Nan Zhi drove the carriage but did not rush to leave through the city gates.
She detoured to the street where the City God Temple was located and parked the carriage in a long-abandoned courtyard.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds and completely desolate; from the outside, one could only see a nearly collapsed shack and wild grass half as tall as a person.
“Squeak!”
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“Squeak!”
Hearing the sound of footsteps, a dozen rat heads popped up from the grass one after another, looking like mushrooms sprouting.
Seeing that it was someone they knew, the group of little rats relaxed their guard and squeaked incessantly:
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“Squeak!”
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“Lady Zhi! You're here!”
Shu Jiulang poked his body out from the grass and said happily:
“I handled it, don't you worry. These two drank our rat urine and are sleeping like dead pigs; they won't be waking up anytime soon.”
The large rat stepped back, revealing Manager Wang and Wang Chen lying unconscious in the grass.
The two had their eyes tightly shut, and their faces and necks were covered in red swelling from mosquito bites. There were even a few rat paw prints on their exposed skin.
Both were bound with ropes and showed no signs of struggle.
It seemed they were indeed out cold.
“Is Lady Zhi traveling far?”
Shu Jiulang helped Nan Zhi hide the prisoners but didn't ask many questions. He just chuckled and plucked a tuft of rat fur from his body:
“Our rat kind is spread all over the world. Although we are small, being small has its own advantages.
I know I can't help with much, but when it comes to gathering information or finding people and objects, if we rats claim to be second, no one would dare claim to be first.
Lady Zhi, take this tuft of fur with you. Whenever you reach a new place, look for the largest locust tree.
Just place this fur at the base of the tree, and the local rat tribe will know you are my friend and will come to assist you!”
“Thank you.”
Nan Zhi cupped her hands. “I can't say much more now, but once I return, I'll definitely treat you to a drink.”
Shu Jiulang's eyes crinkled into two narrow slits, looking quite crafty.
“Hehe! Then I'll be waiting to drink Lady Zhi's fine wine!”
...
...
Nan Zhi drove the carriage hurriedly out of the city and sped along the road. Only when the city gates of Dingyuan were completely out of sight did she call the horse to a halt.
“Bang!”
“Thud—”
A sound came from inside the carriage, as if someone had collapsed against the floor.
“Where is this? Who is driving outside—where are you taking me?”
“Young master, young master, are you hurt? Huh?”
Nan Zhi lifted the carriage curtain, only to see two identical faces of terror.
Young Master Wang was in a wretched state, his clothes disheveled and his arms tied behind his back. He possessed none of the scholarly grace he usually boasted of.
Manager Wang had tumbled onto the floor of the carriage and seemed to be trying to help Young Master Wang untie his ropes.
But he was old and frail; despite struggling for a long time, the ropes didn't loosen at all.
When they saw Nan Zhi's face appear outside the carriage, both were startled and looked at her warily.
Young Master Wang stared at Nan Zhi, completely tearing off his hypocritical mask as he said viciously:
“Where on earth are you taking me?! I am a scholar! Even if I were to be tried for a crime, it wouldn't be up to you!
If you know what's good for you, release me and let me go home immediately. Otherwise, when my wife reports this to the authorities, I will certainly sue you for neglecting a scholar, acting willfully, and showing contempt for the law!”
“Have you lost your memory? Or did that rat urine fry your brain?
I told you, I'm taking you two witnesses to Dongjing to beat the drum of grievances. Did you think I was joking?”
Nan Zhi pointed at the ropes on them:
“Stop struggling. These are the ropes my father usually uses to bind pigs. They've been soaked in water and will only shrink tighter. Unless you have the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, you won't be able to break free.”
“Lady Zhi, we can't go to Dongjing! If we go there, we're dead men!”
Manager Wang wept, pleading incessantly:
“The master is already gone, and the young master is now the only sprout left of the Wang family. If anything else happens to him, I'm afraid the Wang ancestors won't be able to rest in peace underground!”
“Don't worry, the Wang ancestors don't have time to worry about you right now. They're probably being pinned to the ground and beaten by the Qu family down there.”
Nan Zhi directly stuffed two clumps of cloth into their mouths, feeling strangely like a villain from a movie:
“We have to travel today, so you'll have to endure this posture for now. Once we reach an inn, I'll untie you.”
After saying that, she took an oil-paper umbrella from the carriage.
This oil-paper umbrella was something Nan Zhi had brought from home.
Unlike the imitation paper umbrellas of later generations, this kind of umbrella was made by a craftsman who split the bamboo strips by hand to assemble the ribs and then applied layers of tung oil.
It was extremely durable.
“Snap—”
With a crisp sound from the ribs, the umbrella opened, casting a shadow over Nan Zhi.
The sun wasn't particularly harsh, and it wasn't raining.
Holding an umbrella on a clear day would surely cause others to mock Nan Zhi for doing something unnecessary.
But in the next second, a mist-like black energy suddenly emerged under the umbrella. Slowly, that mass of black energy shaped itself into a human figure—
“Mmm... staying in this umbrella for so long, I feel like my bones have gone soft.”
Wanniang held the umbrella, cradling a human head in her arms. Her glamorous face held a hint of teasing:
“I didn't expect you to know how to drive a carriage. But your skill isn't very good; on the way here, I was nearly bounced to death inside this umbrella.”
Seeing a ghost emerge from under the umbrella, the two men inside the carriage immediately shut their mouths, not even daring to open their eyes.
“This is my first time driving. You should be thanking the heavens that I could even get the horse moving,” Nan Zhi huffed, pointing the whip behind her.
“I've managed to steal these two away, but I can't just let them sleep all the way to Dongjing.
Otherwise, even if we get there, people will think I used private torture on them, and no one will believe their testimony.
Do you have any way to make them behave?”
“That's easy.”
Wanniang's gaze swept over the old and young pair, and she suddenly gave a charming smile:
“I just need to make them swallow a few hair worms.
The hair worms will dig holes in their stomachs. If they don't behave, these worms will slowly gnaw on their hearts, livers, and intestines.
Speaking of which, I have that dead ghost Wang Fugui to thank. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have known I could be this powerful!”
Wang Fugui is indeed a dead ghost now, Nan Zhi thought to herself.
Although Manager Wang and Young Master Wang expressed strong dissatisfaction with the idea of "eating hair," they ultimately had to yield to Nan Zhi's overwhelming intimidation.
The hair worms were indeed miraculous.
The moment either of them had a thought of escaping or opened their mouths to call for help, they would immediately begin to twitch and collapse on the ground as if having a seizure.
Nan Zhi checked the map and found that they would need to travel for two days before reaching the next town.
But the problem was, she still had to go to work.
Thus, Nan Zhi had a flash of inspiration and came up with a brilliant, genius idea.
She handed the task of driving the carriage to Young Master Wang and made Wanniang the supervisor.
Ghosts didn't need to eat or drink, nor did they need rest, making Wanniang the perfect supervisor.
At this moment, if anyone were to pass by, they would see this scene:
A refined, pale-faced scholar driving a carriage, with a woman in mourning clothes holding an umbrella sitting beside him.
The scholar's face was ashen, and he looked extremely restless.
The woman was smiling broadly, her eyes gentle.
If the scholar showed the slightest bit of unhappiness or reluctance, the woman wouldn't say a word; she would just smile.
Subsequently, the scholar would put on a miserable face, clutching his stomach and wailing in pain.
It was truly a very strange combination.
It looked like...
Wanniang quite enjoyed the job.
Nan Zhi rubbed her chin and leaned comfortably against the carriage wall, sitting cross-legged and going AFK.
In the next second, her consciousness returned.
In reality, Nan Zhi gave a long, heavy stretch.
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