Chapter 22: The Struggle for Power
After Chai Laosan put down the cruel words and left, Xia Ye immediately searched in the stone cave a few times, trying to find out what kind of secret door could escape, but the result made her very disappointed, there was no hidden mechanism, there was no other exit.
Soon, the torches were burned out, and the cave was as dark as a tomb. Summer Night can only pin its hopes on Cen Qiang's body now, but this kind of wait seems to have no end......
Time passed slowly, and from time to time in the summer night she went to the bottom of the dry well and looked up, and through the cracks in the stone slabs, she saw that the sky changed from gray to black, and from dark to gray, and night and day kept alternating, and she felt more hungry and thirsty every day.
"It's strange, why hasn't Uncle Qiang acted yet, if it goes on like this, he will be dizzy with hunger when the time comes, won't he be at the mercy of Chai Laosan?" Summer Night began to feel a little anxious, and thought, "No, while I still have some strength, I must find a way to get out." β
I secretly made up my mind in my heart, but at this time, I thought of another person who was seriously injured and had difficulty moving.
"Take him with you?" Xia Ye was a little hesitant, it stands to reason that she has completed the task assigned by Uncle Qiang - to unlock him, and now even if she leaves, she will be at ease. However, for some reason, she was always a little unbearable.
"Hey, I'm going to run away tonight, can you?" Summer Night, with a big grin, asked somewhere in the darkness.
After a while, a haggard voice replied: "I have been poisoned by Lu Sihai, and it has become more and more bad these days, so you can go by yourself." β
Hearing this, the summer night was a kind of relief. She didn't bother anymore, she said her weight, and turned to the bottom of the dry well.
When she was just sent down, she had noticed that the wall of the well was pitted, perhaps for ordinary people, such a vertical height of nearly six or seven meters is insurmountable, but she had been trained to climb before the summer night - in order to better complete the task, so the wall in front of her was an ordinary climbing wall, even if the body is a little weak now, the experience is still there. A few days ago, she didn't dare to act rashly because the wellhead was guarded, but now, she only hoped that the stone slab would not be too heavy.
Xia Ye bit the fire fold in his mouth, felt his palms sweat slightly, and rubbed his clothes a few times, then took a deep breath, like a gecko, climbed the protrusions on the walls of the well, and crawled towards the mouth of the well. Fortunately, everything went well, and it was not long before she reached the edge of the well, and she carefully freed one hand to push the slate, and almost with the strength of the milk, the slate moved slightly. However, this had greatly increased her confidence, and she simply added her head to the top, and the slate was finally removed by her to the width of a person. She used her hands and feet to climb out of the well before she ran out of strength. When she reached the ground, she found that there was silence all around, and there was no half a figure.
Summer Night left the grove lightly, and saw the ruined temple not far away brightly lit, this light was so unusual that she couldn't help but quietly lean over.
She sneaked into the hall through the back door, and quickly hid behind a hanging curtain, and found a Buddha statue lying on the ground, so she climbed on it and looked inside, and she saw that the hall was full of beggars, but they were all silent, and the atmosphere was somewhat strangely solemn.
The location of the summer night was somewhat condescending, so she could see a large bonfire burning in the middle of the house, and the fire was so raging that it almost reached the roof. The beggars consciously stood in a circle around the campfire, and there were two people in the circle, and their posture seemed to be facing each other. She took a closer look and found that she knew both of them, it was Chai Laosan and Cen Qiang.
"You kid is not very ambitious! I want to be the leader of the gang and I want treasures, and I don't look at how many catties I have. Chai Laosan suddenly sneered.
"Chai Laosan, you forced this." Cen Qiang did not show weakness.
"Haha, ridiculous, so many brothers, did I force you to only one? There are so many brothers, why are you the only one who jumped out? β
"They dare not speak out."
"Fuck your shit!" Chai Laosan jumped up angrily, began to walk back and forth non-stop, pointed at the crowd with both hands, and yelled at them, "If any of you are dissatisfied, come, speak out, I want to hear today, how many people are dissatisfied with me Chai Laosan." β
However, the onlookers all lowered their heads and unconsciously shrank back.
"Hmph, how dare they say that they are not afraid of being poisoned?" Cen Qiang sneered on the side.
"Oh, is it? Speaking of using poison, you snake is good at playing with snakes, and you play that poison to perfection, even I have to be jealous of you! β
"I never use poisonous snakes to harm my brothers in the gang."
"Phew! Speaking better than singing, don't you just want a treasure map, don't you just want to get that treasure bigger than the emperor's treasury? Hmph, I really can't see that you are so scheming at such a young age. Make the treasure public, and provoke these people to oppose me openly and secretly, so that they think they can also get a piece of the pie, hehe, I really don't know whether to live or die, and when you really find the treasure, you will use your poison to bite these fools to death one by one. With that, Chai Laosan turned around again and roared at the beggars in front of him, "You are fools, fools!" I didn't know if I was deceived by him, but I followed him against me, don't you want to get the antidote? Haha, it's stupid to hear the treasure, let's think about whether there is a life flower first! β
As soon as he said this, the crowd began to whisper, and the air was filled with unease.
"Don't worry, he gave you poison, I have already developed a method of restraint, using the poison of the blue and white snake to fight the poison with poison, you can solve it completely, you see that I am nothing?"
The crowd made a louder commotion than before, and seemed to be moved.
Chai Laosan was completely enraged by Cen Qiang, and he shouted: "Don't make noise! Then, he stared at the young man in front of him and gritted his teeth and said, "It seems that you came prepared today, it's hard for me to take you in since I was a child, and raised you until you are fourteen years old, your wings are stiff, and you no longer take your benefactor in your eyes." Okay, let's see the real chapter with our fists and feet. β
"Don't say it's gracious or unkind, your kindness in taking it in, I've had enough for so many years." Cen Qiang said.
"Hmph, I've finally told the truth. Okay, let's put all the grievances behind us today. If you win me, take the position of the leader of the gang, but if you lose, give me back your life. Do you dare? Chai Laosan gritted his teeth and spoke, tearing off his shirt, revealing his lean body and bronze skin.
"Good! In a word, it is difficult to chase. Unexpectedly, Cen Qiang agreed happily.
Cen Qiang's reaction surprised Chai Laosan, and he was slightly stunned for a moment, but he soon laughed cruelly, shouted and gave Cen Qiang a thumbs up and said, "Okay, very good, the stinky boy has courage." Then he rolled his eyes, but he was not in a hurry to start, but looked at the beggars and said, "Although this is a one-man fight with the snake man, we must also stand in line, come and come, follow me to stand behind me, and want to stand opposite him." β
The beggars began to move in embarrassment.
Summer Night was watching in secret, and I felt that this Chai Laosan seemed to be a little weak-hearted.
Cen Qiang said calmly: "Everyone stand up, my snake and boy are too big to fight, for fear of hurting you by mistake." β
As a result, the vast majority of beggars unloaded their psychological burden and stood behind Chai Laosan, but when Xia Ye saw Mazi, there were still a few young beggars who stood firmly on Cen Qiang's side.
"Since life and death are at odds, it doesn't matter what means are used, right?" Cen Qiang also took off his shirt.
It is ridiculous to see him on a summer night with fine skin and tender flesh, and there is no dirty look on his face at all, so far, she has not seen his true face clearly. I thought: He made a lot of money this crossing, he was originally an old man in his early fifties, this is like reincarnation again.
Chai Laosan was just about to answer, but Cen Qiang suddenly lowered his head and slammed into his chest, Chai Laosan was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground.
"Damn......" He just scolded, but Cen Qiang took advantage of the victory to chase after him, and threw several punches at his face one after another, knocking him to the ground, and there was almost no room to fight back for a while.
Seeing that Chai Laosan was being controlled later, Cen Qiang became more and more courageous, and suddenly, a white mist rose between the two, Cen Qiang quickly bounced back as if he had touched boiling water, and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. But there were a few beggars beside him who were unfortunately tricked and fell to the ground after smelling the white mist.
"Cartilage!" Cen Qiang said in a muffled voice.
"You know the goods." Taking this opportunity, Chai Laosan stood up with a carp, and pulled out a long burning wooden stick from the fire, and swept it towards Cen Qiang, the fire was burning vigorously, almost skimming Cen Qiang's eyebrows, and the summer night simply smelled the smell of burnt flesh.
Chai Laosan was very proud, and the fire stick danced even more vigorously, and suddenly he screamed, threw the fire stick out, and shouted: "Despicable, let the snake bite!" β
"Each other, each other."
I saw Chai Laosan quickly take out a small bottle from his arms, pour some powder on the wound, and finally put the bottle on top of his head, like a bath, and poured the whole bottle on his body.
"Haha, carving insect trick, my Chai Laosan is a grandfather who uses poison, but I'm not afraid of you." Chai Laosan sneered, threw the bottle, and suddenly stretched out his hands like chicken paws and pounced on Cen. His fingernails were visible on a summer night, each one an inch long, and black and hard, as if they were made of iron.
"It must hurt to scratch on your body." Summer Night thought to herself, "Maybe it's poisonous." β
Cen Qiang seemed to be very jealous of Chai Lao's eagle-like nails, and he used his flexible body to dodge his attacks again and again, but he was also forced to retreat.
Xia Ye couldn't help but sweat for him, after all, he had raised her for more than twenty years.
At this critical juncture, Xia Ye heard Cen Qiang begin to let out a series of sharp whistles, the sound was sometimes high and low, sometimes thin as a gossamer, and sometimes like a sharp knife piercing people's hearts, she couldn't help but feel a little upset when she heard it.
But soon, a creepy phenomenon made her almost forget the feeling of disgust in her heart, and replaced it with a deep fear.
She saw countless long snakes swimming from all corners of the main hall and on the walls, they were colorful, poisonous and non-poisonous, and with Cen Qiang's whistle, they quickly gathered towards the campfire, like overturning a dye vat. Some of them slipped under the feet of the crowd, and some climbed directly onto the beggar's body, causing the crowd to scream and become a mess.
Cen Qiang knew that these poisonous snakes might not be able to hurt Chai Laosan, and the white powder he sprinkled on his body just now should be an antidote that could restrain snake venom, but such a chaotic scene was what he needed.
The snakes were like a nest pouring out, and the place where the summer night was hiding was not spared, and there were a few crawling on her body unconsciously, so frightened that she jumped out from behind the curtain, screaming and jumping, trying desperately to shake off the poison, and involuntarily huddled with the chaotic beggars.
Her scream attracted Cen Qiang's attention, and he immediately left Chai Laosan and came to her side, and pulled off the snake from her body.
"Why did you get out?" Cen Qiang asked hurriedly, I don't know whether he was happy or dissatisfied, and then asked, "What about the one-armed man?" β
"He's still in the dry well, but I've unlocked him."
"Now is a good opportunity, let's go get him out."
"Hmm." Xia Ye nodded, thinking that this mess was just saving people.
At this moment, the gate of the ruined temple was suddenly kicked open, and a group of heavily armed officers and soldiers rushed in shouting.
The summer night looked back at dusk, but was suddenly attracted by a person, and he couldn't move his steps anymore. It turned out that the person who commanded those officers and soldiers was the third prince who looked exactly like An Hao, and at this time he was dressed as a military attachΓ© and was very heroic.
"The officers and soldiers are coming, it's really getting more and more lively, don't leave quickly." Cen Qiang took Xia Ye's hand and walked to the back door.
"Uncle Qiang, you go first, I still have important things to do, and I will go to you in the future."
"You, well, be careful yourself." Cen Qiang saw that Xia Ye was very persistent, so he let her go, anyway, the matter of asking her to help unlock the lock had been completed, and it might be better without her.
At this time, the panicked beggars suddenly rushed over and squeezed Xia Ye and Cen Qiang away, and Xia Ye was dragged by the crowd into the center of chaos.
"The officers and soldiers are all ready to stand up for me!" Someone shouted on a summer night.
"Snakes! Snake! There were also people among the beggars who screamed loudly.
Xia Ye regretted not following Cen Qiang to escape at this time, such a messy scene, could she recognize 'An Hao'?
Suddenly, a cold, dry hand like iron tongs grabbed Summer Night's throat.
"Don't scream, come with me."
On a summer night, I heard the voice of Chai Laosan.