Chapter 48

Lin Jiaojiao looked over by the dim candlelight in the dungeon and discovered that the person speaking was none other than Mo Siniang. Last time at the Dali Temple, when Pei Tiezhu had a fever, it was the crazed Mo Siniang who feigned suicide to attract the jailer's attention, calling for Song Shijie, which gave them the chance to leave the prison and buy medicine to break Pei Tiezhu's fever.

Thinking of this, she felt she owed Mo Siniang a thank you. Just as she was about to speak, Mo Siniang suddenly leaned close to the cell she was in, staring at her through the wooden bars with a pair of bulging, red eyes, "Mother yaksha, where is your little yaksha?"

As soon as the little yaksha from last time was mentioned, rustling movements and the sound of iron chains came from the women's prison.

It seemed that the female prisoners locked up here were all concerned about Zhu Geer's whereabouts. Lin Jiaojiao felt countless pairs of eyes in the darkness staring at her.

"Hahahaha, did he die? Hahahaha, was that child harmed to death?" Mo Siniang suddenly laughed maniacally, but Lin Jiaojiao clearly saw tears in her eyes.

Before Lin Jiaojiao could speak, Mo Siniang began to curse at her and shake her head while laughing, "You mother yaksha, you couldn't even protect your own child, couldn't protect him..."

For a moment, Lin Jiaojiao felt the entire women's prison was restless. She felt that those pairs of eyes contained immense killing intent, and she hurriedly said, "The child is fine, he should be back at the General's Mansion now, the wet nurse is with him."

Mo Siniang widened her eyes, looking at Lin Jiaojiao with a scrutinizing gaze, and asked in disbelief, "You mother yaksha, you really protected your own child? Hahahahaha..."

"All of you, be quiet!" At this time, the jailer came over and knocked on Mo Siniang's cell door, but Mo Siniang acted as if she were deaf and did not hear the jailer's order.

She only continued to laugh wildly, "You, who looked so weak, actually managed to save your own child and keep him safe, hahahaha, this is truly unprecedented!"

"What is wrong with her?" Seeing that Mo Siniang was crazy, Lin Jiaojiao turned to ask the jailer.

The jailer recognized her as Lin Jiaojiao, and having dealt with her before—and since she had contributed to the issue with the Japanese pirates—he had some respect for her and was willing to talk to her.

"This madwoman's own child died, and she poisoned the well, almost poisoning an entire village to death."

"Ah?!" Hearing Mo Siniang's story, Lin Jiaojiao was completely shocked.

"If it weren't for her father, the Prefect of Jiangzhou, acting as a guarantor, she would have long been taken to the Meridian Gate to be beheaded." The jailer impatiently picked his ear and flicked away some unknown substance he had dug out.

"Locked up here acting crazy all day, my ears are almost calloused. If you ask me, her father keeping her alive wasn't because he valued her life, but because he wanted her to torture us underlings every day!"

"No, why don't I understand? She is the daughter of a Prefect? And then her child died prematurely, so she poisoned the village in revenge? What does the child's premature death have to do with the village?" Lin Jiaojiao had been staying with Guo Shi every day lately and had actually developed a heart for gossip.

The jailer said, "She was originally betrothed to a good family, but was spotted and snatched away by a local tycoon who forced himself on her. After he grew tired of playing with her, he sold her to a poor, remote place where she gave birth to a child for a poor family. After that child got sick and died, she went crazy and poisoned the entire village."

"My child didn't die of sickness! My Nannan was harmed to death by those animals!!" Mo Siniang suddenly went mad and screamed, "A group of animals! While I was out looking for herbs for Nannan, they used candy to lure my 4-year-old Nannan!"

"Ahhhhh! My Nannan, her lower body was bleeding non-stop, her originally delicate body was tortured until there wasn't a single good spot left..."

"When she passed away in my arms, she kept crying and saying, 'Mother, it hurts so much'..."

As Mo Siniang spoke, two lines of blood and tears flowed from her eyes, "Why don't they die, why can't they be poisoned to death..."

Even Lin Jiaojiao, upon hearing the full story of the case, felt sad for the little girl she had never met, and at the same time hated those animals who bullied children, "Worse than animals!"

The female prisoners here all quieted down; even though each of them bore cases of various sizes, none could bear to hear such a tragic story.

Mo Siniang did not expect anyone to join her in cursing. She was stunned for a moment and then muttered, "Yes, why can't they be poisoned to death? Hell is empty, the devils are among us..."

"Hahahaha, I want to be that devil, I want to be that devil..." Suddenly she began to laugh maniacally again, and as she laughed, she began to sing a lullaby, "Good Nannan, good baby, sleep quickly, grow up quickly..."

"Hey, she's just a lunatic. By the way, Miss Lin, how did you get locked up again this time?" The jailer was actually a bit curious about Lin Jiaojiao being locked up again, "I heard that Lord Song was saved by you..."

At the mention of this, Lin Jiaojiao felt indignant and clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white: "It's all because of that corrupt official, that corrupt official called Lord Xu!"

"Shh!" The jailer hurriedly told her to stop, "You can't curse our Lord Xu like that. He is the highest official in our Dali Temple. Be careful if he finds out—crack!" He said, gesturing a beheading motion.

In the jailer's eyes, that person named Xu Xiao was definitely someone not to be trifled with!

But if Lin Jiaojiao had the chance to walk out of this prison, she would be determined to provoke him!

It would be best if she could make him so overwhelmed that he was driven mad!

"Corrupt official, corrupt official, corrupt official!!!" Lin Jiaojiao cursed even more fiercely.

Seeing the hatred in her eyes, the jailer knew he had talked too much and could only "slip away": Forget it, forget it, she is just a female prisoner, it's not worth it for him to talk so much with her.

Meanwhile, in the Dali Temple, Xu Xiao, who was flipping through case files, felt his ears move inexplicably.

As if he had thought of something, he stood up and walked to the room where Song Shijie usually lived, taking down a case file from a dusty shelf.

Just as he was about to open it, he noticed the fingerprints on it!

This case file had been looked at by someone else recently!

He compared his fingers to the prints and realized the prints were not a man's, nor did they look like Song Shijie's. The more he looked, the more they resembled a woman's fingerprints.

He called his subordinates and asked about the situation from the past few days. Upon learning that Lin Jiaojiao had stayed in this room, his brows furrowed: Could it be...

Xu Xiao walked out of the room and called out in a low voice toward the courtyard, "Wu Jia, Wu Yi, Wu Bing, Wu Ding, it is time to execute the mission."

With a few 'whoosh' sounds, people jumped down from the roof, jumped down from the rafters, walked out from behind trees, and leaped out from the shadows in an instant. Before they appeared, these places seemed empty, and no one in the Dali Temple had ever noticed the existence of these four people.

These four came before Xu Xiao and knelt in unison to report, "My Lord, what mission do you have for us to execute?"

Xu Xiao stood with his hands behind his back, looking at these four loyal followers, and ordered in a clear voice, "Wu Jia, Wu Yi, you go and re-investigate the Wang Ye case. Find all relevant personnel, interrogate them again in detail, and see if there are any survivors of the Wang clan from those years, especially—" Xu Xiao emphasized, "especially those servants who left the mansion in the early years."

"Yes!" The two knelt and responded crisply, "This subordinate will dig three feet into the ground if necessary to find these people."

"Keep the lives of these people for now; perhaps one day they will be useful—" Xu Xiao pondered for a moment and finally waved his hand, "Go, report the news to me within a week."

"As you command!" After bowing, the two walked away quickly and left the Dali Temple.

"Wu Bing, Wu Ding, you go and investigate the assassination case at the Dali Temple. The Emperor attaches great importance to this case, and you must submit a satisfactory investigation result."

"Yes! This subordinate understands!" The remaining two saluted crisply, leaped onto the roof, and disappeared into the night.

Finally, Xu Xiao returned to the room, sat in the chair, and by the candlelight, opened the case file and began to read it carefully again.