bookrandom Chapter 360 You? A female official?
Chapter 360 You? A female official?
Chapter 360 You? A female official?
"Of course! Does our Great Zhao have any female officials? This is just a joke, hahaha." Someone else chimed in.
The eldest sister just looked at Shen Li with amusement, a smile playing on her lips, without saying a word.
"Don't tell me, there really is one. Last year's third-place winner in the imperial examination was a woman. I heard she's the daughter of Grand Secretary Shen and the wife of King Gu." A woman in her early twenties said, then smiled at Shen Li: "You don't mean to say that you're that Shen family's daughter, do you?"
Shen Li nodded: "Yes."
"Hahahahaha."
The laughter in the cell grew louder.
Shen Li was somewhat embarrassed and asked, "Don't I look like a third-ranked scholar?"
It is said that the top scholar in the imperial examination is the most talented, while the third-ranked scholar is the most handsome. Doesn't she deserve to be the third-ranked scholar because of her age and appearance?
"Hey lady, here comes a fool. You're quite handsome, so why isn't he smart enough?" The woman in her twenties stepped forward and looked Shen Li up and down. "Tell me, what did you do to get in here?"
"I hit someone," Shen Li answered truthfully.
"You, with your skinny arms and legs, can't even hit people? I'd believe you if you said you were a thief." The man circled Shen Li and said, "You're dressed quite respectably, are you a thief from a big establishment?"
Shen Li understood this jargon. Stealing from big venues meant stealing from places frequented by wealthy people, usually large restaurants or brothels.
There are often people there who look glamorous, but in reality, they've dressed up specifically to sneak into these places.
People who can do this kind of thing are usually good-looking. If someone looks shifty, they will be wary of even if they wear nice clothes.
She learned all of this from Yu Die.
"No, that's not true, but I have learned how to pick locks."
She learned this from Yu Die; as long as the lock wasn't too complicated, she could open it with a hairpin.
"Never learned how to steal a purse?" The woman lifted her hand and examined it closely.
Shen Li had no choice but to let her watch.
"That's not right, there are no calluses, it really looks like the hands of a noble lady." The woman looked at her and said again, "You're not from a brothel, are you? A clandestine prostitute?"
After all, she has the looks, but her temperament doesn't quite match.
Shen Li found it amusing: "No."
The first time she told the truth, no one believed her.
"You said you hit someone, but who did you hit?" the gang leader asked coolly, clearly trying to determine Shen Li's identity by observing who she was in contact with.
“Wu Zihao, the son of the current Grand Secretary, trampled my field on his horse and injured my tenants,” Shen Li replied honestly.
"You're not telling the truth, are you?" The gang leader snorted and said, "I've seen plenty of people like you."
Shen Li shrugged: "Can I sit down?"
"Why are you sitting? Go massage my legs. If you don't serve me well today, you won't get any food." The woman in her early twenties pushed Shen Li from behind.
Shen Li stumbled and almost lost her balance. After regaining her footing, she said, "We weren't going to have dinner tonight anyway."
"Are you asking for a beating, you little brat?" The woman who had pushed her stepped forward and, seeing her stunned expression, chuckled. "Are you pretending to be stupid or are you really stupid? Don't you know that if you don't behave here, you'll get a beating?"
Shen Li nodded: "I know."
She obediently walked over and squatted down in front of the eldest sister, taking over from a young girl with blond hair to massage her legs, since she didn't want to hit anyone.
"This girl, she's neither particularly clever nor particularly foolish," the woman in her early twenties said, scratching her head with a puzzled look.
"Is your sister a master thief?" Shen Li asked her.
"Hey, you've got a nice way to talk, girl. A thief is a thief, but you call yourself a thief?" She laughed and then glared fiercely at Shen Li: "You're pretty good-looking, so why don't you follow me, Sister Fang, when we get out of here?"
With Shen Li's looks, she could definitely steal a lot of money if she went to a big establishment.
Shen Li shook her head: "I don't know, but I have a younger sister who knows a lot about this, we can talk about it."
"I told you you weren't some high-ranking official, but you were still being stubborn." Sister Fang laughed and said, "Look, you've confessed without being asked. How could a housekeeper's daughter have a sister who's a thief?"
The eldest sister looked down at Shen Li obediently massaging her legs, and was somewhat satisfied. Her voice softened a bit: "If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. You'll have to talk about it sooner or later."
Shen Li sighed inwardly. She had finally been sincere, but no one believed her.
Thinking of this, her stomach rumbled. She hadn't been able to eat her fill at her fellow villager's place at noon, and had only eaten six steamed buns. Now that it was dark, she was starving.
"Are you hungry?" the eldest sister asked.
Shen Li nodded.
"Take good care of me so I'll have food tomorrow morning, otherwise I'll go hungry." She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, and Sister Fang quickly and considerately stood aside to massage her shoulders.
Shen Li thought for a moment and then asked, "So, why was eldest sister brought in?"
The cell was quiet for a moment. Fangjie glanced at her eldest sister's face and immediately scolded, "Little girl, you ask all sorts of questions, are you looking for a beating?"
Shen Li shut her mouth.
"Murder." The leader was silent for a long time before speaking: "Some bastard tried to steal my daughter's hand in marriage, so I chopped him up. After that, I left and got out of this bastard place."
Shen Li knew that she was referring to the human world.
Silence fell over the cell as they thought of themselves. If they hadn't suffered since childhood, who would have ended up here?
Fang Jie kicked Shen Li reproachfully and frowned at her, showing that she genuinely cared about her eldest sister.
Shen Li didn't blame her, but instead thought of her sisters who had no choice in the past.
Most of them are younger sisters, and she hasn't seen them yet.
Just then, the cell door opened again, and this time four female jailers and some maids from the government office walked in, making a dozen or so people in total.
These people were all carrying food boxes.
Even in prison, you can smell the aroma of food.
"It smells so good." The blond girl suddenly closed her eyes and sniffed, "I think I smell roast chicken. I really want to smell it properly."
Shen Li felt a pang of pity when she saw how thin and frail the child was; they were all pitiful children.
The jailer was the first to approach, and upon seeing Shen Li through the bars, he was immediately shocked: "Sir, you..."
"It's alright, the food has arrived?" Shen Li remained squatting on the ground, her hands still rhythmically pounding her fists.
"We've arrived..." The jailer's mouth was agape.
They had just gone out when they heard that the reason this Lord Shen was able to enter was because he had beaten up the Grand Secretary's son, who was the number one playboy in the capital, and had beaten him unconscious.
Moreover, this is just the least noteworthy of her fierce actions. Take her recent military achievements, for example: the expedition against the Rong and Di tribes and the killing of rebels. Each of these achievements is a major accomplishment.
Such a war god was massaging the legs of a death row inmate? She couldn't even believe her eyes.
"Then bring it in, I'm hungry too," Shen Li ordered.
Without her saying anything, the cell door opened, and the first things brought in were three square tables. After the three tables were put together to form a long table, the food box was brought in.