Chapter 16 Caught in the act

Zhong Min's tone was quite disdainful. Zheng Ruyu could hardly believe her ears. She didn't understand why Zhong Min was so arrogant. It seemed as if he looked down on the woman who became a prince.

"Why, why?" She glanced sideways at Zhong Min's body and said in disbelief, "I don't believe you don't want to become the prince's concubine."

"Then you'd better believe me, because I never lie to you about this. As for why..." Zhong Min paused, then smiled and said, "I've never bothered to compete with a bunch of other women for a man who has countless other women."

"I'm interested in knowing what makes you so arrogant!" A male voice suddenly interrupted, and then with a "bang", the door was pushed open. The moment the door opened, Xiao Mingzheng strode in with Luo Jiaxing.

Xiao Mingzheng's sudden entrance caused everyone in the room to react in different ways. Nanny and Xi'er, clearly unprepared for the prince's arrival, quickly stepped aside, ducking their heads, barely catching their breath. Zheng Ruyu froze for a moment, then nervously called out to Xiao Mingzheng for help.

"Your Highness, please save me quickly. This bitch wants to murder me!" Zheng Ruyu finally saw her savior. Although it would be a bit difficult to explain what happened to Xiao Mingzheng later, life is still important. Zhong Min is like a madman, not afraid of anything. She is really worried that if she fails, she will become the victim of this madman and suffer a great loss.

"Don't be so exaggerated, Madam! If I really wanted to, would you still be alive?" Zhong Min saw this and let go of Zheng Ruyu without a second thought. She wasn't afraid of being caught red-handed by Xiao Mingzheng at this moment. After all, she had already become a suspect in Xiao Mingzheng's eyes by this point, so any more or less offences didn't matter.

The moment Zhong Min let go of her hand, Zheng Ruyu rushed towards Xiao Mingzheng with the fastest but extremely graceful steps, probably wanting to throw herself into the prince's arms to seek comfort.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Mingzheng ignored her completely, and didn't even look at her, let alone open his arms and wait for the beauty to come into his arms and comfort her softly.

Seeing this, Zheng Ruyu had no choice but to stop in front of Xiao Mingzheng. Although she was unhappy, she didn't dare to complain to Xiao Mingzheng. After a few moments of hesitation, she immediately said with tears in her eyes, "Your Highness, this servant has ulterior motives. Quickly arrest her and interrogate her thoroughly. Be careful not to let her hurt you."

Zhong Min was amused. She hadn't expected Zheng Ruyu's acting to be so good. She could cry at any moment, tears flowing effortlessly as if ready at any moment. Her incredibly delicate, touching, and pitiful appearance was so appealing to her, not only the men, but even she, knowing Zheng Ruyu wasn't a good person and had bad intentions, found it quite appealing.

But Xiao Mingzheng didn't show any sympathy for her. He just frowned slightly, looked up at Zheng Ruyu, and ordered, "Leave here immediately and go back to where you belong."

Zheng Ruyu had never imagined that Xiao Mingzheng would treat her like this, not even giving her any face in front of everyone. She immediately felt extremely wronged. Especially in front of Zhong Min, she didn't want to be defeated like this, so she left in disgrace.

Although she knew the prince's temper, she still didn't give up. So she made up her mind and explained to Xiao Mingzheng coquettishly, "Prince, I was worried that there was something wrong with this slave, so I came here to ask about it. I didn't expect that she would hold me hostage. I almost..."

Xiao Mingzheng simply didn't have the patience to listen to Zheng Ruyu's words. To him, what he hated most was someone asking him to repeat his orders.

Shaking off Zheng Ruyu's hand, Xiao Mingzheng ordered the attendants beside him, "Come here, take Concubine Zheng back and confine her to her quarters for two months. She is not allowed to leave the house at all. Inform all the concubines in the back garden that this will serve as a warning. If you dare to cross the line again, you will not be forgiven."

"As you command!" As soon as the voice fell, two people came up from behind Xiao Mingzheng and took Zheng Ruyu, who was already pale with fear and dared not say a word, away. Seeing this, the nanny and Xi'er naturally retreated without any instructions.

Seeing the sudden change before her eyes, Zhong Min was clearly a bit taken aback. She hadn't expected Xiao Mingzheng to be so charismatic. Without asking any questions or even listening to the end of her words, he directly punished Zheng Ruyu and sent the woman away who had originally held onto a glimmer of hope. He didn't even say a word, truly domineering.

However, because of Xiao Mingzheng's ruthlessness towards the beauty, she was afraid that this bad debt would be attributed to her again. The hatred between her and Zheng Ruyu was getting deeper and deeper. She had tried to pretend not to see it just now, but there was nothing she could do. The most lethal hatred Zheng Ruyu gave her when she turned back before leaving was too obvious.

"Now it's your turn." Xiao Mingzheng said as he sat down on a chair nearby. He looked at Zhong Min and said, "I'll give you three sentences to explain everything that just happened."

Three sentences? Zhong Min couldn't help but frown, looking up at Xiao Mingzheng's expression, which didn't seem to be a joke, and secretly calculated in her heart. This man couldn't be so petty, could he? Did he feel embarrassed because he heard her say that she disdained to compete with so many women for a man when she just came in?

In fact, she knew in her heart that Xiao Mingzheng punished Zheng Ruyu without saying a word just now, not because Zheng Ruyu was causing trouble, but simply because he would not tolerate others disobeying his orders. So punishing Zheng Ruyu was certain, but it did not mean that she would be safe.

To Xiao Mingzheng, it didn't matter who was right or wrong; what mattered was that he just wanted to know if Zhong Min was truly dangerous. Zhong Min knew this, so unless Xiao Mingzheng completely dispelled his suspicions, she would never be able to resolve the crisis. But how could someone so suspicious dispel the suspicions of someone so full of doubts?

Thinking of this, Zhong Min didn't dwell on it and said directly, "I'm sure Your Highness has heard most of what happened outside. It's nothing more than the Queen trying to punish me for no reason, and I was forced to resist legitimately. There's nothing else to explain. It's up to Your Highness to decide whether to believe it or not."

In this kind of situation, if you believe it, you don't need to say a word. If you don't believe it, don't say more. Saying more will not help. Moreover, belief or not is not important to Xiao Mingzheng. After all, the power of life and death is in his hands, so reasoning is useless.

"If that's the case, let's not talk about this matter for now. I want to ask you, what right do you have to be so arrogant?" Xiao Mingzheng didn't say much about Li You's answer, but just asked the question that he had asked when he came in just now and had not yet been answered.