It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Chapter 169

Jiang Yan sat down with her back against the tree trunk, eyes lowered, and remained silent. In the hollow behind her waist, she slowly twisted her wrists, trying to loosen the hemp rope.

"Don't move. It will only hurt more if your skin is rubbed." An aunt who was driven to sit under the same tree and squeezed against Jiang Yan's left shoulder felt a faint tremor at her side and reminded him in a low voice.

Jiang Yan paused and replied in a low voice, "My arm is numb." Then, as if curious, he asked, "Isn't your arm numb?"

"It's so numb that I can't feel anything anymore." Another aunt sitting on Jiang Yan's right suddenly interrupted.

Jiang Yan suddenly remembered where she had read that if the limbs were tied for too long and too tightly, it would affect blood circulation.

The symptoms are numbness, whitening or purple discoloration, followed by lack of strength, and finally leading to ischemia and necrosis of the limbs, necessitating amputation.

How can these people who were sent to work as laborers work if their hands are useless?

Jiang Yan had an idea.

She immediately made up a case about a distant relative and neighbor of someone she knew in the same village and shared it with the two people beside her about the dangers of numbness in the hands. Seeing that their faces turned even paler after listening to it, she felt relieved and loudly called the yamen runners not far away to come over.

"Why do you have so much trouble?" The yamen runner who whipped Jiang Yan the most times came over with an annoyed look on his face, and became even more impatient after hearing two coughs.

Jiang Yan raised a stiff but flattering smile and stutteredly repeated the case to the yamen runner, then timidly pleaded:

"Sir... could you please untie the ropes and let us relax a bit?"

The yamen runner who was being asked was indifferent at first, but as he listened, he began to think about whether there was anyone he had arrested before whose hands were disabled after being tied up with ropes, but he could not think of a single one.

This must be a lie, right? Could it be that the time they tied him up wasn't long enough? The bailiff was puzzled, but his expression remained unmoved.

"Are you done? If you're done, then stay put and stop looking for trouble, or I'll beat you to death."

"Hey, sir, please don't leave. My hand is going to break!"

The old man who had quarreled with Jiang Yan and was thrown into the crowd of men had been eavesdropping on Jiang Yan and the others' conversation with his ears perked up. When he found that he had lost feeling in his arm, he immediately shouted anxiously.

Now, the other yamen runners who were originally sitting by the fire to rest also stood up and gathered around.

The leading yamen runner was an experienced man who had handled many cases. After listening to the whole story and recalling it carefully, he did recall that the hands of one or two prisoners had not been tortured, but they were still damaged after being sent home, and they died not long after.

He looked down at the pairs of eyes filled with hope and pleading. After weighing the pros and cons, he nodded and agreed: "I'll only give you half an hour."

If you can relax once, you can relax a second time. Jiang Yan was happy that the chances of escaping had increased a little.

Although the other yamen runners believed it about 70% to 80%, they did not agree with the decision to untie these people: "Hongtou, if they run away, we will be the ones to be punished."

"We definitely won't run away."

"Sir, I will behave myself."

"Don't run, don't run."

……

The yamen runner known as Hongtou said sternly, "Brothers, you have to guard this place together for half an hour. If their hands are really damaged, we will be in trouble.

If someone doesn't behave, let them go and teach them a lesson, but don't give them a chance to let go next time."

Jiang Yan listened to the scolding with his eyes half closed, but the desire to escape did not diminish in the slightest.

But there is no need to rush this time. If it is really as she guessed, the success rate of escaping later should be higher.