Chapter 238
Chapter 238
"Explain yourselves! How could you do this to my daughter?" The head of the Chang family was now a madman. If it weren’t for Mu Heng blocking his way, he might have dragged the pregnant woman out for a heavy slap.
"Father-in-law, please calm down," the deputy general finally intervened. He calmly stepped in to restrain his father-in-law. Watching the demeanor of the couple that his master favored, he felt something was off. Nonetheless, the head of the Chang family seemed not to hear a thing. Even as his plump body was held back by the deputy general, he continued to spew curses.
"You wretched woman. How dare you do this to my daughter?! She was a good girl, never thinking of harming anyone since she was young. How could you bear to harm her? She looked up to you, wanted to live a good life like you. But why? Why did you do this? What did you gain from such a plan?" The head of the Chang family spoke with deep disappointment, looking sorrowfully at his daughter’s lifeless body.
"Yueqian, tell the truth. If you confess who is behind this, I might help ensure you a peaceful death," the Second Prince’s consort spoke in a calm tone, her eyes filled with immense disappointment in Yueqian.
Previously, there had been rumors that the consort felt grateful to Furen Mu for the events that transpired, even sending two concubines to thank her personally and gifting many valuable items. Thus, it was no surprise she felt disappointed with Yueqian’s actions.
The beauty behind her husband remained silent, further inciting anger among the onlookers. Even the Second Prince felt uneasy.
"How could you do this? What really happened? Uncle trusts you deeply, but why did this happen?" He also spoke up. If these two turned out to be the culprits, wouldn’t they be the ones in trouble? The Hu Region’s delegates were on their way, and now this happens!
However, the most suspicious ones were the Crown Prince’s men. Their eyes narrowed in thought. This certainly wasn’t their plan because their schemes were to begin after the Hu Region’s delegates arrived. Who would be foolish enough to act so openly at this time?
If they were really going to act, wouldn’t it be better to do so when the time is ripe? How could they deal with Eldest Young Miss Chang after there were already rumors that the young miss of the Ming family had allied with them?
The previous incident had already attracted a lot of attention. Furthermore, wouldn’t this make everyone even more cautious after they took action this time? So their plan was to stay quiet until the Hu Region’s delegates arrived.
They needed to embarrass the Second Prince and his people at that time, and then step in to resolve the situation. Wouldn’t that be better? It would diminish the enemy’s importance and give them a chance to shine at a major event. That would truly be beneficial for them.
However, the current incident made them feel like they were being set up, sacrificing their own allies. If this were the case, the head of the Chang family would hate the Crown Prince’s faction even more, and both the Second Prince and the Wang would be more cautious, making their work twice as difficult.
If things went badly and it turned out they were indeed the culprits, the Second Prince and the Wang might petition the emperor to ban the Crown Prince’s men from participating. That would ruin all their plans.
The more they thought about it, the more they felt this scheme benefited the Second Prince’s faction. So they looked at the clueless Second Prince, then shifted their gaze to the consort beside his brother. It seemed she was behind this once again.
Losing her child, she sought to retaliate against them? It was so quickly that they could hardly keep up!
However, the plan was excellent. It would deal with the Crown Prince’s people for revenge, ensuring confidence in handling the Hu Region’s delegates. It was indeed a brilliant scheme. Even Yueqian thought it was flawless. It made sense coming from a young miss of the Gui family, whose father was a wise scholar.
The only unfortunate part was that they intended to drag her down to hell with them, and this would be their plan’s weak point.
"Crown Prince! This..." Then, at the right moment, the Crown Prince’s men found something. Their faces showed some surprise, which didn’t escape the notice of the many onlookers. If they hadn’t spoken up, the Second Prince’s soldiers would have anyway.
The fabric was a symbol used by the soldiers under the Crown Prince’s command! This clearly indicated a collaboration between Yueqian and the Crown Prince.
Upon seeing the cloth, the Second Prince’s consort stumbled back three steps. She was deeply pained by the sight, her slender finger, adorned with a nail guard, pointing at Yueqian as she murmured in regret.
"I understand now. So that’s how it is. I wondered why everyone was affected by the drug that day except you. Perhaps even back then, you were already in league with the Crown Prince!!" Her words were harsh, but they made everyone think along the same lines.
It seemed Yueqian wasn’t that clever after all. However, she had anticipated the events and took precautions. Additionally, the timely capture of the intruders at the manor appeared to be a coincidence that fooled everyone.
Yueqian, hearing these words, didn’t care about the expressions around her. She pretended to be shocked, but her exaggerated mannerisms were easily seen through by everyone.
"Oh, did you just say the Crown Prince was behind the attack at the birthday celebration? Is that true, Your Highness? Then why did the Second Prince tell the Emperor that it was the servant of Miss Ming?" Yueqian exclaimed theatrically, but no one laughed.
The Crown Prince roared in anger. He couldn’t be made the villain today, no matter how much he despised Governor Mu and his wife. He had to play along.
"How dare you!! Do you dare accuse me of this?" He was furious and bellowed, his loud voice startling everyone.
"Brother, my consort spoke out of turn because she is grieving. Don’t make an issue of this. She misunderstood because of the cloth in the soldier’s hand. Isn’t that the symbol of your soldiers?" The Second Prince defended his consort. Today, he had to deal with his vile brother, but he couldn’t understand why Furen Mu acted this way.
"Do you truly believe that cloth came from one of my men? I’m not foolish enough to have my people act while wearing my soldiers’ uniform," the Crown Prince was angry. If he had acted, wouldn’t it have been better to hire assassins?
"Who knows? Since your men entered the temple, they had to reveal themselves. Maybe they forgot to disguise themselves."
"Oh, so you’re confident that I’m the culprit? Isn’t this plan something you concocted to frame me?" The Crown Prince was furious. While he was plotting to deal with the other side in a few days, he was being accused instead. What the hell was this? And why hadn’t his men informed him?!
He had gone through the trouble of planting people close to his treacherous brother, yet there had been no news. It must be because his foolish brother didn’t act on his own and didn’t know the plan, so his men were also unaware! This was infuriating, truly infuriating.
"How could I do that? Your accusations are baseless," the Second Prince sneered. He hadn’t expected his brother to say something so foolish when cornered.
However, just as they thought they had the Crown Prince in a tight spot, Yueqian, who had been silent for a while, spoke up.
"Apologies for the interruption, but I haven’t had much chance to speak. May I say something?" Yueqian asked, a slight smile on her face.
The Second Prince’s consort felt uneasy, but as she pretended to be too weak to stop her, she couldn’t prevent Yueqian from speaking. Besides, there shouldn’t be anything that could change the situation now, so she allowed her to speak until she was satisfied.
Who would have thought that when the Second Prince gave her permission to speak, the first thing Yueqian did was clap loudly, as if had just finished watching an entertaining show.
"Miss Chang, the show is over. It’s time for you to come out and tell the truth." Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes widened. Only the deputy general seemed to understand something as he looked towards the back of the temple.
Miss Chang’s small figure appeared. She was no longer in her original attire. Though still in white, her new outfit was embroidered with sparkling threads, much like Yueqian’s.
"Greetings, Second Prince. Greetings, Crown Prince," Miss Chang said as she emerged, her eyes bloodshot as if she had been crying heavily just moments before.
Indeed, she had heard everything, every word, which left her deeply saddened. She had considered everyone her friends, even the consort, whom she had helped when needed. She never expected to receive a warning from the pregnant woman that terrified her.
And yes! She had been told by the consort to secretly wait by the thousand-year-old tree. The consort had wanted her to assist in the plan to catch the culprits. Who would have thought it was actually the other party’s plan to harm her? If not for Furen Mu informing her and devising a counterplan, the person who died would not have been someone else, but herself!
As for the dead woman, she was one of the consort’s own people. To make the plan work, the assassin used the consort’s follower, who wanted to see her dead, even finding a similar outfit. Afterward, the follower took poison to commit suicide since he was truly the consort’s man, unable to fail his mission; otherwise, his endangered family would be killed because of him.
The deputy general approached his fiancée, looking at her wrist where a small, faint red birthmark was barely visible. He sighed. If he hadn’t often seen her pricking her hand while embroidering for him, which he had to frequently bandage, he might have believed, like the others, that the body was hers.
"Miss-Miss Chang!"
"Mei’er, Mei’er, my dear daughter!!"
"That’s Miss Chang. Then who is this body?!"
"What on earth is going on?" Many people exclaimed in shock. Earlier, they were startled by the Crown Prince’s audacity and collaboration with Furen Mu. But now, they were even more shocked to find that Miss Chang was actually alive!
"Consort, you, hic, how could you do this to me?" Before she could say more, an arrow swiftly flew toward her, intending to silence Miss Chang Mei before she could speak further!