314 Untitled (2/2)
At this moment, both were quietly in pain. Just like how they were standing in the courtyard and not willing to walk away even though they wanted to, they were unable to escape from reality, even though their hearts stated otherwise.
Meng Fuyao took another look at the second drawing in a daze, even though she was innately very resistant towards looking at it again. In her mind, the bright images appeared again… the dark room… the hand that reeked of urine reaching in… fingers that were abnormally long and thin…
Meng Fuyao swayed, but before Zhangsun Wuji could support her, she suddenly stood up and walked over to the door, and she opened it with a strong kick.
In the turbid room which smelled like stench, the middle-aged woman who was scolding and wiping the sweat off the old eunuch looked up in shock. She saw Meng Fuyao walking over to the old eunuch determinedly. Meng Fuyao extended her hand, snatched the old eunuch up from the bed and was ready to walk off.
”Hold it!”
The woman jumped down the bed, grabbed the bamboo broom at the side of the wall, and gave a fierce swing. ”Who are you! How dare you kidnap people in the palace!”
Meng Fuyao laughed when she heard that, but that smile was cold. She shook the subconscious old eunuch and smirked. ”Yes, I'm kidnapping people here in the palace, and I do as I please. If you're tactful, you will scram to one side.”
”You're disregarding the laws! You scram!” The woman waved her broom and dashed forward. Meng Fuyao flicked her fingers and made the woman freeze. Looking up at her, Meng Fuyao said in an emotionless tone, ”You're loyal to accompany through the troubles in the palace. I won't kill you because of this… Tell me, who is he?”
”Bah!” The woman spat on the floor, and it contained very dense phlegm. ”Your Dad!”
”My Dad died long ago.” Meng Fuyao smiled icily. ”If you miss my father, I can send you to Hell to meet him. How about that?”
”You bastard!”
Meng Fuyao frowned. People who endured years of suffering in the Palace aged very quickly. The woman had long lost her original personality, and she was not afraid of death at all, so it made the situation more troublesome. Seeing that the old eunuch might not provide much useful information, she would have to rely on the woman instead. As such, after some thought, she grabbed the woman and with one person under each of her arms, she stepped out of the door.
This place was remote, and no one usually passed by. As such, even with such a huge commotion, none of the guards walked over. Meng Fuyao casually brought the two people back into the inner room of her accommodation. After throwing the two people down on the floor, she sat wide-legged and said, ”See, I brought you guys out of the Palace. Speak properly, and I'll promise your freedom in return.”
She said that towards the woman. As for the old eunuch, before his identity and history were known, she would not grant him freedom.
”We're out of the Palace?” The woman crawled to her feet and looked at the surroundings. Leaning on the window, she glanced out. There were tall trees outside the accommodation, which was a sight that would never be seen in the Palace. Hence, she immediately understood that she was out of the Palace. Then, she started hitting her knees, and she roared with laughter.
”Ha ha ha, I'm out of the Palace, I'm out!”
She leaped over and shook the old eunuch with all her force. ”Old Lu, Old Lu, we're out of the Palace! We've finally made it out! We no longer need to be afraid of people coming to kill you! Haha, we're out!”
When Meng Fuyao heard the last sentence, she raised an eyebrow. ”Who wants to kill you?”
”It's none of your business.” One corner of her thin lips raised in defiance.
”It's not my business.” Meng Fuyao smiled. ”How are you guys any of my business? I think I should just send the both of you back to continue getting killed.”
After staying silent for a while, the woman looked at the old eunuch who kept shivering on the ground. Suddenly, she asked, ”What do you want to know?”
”Who is he? As well as his experience and your experience in the Palace.:
”Nothing much can be said,” the woman said in an icy tone. ”He is Old Lu, my partner, who entered the Palace much earlier than me. When I committed a mistake and was banished to the dark hall, he was already there. As to why he was allocated there, he didn't tell me when I asked him. Before being banished, he was just a lowly eunuch serving in Consort Ying's palace. After Consort Ying died a sudden death, many of her servants were banished to the dark hall, and most of them died within two years except for him. He took care of me during my time there; hence, we decided to be partners.
Consort Ying… Meng Fuyao thought hard about this title, but she could sense any special meaning from it. After thinking for a while, she said, ”There's an abandoned palace behind a bunch of bushes in the southwest corner of the Palace. Do you know which palace is that?”
”There's a palace there?” The woman shook her head. ”There's a restricted area in the southwest corner. Attendants like us are not allowed to enter, and I have never seen it before.”
Meng Fuyao frowned, and she tried to ask in another manner, ”What is the name of Consort Ying's palace?”
Meng Fuyao remembered the man she had met in Xuanji's jail, and he had mentioned something that sounded like 'Yan Ling'. She had checked the names of all the places in Xuanji, but none of them sounded similar to what was said. Now that she thought of it, could it have been the name of a palace?
”I don't know.” The woman still shook her head. ”Consort Ying passed away 14 years ago, and I entered the Palace eight years ago. How would I know her affairs?”