Chapter 87 "Get out".
Leng Cuizhu felt dizzy as soon as she saw that thing.
"Ah, this, this, this... This isn't mine! I'm innocent!"
Did I say it was yours?
"You've come out completely."
Her head was lowered, her wrists were tightly bound with hemp rope, and with each struggle, the red marks from the rope deepened.
She truly didn't understand what was wrong with Yin Yuan again, how he ended up here, and why he had kidnapped her.
...Could it be that he's been stalking her all along?
Then, when did you come up with the idea of kidnapping her?
Why did he tie her up? Why did he interrogate her? She racked her brains for a long time but couldn't recall doing anything to offend him in the past few days.
"Why are you acting so crazy for no reason!" she yelled at him, tilting her head back. "What do you mean by 'reveal'? What did I reveal? So what if this thing is mine? Are you going to judge me for this?"
"Aren't you the most familiar with this kind of thing? Stop pretending to be a gentleman!"
Yin Yuan was stunned. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly turned around, coughing incessantly, and waved his sleeve at the guards beside him.
"go out."
As Leng Cuizhu watched the guards leave, she sensed something was wrong and became even more anxious.
"Yin Yuan, let me go! Untie me and I'll explain things to you properly."
“I don’t need to listen,” the man retorted. “What you say has no credibility whatsoever; it’s all just empty talk. You’ve used that tactic of coaxing and pestering countless times; don’t try it again.”
"I will investigate personally; I don't need your explanation."
She suddenly realized.
Could it be that Yin Yuan's anger wasn't about emotions, but rather about her colluding with Chen Xun to secretly run a salt field? Oh, I see. I knew it. How could an official of some standing possibly be thinking about matters between men and women every day?
This time, she couldn't afford to be careless, as it was a capital offense.
"My lord, I was wrong." She lowered her eyes and shed tears, murmuring, "It's fine if you don't want to believe me. I have nothing to trust. Just like you said before, I'm a rotten person. I'm lowly and reckless. I... but I really love you."
"You love me," the man said calmly, "but that doesn't stop you from flirting with other men."
"Otherwise what?"
Yin Yuan turned his head in surprise.
Her face was calm and composed, without any extra expression.
"Do I still have to guard your memorial archway?"
“I don’t care what you think of me, it doesn’t matter if you hate me to the extreme, because I love you anyway,” she said. “So, I won’t do anything to hurt you unless you can’t figure something out yourself and you’re upset because of it, then you can’t blame me.”
The man frowned: "You lied to me again."
“I’m not lying to you,” she shook her head, “I’m lying to myself.”
"Knowing it was impossible, yet still doing it... I truly know I was wrong." She sighed deeply. "My lord, I was forced to come here without your knowledge."
Upon hearing this, the man raised an eyebrow: "Who's behind this, directing you?"
Without hesitation, she replied, "It is Young Master Si Qing."
"My lord, as you know, he used a curse on me to blackmail me and drag me into this conspiracy."
She pursed her lips, tears welling up in her eyes: "I was forced to leave the city to find him without telling you. I know I was wrong too, so I never dared to tell you..."
Just as she expected, the man knelt down to wipe the tear stains on her cheeks, and after a moment of stunned silence, he frowned with heartache.
"you……"
"I didn't want to cause you any trouble, so I kept it to myself." She blinked. "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong."
"As for that stick, I really don't know where it came from. Those people are all sick, always trying to torture people, I've gotten used to it."
Yin Yuan stared at her, lost in thought and remained silent.
“I did something wrong, and I’m willing to accept the punishment,” she sobbed. “I’m also willing to cooperate with the investigation…”
The rope around her wrist was suddenly cut.
"Stand up."
My legs are numb...
The man reached out and picked her up from the ground. She leaned against him, clutching his sleeve and sobbing quietly.
"It's all my fault..." she sobbed, her tears soaking her clothes. "I went astray and made you suspicious and angry."
"I was so stupid, I was being used by them without even realizing it."
"So all your intimacy with him was just a facade?"
She tilted her head back, tears streaming down her face, her misty eyes shimmering. She pouted and murmured softly, "Mmm..."
"They ganged up on me and threatened me. I don't understand why they would coerce or entice a woman like me... They just told me that if I didn't compromise, they would do everything they could to target me and ruin my career." She wiped away her tears, but new tears welled up in her eyes as soon as she wiped them away. "Especially Lord Si, he has power and influence, and he can easily control other people's lives. For you, for Zhenzhen, and for me, I dare not disobey."
Si Qing is dead, so no matter how much she fabricates stories, Yin Yuan has no way to prove it. Besides, if Si Qing has a spirit in the afterlife, wouldn't he be happy to know that he can still be used by her after death? It doesn't matter if he's not happy or not, since he's already a corpse that can't speak.
Yin Yuan: "...For Leng Zhen?"
She didn't understand what Yin Yuan meant by asking this alone, and vaguely replied, "Yes, for our family."
He stared at her without saying a word.
A moment later, as if receiving a command, the guards naturally came in from outside and pulled her aside.
She was terrified and tried to break free.
Yin Yuan called out to her, "Ling Niang, you're tired. Go out and rest for a while."
What's the meaning?
Did she touch a nerve with him again?
Leng Cuizhu could never understand why Yin Yuan was so sensitive. He would give her a hard time if she wasn't careful, as if someone owed him something.
"But……"
The man gave her an ultimatum: "Get out."
"Oh, okay." She closed her eyes, secretly rolled her eyes, and was pulled by several guards towards the outside.
Once outside, she realized she was in the hut where Si Qing used to keep cats. All the cats in the yard were locked in cages, and the guards were taking them out one by one and loading them onto the car.
She was getting a little anxious and grabbed a free guard to ask, "Where are we taking these little guys?"
The guard bowed and said, "Your Highness, these cats are all privately owned without proper contracts or government permission. They will all be dewormed, cleaned, and then sent to temples in various places to be cared for by monks."
"Oh...I see." She thought to herself that when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; once Si Qing got into trouble, even the cats under her command suffered.
Turning my head, I saw several maids squatting to one side burning something: "What are they burning?"
"My lady, it's just some waste paper."
She looked at the burnt papers in the fire, where ink stains were still faintly visible. Remembering the stack of papers she had hidden, she reached into her sleeve.
“How…” she suddenly froze.
I didn't find it.
The stack of papers disappeared without a trace.
What about the will? What if the will is really hidden among those deeds?
There's nowhere else he could have hidden it...
She was still unwilling to give up, standing there frantically flipping through her sleeves and straightening her clothes, searching frantically for a long time, but she couldn't even find a single piece of paper.
"What should I do..." she bit her lip, at a loss.
At the same time, a chill spread from her spine to her whole body, making her feel cold and causing her to tremble and tense up uncontrollably.
She slowly turned her head and looked behind her.
The man stood by the window. When he saw her turn her head, he hesitated for a moment before looking away.
As usual, he didn't smile; his empty eyes were fixed blankly, as if deep in thought.
Even though he was standing by the window, even though the sun was shining brightly on his face, it still couldn't penetrate his eyes, and no color was reflected in them.
Yin Yuan glanced up at her and said, "Come in."
She ignored him: "I want to go back..."
He didn't say anything more, but turned away from the window and walked to another part of the room so that she couldn't see him through the window.
A moment later, the guard came out of the house and handed her a wooden box: "Madam, this fell off you. The master told you to keep it safe and not to throw it around."
"Huh?" She opened the wooden box, inside which was a stack of papers. She looked at the words written on them and realized they were the very same pile of contracts she had lost.
She weighed it carefully: "Why... has it gotten thicker?"
The guard explained, "It probably swelled up after being soaked in water."
“Yes,” she said, completely immersed in the joy of getting it back, “thank you for me, sir.”
She smiled brightly: "Thank you too."
The guard smiled and went back into the house.
"What did she say?"
"My wife says, thank you, sir."
Yin Yuan's expression softened slightly: "Is there anything else?"
The guard fidgeted and said shyly, "Hey, my lady, you're thanking me."
"..."
"go out."
He sat down indifferently, glancing at the scenery outside the window with a blank expression. Although he looked tired, he still forced himself to stare at it without even blinking.
Leng Cuizhu was chatting and laughing with the maids outside, and even bent down to help the maids burn things. Her face, which was not covered with makeup, was flushed red by the firelight.
Upon seeing this, Yin Yuan became even more gloomy.
He stared until his eyes were dry and his eyelids were red, then closed them, took a deep breath, and sighed. Then, from somewhere, he took out a neatly folded piece of paper and unfolded it.
He only glanced at it before his breathing became erratic, his brows furrowed, and he slammed the paper shut, clutching it tightly in his hand.
After a long while, he lowered his eyes and unfolded the paper.
I only glanced at it before closing it.
Leng Cuizhu came in from outside. He paused for a moment, then hid the paper in his hand.
What are you doing here?
She shook her head, sat on his lap, and kissed him on the cheek: "Thank you for still believing in me and for forgiving my mistakes."
"...Believe you?"
"Yes, trust is the most important thing between two people."
"If you're willing to trust me, I'll trust you in the future too."
The man suddenly chuckled.
"Did you come in to me just to say this?"
"Mmm." She nodded. "Also, I hope you get more rest, don't overwork yourself, and don't push yourself so hard..."
Before he could finish speaking, the man abruptly said, "Get out."
Leng Cuizhu noticed something was wrong: "My lord... what's wrong?"
“I don’t need your comfort, I don’t want to hear you say these things to me,” he said coldly. “You’ve used these words to death, haven’t you? You say the same thing to everyone.”
She was a little confused as to whether Yin Yuan was praising her or simply stating a fact, saying that she treated everyone the same way, and that he couldn't possibly be criticizing her, could he?
She pursed her lips: "Thank you for saying that."
The man got up without warning, and she sat on him, almost falling face-first to the ground.
She held onto the handrail and watched as Yin Yuan walked to the door and unlocked it in a few quick movements, appearing quite skilled.
"go out."
She got up and left without even closing the door.
Yin Yuan stood blankly at the door, staring down at the broken and cracked door frame. After a long silence, he peeked out, but unfortunately, he didn't see the person he was looking forward to. However, he was noticed by the maids, who all stared back at him.
"Sir, you..."
He quickly closed the door.
He took out the neatly folded piece of paper, flattened it, and held it in his hand.
“Leng Zhen…” He lowered his eyes and laughed self-deprecatingly.
As soon as Leng Cuizhu stepped outside, she found a secluded corner, took out the papers from her sleeve, and carefully flipped through them one by one. Unfortunately, she couldn't find the will she was looking for even after she had finished the stack of papers.
Now she was in a panic, pacing back and forth, not knowing what to do.
"If it's not here, then where else could it be?" she muttered. Generally speaking, a will is just a piece of paper, no different from any other paper, at most it might be a little thicker and made of more refined materials.
If that thing was hidden in the cave, and the cave caught fire yesterday, wouldn't the will have been burned to ashes?
She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
She'd been working on this for so long, almost losing her life in the process, only to have it all come to nothing? Not quite. She'd betrayed Si Qing and Chen Xun, clearing herself of all blame.
"I wonder where Lord Chen is now, and how he is doing..."
"It can't be already..." She covered her lips.
"Chen Xun is not dead."
She turned her head away.
Yin Yuan stood by the small window, staring at her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
