My wife has a secret

Chapter 260 Whistleblower
Even when Mingzhu was buying sweets for Shen Shuangxu, she would secretly come to ask Yang Liu if there were any delicious pastries on the market.

Yang Liu continued to mutter, "I feel like it will be a big hit at the upcoming Wanbang Conference."

Because Xu Qing had been focusing on business recently, he had never paid attention to other news in the market. When he heard a new word, he couldn't help but ask: "Wanbanghui? What kind of gathering is this?"

As a native of the capital, Yang Liu was unclear about many common festival ceremonies after learning that the Marquis had lost his memory.

Therefore, she patiently explained: "The full name of Wanbang is Wanbang Laiyi, which is a ceremony initiated by the previous kings and followed by emperors of all dynasties. The intention is to invite the four directions to the capital, accept the offerings of all nations, and become the country above all nations."

Xu Qing looked at Yang Liu in surprise. He didn't expect that the maidservant surrounding the fourth room knew so much.

"My mistress taught me all of this in her spare time at the Moon Watching Tower... I paid attention to this festival at the time, mainly because when all the nations came to visit, the capital would lift the curfew and hold a lantern festival, which was extremely lively. The East and West Markets would also be open all night and open until dawn."

Yang Liu said shyly, "It was the most fun to sneak out and play at that time."

Xu Qing smiled when he heard this and reached out to touch her head.

"My Lord, I heard that this time the All Nations Conference will be different from the past. In addition to the southern tribes that pay tribute on time every year, even the Mongols and the Jin Kingdom outside the Great Wall will send special envoys to the capital to pay homage."

Xu Qing had heard about this matter.

The war outside the Great Wall was often reported to the interior through carrier pigeons and arrived on Shen's desk.

Information from various channels proved that the Liao army led by Xiao Chong was no match for the enemy and was being defeated from both sides, retreating to the dangerous pass in front of Shangjing City.

The fall of the Liao Dynasty was only a matter of time.

Although an incident at Huangling Pass prevented Qi, the Mongols and the Jin from trading by land, maritime trade between the countries had already begun.

After the two countries divided the Liao Kingdom, their territories became adjacent to each other. It was not surprising that they both wanted to make friends with the economically powerful Qi Kingdom and have it as their backing.

"I see."

After Xu Qing responded, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps coming from the courtyard, and then saw a servant who looked like a maid leaning against the door frame with a look of fear on her face.

While the master and servant were chatting, they were attracted by the loud noise and all looked towards the courtyard gate.

"Ji Xia, I thought it was someone else... You specially ran to the young master's yard, does the Third Young Mistress have something to tell you?"

Although Yang Liu felt that Ji Xia looked a little strange, she still greeted her and stood up to help the sister from the other courtyard.

But Xu Qing noticed something unusual, because Ji Xia's eyes were filled with fear and his limbs were shaking unintentionally, and it was obvious that he had encountered something very scary.

But Xu Qing has lived in the mansion for almost two months. It is quiet and peaceful. How could anything bad happen?
"My Lord...Ji...Ji Xia wants to secretly tell you something."

Yang Liu's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly and her mind went blank.

Ji Xia is a very articulate girl. Since Mrs. Lu from the third house is often bedridden, she often visits the various courtyards in the mansion.

The relationship among the group cannot be said to be very good, but it is pretty harmonious. I wonder who she is going to expose and report?

"Ji Xia...wanted to expose my young lady to the Marquis."

"Ji Xia, are you confused in your sleep and don't know what you are doing?"

Yang Liu quickly winked at Ji Xia, signaling him to stop talking right there… If he told his young lady’s secret, Ji Xia would be considered a disloyal and treacherous person.

Rich families attach great importance to etiquette and rules, and they also hate servants who gossip.

"Let her continue."

Under normal circumstances, Xu Qing would have thought Ji Xia was joking, but when he saw Ji Xia's facial expression, he knew that the other party was hiding something.

From Lu Mansion in Suzhou to Xu Mansion, and then to Nie Mansion and Hou Mansion in the capital, Ji Xia has followed almost all the way to now... If nothing happened, why would he tell me about the young lady's affairs?

Seeing this, Yang Liu didn't want to say anything more and could only step back and stand aside.

As soon as Ji Xia arrived, she knelt on the ground with a plop and cried, "My Lord, please save my young lady... Ever since she met Princess Danyang in the Princess's Mansion, she has become abnormal."

"what?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xu Qing and Yang Liu's expressions changed in shock, both of them looked horrified.

Xu Qing couldn't even imagine that the sickly third wife, who had always been well-behaved, quiet, gentle and virtuous, would actually disobey his orders and secretly go to the secret room in the princess's mansion to meet Princess Danyang.

After being shocked, Xu Qing quickly asked what was on his mind, "Lu Wanhe went to the princess's mansion. When did it happen?"

Since Princess Danyang was captured alive and taken to a secret room, she has been locked up in a dark underground place. The Imperial Guards patrol her mansion and forbid anyone to approach.

Not to mention Lu Wanhe, even if I wanted to go in, I would have to get my aunt's permission.

Ji Xia responded with a trembling voice, "My Lord, when you returned to the capital and the princess's mansion sent servants, the young lady secretly went to the princess's mansion under the pretext of going out to buy rouge and powder."

Xu Qing asked sternly, "Do you know why she went to the princess's mansion?"

"My Lord, do you still remember that you lost your memory when you fell into the water?"

Hearing Ji Xia talking about the past again, Xu Qing was stunned for a moment and nodded.

Although the memory of falling into the water has become vague compared to what is happening now, he still remembers the feeling of confusion when he first came here.

"In fact, before you fell into the water, you met my young lady once... At that time, you seemed to be drunk, and you were in the backyard of the mansion and teasing the maids passing by. But my young lady was unaware of this and met you by accident."

Xu Qing opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

"Because you resisted the marriage, you had never met my young lady, so you didn't recognize each other at that time. My young lady thought you were a bad friend that the marquis brought into the mansion to play, and she was very annoyed with you."

Ji Xia's voice stopped trembling when she said this. She said seriously, "Later, the young lady quickly left the yard and returned to her boudoir... Not long after, there was a sound of someone falling into the water outside the house."

"The courtyard where the man fell into the water is right next to our third room. Ji Xia was serving the young lady at the time and also heard the noise. But the young lady was worried that our presence late at night would cause others in the mansion to speculate that she would be in contact with these questionable people, so she ignored the matter. It was not until Xiao Huan cried out the next day that we knew that the person who fell into the water was you, my Lord."

"That's it."

When Xu Qing was investigating the fall into the water, he felt that there were many suspicious people involved in the case of Lu Wanhe from the third room.

The reason why I think so is that the side courtyard where the other party lives is very close to the pond where the water fell, and it is rarely visited by people, so any movement can be heard.

When conducting the investigation, the first person he questioned was Lu.

Later, he gave up the investigation because Xu Qing gradually discovered that Lu was a typical official lady who always abided by her duties and would not do anything to kill people. "My Lord, the lady did not intentionally deceive you because she was afraid that this matter would implicate me and drive us out of the Xu Mansion together."

Lu Wanhe is weak to begin with and needs a large amount of medicine to stay alive. If he were to face revenge from the Marquis' Mansion, he would die without knowing why.

But she also told Ji Xia in person that she was not a coward, and the reason she had not told Xu Qingyan, who was investigating the matter, was because she was worried about Ji Xia.

The maids who were driven out of the mansion had a miserable fate. As they were of low status, they could not even change their appearance and could only wander around the market and engage in some illegal livelihoods.

If caught by the government, they would basically be driven out of the city and buried in the wasteland.

"Ah."

Although Ji Xia below and Yang Liu next to her were terribly scared, Xu Qing didn't feel much in his heart.

On the contrary, he even wanted to thank Ji Xia and Lu Wanhe. If it weren't for the third room's actions this time, he would not have traveled through time to Xu Qing and experienced such a unique life.

Ji Xia heard Xu Qing's calm tone and mustered up the courage to ask, "My Lord...you, you are not angry?"

"There's nothing to be angry about. Ignorance is not a crime... Besides, it was my fault for leaving my wife alone at home for two years, and she didn't even know what she looked like."

Xu Qing finished speaking casually and asked, "What does this have to do with meeting Princess Danyang?"

"My Lord, you also know that the real culprit who used the love flower poison on you and caused you to fall into the pond was actually the White Lotus Sect's Winter Hidden Envoy, right?"

"Ah."

"Somehow, this matter was known to the Saint, so... Princess Danyang sent someone to the Nie Mansion to deliver gifts and secretly informed my young lady to go to the Princess' Mansion to keep the appointment."

Xu Qing figured out the whole story and understood what was going on.

Princess Danyang used this incident as a bargaining chip to force the third branch Lu to meet with her.

No one would have thought that the usually quiet and virtuous Lu Wanhe would have a secret meeting with a princess who was about to fall. Even Chengxuanfang...

and many more!

Xu Qing broke out in a cold sweat and his heart beat faster.

He suddenly thought of another thing. When Chengxuanfang was first established, it had the responsibility of supervising all officials and collecting intelligence in the capital.

Chengxuanfang even knew the types of food for the minister's lunch, so it was impossible for it to be unaware of this matter, which means... this incident happened before the traitor in Chengxuanfang was found out.

Princess Danyang secretly planned this incident and ordered the spies hidden in the town to destroy the intelligence. What was she planning?
In an instant, Xu Qing felt that his previous peaceful and happy days were gone forever, and the haze shrouded and dominated by the White Lotus Sect floated over his head again, pressing him down and making it hard for him to breathe.

"My Lord, my young lady has become different since she met the princess. Not only does she often stare at herself in the bronze mirror in a daze, she also hides and pours cold water on herself."

"what?"

Ji Xia didn't dare to pause and quickly let out all the strange things.

"The young lady had a fever and was seriously ill every now and then. It wasn't tuberculosis, but she was torturing herself."

After Xu Qing was shocked, he had a vague guess in his mind. He asked, "Where is your young lady?"

"In a clinic in the capital, the young lady would go out of the house to the clinic to recuperate at the middle and end of every month. I heard from other young ladies in the capital that there is a female doctor there with superb medical skills."

Yang Liu nodded repeatedly, indicating that she had also heard about this matter.

Xu Qing stood up and said expressionlessly, "Go and notify the Second Hospital and ask the Second Miss Yang to come with us."

……

The clinic where Lu Wanhe went for treatment was not far from the Marquis's Mansion, only about two streets away.

In Xu Qing's view, such coincidences seemed like a carefully prepared play, ready to be performed a good show.

When Xu Qing arrived, the entire clinic was empty. Vermilion medicine cabinets were lined up on both sides of the lobby, and all kinds of medicine names were posted on the cabinet doors, which was dizzying.

The air is filled with a unique aroma of medicinal herbs, which makes people's noses tighten and their spirits rise.

From the outside, it seemed to be just an ordinary medical clinic, but Yang Xianning and her colleagues could sense that there was an ominous atmosphere in the clinic, which was creepy and chilling.

When Yang Liu rushed to inform Yang Qin, Yang Xianning was also there.

Upon hearing that this matter was related to Lu Wanhe's affairs from the third room, Yang Xianning asked Yang Qin not to show up and let herself, a member of the Xu family, go instead.

In the end, only Xu Qing and Yang Xianning arrived at the clinic.

"You came?"

Before they went deeper into the museum, Lu Wanhe, dressed in white, suddenly appeared on the second-floor stairs and sized up the couple who were coming in aggressively with her beautiful eyes.

She has a graceful figure and pretty face, and her outfit today is like a pure white lotus, growing out of the mud without being stained.

Everything is incompatible with the gloomy environment around it and is completely different.

"I was originally wondering if the shadow last night was an illusion caused by my illness. Now it seems... it must be that girl Ji Xia who hid in the yard and saw my actions and reported it to you."

Lu Wanhe was not surprised by Xu Qing's arrival, and she could guess where she had revealed her true colors.

"As expected, I shouldn't be so soft-hearted... Maybe I've been in the Marquis' Mansion for too long, and even I've become dull and slow."

Xu Qing listened coldly until now, and could no longer hear her talking to herself, so he loudly rebuked: "Princess Danyang, to what extent do you want to tease me? Can't I let you go at the beginning and let you stop?"

"Ha ha……"

"Lu Wanhe", who was holding the corridor railing, couldn't help but laugh softly. She covered her mouth with her sleeves and giggled. Her appearance and posture were exactly the same as before.

"My husband, what are you talking about? The person you put in the princess's mansion was not me, but your beloved... the real Lu, Lu Wanhe."

Xu Qing's face was stunned when he heard this, and he looked at the other party with some disbelief.

Although he guessed some of the clues, he didn't dare to believe what "Lu Wanhe" said.

After losing her power, Princess Danyang in the princess's mansion was subjected to all kinds of abuses, but her words remained the same as usual. How could she be the taciturn, gentle and polite Lu Wanhe?
(End of this chapter)