Chapter 117 Not Owing
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However, Mingzhu knew it wasn’t so simple. With years of understanding, she knew that Yuwen You had seen through her scheme and had intended to break free in time. But for some reason, he suddenly changed his mind and instead helped her, knocking over the imperial gift of camel soup.
Why did he do this? Was he willing to be framed by her scheme? Mingzhu looked at Yuwen You, who was cursing fiercely and looked fierce, and suddenly felt a bit unable to understand his thoughts. Did he think that by helping her this time, she would change her mind? No, she wouldn’t, she absolutely wouldn’t. She hated him so much, so eager to forget him, even feeling that hate wasn’t necessary.
Yuwen You struggled to get up from the ground, ignoring the palace maid kneeling beside the spilled camel soup in panic, and went to grab Mingzhu, “You unfaithful woman, you can’t escape, come, let’s go explain it to the Great Empress Dowager!”
Mingzhu’s scheme had succeeded, but she felt that something was developing in an unexpected direction, and she didn’t want to owe him anything. She sneered and forcefully pushed away his hand, scolding, “That’s enough! You’re the imperial bloodline, Linan Wang, supposed to be a towering man, how can you be so shameless? Again and again, bothering me, is it fun? Do you still want to beat me up or kill me in the palace? Come on, if I’m afraid of you, I’ll write the ‘Fu’ character backward.”
Yuwen You looked at her blankly, a hint of despair flashing in his eyes, then smiled provocatively, “You bothered me for so many years, and I can’t bother you a few times? Why didn’t you think of me back then? This is what you owe me.”
No, she didn’t owe him anything. Even if she did, she had already paid it back with her life long ago. On the contrary, he, to this day, the things he had done to her still made her unable to breathe in nightmares, sleepless all night. Mingzhu hated him, and impulsively rushed towards Yuwen You, “Let’s settle this!”
Yuwen You quickly reached out and grabbed Mingzhu’s shoulder, skillfully pulling her down to the ground. Mingzhu soon realized something was wrong. She thought that Yuwen You, by provoking her like this, wanted to beat her up to vent his anger, but he didn’t. Even if the two fell, he cushioned it first, and she was unharmed.
Mingzhu tried to get up quickly, but Yuwen You firmly held her shoulder, angrily scolding, “Shrew, you hit me and want to run? How can it be so easy?”
Mingzhu was pinned down by him and couldn’t escape. She was so anxious that she wanted to bite his hand, but Yuwen You quickly picked up a stone and fiercely smashed it on his own head, then shouted, “Fu Mingzhu, you venomous woman!”
Blood quickly flowed down from his forehead, and Mingzhu was surprised, afraid that he would smash the stone on her head the next moment. She struggled a few times, grabbed the stone, and fiercely hit Yuwen You twice before using all her strength to break free and escape.
Yuwen You seemed to be surprised by her actions, staring blankly at her with wide eyes. The blood on his head flowed more and more, as if it would never stop. The palace maid hadn’t finished mourning the spilled camel soup yet, turned around and screamed in panic for help, “Help, help, murder, help!”
She hated him like this… but why? Even if he had planned many malicious thoughts, none of them had been carried out. Yuwen You closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he covered the injured area and stared at Mingzhu with a cold smile, “You’re really ruthless.”
Mingzhu threw away the stone in her hand and said coldly, “It’s not pleasant to be the scapegoat, so I might as well help you. How does it feel?”
Yuwen You responded evasively, “The first time, it was to save my life; this time, it’s to make you remember me.”
Remember him? Mingzhu looked at Yuwen You inquisitively. Even if he hadn’t played this trick, she would have remembered him for the rest of her life. How could she possibly forget? There were many nights when she would close her eyes and dream of him, unable to sleep afterward, tossing and turning until dawn.
“I know what you were trying to do just now, and I know someone wanted to do something. I’m not stupid, I just don’t want to owe you anything. With this incident, you don’t have to go back there, and you can avoid some things. Although it may sound bad if this matter spreads, it doesn’t matter. You don’t care about these empty reputations anyway.” Yuwen You refused to meet her gaze, withdrawing his eyes to look at the spilled camel soup on the ground.
The camel soup shimmered with a faint reddish glow in the sunlight, and a few ants, attracted by the fragrance, leisurely crawled in, then, in an instant, they all died motionless.
Following his gaze, Mingzhu couldn’t help but exclaim in her heart. It turned out she had guessed right. Was it really true that fortune favored the bold? Everyone thought Empress Dowager Min and her son wouldn’t be so bold, but they were indeed, straightforward and effective. Even if discovered, they could easily brush it off with a simple statement like “someone plotted to sow discord between the Fu family and the Emperor, trying to reap benefits,” then everyone would be victims.
Yuwen You continued, “Remember this, Fu Mingzhu, you owe me a big favor today. So, all those times you helped me before, as of today, they’re all canceled out. You don’t owe me, and I don’t owe you. The next time we meet, we’ll be sworn enemies.”
Sworn enemies? Weren’t they already? Mingzhu wanted to tell Yuwen You that they had been sworn enemies long ago, at least when she still loved him, he already thought so. What’s the point of saying this now?
But Yuwen You seemed unwilling to listen to her speak, swaying as he stood up straight and walked away. Palace attendants who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion tried to assist him, but he forcefully pushed them away. He walked with a stiff posture, tilting his head up without looking back, gradually moving farther away under the scorching sun.
Mingzhu saw him stagger, as if about to fall, but he stubbornly steadied himself and slowly walked into the depths of the palace. She couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart at that moment, so she just lowered her eyes and stared blankly at the pool of thick blood on the ground.
He must have known that the camel soup was poisoned, so he voluntarily helped her… so even his sudden appearance here to cause trouble was probably for some reason. Choosing to self-harm was probably to make it more believable, to minimize the anger from Zhaoyang Palace as much as possible.
But she didn’t care.
She’d rather he was tricked by her, not voluntarily helping her. What’s more, he said that by hitting himself with the stone, causing this commotion, it was to give her a reason not to return to Zhaoyang Palace to face the subsequent conspiracies there. Yeah, a huge favor indeed, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care at all, nor would she remember his favor because of this incident.
If possible, she wished she had never met this person.
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