Chapter 100: Infiltration

Dongfang Qi thought for a moment and handed his personal Censorate Seal to Xie Shouzheng:

"The entire bureaucratic apparatus of Donglin Prefecture cannot be trusted. Even the Xuanjing Division branch here, it's hard to say if they have accepted bribes. For safety's sake, take this seal and, in the capacity of a Censorate Inspector from the imperial court, go see the Northern Border Regional Military Governor and ask him to send troops to purge the officialdom of Donglin Prefecture."

The Northern Border Regional Military Governor had 80,000 troops under his command and was an upright person. Most importantly, he was Dongfang Qi's maternal uncle and could be trusted!

Xie Shouzheng was still a bit worried: "Young Master, the interests involved here are too great. Once they smell something, they will inevitably fight to the death. Why don't we leave together?"

Dongfang Qi shook his head, his eyes shining brightly in the dark night: "In our Great Qi territory, there is actually such a sinful thing; I must see everything behind the scenes with my own eyes. Only then will this trip not be in vain! As for my safety..."

He smiled lightly: "Don't worry, your young master is not as fragile as you think."

His mind was made up. Xie Shouzheng knew that persuasion was useless, so he repeatedly urged Lin Qingyue: "Young Lady, please be sure to take good care of the young master. It takes two days to go to the Northern Border and back; I will return as soon as possible!"

After saying this, he bowed solemnly to Lin Qingyue and then left without looking back.

And Lin Qingyue, after he left, locked the prison cell door again and waited to see what would happen.

A whole night passed, and by the next morning, the prison cell door opened again. A short, fat middle-aged woman walked in, followed by several burly thugs.

The woman's gaze swept over Lin Qingyue, Dongfang Qi, and Hong Yao in turn, and she smiled with satisfaction:

"Truly a rare beauty, it's a pity that a pearl is covered in dust. If you dress up well, you will definitely be stunning—consider yourselves lucky, come with me."

Lin Qingyue gave Hong Yao a look. Hong Yao understood and immediately cried and said: "Where are you taking us? Let me go home, I still have to find my husband who has been missing for many years."

"The old doesn't go, the new doesn't come; you will have many husbands in the future. Walk obediently, so you don't have to suffer."

The thugs behind immediately drew their sticks and scolded: "Walk! If you talk nonsense again, I'll break your bones first!"

And so, Lin Qingyue and her group walked out of the prison cell timidly.

The door of the prison cell opposite also opened. The guard who was knocked down last night was still confused, and part of his memory was interfered with, so he didn't remember what happened before.

The people here were divided into two parts; all the men were taken away to mine. The women were assigned to the fat woman, and they merged into a team with Lin Qingyue and the others.

This pair had a total of eight people, and Dongfang Qi was the only man, which was a bit awkward.

"Why didn't you send me to mine?" He originally wanted to see with his own eyes how those miners were exploited.

He never expected that he would be rejected.

The fat woman smiled and said: "You look good, so you don't need to mine. Be smarter in the future, and you will have good days ahead."

Dongfang Qi: "..."

Under the leadership of the fat woman and the surveillance of the guards and thugs, they walked past the mine and saw the huge mine pit where thousands of miners were working hard.

Some were carrying stones, others were hammering hard.

Everyone was thin and bony, their eyes numb, and those who were a little slow would be whipped hard by the overseer.

Above the mine pit, wooden stakes were erected. At first, they didn't know what they were for. When they got closer, they realized that each wooden stake was tied with a person.

Some were still breathing, their throats making hoarse sounds: "Water... water..."

Others could no longer be called human, having completely become dried corpses, being pecked at by vultures.

There were timid women in the team who screamed in fear.

The fat woman was used to it, and at this moment she could still joke lightly: "These are the specialties of the mine, air-dried bacon. Those who don't listen and want to escape, or don't work hard enough, are tied to the pillars and slowly boiled to death, then eaten by vultures. Look at those vultures, they are so smart, knowing there is plenty of food here, they circle here every day."

As soon as this was said, two women were scared to the point of fainting on the spot.

The fat woman glared unhappily: "Can't take it already? How will you toss and turn in the future? Wake them up. If you dare to faint again, you will be tied to the pillars to feed the vultures!"

Hong Yao whispered: "When humans kill each other, they are truly not as good as us beasts!"

After walking past the mining field that looked like a hell on earth, and turning to another small hillside, the surrounding scenery suddenly became completely different.

Lush trees, exquisite courtyards, beautiful buildings, it seemed like they had arrived in a paradise on earth.

Even the guards guarding this area were neatly dressed and handsome.

Under the leadership of the fat woman, they walked past small bridges and flowing water, passed through corridors, and walked into a magnificent hall.

The fat woman greeted: "Take the men to the Nanfeng Pavilion, and the women to the Baihua Building. And these two..."

Her gaze fell on Lin Qingyue and Hong Yao: "Such beautiful faces, that noble person should be satisfied, right? Take them to Doctor Wang, and tell Doctor Wang to be careful when cutting, don't kill them again."

Cutting? Could it be...

Dongfang Qi was a bit worried, and Lin Qingyue gave him a look.

He nodded and whispered a word of caution: "Be careful, if there is danger, be sure to protect yourself."

And so, the people who came in one batch were divided into three directions.

Lin Qingyue and Hong Yao were taken to another small courtyard together.

As soon as they walked into the courtyard, they smelled a strong medicinal scent. Several servants were busy, drying herbs, boiling medicine, and someone was sharpening a knife, "Chacha—chacha—"

It looked like a medical clinic?

An old man with a face full of pockmarks walked out from inside, looking at the newcomers with sinister and indifferent eyes.

"Doctor Wang, today there are two very good girls, the madam ordered you to be careful when cutting, don't kill them again."

That Doctor Wang snorted coldly: "Did I kill them? I said, they need to rest for a day or two after surgery, it's you who are too anxious, can you blame me?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Don't blame you, don't blame you!"

This Doctor Wang seemed to have some status here, and those guards were very polite to him.

After Lin Qingyue and Hong Yao arrived here, they were led to the room.

Doctor Wang washed his hands clean, walked in, and asked: "You two, who goes first?"

Lin Qingyue asked: "You haven't said yet, what are you going to do to us?"

Doctor Wang's gaze fell on Lin Qingyue, and he sighed in admiration: "Your eyes are truly beautiful. It's a pity, recently those nobles have become accustomed to beautiful eyes, and instead changed their tastes to like blind women. So, I need to get a batch of blind and beautiful ones for the guests to play with." ===== CHAPTER 101 =====