Chapter 3
Yue Mingming slept until noon and got up to receive the first divorce letter in his life.
I wonder if there is any severance pay... Yue Mingming thought with some anticipation that if she were given some money and could find a place to live for half a year, and then safely quit the game, it would be better than being a concubine in the palace and having to live a carefree life at the mercy of others.
Of course, there is no such good thing in the palace.
Yue Mingming shook her head in disappointment. Amid the contemptuous looks of the maids, she carefully washed and dressed herself, and leisurely had her morning tea. When she felt fully revived, she called on a servant to lead the way to the yard where Zhao Congyun was resting.
There was no other way. Her life was hanging on the system task, so she had to work diligently to be Zhao Congyun's plaster.
The servant hurried forward, leading the way. The path twisted and turned, becoming increasingly off-track. Yue Mingming couldn't help but ask warily, "...Where are you taking me?"
The servant said, "My lady, aren't you going to look for the prince? This is the way to the ginseng garden!"
Yue Mingming was puzzled: "Don't try to scare me... I heard that the princess lives in Chenghuai Zhai. What is Shenyuan?"
The servant glanced around to see if there was anyone around and whispered, "The prince and princess don't live together. The prince usually rests in the ginseng garden. Madam, you just arrived and you don't know. Everyone in the palace knows it."
Not living together... Yue Mingming smacked his lips over the words, smelling a whiff of gossip.
She suddenly remembered the query system she had unlocked last night and immediately said, "Paparazzi, help me check what's going on with Zhao Congyun and his wife?"
The system quickly relayed the news: "Princess Su Dingrou, the granddaughter of the current Grand Tutor Su Pei, grew up in Sichuan and Shu. She loves spicy food and enjoys growing bamboo. She came to Beijing at the age of fourteen. Due to her talent and beauty, she was hailed as 'the most beautiful woman in the capital'. She was pursued by many princes and nobles. She was almost engaged to Fan Li, the son of Right Prime Minister Fan Wenqiu, but was snatched away by Zhao Congyun. Fan Li and Zhao Congyun even had a fight at the martial arts arena, which became a hot topic in the capital..."
"Who won?" Yue Mingming couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Fan Li was beaten so badly by Zhao Congyun that he couldn't get out of bed for three months..."
Yue Mingming was amazed. He didn't expect that pretty boy Zhao Congyun was such a good fighter!
But what's the point of not treating the wife you worked so hard to win back well and living apart from her?
She was about to ask further questions when the servant stopped and pointed to a winding path ahead, saying, "We are not allowed to enter the Ginseng Garden. Madam, just follow this path straight ahead. Uncle Dong will meet you at the end."
Yue Mingming was feeling nervous. Zhao Congyun chose such a remote place to meet her. Was he going to kill her to silence her?
As she walked forward, she saw lush vegetation along the way, and every stone was full of emotion, as if they were carefully crafted. Only then did she gradually feel relieved.
After going around the rocks at the end, the view suddenly opened up. Dong Shu, dressed in black, was waiting there and led her into Zhao Congyun's small study.
*
"I heard that you have some opinions about the divorce letter... Are you going to ask me in person?" Zhao Congyun spoke casually amid the lingering smoke of cigarettes.
Yue Mingming was slightly stunned——
This troublemaker restrained his drunken arrogance today, and acted gentle and elegant like a young man from a noble family, wearing a plain white satin robe to look like a gentleman. At this moment, he stood tall in front of the window, like the bright moonlight, cold and otherworldly.
Unfortunately, thinking of his remarks last night, Yue Mingming immediately became immune to this person: "We just got married yesterday, and you want to divorce me today... This is not good!"
"This is how I always act." Zhao Congyun chuckled. "Why? Didn't your father tell you before you married?"
Yue Mingming rolled his eyes, and sure enough, he still looked like he was asking for a beating the moment he opened his mouth...
She understood that Zhao Congyun had a deep grudge against her father. It seemed that if she wanted to stay, she had to "kill her own relatives for the sake of justice"!
"The prince doesn't seem to like my father very much..." Yue Mingming smiled and sat down, pouring himself a cup of tea without any hesitation. "Let me be frank with you. I can't stand my father either. We are of the same mind in this regard... Can you let me rest for a few days?"
Zhao Congyun raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of amusement in his eyes: "Your ability to adapt to the situation is very similar to your father. Why do you insist on staying in the palace?"
Yue Mingming swallowed a mouthful of tea and sighed in admiration, "What a wonderful palace...who wouldn't want wealth and splendor?"
"Your father's tea may not be worse than the palace's."
Zhao Congyun didn't believe her at all. He said with a hidden veil, "I am writing this letter of divorce today out of consideration for you. I want to prevent you from losing control when your true intentions are revealed in the future and causing you to lose your life."
Threat...blatant threat!
Yue Mingming said sincerely, "Why don't you believe me? I really just want to stay and eat and drink for free!"
A hint of annoyance flashed across Zhao Congyun's eyebrows.
Although he had been in the entertainment industry for many years, the people he met were all courtesans and famous actors who were knowledgeable, tactful, and knew how to act. He had never seen a girl who was like a dog-skin plaster and refused to leave even after receiving a divorce letter.
"What do you want? Do you want me to drive you out with a stick?"
Yue Mingming saw Zhao Congyun's bad tone and became anxious. "How can I have an extra meal in such a big palace? I don't want to stay here forever... I'll keep your letter of divorce. Give me six months... When the time comes, I will leave without your permission, Your Highness!"
Zhao Congyun laughed in anger, "Half a year? You seem so confident... Is half a year enough for you to search the palace thoroughly? How much information can you bring back to your father? How much dirty water can you throw at me?"
"What are you... talking about?"
"Stop pretending! Uncle Dong checked along the road last night and found no traces of banditry or murdered sedan bearers."
Zhao Congyun's eyes burned, as if they wanted to pierce Yue Mingming right through him. "Also... this morning, rumors started spreading in the capital that I, Zhao Congyun, had denied my engagement and was deliberately trying to murder my concubine... You and your father really teamed up to put on a good show!"
"How could it be?" Yue Mingming was stunned and muttered, "It's clearly in the woods... Is it because the mountain is too big that you can't find it?"
"I'm not very talented, but I have some unique ways of finding people." Uncle Dong nodded slightly, "There really is nothing on the mountain."
Yue Mingming was silent.
Although she was naive, she was no fool. The sedan bearer's body must have been disposed of, which was why Uncle Dong couldn't find anything. She had just been attacked yesterday, and everyone in the capital knew about it today, which meant someone had long been convinced that something would happen to her...
Someone wanted to get rid of her and frame Zhao Congyun.
Killing two birds with one stone!
She thought the sedan bearers had acted on impulse, but it turned out they had planned it all!
He is capable of arranging sedan chair bearers, calculating the time accurately, spreading the news in advance, and he also has conflicts with Zhao Congyun... The answer is obvious!
Yue Mingming felt a chill run down his spine. Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs, so why would a father kill his daughter? Was it just to frame Zhao Congyun?
...No, it’s that silver hairpin!
A flash of lightning flashed through her mind - the canal transaction information secretly recorded in the silver hairpin was the source of her fatal disaster!
Now it all makes sense...
Yue Mingming slumped down in her chair, oblivious to the tea spilling all over her. She was filled with fear and frustration, which ultimately turned into anger towards the game—what kind of hellish difficulty was this? People were trying to kill her everywhere, and she couldn't even complete the first mission...
At this point, the only thing to do is to hold on to Zhao Congyun!
Yue Mingming gritted his teeth: "Your Majesty, I know nothing! It's my father... He wants to kill me!"
Zhao Congyun stared at her with an expression of admiration for the performance, which was really infuriating.
"What if I have evidence?" Yue Mingming said angrily, "I took a sedan chair bearer to the capital and hid him there. You'll know the truth if you ask him when you see him."
Zhao Congyun was a little surprised. He exchanged a glance with Dong Shu, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Where is the person?"
"I'll draw a map for you." Yue Mingming volunteered, grabbed the paper and pen on the desk, and with a few strokes, he drew the location of the Tibetans.
Zhao Congyun took it, and a vein in his forehead suddenly jumped. She called this a map? It was a mess of lines drawn on it, with crosses and circles of unclear meaning in between. There was also a line of words "thoughtfully" written on the place where the Tibetans were located, and the handwriting was even more unsightly.
As if the paper would bite him, Zhao Congyun quickly handed it to Uncle Dong: "...Can you understand it?"
Uncle Dong studied it for a moment and smiled slightly. "There's an abandoned charity cemetery in the south of the city. Is that the place you drew?"
Yue Mingming opened his eyes wide and said, "It was too dark at the time. I saw that no one lived there, so I hid the people inside... If you knew it was a charity cemetery, I wouldn't have dared to go in even if I were beaten to death!"
Uncle Dong nodded: "I'll be back soon."
*
Yue Mingming didn't expect that Uncle Dong would come back in just a cup of tea.
"How is it? Did you find it?" she asked anxiously, and even Zhao Congyun's eyes showed a hint of anticipation.
"There is indeed a sedan bearer in the charity cemetery. What your ladyship said is true." Uncle Dong lowered his eyes.
Yue Mingming let out a long sigh: "See, I didn't lie to you!"
Zhao Congyun could tell something was wrong in Uncle Dong's tone: "Something happened?"
"The person is dead. The estimated time of death was three o'clock last night."
"What was the cause of death?" Zhao Congyun asked.
"There's nothing wrong with the body. But I suspect... it might have been poisoned."
Uncle Dong explained, "When I was young, I heard about a strange poison. It takes twelve hours for the poison to take effect, and the victim dies as if they were asleep. Even the coroner couldn't find the cause... It's very similar to the situation of this sedan bearer."
"Poisoned beforehand and silenced afterwards." Zhao Congyun nodded, using a statement tone.
Putting it this way, it seems that what Yue Mingming said is somewhat credible.
If she was involved, there would be no need to hide a sedan bearer who was doomed to die as a witness.
Could it be that she is really just a pawn of her father?
Zhao Congyun pondered, avoiding Yue Mingming's aggrieved eyes, and said lightly: "The clue is broken...You have lost your bargaining chip. You can leave now."
Yue Mingming shamelessly said, "I'm not leaving! If I leave the palace, they will definitely not let me go. I'm dead!"
"You're just an abandoned child... He's your biological father, why would you kill him?" Zhao Congyun stared at her with a half-smile: "Do you... know something?"
Yue Mingming felt that this man was incredibly smart, as he had sniffed out the key clues with just a few words.
If you're so talented, why don't you become a police dog?!
She hadn't wanted to give up the information in the silver hairpin too soon. Everyone around her was full of calculations, and the silver hairpin was her last trump card. Unfortunately, Zhao Congyun didn't leave any room for negotiation. Judging by the meaning in his eyes, she had to either confess the truth or get out.
Yue Mingming took a deep breath and said, "Let's talk about the terms! You have to promise me three things!"
"Please speak." The smile in Zhao Congyun's eyes seemed real at this moment.
"First, I want to stay in the palace for half a year. During this time, I will be well fed and well fed. You are not allowed to divorce me again. Second, you have to drink the wedding wine last night..."
Zhao Congyun was stunned. He didn't expect that she was still thinking about this matter.
But how did she know that I didn't drink?
"Okay, I promise you." Zhao Congyun asked, "What's the third thing?"
"Well... I haven't thought about it yet, so you owe it to me first." Yue Mingming deliberately kept a trick in reserve. Who knows what kind of tricks this crappy game will play next, so he asked Zhao Congyun to write an IOU so that he could ask him for help in the future.
Zhao Congyun narrowed his eyes and said, "If you don't explain clearly, this matter could be a big deal or a small one. I dare not promise it lightly."
Yue Mingming smiled slyly: "Don't you want to take a look at my things first?"
She took out a silver hairpin from her bosom, opened the mechanism, and shook the thin paper covered with handwriting in her hand, as if she was teasing a dog with a meat bun.
"Deal!" Zhao Congyun was an expert and could tell at a glance that this was a densely packed account.
"You have to give me a written agreement." Yue Mingming demanded.
Zhao Congyun no longer hesitated, rolled up his sleeves, picked up his pen, and wrote down his promises one by one on the letter paper, finally signing it with a red clay seal. Yue Mingming happily took it, and when he saw the beautiful and graceful words on the white paper, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come on, Your Highness! Don't let them go!" She placed a piece of canal transport record on the desk, patted her butt and said goodbye.
On the way back, the system reminder of "Wedding Wine" suddenly disappeared, and the system voice sounded: "Congratulations to the player, you have successfully completed the 'Marrying into the Royal Palace' mission and learned the basic level of 'Walking Cloud Palm'."
A wave of warmth flowed through her body, and Yue Mingming felt her palms burning. She lowered her head and stared at her hands in a daze. Did she really know martial arts?!
"If I complete the task, can I learn more Kung Fu?" Yue Mingming said excitedly.
System: "Yes. And the more difficult the mission, the stronger the force value will be."
Yue Mingming couldn't wait to ask, "What's the next mission?"
"Replace Su Dingrou and become Zhao Congyun's princess consort."
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