Perhaps because they were the same kind of person, she felt great sympathy for Bei Qianxun’s experiences.
After walking in silence for a while, she asked softly, “Sir, do you want to take this girl as your personal bodyguard?”
“Yes,” Jin Feng did not deny it.
“I understand,” A-Mei nodded. “I will help you persuade her.”
Although she and Jin Feng did not talk much usually, she had seen clearly how he treated his subordinates.
In Great Kang, many powerful nobles did not treat their servants as human beings. Some playboy sons were kind to their guards only to bestow favours, hoping that if danger arose, the guards would block blades for them.
The only person who truly treated subordinates kindly from the heart that A-Mei had seen was Jin Feng.
Not only towards close guards like Da Liu, but even ordinary escort masters, Jin Feng would not disregard their lives. Instead, he equipped them at any cost to improve their survival rates.
In A-Mei’s view, Bei Qianxun had already suffered greatly. Following an employer like Jin Feng would be her good fortune.
So she planned to help Jin Feng persuade the girl later.
“Then thank you, Miss A-Mei,” Jin Feng reminded her. “But your main task is still to protect me. Do not let her twist my neck right from the start.”
“Sir, do you think all of us are violent maniacs?”
A-Mei was both annoyed and amused. “Why are you not afraid I will twist your neck?”
“Are you not? That girl Qin’er stepped on my foot once, and I lost a toenail!”
Jin Feng glanced at A-Mei. “Tell me honestly, back when we first went to Xihe Bay, when I was dealing with Qing Mul an, were you thinking about twisting my neck?”
“Uh… I did think about it,” A-Mei nodded with a straight face.
“No way? You really thought about it?” Jin Feng instinctively put some distance between himself and A-Mei.
Pfft!
A-Mei was amused by Jin Feng. “Look how scared you are. I would not now! Besides, if I really wanted to twist it, you could not run away.”
“Even so, you should not say it out loud. Give me some face, alright?”
Jin Feng smiled and walked back to A-Mei’s side. “A-Mei, you actually look very pretty when you smile. Do not always keep such a stern face.”
After saying that, he cheekily raised his eyebrows at A-Mei. “Come on, give your lord another smile.”
“Sir, which foot did Qin’er step on again?”
A-Mei glanced sideways at Jin Feng.
“Ahem! The moon is really big tonight!”
Jin Feng quickly cleared his throat and forcibly changed the subject.
A-Mei looked up at the sickle-like crescent moon and could not help smiling again.
This was also the reason she liked being around Jin Feng.
Jin Feng was different from other scholars. He did not act superior, nor was he pretentiously proper.
Talking with him, there was no need to consider hierarchy or whether something was appropriate. She could say whatever she wanted.
This made A-Mei feel very comfortable.
But that was all.
The two chatted casually like this until they returned to the prison entrance.
“Sir, are you really going in?” the warden reminded again. “That woman is truly dangerous!”
“Just lead the way. If anything happens, it is not your responsibility.”
Jin Feng signalled to Da Liu with his eyes, and Da Liu took out a silver ingot and stuffed it into the warden’s hand.
“No, no!” The warden quickly pushed the silver back. “I will lead the way for you right now.”
He did not dare accept Jin Feng’s silver. He quickly took the lantern and led the way ahead.
The great prison was dark and damp. Even in daylight, the light was very dim.
Knowing Jin Feng was coming, the warden had someone light torches in advance, so the path was barely visible.
They walked along the corridor all the way back to a downward fork. The warden said, “The cells are ahead. Men on the left, female prisoners on the right, and death row at the very end.”
With that, he held the lantern and walked to the right.
Jin Feng turned to look and saw a row of wooden barred cells like those in films and dramas.
However, this place was much dirtier than prisons in films and dramas, and the smell was particularly overwhelming, reminding Jin Feng of the communal pit toilets in rural primary schools.
Now that the weather had turned cool, it was already like this. Jin Feng could hardly imagine what it would be like in summer.
What surprised Jin Feng more was that there were far more female prisoners than he had expected.
Every cell behind the bars had people, some even groups.
“Why are there so many female prisoners?” Jin Feng asked.
“They could not survive, so they stole chickens and dogs,” the warden replied. “Once caught and sent to prison, they at least get food.”
After hearing this, Jin Feng sighed and shook his head.
They walked all the way to the end of the corridor. The warden pointed to the last cell and said, “This is Bei Qianxun’s cell.”
“You go back. Just give him the lantern!”
Jin Feng saw the warden was afraid and signalled Da Liu to take the lantern.
“Sir, I will go with you.”
The warden was still worried.
“No need.”
With A-Mei by his side, Jin Feng felt much more confident.
He patted the warden’s shoulder and strode over.
A-Mei quickly followed.
Da Liu and the close guards positioned themselves between the bars and Jin Feng, afraid someone in the cell might reach out and harm him.
But even when Jin Feng reached the door, there was no movement from inside the cell.
Only then did Jin Feng notice that this cell’s bars were made of iron.
Ironware in Great Kang was very valuable. Using so much to make bars showed that this cell had the highest specifications in the entire prison.
In the light of the lantern, Jin Feng saw a figure inside, sitting cross-legged on a pile of straw.
Perhaps because she had not washed for too long, the person in the prison had dishevelled hair and a dirty face, but from the figure, it was still clear she was a young woman.
Hearing the movement outside, she only looked up once, then lowered her eyelids again, completely ignoring Jin Feng.
A-Mei stepped forward and said, “Girl, this is Mr Jin. He is willing to give you a way out. Get up!”
But the girl ignored her completely, as if she had not heard.
Jin Feng raised his hand to stop A-Mei from speaking further and said, “I killed Xue Henglu!”
At these words, the girl suddenly raised her head, narrowed her eyes, and stared fixedly at Jin Feng. “What did you say? Say it again!”
Seeing the girl react, Jin Feng was delighted inside, but his face remained calm as he repeated faintly, “I said, I killed Xue Henglu!”
“Do not lie to me, or I will surely kill you!”
The girl stood up from the ground, her eyes still fixed on Jin Feng like a man-eating python.
Cold and merciless.
“Why would I lie to you?” Jin Feng pointed at Da Liu and the others. “If you do not believe me, you can ask them!”
“Yes, Xue Henglu was beaten to death with thirty military lashes by my sir!”
Da Liu quickly said, “If you do not believe it, come out with me. I will dig up the corpse for you to see!”
“No need!”
The girl shook her head, looked deeply at Jin Feng once more, then returned to the straw pile and sat cross-legged again.
Xue Henglu was not a minor figure. Since the other side spoke so confidently about killing him, she believed he was indeed dead.
“Hey, what is wrong with you?”
Da Liu was unhappy with her attitude. “My sir avenged you. You should at least say thank you, right?”
“Did he kill Xue Henglu for my sake?”
The girl looked up and asked faintly.
