Chapter 5
Song Jiyun remained unfazed and gracefully allowed him to scrutinize her.
She smiled and said, “Young master, dare to wager with me?”
The man also smiled.
His large almond-shaped eyes gleamed dark and bright, but his gaze carried a hint of arrogance as he said, “Then let’s wait and see!”
Song Jiyun feared only that he would refuse.
Hearing his response, she smiled and said, “Then I’ll have to offend you, young master!”
The man looked puzzled.
Before he could react, Song Jiyun had already grabbed a bottle of scented spray from a nearby cabinet and sprayed it all over him.
The rich fragrance of osmanthus flowers made him sneeze.
The man’s expression darkened, and he said, “Don’t go too far!”
Song Jiyun didn’t reply.
She opened a wardrobe near the wall.
The four-door cabinet revealed a small cot covered with a bamboo mat.
Hanging above it were old women’s clothes of varying lengths.
The man’s face turned pale.
Song Jiyun acted as if she didn’t notice.
She helped him out of the chest and pressed him onto the small cot, saying, “Young master, please bear with it and rest here for now.”
The man sat on the cot with a gloomy face, trying to untie the rope binding him.
The more he tried, the tighter the rope became.
It was indeed a double-loop knot.
The man’s face darkened further.
Song Jiyun handed him a cup of tea.
He cast her a mocking glance and turned his head away.
Song Jiyun chuckled softly, sipped the tea herself, and closed her eyes in enjoyment.
She remarked,
“This is Biluochun, newly harvested this spring. Even tributes can’t compare to its quality.”
The man kept a wooden expression, but the tips of his ears turned slightly red.
Song Jiyun stifled her laughter but couldn’t hide the joy in her eyes and the corners of her lips.
She walked lightly to the long table by the window and lit a triangular beast-head porcelain incense burner on the table.
The faint scent of fresh grass filled the room, refreshing and calming.
The man had no choice but to inhale a few breaths.
There was a knock at the door.
Song Jiyun stepped out.
Outside the silk cabinet, the faint voice of a middle-aged woman could be heard:
“…the registrar personally leading the team… the eldest master said he hadn’t seen any strangers, but they didn’t believe him… the constables are personally leading a search, going courtyard by courtyard… they’ll soon be here.”
The man’s face tensed slightly.
Before long, Song Jiyun returned, laughing as she said, “Young master, your people are here!”
The man lay lazily against the wardrobe, looking at her with indifference, and nodded almost imperceptibly.
Song Jiyun blinked and said, “Young master, you’re highly skilled. I dare not take any risks, so I’ll have to trouble you a bit more.”
Saying this, she grabbed a cloth and moved to gag him.
The man struggled but soon realized that his limbs were limp and powerless.
He stared at Song Jiyun with wide eyes.
Song Jiyun spread her hands helplessly and sighed, “There’s soft bone powder in the incense burner.”
The man closed his eyes.
Song Jiyun, clearly pleased, said, “Young master, I’ll go greet your people first.”
Moments later, he heard the creak of the door closing.
When he opened his eyes again, light seeped in through the cracks in the wardrobe, making the space seem even darker.
He tried to move, but his body felt as if it didn’t belong to him.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make a sound.
If he squinted, he could just barely make out the scene outside through the wardrobe cracks.
The man continued to struggle for a long time but couldn’t move an inch.
Time passed—it might have been half an hour or just the time it took to drink a cup of tea—when he heard Song Jiyun’s voice: “This is where I store my clothes. There’s also a bathroom inside.”
He widened one eye and peered through the crack.
Song Jiyun was playing with a smooth-coated yellow dog as she entered with a tall, sturdy woman.
“This dog’s name is Lucky, right? Can I feed it something?” she asked the woman following the dog. “I have meat dates here, brought over from Songjiang.”
The woman, the head warden of the women’s prison, was there on orders to search the Song family’s inner courtyard.
Despite her duties, she remained polite to Song Jiyun, the eldest miss of the Song family’s second branch. “It usually doesn’t eat food from strangers, but you can try, miss.”
Before she could finish speaking, the dog began barking furiously at the chest inside the silk cabinet.
The warden’s face changed drastically.
Song Jiyun looked confused and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The warden hesitated briefly before asking, “What’s in this chest?”
“Oh!” Song Jiyun hurriedly replied, “Just some books and porcelain. They belonged to my father.”
As she spoke, she opened the chest.
The warden rummaged through its contents but found nothing suspicious.
Song Jiyun opened a wardrobe door and said, “The bathroom is here!”
The warden went inside to inspect.
Meanwhile, Song Jiyun squatted in a corner of the wardrobe, stroking the dog that had been sniffing around the chest. She quietly fed it a meat date.
The dog stopped barking and wagged its tail at her.
When the warden emerged, the dog was happily munching, refusing to budge.
Song Jiyun laughed and hugged the dog’s head, saying, “You’re so smart!”
The warden hesitated for a moment, then began opening wardrobe doors one by one, her sharp eyes scanning every corner.
Song Jiyun kept feeding the dog meat dates, holding it in her arms, and glanced at the wardrobe crack with a sweet smile.
Two vastly different gazes met through the crack.
Song Jiyun’s smile grew even brighter.
She held the dog’s paw and waved it toward the wardrobe, saying, “Come, let’s greet them!”
There seemed to be a faint sound from within the wardrobe.
The warden turned back, only to see the eldest miss of the Song family’s second branch stroking the dog’s head while feeding it meat dates, saying, “You’re so good! I really like you!”
Thinking she must have misheard, the warden resumed her inspection of the wardrobes.
Song Jiyun let out a soft gasp.
The warden turned around.
The large yellow dog, chewing on a meat date, nudged at the miss’s dress hem, trying to get more food.
The miss, her face flushed, said, “Alright, I’ll give you a whole basket of meat dates later.”
Embarrassed, the warden barked, “Lucky!” before apologizing to Song Jiyun and tugging the dog’s leash to leave.
Song Jiyun brought out a basket of meat dates and some jerky to give to the warden, saying,
“These were brought back by my father from Songjiang. We don’t need them anymore. Consider it fate!”
The warden, recalling the city’s rumors, sighed inwardly.
She accepted the basket, thanked Song Jiyun profusely, and left with the dog to search the neighboring courtyard.
Song Jiyun stood there for a moment, collected her thoughts of her father, and returned to the silk cabinet.
She opened the wardrobe door and gently said to the man,
“Stay here for now. I’ll have someone bring you food later.”
The man looked at the rack above him, his expression calm, and nodded leisurely.
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Click here -> https://discord.gg/S8c2kGVr2g
Comment