Over there, Liu Hui also looked somewhat stunned. He slowly raised his head and looked over, his eyes filled with confusion.
After Doctor Qin left, Madam Wang hesitated for a moment, but did not go inside. She only instructed her servants to take good care of Madam Luo, and then called Liu Hui to her courtyard.
Wang had been longing for the Liu family to prosper and have many descendants. Now that Luo was pregnant, it should have been a joyous occasion, but this incident has made it hard not to feel resentful.
Madam Pan dismissed everyone in the courtyard, leaving two maids to take care of Madam Luo.
Qingying and Liu Chengfeng walked together.
Liu Chengfeng said, "This child has come at a really bad time!"
Qingying smiled and said, "I think this child has come at just the right time."
"Um?"
"Brother, have you gone mad from reading too much classical Chinese literature? Can't you even understand this?" Qingying beckoned to him, signaling him to come closer.
Liu Chengfeng did as instructed, looking completely bewildered.
She lowered her voice and whispered in his ear, "This child is our breakthrough point. Tonight, secretly take me into Luo's bedroom, and I will personally question her."
"You?" Liu Chengfeng clearly didn't believe her. "Locking her up for so many days has been useless. My mother even questioned her privately, but to no avail. Do you really have the ability to pry her open up?"
"Brother looks down on me?" Qingying glared at him with displeasure.
"No, that's not what I meant..."
"Then just do as I say, brother."
Liu Chengfeng could never refuse her requests, so he had no choice but to agree.
As night fell, Qingying changed into a low-key outfit, wearing black clothes and with her hair in ink, without any makeup.
Liu Chengfeng arrived precisely at midnight.
"Most of the people in the manor have already retired for the night, so it's the perfect time to move around."
Qingying followed him and took a shortcut to the west courtyard.
Now that Luo has committed a crime, he can no longer live in the spacious main room, but is instead locked in a simple side room.
The maid on night watch was leaning against a pillar, drowsy and carrying a lantern. She was startled awake when they arrived. Liu Chengfeng gave her a silver ingot and told her to continue sleeping. She wisely accepted it and immediately took the lantern to the withered tree in the courtyard to pretend to be asleep.
Qingying went into the house alone.
The room was so simple that it contained only a narrow bed and a broken table, with an oil lamp flickering weakly, making it almost impossible to see.
Luo was lying on the bed, covered with a quilt. Although you couldn't see her face, you could tell she wasn't looking well.
Qingying picked up the oil lamp and walked to the bedside. As she approached, she was so frightened that she trembled, and the candle flame flickered violently, almost going out.
Luo's eyes were actually open!
She lay there, her lifeless eyes staring upwards, motionless.
If it weren't for the slight undulation of the bedding proving that she was still breathing, Qingying would have thought she was dead.
"Auntie, Auntie," Qingying called out, clutching her wildly beating heart.
She did not respond.
Qingying didn't mind. She calmed herself down before speaking again: "Don't be afraid. I came tonight to help you."
She remained motionless.
"That Gu Sheng is dying!"
She seemed to pause for a moment, then finally turned her head.
Qingying continued, "If you don't tell the truth, he will be treated as an assassin from an enemy country and subjected to the punishment of slow slicing."
Luo finally opened her mouth, but she hadn't spoken for so long that she suddenly couldn't make a sound. After a while, her hoarse voice, like the cawing of a crow, finally came out: "Please... spare his life."
"He has harmed you so much, and you still want to plead for him?" Qingying asked, puzzled.
"It is I who have wronged him, so it is right that he hates me."
"What about the baby in your belly? Don't you think about yourself or the baby?"
"Wh-what?" Luo was stunned, unable to react.
Qingying guessed that she was still unaware, so she told her everything: "Doctor Qin came to examine your pulse today and said that you are more than two months pregnant."
Luo was stunned for a moment, then slowly placed her hand under the covers on her lower abdomen. After a long while, she asked again, "Is this true?"
"I have no reason to lie to you."
Luo knew that Qingying had always looked down on her, so she disdained to lie or deceive her.
Qingying said, "You gave me a lot of things before, and I don't want to owe you anything. This time, I'll repay you. Besides, you're carrying the flesh and blood of my Liu family. I don't think you want your child to bear an unfounded stigma because of you in the future."
"This child came at the worst possible time... I'm so sorry to have to suffer with my mother..."
Luo closed her eyes for a long time, and when she opened them again, she was more determined. She said, "Miss, I can tell you the truth, but please spare Gu Sheng's life."
Qingying pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.
Luo then finally recounted the whole story in detail.
Back then, Luo Xiuzhen and Gu Sheng were childhood sweethearts, growing up together and becoming lovers. However, later, Master Luo wanted to curry favor with the powerful and learned that the second master of the Liu family had lost his first wife and was looking for a second wife. But because the second master had a leg problem, ordinary girls were unwilling to marry him, so he tried every means to find Wang Shi.
At first, Wang looked down on the Luo family, a merchant family, but after meeting Luo, she was very satisfied, and soon the two families finalized the marriage agreement.
Luo dared not disobey her parents' orders, but she was also unwilling to marry a man she had never met, so she decided to elope with Gu Sheng.
The result was obvious: they failed.
The person who caused their downfall was Luo Xiuzhu, her own sister, who reported them to their parents. Gu Sheng was tied up, beaten, and thrown back into the Gu family home, causing Master Gu to fall ill with anger.
Later, she was forced to marry into the Liu family, but Liu Hui saw her reluctance on their wedding night and did not touch her.
Hearing this, Qingying couldn't sit still any longer: "You, you..."
Madam Luo quickly said, "Miss, please don't misunderstand. This was only the beginning. We still consummated our marriage later. Second Master treated me very well. I know that everything in the past is irreversible, so I gradually accepted the current situation."
Qingying finally felt relieved.
Luo continued.
Three months ago, she ran into Gu Sheng outside a tailor shop and learned that he had never married and that the Gu family had been suppressed by the Luo family ever since that incident.
Because the Luo family was backed by the General's Mansion, the Gu family was no match for them. Their business suffered continuous losses, and in the end, he had no choice but to sell his family property, but he still owed a lot of debts and was now at his wit's end.
Feeling guilty, she took a portion of her dowry and gave it to him to pay off the debt.
But less than a month later, Gu Sheng found her again, and she learned that he had become addicted to gambling and had gambled away all the dowry money she had given him.
Left with no other choice, she offered her help once again.
But she didn't know that it was a bottomless pit. Gu Sheng used it to gamble, and the money he poured in never even made a sound.
He lost everything again.
This time, he approached Luo Xiuzhu.
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