Chapter 156 It's Done

At this moment, Jiang Fei, who had just gotten on the carriage and was sitting opposite Wei Mingzhen, suddenly sneezed.

Jiang Fei covered her nose and said, "Thank you, Wei... Sanlang, for coming to save me."

Wei Mingzhen's face was full of suspicion, and he asked directly, "What are you going back for?"

Jiang Fei didn't dare to say that she went back and sat on Pei Jing's lap and chatted for a long time. She had racked her brains to find an excuse on the way out just now.

"I think he's having a seizure. As the saying goes, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. I can't just stand by and watch him die."

Wei Mingzhen looked her up and down and asked, "How can you help?"

"Ciying and I ran into him on the street when he was having an attack. We had seen a method to sober him up, so we thought we'd give it a try."

Seeing that the suspicion in Wei Mingzhen's eyes had dissipated a little, Jiang Fei continued, "In fact, King Zhaoning didn't do anything to me. He just locked me up in the dungeon and scolded me severely. He didn't torture me, and then released me. I only then learned that Sanlang came to rescue me, so I hurried over."

Wei Mingzhen recalled that Pei Jing had been in the inner room, but Jiang Rufei had come from outside and knelt down with such sincerity, and he felt deeply moved.

The system suddenly spoke: "Host, Wei Mingzhen's favorability has increased by another two points."

Jiang Fei let out a long sigh and said directly, "You invited me to Dingyuan Marquis Mansion today. What's the important matter?"

We were originally planning to go to Dingyuan Marquis’ Mansion to discuss the matter, but now that we’ve already met, there’s no need to make another trip. We might as well just talk things out on the way.

Wei Mingzhen said, "It's nothing serious. Ciying just came back and you two haven't seen each other for a while. She said she wanted to invite you over for a chat."

Jiang Fei immediately sensed the trap in Wei Mingzhen's words.

She had to show that she wanted to cover up for Wei Ciying, but also expose it without making a sound, which really tested her acting skills.

"Ah? Um, Ciying and I were together a few days ago." Jiang Fei glanced at Wei Mingzhen quickly and then lowered her eyes.

Wei Mingzhen held his knees and asked, "Jinglian Temple is boring, right?"

"Yeah, it's okay." Jiang Fei pinched her skirt.

Wei Mingzhen looked at her hand and said, "I remembered it wrongly. You went to Ciyin Temple."

"Oh, yes," Jiang Fei smiled stiffly, "I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned it."

"Rufei." Wei Mingzhen's face was devoid of smiles. "Ciyin Temple burned down last month and is still under repair."

Jiang Fei's smile froze on her face in an instant.

“I, I…”

Wei Mingzhen suddenly leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, "What on earth are you covering up for Ciying?"

Jiang Fei was pinched so hard by him that it hurt. She cursed Wei Mingzhen in her heart while letting tears well up in her eyes, "You hurt me."

Wei Mingzhen glanced at her wrist and softened his grip. "Father now suspects she's betraying him and tipping off Pei Jing. Only you can prove her innocence."

Innocence? Jiang Fei thought to herself, I am here to throw dirty water on her, not to clear her name.

"Tell me quickly, what did she tell you before she left Beijing and asked you to cover up for her?"

Jiang Fei's eyes dodged. "She said she was going to look for Jiang Linyuan. Jiang Linyuan hadn't contacted her for a while, and she was a little worried, so she asked me to cover it up for her. She said that I went to burn incense with her. I just had to stay home and not be discovered, and wait for her to come back."

Wei Mingzhen let go of her hand, sat back, and his eyes were filled with despair.

It goes so smoothly. This passage goes so smoothly.

He spoke the previous short sentence haltingly, but here he spoke surprisingly smoothly, exactly the same as Wei Ciying's words, and it seemed more like they had been discussed and memorized in advance.

Wei Ciying was either going to see Jiang Linyuan or to inform Pei Jing.

Wei Mingzhen closed his eyes and then opened them again, "Ciying has told you everything, and you are still covering up for her."

Jiang Fei opened her mouth, then lowered her eyes and fiddled with her skirt, "What did she say?"

"Did she mention Pei Jing to you?"

Jiang Fei raised her head suddenly, and her neck cracked. She didn't know if this expression seemed a bit too exaggerated.

"It's indeed for Pei Jing." Wei Mingzhen said in a low voice.

Jiang Fei's eyes lit up slightly, it's done.

…

Wei Ciying was under house arrest, and two guards sent by Dingyuan Marquis were guarding the gate of the courtyard.

Wei Mingzhen walked quickly into Wei Ciying's courtyard and pushed open the door without saying a word.

Wei Ciying was embroidering and looked up when she heard the voice, "Third brother."

"Go out." Wei Mingzhen stood still in the room.

Wei Ciying put down the embroidery frame and signaled the maids to leave.

After the door closed, she looked up at Wei Mingzhen: "What's wrong with Third Brother? You look so unhappy."

Wei Mingzhen clenched his fists and looked at her coldly, "The first of the Wei family mottos is 'loyalty and filial piety, sharing honor and disgrace!' Your father raised you with great difficulty, taught you poetry, literature and etiquette, provided you with food, clothing and daily necessities, and doted on you. And you actually helped an outsider?"

Wei Ciying's heart sank, and she asked anxiously, "Have you met Jiang Rufei? What did she tell you? That bitch! I should have known she wasn't that simple. Third brother, don't believe her."

A trace of pain flashed in Wei Mingzhen's eyes. "Ciying, I will help you cover it up this time and not let father know. It's considered..."

"What is that?" Wei Ciying looked at him and sneered, "Is it considered paying off a debt?"

Wei Mingzhen closed his eyes and said, "It's to repay a debt. I accidentally lost you when I was a child. I owe you this. After all these years, it's time to repay it."

"Pay it back?" Wei Ciying suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, tears welling up in her eyes. "You'll never be able to pay it back! If you hadn't lost me, how could I have been sold into a brothel at such a young age!"

These words seemed to tear off the fig leaf that the Marquis' Mansion had covered up for so many years.

Wei Mingzhen's figure swayed, and his face turned pale in an instant, "I..."

"If you hadn't lost me, I wouldn't have been kidnapped, I wouldn't have been sold into a brothel, and I wouldn't have..."

Tears fell from her eyes. All her pain started from being lost.

Fortunately, she was still young at that time. Because of her good looks, the madam of the building thought that she would be a cash cow when she grew up, so she was not abused.

But fate played a trick on her, and she left everything behind to follow Jiang Linyuan far away, thinking that this was the end. But the real ending was that she became a concubine in the eyes of others. Although Jiang Linyuan married her as his wife against all odds, in exchange, he took in two concubines as his mother wished.

On her wedding night, she didn't have her period. Someone discovered she was sold into a brothel as a child, and her absence became a sin. Plus, she had been taken away by Pei Jing, making it impossible to prove nothing had happened between them.

No matter how she explained, Jiang Linyuan said he didn't care, but he became increasingly distant from her.

The two concubines soon became pregnant, but her body showed no signs of pregnancy, allowing them to show off in front of her.

It wasn't until the third year of her marriage that she finally had a child. She thought it would be nice to have a child with her, but in the end, she couldn't keep the child...

The suffering she endured over the years was more than just this.