Escort Leader Zhao’s eyes sharpened.
“That smells like a sleeping drug?”
“Wrong. It’s Bone-Softening Powder.”
Su Wan’ning needed to ensure the drug reached its full effect, so she patiently kept him talking.
“You could say you’re lucky. This is something only the nobles in the palace can get their hands on.”
“You prepared the antidote in advance, didn’t you? Give it to me! Madam Su, I have no ill intentions toward you!”
Escort Leader Zhao slowly collapsed, his heart seething with hatred.
But he had no choice but to coax Su Wan’ning. As long as he could get her close enough, the little strength he had left would still be enough to overpower her.
Even if that failed, he could make enough noise to wake the others. He would surely find a way to escape!
But Su Wan’ning took a fire poker and slowly hooked the handkerchief out of his palm.
“No ill intentions? Weren’t you planning to knock me unconscious and then sever the tendons in my hands? How much silver did Lin Yuwei give you for you to do something like this for her?”
“You!”
Escort Leader Zhao’s body trembled as he finally understood all the things that had seemed strange about today.
No wonder she had insisted on staying at the relay station. No wonder she had deliberately made those suggestive remarks.
She had known about his plan from the beginning!
She had deliberately said she would stay up late just to lure him here!
Everything she had done earlier had simply been to buy time!
Su Wan’ning did not need him to answer.
She had already experienced everything in her previous life, hadn’t she?
She stuffed the handkerchief into Escort Leader Zhao’s mouth, grabbed him by the hair, and dragged him through a collapsed section of the wall.
Fortunately, she had always been naturally stronger than most people.
In her previous life, her aunt had told her that being so strong made her a monster and that someone might capture her and beat her to death. Frightened by this, she had never dared reveal her strength.
Even when she was beaten, she could only endure it.
Her personality had consequently become increasingly timid and eager to please.
Lin Yuwei had probably known about this too.
That was why she had sent a full ten bandits to deal with her. Those people had first stolen her bundle and destroyed the medicine and bone-cleaving knife inside.
But now, Su Wan’ning had prepared everything in advance.
And Escort Leader Zhao had still dared to come alone to his own death.
Then she would have to fulfill his wish.
Escort Leader Zhao let her drag him along.
He could not move his body, but he remained conscious. Pebbles scraped against his skin, causing countless sharp pains.
There was only one thought left in his mind.
She actually dared to kill him?
Where had she gotten such courage?
Soon, however, she dragged him to the edge of a dry well.
His upper body was shoved into the opening, bending his waist almost to the point of breaking.
Yet a flicker of joy appeared in his heart.
This poisonous woman still did not dare kill him!
She only dared to throw him down the well!
There was no water in this well. As long as he waited until the drug wore off, he could find a way to climb back out.
Then…
A chill ran across his wrist.
Then came a heart-rending pain!
His head hung upside down.
All he could see was the pitch-black wall of the well and half of the dark night above.
Cold, gloomy, terrifying.
Fear instantly spread through his entire body.
Why?
How dare she?
She actually dared to use a blade on him!
Escort Leader Zhao screamed inwardly in agony, but his tongue was completely numb. Hanging upside down had caused it to block his throat, and he could barely breathe.
Su Wan’ning’s voice sounded like that of a vengeful ghost.
“I could have used Miss Xu to get rid of you. It would have been easy. I could simply pretend that you were trying to poison her, then hand you over to the authorities.”
The cold dagger began slicing across his face again.
Pain brought tears to Escort Leader Zhao’s eyes.
He regretted everything.
He had thought this assignment would be incredibly easy.
Who could have imagined that he would encounter a vengeful ghost instead?
He wanted to beg for mercy, but he could not even open his mouth.
“But handing you over to the authorities would be too easy for you. I’d rather do it myself.”
“Even if I severed the tendons in your hands, you still wouldn’t be able to understand the pain I suffered.”
“Forget it.”
Su Wan’ning plunged the knife into his neck.
Blood splattered all over her hands.
But this time, it was not her blood.
For the hatred she carried from her previous life, one victim for every debt was nowhere near enough.
Even repaying those sufferings a hundred or a thousand times over would not be enough to ease the hatred in her heart!
She struck him several more times, making absolutely certain that Escort Leader Zhao was dead.
Su Wan’ning pushed his body into the well.
The drought would continue for another year. By the time the body was discovered, it would have long since been picked clean.
Even so, she tossed some stones and dried weeds into the well to cover the opening before quickly returning to the relay station.
Along the way, she destroyed the drag marks and burned her bloodstained clothes completely.
She hid the bone-cleaving knife again.
Su Wan’ning let out a long breath and grabbed a handful of brown rice to grind.
The rice was crushed into fine fragments.
She soaked them in water.
The timing was perfect.
After resting briefly, she began grinding the rice into a slurry. The brown rice had to be repeatedly pushed through the stone mill.
She then filtered the fine rice slurry and kneaded it into a dough.
Once the water boiled, she placed the rice dough into a colander and pressed it down, forcing out long, thin strands of rice noodles.
After boiling them in the hot water, they became fresh rice noodles.
The cooked rice noodles then had to be cooled in cold water.
Not a single step could be done carelessly.
…
Before dawn, the entire relay station was already filled with delicious aromas.
Steam rose from pot after pot of steamed buns, carrying the rich fragrance of freshly cooked dough.
Jar after jar of pickled vegetables sat nearby—spicy, sour, and savory.
And there was a large pot of broth bubbling away.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!~”
At last, the first rooster crowed.
Su Wan’ning had only one final step left.
She immediately tossed a handful of dry grass into the stove.
The flames shot upward.
The oil in the wok quickly began to heat, and when she poured in the beaten eggs, they sizzled loudly, puffing up as they set.
She quickly scooped them out and let the excess oil drain.
After frying just one egg, the dominant aroma of hot oil and egg had already overwhelmed all the other fragrances.
By the time she had finished frying all the beaten eggs, half the people at the relay station had been awakened by the smell.
Qingfang hurried over and lowered her voice, scolding her.
“You girl, why are you making so much noise this early in the morning? Miss hates being woken up by other people!”
If it had been any other maid from the household, she would have been punished already!
“I’ll put out the fire now.”
Su Wan’ning remained calm. She quickly extinguished the fire and respectfully lowered her attitude.
“Miss Qingfang, Cook Su is only doing this for Miss Xu, isn’t she? She stayed up the entire night preparing all this. Even if you don’t want to reward her, you shouldn’t start by blaming her.”
Li San was somewhat indignant.
He had gotten up the earliest, but by then, Madam Su had already prepared everything!
“Does your face itch again?”
Qingfang glared at him.
But because of his words, she looked back at Su Wan’ning.
Sure enough, Su Wan’ning had dark circles beneath her eyes.
Qingfang’s tone softened somewhat.
“All right, you’ve already made everything. But what exactly is this? The smell of oil and sourness is so strong.”
“It’s too hot, and Miss has no appetite. I used some dried bamboo shoots I had prepared before and added dogwood pepper and wild ginger to make spicy sour bamboo shoot noodles.”
“The slightly strange smell doesn’t mean anything has gone bad. It’s simply the natural aroma produced by the fermentation of the sour bamboo shoots.”
Su Wan’ning explained seriously and pointed toward the food counter.
“Sister, don’t worry. I’ve prepared everything. We don’t need to light the stove again. Why don’t you have a bowl first? If it doesn’t suit Miss’s taste, I can make adjustments early.”
On the counter were amber-colored dogwood-pepper oil, tender yellow strips of wild ginger, glossy peanuts, and golden fried eggs.
There were also fresh vegetables that had been blanched, shredded wood ear mushrooms, sour bamboo shoots, and more.
Every single dish was enough to make anyone’s mouth water.
Qingfang also remembered that Miss had once mentioned wanting some kind of explosively spicy noodles.
She wondered whether these spicy sour bamboo shoot noodles might finally satisfy her.