"Did you see Meng Qingyun that night? Did he take the little princess away from the princess's mansion?" Liu Ziqi asked straight to the point.
The old man fell to the ground and shook his head, "I don't know, I don't know anything..."
Liu Ziqi looked at him quietly and said slowly, "Meng Qingyun is the coachman of the princess's mansion. You two work together, so you should be very familiar with each other. Only a handful of people escaped from the princess's mansion back then, and you and Meng Qingyun are both alive. You must have survived by hiding in the dog hole next to the stable."
Liu Ziqi said confidently, "You met Meng Qingyun that night. It can even be said that you escaped from the princess's mansion through that dog hole together."
The old man broke out in a cold sweat, his back was soaked. He scratched his palms nervously, raised his head after a long time, looked at Liu Ziqi and said, "Young Marquis, you often went to the princess's mansion when you were young, and Princess Huaiyang was also very good to you. After so many years, why are you still obsessed with looking for the little princess? The little princess has died in the hands of those people, I know nothing about it."
Liu Ziqi sighed softly, and his tone softened a lot. "I just want to know if the little princess is still alive. I don't want to kill her. Meng Qingyun has passed away due to illness. If you don't tell the truth, I can't protect his wife and daughter."
The old man was startled for a moment, as if he didn't expect Meng Qingyun to be gone.
He looked at Liu Ziqi with suspicion, somewhat unconvinced by what he said.
Meng Qingyun was more than ten years younger than him. He was in good health when he was young. How could he die of illness out of the blue?
"You also said that I often went to the princess's mansion, and the princess treated me very well. In my heart, I always treated the little princess as my sister and would never harm her. If Meng Qingyun really took the little princess away, I would protect his widow and two children and make sure they were safe." Liu Ziqi said this as Gu Yun.
The old man's sagging face moved, revealing an expression that seemed both sarcastic and mocking. Back then, when the princess's mansion and the former crown prince were in trouble, the Annan Marquis's mansion was able to stand firm, all because the Annan Marquis had secretly surrendered to the current emperor.
The princess's mansion was in trouble, and although the old man took advantage of the situation to steal things, he still missed his old master in his heart. He had worked in the princess's mansion for more than ten years, and the princess and the prince consort treated them, the servants, very well. If it weren't for the current emperor's attempt to seize power, he would still be working in the princess's mansion.
Seeing that he couldn't pry open his mouth, Liu Ziqi looked at the old man's grandson and said to the servant, "Go and get him some food."
Soon someone brought up a box of snacks and handed it to the boy.
The boy stopped crying and kept swallowing his saliva as he smelled the aroma of the snacks. He had been starving since the flood, and his stomach began to growl. He finally couldn't help it, so he reached out and grabbed a piece of snack, stuffed it into his mouth, and began to eat it ravenously.
The old man looked at this scene, the corners of his lips trembling slightly.
"Your family has suffered a disaster, your son and daughter-in-law are dead, you are already this old, it will be difficult to raise this grandson by begging." Liu Ziqi took out four silver notes of 100 taels from his sleeve, "Just tell me what you know, and the money will be yours. It is enough for you to raise your grandson, and you don't have to sleep on the streets and beg everywhere anymore."
The old man looked at the banknotes, then at his grandson who was desperately stuffing cakes into his mouth. His eyes were slightly red, and he said, "Please pour a glass of water for my grandson."
Liu Ziqi gave the servant a look, and the man poured a cup of tea for the boy. The boy grabbed the tea bowl and gulped it down.
The old man licked his dry lips and said distressedly, "Drink slowly, don't choke..."
Liu Ziqi ordered someone to give the old man a cup of tea.
The old man took the tea bowl, took two sips, and sighed, "When the princess's mansion was in trouble, I went to the backyard to steal something. I saw Meng Qingyun carrying a child who was about the same age as the little princess into the inner house. He didn't stay in the inner room for long, and hurriedly left with the child in his arms."
The old man said with a look of nostalgia, "I didn't dare to stay for long. When I wanted to leave, I heard a child crying in the inner room. I went to take a look. Although the little girl was wearing the clothes of a little princess, she was not a little princess..."
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