"Father, you know about Gu poison?" Zhuang Kexin covered her mouth, her eyes wide with shock, and whispered. As the daughter of Minister Zhuang, she had never realized that her father knew about Gu poison in more than ten years.
Minister Zhuang's gaze darkened, and he did not answer. His sharp eyes quickly swept over the four jailers: "Go back and tell your master that he thanks you!" His family had been caught red-handed, and no matter who pleaded for them, they would not escape death. Disguising themselves and escaping was the best course of action.
"Change of shifts! Change of shifts!" Shouts came from outside the door. Minister Zhuang's gaze darkened, and he strode out. Zhuang Weicheng carried Zhuang Kexin on his back and followed closely behind, with Madam Zhuang also hurrying after him.
Zhuang Kexin, clinging to Zhuang Weicheng's back, looked at her father striding ahead, her eyes filled with curiosity and doubt. Her father was truly powerful; he had actually managed to find a scapegoat to get them out of prison. The person who helped them must be a high-ranking official; otherwise, how could he have gotten through the many connections in the Shuntian Prefecture prison...
Several night guards walked over to Minister Zhuang and his three companions, their smiling eyes landing on Zhuang Weicheng and Zhuang Kexin. Zhuang Kexin was startled and quickly lowered her head, her heart pounding. She kept praying, "Please don't discover me, please don't expose me!"
"Hey, what's going on here? Why are you carrying them out?" The jailers surrounded them, leering as they looked Zhuang Weicheng and Zhuang Kexin up and down.
"I say, you've had too much to drink!" a prison guard joked with a laugh.
"In my opinion, he probably had an affair with the female prisoners in jail. He did it too much, his legs went weak, and he couldn't walk anymore, so he had to be carried..."
The jailers were usually quite bored, but when they encountered such a strange event, they all came to watch the spectacle. They speculated about it one after another, and burst into laughter. Before they knew it, there were so many people that they blocked the exit!
Lewd laughter echoed in her ears. Zhuang Kexin was extremely anxious but helpless. She was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, pacing around in circles: her way was blocked. If she forced her way in, she would be exposed. But if she didn't force her way in, what would happen if the prison guards recognized her?
The cacophony of sounds assaulted his eardrums. Zhuang Weicheng frowned deeply, his large hand clenching into a fist. His eyes flashed with cold light, and anger filled his entire gaze.
Looking at the layers upon layers of prison guards surrounding her, Madam Zhuang was extremely anxious. She frequently looked at Minister Zhuang for help, as they were about to be released from prison. If their identities were discovered, their escape plan would be ruined.
Minister Zhuang's gaze darkened, and he said calmly, "Brothers, he was drunk, fell and injured himself, and hasn't received any medical treatment yet..."
"So that's what happened! You should have said so sooner!" The surrounding jailers were taken aback, then quickly stepped back to make way: "Get him to the doctor immediately!"
"Thank you!" Minister Zhuang said with a light laugh, then took his wife's arm and walked forward, with Zhuang Weicheng carrying Zhuang Kexin on his back and quickly following behind.
The chaotic, lewd laughter faded into the distance, and the prison gates were now almost within reach. Zhuang Kexin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, she hadn't been recognized. No, the prison guards met regularly and must know each other. The appearance of these four strangers must have alerted them. The reason they hadn't exposed them was because they had also been bribed...
Zhuang Kexin narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, filled with curiosity about the person behind their rescue. Who was that person who had thought of everything so thoroughly?
A cold wind blew by, and Zhuang Kexin subconsciously tightened her clothes. Looking up, she saw that they had left the prison. In the black sky, the bright stars twinkled, looking very lovely.
Zhuang Kexin was incredibly excited. She was out! She had finally escaped that dark and hopeless prison!
Night is the best camouflage. When Shen Lixue and Dongfang Heng arrived outside the prison, they heard a commotion inside. They quietly hid in a large tree. The tree's lush foliage concealed their figures, and outsiders could not see them unless they looked closely.
A moment later, four jailers came out, two tall and two petite, one of whom was being carried on someone's back.
“Those four people, they must be Minister Zhuang’s family!” Zhuang Kexin’s features were so distinctive that Shen Lixue recognized her at a glance.
“That’s right!” Dongfang Heng nodded, his dark eyes unfathomable.
The guards outside the prison were very strict, with a sentry every three steps and a sentry every five steps. Zhuang Shangshu and his three companions were dressed in prison guard uniforms, and it was time for the changing of the guard, so no one questioned them. The four of them carefully and steadily moved forward. The wooden bars were just a stone's throw away, and all four of them were overjoyed. Once they got out of here, they would be free!
"This family of four is quite something, managing to escape by disguising themselves as prison guards!" Shen Lixue's lips curled into a faint smile, subtle yet unsettling. They thought they could get away with it, but it wouldn't be that easy.
Her thin lips parted slightly, about to speak, when a large hand tightly covered her mouth, silencing the words she wanted to utter.
Shen Lixue frowned slightly, pulled down the stinky hand, and glared fiercely at Dongfang Heng: "What are you doing?"
Dongfang Heng stared at the brightly lit prison gate, his dark eyes unfathomable: "You don't need to lift a finger; others won't let them off the hook!"
Shen Lixue frowned, about to ask the reason, when a scream suddenly came from the silent prison: "Something terrible has happened! Someone has escaped by impersonating a prison guard..."
The exclamations echoed through the clouds, startling all the guards. Regaining their senses, they ordered Minister Zhuang, who was about to step out of the wooden fence, "You four, state your names!"
After recovering from their shock, Minister Zhuang and his three companions exchanged glances and quickly ran towards the railing. They were about to escape and were not about to be foolish enough to go back and take on the two serious crimes of assassinating the emperor and escaping from prison.
"Stop!" The four men had fled, revealing their identities. The guards roared and thrust their longswords at Zhuang Weicheng, who was closest to them.
Zhuang Weicheng smiled coldly, dodged the guard's attack by sidestepping, and struck the guard in the chest with a palm. The guard instantly coughed up blood and flew backward, knocking down several guards who came after him. However, the prison was heavily guarded. The moment Zhuang Weicheng and his companions paused, countless guards surged out from all directions and surrounded the four of them.
Zhuang Weicheng's eyes turned cold. He snatched a sword from a guard and began to fight the jailers with his martial arts. Minister Zhuang also grabbed a sword and waved it wildly, making people afraid to approach. At this point, they had no way out. If they fought to the death to escape, there might be a sliver of hope. If they were caught, they would surely die.
Zhuang Kexin trembled with fear, clinging tightly to Zhuang Weicheng's neck. Madam Zhuang also hid behind Minister Zhuang, anxiously watching the entire battlefield!
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow, her cold gaze growing increasingly intense: "As expected, someone deliberately plotted against us!"
Minister Zhuang has been in the imperial court for a long time and must know many of his colleagues' secrets. In the case of the Gu worm, he was sentenced to have his entire family executed. To prevent him from making a desperate move and revealing past secrets, some people wanted to kill him to silence him.
"Ahhh..." A series of screams rang out. Shen Lixue looked up and saw Zhuang Weicheng with bloodshot eyes, rapidly swinging his long sword. Blood splattered wherever he went, and the guards fell to the ground dead one after another.
As the number of guards dwindled and they could no longer stop Minister Zhuang and his three companions from escaping, and before the Shuntian Prefecture officials and their reinforcements arrived, Shen Lixue was pondering whether to capture Minister Zhuang when a series of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded.
Shen Lixue glanced to the side and saw a cold-faced middle-aged man in armor riding a fine horse galloping towards them from not far away. Behind him followed a large group of guards, also in armor and carrying spears and bows. The procession was so powerful that the ground shook and smoke billowed everywhere.
"Someone is trying to escape! Surround them! Don't let them get away!" At the middle-aged man's command, the soldiers and guards quickly dispersed and tightly surrounded the prison. In unison, they drew their bows and nocked their arrows, the black feathered arrows gleaming with a cold, eerie light, and aimed them at Minister Zhuang and his three companions!
Looking at the somewhat familiar face of the middle-aged man, a name immediately came to mind: "He is..."
“Lei Hong, the son of Grand Commandant Lei!” Dongfang Heng’s face was cold, his sharp eyes fixed on Lei Hong, who was sitting on his horse.
Minister Zhuang also noticed that the visitor was Lei Hong. His gaze darkened, and his face turned terribly gloomy: "Don't fire the arrows, I have something to say!"
Lei Hong's gaze was arrogant, and he scoffed disdainfully, "Trying to stall for time and find a chance to escape? I won't fall for it. Fire the arrows!"
In an instant, countless black arrows flew towards Minister Zhuang and his three companions. Shen Lixue tried to stop them, but it was too late. Madam Zhuang and Minister Zhuang were instantly pierced by the dense arrows. The powerful force sent the two flying backward, crashing them hard against the solid wall. Blood stained their clothes instantly.
Both men were covered in arrows, looking like two human-bodied hedgehogs from a distance. Their eyes were wide open and bloodshot. Their mouths twitched, and two streams of blood flowed from the corners of their mouths, slowly sliding down. They reluctantly breathed their last, their lifeless eyes glaring fiercely in Lei Hong's direction.
"Father, Mother!" Zhuang Weicheng was skilled in martial arts. He swung his long sword and knocked away the arrows. Zhuang Kexin, who was on his back, did not know martial arts and did not cut the arrows. She witnessed the entire process of the deaths of Minister Zhuang and his wife. Their shrill screams echoed throughout most of the prison. In the dark night, they were particularly eerie and successfully attracted Lei Hong's attention.
Watching Zhuang Weicheng deftly swing his arrow, Lei Hong smiled coldly, took a bow and arrow from a guard, nocked the bowstring, and aimed at Zhuang Weicheng.
The deadly arrow shot out, heading straight for Zhuang Weicheng's heart. Zhuang Weicheng keenly sensed the danger and, without thinking, quickly pulled Zhuang Kexin from his back to shield him.