Untouchable Lovers-Chapter 173 - 156: Motive and Purpose
Chapter 173: Chapter 156: Motive and Purpose
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
She had not been lying down for long when Chu Yu heard the sound of chains outside the door, and shortly afterward someone came in; opening her eyes, it was the horse bandit leader.
In his hand, the leader held paper and brush, and an inkstone. Upon entering and seeing the two people lying there, he couldn’t help but laugh, “You two seem quite at ease.”
Rong Zhi slowly sat up, his gaze gentle and direct as he looked at the horse bandit leader, “Your flattering tone is appreciated, sir. Given our current predicament, any struggle would be futile. It’s better to let you arrange matters as you see fit.”
The horse bandit leader laughed heartily, “Well-educated indeed, different from the common brutes in the next room.” He spread the paper on the ground, placed the inkstone beside it, already filled with prepared ink, then handed over the brush, “Would you trouble yourselves to write a letter home? We can use it as proof to show your families.”
So they were to write a ransom letter.
Chu Yu was still in a daze when Rong Zhi naturally took the brush, pulled the paper toward himself, dipped the brush in ink, steadied his wrist, raised his elbow, and in an elegant literary style completed the letter pleading for help. By the time Chu Yu returned to her senses, Rong Zhi had already finished writing. She hastily glanced over it; the letter briefly mentioned being invited by the Chasing Wind Bandits to stay for a while, hoping that the family would send money, articulating their situation with neither servility nor arrogance, remaining composed throughout.
If she didn’t know that Rong Zhi lived in the Princess Mansion, Chu Yu would almost suspect he was often kidnapped, so adept was he at penning a kidnap letter with such fluidity.
After examining Rong Zhi’s letter, the horse bandit leader was very satisfied, “You rest here for now. I’ll send someone to deliver the letter, and soon someone will bring you meals.”
Rong Zhi gave a smile, still that extremely harmless kind, “May I dare to ask for the respected name of our leader here?”
The horse bandit leader’s expression turned cold, “Why, planning to teach me a lesson after you’re free?”
In the face of the menacing man, Rong Zhi showed no fear and simply replied, “Where would you get that idea? I merely asked for ease of address.”
“Should’ve said so earlier,” the horse bandit leader’s anger subsided, and he reverted to the amiable and easy to talk to demeanor from before, walking out of the room, and as he locked the door behind him, his name came through, “I’m called Sun Li.”
Indeed, as Sun Li had said, after a while, two men came in to bring them food; Chu Yu recognized them as part of the horse thieves involved in the robbery and murder, but now they were dressed in ordinary clothes, covering their fierce and malevolent aura.
To their surprise, the prison meal prepared by the horse thieves was unexpectedly generous. According to the treatment they got on the road, Chu Yu thought they would be lucky to get a couple of dry biscuits, yet in the basket for food, there were two big bowls of fragrant steaming rice and two plates of appetizing side dishes, one vegetarian and one meat.
The horse thieves were quite humane, it seemed, knowing to treat their captives well.
After placing down the basket, the two horse thieves left and locked the door again. Chu Yu, who hadn’t eaten well for several days and was famished, had to maintain dignified manners in front of others. Seeing them gone, she hurriedly pounced on it, taking a bowl and chopsticks, passed a bowl to Rong Zhi, then picked up the other bowl herself and began to eat without reservation.
The bowls, plates, and chopsticks were all made of wood, and the wood was rather soft. The horse thieves clearly had experience in preventing their hostages from escaping.
At the bottom of the basket, there were also two bowls of water. Chu Yu drank half a bowl and used the remaining half very carefully to wet her clothes and wipe her face. Not having washed for three days, she felt uncomfortable.
The other bowl of water was naturally for Rong Zhi. He didn’t waste any, briskly picking up the bowl and drinking it in one go. After a while, when the horse thieves came back to collect the bowls and chopsticks, Rong Zhi took the opportunity to socialize with them, learning that one was called Sun Hu, the other Sun Dang.
His smile and words were like the sharp weapon he now held in his hands. Sun Hu and Sun Dang, one cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, and the other keeping watch at the door—what occurred from entry to exit was merely a one or two minute affair. However, in their brief casual conversation, Rong Zhi managed to win their favorable impressions. Even Sun Dang, who was tidying up the bowls, flashed a smile at Rong Zhi when leaving.
Watching Sun Hu and Sun Dang walk away from the small window, Chu Yu turned to Rong Zhi with a smile and said, “You said you didn’t plan to do anything, so what was that just now?” She didn’t believe he was just trying to address them properly.
This was a judgment based on past experience: whatever Rong Zhi did, he surely had a purpose.
Rong Zhi chuckled and offered no defense, simply saying, “You’ll understand in time.” He shifted his body, retreating slowly on the straw bed until his back rested against the wall. Then he beckoned to Chu Yu, “Why don’t you come over, Ah Chu? We’re idle anyway, let me tell you a story.” To avoid inadvertently revealing each others’ identities during their conversations, they had agreed that Rong Zhi would call her Ah Chu, and Chu Yu would call him Rong.
Although this was the first time they actually used these names, Rong Zhi’s tone and expression seemed extremely natural, as if he had always called Chu Yu by that name.
For a moment, Chu Yu felt as though she had returned to the 21st century, talking and laughing with close friends, all of whom called her Ah Chu.
It had been a long time since anyone had called her that, those who had passed away or left her, seemed like fleeting dreams, which she could only search for in her own dreams.
She was stunned for a good while before she realized what Rong Zhi had just said, and then she was taken aback again.
Why was he in the mood to tell stories again?
Although curious, Chu Yu still settled down next to him on the straw, leaning against the wall just like him, “What’s the story? Go on.”
Rong Zhi gave a slight smile, and then he told a story. The story was quite simple, a bit like the bedtime stories Chu Yu’s mother used to tell her when she was a child, but with more twists and turns. However, for Chu Yu, who had read quite a few novels, it was less captivating.
After one story ended, Rong Zhi began another, which was even shorter than the first. As Chu Yu was getting a little bored and about to interrupt, she saw Rong Zhi gesture for silence. Suppressing her confusion, she held back.
He had gotten halfway through the third story when Rong Zhi suddenly stopped, and just as Chu Yu was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard a childish voice from just beyond their wall, “Why aren’t you continuing? What happened next?”
Rong Zhi coughed twice, a faint smile flickering in his eyes, and still leaning against the wall, said, “No more, I’m thirsty.”
After a moment of silence, the young voice said, “Wait here, I’ll go get you some water.”
Then the two heard the sound of quick footsteps, and after a while, the voice returned, “I’ve brought water, how can I give it to you?”
With Rong Zhi’s guidance, the child brought over two small stools, stacking them beneath the window. Then, climbing up with difficulty and spilling half a bowl of water in the process, the child handed the water through the window to Rong Zhi.
At that moment, Chu Yu saw that the child was about eight or nine years old, his little face tanned and full of expectation. Rong Zhi also stood up, taking the bowl with a beam, “Thanks.”
Sitting down with the bowl, Rong Zhi didn’t drink. He lifted the hem of his garment, unraveling the bandage around his wound, and used the bowl of water to clean the injury.
