After I traveled through the book, my sister kidnapped my mother

"But I don't know if he can recover. After all, his injuries are too severe." Wen Zhimiao did not hide it from Duan Jiling and told him the truth about Duan Yunting's condition.

Duan Jiling looked at Wen Zhimiao and whispered to her, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Wen Zhimiao couldn't help but smile helplessly when he heard her unfamiliar name: "Now you are just Duan Jiling, and I am just Wen Zhimiao. There's no need to be so polite."

Duan Jiling chuckled: "Okay, Miaomiao."

"I've told you about Teacher Duan. Now it's Lingling's turn to answer my questions."

"Miao Miao, what do you want to ask?" Duan Jiling tilted his head slightly.

Wen Zhimiao propped his chin with one hand: "Why did you choose to listen to Teacher Duan? Why didn't you follow the path arranged for you by the Elders Council?"

Duan Jiling chuckled: "Miao Miao, do you know? I have felt like a puppet since I was a child. Everything about me seems to be arranged."

“What to learn and what to do are all under the supervision of my father and the Council of Elders.”

“Miaomiao, aren’t you curious about why my eyes are gray?” Duan Jiling played with the gambling tools he brought back from the casino and said to Wen Zhimiao with a smile, “Because I was poisoned in my mother’s womb.”

"My father wanted to make a potion for immortality, and he always asked my mother to test the potion for him. When my mother was pregnant with me, the poison in her body was passed on to me."

"Father himself has also taken a lot of so-called elixirs of immortality. Perhaps that's why he has no other children besides me."

"My aunt laughed at him and said it was his karma. Of course, she only wrote a mocking letter."

Wen Zhimiao choked. It was really hard for her to imagine that someone like Duan Yunting, who seemed indifferent to everything, would actually write letters to slander other people.

"In fact, the Elder Council has already arranged other family heads. They will support them to take the position as soon as I die." Duan Jiling said with a smile.

Wen Zhimiao suddenly turned to look at her: "What's your illness?"

"I don't know how long I can live. No one has told me. Elder Lao never told me either. She just told me to be happy every day and take medicine on time." Duan Jiling smiled at Wen Zhimiao.

Wen Zhimiao pursed her lips and suddenly felt a bitter taste in her heart.

"I seldom leave the village. I basically stay in the village reading books and refining poison." Duan Jiling chuckled.

"Is there really such a thing as refining poison?" Wen Zhimiao was still very curious about this.

Duan Jiling opened the small bamboo basket on his waist: "Yes, these are all my treasures. Do you want to see them, Miaomiao?"

"Is it a poisonous insect or something like that?" Wen Zhimiao asked carefully.

"Yes, some can get under people's skin, some can kill instantly with one bite, and some can cure diseases, but I'm not very good at Gu medicine, not as good as Elder Lao."

After hearing this, Wen Zhimiao swallowed his saliva and said, "You won't bite me, will you?"

"I feed them with my own blood, and they won't bite without instructions." Duan Jiling was amused by her.

"What is the instruction? Music?" Wen Zhimiao asked curiously.

"Yes, bugs have their own language too."

After saying that, Duan Jiling opened his bamboo basket. Wen Zhimiao leaned over to take a look and saw that there were indeed several insects, which made her scalp tingle.

Wen Zhimiao pointed at the flute in her hand curiously: "What material is this flute made of?"

"It's a bone flute, made from eagle bones." Duan Jiling handed the flute to Wen Zhimiao: "Here."

"What did you think it was?"

Wen Zhimiao touched her nose and blamed herself for reading too many novels. She thought they were human bones at first glance, but later she thought that was not the case.

"Nothing, just curious about what it's made of. I've never guessed what it is."

"You can paint on it, but my painting skills are average, and I can't draw anything good, so I never painted."

"You can ask Linglang and Shushu for help. They know how to play it and they're very good at it." After looking at the flute, she found it was indeed different from the ones she had used before.

Duan Jiling's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Good idea."

She also saw Qi Linglang and Zheng Shu drawing the masks that day, and it was indeed amazing.

"So you want to cooperate with me because you don't want to be manipulated anymore?" Wen Zhimiao brought the topic back to the business.

Duan Jiling thought about it and nodded slightly, but then shook his head: "Not entirely."

"The Elders' Council holds a large-scale sacrifice every three years, and the sacrifices are still made with human beings. The reason why my aunt failed to win over my father was because she advocated abolishing the practice of sacrificing human beings."

"I didn't understand so much in the past, but later I met Sister Ke, who gave me a lot of books containing many records about the Central Plains."

"I also gradually feel that offering sacrifices to the gods does not necessarily require the use of human blood."

"The tribes in the South are too different from those in the Central Plains."

Wen Zhimiao also understood this. After all, it was only after Wen Rongxue came to power that he unified the southern countries. Before that, most people still lived in tribal ways.

Every civilization has gone through the process from human sacrifice to abolition of human sacrifice.

But logically speaking, the Duan family came from the Central Plains and should have tried to abolish such customs.

However, in order to control the people, they chose to strengthen the influence of the gods and continue to control the people in this way.

Wen Zhimiao sighed faintly: "I understand."

"So you volunteered this time just to be able to contact me?" Wen Zhimiao asked.

Duan Jiling shook his head: "No."

"Before this, I didn't think of relying on Miaomiao's power. I wanted to rely on the power of the Su family and the Wen family. While they were fighting with you, I took the opportunity to weaken the voice of the Council of Elders."

"My aunt said that if you want something, you have to fight for it yourself. The same goes for freedom."

"Actually, I have suspected that my aunt didn't necessarily lose to my father. Maybe she just took the opportunity to leave the Duan family?" Duan Jiling smiled.

Wen Zhimiao also laughed when he heard this: "Maybe."

"So your original plan was to slowly build up your own power, and then step by step surpass the Elders Council?" Wen Zhimiao asked.

Duan Jiling nodded: "I secretly raised some private soldiers."

Wen Zhimiao gave her a thumbs up.

"Since you already have a plan, why do you want to cooperate with me? You don't want to say that in just two days, your trust in me exceeds your trust in Wen Ke and Su Jincheng, right?"

Duan Jiling looked at her with a smile: "Is it not possible?"

"Su Jincheng said he wanted to cooperate with the Duan family, but in fact he didn't take the Duan family seriously at all and always looked arrogant."

"And for Sister A Ke, her ambition comes first, and there is nothing wrong with that, but if she takes the top position, the Duan family will not have an easy time."

"So Lingling also wants to make a deal with me?"

Duan Jiling nodded: "Yes, I will help you pacify the south, and I will hand over the Duan clan's elders' council to you as an example, but Miaomiao must ensure the safety of other innocent members of the Duan clan."

Wen Zhimiao smiled and raised her eyes slightly.

"But why should I promise?"

"The Duan family is also a cancer to me, isn't it?"

"What benefits can I get from our cooperation?"

Duan Jiling met her playful gaze, and those charming peach blossom eyes were no longer charming, but filled with a coldness that penetrated into the bone marrow.