Chapter 39 Only Way Out

Yongzheng and Cao Yanmei sitting in the room, there is a candlelight in the middle of the table. Cao Yanmei stared at Yongzheng.

Yongzheng asked, "Cao guniang, are you willing to help me?"

Cao Yanmei said, "It's not that I don't want to help you. If the person arrested is not Rao Zhengsheng, then I can help you. As we all know, the beef of the Rao family and Cao family has a long history, but it was initiated by them. They stole my father's 'Red Thread Needles Manual'."

Yongzheng said, "Your father killed everyone in the Rao family, and he also killed Rao-xiong's shifu and shimu."

Cao Yanmei, "If I help you, I would betray my family. I can't face my father and my brother." She leaned her head on the table and thought deeply.

Yongzheng said, "You don't need to release them yourself. Find me a way to rescue them, I will do it myself." He looked at Cao Yanmei, still not looking up from the table. "Help me this time... treat it as a payback for saving your life."

Cao Yanmei raised her face to look at Yongzheng. She asked, "You are not close to them, and you have nothing to do with them. Why do you want to help them?"

Yongzheng said, "I promised Xue qianbei that I will protect Horan from harm."

Cao Yanmei angrily said, "I won't help."

Yongzheng said, "Your father killed his parents. Maybe if you help save their only child.... they might forgive your father for killing them."

Cao Yanmei knew that Cao Fengge had his own way of dealing with the enemy, and she disagreed with many of the methods he used. For more than a year, she has witnessed Cao Fengge's treatment of his enemies. If anyone offends Cao Fengge, he will treat them in the most ruthless way possible. She also knew that Cao Fengge would not hurt others unless they hurts him first. The other party must have done something that greatly offended him to reciev such treatments.

Cao Yanmei sighed, "Alright…but now they are heavily guarded, it is difficult for me to create an opportunity for you to rescue them. Don't try to implement your rescue plan into action. It will be wasted. Every guards around my da ge has a poisonous crossbow. Before you can reach them or my da ge, you will be shot dead."

Yongzheng, "When they reach Beixing Sector, it will be even more difficult to rescue them."

Cao Yanmei said, "Says who?" She smiled at Yongzheng. "Do you still have the name tag I gave you?"

Yongzheng took out the white jade name tag from inside his inner robe and put it on the table. Cao Yanmei grabbed the name tag and looked at it. She placed the name tag on the table and pushed it back to Yongzheng.

Cao Yanmei smiled and said, "This is your access key to walk unimpeded in Beixing Sector." She stared at Yongzheng. "I didn't know that you could be this handsome. When you clean up and dress like an ordinary person, you actually look pretty good."

Yongzheng picked up the name tag and stood up, "Cao guniang…please keep an eyes on them."

Cao Yanmei, "Why do you always call me Cao guniang, it sound too distance?" She glared at him. "What name do you call the man with Rao Zhengsheng?"

Yongzheng said, "Horan."

Cao Yanmei, "Horan? You call him Horan, but you call me Cao guniang. Call me Yanmei, otherwise forget about the whole rescue thing."

Yongzheng said, "Yanmei, please keep an eye on them. Thank you." He jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

Cao Yanmei walked out of the room and into the kitchen. She grabbed some leftovers food from the stove and walked out to where Rao Zhengsheng and Xue Horan were tied together. She put a pot of tea and a plate of four buns on the ground.

Rao Zhengsheng said, "You siblings are so strange. What are you planning to do now?" He looked up at Cao Yanmei. "As soon as we reach for the buns you going to kick it away?"

Cao Yanmei touched the ends of her hair and said, "Think whatever you want to think. Don't think that I did this because I pity you. If it weren't for the smelly Taoist, I would never bring this to you." She turned around and walked away.

Xue Horan said, "Thank you, Cao guniang."

Cao Yanmei shouted back, "The person you should thank is not me."

It took them three days to reach Beixing Sector. As soon as they entered Beixing Sector, Rao Zhengsheng and Xue Horan was dragged into the prison cell. Rao Zhengsheng was severely tortures under the supervision of Cao Wenyan.

Xue Horan was sitting in the beautifully decorated large room. Suddenly, the door opened and Cao Yanmei walked in. Cao Yanmei sat opposite Xue Horan and stared at him.

Cao Yanmei said, "My ge has fed Rao Zhengsheng 'age under the sun' poison and 'seven colors pill'. As we speak, Rao Zhengsheng are being tortures by my brother." She sighed. "If this continues, Rao Zhengsheng will die in the next three or four days. Unless I figure out a way to rescue him, he won't be able to hold the torture any longer. Unless..."

Xue Horan asked, "Unless what?"

Cao Yanmei, "Unless you die in his place."

Xue Horan, "What do you mean by that?"

Cao Yanmei placed a tiny black pill and put it on the table. She said, "This is call 'seven colors pill' poison. People who are poisoned by this poison will slowly rot from the inside out and die within seven days if there is no antidote."

Xue Horan, "How will taking this poison help my da shixiong?"

Cao Yanmei, "Yan yisheng of Li village can cure 'age under the sun' poison, but he can't cure 'seven colors pill'. This is a gamble, I'm not for certain if this work or not." She looked at Xue Horan. "You may have heard many people said that you look like Mu Dishi?"

Xue Horan, "Yes, I have heard."

Cao Yanmei said, "My ge likes this Mu Dishi very much. It will be the anniversary of Mu Dishi's death in two days. I will go and have a good talk with my brother and see if he can give you the antidote. When you get the antidote, put it in your mouth, but don't swallow it. I will find a way to bring you to Rao Zhengsheng, and you can give him the antidote. When we rescue you two, I will try to steal another antidote for you, but if I fail, then you die. " She looked at Xue Horan. "It's your choice."

Xue Horan asked, "Cao guniang, Cao Fengge is your father, why do you want to help us?"

Cao Yanmei, "I did this because Yongzheng asked me. I disagree with many things that my father and my elder brother did. I used this as an apology." She pushed the pill to Xue Horan. "This is the only way out for Rao Zhengsheng right now."

Xue Horan put the pill into his mouth and swallow.

Cao Yanmei, "I'm going to find Yongzheng and your shijie."

Xue Horan, "Cao guniang, thank you."

Cao Yanmei, "Forget it." She closed the door.

Cao Yanmei met Yongzheng and Dong Lanying in the back mountain outside of Beixing Sector. Cao Yanmei said, "It will be the anniversary of Mu Dishi's death in two days. Judging by how my da ge is acting, he misses Mu Dishi very much. He is going to hold an offering for Mu Dishi in the back bamboo forest where Mu Dishi has stayed. We will take this opportunity to rescue them."

Dong Lanying, "Why another two days? Why can't it be today?"

Cao Yanmei said, "Right now my da ge thinking is still clear, do as I said. If you fail to rescue them this time, you can prepare a coffin for Rao Zhengsheng."

Yongzheng, "Cao guniang, is Rao-xiong's condition that bad?"

Cao Yanmei said, "Very bad. He is about to die. After we saved him, take him straight to Li Village to find Yan Yisheng. Tell him that Rao Zhengsheng is poisoned with 'age under the sun'."

Dong Lanying said, "I will prepare everything."

Cao Yanmei said, "See you in two days." She walked away.