Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 567 - 565

Chapter 567: Chapter 565

The boat sailed smoothly for a day and a night, docking when it got dark on the second day.

Yang Liu and Xiao’er were led off the boat and locked in a secret room. The blindfold was removed from their eyes, but all they could see was darkness.

Xiao’er took a look around. The room was damp and filled with the smell of mold. It was surrounded by walls on all sides, with only a small skylight, which was sealed with iron mesh. A lamp stood in the corner of the room, and there was nothing else.

The man in black was about to leave them in the room when Xiao’er quickly said, "I’m starving. Bring us some food! And there’s not even a chair here, where are we supposed to sleep? Get us a bed, after finally being on dry land, I want to get a good night’s sleep tonight!"

The man in black snorted at this, saying, "You think this is your home, and I’m your servant? Ordering me around as if you own the place do you want to die!"

Is the girl naïve or ignorant? She’s even thinking about getting a good night’s sleep at a time like this? Her life is at stake. She should just wait until she’s dead to sleep comfortably!

"Did you not bring me here to extort silver from my parents? If you stop me from eating and I starve to death, how will you get your silver?!"

"Going hungry for a day or two won’t kill anyone!" They often went a day or two without eating and still didn’t die!

"It might not kill others, but it could kill me! When I was younger, my family was so poor that I went hungry more often than not. Because of the severe malnutrition, I developed hypoglycemia. If I’m too hungry, I’ll become weak and could even faint or die."

Hypoglycemia? What the hell is that? The man in black wondered.

However, they had instructions not to let her die. If she really starved to death, all they would lose was a meal. Giving her some food was no big deal.

"Wait here! You won’t starve!" The man in black left these words before turning to leave.

"Hey! Don’t leave so fast! I haven’t finished. I want to eat a roast chicken leg and a braised pork dish!"

The man in black laughed when he heard this, as if it were a hilarious joke, "Miss, have you lost your mind? You think this is an inn where you can order any dish you want? This place is a bandit’s den. Stay in your place!"

"So you want to extort 200,000 taels of silver from my father, but 200,000 taels aren’t enough for me to have a single good meal?"

"How do you know we’re planning to extort 200,000 taels of silver?" The man in black was taken aback.

"I overheard your brothers mention it!" Xiao’er was just speculating. The Li family wanted to recover 100,000 taels, but to hire people to do work, they always needed to distribute money. Where would they get that money? So they must be planning to extort 200,000 taels.

"Who said that?" The man in black said with a frown.

"How would I know who it was? You guys covered my eyes. I couldn’t see."

That’s right, if she couldn’t see, how could she tell who was talking? It seemed he needed to remind them not to talk carelessly in front of their hostages.

"Wait here; I’ll bring you food later!" The man in black turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Xiao’er yelled again to stop him.

Is she ever going to stop? Didn’t she just say that she would faint from hunger? Yet here she was, not letting him go get her food! The man in black turned around impatiently, "What now!"

"First, untie us! My hands are bloody from the ropes. Anyway, you’ll have to untie us in a while to eat, right?"

"You wish! What if we untie you and you escape?"

Xiao’er looked around the secret room. "Brother, do you think I can just dig through the floor and escape? Four walls surround us, the only door is behind you, isn’t there someone guarding outside? Besides, this place is probably surrounded by water; if I escape this little dark room, I wouldn’t have a boat. Do you think I can just fly away?"

"How do you know this place is encircled by water?"

"I heard your people talking about it!"

"Who said it!" Damn it. Who dared to speak so carelessly in front of a hostage? He vowed to break at least three of that person’s ribs!

"Like I said, you guys had my eyes covered, how would I know who it was? Besides, you’re all dressed in black. Even if I saw you, I wouldn’t know who you were! Hey, you really talk too much, hurry up and untie me!"

The man in black was left speechless. Who was the one who talked too much? He’d been trying to leave this moldy room the entire time but she kept stopping him. However, she had a point. With this tiny room, even if they escaped, they wouldn’t be able to fly anywhere.

Even if they did manage to escape, what then? The island was full of vampire bats. At that point, they’d probably be begging him to lock them back in the dark room!

The man in black went forward to untie them, then finally left the room.

"Yang Liu, do you know where we are?" Xiao’er asked in a voice just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"We should be on one of the islands in the East Bohai Sea. If we go east, through the dense forest we encountered yesterday, there’s a small river that leads to the mouth of the Huai River. After leaving the Huai River, there are many islands in the East Bohai Sea. I’m not sure which one we’re on." Yang Liu shared her guess.

They were brought here with their eyes covered. They had been travelling fast last night due to the strong winds and the swift currents. It was difficult to guess how far they had sailed.

"I was careless. It was no accident that the woman was hit by a brick. Her home is so far from the hot spring resort. The people behind this must have scouted the area well in advance and planned the ’accidental’ incident." Xiao’er theorized after some thought.

Mrs. He and several other women were laborers from the mountains supplementing their family incomes. The group of them rented a house in the city and worked year-round as dock workers.

When Manager Luo was hiring, they applied because the daily wage of 50 coins was higher. Observing their diligence and strength, Manager Luo hired them.

Since the hot spring resort was in the suburbs, they couldn’t get back to the city to sleep after work. Therefore, Manager Luo had a thatched hut built for them on the construction site. Manager Luo talked to her about this, and she agreed.

Yesterday, the woman was clearly unable to continue working and needed to go home to rest. Knowing that she lived in the mountains, she didn’t suspect anything when she sent her home.

She hadn’t expected there to be an ambush on the way back.

"Before getting on the boat, I left a signal. Zhao Yong will definitely be able to find the pier, but I’m afraid it will take some time for him to arrive here. Miss, I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with staying here for a day or two." Yang Liu frowned at their damp and dark surroundings.

"No rush. Since those people are after our wealth, they’ll definitely contact my father. Then they’ll trace it back and find us here." Besides, she had a way to inform Shangguan Xuanyi of her location.

At that moment, the man in black came in with two bowls of food.

Xiao’er saw the two strips of green vegetables, a piece of tofu, and two slices of boiled pork on the plate. She frowned: "Where are the roast chicken legs? The braised pork? If there are no roast chicken legs or braised pork, I’d rather starve to death than eat this!"