Chapter 268 The Thief Cries Thief
Nightfall.
Originally, after Yun Qingqing made up her mind, she also clearly accepted the fact that she would be married to Xiao Changheng for decades, and they also openly lived here as a couple, so the two of them were assigned to the same room.
She didn't think too much about it at first, but when it was time to go to bed, the two of them started arguing.
Yun Qingqing asked Xiao Changheng to sleep on the bed, saying that she wanted to meditate all night, and she could just occupy a chair to meditate all night.
But it was met with strong opposition.
The reason was that she had yawned unintentionally before, and a certain prince thought that her meditating was just an excuse so that she could give him the bed to sleep in. In fact, she was short of spiritual power and needed to rest.
So Xiao Changheng insisted that she sleep on the bed no matter what, saying that he could sleep on the floor. He also said that he had been leading troops outside all year round and had experienced all kinds of conditions, so this was not a problem for him at all.
This man was really stubborn. Yun Qingqing got a headache from arguing with him, so she simply cast a hypnotic spell at him, then carried him to the bed and covered him with a quilt.
The world is finally quiet.
…
Early the next morning.
Yun Qingqing opened her eyes from her meditation and saw someone fully dressed, with a sullen face, holding a basin of water and looking at her.
She looked away guiltily, coughed lightly, stood up, took the basin and put it away, and whispered:
"Well, good morning."
After saying that, he obediently started to wash up.
Xiao Changheng looked at her steadily until she finished washing her face and obediently reached out to take the towel he handed over and began to wipe her face. Only then did his expression soften a little and he sighed softly.
"Forget it. I didn't think it through. I won't give you the chance to do that next time."
Yun Qingqing paused, not quite understanding what he meant.
But the man had already turned and left the room.
Just as she changed her clothes, the screams of Old Mrs. Zhao suddenly rang out in the courtyard.
"Someone! Someone come quickly! My banknotes have been stolen——"
"Who the hell even spared the coffin of an old woman like me who was half buried in the ground?"
"That's more than a hundred taels of silver! I didn't even have time to warm it up before the thief stole it!"
Yun Qingqing came out to check and saw Lu Er was already in the yard, comforting Old Mrs. Zhao in a low voice.
Xiao Changheng was also alarmed and came to the yard.
Old Lady Zhao looked at Yun Qingqing and the others, and suddenly seemed to realize something. She looked left and right, and suddenly rushed over and shouted:
"Where's that little girl next to you? Where is she? Let her out! Did she take my banknotes?"
Lu Er was startled and quickly pulled her back and said:
"Mom, don't say that! A Yao is a good kid, how could she steal money!"
Old Lady Zhao pushed him away and said in a sharp voice:
"Who else could it be if not her! You can never judge a person by his appearance! I took her in last night out of pity, but I never knew she had such treacherous intentions! I was really deceived by her——"
Yun Qingqing's face turned cold:
"What do you mean by that? Explain clearly."
Old Mrs. Zhao complained with tears in her eyes:
"My dear, I guess you just took that little girl in not long ago, but you didn't know how thoughtful she is!"
"I was half asleep last night when the little girl knocked on my door and said she was too scared to sleep alone and didn't dare to disturb you, so she wanted to sleep in the same room with me."
"I was a little hesitant at first, but she tearfully said that she lost her parents when she was young and grew up in a brothel. She would be locked up in a small dark room if she made any mistakes, so she was particularly afraid of the dark."
"I am a soft-hearted person. Seeing how pitiful she was, I agreed to her request. But when I woke up early in the morning, I found that the banknotes that I had placed in the box on the table were missing..."
Yun Qingqing interrupted:
"So you didn't see it with your own eyes, and you don't have any concrete evidence that Jingyao took the banknote?"
Old Mrs. Zhao said anxiously:
"If she didn't steal it, then why did she run away? If you think that an old woman like me who is about to be buried is lying, then call the little girl to confront her!"
"If even you can't find the person, then who else could it be except her!"
"I know you are kind-hearted and don't want to think badly of others, but not everyone is like you!"
"What morals can you expect from a girl who grew up in a brothel? It's not worth it for someone like you to cover up for her..."
"I covered for her?" Yun Qingqing sneered, "Then look back, who is that?"
When Old Mrs. Zhao followed, she turned around and was stunned.
I saw Nan Zheng walking in from the courtyard gate carrying the sleeping Jingyao on his back.
Mrs. Zhao's face changed, and she suddenly showed a surprised expression and said:
"She must have been too tired to be caught by this gentleman! Thank God... Search her quickly, but I hope she hasn't hidden the banknotes!"
Nan Zheng heard her say this and snorted coldly:
"What do you mean she was too tired from running! She was knocked unconscious and taken away in her room in the middle of the night!"
"What!" Lu Er was shocked, "You said that some bad guys came to this yard last night and kidnapped Ayao? That's not right..."
He suddenly realized something, turned to look at Old Lady Zhao and asked:
"Mom, didn't you say that A Yao slept in your room last night? But this guard clearly said that she was kidnapped in her own room!"
"No, it's impossible!" Old Mrs. Zhao's face turned panicked. "Don't listen to his nonsense... That's right! He must be talking nonsense to cover up for this little girl!"
"Think about it, if he saw the little girl being taken away from her room last night, he would have caught the criminal on the spot! How could he have waited for the girl to be taken away for a whole night and only brought her back now!"
Nan Zheng sneered:
"What's impossible? I followed the master's orders and came to keep watch. I didn't catch the man right away because I didn't want to alert the enemy. I just wanted to see if the villain had any accomplices and find out who was behind it!"
"Guess what happened?"
He waved his hand:
“Bring it up!”
Under the horrified gaze of Old Mrs. Zhao, three black shadows suddenly appeared in the courtyard. They were the secret guards of the Regent's Palace!
Each secret guard was holding a man with a bruised face and nose!
The secret guard threw the three people to the ground, and Nan Zheng sneered:
"Mrs. Zhao, you're not saying you don't know these people, are you?"
Old Mrs. Zhao turned pale and was speechless.
Lu Er suddenly exclaimed:
"Lu Jiang, Lu Hai, Lu He? How could it be you! Why are you doing this! "
He was very familiar with these three people. They were the three brothers in the village who were idle and lived off their parents.
Lu Jiang held his head and huddled on the ground, howling:
"Don't, don't hit me, I've confessed everything! We are really not the mastermind! It was Grandma Zhao who promised us five taels of silver to take this girl away from her house!"
"She also said that as long as we keep this girl away from her house, we can do whatever we want with her, whatever we want to do with her or even sell her!"
"Right, right, right!" Lu Hai also said repeatedly, "We just thought that we could make money from both sides, so we agreed to her. Now we know we are in the wrong, hero, please forgive us!"
"Yao Ming... I will never provoke you again!" Lu He's mouth was full of blood. Maybe his teeth were knocked out and his tongue was swollen, so he couldn't speak clearly when he begged for mercy.
Yun Qingqing looked at Old Lady Zhao with cold eyes:
"So it's the thief crying thief. You can even do this to such a young girl. What else do you have to say?"
Lu Er looked at his mother as if he didn't recognize her, and said in disbelief:
"Mom...why are you doing this!?"
Old Mrs. Zhao shook her head in panic, her eyes rolling around, and suddenly screamed:
"It's not me! They are all talking nonsense! These people usually do bad things. It's obvious that they were caught in the act and don't want to take the blame, so they made up lies to frame me!"
"Son! Don't you even believe your mother's words? Are you going to believe these little hooligans?"
After she said this, Lu Er hesitated again.
He looked at Yun Qingqing and said:
"My Lord, this matter...maybe there really is a misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding?" Yun Qingqing said coldly, looking at Old Lady Zhao, "Then you keep saying that Jingyao came to find you in the middle of the night and stayed in your room to steal the silver, but Nanzheng saw her being kidnapped from her room with his own eyes, how do you explain it!"
"I don't know either!" Old Mrs. Zhao insisted that she was innocent. "Anyway, the little girl was still there when I fell asleep. Maybe..."
"I know! Maybe she took the banknotes and quietly returned to her room, intending to pack up and run away, but by some strange coincidence she happened to run into Lu Hai and his brothers who came to kidnap people, and that's why she was knocked unconscious and taken away!"
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