The following day, without exception, all the managers who attended the banquet at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion fell ill.
The illness was extremely strange. It was neither painful nor itchy, but the hands were as black as charcoal. No matter how much water, medicine, or even strong liquor was used to wipe them, the color did not fade at all, as if it were growing into the flesh.
What terrified them even more was that they had no idea when or how they had been poisoned.
Benevolent Heart Hall, Shopkeeper Xun stared at the blackened hands and roared at the resident doctor, "Useless! Can't you detect any poison?!"
The doctor said tremblingly, "Shopkeeper... I really don't know what kind of medicine caused this."
In the Hundred Herbs Hall, the Shopkeeper Hao locked himself in his room and tried every kind of antidote, even resorting to fighting poison with poison, but he still couldn't get rid of the blackness.
The Shopkeeper Hao said viciously, "Like a dog that bites without barking, I thought she was young and easy to fool, but it turns out she's a cunning and wicked person..."
When he saw those hands again, he collapsed to the ground, his face filled with despair. If this continued, those hands would probably be ruined.
They were all recalling what happened that day, and they certainly didn't see Meng Anzhi make a move. But if it wasn't her, then who else could it be? She was the only one who was closest to them.
As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast.
Despite the shopkeepers' best efforts to conceal it, the mysterious hand behind their backs was still exposed, and the people of the prefecture were talking about it behind their backs.
These shops had taken dirty money, which is why their hands were tainted. They also wanted to find Meng Anzhi to cure the poison, but when they thought of the leverage Jin Shanyao over them, they forcibly suppressed their desire.
For several days in a row, apart from those terrifying black hands, his body showed no other abnormalities.
At this moment, they realized that Anzhi Hall was warning them: As long as I don't die, killing you will be a piece of cake.
It wasn't until half a month later that their hands gradually returned to normal, and Meng Anzhi's skill in using poison quietly spread throughout the industry.
After this incident, no one dared to provoke Anzhi Hall. After all, everyone's lives were in Jin Shanyao's hands.
Once the man was subdued, life returned to normal.
As the year draws to a close, Anzhi Hall closes its doors. Jin Shanyao strolls along the street with her two children, the three of them holding candied hawthorns, looking here and there.
" Anzhi... what do you think of this rabbit hat?" Jin Shanyao stood in front of the stall, holding a rabbit fur hat in her hand. The child disappeared as soon as she turned around.
She looked in the direction of her Spiritual Power and saw two children standing in front of a gambling table, surrounded by people.
On the gambling table lay a ten-tael silver note, with a piece of paper on top of it. The bandit leader shouted to the crowd, "Ten coins per try, line up... one at a time!"
The underling caught a glimpse of Meng Anzhi out of the corner of his eye, and immediately turned deathly pale, frantically tugging at the bandit leader's clothes, shouting, "Run! Run! Run!"
The bandit leader reassured him, "Don't worry, brother, none of them will escape... With this kind of game, they won't even get past the first hurdle. Just wait to collect your money."
The younger brother, his face flushed with anxiety, pointed to the back of the line, "Hello, hello..."
The bandit leader said, "Don't worry, don't worry... I understand..."
"You don't know anything!" the underling shoved him aside, hastily gathered the tablecloth together, grabbed the bandit leader, and ran off. The customers, who were gambling with great enthusiasm, were displeased.
He grabbed his underling's arm. "What are you doing...? I'm about to come up with a solution. Put the tablecloth down for me."
The bandit leader grew anxious, "Brother... don't you still want a wife, kids, and a warm bed? I've given you a chance to make a fortune, but you're useless!"
The younger brother was being held back by two people and couldn't break free. The more anxious he became, the more he stammered, "Poison, poison, poison..."
"I know, it's the only one, isn't it? If it weren't the only one, I wouldn't be setting up this stall..."
Little brother... Destroy it all... He slammed the tablecloth onto the table, backed away step by step, and then knelt down with a thud.
The line shrank little by little, and no one could get past the first hurdle until Meng Anzhi stood in front of the table.
Their eyes met... and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward. The bandit leader slapped his forehead, "Oh dear... so 'run' means 'escape,' 'An' means Anzhi Hall,' and 'poison' means the poisonous child is here..."
He turned to look at his younger brother, who was kneeling on the ground, his hands clasped together, looking at Meng Anzhi with utmost sincerity, as if he had thoroughly repented and realized his mistakes.
The bandit leader strode forward and slapped his underling on the head. "What kind of time is this? Making wishes now? Run!" With that, he grabbed his underling and ran without even bothering to tidy up the tablecloth.
She disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye. They leaned against the corner of the wall and peeked out. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Meng Anzhi was not chasing after them, and then collapsed to the ground.
The younger brother, panting heavily, murmured, "Back, back, back..."
The bandit leader yelled, "Go back now? Don't you want to die?"
The younger brother almost choked on his breath, muttering, "Back, back, back to Jing'an Prefecture." He wanted to be able to do whatever he wanted in his own territory, instead of suffering humiliation here.
The bandit leader was dejected. "You know we can't go back..." They had a hard life too; three years ago, they were hit by a flood that wiped out their entire harvest.
Just then, the government was recruiting laborers to repair the road, and the two of them, hoping for a meal, signed up with just a few old clothes. The road was repaired and then collapsed again, and they worked on it for more than a year.
Although they were tired, they were able to fill their stomachs. On their day off, the two of them had a sudden urge to go up the mountain to get some meat, but they never expected to witness a scene they would never forget.
To survive, they lived under assumed names and moved from place to place. They dared not do any open or blatant work, so they had to resort to petty theft and robbery.
The bandit leader sighed, "No matter how ruthless Anzhi Hall is, she didn't take our lives. If that person finds out we're still alive, we'll all be buried alive anyway."
The bandit leader shuddered as he recalled the scene he had witnessed.
The two remained silent, feeling a deep sense of unease about their miserable lives...
The younger brother's clothes were gently tugged, and he turned around abruptly, only to be met with a pale face. Behind him sat a frozen woman!
The child tugging at his clothes was nestled in the woman's arms, staring at him intently.
The underling was terrified, grabbing the bandit leader's clothes, his teeth chattering, "Little... little... little..."
The bandit leader turned around upon hearing the sound, and upon seeing the scene before him, he froze on the spot.
He gently shook the woman, "Hey, little sister... little sister, wake up..."
The woman was so cold she was delirious and her breathing was weak; if they didn't save her soon, she would die. The bandit leader whispered a few words in his henchman's ear.
The younger brother's eyes widened in fright, "Crazy... crazy... crazy..."
"What's wrong with you... Hurry up and help," the bandit leader said, picking up the child with one hand and dragging the woman onto his henchman's back. "Hurry up, hurry up, don't let anyone see us."
Jin Shanyao walked up to the two children and laughed, "Your craftsmanship has been stolen, hasn't it?"
Meng Anzhi frowned. "I only meant to tease them, but they ended up using it for gambling. I realize I might have done something wrong."
Jin Shanyao, munching on a candied hawthorn, mumbled, "Remember, there's no right or wrong in this world, only different perspectives!... Besides, what does their gambling have to do with you? Don't take everything on yourself."
"Come on... there's a new rice cake stall up ahead, it smells delicious, let's try some." She urged her two children to follow her, and the three of them bought three servings of rice cakes.
Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi held the steaming rice cakes and ate them with relish.
Meng Anci, holding three strings of candied hawthorns in his hand and with his mouth stuffed full, followed behind the two women.
He mumbled, "Auntie, sister... don't buy any more, I can't eat anymore." He hadn't eaten a single new bite of food the whole way; it was all leftovers from the two of them.
Jin Shanyao replied dismissively, "I know, I know..."