Chapter 2625: Breaking Their Will

"It was clearly her horse carriage that crashed into us, and I got hurt! Why aren’t you arresting her?" Fangzi angrily pointed at Hui Zi in the distance.

The soldiers who captured them shouted, "We saw you deliberately driving into others and causing trouble on the street. We’ll escort you to prison first."

Fangzi shouted angrily, "You’re falsely accusing us! Who gave you the guts to frame us like this?"

Yaxi was much calmer; she didn’t scream but signaled to her maid to quickly go back and report.

The maid was reluctant to leave, but seeing Yaxi’s determined attitude, she quietly slipped to the side, preparing to return to the residence to deliver the message.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, the maid was grabbed and brought back. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Captain, someone tried to escape; should we add more charges?" the soldier asked after capturing the maid.

"Lock them all up in prison."

Yaxi and Fangzi exchanged glances, becoming anxious. Would their families know where they were being held?

These people were so unreasonable; they were likely not even patrol soldiers. How could the two of them resist?

As they were being taken away, Hui Zi smiled at them in a particularly sinister way, as if reveling in her small victory.

Soon the two were taken to General Chisong’s residence and locked up in a prison cell there. By this time, if they didn’t know who was backing Hui Zi, then they truly deserved to be labeled naive.

"No wonder she’s so arrogant, actually using the military! Is General Chisong planning a rebellion?" Fangzi said angrily, "But why target us? We’re not important figures."

Yaxi sighed, rubbing her frozen shoulders, and said, "On one hand, he can use us to threaten our families. On the other hand, he might use us to threaten Sister Ruozhu."

"How can he be so despicable!" Fangzi exclaimed.

Bai Ruozhu didn’t have family or friends in Fusang, so technically, Fangzi and Yaxi were the ones closest to Bai Ruozhu.

Additionally, there were Master Puru and the astrologer Yin Yang Master, but those two had unique backgrounds and were not so easily manipulated.

Yaxi disdainfully glanced at a stack of hay nearby but finally couldn’t resist her aching legs, gritting her teeth and sat down on the hay.

Fangzi sat down next to her, leaning against each other for a bit of warmth.

"Do you think Sister Ruozhu will save us? She surely doesn’t like being threatened, right?" Yaxi seemed to be speaking to herself, while Fangzi, with a determined look, replied, "She will definitely save us. Though we’ve only known her for a short time and haven’t met her often, we know she’s a loyal and righteous person and won’t abandon us.

"I’m just afraid she might not know, or perhaps Chisong capturing us isn’t to threaten her." Yaxi was somewhat uncertain, her nose suddenly souring, and she couldn’t hold back her tears.

Since childhood, her mother protected her well; how could she face something like this? She had never even seen a prison.

"Chisong actually set up private cells; surely he hasn’t done any good deeds before," Fangzi grumbled.

Afterward, the two talked intermittently, and having each other’s company helped them gradually calm down, making them less afraid.

They didn’t know how much time had passed; it was probably dark outside when footsteps suddenly echoed in the prison, followed by someone quickly walking to their cell door.

"Fangzi, Hui Zi, here’s your dinner. There’s no fire today, so eat it raw," the speaker said sarcastically, then threw something wrapped in cloth inside.

The item rolled on the ground, and the outer cloth soon unraveled, revealing what was inside.

"Ah..."

The two girls suddenly screamed, one outdoing the other in height, their cries unable to cease, while the person who delivered the "meal" coldly laughed twice and walked away from the prison cell.

Yaxi burst into tears with a sob, "I caused this. I made her go deliver the message; they must have killed her because of it."

Both were locked in the prison cell, while their maid and coachman were taken elsewhere. They hadn’t thought much at the time, assuming they were in another cell. Unexpectedly, the "dinner" delivered was the head of Yaxi’s maid!

The maid must have died suddenly, her eyes wide open in disbelief, the head rolling in a corner of the prison cell, seemingly staring directly at them.

The two girls cried and screamed, for nearly two hours, before exhaustion and thirst silenced them.

It wasn’t that they calmed down, nor that they weren’t scared, but they simply didn’t have the strength to cry or shout anymore.

They were just ordinary girls, and while their maid was by their side a moment ago, now she was dead, and her head lay on the cell’s ground. How could they not be terrified?

The two embraced each other, neither daring to look at the maid’s head nor sleep, knowing their captors deliberately aimed to break their spirit. But they couldn’t help being afraid.

At the posthouse, Bai Ruozhu’s eyelids twitched, bringing an inexplicable sense of unease.

"Jianqi, is there any new information from the Palace?" Bai Ruozhu asked.

"Still no trace of Prince Wen De, and no other matters. General Chisong hasn’t bothered the Emperor either," Jianqi replied.

Bai Ruozhu still felt something was amiss and after thinking said, "Send two people to check on Fangzi and Yaxi’s homes, ensure they arrived safely."

Jiang Yichun walked over, holding her hand, saying, "You’re overly worried. It’s already dark; how could they not be home yet?"

"Still, send people to check; I’m worried," Bai Ruozhu insisted.

Jianqi immediately dispatched someone, and when they returned, reported, "The two girls, along with the maid and coachman, are missing. Both families are searching everywhere and plan to report to the authorities."

Bai Ruozhu’s eyes widened, "Did no one see where they went? Go to those families again and have them send some people to inquire house-to-house, particularly near the route from the posthouse to their residence."

Jiang Yichun’s expression became serious as well, "I’ll have Mo Beishan send people to inquire too."

The subordinates quickly got to work as Bai Ruozhu fretted in place, "Do you think it could be Song Yi? Or Anben who escaped? Just because the two girls are close to me?"

"They probably wouldn’t focus on the young girls, but it could be Chisong’s people. Didn’t someone say a father was beaten in the Palace by Chisong’s soldiers?" Jiang Yichun suggested, "Some unruly soldiers might do anything out of annoyance."

Bai Ruozhu sighed heavily, "It’s one problem after another, and I long to immediately pack up and leave to search for Merfolk Island on the Donghai Sea."

Jiang Yichun laughed, "There’s no rush right now. There are many things we can’t just set aside."