tallest building

Chapter 109 Feigning Obedience

In the dimly lit cellar, a single lamp flickered dimly.

Gong Chang'an was locked in a wooden cage, which was barely enough to stand up, but it was spacious enough to lie down.

The cage was very sturdy, made of wood thicker than his arm. The cage door was also secured with several thick iron chains and locked with a large padlock.

Not far away, in a slightly larger cage, lay the half-dead pageboy Heming. One of his fingers had been cut off, and he had fainted from the pain.

Now they've just wrapped it with a rag, barely managing to stop the bleeding.

Gong Chang'an obediently huddled in a corner of the cage, watching the two people over there wolf down their braised meat and flatbread.

These two people are probably father and son, and both are mute. They use hand gestures to express themselves.

Although it was dark here, Gong Chang'an estimated that it was already night.

He was a little hungry, but the two men didn't give him anything to eat.

He buried his face in his knees, reflecting once again on the day's events.

He heard in the morning that the Feng family's carriage was coming to pick him up, so he took his page and went out. When he got outside, he saw that it was indeed the Feng family's coachman.

Therefore, without further doubt, he got into the car.

At first, he didn't notice anything amiss. After the car had driven a distance, he seemed to faintly smell some fragrance, but it was barely perceptible.

When he felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, he looked at Heming beside him and found that he also looked drowsy.

But it was too late. He was so weak that he couldn't even make a sound, and then he fell into a deep sleep.

There must have been a sleeping potion in the car.

When he regained consciousness, he felt the carriage was still moving.

He cautiously peeked through a crack and saw a strange man sitting next to him, who looked to be in his forties or fifties and clearly did manual labor.

Listening outside the carriage, there were only occasional birdsongs, but no noise of carriages or people hawking their wares, so it was clear that they were no longer in the city.

His hands and feet were tied, and his mouth was gagged; it seemed the other party was quite careful.

Gong Chang'an secretly tightened his grip and found that the rope binding him was not particularly tight, probably because he was a child and no one took him seriously.

This rope should be able to be untied using the unlocking method I learned from those border soldiers.

He carefully freed his hands from the rope, seemingly unnoticed by the man. But any further movement would surely result in his hands being held down.

Gong Chang'an knew that escaping was probably impossible, because besides the person in the carriage, there were other people driving the carriage outside, and they must be a group.

But this must be on the road. If other pedestrians or vehicles pass by, I can try calling for help.

It's better than just sitting here and waiting to die.

So he carefully took off the amulet around his neck, knowing that his family would be searching for him everywhere, so he wanted to leave as many clues as possible.

Sure enough, after walking a while longer, they heard carriages approaching from the opposite direction.

As the carriages approached, Gong Chang'an suddenly sat up, ripped the cloth off his mouth, and shouted for help.

The people inside the car rushed over, covered his mouth, and held him down tightly.

But Gong Chang'an had already thrown the amulet out the window, and fortunately, it went unnoticed. Then he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and lost consciousness again.

When he woke up again, he was already in the cellar.

The two guards were not the same as the previous coachman, so it seems that this group had a division of labor.

"Who are you people? I have no grudge against you, why did you bring me here?" Gong Chang asked, feigning fear and his voice trembling with sobs.

But the two men just stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

"Fourth Young Master, we...we've just run into bad guys." He Ming cried even harder than Gong Chang'an. "What are we going to do?"

The younger of the two men walked over and banged hard on the outside of Heming's cage with a wooden stick. He looked very fierce, and Heming immediately shut up in fright.

Then the older man came over, patted the younger man on the shoulder, and made a few gestures to him. The younger man nodded.

Gong Chang'an then realized that the two people were mute.

After a long while, another person came into the cellar.

This person looked to be around thirty years old, tall, and decent-looking, but he had heavy bruises under his eyes and his steps were somewhat unsteady.

Although Gong Chang'an was young, he had come into contact with many adults and knew that such people had been ruined by wine and women.

He was certain he had never seen this person before, but he was also certain that this person was of higher status than the two guards, who were clearly working for him.

"Young Master, don't be afraid." The man stepped forward, squatted down, and looked at Gong Chang'an, saying, "If you stay here obediently, you won't suffer any physical pain."

"Uncle, I have no grudge against you, why are you doing this to me?" Gong Chang'an asked with tears in his eyes.

He had to act like a normal seven-year-old child in order to lower the other party's guard.

"You don't need to know this. What's the point of a little kid like you knowing so much?" the man said with a smile, dismissively.

“Uncle, my family is rich. As long as you let me go back, my parents will definitely give you a lot of money.” Gong Chang’an said softly, “I’m not lying to you.”

"Haha, money! Of course we want it." The man stood up as he spoke. "But if we let you go, how could they possibly give me the money? They would definitely report me to the authorities and have me arrested."

"Then... what do you want?" Gong Chang'an shrank back even further, showing an even more fearful expression.

"Don't worry, we won't touch you yet." The man winked at the young mute man beside him.

The man immediately rushed to Heming's cage, pulled his hand out, drew his dagger, and with a swift stroke, sliced ​​off one of Heming's fingers.

Crane Cry screamed in pain and rolled around in the cage, and Gong Chang'an immediately started crying as well.

"Don't cry, it's not like your finger was cut off," the man said with a smile. "But if your parents don't give you money, it'll be your turn next time."

He took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around Heming's fingers, preparing to write a blackmail letter.

"Uncle... Uncle..." Gong Chang'an called out to him tremblingly, "If I... if I behave, could you be nicer to me?"

"I've already said that as long as your family obediently pays the money, we won't make things difficult for you," the man said dismissively.

"Are you going to write a letter to my parents?" Gong Chang'an asked. "In my opinion, I should write the letter myself."

"You're going to write it?" The man turned his face, frowning as he looked at Gong Chang'an. "You little brat, are you trying to play some tricks?"

"No," Gong Chang'an quickly shook his head, saying with trepidation, "This is what I was thinking. My parents must be extremely worried right now. If they see this letter written by my own hand, they'll know I'm safe and sound, and they'll be truly grateful to you. I'm just trying to make things go more smoothly. I'm so scared, I want to go home..."