Chapter 216 Escape
Meng Xiyao is not stupid.
The imperial decree has been issued, and she has been brought to the palace. How could the emperor possibly let her go back?
The Emperor was merely testing her mind with those words, still harboring suspicions about her.
She was certain that if she had nodded in agreement just now, the Emperor would have thought that she didn't want to enter the palace and was deliberately falling ill to escape his favor. In that case, her body would definitely have been sent back to the Meng residence.
Seeing that Meng Xiyao spoke with such sincerity, the Emperor could only gesture with his eyes to Eunuch Chu to help her up.
"Why is Consort Xi so frightened? His Majesty was just joking with you. Don't say such unlucky things in front of His Majesty, like talking about death."
The Emperor's gaze was deep, and he responded with a faint smile.
"Take good care of yourself. There's no need to rush to serve me. I'll come to see you when you're better."
Meng Xiyao saw the Emperor to the door and only returned to her room after he was out of sight.
Her clothes were soaked with sweat.
We've narrowly escaped this hurdle.
If she bets right, at least for the time being, the emperor won't come looking for her again.
As the Emperor and Eunuch Chu walked out of Yaojiao Courtyard, the Emperor couldn't help but say, "Fortunately, I hadn't eaten before coming here. With Consort Xi in that state, let alone favoring her, if I stayed with her any longer, I would feel nauseous."
Eunuch Chu, who was following closely behind the Emperor, smiled faintly upon hearing this and said, "Your Majesty, do you believe Consort Meng?"
The Emperor stopped. “Don’t you believe me? No normal girl would ever do something like that to her face. Besides, the imperial physician said the wounds don’t look like they were from applying medicine or insect bites. It’s not just her face; her hands and legs are all red, swollen, and ulcerated. Even if I’m old, I wouldn’t frighten a girl like this, preferring to be disfigured rather than have me favor her.”
Eunuch Chu nodded and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. But the rash is only temporary and won't last. Besides, I think the timing is just too coincidental..."
The emperor chuckled coldly twice and continued walking forward.
"She's just a shallow-minded concubine's daughter. It's probably because you and I have overcomplicated things. Think about it, if she deliberately harmed herself like this, the only reason would be that she didn't want to be favored by me. But as you just saw, even though she's injured like this, she still hasn't forgotten about serving me. When I pretended to accidentally bump into her, she didn't resist at all. It's clear that she's someone who wants to use my favor to climb the social ladder."
"If the only reason doesn't hold up, then it must really be a coincidence. It's just her bad luck. After hearing you mention the three beauties of the Meng family, I was thinking of taking some time these next few days to have her serve me in bed, but she didn't have that good fortune."
He wasn't without beauties in his harem, but in recent years, as he'd gotten older, his desire for them had diminished, and he rarely summoned his favorite concubines more than a few times a year.
He was only interested in Meng Xiyao out of curiosity, but after meeting her today, he realized that she was no different from the other women in his harem who were vying for his favor.
He'd seen too many overly proactive women; he just couldn't muster any interest in them.
He impulsively decided to force a relationship, but it turned out to be a proactive one, which was really disappointing. What's more, he saw the worst-looking version of this "melon" today, and he's starting to have a psychological aversion to it.
Eunuch Chu sensed the emperor's disdain in his tone. Although he still had doubts about the matter, he knew better than to argue with the emperor at this point.
Although the emperor trusted him, honest advice was hard to swallow. He could offer a few words of advice, but if he kept nagging, the emperor would get annoyed.
"You mean you won't be summoning Consort Meng to your bedchamber for the time being?"
The Emperor frowned and said, "I don't have the mind for that right now. As for the hostages, just bring them in and have one or two people keep a close eye on them. There are so many women in the harem waiting for my favor, how can I possibly manage them all?"
Eunuch Chu nodded quickly.
"This servant understands."
But in his heart, he felt that Consort Meng was definitely not simple.
When the Emperor heard that Meng Xiyao was ill and unable to serve him, he was so angry that his face turned pale. But after visiting her, his anger subsided, and his interest in her vanished.
Fortunately, it's just a hostage; as long as we keep a close eye on him, there shouldn't be any problems.
...
Green Water is quite busy today.
Many of the soldiers Cao Ran led out last night were injured, and the army's doctors were overwhelmed with their care.
Hearing the soldiers' painful cries not far from the camp, Lu Shui offered to help.
Meng Lingge wanted to find something to do, so she told Cao Ran about Lu Shui's identity as a doctor, and Cao Ran then took all three of them to the wounded soldiers' camp.
At first, the doctors looked down on a young woman, but when they saw how quick and accurate Lvshui was in examining patients, they all put aside their contempt and began to cooperate with her seriously.
Since Meng Lingge and Qiu Lan didn't know how to treat patients, they assisted Lü Shui by delivering and preparing medicine and taking care of patients.
The three of them were busy all afternoon before washing their hands and returning to their lodgings.
Meng Lingge told Lushui about her suspicions about Lan An, but she didn't mention Lan Ying's identity, saying that he was a soldier in the army.
After listening, Green Water said, "Based on the characteristics you've described, Miss, it's indeed possible that he's intersex. But these things are hard to verify unless he admits it himself..."
She couldn't quite put her words into words, but Meng Lingge understood.
You can't exactly pull down someone's pants to find out what's going on unless they admit it.
Lan Ying is currently imprisoned in the military camp. It wouldn't be difficult for someone to hold him down and pull down his pants, but no matter the outcome, doing so would be a tremendous insult to Lan Ying.
Since the Tiger Soaring Army is not yet ready to completely break with the Blue Feather Kingdom, it cannot afford to offend Lan Ying to death.
Moreover, Wen Zhiming had said that as long as Lan Ying's actions were worthy of the title "scholar," he would not disclose his physical defects to others. Pulling down his pants to examine his body would be tantamount to putting Lan Ying on a list of shame.
Wen Zhiming probably wouldn't agree either.
This method really won't work.
Seeing Meng Lingge frown and remain silent, Lu Shui couldn't help but say, "We may not be able to, but his close friends and family certainly can. If he is a soldier in the military camp, those who spend every day with him might notice something unusual. His age and whether he is married can also be used as reference data. If he is married and has children, then he should be a normal person. If he is just married, then his wife must know the truth."
Meng Lingge's eyes lit up.
Lan Ying is probably not married yet, but since he likes to pretend to be a lecher, his soldiers in the camp should know something about whether he has a steady woman or frequents brothels.
Yesterday, the soldiers of the Blue Feather Kingdom withdrew hastily, leaving several wounded soldiers behind on the battlefield, which Cao Ran brought back with them.
Meng Lingge saw them at the wounded soldiers' camp today. Several people were being held in an iron cage, but they are now out of danger and have become prisoners of war.
Perhaps the answers she seeks can be found in the mouths of these people.
Prisoners of war are not usually allowed to be seen by ordinary people, but when Meng Lingge wanted to see her, Cao Ran agreed without even asking why.
However, safety measures must be in place; he couldn't bear the responsibility if the prisoners of war injured Meng Lingge.
Only after the prisoners of war were chained up and it was confirmed that they would not be harmed did Meng Lingge dare to go in for interrogation.
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