The tea in the cup on the table swayed back and forth, and Jiang Shouzhu couldn’t concentrate on her book.
The distraction wasn’t the carriage’s rocking.
Jiang Shouzhu held the book just for show; she was watching the other person in the carriage.
Ying Wutu lay in the carriage, covered with a blanket, eyes closed, still trembling.
Earlier, the military doctor had checked on him, saying his trembling was due to his injuries, high fever, and fright.
By the afternoon, the snowstorm had gradually lessened.
Ying Wutu slowly opened his eyes. He saw the carriage’s ceiling, its luxurious interior, then moved his gaze to the window lattice, the swaying curtain tassels, and finally to the thick blanket covering him…
It was the wicked woman’s blanket!
He recognized it!
“Awake?” Jiang Shouzhu finally put down the book she hadn’t turned a page of, took a sip of tea, letting the fragrant liquid roll on her tongue before swallowing.
Ying Wutu suddenly remembered something. He coughed and asked breathlessly, “Where… where are we going? They… did you really…”
“Don’t move.” Jiang Shouzhu saw him struggling to get up. This little rabbit was truly resilient, moving even in his state. He was lucky to be alive, and she decided she couldn’t bully him so harshly again; she might really kill him.
“Please, spare them. I truly know I was wrong. I didn’t mean to resist; it all happened too suddenly. I’ll do it now, I promise I won’t bite again. Please…”
Ying Wutu tumbled off the couch and fell onto the floor of the carriage. His upper body was still unclothed, and leaving the warmth of the blanket, he shivered from the cold. Ignoring it, he struggled to sit up and kneeled to Jiang Shouzhu, hugging her leg with bruised arms. He tried to continue pleading, but a cough interrupted him.
His coughing was so intense, it seemed it might shake the carriage apart.
But Jiang Shouzhu’s carriage was specially made, impervious even to catapults.
“So obedient?” Jiang Shouzhu looked down at the kneeling man hugging her leg. She could feel his softness as he rubbed his upper body against her. She smiled and warned, “If you rub your wounds open and get blood on me, what do you think will happen?”
“N-no more rubbing… Please… Spare them…”
It was still daylight outside, and Ying Wutu, having been unconscious, didn’t know it was already afternoon, and the carriage had traveled far.
“Spare them? But they’ve already been buried alive. What? Do you want to go dig them up?”
Hearing this, Ying Wutu released her leg and seemed ready to jump out and dig.
But as he opened the carriage door and before he could jump, his ankle was grabbed.
He cried out in pain, as his ankle was also injured from being chafed by chains.
“Trying to die? You’d really jump out? The carriage has traveled fifty li, and with your legs, even if you walked back, they’d already be dead. Ying Wutu, this is the price of your disobedience. They died because of you. If you had obeyed, they wouldn’t be dead. So remember, this is all your fault.”
Jiang Shouzhu pulled him back and quickly chained his wrists and ankles to the carriage.
Now Ying Wutu’s movement was even more restricted.
He sat dazedly on the floor, like a soulless puppet, allowing Jiang Shouzhu to do as she pleased.
“Stunned? At least put on your clothes. If you freeze again, I’ll throw you out.” Jiang Shouzhu took clothes from the Fifth Prince and threw them at Ying Wutu’s head.
These clothes were thicker than the previous ones.
After all, Ying Wutu was ill.
“Did you really… kill them all?” Ying Wutu’s voice was low, murmuring each word with trembling.
“Not all of them were killed. I kept a thousand to use as leverage against you.” Jiang Shouzhu nudged him with her toe, asking, “Are you going to put on your clothes or not?”
“Yes…” Ying Wutu’s eyes were vacant as he sat on the carriage floor. He picked up the clothes with his reddened hands and looked down at the chains on his wrists. The chains were shorter now, leaving only three inches of space between his wrists, giving him almost no room to move. He looked up at Jiang Shouzhu, pleading, “Can you unlock them first? I can’t put on the sleeves.”
Jiang Shouzhu took a small key from her sleeve. Her eyes met his desperate gaze, and for a moment, she felt moved. How had the little rabbit become so pitiful?
But it was his own doing, wasn’t it?
So that moment of pity quickly vanished.
Ying Wutu picked up the small key from the floor and unlocked the chains on his wrists. But instead of putting on the clothes, he raised the sharp end of the key and thrust it towards her eyes.
The carriage was large, but with the couch inside, there was little space left. Caught off guard, Ying Wutu didn’t even manage to stand up before Jiang Shouzhu kicked him in the abdomen.
Ying Wutu groaned in pain, the key clattering to the floor as he collapsed, clutching his stomach and trembling uncontrollably.
Jiang Shouzhu bent down, picked up the key, and sighed, “I planned to stop hitting you, but you really ask for trouble. You’re no match for me, yet you still lash out. Does getting beaten feel good?”
Ying Wutu groaned in pain.
Jiang Shouzhu listened to his groaning and then heard him cursing.
“I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you… It hurts… Ah…”
“Keep cursing. I’ll count. For every curse, I’ll bury another person. There are still a thousand left. You might not finish even by tomorrow.” She said this while deliberately taking out a small notebook and pen, pretending to write, although the pen had no ink, purely to tease the little rabbit.
Ying Wutu’s cursing suddenly stopped because he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Jiang Shouzhu was shocked.
Damn it! Did the little rabbit get so angry that he died?
