A Good Country Wife-Chapter 694 - 687_1

Quan An was in such severe pain that he could only hope that Lin Yue would let him off soon. He answered every question like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, not caring whether he should reveal such information. It could have been that the pain had muddled his brain. Only after speaking did it occur to him that something might not be right. By saying such things, would it make Lin Yue even angrier and result in harsher treatment?

Listening to Quan An’s words, Lin Yue also began to understand their meaning. It turned out that while Ceng Lu had his sights set on her, it was Quan An who instigated this incident. It was not Ceng Lu’s doing at all, which explained why Liu Aniu’s spies and bribed informants detected no abnormalities. It was all because Quan An had stirred up trouble just to curry favor with Ceng Lu. However, this showed that Quan An’s audacity was quite over the top.

Although the Jiang Family’s Hidden Guard remained expressionless, he was very adept at reading people’s expressions and words. Seeing the displeasure on Lin Yue’s face, he knew that Quan An’s actions had greatly dissatisfied her. Thus, he intensified the force of his movements, and Quan An’s wails of agony grew louder. He pleaded for mercy, "I’ve told you everything you want to know. I won’t dare do it again. Please spare me, ah, the pain is killing me! Do whatever you want with me, ma’am, I dare not provoke you ever again. Just let me off this once. Besides, those children are unharmed, and you haven’t suffered any loss, right?"

Lin Yue would not take Quan An’s words to heart. The words of a petty person like Quan An had no credibility, especially when they were spoken under such circumstances. They were merely the product of his fear of pain and his desire to escape his predicament. She suspected that while his mouth spoke so, his heart was probably plotting how to seek revenge later.

Having committed such actions and touched her bottom line, harming Dalang and his brothers and causing her to live in fear and anxiety, Lin Yue had no intention of easily forgiving Quan An. Yet, now was not the ideal time to punish him. The urgent task at hand was to rescue Dalang and his brothers. Although Quan An claimed that they were unharmed, who knew if this was just a temporary surrender to avoid pain or a deception? Lin Yue couldn’t feel truly at ease until she saw Dalang and his brothers safe and sound before her.

"Speak! Where have you detained Dalang and his brothers?" Lin Yue demanded. The Jiang Family’s Hidden Guard applied even more force, turning Quan An’s face deathly pale with cold sweat streaming down, his speech becoming somewhat slurred from the pain.

"They’re, they’re locked up in the warehouse behind the Government Office. Please let me go. I will lead you there right now," Quan An, thinking of cursing his own mother from the pain, had in mind that this woman allowed her subordinates to torture him like this and once they reached the Government Office, his domain, he would surely extricate himself. Then he would return the pain he endured a thousandfold, a hundredfold.

Lin Yue had already stationed people to watch the Government Office. Particularly after Dalang and his brothers were kidnapped, she had sent a substantial number of operatives. If anything were to happen there, she would know, yet no one had reported any unusual activity at the warehouse behind the Government Office. It was evident that Quan An was lying.

"Lying to me?! It seems you think we’ve been too gentle with you, treating you with such leniency, and you dare to play tricks on us up till now. Well, I shall let you thoroughly ’enjoy’ yourself," Lin Yue said and signaled to the Jiang Family’s Hidden Guard with her eyes. Upon receiving the signal from Lin Yue, the Hidden Guard didn’t mind disciplining Quan An a bit more. Being under his watch and still daring to be deceitful, it was clear that leniency was not viable with such a person.

Lin Yue watched Quan An scream one after another, her expression remained very calm. After the Jiang Family’s Hidden Guard had beaten Quan An mercilessly and dragged him back, Quan An was almost drained and his body continued to tremble from the extreme pain.

Truthfully, the Jiang Family’s Hidden Guard had only used common tactics, sparing numerous even crueler methods. Since Quan An dared to lie, he had intended to apply every technique he knew to ensure Quan An learned an unforgettable lesson. However, Quan An’s capacity to endure was too weak, and the Hidden Guard feared causing him to collapse and thereby disrupting Lin Yue’s plans. So, he was forced to push Quan An to his limits and gave him a harsh beating.

"How about now? Are you willing to tell the truth?" Lin Yue looked at Quan An’s pale face, full of fear and trepidation. She spoke with a smile that, to Quan An, seemed no different from a devil’s grin. He finally understood why Jian San was so terrified of Lin Yue; this woman was truly frightening. The methods her subordinate had just used on him were something he never wanted to experience a second time in his life.

"Mrs. Zhao, I was wrong. I should never have lied. Please forgive me this once. I won’t dare again. I will lead you to the children right now," Quan An stammered out. He truly didn’t dare to play any tricks now, his only wish being for Lin Yue to find the people quickly and release him sooner, so he could be free from this torment. As for the hatred he harbored today, he would naturally find a way to take revenge later.

Seeing Quan An like this, truly frightened, Lin Yue surmised he wouldn’t dare to pull any stunts anymore. She had Quan An lead the way, and the three of them set off in a horse carriage towards the place where Dalang and his brothers were detained. However, before leaving, Lin Yue did not forget to sprinkle some powder on those people who had dared to assist a tyrant and impersonate kidnappers. She couldn’t openly punish them without providing a handle for others to grasp, but employing some underhanded tactics could surely make them suffer. The powder ensured that they would experience agonizing pain and itching all over their bodies for half a month, unable to live or die as they pleased.

Lin Yue performed this action without making a secret of it. Instead, she did it openly, even in Quan An’s presence. What could he do upon witnessing it? Without evidence and only his word against hers, no one could prove it was her doing. Laws aren’t entirely useless. It depends on how you use them. At least as long as her family had something to rely on, no one could falsely accuse her without evidence.

Watching Lin Yue’s actions, Quan An grew even more wary of this woman. Indeed, a woman’s heart can be most venomous. She didn’t forget to seek revenge with poison at such a time. He had no idea what the powder was for.

Quan An, leading Lin Yue and the others, took a roundabout route that eventually brought them to an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse had been previously used by the Government Office, but was left unused afterward. Due to its remote location, it was seldom approached by anyone, which made Quan An think it a secure place to keep Dalang and his brothers hidden and unlikely to be detected.

"This is the place. They are locked inside," Quan An said, pointing inside. He felt anxious, partly because he feared that Dalang and his brothers might have tried something and, to prevent trouble, he had ordered them to be tied up the entire time. He was afraid that their current condition might not be pleasant to look at and that Lin Yue would turn her anger on him. Quan An shuddered at the thought of the black-clad man’s methods, which made him speak with a hint of guilt. Lin Yue, however, heard it in a different light.

"Where are they? You said they were locked up here, but now I don’t see anyone at all."