After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Playing Dead Results in a Knife to the Rear

Seeing that the other two had already walked over, Song Rong had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow.

With every step forward, her face grew a shade paler. The look she cast toward Jiang Huaiyi was filled with disbelief and utter bewilderment. However, she quickly adjusted her expression, comforting herself with the thought that Jiang Huaiyi couldn’t have possibly heard what she said earlier.

Song Rong slowly shuffled in front of the group, squeezing out a grimace that sat somewhere between a smile and a sob.

Fortunately, the people standing opposite them were drawing most of the “fire.” Halfway there, Chu Lianxue and the others stopped, adopting an air of detached annoyance, standing to the side without taking either party’s part.

Jiang Huaiyi was extremely displeased by the way these people—who had stood by with their hands folded earlier—were now safe and acting all self-righteous. She didn’t hold back at all.

“Take a look at yourselves and see if you’re even worthy. When others were in trouble, you gave them a kick. Now that you’re in trouble, instead of asking politely, you’re threatening people to save you?”

“Even a dog knows how to wag its tail to beg for pity. You lot are worse than pigs and dogs—you profit-driven, greedy fools. How do you have the nerve to bring up a morality you haven’t used in eight hundred years to kidnap others into helping you?”

Jiang Huaiyi’s voice was clear and her tone calm. Combined with her harmless, “innocent” face, no one would have guessed she was hurling insults. Yet, her words were sharp enough to make a person cough up blood from pure rage.

Sure enough, the crowd—already bedraggled from their encounter with the paper dolls—exploded in fury upon hearing her words. Their faces turned beet-red, but they truly had no ground to stand on for a rebuttal. Clearly, these people knew exactly how they had ended up down here. No one who possessed a scroll of the Evil Painting could possibly harbor good intentions.

Suddenly, a contemptuous voice rang out from the crowd: “Who do you think you are? Before criticizing us, why don’t you look at how you got down here yourself? We know the deal. We’re all thousand-year-old foxes here—don’t try to play innocent with me.”

The crowd immediately caught on, chiming in with a chorus of agreement.

“Exactly! Putting on airs… who are you trying to fool?”

“Little girl, the pot shouldn’t call the kettle black. Watch your tongue before the wind catches it.”

“Since you’re using us all as sacrifices, Young Master, why don’t you seize this person too? If she can betray us, why wouldn’t she betray you?”

By shifting the conflict, they acted as if Jiang Huaiyi had originally been part of their “group,” speaking with misplaced righteousness.

Shen Wensi watched silently, pressing a hand down to restrain Jiang Huaiyi’s urge to retort.

“Since everyone is here for their own gain, feel free to leave. I won’t be seeing you out.”

With that one quiet sentence, all noise ceased. The crowd looked at each other, but not a single person moved toward the exit. They weren’t idiots; they knew exactly what the situation was outside. Going out now was guaranteed to be more dangerous than staying here.

Jiang Huaiyi was a bit dissatisfied; she had wanted to scold them all into leaving. She had no patience for people who showed such massive malice upon the first meeting. However, she kept quiet, realizing she didn’t fully understand the current situation. It was more urgent to settle things quickly and interrogate the weasel currently “playing dead” in the corner.

Seeing the stalemate, Chu Lianxue impatiently shot a look at Shen Wensi. she didn’t want to waste any more time on these people; she just wanted to sit down and ask exactly what was going on in this place.

Mu Ze let out a cold laugh, though this time it wasn’t directed at Chu Lianxue: “Begging for help while acting like you’re the king of the world… if you don’t have the capital, stop pretending. It’s hilarious.”

This time, no one spoke up. They only glared at Mu Ze with hatred. If looks could kill, she would have died a thousand times over. She rolled her eyes indifferently, giving Jiang Huaiyi the distinct feeling of a “fox borrowing the tiger’s terror.”

Shen Wensi nudged the limp, “dead” weasel with her foot. The servants outside understood immediately and grabbed it. They gripped it so hard its eyes nearly bulged out, yet the weasel showed no sign of waking. Its body was folded in half as if it were truly dead.

Jiang Huaiyi couldn’t help but silently give a thumbs-up. To be able to endure that… no wonder it managed to survive. After her kick last time, she had thought the creature was dead. Looking at its endurance now, she felt that being tricked by it hadn’t been an embarrassment.

Shen Wensi didn’t say anything more. She led the group out, saying to the servants standing outside: “Make the people inside pay for the damages at the current market rate.”

An older woman leading the servants asked: “What if they can’t afford it?”

Shen Wensi glanced back into the hall and said coolly: “Break their limbs. If that’s not enough, have them pay with their lives.”

The people inside felt a chill run down their spines, and they scrambled to run out. But the servants formed a wall, and the heavy doors slammed shut with a “Bang!”

Wails and howls immediately erupted from within. Shen Wensi frowned and led the others back to her room. The more tragic the situation in the hall became, the more “harmonious” the scene here appeared.

The five of them sat around a table, with the weasel lying motionless in the center. Song Rong sat the furthest away. She was sitting on pins and needles, shifting her weight as if her chair were covered in thorns.

Jiang Huaiyi gave her a friendly smile. She intended to explain things to Song Rong; after all, she had kept Shen Wensi’s identity a secret earlier to gather information, leading to the misunderstanding.

Shen Wensi stared at Jiang Huaiyi’s white wrist, then shifted her gaze to Song Rong’s face. This caused Song Rong’s already fragile state of mind to collapse further. Under Shen Wensi’s far-from-friendly gaze, she stuttered out a greeting.

Shen Wensi looked at her with a half-smile. “I heard I’m the ‘mastermind’ behind those ghosts?”

Song Rong’s smile froze. She instinctively looked at Jiang Huaiyi.

Jiang Huaiyi threw up her hands. “I didn’t say a word.”

Song Rong scrambled to her feet. Who could have guessed that the “final boss” was an acquaintance of her lifeline, Xiao Jiang! She felt like she had gone from hell to heaven, only to find that heaven had its own torture chambers. She swore she would never gossip behind someone’s back again!

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was just talking nonsense!”

Seeing her frantic apologies, Chu Lianxue couldn’t bear it and pushed her back into her seat. Jiang Huaiyi tugged on Shen Wensi’s sleeve, leaning in close to whisper: “That’s enough. She’s likely the ‘ordinary person’ we need to rescue this time.”

Only then did Shen Wensi look away. With the interlude over, they all turned their attention to the weasel. Jiang Huaiyi’s impression of it was poor; seeing the blood at the corner of its mouth didn’t stir a drop of sympathy. She poked its body, but it remained still.

“Stop faking. I’m giving you one chance to wake up on your own.”

The weasel’s jaw remained tightly shut; it didn’t even show the rise and fall of breath. Its body temperature was even starting to drop. Looking at its curled limbs, Jiang Huaiyi began to doubt herself. Could Shen Wensi have actually kicked it to death? No way, it was fine after Xinmin Villa.

Mu Ze lacked such patience. Seeing the weasel remain motionless, she rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of her toned forearm. She grabbed the weasel by the head and slammed its entire body violently onto the floor.

The scene was a bit brutal; Jiang Huaiyi looked away. Her innate sympathy for small animals flickered, but remembering its past deeds, she realized killing it wouldn’t be an injustice. She couldn’t treat this as an ordinary animal; it was a weasel spirit that threatened their lives—the kind that harms people for its own cultivation without provocation.

Weasels hold grudges, but Jiang Huaiyi felt she held them even more. That fall should have shattered it if it weren’t already dead. Yet, based on its previous behavior, no one felt sorry for it. Kindness to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.

The weasel lay on the floor, still as a corpse. A trace of fresh blood seeped from its mouth, suggesting internal damage. When an animal spirit’s physical body takes a heavy blow, it’s easy for it to pass away. They just didn’t know how much endurance this one had.

Chu Lianxue stood up, pushing Mu Ze aside. “Let me handle this useless thing.” Mu Ze sat back down, making a face behind Chu Lianxue’s back.

Chu Lianxue stepped forward, drawing her sword and gesturing over the weasel’s body. “The most important part of a fight is the finishing blow. Since it’s dead, I’ll just tidy things up.”

Jiang Huaiyi’s sharp eyes caught a slight twitch in the weasel’s nearly hairless tail the moment the cold sword-tip touched its face.

Chu Lianxue asked nonchalantly, “Xiao Jiang, where do you think I should stab it?”

She politely consulted the “victim.” Jiang Huaiyi rubbed her nose and said with a straight face: “I saw a news report recently saying some people have their hearts located in their buttocks. Why don’t you stab it a few times in the rear? Just to make sure it doesn’t wake up.”

The others couldn’t help but stifle laughs. Chu Lianxue raised her eyebrows and thrust the sword down without a word of nonsense.

The “dead” weasel on the floor jumped up instantly before the sword-tip could touch its fur. It began to beg in human speech: “Grandmother! Grandmother, I was wrong! Grandmother, please be generous and spare me!”

It held up its dark paws, bowing repeatedly. Saliva mixed with blood dripped from its mouth. It looked quite energetic, showing none of the weakness from its fall.

Song Rong was terrified by the sudden movement of the weasel spirit and jumped up with a scream. Scared out of her wits, she lunged toward Jiang Huaiyi. Before Jiang Huaiyi could react, she felt a hand wrap around her shoulder, and she was lifted right out of her seat.

Song Rong missed and ended up hugging the empty chair, nearly knocking her teeth out in the process.

Meanwhile, Mu Ze had already expertly tied the weasel up. Being tied to the back of a chair made the weasel look quite ridiculous. Its previous arrogant and devious expression had vanished, replaced by a look of utter subservience. Its beady eyes were squeezed into slits, and its toothy mouth was stretched into a grin. It was hard to imagine such a fawning expression on an animal’s face, but they were seeing it now.

Jiang Huaiyi looked at the person beside her with a slight daze. They were standing very close; there seemed to be an unusually large amount of physical contact today. She shifted awkwardly to the side. Sensing this, Shen Wensi let go of her shoulder.

Jiang Huaiyi nodded and whispered a “thank you,” then went to help the bedraggled Song Rong up. “Are you okay?” She patted the dust off Song Rong and helped her sit down.

Song Rong looked embarrassed. “I overreacted. I’m fine, the fall didn’t hurt.”

The person behind them tightened her hand which had just let go and sat down directly between the two of them. Song Rong’s smile immediately morphed into the same expression as the weasel’s, and she obsequiously poured a cup of tea for Shen Wensi.

At the other end, Mu Ze finished tying the weasel, while Chu Lianxue’s sword remained pointed at it. If it dared to move, it would be run through.

Jiang Huaiyi watched its transformation with amusement, cleared her throat, and asked: “Now, tell us. How did you get down here? What is this place, and how do we get out?”

The weasel nodded frantically. Just as it was about to speak, Chu Lianxue took a sip of tea and added with a pleasant smile:

“Speak honestly. If you dare tell a single lie, I’ll send you down to be made into a scarf for my Master.”

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