Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 238 Annan

The prisoner's room was rather dark, and only the stove was burning in the outer room. As soon as Song Chunlin entered, he found that the air inside was rather stuffy, so he stopped the person behind him from closing the door.

"The air inside is not good, leave the door open for some fresh air." Gu Fengyue gave the order, and the man opened the door wide and stood guard at the door without going in.

There was no one in the outer room, so the two men walked into the inner room and found that the air was even more stuffy. Song Chunlin frowned and walked over to open the window. The people in the inner room were a little displeased when they saw him open the window, but because the other party had a higher status than them, they had to suppress their displeasure and did not say anything.

Song Chunlin turned around and explained: "It is best not to close the doors and windows of a room with a stove. Otherwise, if people stay in such a room for a long time, they will suffocate to death from inhaling too much smoke."

It was the first time that the people in the room heard such a statement. Although they scoffed at it, the other party had good intentions after all. Therefore, no matter how unhappy they were, they thanked Song Chunlin very politely.

Song Chunlin did not comment and turned to look at the man tied to a chair in the room. Gu Fengyue walked forward. The man was disheveled, with a gag in his mouth, and his hands and feet were fastened to the chair with special iron rings. Perhaps because of the cold, his skin was blue and purple, and his hand joints were red and swollen like radishes.

Song Chunlin's mental power wandered around this person and found that this person seemed to be seeking death and there was no life in his body. If they had come a few days later, this person would probably not have survived.

"Give him some water, don't let him die." Gu Fengyue said to Song Chunlin.

The person who had been watching behind him spoke up at this time: "He doesn't drink water. Once the gag is taken off, he will bite his tongue. We just use the spoon used to feed medicine to feed him."

Song Chunlin didn't know what a spoon for feeding medicine looked like, so he asked the man to bring it to him. What he saw was that the man was holding a long, curved funnel.

The funnel is not big, but the tail is very long, just enough to fit into a person's throat. It is specially prepared for people who cannot take medicine. Now this person has a gag in his mouth, and he can't close his mouth or bite his tongue, so only a small part of the tail of the funnel can be stuffed in.

But a small piece is enough. These people just feed him some rice soup on weekdays, as long as he doesn't starve to death.

Song Chunlin asked someone to put the funnel in, then he took out his water bag and poured a little into the funnel.

The guard saw that he only poured less than a mouthful of the liquid, and the corners of his mouth couldn't stop twitching. It seemed that he was overthinking it. This kid didn't look like a kind-hearted person at all.

Song Chunlin is indeed not a kind-hearted person. His kindness depends on the person. For example, the man in front of him, Song Chunlin only fed him a sip of the spiritual spring water, which was just enough to keep him alive and prevent him from dying.

After drinking the spiritual spring water, the man clearly felt something was different, but he couldn't tell what was different.

Song Chunlin stood in front of him and smiled at him. The mental suggestion was imprinted in his mind silently. Song Chunlin signaled the man to untie the restraints. The imperial guard subconsciously looked at Gu Fengyue, and Gu Fengyue nodded at him.

"Untie him. He can't die now."

The imperial guard was still a little suspicious, but he dared not disobey Gu Fengyue's order, so he untied the man quickly, and then he saw a surprising scene.

The man who had tried to commit suicide as soon as he was released before, this time actually sat quietly on the chair. Not to mention trying to commit suicide, he didn't even make any unnecessary movements.

This was really strange. The imperial guards were puzzled, but on the surface they asked nothing. Their eyes just lingered on the three people in turn.

Gu Fengyue took Song Chunlin back a step before beginning to interrogate him.

"I heard that you are an Annan noble. Why did Annan send a noble here when there is no one available?"

The other party snorted coldly. He seemed to be completely unaware that he didn't want to die so much. He just showed some disdain for Song Chunlin's question.

"You Han people are full of tricks, I won't talk to you."

Hey, so cunning! Song Chunlin just rolled his eyes.

"We have captured all the people you sent this time. Hahaha, you didn't expect that, did you? If you tell the truth, we will spare your life and let you do that to someone else."

"uncle."

"Oh, uncle, give me money to redeem him."

"You Han people don't keep your word, I don't believe you."

"No, you were deceived by someone. Why do you generalize? Who told you that I don't keep my word? You are the one who doesn't keep your word. How can you, a thief, talk to us about honesty?"

Seeing Song Chunlin calling him a thief, the man blushed and retorted: "What thief? I just stole some of your grain seeds. Your grain seeds are so precious, why don't you allow us to buy and sell them?"

"Gold is precious, it is really precious. A grain that can produce thousands of kilograms per mu is precious, isn't it? Let me think about you, you guys are still relying on fishing as your main food, right?"

These words seemed to have touched his sore spot. He jumped up and was about to grab Song Chunlin, but was kicked to the ground by Gu Fengyue's quick eyes and hands. He took a long time to recover.

The three people standing there watched coldly, with no intention of helping him up. After he recovered, he stroked his chest which had just been kicked, and glared at the three people with resentment.

"You Han people are full of benevolence and morality, but you secretly hide the life-saving grain seeds. The people of Annan are so poor that they can't get enough food, and they are dying of starvation and disease. They finally got this glimmer of hope, but you are taking it away. I won't accept this! You Han people are our Annan's mortal enemies. My uncle will not let you go!"

The three people around him frowned after hearing this, and Gu Fengyue shook his head in disapproval.

"It's not our Dajing people's fault that the people of Annan are starving. You say we took away your only chance of survival. This is ridiculous. In this world, it's not the one who is pitiful who is right. Your people have no food to eat, so you come to steal our Dajing grain. Now you want to turn the tables and confuse right and wrong. What? Do you think you are right to be a robber?"

"Oh, robber? How can it be robbery if it's a transaction between us? It's just a seed with a higher yield. How can he sell it but we can't buy it?"

Song Chunlin was furious: "What a bullshit deal. My family is the only one growing the seeds. Who sold it to you? You can't tell me, right? It was consensual. How come I didn't know that selling stolen goods could be twisted into a legitimate business?"

"Also, if the people in your country have no food to eat, it means that the leader of your country is incompetent. He cannot lead his people to live a good life. Why do you want to put the blame on us? Besides, you clearly know that the grain is related to the fate of the country. Now stealing it is stealing the fate of the country. This crime deserves you to be cut into pieces. Are you sure you can really beat our Dajing army?"

"If I still had some sympathy for your people just now, now I can only say that you deserve to starve. With nobles like you who don't know your own limitations ruling the country, whatever fate they have is their own fault."

The people on the ground were speechless because of the constant chatter between Gu Fengyue and Song Chunlin.

Song Chunlin even added a final stab: "You can blame the heavens and the earth but not yourself. I say, can you look for problems in your own bodies? Don't try to pass the buck when something goes wrong. It's embarrassing."

The imperial guards behind him had solemn expressions, thinking that they must not provoke these two living ancestors in the future. Looking at their sharp tongues, they would definitely not win in an argument, and they might even get mad to death. Look at the one on the ground, isn't he almost suffocated by anger?

But after a while, the three found that this person seemed to be really out of breath...

"So angry?"

Song Chunlin said uncertainly. He looked at Gu Fengyue, and Song Chunlin immediately controlled his supernatural powers. His mental power turned into a sharp energy and pierced directly into the opponent's spiritual sea. After getting the information he wanted in the spiritual sea, Song Chunlin did not directly destroy the opponent's spiritual sea, because this person was still useful. He just poked a big hole in his spiritual sea.

Because this person has no mental power, the hole in his spiritual sea does not affect him much, nor does it endanger his life, but it can make him sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. In simple terms, he is crazy.

A madman, even if rescued, is just a discarded pawn and poses no threat at all.

After finishing everything, Gu Fengyue told the imperial guards: "We have already interrogated this man. You must keep a close eye on him. When we entered the city, we met a group of merchants collecting grain. They were acting suspiciously. They must be here to rescue him."

The imperial guards looked stern and indicated that they understood, saying that they would send more people to try to catch those people in one fell swoop.

On the other side of the street, the Annan masters who came to rescue people were still wandering on the street. They seemed to be chatting with some small vendors, but in fact they were collecting information.

I have to say that these people were quite efficient. After a morning, they had concluded that the person they wanted to rescue was not in the government jail.

"The young master is stubborn. In order to avoid being questioned, he will definitely seek death. These Han people probably also found out that the young master's identity is not simple, and they will not let him die easily."

"The residential areas around the government office are unlikely. Most of the people living in that area are well-known and wealthy families. The street in the southeast corner is also unlikely. There are mostly merchants here, and there are many people coming and going. It's not suitable."

"The northwest corner is not a good option either. It's full of slums. The houses are small and dilapidated. It's easy to be attacked if you hide here."

"Then there is only this place left, this area in the northeast corner of Pingzhou Prefecture. The residents here are all good people. Their families have some assets. The houses are not big, but they are very solid. Moreover, the streets here seem to be more interconnected. As long as we choose a good location, we can attack or defend. Then our chances of winning will be reduced by a few percent."

The leader was thoughtful for a long time before he slowly pointed to the houses in the northeast corner and said, "Right here. This should be the most suitable place to hide. Don't the Han people always say that great people hide in the city? Look at this street. Can you directly get to the back door of the government office?"

A few people came over to take a look, and it was true.

"That's it. It's not easy to get information from residents, so we need to be careful."

"clear."

Song Chunlin didn't know that these people had already determined the scope of the Tibetans. He and Gu Fengyue had finished their work and were strolling on the street holding hands. The two of them worked faster than expected, so they planned to find a small restaurant to have lunch and then rush back.

The people of Ping Chau Prefecture really seem to like potatoes and sweet potatoes. The two of them randomly found a small, clean-looking restaurant and found that its signature dish was actually meat stewed with potatoes.

"Hey, potatoes are everywhere here, and the yield is high. We can't eat them all as food. So many people are thinking of eating them as dishes. The potato stew you asked about is the most common way here. Would you like to have a portion?"

Gu Fengyue listened to his detailed introduction, so she asked the waiter to prepare the next portion.

"One serving of meat and potatoes, one vegetable dish and some soup. Is there any rice? My little brother doesn't like pancakes."

"Yes, yes. For soup, how about egg and radish soup? The kitchen bought some very fresh radishes today. They are very sweet."

Gu Fengyue thought it was okay, so the waiter went to the kitchen in a hurry to take the order. Song Chunlin turned his head and looked around, and found that stewed potatoes with meat was indeed the signature dish here. Almost every table ordered one. The big pieces of meat were stewed with potatoes, and the store seemed to have put their own special sauce in it. Not only was the color attractive, but the smell in the air made people salivate.

It was lunch time and the small restaurant was very busy. It was soon full of people. When Annan and his group arrived, they were taken directly to a private room upstairs.

Only then did Song Chunlin discover that this small restaurant actually had a second floor. What was even more amazing was that those people from Annan were also eating in the same restaurant.

Song Chunlin blinked at Gu Fengyue: "What a coincidence."

Gu Fengyue didn't say much, but waited for the food to come and then diligently served the food to Song Chunlin.

"Try it and see what's different from what my aunt makes." Gu Fengyue picked up a piece of fat and lean pork belly and put it into Song Chunlin's bowl. The meat was rich in color and had three layers of sauce. The pork belly was very well selected and stewed for a long enough time. The fat was like jelly when you took a bite and went down in a slurp.

"Hmm, this sauce is delicious. The pork belly is fat but not greasy. It's delicious."

He lowered his head and took another bite of the soft stewed potatoes. The potatoes absorbed the aroma of the meat. He didn't even need to chew them. They melted into a paste in his mouth with just a sip. The delicate mashed potatoes also had a hint of sauce, which tasted better than the meat.

Gu Fengyue smiled and served him a bowl of soup. The eggs were fried until golden on both sides, the radish was chopped very finely, the soup was cooked into a milky white color, and chopped coriander was added to it. It looked very appetizing.

"The radishes in this season are the most delicious. Try them."

"It tastes good." Song Chunlin took a sip of the soup. It was very sweet and fresh. Although there was no MSG in that era, the smart working people knew how to use simple ingredients to create delicious flavors.

The only vegetarian dish on the table was stir-fried cabbage. Like radish, cabbage was delicious in this season, especially since it had just snowed recently. The cabbage covered by the snow tasted even better. Song Chunlin took several bites with his chopsticks.