Chapter 106
Chapter 106
Jiang Yunsui was just wondering whether she should make some noise and draw Lady Ma’s attention over here.
It was a little wicked of her, but watching County Deputy Magistrate Ma get unlucky made Jiang Yunsui very happy.
Before she could wrestle with her conscience for too long, however, the hidden child gave himself away.
“Mother, I need to pee.”
He was still a child, after all, and one who had been spoiled on normal days. When had he ever been forced to hide like this and not make a sound?
The moment he needed to pee, he started fussing.
Widow Liu immediately panicked.
“Huihui, hold it a little longer. We’ll be out very soon, don’t-”
“No! I need to pee right now! Why do we have to hide here? Where’s Father? Father…”
He lifted the curtain and called for his father.
“Well, well!”
With a furious roar, Lady Ma charged straight over.
When she saw the five-year-old child and that face that resembled Ma Hongwen’s in several ways, her rage burned even hotter.
Widow Liu was so frightened that she hurriedly hugged her son.
Facing the mother and son, Lady Ma’s plump face instantly twisted into a vicious expression.
Without another word, she grabbed Widow Liu by the hair and dragged her out.
“You little slut, you even dared to steal my man.”
As she spoke, she slapped Widow Liu across the face several times in rapid succession.
Widow Liu could only clutch her face and scream as she was beaten.
“You dead fat pig, how dare you hit my mother! I’ll beat you to death!”
Lady Ma glared at the child with eyes full of fury and showed no mercy, rewarding him with a slap as well.
When Ma Hongwen saw his son being hit, his heart ached terribly.
This was his one and only precious son.
“What are you doing? Can’t we talk this over properly? Why are you hitting a child?”
Lady Ma snapped, “Well done, Ma Hongwen. Now you’re even protecting this little beast.”
She raised her hand and slapped Ma Hongwen across the face.
Ma Hongwen was a grown man, and being struck like that filled him with resentment. If she were not from the Li Family, he would never have had to swallow his anger like this.
Sooner or later, he would divorce this woman!
“You know your own physical condition. Our family can’t have only one daughter. We need a son to carry on the household. I know you want to find our daughter a live-in son-in-law, but how could an outsider compare to our own flesh and blood? When we’re gone one day, what if that live-in son-in-law bullies our daughter?”
Lady Ma pointed at him. “You make it sound so noble, but isn’t it just because you can’t control that bit between your legs?”
“If you really wanted a son, I could have found you a woman who could bear children. Once the boy was born, I could raise him by my side from childhood, and he would at least be close to me. But what is this thing? You think he’s worthy of being raised by me?”
Just from that one cry of “fat pig” earlier, she would never raise this little beast, and she would never acknowledge him.
Jiang Yunsui watched with great relish. It was only when she felt the roast chicken in her hand and realized it had gone cold that she remembered the people still locked in the jail.
Feeling a little guilty, she rubbed her chin. She had watched enough of the show, so it was time to slip away.
This time, she finally found the jail.
She slipped right in under the noses of several yamen runners.
As she passed by, she even heard them discussing the situation.
It was precisely what was happening over at County Deputy Magistrate Ma’s side.
“Lady Ma is here. There’s a good show to watch now.”
“What good show? We’re stuck here and can’t see a thing.”
Just then, a yamen runner came running over excitedly.
“They’re fighting! They’re fighting! It’s lively as anything in the County Deputy Magistrate’s room. We can hear Widow Liu screaming from outside.”
Hearing this, the two yamen runners guarding the jail looked at each other.
“There’s nothing much to watch in this jail anyway. The people inside can’t escape, so why don’t we…?”
“Let’s go!”
Jiang Yunsui looked back and thought, Good grief. Both of them had run off.
If she hadn’t been worried about Ji Yan’an and the others, Jiang Yunsui honestly would have kept watching.
Little Mushroom sighed and hurried into the jail.
The smell inside was truly awful.
After searching for quite a while, she finally found them in a cell farther in.
The group had all been locked up together and were currently bored out of their minds.
“Why do I smell roast chicken?”
Nanshu’s nose twitched.
Song Jin sat on the straw bed with his arms crossed, a stalk of straw dangling from his mouth.
“What, so hungry you’re hallucinating?”
They really had gone a good while without eating, and they were all starving.
“I’m telling you, that little girl didn’t forget about us, did she?”
Jiang Yunsui appeared at the cell door, puffed up with indignation. “You’re talking bad about me again!”
“Well, look who showed up.”
Nanshu said, “Did Little Yunsui bring us food? Boohoo… I knew I smelled roast chicken.”
A smug little look appeared on Jiang Yunsui’s face. “Good thing I’m clever and ran fast, or you all would’ve starved to death.”
Ji Yan’an walked over, his voice faint and lingering. “You certainly did run fast.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking before she had bolted. She had been far too self-aware about it.
Jiang Yunsui felt the tiniest bit guilty. Abandoning her master and running off did seem a little bad, huh.
“Why is this roast chicken cold?”
Nanmo said, “Having anything to eat is good enough.”
“There are these too.”
She was carrying a small basket as well, filled with steamed buns, stuffed buns, and a wrapped packet of pastries.
“I didn’t know where the jail was, so I had to search slowly.”
She crouched outside the cell, glanced at an old man in the cell opposite who was staring at them pitifully and drooling, then handed him a steamed bun.
“Thank you, thank you, little girl.”
The man was probably half-starved. He took it and immediately started gnawing.
“If we eat like this, won’t we draw the bailiffs over?”
Jiang Yunsui said, “Don’t worry. They’ve all gone to watch the show.”
“What?”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes sparkled as her little mouth rattled on, telling them all about County Deputy Magistrate Ma keeping a mistress and Lady Ma coming today to catch him in the act.
She had a bit of talent for storytelling. Though she spoke slowly, she described Lady Ma sweeping through the scene, beating one person and then another, in vivid detail.
Nanshu still had a stuffed bun crammed in his mouth, but his eyes practically shone as he listened.
The others each had their own posture, but every one of them had perked up their ears.
Nanshu slapped his thigh.
“Missing a scene like that with my own eyes is way too much of a shame.”
Song Jin nodded in agreement.
Ji Yan’an looked thoughtful. “In that case, County Deputy Magistrate Ma may not be completely devoted to the Li Family after all.”
Song Jin grinned. “Say something happens to him, and we offer to protect his son as a condition. Do you think he’ll turn around and help us deal with the Li Family?”
Ji Yan’an said, “According to the investigation, he was raised by a widow. He holds the belief that men are superior to women, so his obsession with having a son should be very strong. That is why, after Lady Ma gave birth to a daughter and damaged her body so she could no longer bear children, he found a way to keep a mistress and have a son. At present, this is his only son.”
Song Jin clapped his hands together. “Then for the sake of this one and only son, once he’s cornered, he’ll definitely cooperate with us against the Li Family to protect him.”
Song Jin and Nanshu looked at each other, and both let out eerie laughs.
“This really is a pillow delivered right when we’re getting sleepy.”
Jiang Yunsui scratched her head. “You all keep eating. I’ll go see if they’re still fighting outside.”
With that, she ran off.
Nanshu watched her eagerly. He really wanted to go too.
It would actually be easy for them to break out of jail, but in order to trap County Deputy Magistrate Ma, they had no choice but to endure it.