Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Zhou Cheng’an had brought men.
He stood at the mouth of the well, a vindictive satisfaction on his face.
“Weren’t you so clever? Climb up.”
Chen Sangsang was held down by two old women, her mouth gagged, tears streaming down.
I clutched the iron box and looked up at him.
“Does your father know you’re here?”
Zhou Cheng’an sneered: “Of course my father knows. Did you think Shen Guan could protect you for long? If an imperial inspector from the capital dies in Qingshi Town, it will just be blamed on bandits.”
My heart sank.
Shen Guan was in danger.
Zhou Cheng’an said, “Hand over the account book, and I’ll let you die with some dignity.”
I asked, “Have you read it?”
“What?”
“The account book. Do you know what’s written inside?”
Zhou Cheng’an said impatiently, “I don’t need to know.”
I laughed softly.
“Right, you’ve never needed to know.”
He was just a son of the Zhou Family.
He could hit people, frame them, steal their lives, and still think he was just playing around.
In my previous life, when Xie Wujiu killed him, he had cried out the same way, saying he knew nothing.
I had stood among the crowd then, watching Xie Wujiu slit his throat with one cut.
Zhou Cheng’an had fallen to the ground, blood pooling everywhere.
I had once thought Xie Wujiu was cruel.
I still thought it was cruel.
But I could no longer lightly say that he shouldn’t hate.
“Pull her up,” Zhou Cheng’an ordered.
A rope was thrown down.
I didn’t move.
He frowned: “Lin Wanzhao, don’t push me.”
I said, “Zhou Cheng’an, have you ever wondered why Xie Wujiu hasn’t come?”
His expression shifted slightly.
Just then, chaos erupted in the front courtyard.
Someone shouted, “Fire!”
Zhou Cheng’an turned his head.
I grabbed the rope and climbed up.
Halfway up, Zhou Cheng’an snapped back to his senses and rushed over to kick me.
A short arrow whizzed past his ear and embedded itself in the well’s edge.
He staggered back and fell to the ground in fright.
Xie Wujiu stood on the wall, an old crossbow in his hand.
Not the one I had given him.
He had made it himself.
He looked at Zhou Cheng’an, his gaze cold as snow.
I immediately shouted, “Xie Wujiu!”
His finger was on the trigger.
Zhou Cheng’an trembled violently: “You dare kill me? My father won’t let you get away with this.”
Xie Wujiu said nothing.
I climbed out of the well, stumbled over, and blocked Zhou Cheng’an’s path.
Xie Wujiu looked at me.
“Move aside.”
“No.”
“He captured you.”
“That’s why we need him alive to testify against his father.”
Xie Wujiu let out a short laugh.
“Will he?