Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 399: Will They Resign to Fate?

Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Will They Resign to Fate?

"Senior brother, where have you been?"

When Miao Wuxie returned to the residence arranged by the Second Prince in the Princess’s Mansion, he saw Zhuo Yinzhu standing under the eaves with a gloomy expression.

"I went to the southern city to buy you some rare medicinal materials."

He spoke softly, shaking the medicine bag in his hand.

Zhuo Yinzhu snorted coldly, "I thought you found me ugly and ran out every chance you got, not wanting to see me!"

As she spoke, she snatched the medicine bag from Miao Wuxie and opened it to find truly hard-to-obtain medicinal materials.

A flicker of guilt flashed in her eyes.

Miao Wuxie said, "Yinzhu once saved my life; how could I despise you?"

Zhuo Yinzhu instantly regained her confidence and arrogantly said,

"It’s good you know! If it hadn’t been for me sucking out the poison from your blood in time, you would have been long dead! I can’t trust anyone now, only you are my sole reliance. If you don’t treat me a bit better, I’ll just bash my head in front of you!"

Miao Wuxie soothed her with a gentle voice.

But deep down, he felt no ripples.

He had long known that the person who had saved him was Sister Ah Jiu.

Sister Ah Jiu hadnever taken advantage of her favor, but Zhuo Yinzhu, who had taken the benefactor’s identity, could barely stop mentioning it eight hundred times a day, and often threatened him with her life.

He found it ridiculous.

In his youth, he had been shortsighted and easily deceived by Zhuo Yinzhu’s few words. Thinking back, her methods were quite poor; it was his own foolishness.

Now, watching Zhuo Yinzhu flounce about, he was already weary of her.

If it weren’t for staying by the Second Prince to help Sister Ah Jiu, he would have probably exposed Zhuo Yinzhu long ago.

Zhuo Yinzhu was still nattering, "Senior brother, remember, the way my face looks now is all your fault! You already owe me!"

She was referring to her face being sewn into this shape, but even before that, her face had been hideously burned, far uglier than now.

Zhuo Yinzhu blamed him for not using human skin but animal skin instead; she had scolded him countless times.

"Yes, it is my debt to you." Miao Wuxie returned to the subject she wanted, "I promised to help you make the poison gu, but as you know, this kind of gu takes time and must not be known to outsiders, as it could easily reveal our plans."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Yinzhu became excited.

After she had seen Guard Shi, she had come to find Miao Wuxie. But Miao Wuxie had said that such gu was too evil and would shorten one’s life; he had been vague and had not agreed directly.

Therefore, she had waited here, deliberately bringing up the life-saving benefactor and threatening him with her own life.

Indeed, Miao Wuxie still cared about her.

"Of course, I won’t speak out, and that guard won’t know either. Just make sure you don’t slip up," she said.

Murong Man, on the other hand, wouldn’t inform the Second Prince to avoid complications.

Because even the Second Prince’s guards, who are not as willing to die as Guard Shi, and with many of them injured, each is precious. Without absolute certainty, the Second Prince would not send people to their deaths.

The more people who know, the easier it is to leak secrets and make the opponent wary. What Murong Man wanted was to catch Murong Jiu off guard.

Zhuo Yinzhu also wanted Murong Jiu dead and would definitely cooperate fully with Miao Wuxie.

"My confidence is only sixty percent. This kind of poison gu is something even my father can’t make, and moreover, it requires personal belongings or body parts like hair or nails used by Murong Jiu. Can Concubine Murong get them?"

The intent of Miao Wuxie was to see if Murong Man had any other means to approach Sister Ah Jiu, which could be exposed.

Zhuo Yinzhu went to find Murong Man.

Murong Man pondered for a moment. Prince Ling’s Mansion was as impenetrable as a barrel. If there had been support from the Second Prince, Murong Jiu and Jun Yuyan would have been dead long ago — clearly, there was no such support. Even if there were, it must be hidden in the outer courtyard, inaccessible to the inner sanctums.

Suddenly, she thought of someone — Murong Qian.

Murong Qian was perhaps the only person whose relationship with Murong Jiu was not too strained, although Murong Qian had also acted foolishly but had since come to her senses in time.

However, in Murong Man’s view, Murong Qian would certainly not be content.

Originally sisters, why should Murong Jiu become the revered Princess Consort Ling while she remained obscure?

As far as she knew, Murong Qian’s poor scholar husband had indeed participated in the imperial examination, but his ranking was mediocre, only managing a position as a junior registrar in the capital, far inferior to a Top Scholar like Lou Zixi.

And Lou Zixi was merely one of Murong Jiu’s followers.

Murong Qian was also a proud person in her time, and Murong Man did not believe she would simply resign herself to this fate.

With that thought, Murong Man came up with a plan.

Conveniently, she needed to step out to eliminate Guard Shi’s old mother and pin the blame on Prince Ling’s Mansion. She could handle both tasks in one trip.

Murong Man meticulously planned in her mind. Taking advantage of the day the Second Prince was summoned to the palace, she sent Guard Shi back to the Second Prince’s Mansion to handle a task for her while she found an excuse to leave the Princess’s Mansion.

The watching subordinates reported back to Prince Ling’s Mansion.

Jun Yuyan was not in the mansion either, having also been summoned to the palace.

With the Western Regions embroiled in fierce warfare and the situation in Yundian also complicated, the Emperor had been overwhelmed for days and had no time to attend to the Fifth Princess’s affairs, calling the Second Prince to the palace not for the Fifth Princess.

Murong Jiu had not left the mansion for a long time, she asked someone to keep an eye on Murong Man while she went to see her master.

By the time she left her master, she had changed into a coarse cloth dress and turned around to reveal the face of an ordinary middle-aged woman.

Hong Yi also wore a human skin mask.

Such masks were difficult to craft, and her master had managed to make only a few.

Knowing the Princess Consort was going out, Zhou Li, Yang Shan, and the others were already prepared.

Murong Jiu and Hong Yi blended anonymously with the servants exiting through the side door.

Outside the Prince Mansion, there were naturally the eyes of others.

However, Yang Shan and the others had already managed to divert the attention of these watchers, so no one noticed that the lady of Prince Ling’s Mansion had slipped out.

Informers reported that Murong Man was heading towards Murong Qian’s location.

Upon hearing this, Murong Jiu pursed her lips.

In her dream, Murong Qian had died rather tragically and later, she faintly guessed that Murong Qian wanted to replace her to become Jun Yuyan’s woman, even colluding with a poor scholar who had sought refuge in Marquis Murong’s Mansion, aiming to conceive and have Jun Yuyan marry her, believing she was the woman of that night.

Such behavior was despicable, also showing that Murong Qian was too ambitious and somewhat unscrupulous.

But afterward, Murong Qian indeed changed and had an epiphany, living well with her husband.

So, mentioning Murong Qian, Murong Jiu felt somewhat conflicted.

When she was first brought to Marquis Mansion from the countryside, everyone ridiculed and humiliated her. Although Murong Qian had ulterior motives, she genuinely helped her through those unwillingly remembered years, and was her only warmth in the Mansion.

"Let’s go, let’s see."

Murong Jiu also wanted to know if Murong Qian would help Murong Man betray her.

If she really had changed for the better, Murong Jiu would help her husband advance his career more smoothly.

The Prince had also said that Murong Qian’s husband was a sincere and pragmatic man, only unlucky and having offended higher-ups.

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