Chapter 716: You’ve Been Exposed!
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The weather in early summer was clear and pleasant. Mingzhu leisurely strolled in the courtyard, with two maids closely following behind her, watching her every move. She couldn’t be bothered to pay attention. These days she had been doing quite well. After a period of bed rest, the child in her belly was growing well. The child was quiet and obedient, hardly causing her any trouble, even moving very gently.
In addition, her diet was supervised by Jiang Zhouzi, and her daily life was taken care of by someone else. In her spare time, she could study pharmacology and practice calligraphy, much more comfortable than traveling long distances and camping outdoors. If it weren’t for Yuwen Cong’s occasional harassment and worrying about Donghui and Meimei being imprisoned somewhere, these days would have been quite comfortable.
There were advantages to pretending to be deaf. At least these two maids didn’t avoid her much, and she could often analyze some useful things from their conversations. For example, the recent skyrocketing prices in Yicheng seemed to be caused by the intensification of the war, and the woman who used to deliver vegetables, Mrs. Ding, fell ill, so her eldest daughter came to deliver the vegetables. This Miss Ding was passable, but she was too tall, taller than ordinary men, and it would be difficult for her to get married in the future.
She speculated whimsically, could this Miss Ding, who was so tall, be a man disguised as a woman? Otherwise, she had only seen An Xiaogu and Du Heng, and they were not as tall as Miss Ding. Then she thought, maybe it was really Du Heng. Yuwen Chu couldn’t possibly find out that she had disappeared without any movement. The best way to identify her was to see her with her own eyes. Unfortunately, Yuwen Cong was too vigilant, and she couldn’t see this Miss Ding who delivered vegetables at all.
Since there was no way, she could only wait patiently and focus on nurturing the child.
Mingzhu got tired from walking and returned to the room to take a nap.
Seeing her sleeping, the two maids took out their needlework and suddenly felt something was wrong. They looked up and saw Yuwen Cong standing at the door, looking inside. They were about to get up and greet him when Yuwen Cong waved his hand gently, quietly walked to Mingzhu’s bedside, and shouted loudly, “Yuwen Chu is dead!”
He wanted to see how long Fu Mingzhu would continue to pretend to be deaf. It had been so long, and he hadn’t investigated the matter. Presumably, she had already relaxed her guard. Today’s sudden attack would reveal whether she would show any clues.
Mingzhu, who was sleeping soundly, was startled by the sudden shout, almost scared out of her wits. The child in her belly was also startled and kept moving. She couldn’t help but sit up from the bed, and then she saw Yuwen Cong standing at the bedside.
She immediately understood what was going on, gently soothing her child in her belly with her hand, looked at Yuwen Cong with disgust, laid back down, and continued to sleep. Anyway, these days, in order to prevent unexpected incidents, she slept with her clothes on, and it was not inconvenient at all.
Seeing her reaction, Yuwen Cong was triumphant, “Regent Wangfei, are you going to continue pretending? You’ve been exposed!”
Mingzhu sneered coldly, “Although I don’t know what you’re babbling about, you scared my child in the belly. I may be deaf, but my child in the belly isn’t.”
“Well, that makes sense.” Yuwen Cong smiled amiably, it was just a minor issue. Pretending to be deaf was just to reduce his vigilance, and if he didn’t fall for it, then so be it. So he signaled the two maids to bring paper and pen, preparing to have a long conversation with Mingzhu. Just as he wrote a few words, Mengtai came to inform him, “Fifth Master, Chief Secretary Xie Boheng from the Huan Wang’s Mansion is leading a group of people this way.”
“Xie Boheng? What is he coming for?” Yuwen Cong was surprised. In order to prevent the leakage of information, he dared not come here frequently, only occasionally. Moreover, he didn’t stay for long each time. How could someone from the Huan Wang’s Mansion find out? And it was the Changshi who came. What did this mean?
Mengtai frowned, “He brought over a hundred people, and they all have weapons. It doesn’t look good.”
Yuwen Cong immediately put down the paper and pen, and whispered to the two maids, “Quickly take her out through the back door.” After that, he got up quickly and went out.
The people from the Huan Wang’s Mansion came to the door, and it was unclear whether it was a blessing or a curse. Mingzhu sat up, listening to the movement with her ear tilted. The two maids, expressionless, helped her up and walked her out.
Mingzhu was furious: “What are you trying to do?” But she didn’t dare to struggle, fearing that she might harm herself and the child in her belly.
The servant pulled her towards the backyard, and several strong men with knives and swords surrounded her protectively. Mingzhu guessed that something had changed, and she was about to be moved. She loudly demanded, “Where is Jiang Zhouzi? Call him over!”
Suddenly, Jiang Zhouzi’s voice came from not far away, “Don’t worry, I’m here.” It turned out that he was also being brought over here.
Mingzhu saw him and felt somewhat relieved, desperately signaling to him with her eyes.
Jiang Zhouzi understood her meaning, gave her a reassuring look, and shouted, “Don’t worry, be careful not to disturb the child in the womb.” Then he scolded those people, “Slow down, slow down, otherwise, it will be even more troublesome if she encounters any accidents.”
Mengtai sneered, “I advise the two of you to cooperate a bit, otherwise, with ropes tied around your bodies and cloth stuffed in your mouths, it’s inevitable that there will be discord. In any case, we don’t want the two of you dead, wherever you go.”
A wise person knows when to yield, Mingzhu and Jiang Zhouzi exchanged a glance and kept silent. The group of people carried the two of them all the way to the back door. Someone had already prepared a carriage outside. Just as Mingzhu was being pushed to get into the carriage, they suddenly heard someone nearby exclaiming in surprise.
Everyone turned around and saw a tall young woman in a blue cloth dress and a pale skirt, carrying a basket of fresh vegetables, standing against the wall. She stared at them wide-eyed with a frightened expression, “What are you doing?”
Mingzhu saw clearly, wasn’t this Du Heng? She was overjoyed and was about to signal Du Heng to leave quickly, but she was already covered and pushed onto the carriage.
Mengtai glared at Du Heng viciously, “Don’t meddle in other people’s business! What are you doing here?”
Du Heng replied fearfully and tremblingly, “This humble woman is delivering vegetables to this mansion. I didn’t see anything, I don’t know anything, spare me please.” After speaking, she threw the basket behind her towards the crowd, turned around, and ran away.
Someone immediately chased after her with a blade. Unable to escape, she fled in this direction like a headless chicken, without a clear direction. Mengtai chuckled, “It’s not good to kill her. Let’s tie her up and take her away together.”
The crowd rushed forward, forcefully pushed Du Heng to the ground, bound her hands and feet, stuffed her mouth, lifted her onto the carriage, closed the back door, and quickly ran forward along the alley. Just as they left the alley, a fully armed group of soldiers rushed into the alley.
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