The cold, hard dagger pressed silently against the soft curve of Jiang Si’s waist.
A faint scent of blood mingled with the fragrance of rouge and powder from the Golden Water River bank, wafting into her nostrils.
Jiang Si quietly admonished herself for her carelessness. Daydreaming indeed led to misfortune.
“Don’t scream. I won’t harm you,” a low female voice warned from behind.
The voice sounded quite young.
Jiang Si felt an inexplicable familiarity with the voice, but couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before.
The carriage had started moving, creaking as it rolled forward. With a slight jolt, the dagger’s tip gently pressed against Jiang Si’s waist. She could feel it being deliberately pulled back a bit.
“Who are you?” Jiang Si asked, her right hand hanging in front, palm secretly opening as an imperceptible faint light flashed across it.
The woman’s voice sounded again, tinged with impatience: “You don’t need to ask, and don’t turn around. I’ll leave when we reach a suitable place…”
Jiang Si was slightly startled.
At White Cloud Temple, when she accidentally overheard two men talking, she had first used her phantom firefly to momentarily freeze the bearded man’s thoughts, then quickly pricked him with a paralytic poison-coated needle to escape smoothly.
Now, she had planned to use the same method, but encountered a problem: the woman holding her hostage was completely unaffected by the phantom firefly.
The phantom firefly, grown from the flesh of Jiang Si’s hand, was attuned to her will. She could sense its dejected mood.
This meant she couldn’t act recklessly.
She could try to catch the woman off guard and prick her with the needle. Even a tiny scratch would shift the advantage to her side.
But what if the captor was someone who could react instantly, even without being on guard?
It wasn’t a risk worth taking unless necessary.
She wasn’t done living yet.
Her elder sister’s crisis remained unresolved, her father had bought delicious braised pork knuckles, her second brother had sent spicy and refreshing liangpi from Wang Wu’s wife, and Little Niu was so adorable. Even Yu Qi—
Thinking of that man with his many flaws yet numerous merits, Jiang Si sighed inwardly.
If she died in this carriage, he would surely be heartbroken.
In any case, she couldn’t die.
Jiang Si temporarily abandoned the idea of a desperate move. Of course, this decision was also based on a certain intuition: when the carriage jolted earlier, her captor had quietly moved the dagger away a bit, suggesting this person wasn’t entirely ruthless.
At that moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.
A Fei’s voice came from outside: “Y-Y-Young Master Yu, what a coincidence…”
Heavens, Young Master Yu knew him, wouldn’t he guess that Miss Jiang was inside?
A Fei, who had eagerly waited by the carriage after watching Jiang Si board the flower boat, was unaware of the subsequent commotion. This terrifying realization nearly made him lose his grip on the reins.
Old Qin frowned, glancing at Yu Jin, then leaned towards the carriage curtain and said in a low voice, “Miss, it’s Young Master Yu.”
Jiang Si felt the dagger behind her tremble, followed by the woman’s surprised voice: “You’re a woman?”
The lamp on the carriage wall had dimmed due to lack of oil, leaving the interior poorly lit.
Abducting someone was hardly a relaxing affair, and the woman hadn’t noticed Jiang Si’s true identity.
The carriage wall was gently tapped, and a clear, youthful voice came through: “I still want to escort you.”
The dagger instantly pressed forward, against Jiang Si’s lower back.
“Send him away!” the woman hissed.
Jiang Si opened her mouth, her throat tightening: “I said it’s not necessary. Please go attend to your important matters.”
“Escorting you is my important matter,” came the reply.
Jiang Si’s mouth twitched, thinking this bastard’s sweet talk was about to get her stabbed…
“Why don’t you lift the curtain and look at me?” the man outside asked.
Jiang Si instinctively turned her head.
Her captor, clearly not expecting such brazenness from the man outside, momentarily forgot to warn Jiang Si against moving.
In the dim light, their eyes met. Jiang Si’s eyes widened slightly, finally understanding why the woman’s voice sounded familiar.
This woman was the young lady who had saved a child from a startled horse on their way back from White Cloud Temple.
Jiang Si’s face was disguised, so the woman didn’t recognize her. Seeing that Jiang Si had seen her face, she flipped the dagger to Jiang Si’s throat, while her other hand gripped Jiang Si’s hands. She mouthed each word distinctly: “Make him leave!”
Fearing the dagger might accidentally cut her throat, Jiang Si said sternly: “I’ve seen enough just now. If you don’t leave, don’t come looking for me again.”
There was silence outside the carriage for a moment.
After a while, the person outside sighed: “Alright, I won’t escort you then. Don’t be angry.”
As the sound of light hoofbeats gradually faded away, the woman’s tense demeanor relaxed, though the dagger at Jiang Si’s neck wasn’t withdrawn. She softened her voice: “Let’s leave this place. I’ll go when I feel it’s safe. I won’t trouble you.”
Jiang Si nodded.
The carriage moved unhurriedly, growing quieter as it got further from Golden Water River, though occasionally they encountered other carriages speeding along the stone road, or night patrol officers.
Since the Great Zhou Dynasty had abolished the night curfew, nights were also bustling with activity.
Jiang Si felt the carriage speed up.
The woman released her hands and lifted a corner of the window curtain to look outside.
Apart from the lantern hanging at the front of the carriage casting a dim light on the surroundings, everything in the distance was pitch black.
Confusion and bewilderment flashed in the woman’s eyes as she dropped the curtain and changed her request: “I need a place to stay.”
Jiang Si secretly rolled her eyes.
So the female kidnapper’s so-called safe place needed to be found by her.
After a brief hesitation, Jiang Si called out: “A Fei, go to Pine Nut Lane.”
The rented house was in Pine Nut Lane.
“Yes, Miss,” A Fei responded, and the sound of the whip cracked.
After an unknown amount of time, the carriage stopped again, and A Fei’s helpless voice came through: “Miss, the carriage is broken. Since we’re almost at Pine Nut Lane, why don’t you get out and walk?”
The woman suddenly tensed up and whispered, “No!”
Jiang Si said in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz: “If the carriage is broken and I don’t get out, they’ll be suspicious. Besides, since you want me to arrange a place for you to stay, we’ll have to get out of the carriage sooner or later. It’s impossible to hide from them.”
She vaguely sensed the woman’s desperation; otherwise, she wouldn’t have made such a request to a hostage.
Perhaps she thought Jiang Si, dressed as a handsome man, would be softhearted.
The woman finally nodded, gesturing for Jiang Si to exit first.
As Jiang Si moved towards the carriage door, she suddenly felt the dagger at her back swiftly withdraw, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.
She whirled around to see that a pair of rear doors at the back of the carriage compartment had somehow opened, revealing an endless darkness outside.
Jiang Si quickly climbed out from the front.
“Miss, are you alright?” A Fei asked.
Ignoring A Fei’s question, Jiang Si looked back.
Yu Jin kicked the woman who had been thrown to the ground. “Cold Shadow, take her back to feed Second Niu.”