In her cultivation state, Cui Tao could clearly feel changes in the air around her; she would notice even the smallest movement from Wang Siniang.

A person like Wang Siniang takes pleasure in humiliating others, clearly accustomed to building her happiness on the suffering of others. She never learns to restrain herself, and it’s impossible to reason with her or get her to forgive and submit. The only way to subdue her is to beat her into submission.

Given her current physical condition, Cui Tao is no match for the muscular Wang Siniang, so she must outsmart her.

The moment Wang Siniang kicked at her, Cui Tao let out a miserable cry before her body flew and crashed into the prison cell fence.

The jailers came running at the sound and found Cui Tao lying unconscious on the ground, while Wang Siniang, who was in the same cell as her, was standing in the middle of the ground with her hands on her hips and a fierce look on her face.

What happened is obvious.

The jailer immediately cursed Wang Siniang as a scoundrel.

When Head Jailer Sun arrived, he saw the scene and cursed Wang Siniang, saying she was courting death.

“It wasn’t me!”

Things happened so fast that Wang Siniang didn’t have time to react. Now she was being scolded for no reason, felt wronged and agitated, and tried to defend herself.

“I didn’t hit her at all! I did raise my leg, but I didn’t kick her. She just flew over on her own! She’s crazy and went crazy, running into the fence. How can you blame me for that!”

But no one believed Wang Siniang’s words, because everyone in the prison knew that Wang Siniang had a habit of bullying Miss Cui.

Before, everyone thought Cui Tao was a murderer and a bad person, so they didn’t care and let Wang Siniang do whatever she wanted. But now things have changed, and Judicial Officer Han will question Cui Tao tomorrow. If Cui Tao gets hurt or beaten in prison before then, the guards will be the first ones held responsible.

Head Jailer Sun glared at Wang Siniang. Seeing her still shouting back, he thought she was getting more and more bold, daring to lie and argue!

Head Jailer Sun immediately ordered his men to teach Wang Siniang a lesson, ordering her to be flogged ten times, which was carried out on the spot.

Wang Siniang was immediately pressed onto a long wooden bench and struck twice with a stick. She could only cry out in pain and had no chance to speak again.

After Midwife Zhang administered acupuncture to Cui Tao, Cui Tao showed signs of waking up.

“Hungry… so hungry…” Cui Tao called out now and then, her voice weak and barely there, like she was talking in her sleep.

Suddenly remembering something, Midwife Zhang asked Head Jailer Sun, “How is her diet on a daily basis?”

“Since she was arrested and imprisoned, no relatives have visited her. This is in accordance with the law.”

The prisoners’ meals were delivered by their families. Only those without family, whose homes were too far away, or whose families were too poor to provide food were provided by the government.

After all, they were prisoners. Why would the government kitchen prepare any special meals for them? It was always just rotten vegetables and leftover rice from the kitchen, simply mixed together and cooked before being sent over. The taste was almost like swill, just enough to keep them from starving, and certainly not nutritious.

“Her health is too weak. If she doesn’t eat well, I’m afraid she won’t make it to court tomorrow.” Midwife Zhang took out fifteen coins and asked Head Jailer Sun to send someone to Zuixian Pavilion to buy a serving of fish porridge.

Before long, the fragrant fish porridge was served.

While feigning unconsciousness, Cui Tao couldn’t help but flare her nostrils as she greedily inhaled the fragrance.

Unexpectedly, Midwife Zhang was quite thoughtful; this fish porridge was really good, and you could tell it was top-quality just by smelling it.

Cui Tao can never resist the temptation of delicious food; she seriously suspects that she was once a starving ghost.

In short, Cui Tao couldn’t bear it any longer. When Midwife Zhang called her again, she immediately pretended to wake up. But her eyes remained half-open, and she still looked as if she had no energy.

“Hiss—” Cui Tao gasped and immediately covered her head.

“Does your head hurt a lot?” Midwife Zhang asked.

Cui Tao nodded.

“You probably bumped your head when you fell. Here, drink your porridge first, then rest and take a nap, and you’ll probably feel better.”

At this point, Wang Siniang finished her punishment and was dragged back to her cell.

Head Jailer Sun immediately warned her not to bully Miss Cui anymore.

Wang Siniang dared not offend Head Jailer Sun, and she knew that no one would believe her if she said anything now. So she silently lay in the corner, enduring the pain, and dared not utter another sound.

Cui Tao ate the fish porridge bite by bite.

The porridge was thick and smooth, the fish was fresh and tender, and even the scallions sprinkled on top were very delicious.

This porridge must have been slowly simmered in a clay pot, otherwise it wouldn’t have such a rich aroma of rice. The fish slices must have been taken from a large fish weighing over five catties to have such thick flesh. After removing the bones, it must have been specially marinated to remove the fishy smell, and then briefly rolled in the boiling rice porridge. The time must not have been too long to keep the fish meat so tender and chewy.

It’s so delicious! Thank you so much, Midwife Zhang, for your kind gift!

Good food should be savored slowly, especially after seeing Wang Siniang’s envious gaze, she became even less in a hurry. But the slower Cui Tao ate, the longer the aroma of the porridge lingered in the prison.

Meanwhile, Wang Siniang’s family brought over dinner: steamed buns and a plate of stir-fried vegetables with a few bits of minced meat in them. Compared to most of the prisoners in the jail, it was quite good, but it was nowhere near as good as the fish porridge at Zuixian Pavilion.

In the past, Wang Siniang ate with relish and pride, but now, smelling the fresh porridge from Cui Tao’s side, she felt that the steamed bun in her hand was like a piece of dried cow dung, and the vegetables were like grass. In addition, her buttocks hurt, so she lost all interest in eating and angrily threw the steamed bun on the ground.

A middle-aged woman imprisoned in the next cell saw this and quickly reached out to pick up the steamed bun that Wang Siniang had thrown away, and immediately began to devour it. Looking at the woman’s own food, it was a bowl of dark green stuff, the kind of food the officials provided for prisoners.

If it weren’t for this fish porridge, Cui Tao would have had the same thing for dinner tonight.

To put it bluntly, dog poop looks better than that bowl of rice. This isn’t a meal offering; it’s murder!

Seeing that Cui Tao had finished the bowl of porridge, Midwife Zhang felt somewhat relieved.

“You’re too weak. I’ll cook some mutton porridge for you and bring it over tomorrow morning.”

Midwife Zhang wasn’t too worried about Cui Tao’s situation. She just knew that Judicial Officer Han was counting on Cui Tao to confess in court the next day. Since she was in charge of looking after Cui Tao, she couldn’t afford to mess up. As for the cost of the porridge, she planned to report it to the government, and the prefectural government would pay her back.

Cui Tao politely thanked her, knowing full well that the reason she was being treated so well was so that she could give a proper confession in court tomorrow and not faint. But what could she confess to? She knew nothing.

As night deepened, Cui Tao continued to meditate and recuperate in her cell.

Good health is the foundation of everything and the prerequisite for all social activities. Without good health, it’s all just empty talk, including something as important as enjoying delicious food.

Wang Siniang was already snoring when she tried to turn over, but the pain woke her up as soon as she moved.

When Wang Siniang woke up, she saw that Cui Tao was still meditating. She couldn’t suppress the anger she had been holding back, so she started cursing.

“You filthy slut, how dare you frame me! Once I’m healed, I’ll skin you alive and kill you!”

After Wang Siniang finished cursing, she saw that Cui Tao was ignoring her, so she sneered.

“Do you think that by giving up the real culprit, you’re no longer a murderer and can get out of prison, so you don’t have to be afraid of me? Ha, do you even know who I really am?”

“I’m not afraid to tell you today, even if you go out, I can still get the brothers in the village to deal with you. They love delicate young ladies like you, but they don’t know how to be gentle with women. In less than three days, they’ll have you torn to shreds, hahaha…”

Cui Tao absorbed spiritual energy for two hours, nourishing her internal organs, and her frail body finally felt a sense of comfort and ease.

She slowly exhaled, ending her meditation, and heard Wang Siniang still humiliating her.

It seems the blow was too light.

“You… how could you… what did I do to offend you… please don’t bully me… please!” Cui Tao pleaded in a trembling voice, her voice trembling with tears, as she approached Wang Siniang.

The cell was dimly lit, with only one oil lamp lit in the corridor. The distance was quite far, and the situation in the nearby cells was not very clear.

Because Wang Siniang had been beaten with a board, she could only lie face down. She didn’t raise her head at this moment, so she didn’t notice Cui Tao’s unusual movements.

Hearing Cui Tao’s pleas for mercy, she was overjoyed and deliberately raised her leg to signal to Cui Tao.

“Kneel down and apologize! Get over here and lick my feet! Lick them clean, and I’ll reconsider whether I’ll let you go!”

“Waaah…” Cui Tao choked up, as if she felt humiliated by Wang Siniang’s words and that’s why she cried.

The next moment, Cui Tao landed and lifted her foot, forcefully stomping down on Wang Siniang’s most severely injured buttocks.

“Aww—”

The woman’s pig-like screams echoed throughout the entire cell.

“You—” Wang Siniang never expected that Cui Tao would dare to kick her. She was in so much pain that she wanted to curse her, but before she could finish speaking, she was suddenly stomped on again.

“Ah—” she screamed again in pain.

“Ah—”

“Ah—”

“Ahhh…”

Wang Siniang’s screams rose and fell in sync with the rhythm of Cui Tao’s footsteps.

She cried from the pain.

The prisoners in the cell were all awakened and couldn’t help but complain.

The jailer on duty, Li Cai, rushed over and demanded to know what was going on.

“She kicked me!”

Wang Siniang trembled all over in pain, tears streaming down her face, and couldn’t wait to go and complain to Li Cai.

But when Wang Siniang turned to look at Cui Tao, she found that Cui Tao was lying weakly at her feet, sobbing on the ground, as if she had just been kicked.

“Wang Siniang, you’re bullying her again! What did Head Jailer Sun just warn you about? Ten strokes of the cane weren’t enough, were they?” Li Cai shouted angrily.

“No, I didn’t kick her, she kicked me! She’s faking it!” Wang Siniang wasn’t stupid either, she quickly showed her whole face and defended herself to Li Cai, “Look how much pain I’m in, my face is covered in tears! Otherwise, why would I cry like this for no reason?”

Li Cai looked at Cui Tao with suspicion.

Cui Tao lowered her head, trembling, and said respectfully to Wang Siniang, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, really. Next time, I’ll be very careful when massaging your feet, but licking… I just can’t do that.”

Li Cai then asked several female prisoners in nearby cells about what they saw. The women said it was too dark to see clearly, but they all heard Wang Siniang bullying and insulting Cui Tao, while Cui Tao kept begging for mercy.

Li Cai finally understood. It must have been Wang Siniang who was humiliating Miss Cui, complaining that Miss Cui hadn’t served her well. In her anger, she kicked Miss Cui, forgetting that she had just been beaten, which aggravated her wound and caused her to cry. This Wang Siniang actually thought she could frame Miss Cui for bullying her just by having tears on her face—she was truly wicked!

“Wang Siniang, how dare you deceive us? Do you think we’re stupid? Just you wait, tomorrow I’ll have Head Jailer Sun give you another twenty lashes!” Li Cai angrily pointed at Wang Siniang’s nose and cursed.

Wang Siniang was furious, but now everyone was saying she was bullying her, so what could she do? The more she explained, the angrier Li Cai became. She could only swallow her anger and suffer in silence once again.

After Li Cai left, the cell returned to quiet, and everyone went to sleep.

After holding her breath for a while, Wang Siniang was about to fall asleep when suddenly someone poked her on the shoulder.

When Wang Siniang opened her eyes, she saw Cui Tao’s magnified face. She was startled and was about to curse, but remembering the two times Cui Tao had schemed against her before, she dared not make a sound.

“What…what are you going to do?” Wang Siniang glared at Cui Tao warily.

“I apologize in advance, I’m sorry!”