Chapter 178 - The Palace Prison Cell (2)

The leader of the soldiers tumbled backward. He fell on his bottom and stared up at Xiong Jingfei. It wasn't because she gave him a powerful hit to send him flying, but because it bruised his ego that a woman laid her hand on him. 

The soldiers standing nearby had a momentary shock before helping him stand up. 

"Why are you idiots still standing around here!? Arrest them! Arrest them all!" Their leader screeched and was pointing his fingers at the kneeling servants. He didn't dare pick another fight with Xiong Jingfei. "Hurry up! We don't have all night!"

"We didn't do anything!" 

"We don't know anything!"

"Please spare us!"

"Eldest Miss, help us!"

"Stop!" Xiong Jingfei took a step forward, and it made the soldiers take a step back. It halted their activity of dragging her people like animals out the front door. 

"What!? Are you going against his majesty orders?" The leader scowled. "I'll tell you this! Commander Xiong Guozhi is not coming to any of your rescues. He is waiting for you guys in prison! He was the leader of the rebellion!"

Xiong Jingfei's felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. It made sense why these palace soldiers didn't give them an ounce of respect. Her father was captured and put in prison already. 

The carriage ride waiting for them outside the door is the ride to a prison cell. 

"Arrest them all!" The leader loudly ordered. 

He was intentionally yelling at the top of his lungs to let onlookers find out what was happening inside the Xiong manor. It was faster to let commoners spread the news that the Xiong clan was getting arrested because of treason. 

"Miss, what should we do?" Xu Song nervously asked. She will follow whatever decisions that her Miss decides. 

Xiong Jingfei closed her eyes. How infuriating! There wasn't anything else they could do! 

"We will go with you."

That was the decision Xiong Jingfei made for her people. 

"Eldest Miss!" They all cried in unison. "Please don't let them take us!"

"Eldest Miss!"

"Don't let them take us!"

All the servants screamed and cried, calling out Xiong Jingfei's title. As if it was going to make a difference in their situation. 

By going to prison, they might not come back out alive. There is the uncertainty of what could happen behind closed doors. 

Xiong Jingfei knows and understands. 

However, if they choose to resist and refuse to go, they will all end up dying here! It was a better choice to go in and have a chance of coming back out alive. It wasn't like the palace soldiers stormed into the Xiong manor to "nicely" escort them to prison!

"Xiong Jingfei! You wench!" Xiong Changchang screamed her name in hatred. "Is this how the Eldest Miss of the head household should be acting!?"

Yes! Xiong Jingfei wanted to scream back at Xiong Changchang. Does she want all their people slaughtered here in this courtyard!? All she can do now is spare them some time to continue living.

"Eldest sister…" Xiong Jiayi's soft voice shivered even in her mother's embrace.

Li Roulan kept her silence. 

"Mother, why aren't you saying anything!?" Xiong Changchang aimed for her mother next. "Are you going to let her get away with this!?"

"Be quiet, Changchang!" Li Roulan spat through gritted teeth. 

She couldn't accept how she raised such a stupid daughter! Doesn't she see their predicament? Li Roulan doesn't want to follow Xiong Jingfei's decision too, but it was the only choice given to them. 

Her husband and military commander, Xiong Guozhi, was arrested under the claim of treason. The palace soldiers were personally dispatched by his majesty to capture not just them but the servants too. There wasn't anything left for them to do besides giving in.

"Take them!" 

Some servants cried and resisted the soldiers, so the soldiers dragged those people like animals into the carriage. Those who obediently listened to the orders weren't mistreated or dragged. 

Two soldiers began approaching Xiong Jingfei. She remained calm, so it wouldn't give that snobby leader the satisfaction that his provoking worked. 

"I can go on my own." Xiong Jingfei put her hands together and held her head high. She will continue and become the elegant lady engraved into her bones. "Show me the way."

In the carriage, Xiong Jingfei sat with the servants. She may be their masters, but right now, their status was no different from each other. They were sitting and squeezed together in one small carriage.

Xiong Jingfei sat quietly next to Xu Song as she listened to the whimpering and fear inside the carriage. 

The carriage rolled on in the dirt road and through the palace gate. 

Xiong Jingfei always wanted to see what was on the other side of this gate. She wanted to meet the Yin clan and find out more about her mother. She just never thought she would one day pass through the gate labeled as a traitor. 

There wasn't anyone Xiong Jingfei could lean on for protection because she is her people's shield. She was their thin protection. 

She was scared, just like Xiong Changchang and her people. However, she wasn't allowed to scream, cry for help, or freely show fear like them. Her father taught her never to show fear to your enemies, and right now, the royal family is her enemy. 

When they arrived at the prison area, one of the female servants got yanked out of the carriage. She fell flat onto the filthy ground and couldn't bring herself to stand up. All because she was shaking and exceedingly slow at getting off. 

"Hurry up! Get out!" 

Xiong Jingfei pulled the female servants up. She glared at the soldier who yanked the servant's arm. "You better be careful because we aren't charged with treason yet."

In each prison cell, there were about ten to twelve of them squeezed in one cell. So it was barely breathable. 

Xiong Jingfei just had to have the luck of being stuck in the same cell as her half-sisters. Xiong Jiayi was quiet; meanwhile, Xiong Changchang was loud. Li Roulan was separated from them and put in a different cell far away from them. 

"Miss, what is going to happen to us?" 

"What are they planning to do with us!?"

Xiong Jingfei was starting to get exhausted by the way they were looking at her. They were waiting for her to come up with a plan for their survival. They were waiting for her to give them answers to their questions. 

She, too, doesn't know what is going to happen to them.