Ruan Jiu opened her eyes again.
She found herself no longer in the dungeon.
Her head ached badly.
"Miss, are you awake?"
Hearing the voice, Ruan Jiu looked up.
She saw an old woman in ragged clothes and extremely thin standing quietly aside.
Ruan Jiu stared intently, carefully observing the surrounding environment. She found the room was in a state of disrepair, and she was lying on a straw mat.
She immediately propped herself up and sat up, asking, "Where is this?"
The old woman explained, "This is the west of the city."
The west of the city?
Ruan Jiu's eyes widened in surprise.
Liang Jingzhuo actually sent her to the west of the city.
"Miss, don't be afraid. I'm not a bad person," the old woman said quickly when she saw the panic in Ruan Jiu's eyes.
Then the old woman continued, "It was that scoundrel Liang Jingzhuo who threw you in here."
Ruan Jiu frowned tightly. It seemed that Liang Jingzhuo was afraid she would ruin his plans, so he was going to kill her to cover his tracks.
So, Ruan Jiu asked, "Granny, why did Liang Jingzhuo lock you up here?"
Ruan Jiu only knew that Liang Jingzhuo said these people were those who had defied him. As for the reason, she needed to find out first.
"Miss, just call me Granny Zhou."
Granny Zhou let out a long sigh. "We are all villagers from Xiling Village, and Xiling Village is the poorest place in the whole Shuo Prefecture. At first, we were very grateful to Liang Jingzhuo and thought he was a great benefactor who often helped us poor people.
But later, we accidentally discovered that the poverty of Xiling Village was actually caused by Liang Jingzhuo. He poisoned our land, making us have no harvest and often go hungry.
After all, if there were no poor people like us, how could he show his self - lessness and portray himself as a great benefactor?
After we found out, we went to argue with him. Unexpectedly, he locked us all up and lied that we had contracted a plague."
Ruan Jiu frowned. "Wasn't it said that thousands of people had died of the plague?"
Granny Zhou sneered. "This is just Liang Jingzhuo's excuse to deal with the court."
Ruan Jiu still didn't understand. "But what about those people who really got the plague?"
Granny Zhou explained, "There were indeed people in the city infected with the plague. In order to sell the medicinal materials to the rich at a high price, Liang Jingzhuo deliberately brought the plague to Shuo Prefecture and then exaggerated it, causing panic among the people in the city."
No wonder Li Wu said that the medicinal materials she brought from the capital were only for the rich.
"Granny Zhou, didn't you ever think about escaping?"
Granny Zhou shook her head, looking helpless. "We can't escape. Over the years, only the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled are left in Xiling Village. How can we fight against those officers and soldiers?"
Ruan Jiu frowned tightly.
It seemed that Liang Jingzhuo wanted to starve all the people in Xiling Village to death here during this plague.
In this way, no one would know what he had done.
How insidious and vicious!
"Miss, although I don't know how you offended that scoundrel Liang Jingzhuo, now that you're locked up here, you're doomed to be unable to escape," Granny Zhou said while shaking her head helplessly, her eyes full of pity.
"No, Granny Zhou. Believe me, we will definitely be able to get out!" Ruan Jiu's eyes were firm.
She believed that as long as Xie Jingchu found out she was missing.
With Xie Jingchu's intelligence, he would surely find her!
After she got out, she would expose Liang Jingzhuo's crimes to the public!
Just then, there was a commotion outside.
A seven - or eight - year - old child ran in.
He exclaimed, "Granny, it's bad! They're going to set fire to us!"
What?
Ruan Jiu was stunned.
"A Niu, what did you say?" Granny Zhou's body went limp, and her voice trembled.
A Niu had lost all hope of survival. He lowered his head and said, "Granny, are we really going to be burned to death?"
Ruan Jiu stood up abruptly.
She immediately walked outside.
Sure enough, as soon as she stepped out of the door, she smelled the stench of kerosene.
Was it because of her that Liang Jingzhuo couldn't wait to kill them all?
The heart - rending cries made Ruan Jiu feel even more depressed.
"Please let us out!"
"We don't want to die!"
"We're not sick! Let us out!"
...
Suddenly, a column of black smoke rose in the distance.
Even the surrounding air became a bit warmer.
What should they do?
Were they really going to die here?
A sense of fear welled up in her heart.
No, she had to calm down!
She calmed herself down and carefully observed the surrounding environment.
The heavy fences seemed to separate the west of the city from Shuo Prefecture. How on earth could they escape!
But why did Liang Jingzhuo suddenly order to set fire? Wouldn't Xiao Wang be suspicious?
As the crown prince, would he just let Liang Jingzhuo burn the common people?
Or did Xiao Wang simply not know about it.
If so, the situation would be even worse.
Seeing the fire getting bigger and bigger, the rolling smoke choked the people's noses and mouths, causing them to cough.
Ruan Jiu looked up at the raging fire.
She decided to take a risk.
Thinking of this, Ruan Jiu turned around, tightly grasped A Niu's shoulders, and said seriously, "If you still want to live, go and call some people immediately and find more branches."
Hearing this, A Niu nodded seriously.
After a while, A Niu brought a lot of people over and put the branches in front of Ruan Jiu.
Although they were all just kids, there were a lot of them.
Then, Ruan Jiu tore off a piece of her skirt, ripped it into small strips, and tied them to the branches to make something like arrows.
Although A Niu didn't know what Ruan Jiu was doing, he understood that she wanted to save everyone.
So he shouted to the others, "Stop crying! Come and help quickly!"
The others also knew that crying their eyes out was of no use in this situation. Liang Jingzhuo wanted their lives.
So they stopped crying and began to tear their clothes into small strips like Ruan Jiu.
Ruan Jiu looked at the arrows they had made and seemed to think it wasn't enough.
She then tore off her sleeve, bit her finger, and wrote the words "Help" on it in blood.
After tying the blood - written sleeve to the arrowhead, Ruan Jiu resolutely picked up the arrow and walked forward.
For a moment, the thick smoke made it hard for her to open her eyes.
"Miss, come back quickly! It's dangerous ahead!"
Seeing Ruan Jiu about to step into the sea of fire, Granny Zhou shouted continuously.
Ruan Jiu didn't care that her eyes were streaming with tears. She pulled the arrow with all her might.
But unfortunately, the wound on her wrist hadn't healed yet, so the arrow didn't have enough strength. It didn't pass through the heavy fences as she had hoped for the people outside to see.
Instead, it fell in mid - air.
Ruan Jiu stepped back and said to A Niu, "What are you standing there for? Shoot these arrows out quickly!"
This raging fire would surely attract Xiao Wang and Xie Jingchu's attention.
As long as she could pass the message inside, they still had a glimmer of hope for survival.
The people behind also understood Ruan Jiu's intention. They all imitated her and rushed into the sea of fire with the arrows in their hands.
One arrow after another, carrying the hope of everyone inside, broke through the sea of fire and flew straight out.
Ruan Jiu looked up at the sky.
She silently prayed in her heart, asking all the gods and Buddhas.
You must see this!