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Chapter 371 The dove takes over the magpie's nest
"What's so special about your family's secret recipe?" Zhu Yu asked curiously after hearing this. Seeing that Jiang Hong's expression changed slightly, and fearing that he was like a frightened bird, he quickly added, "I don't need you to tell me what the secret recipe is. Just tell me what the dyed cloth will look like."

When Jiang Hong first heard Zhu Yu ask, he immediately became wary, thinking that the thieves had come up with a new trick to trick him out of the secret recipe. But when he heard her words, he breathed a sigh of relief and said weakly, "The secret recipe for dyeing cloth has been passed down from my ancestors."

Although I have never dyed silk by hand, I have seen a piece of silk passed down from my ancestors. It was extremely light and thin, and could be worn over other clothes. Not only would it not cover the color of the clothes underneath, but it would also look like it had an extra layer of watery sheen during the day, giving it a shimmering, wave-like feel.

At night, the silk robe would glow with a soft light, as if the moonlight were draped over the body, making the wearer look like Chang'e in the moon palace.

Previously, weaving and dyeing this kind of silk required many expensive raw materials, and the slightest mistake could ruin it, making the cost extremely high, so few people even considered it.

"What did the person who locked you up look like? Do you remember?" Lu Zhang asked from the side.

Jiang Hong took a few breaths before shaking his head: "I don't know... that person wore a veiled hat the whole time..."

Even when he wasn't wearing a veil, he would cover his face with a fan or something similar, so I couldn't see his features clearly.

As he spoke, Jiang Hong's expression changed. He had just been pale and weak, but now he looked even more pained. His body, which had become as thin as bones, was writhing in agony on the bed.

"What's going on?" Yan Daoxin was the first to notice something was wrong. He quickly pulled Jiang Hong's wrist over and placed his fingers on it. "His pulse was just weak a moment ago, but now it's all jumbled up!"

"It must have flared up again..." Jiang Hong gritted his teeth, his voice barely audible through his clenched teeth. As he spoke, he gripped his arms and body tightly with his hands, and soon several more bloodstains appeared on his already tattered undergarment.

"Didn't you just say that their strange medicine wasn't working on you? Why is it acting up again?" Yan Daoxin asked, puzzled.

Jiang Hong scratched himself while saying painfully, "That strange medicine really didn't work, so later they gave me something else, which made me feel indescribably uncomfortable when it took effect, like I wanted to rip out all my internal organs..."

They said they'd give me the antidote if I told them, but I would never give my ancestors' secret formula to those villains…

"How vicious!" Yan Daoxin's brows furrowed. "Murder, taking away people's property, and using such a torturous thing for an ancestral secret recipe!"

"It's alright. Judging from your pulse, it shouldn't kill you. It's just something that's tormenting you and making you uncomfortable. I'll try to think of a way to relieve it later."

Jiang Hong's tears immediately fell, wetting his already dry and sunken eye sockets. If he hadn't been unable to get up, he probably would have kowtowed to Yan Daoxin a few times.

"They'll probably go to the cellar tonight... to torture me again... What if they find out I ran away, will they..." Jiang Hong was feeling extremely uncomfortable at the moment, and it was precisely this discomfort that reminded him of a worry.

"Don't worry, just rest and recover. You don't need to worry about anything else," Lu Qing comforted him. "This is Doctor Yan. I'll ask him to find a way to concoct an antidote for you. But before that, you need to do us a favor and check if there are any incorrect markings here."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, gesturing to Fu Wen beside him. Fu Wen quickly took out the terrain sketch of Immortal Fortress that Lu Qing and Lu Yan had drawn together and handed it to Jiang Hong.

Jiang Hong forced himself to look at the sketch carefully. He was initially surprised, saying that there weren't so many high walls in the past in Fairy Castle.

This small courtyard was originally where Jiang Hong and his family lived. Although it was relatively far from the houses of other villagers and quieter, there were not many barriers in between, nor were there ridiculously high walls to surround the houses of other villagers, like a cage.

Zhu Yu guessed that the reason why those people built high walls in the Fairy Castle was perhaps partly because they were afraid that the people inside would easily escape, and partly because of the incense-delivering team that delivered incense to each courtyard every night.

To prevent the smoke from being blown away or diluted by a strong wind, the walls need to be as high as possible to enclose the courtyard tightly, which is the only way to ensure its safety.

When Lu Qing learned that the high walls were built later, he didn't ask Jiang Hong any more questions about the location inside the Fairy Castle. Instead, he asked him if there were any relatively secluded places around the Fairy Castle that were not easy to spot but had a good view.

Jiang Hongqiang mustered his spirits and tried his best to point out several places outside the fortress based on his memory.

Lu Qing then stopped exhausting Jiang Hong and had Yan Daoxin perform acupuncture on several acupoints to temporarily suppress his physical discomfort. Jiang Hong quickly fell into a deep sleep, and Lu Qing then instructed the others to go back and continue resting.

The rest of the night passed very quietly. The next morning, the servants, their eyes glazed over, came to deliver the meal as usual.

However, this time, they had barely put the things down when the rune-wielding talisman struck them down from behind with several hand chops, knocking them to the ground.

With the sachet that had been switched the night before on his person, Fuwen Fulu quietly slipped out of the courtyard and headed straight for the courtyard where the guards were resting. He found that the two shifts of guards had already changed, and the few who had secretly drunk wine the night before were asleep, slightly tipsy, while the ones whose sachets had been switched the night before had gone out.

The talisman quickly fed the pills to the sleeping guards, and soon the room fell silent as they all passed out.

The two of them tied up the unconscious people one by one, took their clothes, sneaked back to the courtyard, and distributed them to the others.

Everyone carefully selected their size, changed into guard uniforms, and hung the sachets on their bodies.

Originally, Zhu Yu and Yan Shu also planned to go out with the other people, but Yan Daoxin and the unconscious Jiang Hong were still in the courtyard and couldn't be left alone, so the two of them had no choice but to stay and help Yan Daoxin.

Waaaaah, this heatwave is insane these past few days... It's been almost 40 degrees Celsius every day for several days in a row, and it's only June... Does it have to be this scorching? Everyone, please take precautions against heatstroke!