Chapter 93: Chapter 93 Picking Locks
The door to the firewood room was locked.
Mrs. Tao feared that Su Yunjin’s parents would sneak in and free Su Ningxiu, so she deliberately found a lock to secure the door herself.
As Su Yunjin and her mother approached the firewood room and saw the door locked, she immediately turned to her mother, Mrs. Shen, “Mother, is there an axe?”
Mrs. Shen, knowing her daughter intended to chop open the firewood room’s door with an axe, nodded and said, “Yes, there is one in your father’s room, Yunjin. Wait here, I will go and bring you the axe.”
“No need to fetch it!” Su Yunjin’s father, Su Zhongshi, holding an axe, hurried towards Su Yunjin and Mrs. Shen.
Su Zhongshi was also anxious to rescue his daughter, and after chaos erupted in the courtyard, he had quickly gone to his room to get the axe.
It came in handy just now.
Seeing her father arrive, Su Yunjin smiled, “Father, quickly chop the door open!”
Su Zhongshi, afraid to hurt his daughter and wife while breaking the lock, first instructed Su Yunjin and Mrs. Shen, “I’m about to chop the door, Yunjin, you and your mother should step back to avoid getting hurt.”
Both Su Yunjin and Mrs. Shen retreated, and Su Zhongshi raised the axe and swung it forcefully. With a clang, the big lock that had been fastened to the firewood room’s door broke in half and fell to the ground.
Seeing the door open, Su Yunjin and her mother were both thrilled. Su Zhongshi threw the axe aside, kicked the door open, and hurried in, “Ningxiu, Ningxiu, your father is here to save you!”
Su Ningxiu had been tied up in the firewood room for a day, and that heartless Mrs. Tao hadn’t given her anything to eat. Hungry and weak from a day’s starvation, Su Ningxiu was dizzy. Upon lifting her head and seeing her father, her dim eyes suddenly brightened, and even her hoarse voice conveyed obvious delight, “Father!”
“My daughter! Father is here, don’t be afraid!” Seeing his daughter bound in ropes, Su Zhongshi was especially heartbroken, and tears quickly wet the eyes of the burly man.
He was powerless and had failed to protect his daughter.
Su Ningxiu, already delighted to see Qin Zhongshi, was even more overjoyed when Su Yunjin and Mrs. Shen walked in, “Mother, sister, you all came!”
“Ningxiu, my poor daughter, your mother and father are here to rescue you.” Mrs. Shen, too, was pained at the sight of her daughter. Su Zhongshi was the first to reach Su Ningxiu. He knelt and eagerly began to untie the ropes binding his daughter.
In his urgency, the more anxious Qin Zhongshi became, the harder it was to untie Su Ningxiu’s ropes. Mrs. Shen, agitated, couldn’t help but scold her husband, “Why are you so clumsy that you can’t even untie a rope?”
“I—!” Su Zhongshi was at a loss for words. The more he tried to untie the ropes, the more incapable he seemed. At that moment, Su Yunjin stepped forward, squatted beside her father, and said, “Father, let me do it.”
Considering himself clumsy, Su Zhongshi moved aside when Su Yunjin offered to help, letting her attend to the ropes binding her older sister, Su Ningxiu.
Once Su Yunjin took over, she was much more proficient. Shortly, Su Yunjin had all the ropes off Su Ningxiu. Mrs. Shen praised her daughter, “It’s Yunjin who is capable!”
When Mrs. Shen said this, she was referring not only to how swiftly Su Yunjin had untied the ropes but also to Su Yunjin’s role in rescuing Su Ningxiu that day.
Had it not been for Su Yunjin, would they have been able to save Ningxiu today?