Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I was deeply worried.

Gu Changfeng was simply too unreliable.

If I set the haystack on fire, he would strangle me on the spot.

If I kicked him out, he would drag me down with him fair and square.

Almost out of habit, I poisoned everyone in the courtyard, then slipped straight into the haystack.

Only this time, I didn’t get the chance to crouch inside and calmly sort out my thoughts.

Before I could even steady myself, that hand was already around my throat.

Me: …

No, brother, why aren’t you following the script?

Or had I been so lost in thought that I crawled in from the wrong direction?

The man had me pinned in what could only be described as a full-body restraint, his arms trapping mine, his legs pressing down on mine.

“Who are you?”

A cold dagger pressed against my neck, drawing a shallow line of blood.

“Don’t scream, or I’ll kill you.”

I nodded with exceptional obedience.

The night patrol constables on the main street passed by the gate. The donkey cart creaked away into the distance. The constable guarding the gate counted his copper coins with great satisfaction.

Then the gate closed.

The alley fell quiet.

The dagger lowered. As if he had reached the end of his strength, the man collapsed heavily backward and leaned against the wall.

I began thinking about what I could say to reach an agreement with Gu Changfeng again.

He wanted to get out. I wanted to get out too.

He was being hunted and couldn’t show his face. I had lives on my hands and couldn’t show mine either.

Although the water cart would enter the city on schedule after daybreak, that gate would never open again, and no one would be there to kick him that one crucial time.

But none of that was the most fatal problem.

The most fatal problem was that I had no way to tell Gu Changfeng any of it.

I couldn’t possibly tell him that, in order to crawl into this pile of dry grass, I had slaughtered my way through that courtyard more than a dozen times.

Nor could I tell him that I had picked him up once, screwed him over twice, succeeded once, and failed once.

And I definitely couldn’t tell him that as long as he killed me, everything could start over from the beginning.

No one would believe such an absurd story.

Moonlight fell through the gaps and onto his face.

This was the second time I had looked at him closely.

His face was very pale from the high fever. Those hands that had once killed me twice hung weakly at his sides, the dagger loosely pinched between his fingers. It seemed that if I so much as moved my hand, I could take it from him and stab it straight into him the way he had stabbed through my heart.

But what use would that be?

Even if I killed him, I still couldn’t escape.

In another half hour, the sky would begin to brighten.

The owner of the haystack would open the door and carry out an armful of dry grass to feed the sheep.

The man selling flatbread in the neighboring alley would head out with his shoulder pole.

The night watchman would strike his gong for the final time.

Every household in the streets and alleys would wake because of it.

And I would have nowhere to run.

“What are you looking at?”

The dagger spun once between Gu Changfeng’s fingers before being gripped tight again.

I opened my mouth, but for a moment, I had no idea how I was supposed to answer him.

The man opened his eyes. His gaze swept over me, and then he gave a low chuckle.

“A runaway slave?”

He narrowed his eyes, shook his head, and clicked his tongue.

“No. How could anyone in Tongzhi Alley possibly afford servants?”

The blade pressed against my neck again, the distinct chill of metal touching skin and bringing with it a familiar shiver.

“You’re a runaway prostitute, aren’t you?”

Me: …

I had to admit, the gap between people was truly obvious at a glance.

After dealing with him for three rounds, I still hadn’t even figured out who was hunting him. Yet he looked at me once and saw right through my identity.

“A runaway prostitute has no identity papers. How did you get out?”

The dagger did not press in any farther. It only rested lightly against my shoulder.

Even in such dire straits, the man still seemed far more composed than I was.

“Let me think. The madam wasn’t watching you?”

“Impossible. In a low-grade brothel like that, having even one girl is already decent, let alone one with your looks. If I were the madam, there’s no way I’d let my guard down around you.”

“So if you managed to run, either the madam was dead asleep, or she was actually dead.”

He stared into my eyes.

“If it was just the madam sleeping like the dead, that would still make sense. But if an entire houseful of people all slept like the dead, that wouldn’t.”

Gu Changfeng leaned forward slightly. The space inside the haystack was cramped; in the span of a breath, he was already extremely close to me.

As our warm breaths mingled, I could even see the lashes over his black pupils, lowered slightly and casting a small shadow beneath his eyes.

“So you used the most extreme method. You killed the madam and everyone in the building, then escaped in the night. Am I right?”

Gu Changfeng’s other hand pressed down on my shoulder, pulling me a little closer to him.

“Find a way to get me out of here. Otherwise, I don’t mind handing you over to the authorities right now.”