Chapter 40

Qi Zhizhi stopped and turned to look at her. Although he couldn't see her face through the mask, he could guess what kind of expression she had underneath.

For some reason, just thinking about her wonderful expressions made him feel inexplicably better.

He snapped the folding fan open again, gently waving it as he said slowly, "I know what you want to say, Miss. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this."

He deliberately lowered his voice and laughed rather frivolously: "This is a secret between the two of us."

Although Mu Yulu was somewhat annoyed with him, his promise still relieved her somewhat.

Seeing that Mu Yulu had relaxed a lot, Qi Zhizhi didn't say anything more, waved his folding fan and walked out the door, quickly disappearing around the street corner.

After he walked away, Mu Yulu took off her mask and gently rubbed her swollen, red cheek.

She thought to herself in a jumbled mess: thankfully, today was the last divination session; thankfully, she hadn't been exposed before; and thankfully, Qi Zhizhi wasn't a troublemaker, and as Feng Wentang's good friend, he should keep his promise and not reveal her identity.

She raised her hand to her chest and took a breath.

As long as she can get through these two days safely, she will immediately sell all the shops after that, and then she can start preparing to leave the capital.

Just then, Xinyun rushed into the shop, panting and leaning against the door frame. When she looked up, her eyes were full of panic: "Miss, it's terrible! The master has found the house deed we hid in the courtyard."

Mu Yulu's heart, which had just been put at ease, started racing again.

She suddenly stood up. "How did he find us when we were so well hidden?"

Xin Yun had run too fast and was now somewhat exhausted. She staggered into the house and told Mu Yulu to quickly change her clothes and return to the manor: "Miss was right. I just returned to the courtyard and found that the Second Miss and her men were ransacking the room. Mo He tried to stop them but was beaten up by the servants the Second Miss brought. Then they dug up the house deeds from under the tree. Now the Master is furious in the manor and wants you to return immediately."

Mu Yulu listened blankly, letting Xinyun change her clothes while she trembled.

She hid the house deeds under a tree in the yard to prevent anyone from breaking into her house and finding them. Because there were so many deeds, she couldn't carry them with her all the time, so she came up with this idea.

Even if an ordinary person were to search a house, they wouldn't be able to climb up to the base of a tree. How did Mu Wanyi know that she had hidden the house deed under the tree?

While she was thinking, Xinyun had already changed her clothes. Seeing that Mu Yulu was still standing there in a daze, she urged anxiously, "We don't care how they found the house deeds now. As long as you find those deeds, Second Miss, take them to Master immediately. Master really lost his temper today. If you delay any longer, Miss, I'm afraid you'll be in big trouble."

Everyone in the Mu family knows what Mu Yugang looks like when he gets angry, so Xinyun's statement that he would lose a layer of skin is not an exaggeration.

When Mu Yulu was first brought to the Mu family, she didn't know much about etiquette. She thought that living in the mansion in the capital could be as carefree as living in her maternal grandparents' house in the countryside. One day, she chased after the guard dog and crawled out through the dog hole. Mu Xingzi happened to see this and immediately complained to Mu Yugang.

Scrambling out through a dog hole in broad daylight, and being seen by many people on the street, showed no trace of the demeanor of a well-bred lady. It seems that Mu Yugang and his wife had already begun to dislike Mu Yulu for acting like a wild child back then.

That day, Mu Yugang lost his temper and hung Mu Yulu from a tree to beat her. Even Xinyun was implicated and hung up as well. The two of them hung from the tree and were exposed to the cold wind all night before they were finally taken down.

This is how Mu Yugang raised his daughter. He always believed in the saying that "spare the rod and spoil the child," and he naturally treated the unruly Mu Yulu in the same way.

At first, Mu Yulu was very afraid and carefully watched her every word and action, afraid that she would be beaten if she didn't do something right. But later she found that the pattern of being beaten was uncontrollable. Many things that seemed very small to her could be magnified infinitely by Mu Yugang, and in the end she could not escape a beating.

Perhaps she felt indifferent, or perhaps she had become toughened up by Mu Yugang's beatings, but later she simply began to challenge Mu Yugang's authority, threatening to hang herself or jump into the lake to commit suicide at the drop of a hat, and Mu Yugang was unable to do anything about it for a while.

But today's situation is different; it can't be solved by jumping into the lake or hanging oneself.

She couldn't help but wonder what she could do if Mu Yugang took away her house deed.

Is it really necessary to file a lawsuit and take it to the authorities?

How could that be?

If that were to happen, she would probably be beaten to death before she even stepped out of the Mu residence.

Thinking about this, she suddenly felt it was utterly absurd.

It turns out that all you need to do to commit murder without breaking the law is become a parent.

Xinyun was so anxious she was about to cry: "Miss, let's go quickly."

Mu Yulu looked up, took a deep breath, clenched her hands tightly into her sleeves, and walked towards the Mu residence.

As soon as she stepped into the Mu residence, she felt an extremely tense atmosphere. Even the servant who came to open the door for her had his head down and dared not look up, looking frightened and panicked.

It seems that during the time she was away from the manor, Mu Yugang's anger had once again affected innocent bystanders.

If he can't see her, he takes his anger out on the servants around him; this is Mu Yugang's consistent style.

Mu Yulu was initially tense, not wanting to show any stage fright, but when she passed through the courtyard before entering the main hall and saw Mohe hanging upside down from a tree, she couldn't help herself.

She rushed into the hall, her eyes wide, and glared angrily at Mu Yugang, who was sitting in the center.

The maids and servants kneeling in front of Mu Yugang were all hunched over like quails, their necks hunched and shoulders shrugged. They had been scolded for who knows how long. When they saw Mu Yulu return, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Alright, the main culprits of today's farce have arrived, and they are finally free.

As expected, Mu Yugang's anger shifted to Mu Yulu the moment he saw her. He withdrew his hand and slammed the cup heavily on the table. "Kneel down!"

Mu Yulu initially resisted, but when she thought of Mo He, who was still hanging upside down in the courtyard, she knelt down with a thud.

“No matter what mistake Father thinks his daughter has made, it was my own idea and has nothing to do with my maid.” Although she knelt down, she held her head high. “Please, Father, put Mohe down first.”

Mu Yugang's face turned red with anger, but his voice boomed like a bell: "Today, not only will Mohe be eliminated, but even Xinyun, who is by your side, will be hung up and beaten along with you!"

Xin Yun knelt on the ground, shrinking back, and moved closer to Mu Yulu.

Mu Yulu shielded Xinyun behind her, saying, "I told you, they know nothing about what I did. Father, just ask me anything."

Mu Yugang nodded: "Do you still think you're particularly righteous and awe-inspiring?"

He threw the property deed on the table at Mu Yulu's face, "Where did you get these things? Who bought them for you?"

The property deeds were thrown at Mu Yulu's face, but she didn't even blink. "I bought them myself."

Mu Yugang sneered: "Where did you get the money to buy so many properties? Tell me, who gave you the money?"

Mu Yulu vehemently denied it: "No one gave me money, I saved it myself."

Mu Wanyi, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, spoke up at this moment: "The amount of money you can receive each month is so small. Even if you started saving ten years ago, you couldn't save up this much money. Who are you trying to fool?"

Mu Yulu originally wanted to say that she also knew that she could only receive a small amount of silver each month and could only live a miserable life by guarding that little bit of money, unlike her, who could receive a living allowance and a sum of private money from Mu Zhaoshi every month.

In fact, even if some things are not said aloud, everyone knows them. For example, the properties, deeds, and jewelry under Mu Zhao's name, as well as some shops that Mu Yugang gave her when he made his fortune in the early years, how much of these things can she leave to Mu Yulu? In the end, won't most of them be given to Mu Wanyi as dowry?

In any case, Mu Yulu never expected any of these things.

She didn't steal or rob; she just wanted to earn some money through her own abilities. What heinous thing did she do?

Moreover, the reason she was able to make this money by taking advantage of information asymmetry is because she had died tragically once, so this can be considered her hard-earned money.

What do they want from her to let her go?

So many thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, but in the end she kept her mouth shut and didn't say a word.

The root cause of today's trouble is that she didn't hold back during the conflict with Mu Zhaoshi this morning. Although she can still vent her anger now, Mohe is still hanging from the tree outside, and Xinyun is kneeling behind her. If she argues back now, Mu Yugang will punish Mohe and Xinyun first when he gets angry.

They were implicated because of her, so how could she just ignore it?

Unexpectedly, Mu Yugang became even angrier when Mu Yulu remained silent. He stood up, looked around, then snatched a feather duster from a maid and walked up to Mu Yulu. "I'll ask you one last time, who gave you the money to set up these shops?"

Feng Wentang stepped forward at this moment, but was glared at by Mu Yulu.

She firmly replied, "Even if you ask me a thousand times, I will still give the same answer: no one gave me money; I saved it all myself."

Before she could finish speaking, the feather duster landed on her back.

Mu Yugang seemed truly enraged, and he showed no mercy when he attacked, the feather duster almost leaving afterimages in the air.

Xinyun mustered her courage and rushed forward to stop him, "Master, please stop hitting me. The money for the house deed was saved up by Miss and me. We sold all our jewelry to save up that money."

Mu Yugang continued to whip her relentlessly, striking Xinyun's face several times with the stick, instantly covering her face in blood.