Chapter 174 Overdoing It

He felt abrupt after he finished speaking, and fearing that Meng Lingge would be angry, but he couldn't take back what he said, so he simply straightened his neck, lowered his head and continued.

“I’ve had people inquire, and it seems Prince Wen has already taken another woman as his concubine and may already be married. My cousin can’t bear to part with this child, but I can treat him as my own. I’ll take care of any problems or troubles he may encounter in the future. I don’t mean anything by it; I’m just worried about you…”

“Big Cousin,” Meng Lingge said softly, “I know my own situation. Don’t worry, my child and I will both be legitimate. Big Cousin will marry your wife in the future, so let’s not bring this up again. It’s not appropriate.”

Wen Zhiming's other women were just an act for the Emperor's benefit; he hadn't wronged her. How could she possibly marry someone else?

She's only a month or two pregnant, so as long as she's careful, no one will know.

If things weren't settled with Wen Zhiming by the time the child was four or five months old, she would leave the Du residence and find a place where no one knew her to give birth to the child.

Once it is safe, bring the child to Wen Zhiming.

She had enough money on her to survive for several years. She was confident that she could wait for Wen Zhiming. Even if things changed on Wen Zhiming's side, she believed that she could raise the child on her own.

It's never come to the point where I need to find a man to fake a marriage.

This is not suitable for her, the child, Wen Zhiming, or her older cousin.

Although Du Yuanhua knew that Meng Lingge would not agree, he still felt a momentary pang of heartache when she resolutely rejected him, but it was only for a moment. He quickly composed himself and smiled.

"Cousin, don't mind me. I'm a businessman now, and I can't shake this habit of joking around. If Grandmother finds out, she'll definitely not let me off the hook."

Seeing the bitterness in his smile, Meng Lingge knew he was not feeling well, but she didn't know how to comfort him. So she got up to take her leave, saying, "Since it was just a joke, how could Grandmother blame me? It's getting late, so I'll leave this matter to my cousin. I'll go back now."

"Okay, cousin, don't worry, I'll take care of it." Du Yuanhua politely saw the person to the door, not daring to look at their back, and then turned back to tidy up a game of chess.

While setting up the chess pieces, he felt annoyed, thinking he shouldn't have said that. His cousin had finally asked him for help, and now she was probably scared by him again.

He had clearly given up hope, but upon hearing that Meng Lingge was pregnant, his desire to marry his cousin was immediately rekindled.

My cousin wouldn't marry him even when she was single, so how could she possibly agree to marry him because of the child in her womb?

As he carefully put the chessboard away and placed it in the box, he had already put aside his chaotic thoughts, leaving only his dissatisfaction with Zheng Qingshan.

His cousin was pregnant, and he was thinking about how to protect her. But Zheng Qingshan, that bastard, actually dared to give his cousin an abortion pill.

How dare someone as vicious and ruthless as him like his cousin?

When Meng Lingge returned to her room, Dong Qing was no longer there.

She took the bag containing all her belongings with her, but the things Meng Lingge had recently given her and the one hundred taels of silver note were neatly placed on the table.

Meng Lingge said, "This silly girl didn't bring anything of value with her. How will she survive outside? Where will she sleep at night?"

She didn't want to take care of this girl who was blinded by love anymore, but she also didn't want her to starve to death outside or have some kind of accident.

Qiu Lan sighed, "She's probably ashamed to take Miss's things."

Meng Lingge packed the things and handed them to Qiu Lan.

"Give these to Chen Luo and have him take them to Dong Qing."

Qiu Lan agreed and left, but returned shortly afterward with the items.

“Miss, Chen Luo didn’t send Dong Qing out at all. Dong Qing ran to Zheng Qingshan’s place to inform him, and she’s still there now, saying she’ll be a witness for Zheng Qingshan when Young Master Du arrives. Chen Luo originally wanted to tie her up and take her away, but she said you don’t want her anymore, and now she’s free to go wherever she wants.”

"Fine, fine, fine." Meng Lingge nodded several times in exasperation. "She's right."

If Zheng Qingshan has something to hide, he would have run away beforehand, which would have saved us a lot of trouble.

If Zheng Qingshan denies it to the death, Du Yuanhua will be there to help, and other witnesses and evidence will be easy to obtain. Dong Qing's testimony will not be of much use.

With such irrefutable evidence, Dongqing still defends Zheng Qingshan. It seems this silly girl has reached the point where she won't even run home in the rain.

"Then there's no need to send her anything. Now that she's found someone new to rely on, she probably doesn't need to worry about not having a place to stay."

That being said, once Du Yuanhua has investigated the matter, he will most likely kick Zheng Qingshan out. Being with this person is far more dangerous than Dong Qing being alone.

Unfortunately, Dongqing was stubborn and wouldn't give up until she hit a wall. She wanted to save her, but the person she was trying to save was willing to sink into depravity. In order not to be dragged down with her, she had no choice but to abandon Dongqing.

Qiu Lan was very worried about Dong Qing, but when she thought about what Dong Qing had done, she was too ashamed to plead for her anymore. She agreed and then sadly withdrew.

Guan Yi'an was greatly surprised to see Dong Qing running to find him.

He anticipated only two possible outcomes: success or failure.

If successful, Meng Lingge will miscarry and Dong Qing will be arrested. Even if Dong Qing implicates him, since the physical evidence was provided by Dong Qing and the witnesses were bribed beforehand, Meng Lingge will at most only be suspicious and will not be able to do anything to him.

If the soup fails, Meng Lingge didn't drink it, so there were no serious consequences, and it wouldn't affect him in any way.

Who would have thought that he had gone too far and bewitched Dongqing, causing her to drink the stew before Meng Lingge could, which not only led to the failure of the operation but also brought him a lot of trouble.

Now, when he heard Dongqing crying and saying that she believed he was not a bad person and that someone must have poisoned him to frame him, and that she had been driven away by her young mistress and would be his servant from now on, he was at a loss whether to cry or laugh.

Once Dongqing was driven away by Meng Lingge, she lost her usefulness to him. What use would he have for such a devoted and simple-minded girl?

However, Meng Lingge always valued her maid, Dongqing, who had been with her for over ten years. No matter what, there was still some old affection between the mistress and her servant.

Moreover, he is currently dedicated to leaving a righteous and kind image in Meng Lingge's heart, so it would be too cold-blooded to ignore Dong Qing.

In an instant, Guan Yi'an understood the implications. His astonished expression hadn't faded, but a hint of sympathy crept in.

"How could this happen? I only wanted you to gain Miss Meng's forgiveness. I've never even heard of those achyranthes bidentata and blister beetle powder, and I have no idea how they ended up in the soup. So, you've already told Miss Meng that I gave you the soup?"