Chapter 268 The Thief Cries Thief
At night.
Originally, after Yun Qingqing made up her mind, she also accepted the fact that she would be married to Xiao Changheng for decades. She also openly lived here as a couple, so the two of them were assigned to the same room.
She didn't think too much about it at first, but when it was time to go to bed, the two of them started arguing.
Yun Qingqing asked Xiao Changheng to sleep on the bed on the pretext that she wanted to meditate all night, and she would just occupy a chair to meditate all night.
But it was met with strong opposition.
The reason was that she had yawned unintentionally before, and a certain prince thought that her meditating was just an excuse to let him sleep on the bed. In fact, she was short of spiritual power and needed to rest.
So Xiao Changheng insisted that she sleep on the bed no matter what, saying that he could sleep on the floor. He also said that he had been leading troops outside all year round and had experienced all kinds of conditions, so this was not a problem for him at all.
This man was really stubborn. Yun Qingqing got a headache arguing with him, so she simply cast a hypnotic spell on him and then carried him to the bed and covered him with a blanket.
The world is finally quiet.
…
Early the next morning.
Yun Qingqing opened her eyes from her meditation and saw someone already dressed neatly, with a sullen face, holding a basin of water and looking at her.
She looked away guiltily, coughed lightly, stood up, took the basin and put it away, and whispered:
"Ahem, well, good morning."
After saying that, he obediently started to wash up.
Xiao Changheng looked at her steadily until she finished washing her face and obediently reached out to take the towel he handed her and began to wipe her face. Only then did his expression soften a little and he sighed softly.
"Never mind. I was inconsiderate. I won't give you the chance to do that next time."
Yun Qingqing paused, not quite understanding what he meant.
But the man had already turned and left the room.
Just as she changed her clothes, the screams of Old Mrs. Zhao suddenly rang out in the courtyard.
"Someone! Someone come quickly! My banknotes have been stolen——"
"Who the hell even spared the coffin of a half-buried old woman like me?"
"That's over a hundred taels of silver! I didn't even have time to warm it up before the thief stole it!"
Yun Qingqing came out to check and saw Lu Er already in the yard, whispering comfort to Old Mrs. Zhao.
Xiao Changheng was also alarmed and came to the yard.
Old Lady Zhao looked at Yun Qingqing and the others, and suddenly realized something. She looked left and right, then suddenly rushed over and shouted:
"Where's that little girl next to you? Where's she? Let her out! Did she take my banknotes?"
Lu Er was startled and quickly grabbed her and said:
"Mom, don't say that! A Yao is a good child, how could she steal money!"
Old Lady Zhao pushed him away and shrieked:
"Who else could it be if not her? You can't judge a person by their appearance! I took pity on her last night and took her in out of kindness, but I never knew she had such treacherous intentions! I was really deceived by her—"
Yun Qingqing's face turned cold:
"What do you mean by that? Explain clearly."
Old Mrs. Zhao complained tearfully:
"My dear, I suppose you have only just taken that little girl in. I had no idea how cunning she is!"
"Yesterday, I was half asleep in the middle of the night when that little girl knocked on my door. She said she was too scared to sleep alone, but she didn't dare to disturb you, so she wanted to sleep in the same room with me."
"I was a little hesitant at first, but she tearfully told me she lost her parents when she was young and grew up in a brothel. She was locked up in a dark room for any mistakes she made, so she was particularly afraid of the dark."
"I'm a soft-hearted person. Seeing how pitiful she was, I agreed to her request... But when I woke up early this morning, I discovered that the banknotes I had placed in the box on the table were gone..."
Yun Qingqing interrupted:
"So you didn't see it with your own eyes, and you don't have any concrete evidence that Jingyao took the banknote?"
Old Mrs. Zhao said anxiously:
"If she didn't steal it, then why did she run away? If you think an old woman like me, who is about to be buried, is lying, then why not call the little girl over to confront her!"
"If even you can't find the person, then who else could it be except her!"
"I know you are kind-hearted and don't want to think the worst of others, but not everyone is like you!"
"What morals can you expect from a girl who grew up in a brothel? Someone like you shouldn't bother covering up for her..."
"I'm covering for her?" Yun Qingqing sneered, "Then look back, who is that?"
When Old Mrs. Zhao followed, she turned around and was stunned.
I saw Nan Zheng walking in from the courtyard gate carrying the sleeping Jingyao on his back.
Old Mrs. Zhao's expression changed, and she suddenly showed a surprised expression and said:
"She must have been too tired to be caught up by this gentleman! Thank God... Search her quickly, but I hope she hasn't hidden the banknotes!"
Nan Zheng heard her say this and snorted coldly:
"What do you mean she was too tired from running? She was knocked unconscious and taken away in her room in the middle of the night!"
"What!" Lu Er was shocked. "You said that some bad guys came to this yard last night and kidnapped A Yao? That's not right..."
He suddenly realized something, turned to look at Old Lady Zhao and asked:
"Mom, didn't you say A Yao slept in your room last night? But this guard clearly said she was abducted in her own room!"
"No, impossible!" Old Mrs. Zhao's face turned panicked. "Don't listen to his nonsense... That's right! He must be talking nonsense to cover up for this little girl!"
"Think about it, if he had seen the little girl being taken away from her room last night, he would have definitely caught the criminal on the spot! How could he have waited for someone to be taken away all night and then brought her back now!"
Nan Zheng sneered:
"What's impossible? I followed my master's orders and kept watch all night. I didn't catch the criminal right away because I didn't want to alert the enemy. I just wanted to see if the criminal had any accomplices and find out who was behind this!"
"Guess what happened?"
He waved his hand:
“Bring it up!”
Under the horrified gaze of Old Lady Zhao, three black shadows suddenly appeared in the courtyard. They were the secret guards of the Regent's Palace!
Each secret guard was holding a man with a bruised face and nose!
The secret guard threw the three people to the ground, and Nan Zheng sneered:
"Mrs. Zhao, you're not saying you don't know these people, are you?"
Old Mrs. Zhao turned pale and was speechless.
Lu Er suddenly exclaimed:
"Lu Jiang, Lu Hai, Lu He? How could it be you! Why are you doing this?!"
He was very familiar with these three people. Aren't they the three brothers in the village who were idle and lived off the food and clothing?
Lu Jiang huddled on the ground holding his head and howled:
"Don't, don't hit me, I've confessed everything! We really weren't the mastermind! It was Grandma Zhao who promised us five taels of silver to take this girl away from her house!"
"She also said that as long as we keep this girl away from her house, we can do whatever we want with her, even sell her!"
"Right, right, right!" Lu Hai also said repeatedly, "We just agreed to her because we thought we could make money on both sides. Now we know we were wrong, hero, please forgive us!"
"Oh my god... I won't dare to mess with you again!" Lu He's mouth was full of blood. Maybe his teeth were knocked out and his tongue was swollen, so he couldn't speak clearly when he begged for mercy.
Yun Qingqing looked at Old Lady Zhao with cold eyes:
"So it's the thief crying thief! You're so cruel to such a young girl. What else do you have to say?"
Lu Er looked at his mother as if he didn't recognize her, and said in disbelief:
"Mom...why are you doing this!?"
Old Mrs. Zhao shook her head in panic, her eyes rolling around, and suddenly screamed:
"It's not me! They're all talking nonsense! These guys are always bad people. They were caught in the act and don't want to take the blame, so they made up this story to frame me!"
"Son! Don't you even believe what your mother says? Are you going to believe these little hooligans?"
After she said that, Lu Er hesitated again.
He looked at Yun Qingqing and said:
"My Lord, this matter...maybe there really is a misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding?" Yun Qingqing said coldly, looking at Old Lady Zhao, "Then you keep saying that Jingyao came to find you in the middle of the night and stayed in your room and stole the silver, but Nanzheng saw her being kidnapped from her own room with his own eyes. How do you explain that?"
"I don't know either!" Old Mrs. Zhao insisted on her innocence. "Anyway, the little girl was still there when I fell asleep. Maybe..."
"I know! Maybe she took the banknotes and quietly returned to her room, intending to pack up and run away, but by some strange coincidence she happened to run into Lu Hai and his brothers who came to kidnap people, and that's why she was knocked unconscious and taken away!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com