Chapter 17 — Once I am reborn, I will not give him even a strand of hair

My eye sockets were hot, but I didn't immediately move forward.

“Father, please open the stone door first.”

The person inside panted for a long time, seemingly trying to fight against something. Finally, the stone door slowly opened. A middle-aged man, so thin that he had only skin and bones, was locked tightly on a wooden shelf with iron chains. His left eye was covered with a strip of black cloth, his shoulders and back were filled with long, small silver tubes. The other end of the silver tubes was connected to the medicine channel in the wall. My mother rushed in front of the wooden shelf, but her hands did not dare to touch him.

“Nghien Chi, I'm late.”

My father struggled to raise his head.

“Not her.”

“The one who was taken away... was not her.”

His mind was in turmoil, every word he uttered seemed to be forced little by little from his throat. I cut off the silver tubes, then sealed off the major acupuncture points on his shoulders and back. My father suddenly convulsed violently.

“The book... is not in Kunlun.”

"The jade order... is not the key to opening the secret vault."

Hoa Cong Cong was hiding behind the dark gate. Upon hearing that, he immediately returned. He raised the short crossbow, aiming straight at my father's chest. Co Nghien Hanh used his body to block the arrow. The crossbow arrow pierced his right shoulder. He used the momentum to rush towards Hoa Cong Cong, pinning him against the cliff.

“Thach Thanh, arrest him!”

The two bodyguards immediately rushed forward, but Hoa Cong Cong had already torn off his shirt. On his chest, ceramic tubes filled with black liquid were tied.

“Whoever dares to come closer, I will turn this entire tunnel into a poison den.”

Everyone stopped walking. Hoa Cong Cong tightly grasped the small wire on the ceramic tubes, his cold eyes looking straight at me.

“Hand over the complete jade order.”

“Otherwise, just finding your father, you will have to watch him die right here.”

My father suddenly burst out laughing.

"The jade order that you have been looking for for seven years was never in Thanh Tu's hands."

Hoa Cong Cong's face changed greatly.

“What did you say?”

“The real jade order has long been split in half by me.”

My father panted and looked towards Co Nghien Hanh.

“Half was sewn into the bride price the Co family brought when they proposed marriage.”

“The other half is hidden on the person in the other palace.”

I suddenly remembered the golden order that the old lady once took out. The token was unusually heavy, with an almost invisible seam at the edge. The Co family has kept the jade decree for many years, yet from beginning to end no one knew about it. Obviously Cong Cong Hoa also thought about that. He tore off a ceramic tube and threw the medicine inside onto the ground. White smoke carrying a pungent odor quickly rose up. Thach Thanh protected Co Nghien Hanh, the bodyguards carried my father and retreated towards the secret passage. I had just walked two steps while helping my mother when suddenly there was a soft cracking sound under my feet. I bowed my head and looked down. Beneath the stone slab was buried a wire that had burned almost to the end. My father's expression immediately changed.

“Don't step on it.”

“That is not the agency that destroyed the food warehouse.”

“It's an underground door that leads to the old pharmacy in the imperial city.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire stone slab under his feet suddenly toppled downwards. Co Nghiem Hanh and I fell into darkness at the same time. The stone slab above quickly closed, leaving only the mother's heart-wrenching screams echoing down. When two people Touching the ground, a row of gloomy blue lights lit up all around. Dozens of iron cages gradually appeared from the darkness. In each cage, there is a person with purple-blue wrists. On the high platform in the deepest part, the old lady was holding the golden order tightly, calmly looking at us.

“Ngheng Hanh.”

“Mother has been waiting for me to bring her here... for seven years now.”

Co Nghien Hanh stood up with his hands on the cliff, the wound on his waist was still bleeding. He raised his head and looked up at the high platform, his eyes colder little by little.

“You already know the entrance to the old pharmacy.”

The old lady placed the metal plate in the recessed groove on the stone pedestal. The outer shell of the token slowly opened, revealing half a piece of jade inside.

“What I know is more than you think.”

I rolled my eyes and looked in all directions. The people in the iron cage all had tattered clothes, some were so tortured by the toxicity that they could not raise their heads. On the cages near the stone pedestal, there are also old belts of the Thai Medical Institute and the Ministry of Military Affairs. These people are not ordinary medicine slaves. They are all officials who quietly disappeared from the capital seven years ago. Co Nghien Hanh grabbed the crossbow arrow stuck on his shoulder and suddenly broke the arrow handle.

"The Co family sought Thanh Tu's favor, was it arranged by you?"

"Of course."

The old lady did not deny it.

"The Khuong family kept half the book, Khuong Nghien Chi divided the jade order into two halves."

"If I don't marry her, how can I ransack all that dowry little by little?"