Her heart had long been resolute, and nothing could make her turn back. "I'm asking you one last time, do you want to come with me?"
Yu Rong sighed helplessly, the gentleness in her eyes vanishing completely.
"Since you're so stubborn, then you can't blame me!"
As the words fell, Yu Rong's eyes narrowed, and with lightning speed, she directly seized Zhenzhu's wrist. With a slight exertion, the dagger in Zhenzhu's hand dropped to the ground. Before Zhenzhu could react, the dagger was already at her throat.
"You... you know martial arts..."
Why had she never noticed Yu Rong's martial arts skills before? In the end, her own understanding was too shallow, and she hadn't truly recognized Yu Rong. Today, falling into Yu Rong's hands, she accepted her fate.
"If I had let myself be seen through, wouldn't all my long concealment be in vain? I advised you kindly, but you refused to repent, so don't blame me for being ruthless!"
"Wait, at least let me die understanding. Who exactly are you?"
Yu Rong's identity was by no means as simple as she could imagine. Having been with her for so many years, she had never discovered Yu Rong's martial arts skills, which showed how deeply she hid them.
"Like you, I am a spy exiled to the palace. Granny Sun placed me among you, just in case anyone harbored ulterior motives and were disloyal to His Majesty or Xi Liang. Originally, given our years of close companionship, I intended to spare your life. But since you refuse to repent, then don't blame me for being heartless."
Just as Yu Rong pressed the dagger slightly against her, a sharp pain erupted from her head.
With a loud "bang," it was as if something heavy had violently struck her head. Before Yu Rong could see what was behind her, she was struck heavily again, and everything went black.
When Zhenzhu saw who was behind her, the relief of escaping death had not yet subsided before she became anxious again.
"Why are you here?"
"If I wasn't here, you would be dead by now."
Lan Cui snorted coldly and said impatiently. If she hadn't acted so quickly just now, Zhenzhu would have been a cold corpse. Instead of gratefully thanking her, she started questioning.
"Why are you just standing there like an idiot? Have you been scared senseless? Hurry up and lend a hand to get her inside the house."
Leaving her here was not an option. If someone discovered her, neither of them would escape consequences.
"Okay..."
Zhenzhu snapped back to reality and hurried to help. It took them considerable effort to carry her inside.
"Heh... she's quite heavy, I'm exhausted!"
Lan Cui panted, surprised that Yu Rong, who looked so slender, was so heavy to lift, almost to the point of exhaustion.
"Today's matter... you..."
"I heard everything you said."
Lan Cui candidly admitted it. Zhenzhu, however, was startled and looked at Lan Cui with vigilance, her unspoken words catching in her throat.
"You don't need to look at me like that. I won't betray you. If I truly wanted to, I wouldn't have gone to such lengths to save you."
" I used to think you were pedantic, always obeying Granny Sun, but I never expected you to do something like this. It's truly surprising. With your resolve, I wouldn't sell you out."
"What exactly do you want?" Zhenzhu couldn't quite figure out Lan Cui's true intentions, so she asked directly.
"Are you truly foolish? Can't you see? I risked death to save you, which means I want to live with you."
Lan Cui was exasperated by Zhenzhu's lack of intelligence. She used to think Zhenzhu was quite sharp, but at this crucial moment, she was confused. Were her intentions not obvious enough?
"You want to join me... to do this thing? If it succeeds, we can both live. If it fails, we both..."
"If it fails, we die together. Didn't you just say that people like us don't even know how we'll die in the end? Then it's better to take our lives into our own hands. Even if we fail, it won't be a meaningless death, better than dying obscurely."
A dead end awaited them sooner or later, so it was better to fight for it with all their might, perhaps even carving out a path to survival. It was better than living without knowing why they were alive.
Lan Cui looked at Zhenzhu with determination. "Tell me what needs to be done, and I'll help you. I want to live."
"Good!" Zhenzhu nodded in agreement. The maintenance of their relationship was solely for survival.
"We need to win over others to join us, but people's hearts are complex. I'm not sure what everyone is thinking..."
"This is simple, I'll do it!"
"Is this simple? We don't know what everyone is thinking. How can you be sure you can persuade them? I couldn't even persuade Yu Rong alone, and I almost got..."
Lan Cui snorted dismissively. "That's because you never tried to understand what the sisters were thinking. Do you really think only Cui'er and the other two wanted to escape?"
"Every one of us wants to leave. Cui'er and the others took everyone's belongings to sell them and get money to escape. We just didn't dare to act. She carried everyone's hope... unfortunately, in the end... it still failed..."
"I never knew about these things..."
Zhenzhu lowered her head and fell silent. She had never known these things. After spending so long with everyone, she didn't even know what they were thinking.
"Of course, you didn't know. Don't you think about what you used to do? You blindly followed Granny Sun's orders and did whatever she commanded, never opening your heart to us!"
Thinking back to Zhenzhu's past obedience to Granny Sun now made her feel disgusted.
She truly hadn't expected Zhenzhu to go this far; it was indeed beyond her expectations.
"I did that to earn merit, to let Cui'er leave here. I was too foolish to trust Granny Sun so much!"
It was because of her stupidity that she almost endangered Cui'er's life.
Now she had to correct this mistake and lead the other sisters to live.
"It's good that your repentance isn't too late. I will tell the sisters about this, and they won't have any second thoughts. The only issue is how to deal with Yu Rong. When she wakes up, she'll definitely rush to tell Granny Sun. We can't keep her bound here forever."
Lan Cui looked at Yu Rong, who was tied to the chair, and began to worry. If not handled properly, she would indeed be a big problem.
"Make her eat this."
Zhenzhu took out the medicine bottle that Feng Jin had given her when she left. "This is a sleeping drug that can make a person unconscious for three days."