Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Gu Chang Xiao
Grandpa Ling flicked Jin Sui a warning look.
Don’t mention the reeds.
“You’ve seen me before,” the man said, voice hoarse.
Jin Sui kept her face steady.
“No. I just… haven’t seen many people as handsome as you. I looked too long.”
Grandpa Ling hurried to step in, voice warm and respectful.
“This old Daoist is Ji Xu. These are my grandsons, Ji Sui and Ji An.”
He clasped his hands.
“May I ask young master’s name? Were you captured by these bandits as well? Do you know what they plan to do with us?”
Jin Sui noticed Jin An silently mouthing the fake names, memorizing them, and almost smiled.
Their grandmother’s surname had been Ji.
Grandpa Ling’s first choice for a false identity was still Ji.
Sentimental old fox.
The man paused, then answered.
“Gu Chang Xiao. Greetings, Daoist.”
“These bandits capture people to mine stone. Before the mine is exhausted, they won’t kill people casually.”
Jin Sui’s instincts screamed that “Gu Chang Xiao” was a false name too, but she didn’t point it out.
She wasn’t exactly telling the truth either.
Gu Chang Xiao didn’t hide the rest.
“Anyone who tries to escape and is caught gets one hundred lashes.”
Jin An’s eyes went wide.
“One hundred? That would kill someone!”
Grandpa Ling turned to Jin Sui at once.
“Do you still have that medicine? Give Young Master Gu some.”
Jin Sui understood the unspoken message.
If Gu Chang Xiao had tried to escape often enough to earn those lashes, he might know something useful—even if he’d failed.
She pulled out the powder from her pocket space and offered it.
Gu Chang Xiao took it, sniffed it once, then again.
“What is this?” he asked quietly. “Where did you get it?”
Jin Sui answered smoothly, “A town physician mixed it. Are you afraid it’s poisoned?”
Gu Chang Xiao pressed a hand to his shoulder, expression tightening for a moment, but he said nothing.
He poured the yellow powder directly onto torn flesh.
It looked agonizing.
Jin Sui felt pain just watching.
Gu Chang Xiao didn’t flinch. He only pressed his lips together, as if locking the pain behind his teeth.
When he finished, he stood and bowed to Grandpa Ling.
“Thank you, Daoist.”
Jin Sui pretended to check the woodshed for exits, but she listened closely.
Then the smell of meat drifted in.
Rich, oily, mouthwatering.
The door opened.
A bandit shoved his way in, chewing a chunk of meat, hands and lips slick with grease.
He pointed at Grandpa Ling.
“You. Daoist. Come with me.”
Jin Sui’s heart jumped.
“Where are you taking my grandfather? He can’t walk well—take me too!”
The bandit lifted the meat as if it were proof of his goodwill.
“Didn’t expect you three, old and young, could still take down a wolf.”
His finger jabbed toward Jin An.
Then he grabbed Grandpa Ling and yanked Jin An along as well, hauling them out.
Jin Sui’s stomach twisted.
That wolf meat was salty and cured. Of course it tasted good.
She’d done it with fine salt.
And now these bastards were enjoying it.
At least most of it was still in her pocket space.
Otherwise, watching good meat feed bandit dogs would have made her furious.
The moment they were gone, Jin Sui opened her mouth to probe Gu Chang Xiao again.
A second bandit entered before she could speak.
He pointed at Gu Chang Xiao.
“You can stand? Then you work.”
Jin Sui pressed herself against the wall and tried to look obedient.
Useless.
The bandit jabbed a finger at her next.
“Old and little can’t do heavy work. You don’t get to slack off. Get down to the mine.”
He marched them out to an open-air mining site.
A miner took one look at Jin Sui and frowned.
“Why isn’t he wearing an ankle shackle? This one looks untrustworthy.”
Jin Sui glanced at Gu Chang Xiao’s ankle.
The skin was torn raw from iron. Bone showed beneath the blood.
She forced a smile.
“I’m very obedient, sir. I’ll do whatever you say. My grandfather and brother are in your hands. I won’t run.”
The miner’s smile turned colder.
“Exactly. Slick mouth.”
“New fat sheep don’t dare talk. They don’t dare even look up. Look at him—grinning, glancing around. Lock him up.”
Jin Sui wanted to argue, but the dark-skinned bandit escort only shrugged.
“No spare shackles. Fine.”
He stepped forward, unlocked Gu Chang Xiao’s shackle, then fastened it onto Jin Sui’s ankle instead.
The chain was long enough that it wouldn’t stop them from working.
It would stop them from escaping.
Jin Sui’s chest tightened.
“Sir, unlock it. With us chained together, we can’t work properly!”
The miner snapped his whip through the air.
“Say one more word and I’ll whip you to death. Get in there.”
That was how Jin Sui and Gu Chang Xiao became prisoners on the same chain.
They weren’t sent into a cave.
It was open air.
Alongside numb-faced commoners, they dug stone and loaded it onto carts to be hauled down into the valley.
Because they were chained together, they weren’t allowed to carry stone.
They only dug and loaded.
Even so, it was hell.
The bandits didn’t dare give them iron tools. The picks were made of wood or bamboo—clumsy, heavy, and brutal on the hands.
In less than half an hour, Jin Sui’s palms blistered. Her face went pale. Sweat poured down her neck. Dust rose in thick clouds, and every breath burned her lungs.
The moment she slowed, the overseer’s whip snapped across her back.
After loading another cart, Jin Sui stood and saw black spots swarm her vision.
Her knees buckled.
She pitched toward a pile of stone—
An arm caught her.
Gu Chang Xiao steadied her, brow furrowed.
“You look fifteen or sixteen. Why are you this weak?”
Jin Sui’s heart lurched.
Was he noticing too much?
She forced a quick lie.
“We got lost in the mountains. We haven’t eaten properly for days. I’m starving.”
Gu Chang Xiao stared at her for a long moment, then said quietly, “They won’t feed us until night. Endure it.”
He lowered his voice, almost casual.
“Don’t dig so hard. Just pretend. I’ll load the carts.”
For the first time, Gu Chang Xiao’s expression cracked.
Something lonely passed through his eyes.
He laughed under his breath.