“What are we doing? Of course we’re going to slaughter you! We grandfathers are in the business of skinning and bone-picking. Later we’ll brutally torment you stinking wenches for several rounds, then peel off all your skin to make lanterns, and slice your meat piece by piece to feed the dogs!”

As the man spoke, he seemed to already envision that thrilling scene, laughing heartily with delight.

The bandits behind him also burst into hearty laughter.

Bingtang was so frightened her whole body went limp, yet she still forced herself to stay conscious and not faint.

Meanwhile, Nanny Lü who was supporting Cao Yuqing, upon hearing these words, finally could no longer endure it. Her eyes rolled back as she collapsed, bringing the already unconscious Cao Yuqing down with her to the ground with a muffled thud.

Seeing that although Qin Yining’s face was pale, her eyes remained calm and unperturbed—seemingly even more composed than before—and showing no trace of fear whatsoever, the man roughly slapped her cheek with his coarse hand.

“Tsk tsk, little lady, you’re not afraid at all. At least shed a few tears for us grandfathers to enjoy!”

Qin Yining turned her head to avoid the man’s hand and sneered coldly, “Don’t you good fellows just want money? If you really intended to kill, you would have done so back at the carriage. Since you didn’t kill us then, naturally you’re keeping us alive because we’re still useful. If the hostages are injured, it won’t be easy to exchange them for silver. All your efforts for this job would be wasted!”

“You little lady are quite interesting indeed! Truly worthy of being that old fox’s daughter.”

From behind, another man called out, “Why waste words with her? Just knock her out and take her back!”

Hearing this, Qin Yining immediately tensed her whole body in alert, and despite having her hands bound behind her back, she never gave up thinking about how to escape.

However, the man seemed to see through Qin Yining’s intentions. Before she could make any move, he struck her neck with a hand chop.

Qin Yining’s whole body shuddered, then she lost consciousness and collapsed limply, being hoisted over the man’s shoulder with both his arms.

Seeing this, Bingtang became anxious and struggled to flee, but her meager strength was utterly worthless before these men. She too was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground senseless.

When Qin Yining opened her eyes again, she found herself in a dimly lit room. Her nostrils were filled with the moldy smell of straw and firewood, while the damp earthen floor mixed its muddy scent with the musty odor, making her even suspect she had returned to the grass hut where she had lived with her foster mother in childhood.

Her mouth was stuffed with a torn cloth, and both her hands and feet were bound with straw rope. Looking around, she discovered she was confined in a small woodshed together with Cao Yuqing. Listening carefully, she could hear people speaking in low voices by the door, and not far away were the sounds of chickens and ducks.

Qin Yining could now be certain that this place should be a farmer’s woodshed.

She searched left and right but found neither Bingtang nor Nanny Lü. Looking at Cao Yuqing beside her, all valuable items on her person had been stripped away. Her clothing was somewhat disheveled, her pretty face deathly pale, eyes tightly closed as she lay on her side on the ground. Her mouth was similarly stuffed with torn cloth, and both her hands and feet were also bound with hemp rope.

Qin Yining felt somewhat panicked.

It seemed these people truly were kidnapping them to threaten father. All that talk about skinning and bone-picking was just to frighten them for fun.

She just didn’t know whether they wanted money or something else. If it was for silver, that would be manageable, but if these people harbored ill intentions—if they were arranged by father’s political enemies, or other scheming individuals—what they wanted to exchange for her and the others might not be simple.

Qin Yining’s heart was full of doubts and worries, yet these emotions did not affect her judgment of the environment.

The things on her person had certainly all been searched away as well; she didn’t even have a sharp tool that could be used to cut the ropes.

Moving her bound hands and feet, Qin Yining frowned in frustration.

What could she do about this?

Was she just going to sit here waiting for death?

Just at this moment, she suddenly heard a series of miscellaneous footsteps approaching the woodshed door.

Qin Yining looked outside through the irregular door cracks, vaguely able to determine that the people outside seemed to be dressed quite luxuriously, because she saw the silver thread embroidery on brocade reflecting light in the sunlight.

With a “creak,” the woodshed door was pushed open.

Qin Yining nervously watched the doorway, only to see two masked men escorting someone inside.

When she clearly saw the person in their midst, Qin Yining suddenly stared in shocked amazement, her almond eyes wide.

It was a woman.

She wore a sapphire blue素服 with silver thread embroidery, draped in a pure white cloak. Her hair, which had grown gray-white from many days of absence, was neatly arranged in a large chignon, with a white flower by her temples.

The woman approached and pulled away the torn cloth stuffing Qin Yining’s mouth.

Qin Yining stared at her blankly, murmuring, “Grandmother, how can it be you!”

The Duchess of Dingguo looked at Qin Yining with a slight smile, bending down to untie the ropes binding her hands and feet. “Yining, you’ve been wronged.”

With her hands grasped by the Duchess of Dingguo’s dry, cold hands, Qin Yining borrowed the strength to stand up, still looking at her in disbelief.

“Grandmother, what on earth is going on?”

Looking toward the people behind the Duchess of Dingguo, she asked again, “Who are those people?”

The Duchess of Dingguo continued smiling, her pair of shrewd eyes flashing with sharp light as she imperceptibly observed the expression on Qin Yining’s face, then looked toward Cao Yuqing who lay unconscious on the ground.

“Yining, do you know about the Azure Sky Alliance?”

Qin Yining’s heart jumped with a thud, then she understood something.

“Grandmother, you… this Azure Sky Alliance is a rebel party that the court will certainly execute!”

“Rebel party?” The Duchess of Dingguo laughed coldly. “I wasn’t a rebel party before, your grandfather, your cousin, your nephew were not rebel parties either—what good end did they meet?”

Qin Yining thought of the tragic deaths of all the men in the Dingguo Duke’s mansion and felt overcome with grief. She could understand the Duchess of Dingguo’s irreconcilable hatred with the foolish emperor.

But joining the Azure Sky Alliance—could that be a foolproof strategy?

The Azure Sky Alliance was a recently emerged civilian organization that intended to overthrow the foolish emperor’s tyrannical rule and return a bright blue sky to the common people. They most loved fighting injustice—wherever there were oppressed and wronged people, there would be the Azure Sky Alliance. Most common people who had been oppressed by the foolish emperor and corrupt officials eventually became alliance members.

Qin Yining originally didn’t know these things either; she only learned of them when Manager Zhong mentioned them in casual conversation. At the time, she had thought that given the foolish emperor’s incompetence, having such an organization among the people wasn’t surprising. Perhaps they could even eliminate violence, maintain peace, and act on heaven’s behalf to save some people harmed by the foolish emperor.

She just never imagined that this Azure Sky Alliance would actually be related to grandmother!

“Grandmother, could it be that during this time, you’ve been…” Qin Yining swallowed hard, saying with difficulty, “The Azure Sky Alliance—did you create it?”

The Duchess of Dingguo nodded and smiled, “Too many people in this world have been harmed by the foolish emperor. One need only raise an arm and call out, and countless persecuted people will respond.”

Taking a dagger from the hands of the man behind her, the Duchess of Dingguo placed it in Qin Yining’s hands.

“Yining, go kill this vile woman from the Cao family for grandmother.

“If not for the demon empress’s instigation back then, your eldest cousin wouldn’t have been forced to bash his brains out to prove his will, and your grandfather and the others wouldn’t have suffered the foolish emperor’s displaced anger.

“There are so many detestable people in this world—let’s start with the Cao woman!

“As long as you kill the Cao woman, you will be the alliance leader of the Azure Sky Alliance. All the power within the alliance will belong to you!”