Hiding

Zheng Qian had no idea when his jailbreak would be discovered.

So, after leaping over the wall and leaving the County Yamen, he immediately activated the Flying Goose Skill and sped toward the eastern part of the city.

According to the information he had obtained, Tongyang County was divided into five districts: east, south, west, north, and central. The County Yamen was in the northern district, while wealthy merchants and prominent families lived in the eastern district.

As for the remaining three districts, the central district was the busiest commercial area, the western district was where commoners lived, and the southern district was like an agricultural market. Small merchants, peddlers, gangs, beggars, secret brothels, slums... everything of that sort could be found there.

It could be said that the southern district was the most chaotic area in all of Tongyang County.

By ordinary logic, if one wanted to hide, the southern district would be the most suitable place.

But every snake had its path, and every mouse had its hole. The southern district was indeed chaotic, but it was also crowded and full of prying eyes. Quite a few people there valued money over their lives.

As a stranger in an unfamiliar place, Zheng Qian would definitely attract attention the moment he appeared there.

Once that happened, the authorities would only need to issue a wanted notice with a reward, and he would be as good as dead.

In contrast, although the wealthy eastern district had constables patrolling year-round and each household had plenty of servants guarding the premises,

its population density was less than a tenth of the southern district's.

Especially for someone like Zheng Qian, who possessed martial strength, as long as he was careful not to be seen, his safety would be improved by who knew how many times.

More importantly, none of those wealthy merchants and prominent families had clean backgrounds. They simply would not dare let government soldiers enter and search their homes recklessly.

Of course, money could make the devil turn millstones. Unless there was conclusive evidence, the government soldiers would not casually offend these rich and powerful people either.

Naturally, none of this had occurred to Zheng Qian himself. It was Young Master Hundred Flowers who had told him.

Although the man deserved to die, the fact that he had lived freely for so long meant that, besides being powerful, he was also extraordinarily experienced at evading the authorities' pursuit.

After an unknown amount of time, as a sliver of pale dawn appeared on the horizon, Zheng Qian swiftly vaulted over a wall and vanished into a huge courtyard.

Meanwhile, at the County Yamen, constables, yamen runners, and gaolers had all been roused from their sleep. They were rapidly gathering outside the prison, their shouts shaking the heavens.

A condemned prisoner had escaped! It was the first time in Tongyang County's history...

The county magistrate was furious and ordered Constable Liu Yidao to capture Zheng Qian and bring him back for execution before the next day at a quarter past noon.

Naturally, Liu Yidao alone could not accomplish that. With time short and the task urgent, he could only summon all his men through the night.

Zheng Qian naturally knew nothing of this, because at that moment he was hiding inside a well roughly five or six meters deep.

The well stood in a huge garden and was probably used to water the flowers and plants around it.

After choosing this place, Zheng Qian spent half an hour digging a recess into the side of the well's bottom, large enough to contain him.

The entrance was about a meter beneath the well water. He first dug horizontally for a meter, then dug upward for roughly two more meters.

Naturally, since he did not want to suffocate to death, he had left an air hole.

Not long after he finished everything, he heard someone start drawing water from the well.

Soon, two voices faintly reached Zheng Qian's ears.

From their voices, there were two people—one younger and one older.

"Eh? Old Zhang, look. Why is the water so murky today?"

"Murky? It really is."

"There's nothing in the well. Could someone have thrown rocks into it?"

"Who cares? It's only for watering flowers, not for drinking. It's all the same."

"True."

"Hurry up and finish. If we're late, we won't make it in time for breakfast."

"All right."

The well water being murky was inevitable. After all, Zheng Qian had dug a large hole in the well wall. Although he had put most of the excavated dirt into his Storage Space, quite a bit of soil had still dissolved into the well water. It was not as if he could put the well water into his Storage Space too.

However, this was only temporary. He merely needed to wait a few hours for the dirt to settle.

What he had not expected was that servants would come to draw water and water the flowers just as dawn was breaking.

Fortunately, the two had no intention of making trouble by investigating the matter. Otherwise, all his work would have been for nothing.

The two servants at the well drew two or three dozen buckets of water between them before finally stopping. Zheng Qian remained on tenterhooks the entire time.

Fortunately, everything passed without incident.

"Phew... Now all I can do is wait. I hope everything goes smoothly!"

Listening to their gradually fading footsteps, Zheng Qian let out a long breath and murmured softly.

He was safe for the time being, but he had not escaped danger completely. Only after he had fled Tongyang County entirely—even Xishan Commandery, or even the Xingyang Dynasty—could he truly be considered safe.

However, he would probably find it difficult to accomplish all that in the short term.

After all, he had no idea when Tongyang County would relax its search for him.

After tossing and turning through countless thoughts, Zheng Qian, who had spent the entire night in a state of intense concentration, soon drifted into a hazy sleep as his mind relaxed.

After an unknown amount of time, when he woke up, it was already dark outside.

He had not woken because he had slept enough, nor because someone had disturbed him. He had woken because he was hungry.

By his reckoning, he had gone a full day and night without eating anything.

"This transmigrator of mine really has it miserable! Sigh..."

In the pitch-black recess, Zheng Qian, covered in grime, sighed ruefully.

When other people transmigrated, they either became the Holy Son of a sect or a dynasty's prince, or possessed monstrous talent and powerful bloodlines. Even if they were merely ordinary people—or beggars—they still had it better than a death-row prisoner like him.

Unfortunately, none of that was up to him. Unless he wanted to die, he could only accept this disastrous starting point.

After lamenting for a while, Zheng Qian cautiously crawled out of the well and looked around.

His luck was good. There was no one nearby.

As for the time, he had no watch and did not understand the stars, so he had no idea what hour it was.

However, judging from the silence around him, it had to be past ten o'clock.

"First, I'll gather some food, then I'll lie low for a while."

After confirming that no one was truly nearby, Zheng Qian vaulted out of the well like a nimble cat and quickly slipped toward the edge of the garden.

As for the water on his body, he merely shook himself lightly, and most of the well water was flung off.

He had to admit, the household he had chosen at random was truly enormous. It occupied at least ten mu of land, with every kind of pavilion, tower, artificial hill, and flowing stream. At a glance, it was clearly the residence of an immensely wealthy family.

Thus, he walked while looking around, and it took him a full half hour to find the kitchen.

Inside, he found a huge amount of food. Rice, flour, oil, and grain aside, there were also chickens, ducks, fish, cattle, sheep, pigs, steamed buns, stuffed buns, all kinds of pastries, and fresh fruits and vegetables...

He had to admit, this family truly was worthy of being called immensely wealthy. The kitchen contained every kind of ingredient imaginable.