall, he could have stayed outside the city and asked for a Master to come forward. Such people are just too selfish, wanting to doom us all!”

”He’s not one of us from the Western Regions, so of course, he doesn’t care about harming us. I heard that the wife of the Holy Hall’s Diao Mo, her husband is a rich merchant from Danliang Country. This Madam Diao Mo is also too unruly, clearly infected with an evil disease and not allowed in the city, yet she abused her power for personal gain, isn’t she afraid of divine retribution?”

”...”

The crowd hurled insults, and it was unclear who started it, but suddenly they threw things at Jin Wanliang, including rotten vegetable leaves and smelly eggs, and even more severe was the pelting of stones at him.

”My illness is not contagious. It was the couple from the Bai Family Merchant Team who harmed me. You must believe me; no one around me has contracted this disease,” Jin Wanliang cried out in desperation, but the noise from the crowds on both sides was too loud, and nobody could hear what he was saying. Even if some did hear, there were few who were willing to believe him.

Meanwhile, Madam Diao Mo and Jin Jing were unaware of the incident unfolding on the streets, thus missing the first opportunity to intervene in the matter, to rescue Jin Wanliang, and to clear their names in front of the citizens.

Jin Wanliang, amidst the verbal and physical abuse of the crowd, was escorted out of Gaochang City and locked up in a dilapidated thatch hut outside the city by Ao Qi, who also arranged for someone to guard him, and instructed that three meals a day be delivered, as they could not let him die just like that.

As Bai Ruozhu was leaving, she smiled at Jin Wanliang and said, ”It’s better to live wretchedly than to die a good death. Hang in there, Boss Jin.”

She observed his condition; his poisoning had not lessened in the slightest. It seemed that although the Holy Hall had some secrets, they could not neutralize the deadly poison from her Poison Scripture.

It was just unfortunate that she had not prepared much of the poison; otherwise, she would have had the opportunity to let the great elder and those from the Holy Guard taste the bitterness as well.

...

At the same time, Madam Diao Mo and Jin Jing had led people to the yard where Zhanna was hiding. Chu Hai had just gotten up to draw water from the well when he heard noises not far from outside.

He immediately became vigilant, went inside to pick up Zhanna, and left. Luckily, Zhanna was unconscious at the time; otherwise, she would have been startled into screaming.

Chu Hai, carrying Zhanna on his back, rushed to the well and suddenly jumped in; however, hiding someone in a well would surely be discovered, as Madam Diao Mo wouldn’t be foolish enough not to check the well in the yard.

After the two of them jumped into the well, there was no expected sound of splashing water. Instead, Chu Hai used his dagger to scrape against the well wall, slowing their descent until they reached a midway point in the well. He braced his feet against the wall to stabilize himself and began carefully feeling around the wall with his fingers.

Finally, he found the mechanism that Sangta had told him about. Pry open the mechanism, and suddenly a hole appeared in the well wall. He hastily backed into the hole with Zhanna.

The dark void behind them soon closed, and the well wall looked just as it did before, with no one suspecting that a secret passage lay hidden there.

Madam Diao Mo soon rushed into the yard with her entourage, and when she discovered Zhanna was missing, she angrily went into the house, touched the bed, and said with a cold face, ”The bed is still warm; they couldn’t have gone far, search for them!”

The Holy Guards inside and outside started searching immediately, and it didn’t take long for someone to find the well. Chu Hai, hiding in the hidden passage, felt his heart pounding. If it weren’t for Sangta telling him about this secret passage before he brought him here, he and Zhanna would have been in grave danger by now.

The Holy Guard carefully inspected the well, even dropping large rocks into it, before saying to Lady Diao Mo, ”There’s no one in the well.”

”Could they have already escaped? But didn’t mother send people to surround the nearby roads? Could they have flown away?” Jin Jing asked discontentedly, suspecting that one of the Holy Guards had let the person go.

Lady Diao Mo gave Jin Jing a look, signaling that even if there were suspicions, they should not be shown, lest it lead the Holy Guards below to become disheartened.

”No matter, I have brought the Holy Hall’s tracking bee. As long as we let the bee come into contact with something she has used, we will quickly find her,” Lady Diao Mo said as she took out a small cage with a buzzing bee inside.

She turned and entered the house, placing the tracking bee on the bed where Zhanna had lain, and then opened the cage door.

”Go, my little darling, find the person quickly,” Lady Diao Mo’s lips curled up in a brilliant smile, yet the smile was filled with a bloodthirsty taste.

She had to kill that maidservant who had luckily survived. It was her honor to contribute her leg to her daughter, and she hadn’t even complained about the maidservant’s low status or the leg’s inadequacy. How dare she still be alive and causing trouble, thinking she could defy her?

As Lady Diao Mo watched the tracking bee fly out, the murderous intent in her eyes grew stronger.

Chu Hai, hiding in the secret passage, overheard Lady Diao Mo’s words and inwardly cursed his luck. He hoisted Zhanna onto his back and headed toward the exit of the secret passage, not expecting Lady Diao Mo to possess something like a tracking bee.

Soon, the tracking bee, resembling an ordinary bee, flew to the mouth of the well and descended before buzzing loudly as it crawled on the well’s wall.

Seeing this, Lady Diao Mo immediately understood, ”I didn’t expect there to be a secret passage here. Send someone down to find the mechanism, and don’t let them escape.”

The maidservant with a broken leg couldn’t possibly escape on her own, so someone must be helping her. Since the spies hadn’t reported anything about Chu Hai, Lady Diao Mo had been negligent at first; otherwise, she wouldn’t have even given Chu Hai the chance to escape with Zhanna.

Chu Hai, carrying Zhanna, activated his light martial arts and rushed forward quickly. Soon, he reached the end of the secret passage and saw that it was another small yard not far from where he had been.

But the area was already surrounded by the Holy Guards. Could he really escape safely with Zhanna?

Chu Hai gritted his teeth. His years of studying poisons weren’t in vain. He scattered some drug powder and then, with Zhanna on his back, jumped over the yard wall and fled toward the Main Road.

It didn’t take long for the Holy Guards to spot them, shouting and giving chase, but soon they discovered their steps growing heavier, helplessly watching the distance between them widen.

After about a quarter of an hour of running and winding through various paths, Chu Hai finally shook off the Holy Guards. Before he could catch his breath, he saw Lian Jia leading a patrol nearby.

Chu Hai’s face went pale, and just as he thought to turn and flee, Lian Jia had already spotted him. His martial arts weren’t a match for Lian Jia’s, and he was injured and carrying someone, so just after a few steps, Lian Jia, who was chasing from behind, caught him.

”Let’s see where you can run to this time!” Lian Jia grabbed Chu Hai’s shoulder and glanced at the unconscious Zhanna, saying, ”You actually dared to abduct a maidservant from the Holy Hall. You have quite the nerve!”