Just as Jiang Yuwei was about to ask what had happened, she heard the courtyard gate behind her creak urgently.
"Knock knock knock..."
"Thump thump thump thump..."
Seeing this, Ning Wu became even more nervous and kept gesturing to the crowd. Although no one knew what he was gesturing, everyone was on high alert and quietly picked up their weapons.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly climbed the ladder that had been set up in the yard and poked half her head out to look outside the door.
There were two people standing outside, a man and a woman. The one knocking on the door was an old woman, who was banging on her own courtyard gate.
By the moonlight, Jiang Yuwei carefully examined the old woman and felt she had seen her somewhere before. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the man standing behind the old woman was the same man who had come to Ningjia Village looking for the mentally challenged man that day.
Jiang Yuwei was so frightened that she stumbled and almost fell off the ladder.
The sound of the ladder startled the old woman who was knocking on the door. She looked up sharply.
Jiang Yuwei met her eyes and suddenly realized that this old woman was Wang Ma, who had mistaken Ning Huaizhi for her young master in Ping'an Town that day!
Jiang Yuwei was shocked and hurriedly climbed down the ladder shakily, holding onto the ladder. Could it be that Wang Ma and that man were the same people, both looking for the idiot?
Are they good people or bad people? If I open the gate to them tonight, will it end happily for everyone, or will it lead to their tragic deaths?
Jiang Yuwei glanced at everyone in the courtyard and clenched her fists. No, she couldn't gamble, and she dared not gamble. She couldn't let everyone risk their lives for the sake of that fool.
Just then, Wang Ma, who was outside the courtyard, spoke up:
"I know you! You're the woman who was in the oxcart with our Crown Prince that day! Open the door! I have something important to discuss with the Crown Prince!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuwei knew that the other person had already seen her, so there was no need to hide it anymore.
"We don't have the prince you're looking for in our courtyard. You'd better leave!"
While banging on the door, Wang Ma called out:
"I know the Crown Prince is inside. Let me in. I must see the Crown Prince today!"
Jiang Yuwei was getting impatient with Wang Ma's persistent nagging.
"We don't have any princes here, how many times do I have to say it! Get out of here or don't blame me for being impolite!"
After Jiang Yuwei finished speaking, there was a moment of silence outside the door, followed by Wang Ma's wailing:
"Your Highness, are you really so heartless that you won't even see the Princess one last time in order to escape this marriage? You will regret this! Your Highness, I beg you, please open the door for this old servant!"
The man beside her seemed unable to bear it any longer and reached out to help Wang Ma, who was slumped over by the door.
"Wang Ma, save your energy."
Suddenly, Wang Ma flung the man's hand away and angrily said:
"Yun Qing! Don't worry about me! You're a good-for-nothing! You couldn't even protect the young master, leaving him all alone in this desolate place. The young master has suffered so much!"
As she spoke, Wang Ma continued to pound on the door and cry.
"My lord, Wang Ma has only ever loved you. I devoted myself to raising you from a baby to ten years old. If it weren't for Aunt Liu's schemes, I wouldn't have been banished to the estate and stayed there for ten years... Waaah..."
After hearing this, Jiang Yuwei finally understood why Wang Ma had mistaken Ning Huaizhi for a fool. It turned out that Wang Ma had never seen a fool after the age of ten.
It seemed that Wang Ma had brought up something painful, and she cried even harder.
"Your Highness, sob sob, if it weren't for the Princess's accident and my plea for Your Highness to release me from the estate, I'm afraid I would never have seen the Princess and Your Highness again in this lifetime..."
Listening to Wang Ma's heartfelt lament, Jiang Yuwei was momentarily unable to discern the truth from the falsehood. The most troublesome aspect was that the idiot had lost his memory, making it impossible to determine whether this person was genuine or not.
Thinking this through, Jiang Yuwei lost patience with Wang Ma's wailing and pulled the simpleton to a corner, whispering:
Do you remember Wang Ma and Yun Qing?
The fool looked at Jiang Yuwei with a puzzled expression, muttering to himself:
"Wang Ma? Yun Qing? I don't know her!"
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei went directly to the door and shouted to Wang Ma:
"What are you doing, crying and wailing in front of someone's door in the middle of the night? Can't you let people have some peace and quiet?! I told you! If you don't leave, I won't be polite!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Yuwei reached out and pulled the lever at the door. At the same time, four or five arrows shot out from the courtyard wall.
Wang Ma, who was sitting on the ground, was terrified when she saw this. She had no idea that there was such a powerful mechanism in the house of this country bumpkin.
Seeing this, Yun Qing's face also turned cold. He thought of the humiliation he had suffered in the courtyard that night, and he was afraid that if he forced his way in tonight, he would not get away with it.
Without saying a word, he grabbed Wang Ma, who was sitting on the ground, and pulled her up, saying coldly:
“This courtyard is not simple. Aunt Wang, come with me first, and we will discuss this further.”
Wang Ma didn't dare to say anything more and could only silently follow Yun Qing out of the village.
In the courtyard,
Jiang Yuwei pressed her ear against the door, listening to the footsteps of the two people gradually fading away, and slowly let out a sigh of relief.
He then turned to look at the people in the courtyard and said:
"I'm afraid everyone will have to stay overnight in the courtyard tonight, as I'm worried they won't be able to go far."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei pointed to the idiot's room and said:
"The men stayed in the room of the fool and Huaizhi. If there wasn't enough room in the bed, they would find some dry grass to make a makeshift bed on the floor. They would make do for one night."
Then Jiang Yuwei said to Ning Qiu:
"Ningqiu, you and Daya go to sleep in the backyard. It'll be better if you two sleep together and can keep an eye on each other at night."
After saying that, he turned to Aunt Zhang and Aunt Zhou and said:
"Aunt Zhang, Aunt Zhou, you two go sleep in the side room with Liu Shi. Xiao Yun, take the child and squeeze into my room."
After hearing Jiang Yuwei's instructions, everyone busied themselves tidying up the table and preparing to go to sleep.
Jiang Yuwei then spoke to Ning Wu and Zhang Tianhe:
"Tonight, you two will be responsible for guarding the front yard. Tianhe will guard the first half of the night, and Ningwu will guard the second half. If there is any disturbance, wake us up immediately."
After saying that, Jiang Yuwei looked at Tie Zhu and Zhang Guangdao:
"You two are responsible for guarding the backyard and the pond. There's a lot of space in the back, so you'll have to do a lot of patrols. We'll divide the work between you, one for the first half of the night and the other for the second half."
After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, everyone hurriedly checked the doors and windows, and then went back to their rooms to sleep.
Jiang Yuwei thought that since everyone was asleep at night, the two of them would come back and cause some trouble, so she didn't dare to sleep too soundly.
To her surprise, the two never returned. Jiang Yuwei slept soundly until dawn and found that everyone in the courtyard was already up, busy cooking and tidying up the yard.
Busy, she quickly got dressed and went to the courtyard. Jiang Yuwei waved to Ning Wu and Tie Zhu, and the two of them came over.
Was anything unusual last night?
The two shook their heads like rattles.
"Nothing's wrong, everything's fine, Sister Yuwei, can we open the courtyard gate now?"
Jiang Yuwei thought for a moment and then shouted to the fool standing at the door:
"Fool, open the gate!"
Upon hearing this, the fool quickly put down his broom and opened the courtyard gate.
But as soon as the courtyard gate opened, two dark figures suddenly pounced on the idiot.
The fool was a martial artist, so his reaction was quick. Upon seeing this, he instinctively raised his foot and kicked the two dark figures.
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