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.”

Luo Wanqing nodded. At this moment, Liu Xiniang found a stone crack. She hooked it with her finger and said happily, “Good, this spot will do.”

With that, she began using her fingernails to scrape the mortar from the crack. Seeing this, Luo Wanqing drew the dagger Jiang Shaoyan had given her from her waist and handed it to Liu Xiniang: “Use this.”

“Thanks, I’ll…” Liu Xiniang pulled out the dagger, but before finishing her sentence, she froze in place.

She stared at the dagger in shock. Luo Wanqing looked at her puzzledly: “What’s wrong?”

“This dagger…” Liu Xiniang seemed to use great effort to force herself to calm down, struggling to show a smile. “Where did you get it?”

“Jiang Shaoyan gave it to me,” Luo Wanqing found it strange. “What’s wrong?”

“Is this his dagger?” Liu Xiniang continued pressing.

Luo Wanqing thought about Jiang Shaoyan’s words. She didn’t hide anything and said directly: “He said it was left to him by his master. When I found him, this dagger was always with him. Is there a problem with this dagger?”

“No.” Liu Xiniang quickly shook her head, her expression returning to normal as she explained: “I just didn’t expect you to have this thing. This dagger is different from ordinary ones. Look here,” Liu Xiniang pointed to the dagger’s tip, “its tip has a small barb. When this barb is pulled from a human body, it brings blood and flesh. Used properly, it kills with one strike. Even if not used properly, it causes pain that ordinary daggers can’t inflict. This kind of specially-made blade comes from great families. You said he’s the lost Third Prince, then his mother is the current Empress, born from the Wang clan, one of the four great families,” Liu Xiniang analyzed, lowering her eyes, saying lightly, “This should be a dagger specially made by his maternal clan.”

“Perhaps?”

Luo Wanqing didn’t care much. She only thought about how Liu Xiniang had just said this dagger would cause extreme pain, and suddenly felt a surge of satisfaction.

She had stabbed Jiang Shaoyan once.

It must have hurt terribly, right?

She didn’t reveal this twisted emotion. Liu Xiniang weighed the dagger and smiled: “It’s a pity to use it for digging walls.”

Even so, she still turned and inserted the dagger into the wall crack. After clearing out the mortar to expose the gaps, she used her fingernails to grip the top and bottom ends, pinching that stone brick and steadily extracting it.

Once the brick was removed, light immediately shone in from outside. Liu Xiniang looked through the gap to confirm no one was there, then continued removing bricks upward.

Watching her extraordinary finger strength, Luo Wanqing thought of the warm current that had flowed from Liu Xiniang’s hand in the icy water earlier, and couldn’t help feeling envious.

If only she had Liu Xiniang’s abilities, Jiang Shaoyan would already be dead under her blade.

But if she truly had Liu Xiniang’s abilities, Jiang Shaoyan probably wouldn’t have let her get close, much less let her stab him and then let her go.

He was just bullying her helplessness.

Looking at her reflection in the sewage, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but smile mockingly.

After removing the first brick, the rest became much easier.

Liu Xiniang carved out a hole big enough for a person to climb through for Luo Wanqing. As she worked, she put the bricks back to prevent discovery. By the time she was finished, it was already dusk. Liu Xiniang left one brick’s space empty for observing outside. This brick position allowed a perfect view of the essential path to the interrogation room across the way.

After finishing this work, Liu Xiniang dusted off her hands and began claiming credit: “Luo Wanqing, you’ll have to worship me from now on. No one else in this world would dig walls for you like this. This work is too exhausting – I’m never doing it again.”

“You’ve worked hard,” Luo Wanqing said, handing her the steamed bun the jailer had distributed, smiling, “If there’s a chance in the future, I’ll treat you to a meal. For now, please have a steamed bun.”

Hearing this, Liu Xiniang snatched the bun indignantly: “This was my bun in the first place!”

Luo Wanqing smiled without saying more. The two ate their buns while observing the opposite side through the brick gap.

Liu Xiniang bit into her bun and suddenly remembered: “Speaking of which, what if Xie Heng doesn’t take your case?”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing’s movements paused. She fell silent. Liu Xiniang realized she’d touched a sore spot and quickly said, “I was just talking randomly. I heard the Supervision Department is very upright – he’ll take it. Don’t worry!”

“I don’t know.”

Luo Wanqing spoke quietly, describing what seemed like her only hope: “But I heard that two years ago in Qingzhou, when a peasant woman sued Prince Guangjiang for forcibly seizing farmland, the Supervision Department handled it too. They’re all cases of injustice. Xie Heng… shouldn’t refuse to handle it, right?”

Just then, a young man’s cursing voice came from outside: “These people are all mentally ill – they won’t talk even if they die. If they keep stalling, I’ll skin them all alive!”

Hearing this voice, Liu Xiniang’s expression sharpened, and she immediately said: “They’re coming!”

Luo Wanqing and Liu Xiniang pressed together and finally saw several figures appear in the distant alley.

These people all looked young, uniformly with golden crowns binding their hair, wearing black fitted clothing, with horizontal sabers at their waists and gold-threaded white jade beads.

The white jade beads were particularly conspicuous against their black clothes, rising and falling with their movements. Liu Xiniang and Luo Wanqing crowded at the one-brick gap, each using one eye to watch these people.

“These are the Supervision Department people.” Liu Xiniang said while frantically pulling out bricks, working while urgently asking, “Which one of these crows is Xie Heng?”

Just as she finished speaking, a young man wearing a white-based blue gauze wide-sleeved crane cloak, with a white jade lotus crown on his head, appeared in Luo Wanqing’s field of vision, surrounded by the crowd.

The distance was too far for Luo Wanqing to see his features. She could only see from afar that amidst the crowd, this person stood upright with the elegant composure of a great family nurtured over centuries, his every gesture and movement carrying the grace of a solitary crane spreading its wings, like snow on mountain pines.

“Standing out like a crane among crows – it must be him!”

Liu Xiniang, beside her, pulled out the last brick, then scooped up Luo Wanqing, urging: “Go quickly!”

Luo Wanqing didn’t hesitate for a moment. Using Liu Xiniang’s strength, she climbed out of the water dungeon. As she left, Liu Xiniang pressed the dagger into her hand, whispering in her ear: “Hide it well. Stab three inches below the lower abdomen.”

Luo Wanqing didn’t understand but still followed her instructions, hiding the dagger in her sleeve. She turned and climbed over the wall, then rushed straight toward Xie Heng’s direction, opening her mouth to call urgently: “Xie…”

Before she could finish, a hand suddenly reached out from behind her, covering her mouth and urgently dragging her toward the side. She instinctively struggled, but the other party’s hands were like iron, firmly pressing her and dragging her away.

Her cloth shoes scraped against the ground as she struggled to break free. Just as she was about to be dragged into the shadows, Liu Xiniang’s words suddenly flashed through Luo Wanqing’s mind.

Three inches below the lower abdomen.

What Liu Xiniang had reminded her about was this person!

Realizing this, she flipped out the hidden dagger and unhesitatingly stabbed fiercely toward the other party’s lower abdomen, three inches down!

This strike was decisive and swift, fierce and urgent. This was precisely where the other party was completely unguarded, and she managed to stab him with one blow.

The blade entered the abdomen. The person covering her mouth groaned muffled. Fear overwhelmed Luo Wanqing. She lost control and stabbed frantically several more times. When the other party loosened his grip, she violently knocked him away, then rushed desperately toward where Xie Heng had disappeared, crying out loudly: “Master Xie!!”

Her terrified scream echoed throughout the entire prison. Xie Heng suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The watchtower’s sharp whistle pierced the night sky. The guard on the tower beat drums to summon people. All the prison guards in the entire prison heeded the call, quickly lighting torches and organizing troops to rush toward Luo Wanqing’s direction.

Xie Heng stopped and looked up in the night, seeing a woman beautiful as a demon, holding a blood-stained blade, barefoot with disheveled hair, running wildly toward him.

Her crimson wide sleeves danced and fluttered in the wind. Her face was flushed like flowers. The torches lit up the night curtain one by one following her steps. A pair of clear autumn-water eyes carried the determination of putting everything on the line, like carrying the roar of fate, rolling toward him like a torrent.

She called out urgently in her clear, beautiful voice: “This common woman, Luo Wanqing, daughter of Luo Qushu, begs Master Xie to clear her father’s name!”

“This common woman, Luo Wanqing, daughter of Luo Qushu, begs Master Xie to clear her father’s name!”

Author’s Note:

[Mini Theater]

Luo Wanqing: “Mother, I made a good friend recently.”

Yao Zelan: “Very good. With three people, there must be someone who can teach me. What did Wanqing learn from her friend?”

Luo Wanqing: “We’ve only known each other for one day, but she first taught me to fight, then taught me to dig holes in walls, then taught me to climb walls, and even taught me to kill people! It’s amazing!”

Yao Zelan: “…Break it off, Wanqing. You’re not suitable to be friends with this kind of person. Come back and study medicine, read books, and do embroidery!”

Liu Xiniang: “Huh? Auntie Yao, just look at how your daughter stabs people! She’s not suited for liberal arts – you chose the wrong major!!”

[Mini Theater 2]

Luo Wanqing: “While I was killing people, escaping, and petitioning the emperor, what were you doing as an assassin from the most powerful assassin organization?”

Liu Xiniang: “Laying bricks, sealing the wall hole so I wouldn’t be implicated.”