Chapter 25: Internal Injury
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Mingzhu thought Yuwen You must be boiling with anger and might erupt again soon. If there were another scene, who knew how exciting it would be? However, Yuwen You merely clenched his teeth and gave her a sinister smile, pointing at her from a distance and silently saying, “You wait.” With that, he turned and walked away briskly, paying no attention to the servants behind him arguing about whether to accept the gifts.
This was another version of Yuwen You she hadn’t expected. She had been reborn, striving to change her fate, so were the people involved also changing along with her? Mingzhu suddenly felt a suffocating sense of horror, thinking that perhaps this marriage wasn’t as simple as Fu Mingzheng had said. Upon reflection, Yuwen Chu was the biggest variable that appeared after her rebirth. Maybe she really should meet this person.
About an hour later, Fu Mingzheng returned with his men. Mingzhu watched from behind the window as he calmly entered Madam Cui’s room. Soon, the servants began packing up, preparing to leave. Once they left, she wouldn’t see Yuwen Chu again. Mingzhu made a decisive move, clutching her stomach and groaning, “My stomach hurts so much.”
Everyone panicked, with Madam Cui especially worried, calling for a doctor and trying to get the doctor accompanying Yuwen Chu to help. Fu Mingzheng said cunningly, “There’s no good doctor up in the mountains. Even if there were, the medicine wouldn’t keep up. In my opinion, it’s better to take my sister home to recuperate and avoid the constant trouble from Linan Wang.”
Madam Cui thought it made sense and immediately ordered a sedan chair to be prepared. Mingzhu, feeling resentful, rolled on the bed, crying, “My stomach hurts like this, and you still force me to travel. It’s already past noon, and the journey is long. Do you want to shake my intestines to pieces before we reach the city gates? Mother, am I really your biological daughter?”
Madam Cui also thought it made sense and, seeing her daughter’s painful appearance, instinctively relented, “Then let’s first call the doctor to ease the pain. If that doesn’t work, we’ll set off early tomorrow.”
Fu Mingzheng refrained from exposing the fact that Mingzhu was actually pretending, probably to avoid triggering complaints such as “You’re not her full-blooded sibling, so you don’t know how to empathize.” Therefore, he just smiled and, without saying anything, kindly prepared the gifts again and hurried to Yuwen Chu’s place to borrow a doctor.
Mingzhu laid comfortably in bed, feigning illness. The doctor from Ying Wang’s residence was quite interesting. After checking her pulse, he even subtly hinted that her stomachache was probably caused by internal injuries sustained in a fight with Linan Wang the night before. This made Mingzhu and even the usually astute Fu Mingzheng feel perplexed. The two of them just stared at the doctor, puzzled, and didn’t have time to comfort the crying Madam Cui.
In the end, it was Fu Mingzheng who reacted quickly, earnestly requesting the doctor to quickly write a prescription. After leaving a frightening-looking prescription, the doctor left. Then, gifts of rare and valuable medicinal materials arrived from Ying Wang’s residence. Mingzhu looked at the pile of medicinal materials, feeling confused, and glanced at Fu Mingzheng, whose expression was also strange. The siblings communicated silently and decided to first comfort Madam Cui and then confront the servants.
“If you’re not involved, why did he help you confirm the accusation of Yuwen You abusing you?” Fu Mingzheng’s smile turned cold, “If you don’t see me as your real brother, you should have said so earlier, and we’d all save some trouble.”
Mingzhu replied, “Don’t be sarcastic. I only met him the night before last. I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the Lingkong winding walkway to watch the stars. Su Lan accidentally started a fire with a lantern, and he helped put out the fire. Today’s bill from Zhu Changsheng was for the repair costs of the winding walkway. You also said, now the situation in the court is complicated, who can say clearly what Yuwen Chu is planning?
Fu Mingzheng pondered for a moment, finally decided not to continue this topic, and changed to another question: “Why did you pretend to have stomach pain?”
Of course, Mingzhu couldn’t tell him the real reason, because she wanted to rendezvous with Yuwen Chu that night. She cunningly replied, “Why? Can’t you see it clearly now? I was severely injured by Yuwen You and can’t move. Now with the testimony of this doctor from Ying Wang’s residence, isn’t it much easier to handle?”
Fu Mingzheng stared at her for a while, realizing he couldn’t extract more from her. He got up with a smile that seemed like a smirk and left. His departure was so abrupt that it made Mingzhu feel uneasy. She felt as if he had some kind of sinister plot, but she didn’t dwell on it. After all, he was her real brother, naturally standing on the same side as her. Even if he caught her meeting Yuwen Chu secretly at midnight, it wouldn’t matter. Didn’t he suspect her of having feelings for Yuwen Chu before?
With everything quiet, after a day of turmoil, both Madam Cui, who was worried about her daughter, and the astute Fu Mingzheng had fallen asleep. Mingzhu sat up in bed and first instructed Su Mei, “You lie on my bed.” Then she instructed Su Lan and the others, “Stay alert. If Madam or Fourth Master sends someone to check, you should know how to handle it.” She then called Su Lan, “Come with me.”
“Miss…” Su Lan was horrified and was about to refuse but was interrupted by Mingzhu in a domineering manner, “Either come with me or wait for me to come back and kick you out.” Then she looked at the other maids whose faces had changed color and said slyly, “The same goes for all of you. Those who don’t listen will have a bad ending.”
The maids all wisely chose to comply, but Su Lan’s face couldn’t hide her discomfort. Mingzhu didn’t bother with her. To avoid frightening Yuwen Chu, she considerately wore a hood before leaving the room.
Mingzhu was quite skilled at sneaking out like this. Master and servant quickly avoided the night patrols led by Jiang Duo and others and headed towards the mountain under the moonlight. Su Lan had learned about Yuwen Chu’s residence, so leading the way wasn’t difficult, but she couldn’t help but advise Mingzhu earnestly, “It’s late at night. Ying Wang should be asleep already. It’s not appropriate for Miss to visit someone. If things go wrong and it causes a scandal, the consequences will be severe. Many families in the capital are very conservative and care a lot about reputation.”
In other words, if she visited a man privately at night, her reputation would be greatly tarnished, and she might never find a suitable marriage proposal again. Mingzhu shrugged. So what? Marriage wasn’t something desirable anyway. At least she didn’t find any joy in that marriage. All she gained was pain and humiliation, even to the point of hating herself when she thought about it. Not getting married wasn’t bad; it was actually quite nice.
Can’t wait until next week to see more? Want to show your support? Come to my Patreon where you can get up to 10 more chapters of Ninth Imperial Glorious Phoenix right away ! Or go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
