This praise stunned Luo Wanqing for a moment, and then both of them were immediately engulfed by a rain of fists.
Luo Wanqing was instantly beaten senseless, instinctively covering her head and not daring to move. When Liu Xiniang saw her being surrounded and beaten, she kicked one and punched another, pulling her out from the crowd while shouting: “Fight back! Don’t stop! Close your eyes and swing wildly!”
Reminded by this, Luo Wanqing couldn’t care about anything else. She closed her eyes and began frantically pummeling everything around her, not knowing whether she hit anyone or not.
There were too many people around, coming and going. Luo Wanqing had no idea who she was hitting or who was hitting her. She only vaguely heard someone shout: “Don’t touch my daughter!”
Then she heard Yao Zelan and Su Hui cursing at each other, apparently joining the battle as well.
All around, it was punch after punch, claw after claw, kicks and pinches flying everywhere. They fought for who knows how long until a jailer’s thunderous roar: “Stop!” and Luo Wanqing finally felt the space around her clear.
But she didn’t dare stop. She was afraid that if she stopped, she’d be beaten without being able to fight back, so she continued frantically punching and kicking at her surroundings!
It wasn’t until Liu Xiniang grabbed her and shouted, “Stop fighting!”
Liu Xiniang’s strength was tremendous. The moment she pressed down on her, Luo Wanqing felt as if Mount Tai was crushing her, forcing her to stop.
“Benefactor,” Liu Xiniang’s voice came, filled with gratitude. Luo Wanqing was dizzy from the fighting. She opened her eyes in confusion to see Liu Xiniang looking at her with a pained expression, “I’ve dragged you into this.”
Luo Wanqing couldn’t react. She instinctively turned around and saw a row of people lying on the ground.
Wang Qiniang’s group had skillfully dropped to the ground when the jailer arrived, rolling around and wailing.
Her mother and sister-in-law were also injured, their hair disheveled, standing beside her protecting Luo Wenshui, glaring fiercely at Wang Qiniang on the ground while gasping for breath.
The jailer stood to one side, his face dark with anger as he looked at the two groups, roaring: “Who started this?”
“Me!”
Liu Xiniang immediately stepped forward, looking at the jailer and boldly pointing at Luo Wanqing: “My lord, Doctor Luo and I fought together. We started this trouble together. If you want to punish someone, punish us. Doctor Yao is old, and Young Madam Luo has to care for her child. Please be merciful and put all the punishment on Doctor Luo and me. We’re willing to bear it together!”
Liu Xiniang was well-versed in prison rules. Before Luo Wanqing could speak, she heard the jailer say, “Fine, since you’re volunteering for punishment, I’m not unreasonable. You and Luo Wanqing will go to the water dungeon together, serving the sentences for Doctor Yao and Young Madam Su as well!”
With that, the jailer looked at Wang Qiniang’s group with disgust and waved his hand: “Take this bunch to the medical office for treatment. Don’t let them die. Take Liu Xiniang and Luo Wanqing to the water dungeon and lock them up for six days.”
“Wanqing!”
Hearing this, Yao Zelan finally realized what had happened. She hurried forward, trying to grab Luo Wanqing.
But Liu Xiniang seemed to have anticipated Yao Zelan’s intention. She stepped forward to block Yao Zelan from Luo Wanqing, giving Luo Wanqing meaningful looks while grasping Yao Zelan’s hand comfortingly: “Doctor Yao, leave Doctor Luo to me. You rest well. Don’t worry, we’ll return completely intact after six days.”
Luo Wanqing was dizzy from the beating. When Liu Xiniang blocked Yao Zelan, her head was buzzing, and purely on instinct, she was dragged out by the jailer.
After leaving the cell block, Liu Xiniang quickly caught up. She walked beside Luo Wanqing, clapped her hands, and whispered with a smile: “Done.”
The jailer walked ahead of them at a moderate distance. Luo Wanqing, with her disheveled hair and face full of scratches and bruises, heard these words and finally realized what had happened. She looked at Liu Xiniang incredulously: “This was your plan?”
“Yes,” Liu Xiniang said proudly, observing their surroundings while replying in a low voice, “See, aren’t we going to the water dungeon now? In a bit, I’ll break down the wall for you. I guarantee you’ll see Xie Heng tonight. How about it?” Liu Xiniang nudged her with her elbow, showing a “praise me” expression. “Isn’t my plan perfect?”
Luo Wanqing said nothing. She looked at Liu Xiniang with mixed feelings.
She suddenly understood why, in that dream, only Liu Xiniang had escaped from the entire Fengyu Pavilion.
With such unique thinking, even Xie Heng might not be a match for her.
“You’re supposed to be an assassin from Fengyu Pavilion.” Luo Wanqing closed her eyes to recover, but couldn’t help complaining, “Don’t you have any other contacts in the prison?”
“My mission is rather special. If I can avoid contacting the pavilion, I don’t contact them,” Liu Xiniang played with the iron chains in her hands, saying leisurely, “We can only rely on ourselves.”
The two chatted intermittently as they were led to the water dungeon. The jailer went forward to make the handover, opened the gate, revealing a bottomless water pit, and said directly: “Get in.”
“Alright!”
With that, Liu Xiniang was the first to jump in, then turned to look at Luo Wanqing, kindly extending her hand: “Come on.”
Luo Wanqing looked down and saw that the pit was full of sewage. This sewage reached chest height. If it were summer, entering this water would be tolerable, but in winter, entering this water, those with poor health might freeze to death.
She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, reached out to grasp Liu Xiniang’s hand, and jumped down.
The icy sewage mixed with winter’s chill made her shiver instantly. She had planned to tough it out, but with just one shiver, she felt a warm current flow from Liu Xiniang’s hand through her.
Luo Wanqing looked up in surprise. Liu Xiniang grinned: “This is the benefit of martial arts training.”
Hearing this, Luo Wanqing understood this was probably what martial artists called “true qi.” She couldn’t help being curious: “This is internal energy? Is this easy to learn? How long does it take?”
“Hard to say,” Liu Xiniang turned to tap the wall, feeling around while seriously answering, “Those with talent learn quickly, those without might never learn in their lifetime. Some people have no choice but to use others’.”
“You can use others’?”
Luo Wanqing found this incredible. Liu Xiniang laughed: “Haven’t you heard those storybooks talk about blessed youths meeting peerless masters, then the master directly transferring seventy years of internal energy into them? It’s not impossible, just rarely done.”
“Why?”
“Who would freely give away decades of cultivation?” Liu Xiniang glanced at Luo Wanqing, “Besides, even if someone were willing to give it, you’d have to see if the recipient could handle it. Others’ energy is still others’ – when it enters your body, you might not be able to bear it. Unless it’s extremely urgent, which master would let their disciple do such a thing?”
“That’s true,” Luo Wanqing pursed her lips, “What’s not your own isn’t the proper path after all.”
Speaking of which, Luo Wanqing finally noticed Liu Xiniang’s actions and frowned: “What are you tapping?”
“I’m seeing where would be suitable to break through. Let’s first break down the wall, then repair it, leaving just one brick’s space for observation. As soon as Xie Heng appears,” Liu Xiniang turned to look at her, making a ‘push’ gesture, “you just push open the wall and run out!”
“What about you?”
Luo Wanqing was curious. Liu Xiniang had been with her until now, completely ignoring the Fengyu Pavilion people. Now that they were here, if she went to report the case and got caught, she might implicate Liu Xiniang. She couldn’t figure out how Liu Xiniang would handle it if the Supervision Department traced back to her through Luo Wanqing.
However, Liu Xiniang seemed to have already thought of a solution. She pointed to the iron chains hanging high nearby: “Later, I’ll tie myself up there and pretend to be unconscious. After you get out, just say you knocked me out and I don’t know anything – it was all your doing.”
“Alright.”