Chapter 720: Let Me Keep Watch for the Wangfei
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Mingzhu thought Yuwen You would erupt after hearing her words, but he just remained silent for a moment, then suddenly slapped the carriage wall and got up, warning without looking back, “Don’t act recklessly, or I’ll kill Jiang Zhouzi first, then the foolish woman beside you.”
The carriage started moving again, and Mingzhu and Jiang Zhouzi both breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Zhouzi quickly climbed up and sat next to Mingzhu, cursing in a low voice, “He’s truly a lunatic. I suspect there’s something wrong with his brain.”
Mingzhu expressed her doubts, and Jiang Zhouzi explained, “Once, I met a lunatic like him. He wasn’t crazy all the time, but would suddenly go mad. I thought there must be something wrong in his head. Later, when he died, I negotiated with his family to let me see, and guess what I found in his brain?”
Jiang Zhouzi’s eyes gleamed with excitement, gesturing animatedly for Mingzhu to see, “It was a long, thick worm, my goodness, it disgusted me so much I couldn’t eat noodles for days.”
Mingzhu almost vomited. From now on, she didn’t want to eat noodles anymore. She didn’t want to talk to Jiang Zhouzi either. She turned away intending to take this opportunity to communicate with Du Heng, but saw Du Heng gently shaking her head, signaling her not to speak. So she endured it again and muttered, “Don’t talk to me about this, I’m not in the mood.”
Jiang Zhouzi peeked out through the curtain, whispering, “Let me tell you, don’t confront him, don’t provoke his anger. You promised Yang Dianjun that you must live well. There’s also Zhuang Zhuang, and your parents, aren’t they still waiting for you? Negotiate with him. This person is ambitious but poor. Offer him generous rewards, and he’ll surely be tempted.”
Mingzhu remained silent. If Yuwen You could be bought off with money alone, he wouldn’t be so terrifying. It was better not to think too much and just wait quietly. She glanced at Du Heng, feeling gradually at ease.
The carriage meandered for a long time, finally entering a courtyard.
A small courtyard with blue stone paving, a large tree in the middle, a well, and high walls all around. The furnishings inside were simple, with some furniture missing, indicating they were hastily prepared.
Perhaps not wanting to see Mingzhu again, Yuwen You didn’t appear. Instead, several young and agile men bustled about. Ignoring Mingzhu and Jiang Zhouzi’s protests, they separated the two and sent Mingzhu to a room upstairs, while Jiang Zhouzi was taken somewhere else. Fortunately, Yuwen You probably worried that having someone else attend to her would lead to leaks, so he left Du Heng with her.
Once inside the room, Du Heng pretended to clean while wandering around, inspecting. When dinner was brought in, she signaled for Mingzhu not to eat immediately. She took out a small mouse from her sleeve, fed it a bit of each dish, waited until the mouse ate everything without any ill effects, then let Mingzhu eat. After Mingzhu finished, Du Heng ate the rest of her food.
After eating, the two stared at each other, not daring to speak, fearing that the walls had ears. Mingzhu was anxious, scratching her head. She couldn’t just sit there doing nothing, could she?
She dipped her fingers in water and wrote to Du Heng. Du Heng smiled and silently replied. Mingzhu guessed she was saying, “I remember the Wangfei once tried to lip-read to understand what someone was saying. Is that true?”
This thing should have been told to Du Heng by Yuwen Chu, they were really close. Although they weren’t together, they even told each other about such small matters. Mingzhu couldn’t help feeling a bit sour, then she gathered her spirits and nodded.
Du Heng silently added, “I can do it too. Let’s use this method for important matters in the future.”
Mingzhu couldn’t help but feel bitter. She practiced so hard because of her changes and didn’t want to be considered a burden. She didn’t want her child to be clueless about everything. Even with her photographic memory, she still faced difficulties and often made mistakes in understanding the other person’s meaning, but how could Du Heng, who had never experienced deafness, have such a skill? Was there any justice in the world?
Du Heng didn’t know what Mingzhu was thinking. She briefly explained the important matters to her, “His Highness sent me. We don’t have many people, and our actions are restricted. We can’t swagger like Yuwen Cong and Yuwen You’s men on the streets. But we can use them to accomplish many things, just like what happened today. You are safe now, just focus on nurturing your child, and leave everything else to me. I will definitely send you back safely to His Highness.”
Mingzhu could only guess the general meaning, and although she was happy, she really wanted to know what was happening in the capital, how her family was doing, how much Zhuang Zhuang could talk, if he had started crawling, and if there were vixens tempting Yuwen Chu. Talking like this wasn’t satisfying at all. She affectionately reached out to hold Du Heng’s hand, whispering, “Let’s sleep together tonight. I have so many questions to ask you.”
Du Heng coughed uncomfortably and withdrew her hand, whispering, “Please forgive me, Wangfei. I don’t like being too close to women.”
Mingzhu felt extremely embarrassed, then indignant. If she disliked being close to women to this extent, did that mean she liked being close to her husband? Thinking about it, she felt a bit unreasonable, forced a smile, and found herself an excuse, “Well, if you like women, that would be strange.”
Du Heng smiled but didn’t respond.
In the evening, someone brought hot water and clean clothes. Mingzhu naturally wanted to bathe, and Du Heng stood up, “Let me stand guard for Wangfei. It wouldn’t be good if someone with no eyes barged in.”
Mingzhu felt something was amiss. Did disliking women come to this extent? Even if she really disliked her, did she have to make it so obvious? It was too much! Otherwise, was it because she didn’t want to serve as a servant?
She found a reason she could accept and graciously dismissed Du Heng, saying, “Alright.”
Du Heng left with a sense of relief, and Mingzhu quickly finished preparing. She called her back in, saying, “There’s clean hot water, you should wash up too.”
Du Heng hesitated, tugging at her clothes, “Could I please ask Wangfei to watch over me in the outer room? After all, I’m a grown woman.”
Alright, her dislike for women extended to everything, from not being able to touch hands, to not being able to sleep and talk, to not allowing others to see her body. Mingzhu didn’t hesitate and walked out. As she thought about it, she felt something was wrong. Du Heng’s collar was a bit high, and the weather in early summer was already hot. Wasn’t she feeling hot? This was a bit strange.
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