The Hidden Beauty

Chapter 8 Is your waist okay?
"Your Majesty, please understand. Mu He is a maid that I brought into the palace as a dowry. She has been following me loyally since she was a child. She would never do anything to murder the heir to the throne."

Lin Nianyi ignored the grief of miscarriage, knelt on the ground, tightly grasped the emperor's sleeve, and cried.

"Someone must have used Mu He to murder my unborn child. Your Majesty must catch the murderer behind the scenes."

His Majesty had advised her several times, but seeing that she was still unyielding, he could not help but frown slightly.

"I know that my beloved concubine is very sad about the loss of the royal heir, but the evidence is there, and Mu He has committed suicide out of fear of the crime. Please don't act on impulse anymore."

"Your Majesty..."

Before Lin Nianyi could speak again, His Majesty interrupted her and looked at her solemnly: "Mu He is dead. My beloved concubine should feel lucky that no more people or things were involved."

Lin Nianyi saw a warning in his eyes and was shocked: "Your Majesty, are you suspecting that I have plotted to kill your own flesh and blood?"

The emperor pulled her hand away from the dragon robe and tried to comfort her: "My beloved, don't let your imagination run wild. I will order that no one can disturb you. You should take good care of yourself. There will be many opportunities to conceive an heir in the future."

Walking inside the palace, the eunuch chief Debao saw that His Majesty was heading towards the Imperial Garden and hurriedly explained, "Mu He was found in the fish and algae pond. The palace servants are still cleaning it up. Please move on, Your Majesty."

The emperor stared at the direction of the Imperial Garden thoughtfully: "I didn't expect that he would be so cruel for that woman Jiang Shiwan."

"The emperor is worried about the imperial concubine's pregnancy, fearing that the Meng and Lin families will dominate the court."

Debao responded in a low voice: "Now that the Left Commander has solved the Lin family's biggest bargaining chip personally, he is also making his position clear to the emperor."

The emperor glanced at him and said, "I didn't know when you became Meng Tingzhou's man?"

Debao knelt down in panic and bowed his head respectfully. "I just saw it in a superficial way. I offended Your Majesty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"What position is Meng Tingzhou expressing?"

"I dare not speak nonsense."

"explain."

"I heard that Mu He went to the Governor's Mansion yesterday, but she didn't even see the Left Governor. I guess there must have been a rift between them."

The emperor smiled and said, "So, I have to thank Jiang Shiwan for doing something important for me without realizing it."

At the end, he sighed: "Since ancient times, heroes have been unable to resist the temptation of beautiful women."

The north wind gradually rose, and snow and hail fell from the dark sky, and soon the wind and snow were everywhere.

This snow fell from before the New Year to after the New Year.

Because of the heavy snow for several days, the victims soon started to cause trouble.

The emperor first sent the Ministry of War to assist the imperial envoys in various places to appease the people. Because it was the end of the year, he also let the Governor's Office be responsible for the security around the capital.

Meng Tingzhou had no time to rest from going out early and coming back late every day, and it was already February when the disaster was gradually under control.

Jiang Shiwan's health has recovered. She hasn't seen him for more than a month because of the last quarrel.

However, she had been carefully observing the construction and defense of the Governor's Mansion. If she wanted to escape, it would be almost impossible to avoid the guards of the Governor's Mansion.

The only useful information was that she accidentally learned that the person who delivered vegetables to the Governor's Mansion every day was Yunchang's fellow villager. This clue gave her some inspiration.

She was still a little stunned until the eldest princess sent someone to deliver the reward.

Although he had attended several banquets at the Princess's Mansion before, he did not have a close relationship with the Princess.

When she was ready to go to the front hall, Aunt Sui Yu, who was beside the princess, helped her up with a smile on her face: "I have seen Miss Jiang several times when she came to the princess's mansion before. At that time, the princess said that the girl's eyebrows and eyes were as beautiful as a picture. Now she looks even more charming." Jiang Shiwan bowed: "The princess is too kind."

Aunt Sui Yu handed over a brocade box and said, "The princess heard that Miss Jiang was injured, so she sent me to bring you some ginseng. I hope Miss Jiang will accept it."

"Because of your status, His Majesty and the Princess are not in a position to come in person. The Princess asked me to bring a message to Miss Jiang. Please stay with the Governor at ease. This is to atone for the sins of the Jiang family and your father."

Jiang Shiwan finally understood that it was not the eldest princess who wanted to see her, but the emperor who wanted to.

She frowned slightly: "I don't understand, please explain it to me, aunt."

Aunt Suiyu stroked the back of her hand and said, "Miss, you are a wise person. Even if you don't understand it now, you will understand it someday."

Seeing Meng Tingzhou coming back, she didn't plan to stay any longer, and walked out to tell him the reason for her future stay at the Governor's Mansion.

After seeing off Aunt Suiyu, Meng Tingzhou saw Jiang Shiwan preparing to leave and reached out to stop her: "Have you made up your mind?"

Jiang Shiwan glanced at him. He seemed to have darkened after not seeing him for a while. "I wonder what the governor meant?"

Meng Tingzhou was very close to her and asked in a low voice: "The imperial concubine had a miscarriage. Do you know why?"

Seeing her shaking her head, he silently grabbed her collar and said, "The imperial concubine wanted to use my mother's hand to deal with you, and she had a miscarriage the next day."

Jiang Shiwan was a little bit unbelievable: "Did you do this?"

"She's just paying the price for something stupid she did."

"Jiang Shiwan, I hope you won't do anything stupid. Everyone has to pay the price for their stupidity."

Jiang Shiwan's face changed slightly: "What do you mean?"

"Last time you belittled yourself, saying that you would rather have sex with the groom than commit yourself to me..." Meng Tingzhou scanned her face, "I still feel bad about this sentence, so I want to ask you, have you thought about the consequences of your stupid behavior?"

He almost dragged her to the shadow of the wall, ripped off her coat, turned her back to him, and whispered in her ear: "If you haven't thought it through, I can let you feel what it means to be truly despised in public."

The biting cold wind devoured her body and mind. Jiang Shiwan's lips turned pale and she didn't even dare to look at the guards and maids around her.

Feeling him undoing the last restraints from behind, Jiang Shiwan said softly, "Commander-in-chief, I was wrong."

"Not only have I despised myself, I have also insulted the governor. I am guilty."

"There won't be a next time." Meng Tingzhou's eyes fell on her shoulders, "Turn around and hug me."

When Jiang Shiwan put her arms around his neck, he stretched out his hands to cover her whole body with the crane cloak and picked her up horizontally: "You are well cared for, and you seem to have grown some meat."

His hand rubbed her lower back: "Is your waist okay?"

Jiang Shiwan buried his head in his chest: "Much better, but I still feel sore sometimes."

No, I can't wait any longer, I must find a way to leave.

Meng Tingzhou didn't know what she was thinking, and said as he walked over, "I'll rub it for you."

His hands were gentle at first, but gradually became restless, and his dark eyes were burning with heat.

When he got back to the main house, he was impatient to get her, and something fell when he struggled.

Meng Tingzhou then remembered and gave her the item: "Next time someone gives you trouble, take this token and no one will dare to do anything to you."

(End of this chapter)