After putting down his chopsticks, Gu Qianying looked at Ouyang Qinglin. "The Imperial Preceptor's favorite foods are indeed special."
Her words were laced with mockery.
Ouyang Qinglin smiled, holding his wine cup without drinking. "Miss Gu flatters me. Compared to these, I seem to prefer eating those that are steaming hot, bloody, and still alive and kicking. Their taste is truly unforgettable, leaving one with lingering desire. Miss Gu, you may try some with me."
As he spoke,
The eunuch accompanying Ouyang Qinglin brought over a steaming jade basin. When it was placed on the table, a hissing sound emanated from within.
Gu Qianying glanced over coldly, her pupils contracting.
It was a newborn cub, barely out of its mother's womb, being scalded by hot water and crying out in pain. A little monkey.
"Imperial Preceptor, I have matters to attend to. I shall take my leave."
Gu Qianying stood up, intending to depart.
Although she was ruthless, she could not bring herself to eat a newborn monkey alive.
"Miss Gu, your severely injured maidservant, does she require my expensive medicinal herbs to prolong her life? If Miss Gu does not care for this person's life, then there is no need to trouble yourself here."
With those words,
Gu Qianying sat back down in her original seat.
Her tightly clenched fists beneath her sleeves struggled to suppress the rage within her.
She curved her lips into a smile. "I will have to trouble the Imperial Preceptor further."
She had made a compromise.
The screaming little monkey cub was mercilessly skinned by Ouyang Qinglin's eunuch, its brain directly scooped out, and presented to Gu Qianying, bloody and dripping.
"Miss Gu, please partake."
Gu Qianying glanced coldly at the person before her. The moment she released her clenched fist, she flicked her finger, sending a colorless and odorless smoke into the eunuch's nostrils. As she took the monkey brain from the eunuch, he collapsed, convulsing all over.
The bloody monkey brain entered Gu Qianying's mouth. She swallowed it without chewing, her brows furrowing. However, upon glancing at the little eunuch lying on the ground, convulsing and frothing at the mouth, her mood immediately improved. Her voice, previously cold, softened. "Imperial Preceptor, what is wrong with your little eunuch? Could it be he has contracted epilepsy?"
"Heh!"
Ouyang Qinglin's lips still held a sinister smile. He casually flicked his sleeve, and the little eunuch lying on the ground, still frothing at the mouth, instantly stopped moving, his life extinguished.
"Forgive me for letting Miss Gu see this. Such a useless person is of no use."
Ouyang Qinglin had seen Gu Qianying's subtle actions, but he uttered this veiled remark.
Gu Qianying chuckled. "The Imperial Preceptor speaks wisely." She stood up, picked up a cup of wine, and approached Ouyang Qinglin. "In that case, I wish us a pleasant cooperation from now on." She tilted her head back and drank the wine in one gulp.
Gu Qianying not only compromised but also revealed her intentions.
Ouyang Qinglin's actions today had achieved the desired outcome. She had complied, otherwise, she likely would not have left this place so easily today!
Ouyang Qinglin burst into laughter. At this point, he had also revealed his intentions. He drank the wine in his cup in one gulp. "Miss Gu speaks truly. From now on, I wish us a pleasant cooperation."
This "Hongmen Banquet" at the restaurant thus concluded.
Ouyang Qinglin, having obtained his desired outcome, swaggered away with his subordinates.
Gu Qianying remained in the guise of an ordinary man. While she was branded as the "Imperial Preceptor's favored male concubine," she also died tragically under the Imperial Preceptor Ouyang Qinglin's wrath.
Among the common folk, some even envied this concubine's fortune, but soon others felt pity for this person.
After Ouyang Qinglin and his entourage departed, Gu Qianying also left, adopting a different, ordinary identity.
However, she never noticed that as she left, a shadow, hiding far away to avoid revealing itself, also departed.
After several detours, the person arrived at the Ninth Prince's mansion, scaled the wall, and then disappeared without a trace.
Gu Qianying did not rush to reunite with Duan Xifeng and the others after leaving the restaurant.
Half an incense stick later, she returned to the servants' quarters.
At this moment, due to the day's events, the innkeeper, unwilling to cause trouble, had already closed the main doors and hung up a "Closed for Business" wooden sign.
Gu Qianying scaled the wall and entered, proceeding to the backyard on the second floor.
The women who had been sold here were still confined in iron cages. Some were severely injured and unconscious, others were naked, their eyes vacant, their bodies covered in marks of abuse. A few seemed to have accepted their current fate, huddled in a corner, dozing off.
Gu Qianying, her face covered, walked over, opened all four iron cages placed on the ground, and then took out all the silver from her purse.
"You must leave quickly."
The women were greatly shocked, and even the sleeping ones woke up.
"Thank you, heroine."
The women, clutching the silver, fled the scene.
To flee as far as possible, or if unable to escape, to become beggars in the capital was better than staying here. This place was their nightmare.
After releasing the women from the iron cages, Gu Qianying quietly slipped out of the servants' quarters.
As her retreating figure gradually disappeared, a raging fire engulfed the entire servants' quarters.
"Help! Fire! Quickly, someone help! The innkeeper is dead!"
The fourth watch arrived, and the fifth watch was imminent.
Gu Qianying returned alone to the thatched cottage in the suburbs.
Upon her return, she had changed out of her male attire, removed her human skin mask, revealing her original appearance.
"Disciple, you're finally back. Hurry, quickly! If you didn't come any sooner, the lady inside would have started throwing things again."
Old Man Bai paced back and forth outside the thatched cottage, anxiously wringing his hands.
Inside, besides tables and chairs, there were also some rare and valuable medicinal herbs, quite precious.
In contrast to Old Man Bai's urgency, Duan Xifeng, leaning nearby, appeared indifferent. "It's just some expensive medicinal herbs. If they're smashed, they're smashed. What's there to regret? Humph!" He pulled out the wine gourd hanging from his waist, opened it, and took a long drink. Old Man Bai punched him, and Duan Xifeng's潇洒 drinking posture instantly broke. "Old Man Bai, what are you doing?"
"I'll beat you to death, you guy who only speaks sarcastically!"
The two began to wrestle. Gu Qianying walked past them, long accustomed to the antics between Old Man Bai and Duan Xifeng.
She pushed open the door and was met with a face that was both unfamiliar and extremely beautiful, with eyebrows like verdant mountains and a face blooming with spring, alluring and captivating.
"Clang!" Several sounds followed.
Tea cups and jade plates fell and shattered, leaving the floor in disarray.
Gu Qianying moved closer. The woman who was wildly smashing things suddenly looked at her, her terrified eyes now filled with intense hatred.
"Gu Qianying! It was you, you slut, who saved me! You..."
A gust of wind swept through.
Gu Qianying's footsteps blurred. She grabbed the woman's neck with one hand, interrupting her unfinished words. Her voice was clear and cold. "Lan Qingqing, is this how you treat your savior? Do you want to die again!"