Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 189 Unexpected Visitor
Yan Ci Wan chose a relatively clean place to sit down, and his movements caused the chains to collide, making a crisp sound.

She took out the keys and began to try to open the locks one by one. When she tried the fifth key, she finally opened the shackles on her wrists. She continued trying and then opened the shackles on her feet.

She threw the handcuffs aside, put the key back in her arms, turned to look at the two female prisoners still lying on the ground, and asked leisurely.

"You were also sent by Xie Fazhi?"

The two female prisoners shook their heads together, and one of them said, "Nie Wu Niang specially arranged for us to come here, saying that if we can beat you into submission, she can help us ask the higher-ups to reduce our sentences."

"Nie Wuniang?"

The female prisoner immediately explained: "It's the female jailer who just left. She is the head of the prison here and has three female jailers under her."

Yan Ciwan asked again: "Then what are your names?"

"My maiden name is Cai, and I am the eleventh in my family."

"My name is Xia Jinniang, you can just call me Jinniang."

Yan Ciwan looked at them and asked, "What law have you broken?"

They both said in unison: "Murder."

Yan Ciwan raised her eyebrows. Murder was a serious crime, but these two people answered calmly and showed no remorse at all. She felt curious and couldn't help asking.

"How to kill?"

Cai Shiyi Niang supported herself with both hands and struggled to get up and sit up. She panted and said, "My family is poor, but there are too many children in the family. I can't support them. My parents wanted to sell me to a trafficker. At that time, I fell in love with a man in the village. I didn't want to be sold, so I eloped with him secretly without telling my family. I thought I could live a peaceful life from then on, but within two years, my husband lost all his savings because of drug addiction. He also forced me to become a prostitute to earn money for him to pay off his gambling debts. I couldn't bear this, so I simply poisoned him with a bag of arsenic."

Xia Jinniang also sat up at this time. She spoke slowly, as if she was reminiscing.

"I am a widow. When I went to the mountains to pick wild vegetables, I was knocked unconscious and raped by a scoundrel in the village. When I woke up, it was too late to save the situation. The scoundrel smugly threatened me and told me to listen to him in the future, otherwise he would tell the villagers that I seduced him. I pretended to be obedient and followed him down the mountain. When he was not prepared, I pushed him hard from behind. He rolled down the mountain and hit his head on a rock, bleeding a lot. He begged me to save him, but I ignored him and watched him die."

After listening to the two people's experiences, Yan Ciwan was silent for a long time before giving his evaluation.

"sharp."

Cai Shiyi Niang grinned, but Xia Jinniang had a blank face and showed no reaction.

Murder means death, according to Daye law, both of them should be sentenced to death, but they don't want to die, so they obey Nie Wuniang's arrangements and hope to get a chance to survive.

Yan Ciwan understood this, and she said, "I won't stay here for too long. As long as you don't provoke me anymore, I won't make things difficult for you."

Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang remained silent, which was considered as their agreement with her words.

It’s not because they have a change of heart, but because the gap in strength between the enemy and us is too big. If they don’t want to be abused anymore, they can only behave themselves.

There were no windows in the cell, so Yan Ciwan could not see the changes in the weather outside and could hardly feel the passage of time.

Since she was free anyway, she sat cross-legged on the ground, closed her eyes and practiced while thinking about what to do next.
After an unknown amount of time, the prison door was opened again and Nie Wuniang walked in carrying a wooden barrel filled with wild vegetable cakes.

She took out three wild vegetable cakes and threw them on the ground, saying stiffly.

"time to eat."

Yan Ciwan opened his eyes and looked at the wild vegetable cake on the ground. He had no idea what it was made of. It was black in color and there was some dust on the surface.

She had no appetite, so she looked away and continued to meditate and practice. Cai Shiyi and Xia Jinniang were obviously starving, so they pounced on the wild vegetable cakes and started eating them in big mouthfuls.

There was a wild vegetable cake left on the ground, which belonged to Yan Ciwan. Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang did not dare to touch it.

Seeing Yan Ciwan didn't move, Nie Wuniang sneered, "Forget about not eating, you deserve to starve to death!"

After saying that, she bent down, picked up the vegetable cake on the ground, threw it back into the wooden barrel, then carried the barrel and left the cell without looking back.

But not long after, Nie Wuniang came back.

She placed a coarse porcelain bowl in front of Yan Ciwan, which was filled with fresh and hot vegetable porridge.

Although this is not considered a delicacy, compared with the black wild vegetable cake, this vegetable porridge is already delicious.

It can be seen from the way Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang kept swallowing their saliva that they have not seen such delicious food for a long time.

Yan Ciwan still didn't move. She looked into Nie Wuniang's eyes and asked, "Do you dare to drink a sip first and let me see?"

Nie Wuniang's eyes flashed, and she pretended to be annoyed and asked back: "What do you mean? Could it be that I will poison you?!"

"Since it's not poisonous, drink it all. Don't leave a single drop."

Nie Wuniang glared at her fiercely.

Yan Ciwan didn't move at all.

After a long time, Nie Wuniang was defeated. She picked up the vegetable porridge and turned away.

Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang were not stupid. They could tell from Nie Wuniang's reaction that there must be something wrong with the bowl of vegetable porridge.

They went to see Yan Ci Wan and thought that this man was really patient and did not give Nie Wu Niang any chance to take advantage of. But they didn't know how long Yan Ci Wan could hold on.
Yan Ciwan didn't know how long she could hold out. It was okay to skip a meal, she could bear it, but she couldn't skip meals. When she was too hungry to be strong, not only would Nie Wuniang attack her again, but Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang, who lived in the same cell, would probably also add insult to injury.

She could only pray silently in her heart, hoping that Xiao Wang and Chao Lu would show up soon. Even if they couldn't rescue her, they could at least send her some food and daily necessities.

Yan Ci Wan waited like this, and ended up waiting for an unexpected person.

She looked at Si Buping who appeared outside the prison door, unable to hide her surprise.

"Grand Lord, why are you here?"

Si Buping was wearing a scarlet round-collar official robe, a dark black cloak, and a black fu hat. He narrowed his narrow eyes slightly and looked down at the people in the prison.

He said slowly: "I just happened to come to Yizhou to do some business. I heard that you killed someone, so I came to see you."

Yan Ciwan was puzzled. It was fine that he had met Si Buping in Xiangzhou and Luzhou, but why did he meet him again in Yizhou? Was there really such a coincidence in the world?

She saluted the other party with her arms crossed.

"Ning Ci thanks the Grand Chamberlain for coming to visit me. I didn't kill anyone. This was a plot by someone with ulterior motives."

Yuejin and Fubai walked into the cell and took Cai Shiyi Niang and Xia Jinniang out. After all the strangers had left, Si Buping stepped into the cell.

He was dressed in a bright crimson official robe, standing in this dark and dirty cell, looking out of place.

(End of this chapter)