Chapter 11 - A Secret Behind the Engagement
Chapter 11 - A Secret Behind the Engagement
Chapter 11 A Secret Behind the Engagement
“Magistrate Wang, I would not have been able to survive this time but for the prince of Yan State. I wonder if you can prepare a gift for me so that I can express my gratitude to him? I will ask my father to reward you when I am back in the capital.”
Wei Yuewu asked the magistrate earnestly with profound meaning.
She mentioned Yan Huaijing on purpose to remind the magistrate that the prince was also involved.
As she expected, when Magistrate Wang heard the mentioning of the prince, he was at a loss at first, but in an instant his eyes brightened and his worry disappeared. A big smile appeared on his face again. He immediately accepted the request and ordered his servants to prepare the gift before he followed Wei Yuewu to visit the prince of Yan State.
In such a situation, Mo Huating couldn’t find any reason to stop Magistrate Wang from following Wei Yuewu even if he wanted to. Mo Huating could only stand by and watch them leave.
As a result, there was one more carriage in Yan Huaijing’s entourage, in which sat the sixth miss from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. It was a result of Magistrate Wang’s visit to the prince, during which he entrusted the miss to the prince and asked him to escort her to the capital.
Before the carriage set off, a letter from Wei Yuewu was quietly sent to her maternal grandfather’s house....
Mo Huating stood on a high slope with several guards as the prince’s procession slowly left the inn. His eyes fell on the last carriage at a distance, his brows tightly knitted and coldness simmering in his slightly squinted eyes.
One of his hands in the robe sleeve was gripping a small box. He held it so hard that his palm sweated, all because of the things in the box. He could not break off the engagement. It was nothing if Wei Yuewu died, but he could not be the one who asked to break off the engagement!
If the matter involving the item in this box was true, breaking off the engagement with Wei Yuewu might be a disaster. But in fact, he had been suspicious of the truthfulness of that matter even by now. Yet Mo Huating had always been cautious. Even if he was suspicious of it, he didn’t dare to bet his future on it.
He could not afford such a huge bet!
This was a secret, a great secret, a secret involving the whole dynasty! And this secret would also affect his own secret!
However, would this be true....
After the prince’s carriages disappeared at the intersection, Mo Huating hurried back to the capital with his guards and arrived ahead of the prince. Instead of going back to his own mansion, he directly made an appointment with Wei Yan, the second miss of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, and met her secretly in a restaurant.
Mo Huating and Wei Yan met in a hurry. They did not stay long before they left.
“Mother, what should I do? That cheap girl was so lucky that she was back in the capital safely.”
In the courtyard of Lady Li, the wife of the second brother of Marquis Hua Yang, Wei Yan said to her mother in a flustered and exasperated manner. She looked bright and beautiful, twisting a large red handkerchief embroidered with exquisite patterns as she spoke to Lady Li.
Wei Yan was furious whenever she thought that Wei Yuewu did not die.
“What did Marquis Jing Yuan say?”
Lady Li asked after a while, frowning. She blinked her eyes slightly and her expression was impenetrable.
“He said that that ugly and cheap girl is now with the prince of Yan State. It is not a good time to take actions at the moment. But after entering the city, they will definitely be separated. If we kill that cheap girl by then, no investigation can point to us.” Wei Yan said as she gnashed her teeth in hatred.
“Why didn’t Marquis Jing Yuan do it himself?” Lady Li asked slowly with a cold face a long while later under the impatient urging of Wei Yan.
“He said that he had done it before, but that cheap girl was so eloquent that she made people suspect him. Therefore, he can’t do anything at present, or he will definitely become a suspect. Mother, this time I must have her dead.”
Wei Yan hatefully squeezed out these words from the gap of her teeth.
“Shut up!” Lady Li rapped out as her face suddenly fell and coldness filled her eyes.
Wei Yan was stunned. She had never been rebuked by her mother so harshly. She looked at Lady Li blankly, not knowing what she said was wrong.
“Do you realize what mistakes you have made today?” Lady Li said, her face livid with anger. “As the most distinguished miss at the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, you disgrace yourself by confronting point-to-point with that unloved girl. What should I say to bring you into sense? Now that Marquis Jing Yuan has the intention to marry you, he should be the person to do it. Why should you get involved? You are really going to piss me off!”
“But Huating had tried once and was made a suspect publicly by that cheap girl. It is inconvenient for him to do it now.” Wei Yan explained, unconvinced.
“Silly girl, why are you so silly? He has been suspected by that cheap girl, so what? As long as he kills that bitch, nobody can find out it is done by him. Besides, he is a man. It is more convenient for him to take actions than you, a noble girl who is supposed to stay within the family courtyard.”
Lady Li scolded angrily.
“But, Mother, I have promised Huating, and he is waiting for my good news. If we miss this opportunity and let the cheap girl enter the house safe and sound, I will be in trouble. I heard that bitch had a sharp tongue. It’s likely that she may say something bad about us in front of grandmother.” Wei Yan stamped her feet in an anxious manner. She felt that she must help Mo Huating do it as she thought of his ardent and affectionate eyes looking at her.
Speaking of that, Lady Li also felt a headache. She had originally thought Wei Yuewu was just a little ordinary girl who escaped with her life. Never had she expected that the girl was going to cause big trouble for them.
Seeing her mother was silent, Wei Yan became more resentful. She rolled her eyes as she thought of a way. Then, she said to Lady Li threateningly: “Mother, if you don’t want to help me, I’ll go and ask for help from my elder sister.”
She knew that her mother loved her, but the person she cared about most was her elder sister, wife of the Prince of Nan’an.
“Okay, okay, you go back first. Don’t bother your elder sister about this. I’ll discuss it with your uncle.” Lady Li said angrily as she finally lost her composure and raised up her eyebrows.
It was true that that cheap girl could not be left alive. She was a scourge after all. I had not figured out a way to get rid of her years ago before she was sent away. Now that she was coming back, it was better to get rid of her as soon as possible. Now that she was on her way to the house, no one would ever be suspicious of me if she was killed.
The capital was not far away. It was said that they would arrive in two hours.
“Jin Ling, please give this to Prince Yan for me.” Wei Yuewu carefully removed a ring from her finger. She fixed her eyes at the ring, looked at it closely and sighed softly before handing it to Jin Ling.
This was just an ordinary-looking square ring, nothing special about it. However, Wei Yuewu clearly knew that it was a delicate private seal. On the front of the ring, there was a small square bulge, on which there was no gem but some fine stripes that looked like some patterns.
If one pressed the front of the ring in red stamp-pad ink and then on white paper, one could see characters left on the paper.
This ring was left to Wei Yuewu by her birth mother. She was able to survive that murder case because she was wearing the ring on her finger.
Apparently, she took it off at this point because she had to ask Yan Huaijing to do something for her!
In the heart of Wei Yuewu, the ring was not only a token, but also a legacy of her mother. However, she must give it up now, for what was waiting for her in the capital was a forbidding place full of dangers.
Seeing that Wei Yuewu took down the ring in such a careful manner, Jin Ling nodded immediately. She carefully took over the ring, got off the carriage, and took it to the carriage in the front of the procession.
After a while, the carriage suddenly stopped. Wei Yuewu could feel the guards’ horses outside stopped in a uniform way. Then solemn silence could be felt, in which a leisurely and clear voice sounded: “Sixth Miss Wei, please get off the carriage and have a rest.”