“Madam Hou, Granny Zhang remembered something. She said that after Fourth Master came out, he was carried by Su Yi to the next room to be cleaned. At that time, the eldest daughter was still in your belly, and no one else was paid attention to her. Fourth Master left the sight of everyone, but he returned after only about half a cup of tea’s time.”
The maidservant rushed in to report, and upon hearing this, Madam Cen frowned.
At the time, she was pregnant with twins and was not at the Marquis's residence but at a temple, so she was extremely busy.
"Why did Su Yi take the child away?" she asked Granny Liu.
Liu Mama seemed a little confused. She tried to recall for a moment before saying, "Reporting to Madam, at that time, the baby's position was not good, and the midwife was very anxious. However, the Fourth Prince kept crying, which disturbed your peace of mind. The midwife was afraid that it would affect your delivery of your eldest daughter, so she had someone take the Fourth Prince to another room. But it was really short time. They quickly calmed the Fourth Prince down and brought him back."
Cen Ying remained silent, unconsciously tapping the table before finally saying, "Is it because the dead can't prove it?"
Upon hearing this, Granny Liu was greatly alarmed and hurriedly said, "Madam, what exactly happened? Please let this old servant think about it together. I have been a servant of the Cen family since birth, and since coming to your side, I have relied entirely on your kindness to have everything I have today. This old servant has absolutely no ulterior motives!"
As she spoke, she kowtowed, the "thump thump thump" sound sending shivers down one's spine.
Seeing her trembling and fearful demeanor, Madam Cen couldn't help but sigh, "Get up."
"I cannot tell you what happened yet. Please be patient, I will have the Marquis interrogate one person before making a decision."
Cen Ying summoned a maid and instructed her, "There's a man locked up in the woodshed. Have the Marquis interrogate him carefully and ask him what he's done all these years using Granny Liu."
The maidservant quickly obeyed and left, leaving only Cen Shi and her servant in the room.
Granny Liu felt uneasy and couldn't help but raise her eyes, cautiously trying to observe Cen's reaction.
After a long while, she finally couldn't help but ask, "Madam, if this old servant dares to ask, who did you have the Marquis interrogate?"
When Cen learned from the system that Liu Caihua was keeping a lover, she became suspicious and had someone investigate her thoroughly.
The investigation was conducted by spies from the Jianghou Mansion, specializing in assassinations and covert investigations—their forte. However, the spies' reports indicated that Granny Liu and the penniless man were merely lovers, exchanging a little money for food and drink at most, without any unusual behavior.
"What, is there someone around you whom the Marquis cannot interrogate?" Cen Ying looked at her coldly.
"No, everything this old servant has was given to him by his master. He can interrogate him about it all. This old servant has misspoke."
Neither the master nor the servant spoke again, and they waited quietly for the final result.
Soon, the door was pushed open, and the Marquis of Loyalty strode in. He had changed his clothes, but as he walked by, a faint smell of blood still wafted over, making Granny Liu tremble.
Cen Shi naturally smelled the odor as well. She merely frowned but didn't say anything to express her disgust. After all, the Marquis of Zhongyi was bound to draw blood when interrogating people, and it was all for the sake of their child.
"Did you find out anything?" Cen asked.
Marquis Zhongyi took out a piece of paper from his pocket. The paper was filled with testimonies and had a bright red handprint pressed on it.
"Mu Wencheng's testimony," Cen Shi began casually.
Upon hearing the name, Granny Liu couldn't help but tremble. She looked up at the testimony with a face full of terror.
"What, you know him?" Cen asked softly as she met her gaze.
Granny Liu opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she couldn't utter a single word.
"You old hag, you didn't want to talk, but that coward couldn't take it after just a few blows and blurted everything out." Seeing her stammering, Marquis Zhongyi couldn't help but roll his eyes and said irritably.
Liu Mama dared not hide anything at that moment and immediately cried and pleaded, "My lord, my lady, I was just confused at the time. Mu Wencheng is my lover. We have been together for many years. He has always wanted me to give him a son, and I agreed to it. But no matter what I do, I can't get pregnant."
"At the time, I thought it was because I was old and something was wrong, so I tried with my husband Feng Fugui. I didn't expect to get pregnant so quickly and give birth to Xing'er."
"Wencheng invited a fortune teller who said that the fates of the two of us were too lowly, and no one would want to be born as our children. We had to find a newborn baby to hold, and this baby had to have a noble fate, preferably someone we were very close to. At that time, you were about to give birth, so he begged the old servant that if the little master was born, he could hold the baby."
“This old servant originally disagreed, but he wanted a son so much that this old servant couldn’t resist and agreed. At that time, he went with me to Fajue Temple. The Lady of the Marquis went into labor in the morning and it didn’t start until the afternoon. There was plenty of time, so this old servant arranged for him to hide in a side room. Afterwards, I begged Sister Suyi for help.”
Upon hearing this, Cen couldn't help but grip the chair arm tightly, her fingernails almost breaking off.
This fortune teller is clearly a charlatan.
Moreover, the demands made were almost specifically directed at the young master of the Jiang family.
Besides the child that Cen was pregnant with at the time, who else could have been close to Granny Liu and have such an auspicious destiny?
It's obvious that this whole thing was originally aimed at the child she was carrying.
"What Granny Zhang said earlier was that Sister Suyi left with the child for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, just so that Wencheng could hold the child. Although this old servant didn't go with her at the time, it was very short, and Fourth Master was quickly brought back unharmed!"
"This old servant guarantees it only lasted a moment, and there was no other unusual activity. My lord, my lady, this old servant—" Granny Liu knelt on the ground, kowtowing again with a "thump, thump," clearly trying to beg for mercy.
However, before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Madam Cen in a cold voice: "You begged Su Yi, and she agreed?"
"Originally, she disagreed, but Sister Suyi was soft-hearted, and after this old servant begged her several times, she finally agreed."
"Does she know about your relationship with Mu Wencheng?" Cen asked again.
Granny Liu shook her head: "I was too embarrassed to say it at the time. I only said that Mu Wencheng was from my hometown and had been the only son in nine generations. I was afraid that his line would end."
Cen closed her eyes. It took a lot of willpower for her to control her emotions. In fact, she was already on the verge of collapse the moment she finished reading the testimony.
"Madam Hou, you must believe this old servant. I have served you for so many years and would never have any disloyal intentions. If anyone else wanted to return the young master, I would protect him with my life. But Wencheng really only hugged the young master and did not do anything to harm him. You—" Granny Liu was still begging for mercy.
Cen could no longer hold back. She grabbed a teacup from the table and threw it at Liu Mama.
"Fool! You believe that?! Why hold a newborn baby when you can hold a one-year-old? Isn't he afraid the baby won't live past a month and will be stillborn? Is this a blessing or a curse?" she yelled at Granny Liu in despair.
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