Chapter 266 The Beauty Trap
Inside the elegant room, a person had died, and the silence was deathly still.
After a long while, under the watchful eyes of Mu Xi and Cao Pan'er, it was finally confirmed that Tao'er was completely dead.
The two of them laid Tao'er down, wiped her face clean and even touched up her makeup, then stuffed the blood-stained cloth into Tao'er's arms. Then, the two of them worked together to lift Tao'er onto the bed, lowered the curtain halfway, covered the body with a blanket, and pretended that Tao'er was drunk and fast asleep.
After they finished doing all this, the two looked at each other and neither of them said a word.
Afterwards, Mu Xi took the poisoned wine to the side room and opened the window to let in some fresh air.
Cao Pan'er then sat down at the dressing table to redo her makeup, even changing into a more glamorous dress.
Mu Xi retreated to the outer room and listened intently to the sounds outside.
Downstairs, there was a cacophony of singing, dancing, and laughter, but no footsteps.
Mu Xi couldn't help but feel anxious. Turning around, she saw Cao Pan'er reapplying her makeup, her face now radiant and beautiful. Her anxiety only intensified: "If Mu Chong comes tonight, there will be no problem, but if Mu Chong doesn't come..."
Cao Pan'er's eyes flashed with a cold light, but she was also more confident: "I have already said that in the letter. If he still does not come, it is either because he has no guts or he is too cowardly to dare to come."
"Mu Chong is all bark and no bite, but since Moyang City is still under Gao Quan's control, he's not going to be so timid. It's you who have made this sacrifice... it's really unfair." Mu Xi felt indebted whenever she thought about how this plan was entirely due to Cao Pan'er.
Cao Pan'er, however, was resolute and determined: "As long as I can get revenge, I don't care about any sacrifice."
Just as the two were talking, a pimp shouted from downstairs, "A distinguished guest has arrived..."
Immediately following, the sounds of women singing rose up, and in no time, footsteps echoed as they ascended to the fourth floor.
Mu Xi and Cao Pan'er exchanged a glance and quickly went their separate ways to prepare.
Just as the two were about to stop, Liu Mama's voice came as expected: "Oh dear, Young Master Mu... you've kept our Miss Jiangxue waiting..."
As the door opened, Cao Pan'er flashed an unprecedentedly wide smile.
Mu Chong was dressed in a brocade robe with a jade belt at his waist, his expression somber and scrutinizing.
"Third Young Master, you've finally arrived." Cao Pan'er's voice carried just the right amount of surprise and a hint of barely perceptible reproach as she gracefully pulled Mu Chong into the house.
Mu Chong's enthusiasm towards Cao Pan'er was a stark contrast to his previous attitude, which made him instinctively wary. He dodged Cao Pan'er's arm and stepped into the house on his own, with the guards following closely behind. "You... how come you've changed your attitude in just a few days?"
“At this point, being unable to think straight is tantamount to wanting to die.” Cao Pan’er smiled charmingly and pressed herself against him again. “I was just worried that it was already past midnight and the Third Young Master hadn’t arrived yet. Come, come, Third Young Master, sit down and have a cup of tea first.”
As she spoke, Cao Pan'er reached for the octagonal table in the outer room to pour tea for Mu Chong.
Mu Chong's wary gaze swept across the entire room: "Where is she?"
"Don't worry, Third Young Master. Since we invited you here, we won't let her get in our way." Cao Pan'er said with a smile, pulling Mu Chong towards the side room.
On the side room floor, Mu Xi sat with her shoulders and hands bound behind her back, a cloth stuffed in her mouth, glaring angrily at the ground.
Mu Chong looked down at him, feigning ignorance, and asked, "This is..."
Cao Pan'er took Mu Chong's arm and said, "This is my sincerity... Last time the Third Young Master came, I didn't even have time to react before she suddenly attacked. Thinking about it afterward, she is no longer a prince, and she has fallen to this state with me, even worse than me. So I don't deserve to associate with her anymore."
"Are you being honest now?" Mu Chong asked Mu Xi.
However, Mu Xi's mouth was stuffed with a cloth, so she couldn't make a sound. She could only make "woo-woo" sounds to express her dissatisfaction with a fierce look.
“How could she be disobedient? She’s nothing more than a lowly maid in Fangfei Tower. If I hadn’t taken her in, she would still be doing menial work in the backyard, being scolded by everyone every day.” Cao Pan’er said as she gently pulled Mu Chong out of the side room. “Third Young Master, you don’t need to worry. She’s completely under my control now. I tied her up beforehand so as not to delay your good time with me tonight.”
"Hmm..." Mu Chong seemed unable to let her guard down. Just as Cao Pan'er was about to pull her down to sit, she glanced towards the inner room.
Cao Pan'er did not stop her and let Mu Chong go.
"Why is there still someone on the bed?" As soon as Mu Chong went around the screen, he naturally saw Tao'er's corpse lying on the bed in the inner room.
Cao Pan'er followed with a coquettish laugh: "Don't you recognize her, Third Young Master? That's Tao'er. In terms of looks and age, Tao'er is even more beautiful than me. She's already one of the top dancers at Fangfei Tower, and it won't be long before she replaces me as the number one courtesan. Look, she got drunk while drinking with our distinguished guest and fell asleep on my bed."
Mu Chong walked over, lifted half of the curtain, and peered through it. Sure enough, he recognized Tao'er: "Hmm...not bad, it's Tao'er. Back when we were in the manor, she was the most beautiful of the girls in the East Courtyard."
Cao Pan'er didn't allow Mu Chong to look at her any longer and pulled him out of the inner room: "Third Young Master, don't worry about Sister Tao'er for now. At least wait until she sobers up."
Mu Chong finally began to appreciate Cao Pan'er's enthusiasm. He went to the outer room and sat down at the octagonal table, saying in a flippant tone, "If you had this awareness back then, you wouldn't have ended up in this situation today."
Cao Pan'er was not annoyed at all. She covered her mouth and chuckled, her eyes sparkling with a hint of shyness and a touch of seduction: "Young Master, you really don't understand a young lady's feelings when you talk about these things now... Back then, Young Master was just a child. How could you be so... handsome and extraordinary? If you want to blame someone, blame fate. If I had been born a few years later, or if Young Master had been born a few years earlier, there would have been no misunderstanding back then."
"Oh, so you thought I was too young back then? But you should know that even though I was young, some parts of me were quite big..." Mu Chong was indeed intrigued, but remained wary. While saying disgusting things, he glanced at the side room out of the corner of his eye.
Although Mu Xi's mouth was covered, his ears were still open. But seeing that Cao Pan'er seemed more uninhibited than him, he changed his mind and stopped caring.
Cao Pan'er's smile became even more charming, and she feigned shyness as she pushed Mu Chong: "Now that you're older, Third Young Master, you've become even more savory. I was blind back then, and I should apologize to you."
After saying this with a smile, she looked out the door and complained, "Why is the food and wine taking so long to arrive? If she weren't tied up, we would have asked her to hurry us up."
Upon hearing this, Mu Chong immediately ordered the guards behind him: "One of you go and urge them on. The other guards don't need to stay here anymore; go outside."
"Yes..." The guards obeyed and finally withdrew one after another.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
