A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 585 Timing
Duan Rong returned to the courtyard of the kitchen. He first put the empty food box back in its original place, and then walked out of the small kitchen.

At this moment, the courtyard was quiet, and there was no sound from Old Man He's room; he was obviously asleep again.

Duan Rong walked through the courtyard and came to the pile of corn stalks in front of the kitchen.

In the small kitchen, they used chopped dry firewood for cooking, but in the main kitchen, they often used bundles of dry corn stalks. There was no other downside to it, except that when it burned, the shavings flew everywhere, inevitably getting all over the kitchen, especially on porridge and steamed buns, where they always got quite a bit stuck.

The communal kitchen staff weren't too particular about these things, since they were meant for the ordinary bandits in the village.

But the small kitchen dared not use this thing to start a fire. If some black bits ended up in the food, and the three bosses got really angry, Old Man He would be in deep trouble.

The small kitchen always used the best dry firewood for cooking, but in the pitch-black night, Duan Rong suddenly came to the pile of dry corn stalks. He suddenly picked up a bundle of dry corn stalks and then walked towards the small kitchen with his head down.

The courtyard was quiet, but Duan Rong's behavior was quite strange. The small kitchen didn't need dried corn stalks for fuel, so why was he carrying a bundle of dried corn stalks to the small kitchen?

Duan Rong carried the bundle of dried corn stalks into the small kitchen, placed it behind the pile of firewood, brushed the dry shavings off his body, and then walked behind the black curtain.

He went to the jar where the salted duck eggs were pickled, opened it, rummaged around inside, and after a while, pulled out a porcelain bottle, stuffed it into his pocket, and went out.

He walked into the shack in the dark, lay down on the large communal bed, and could hear Guo Tian's soft snoring beside him.

He lay there for a while, calmed himself down, and then suddenly pushed Guo Tian in the darkness.

Guo Tian's snoring paused for a moment after being pushed, but he didn't wake up yet. After a few breaths, the snoring started again, and he fell asleep again.

Duan Rong shook his shoulders vigorously.

Guo Tian was finally shaken awake. He opened his sleepy eyes in the darkness, but his mind was not yet clear. Duan Rong's voice had already quietly sounded in his ear: "Are you awake? I have something to tell you."

The moment Guo Tian heard Duan Rong's voice, his drowsiness vanished. He knew Duan Rong must have something to say to him. Moreover, Duan Rong had taken the long nail he had polished from him that evening, but he had no idea what Duan Rong had done with it.

Guo Tian grunted in response. Duan Rong knew he was awake, so he handed Guo Tian the porcelain bottle he had been carrying and whispered, "Tomorrow morning, put all the powder from this bottle into the porridge."

Guo Tian was startled upon hearing this. He felt the smooth porcelain bottle in his hand. The bottle was not large; even his thin, chicken-claw-like hand, which was only seven or eight years old, could hold it in his palm.

Guo Tian had already guessed that the porcelain bottle must contain poison.

Duan Rong then added, "Don't forget to tell them not to eat porridge for breakfast tomorrow."

After Duan Rong finished speaking, he lay back down in his seat, wrapped himself in the tattered blanket, and fell asleep.

Guo Tian, ​​however, clutched the porcelain bottle and couldn't sleep in the darkness.

Duan Rong had clearly begun his operation. He poured the entire bottle of poison into the porridge. Where did he get this poison? Was he the bandit who poisoned the entire stronghold?
But Jiang Hanyan's obsession was to kill Meng Zongqiu and the other two, so why would she poison these ordinary bandits? And could such a small bottle of powder really kill more than 300 bandits in the entire mountain stronghold?
While Guo Tian was lost in thought, Duan Rong was already snoring softly; tomorrow would be a fierce battle.

Moreover, his condition is crucial for tomorrow's killing spree, so he must force himself to get a good night's sleep. He is indeed exhausted; in just the last few hours tonight, he has already killed three people. After all, he is only a seven or eight-year-old child with a frail body, and he really can't keep up!

Duan Rong had already fallen into a deep sleep, and at this time, the courtyard of the second-in-command, Wu Mingfu, was also quiet, with the guards at the gate already asleep.

Wu Mingfu's room door was closed, and a faint light shone through the window.

Inside the room, Wu Mingfu had finished the entire jar of wine, but he still felt it wasn't enough. He prepared to get up and fetch another jar, but as soon as he stood up, he stumbled and fell to the ground. Since there was no dressing table or bronze mirror in his room, he naturally couldn't see that his face had turned slightly dark.

Wu Mingfu slumped down at the table, slightly surprised. It was only one jar of wine, how could he be so drunk that he couldn't even walk! And his head was throbbing with pain!

"What...is going on?"

Wu Mingfu suddenly felt a blur in his head, and his vision began to sway. At that moment, he noticed that the oil lamp on the table not far away had somehow turned green...

The green flames, with a black center, resemble a ghost face, hence the name of this poisonous creature, the Green Ghost.

Wu Mingfu naturally didn't know about this poison. He just found it strange and wondered if he was seeing things. Why was the flame a strange green? At that moment, he felt something sticky in his nose. When he reached out and touched it, he found a pool of blood.

At this moment, he realized he was in trouble. He tried to call for help, but no sound came out of his throat. With a thud, his huge head slammed onto the wooden table, and a trickle of blood flowed down the edge of the table, dripping into the empty wine jar at Wu Mingfu's feet...

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Duan Rong and the others got up. Guo Tian had clearly not slept well, and looked at Duan Rong with a serious expression. But Duan Rong didn't even glance at him. He washed up and went straight into the small kitchen.

He went to the small kitchen and had just lit the fire in the stove when Old Man He came in yawning and started preparing breakfast.

Across from the small kitchen, in the main kitchen, Li Gang was also leading the children in getting busy...

As is customary, porridge is made for breakfast. Li Gang cooked a large pot of porridge in a big iron pot, and also put in sweet potatoes and leftover white rice from yesterday.

Lu Chu was tending the fire, yawning as he bent down some dried corn stalks and stuffed them into the stove.

After Li Gang had put everything in, he started tidying up the steamed buns and pickled vegetables. Just then, Guo Tian suddenly strolled over.

When Lu Chu saw Guo Tian sneaking over, his eyes widened in surprise.

Guo Tian looked around first, then stared intently at Li Gang, who was intently chopping pickled vegetables. Suddenly, Li Gang flipped his hand and, right in front of Lu Chu, poured the porcelain bottle of medicine powder into the large iron pot.

In that instant, Lu Chu's eyes widened like copper bells, his breath hitched slightly, and he almost cried out.

After pouring out the medicine powder, Guo Tian stuffed the empty porcelain bottle into his pocket, picked up the large ladle from the stove, stirred it in the pot, and then walked out as if nothing had happened.

The children are still busy outside, kneading dough and steaming buns, which is the biggest task for breakfast.

Guo Tian walked out, and Jiang Hanyan's gaze immediately locked onto him. Guo Tian, ​​however, walked past her and headed towards the toilet. He went inside and threw the empty porcelain bottle directly into the latrine. Guo Tian returned to the outside of the kitchen and began kneading dough beside Jiang Hanyan. Li Gang wouldn't say anything about him not washing his hands after using the toilet; it was for the bandits anyway. The children often wiped their snot in the dough, and Li Gang pretended not to see it. He thought snot wasn't dirty, and wiping it in would save on salt.

As Jiang Hanyan kneaded the dough, she glanced at Guo Tian beside her. She felt that Guo Tian was acting strangely; he was kneading the dough, then suddenly went into the kitchen, then suddenly went to the toilet. Guo Tian was usually quiet and steady, and running around like this was completely unlike him.

As Jiang Hanyan was pondering this, Guo Tian suddenly leaned closer to her and whispered, "Don't drink the porridge this morning!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hanyan frowned, looked at Guo Tian with great confusion, and asked, "Why?"

Guo Tian whispered, "If you don't want to die, don't drink it!"

Jiang Hanyan gasped. The meaning couldn't be clearer, and considering that the third leader, Li Tang, had been poisoned not long ago, the porridge had obviously been poisoned.

Jiang Hanyan asked quietly, "What do you want to do?" By "you," she was naturally referring to Guo Tian and Duan Rong.

In truth, Guo Tian knew what Duan Rong was up to, but he had an inexplicable confidence in Duan Rong, especially after Duan Rong poisoned Li Tang and then escaped safely. To this day, Guo Tian still couldn't understand how Duan Rong had managed to poison Li Tang without implicating him. He truly had some skill!

Guo Tian just silently kneaded the dough, which made Jiang Hanyan feel a surge of anger.

In the small kitchen, Old Man He had already prepared breakfast.

After all, you can't eat big meals of meat and fish every day, so breakfast should be relatively light, which makes it quick to prepare.

Old Man He put the breakfast into three food boxes, turned around, and was about to say a few words to Duan Rong when he suddenly froze, because the moment he turned around, he found that Duan Rong was already standing behind him.

Duan Rong smiled slightly, then suddenly flicked his hand, sprinkling a cloud of powder onto Old Man He's face.

"you……!?"

Old Man He's face stiffened, but his consciousness began to blur. He really couldn't understand why Duan Rong, a child of seven or eight years old, would use poison.
The poison was clearly very potent; he had only been momentarily unaware and had inhaled a mouthful, and now he was already starting to feel dizzy…

Old Man He collapsed to the ground with a thud, already unconscious. Duan Rong had sprinkled a potent sedative on his face.

Seeing that Old Man He had fainted, Duan Rong forcefully dragged him behind the black curtain. This potent poison could make Old Man He sleep for a whole day, and a deep coma could last for several hours. And after several hours, the battle between them and Meng Zongqiu would likely be a matter of life and death!
Duan Rong stepped out from behind the black curtain, wiping the fine sweat from his forehead. For his frail body, dragging an unconscious person had taken a tremendous amount of effort.

He caught his breath for a while, then picked up the head of the household's food box and walked out of the small kitchen.

The children in the kitchen were all busy, and almost no one paid any attention to Duan Rong and Old Man He coming and going.

Duan Rong carried the food box and headed towards Meng Zongqiu's fortress.

Wu Mingfu and Hu Jin are both dead, so there's no need to send them food.

Duan Rong carried the food box to a high wall outside the bunker. He pulled on a rope hanging down there, and the moment the rope was pulled down, he heard a melodious copper bell ringing from inside.

A moment later, a thick wooden door opened a crack, and the fair-skinned, sinister-looking young man poked his head out. When he saw that it was Duan Rong, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Duan Rong then said, "Old He twisted his ankle and can't walk. He asked me to bring him breakfast!"

Upon hearing this, the young man grabbed the food box, then grabbed another empty food box from the doorway and stuffed it into Duan Rong's hand before slamming the wooden door shut.

Duan Rong then picked up the empty food box and walked back.

He was halfway there when he saw bandits coming from the kitchen carrying bowls. Some of them were eating as they walked, one bowl in each hand holding a steamed bun with pickled vegetables and the other a bowl of porridge…

Yesterday, the small bottle of poison that Duan Rong gave to Guo Tian was only enough to kill thirty to fifty people at most, but there were more than three hundred bandits in this mountain stronghold.

That means the poison was diluted more than tenfold.

His high school chemistry teacher had told them that talking about toxicity without considering dosage is irresponsible.

Duan Rong did not intend to use the porridge to poison the more than three hundred bandits directly; the porridge was only a part of it.

Meanwhile, the guard standing in front of Wu Mingfu's courtyard saw people carrying bowls past, indicating that food had already been served in the kitchen. He couldn't help but swallow hard; after guarding all night, he was starving.

Not long after, the other guard who had taken over his shift was seen walking towards them while drinking porridge.

After the two guards changed shifts, the first guard was about to head towards the kitchen when the other guard, carrying a bowl, said, "Hey, Second Master, have you washed up yet? Has breakfast been brought over?"

"Breakfast hasn't been delivered yet! Second Master should still be asleep; the door's been closed." The guard said, gesturing with his chin, then turned and walked towards the kitchen.

The guard at the gate finished his breakfast, turned around and looked around. He noticed that the room door was still closed, and he couldn't help but feel suspicious. Second Master didn't usually have the habit of closing the door!

He suddenly walked over and gently pushed the door open. The door was obviously ajar, and it opened easily with a gentle push.

The guard peeked out and saw Wu Mingfu slumped over the table, an empty wine jar at his feet. He immediately pulled his head back, thinking Wu Mingfu was clearly having a hangover and was sleeping there. How could he dare to disturb him? He then left the door slightly ajar and went back to guard the courtyard gate.

Duan Rong carried the empty food box back to the kitchen courtyard. The entrance to the main kitchen was crowded with bandits getting their food, bustling about. Guo Tian and Jiang Hanyan were all very busy. Duan Rong went straight back to the small kitchen.

After placing the empty food container, he took the food and sat on the threshold of the small kitchen, eating while looking towards the entrance of the main kitchen.

To Wang Long, who was serving porridge to the bandits, Duan Rong's actions seemed like he was showing off how well he was eating and how leisurely he was. But in reality, he was waiting for an opportunity.

Duan Rong ate slowly because he had to wait for the main kitchen to finish serving the food. He knew that there were usually not enough steamed buns, and some of the bandits who arrived late wouldn't get any, but there was always some porridge left over every day. These seven- or eight-year-old children ate thin porridge for breakfast.

(End of this chapter)