Fire Captain

Chu Qiao's injuries got better under the care of her sister Zhixiang, and she was immediately driven away by Aunt Song to work. Zhixiang felt sorry for Chu Qiao and wanted to ask for some light work, but this annoyed Aunt Song. Zhixiang happened to be targeted by the lustful butler Zhu. The two sisters had to mediate between these two people. In the eyes of the servants, these two people were so powerful that they could not be dealt with lightly or heavily. In addition, Chu Qiao was young and had not yet subsided. Zhixiang was worried all day about what Chu Qiao would do.

On this day, Yu Wen Yue held a banquet in the back garden to celebrate the birthday of Yan Bei's Prince Yan Xun. Originally, Chu Qiao was taken by Zhi Xiang to help in the kitchen, but she was unexpectedly sent to the door by Aunt Song, who disliked her, to serve as Princess Chun's human servant.

Zhi Xiang worriedly held Chu Qiao and said, "Xiao Liu, don't run around. The servants in our Yuwen Mansion are divided into three levels. You are a lowly slave with an iron bell. You can only bow your head and bend at the master's banquet. Even the sound of heavy breathing is a crime that deserves ten strokes of the cane. Do you remember what your sister said?"

Chu Qiao once again clearly realized that the identity of a slave meant that she had no human rights at all, so she nodded and said, "I remember that."

In order to avoid Zhi Xiang's worries, Chu Qiao suppressed her pride, knelt down under the sedan chair, and was willing to be the servant of this so-called princess.

After the princess got off the sedan chair, the banquet began. There was pleasant music, clinking glasses, and beautiful women dancing gracefully. Chu Qiao stood up alone outside the courtyard, which was out of place with the lively scene in the backyard, and attracted Yan Xun's slight glance at her at the banquet.

Suddenly, the princess shouted, "Yuwen Huai, where are you going?"

Chu Qiao was stunned and looked over. She remembered her elder sister saying that Chief Steward Zhu could do everything on his own because he had Yuwen Huai backing him up.

The man named Yuwen Huai said drunkenly, "Princess, this wine is strong. Go out and get some fresh air..."

Chu Qiao saw Yuwen Huai just walked behind the towering tree behind her and said to the chief steward Zhu: "The cherries are useless, and it's not a pity if they die. This is Guanghan Powder. Put it in the wine and it will be colorless and tasteless. This is the princess's wine and Yuwen Yue's garden. I'll protect you, what are you afraid of?"

They thought that their voices were too low for anyone to hear, but Chu Qiao, with her martial arts skills, could hear everything. She thought, "Who do they want to harm?"

Just as I was thinking about it, a voice suddenly sang outside: "Master Yue from Qingshan Court has arrived..." I hurriedly knelt down to greet him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a stern man walking towards me without looking around.

When the princess saw the person coming, she shouted, "Bingtuozi, why did you come just now? We have been playing for quite a while, and you are always the last to arrive. How do you think we should punish you..."

At the banquet, people started to make noises. Chu Qiao suddenly saw Zhi Xiang coming to the banquet to serve. He was getting wine for Master Yue who had arrived late. But Zhu Da, the chief steward, suddenly stopped Zhi Xiang. He smiled and said something irrelevant. He secretly put medicine into the wine pot while Zhi Xiang was not paying attention. Chu Qiao saw it and thought of what he had just said to Yu Wenhuai. She immediately became nervous.

Seeing Zhixiang bringing the wine to Yuwen Yue, after pouring it, the people at the banquet also started to make a noise, "Yuwen Yue, you are late at other times, but today is Yan Xun's birthday, and it's at your house, and you still dare to be late!"

The person next to him said, "Yes, yes, do you think we should give him a glass of wine as punishment..."

"It should be punished..."

"It should be punished..."

Yu Wen Yue picked up the wine glass without saying a word. When he was about to drink it all, he suddenly stopped. After a short pause, he suddenly put the glass down and said, "I don't want to drink this wine."

The princess heard this and said, "Bingtuozi, this is Yupu wine. There is no other jar of it in the world today. Today is Brother Yanxun's birthday, so I brought it out for everyone to enjoy. You must drink this wine!"

Yu Wen Yue said expressionlessly: "Princess, I am ill today, please forgive me!"

The princess stopped talking after hearing this. Yuwen Huai suddenly said while drunk: "Do you really want to disobey the princess? Why don't we follow Shi Chong's example and let the beauties persuade the guests to drink. If the guests don't drink, we will kill them!" The beauty next to Yuwen Yue was Zhi Xiang.

Seeing that Yu Wen Yue didn't drink, Chu Qiao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but after hearing what Yu Wen Huai said, the anger was brought up again.

In order to save her life, Zhi Xiang had to hold up the wine glass and persuade Yu Wen Yue to drink. Unfortunately, the more she persuaded Yu Wen Yue to drink, the more he concluded that there was something wrong with the wine and the less he drank it. It seemed that Zhi Xiang was about to become cannon fodder in the fight between the two.

Chu Qiao thought to herself: "These people are scheming against each other, but they want my sister to die for them. They are truly beasts in human form... If this continues my sister will surely die..." She could no longer bear it, and untied the rubber band around her wrist, knocking over the wine glass in Zhi Xiang's hand. Now everyone's eyes were on Chu Qiao.

Everyone present had different reactions, and finally Yuwen Huai said, "Catch her!" Two guards came over and restrained Chu Qiao, bringing her to Yuwen Huai. Zhi Xiang could only watch worriedly.

Yuwen Huai looked at Chu Qiao and said, "Who are you? You are so brave."

Chu Qiao looked at the ground and said, "Please, gentlemen, don't gamble with my sister's life when you drink."

Yuwen Huai said, "You ignorant slave, Prince Yu and the princess are here, how dare you be so arrogant, Zhu Shun... kill her!"

Zhu Dazongguan immediately said: "Yes!"

He was about to take action when suddenly someone next to him said, "Wait!" The person who spoke was Yan Xun.

Yan Xun said: "Today is my birthday, why bother with fighting and killing!"

Prince Yu hated to see people being killed, so he immediately said, "Well, that makes sense! Fighting and killing is not decent."

Yuwen Huai said with a look that deserved a beating: "The rules of my Yuwen Mansion cannot be broken."

Yan Xun smiled and said, "How about this, let's play a game to see if she deserves to die."

The princess immediately said flatteringly: "Let's listen to Brother Yan Xun today. Whatever he says is what we have to do."

Yan Xun took off the jade pendant from his waist and said, "This is my waist badge. There is a dragon pattern on one side and seal characters on the other. I will throw it into the air and you guess which side will be facing up when it lands on the ground. If you guess correctly, it means God wants to redeem you!" Then he stood beside Chu Qiao.

The princess ran over and said, "This is good, this is interesting! This is how we should play it. Today, it all depends on your luck!"

Yan Xun rubbed the jade token twice and said to Chu Qiao, "Turn around."

After Chu Qiao turned around, Yan Xun threw the jade token. After it landed on the ground, everyone looked at it. Chu Qiao thought of the hint from Yan Xun's action just now and answered, "It's a dragon pattern."

Yan Xun smiled and said, "Are you sure?"

Chu Qiao said, "I'm sure."

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the princess said, "So amazing?"

Chu Qiao looked back and saw that there was indeed a dragon pattern on the jade token.

Prince Yu immediately said: "Yuwen Huai, pardon her!"

Yuwen Huai hesitated for a moment and said, "The death penalty can be avoided, but the living punishment cannot be escaped."

Chu Qiao said: "Since God doesn't want my sister to die, then my sister should live."

The princess heard this and said, "That's very kind and righteous, but you will be punished."

Chu Qiao said: "I am willing to take the punishment for my sister."

In the end, Chu Qiao was punished to be hung upside down on a tree, and no one dared to let her down until the banquet ended and night fell.

"You've only been in the Yuwen Mansion for a few days, and you're so miserable." A voice sounded suddenly.

Then Chu Qiao felt someone help her up. Although she was hanging upside down, the force at least lifted her upper body up, and her congested brain was relieved for a moment. Chu Qiao looked at the person below her and smiled, "Thank you, Fei Liu."

Feiliu pursed his lips and smiled and shook his head, meaning you're welcome.

After saying that, Chu Qiao looked at Bai Ziyang and said, "Why are you here again?"

Bai Ziyang smiled and said, "I brought Fei Liu here to play. The Yuwen Mansion is big and fresh. Fei Liu likes it, right?"

"Yeah!" Fei Liu nodded.

Bai Ziyang said: "You don't want me to put you down?"

Chu Qiao said, "No, it will be troublesome if someone from the Yuwen Mansion comes." Then she looked at Fei Liu holding her up and said distressedly, "Okay, Fei Liu, put me down."

Fei Liu shook his head and said, "Not tired!"

Bai Ziyang said: "Our Fei Liu is such a little cutie!"

Fei Liu smiled when he was praised. Chu Qiao also smiled when she saw Fei Liu's smile. Fei Liu's smile seemed to make her temporarily forget the hardships of the past few days.

Bai Ziyang said, "Everyone in the Yuwen Mansion is perverted, especially the Third House Old Master Yuwen Xi and Yuwen Huai. If you fall into their hands, blow the whistle I gave you and delay for me! Save your life first, then talk about other things. Remember?"

Chu Qiao nodded and said, "Yes!"

Bai Ziyang's ears moved slightly, and when he heard the footsteps of someone coming, he quickly said, "Someone is coming. We'll leave first. Take care of yourself! Feiliu, retreat!"

Fei Liu put Chu Qiao down and flew away with Bai Ziyang.

The man cut the rope hanging Chu Qiao with a knife, and then hit Chu Qiao's waist with the back of the knife, thus preventing Chu Qiao from falling headfirst to the ground. Chu Qiao only heard Lin Xi say: "Thank you, Master Yue, for saving my sister, thank you, Master Yue!" Then he hurried over to untie the rope on Chu Qiao.

Yu Wen Yue looked at Chu Qiao and said, "You have the ability to cause trouble but not the ability to get out of it safely. You are extremely stupid." After saying that, he left.

In the woodshed, when Linxi and Zhixiang were taking care of Chu Qiao, Aunt Song suddenly rushed in, looked at Chu Qiao and said, "This lowly slave has offended Master Huai. I don't want to find a way to kill her, but Master Huai thinks I'm slacking off. But her face is quite delicate. It would be a pity to kill her. Let's just take good care of her for two days, and then send her to Ji Le Pavilion to enjoy a good life!" After that, she left.

Only the anxious Zhixiang and Linxi, and the unconscious Chu Qiao were left behind.

Chu Qiao had that dream again. In the dream, she was chasing after a woman and calling her "mother", but the woman called her Chu Qiao, not Jing Xiaoliu. After waking up, she saw Lin Xi sleeping beside her and shouted, "Fifth Brother!"

Linxi woke up after hearing Chuqiao's cry and said, "Xiaoliu, you're awake? What's wrong?"

Chu Qiao said: "I'm fine, I didn't get you into trouble."

Linxi said, "Don't worry."

Chu Qiao suddenly said, "They put poison in the wine. The poison is called Guanghan Powder. It is harmless to ordinary people, but it is fatal to people with cold diseases."

Linxi asked curiously: "How do you know?"

Chu Qiao said, "I don't know how I know this. Fifth brother, do I have another name? In my dreams, people always call me Chu Qiao, and from time to time I dream of people chasing me, but I feel it's very real. Do you remember how I came to our house?"

Linxi said, "I only remember that my father told me that you were born out of wedlock. Xiaoliu, don't let your imagination run wild. Dreams are all fake. Master Yue trusts me now. Brother Wu will avenge you sooner or later. But you have offended Master Huai now. He is a vindictive man. Zhu Shun is his man and we are birds of a feather. I have to think of a countermeasure quickly."