Xue Mu was stunned for a moment, then put away the knife and walked towards Liu Qinghuan: "Qingqing, why are you here?" His expression had already returned to normal, Liu Qinghuan looked at the faint smile on his mouth, and gently curled his lower lip: " Today I feel that my body is much better than the previous few days, so I took a walk in the garden. I accidentally heard that Lord Hou was entertaining guests in the main hall, so I wanted to come and see out of curiosity. Sorry, I shouldn’t come to the main hall without authorization.”
This is of course a lie.
Not long after she woke up, she heard that Xue Mu had split the assassin pretending to be a dancer in half. Although Liu Qinghuan has deceived many people over the years, she has never killed a single person. Xue Mu's decisive killing made her feel uneasy.
Until today, I heard that he had a banquet at the mansion.
At this time, the banquet must have something to do with the assassination, so she deliberately found an excuse to come over to take a look, but unexpectedly saw the scene just now.
When Xue Mu killed people, he showed no mercy. Perhaps it was because of his overly gentle and handsome appearance that people overlooked that the title of "Number One God of War" was paid for with blood and life.
After hearing Liu Qinghuan's words, Xue Mu didn't intend to blame her, but just asked her to go back to her room earlier to rest. Liu Qinghuan nodded and turned around to leave. Before leaving, she glanced at Li Mo who consciously cleaned up the murder scene, and seemed to hear him lamenting Xue Mu's exquisite knife skills, and the incision was so smooth.
Liu Qinghuan turned her head and brought the two maids back to the main room.
After she walked away, Li Mo stopped what he was doing and walked up to Xue Mu, with a hint of schadenfreude in his tone: "I told you to kill Yuan Hongcai with a single knife, and you have to frighten him enough before doing anything." , is really too bad."
Xue Mu turned his head, the corner of his mouth slightly raised: "You seem very happy?"
Li Mo smiled and said: "I'm happy, but you may not be so happy. Did you see your wife's face just now..."
click.
The slight sound of the long knife being unsheathed made Li Mo shut up immediately. He laughed twice, and continued to clean up the main hall without complaint.
Thinking of him as a dignified general of Weiyuan, what is the reason for doing such a thing
Xue Mu looked at Liu Qinghuan's back that was drifting away, but the smile on his mouth gradually disappeared.
After returning to the room, Liu Qinghuan saw that the faces of Chi Tao and Qing Zhi were still a little pale, so she asked them to go down to rest, and sat down by the bed by herself.
If she still had a fluke mentality before and wanted to wait until all four paintings were found before leaving the Hou Mansion, then after what happened today, she has realized that she must leave as soon as possible.
When Xue Mu knew that she had been lying to him, she couldn't guarantee what he would do to her—but in general, the chance of slashing herself was the greatest.
She was just asking for money, but she didn't want to waste it.
But before her escape plan was mature, a new incident occurred.
Nian Tang stood in front of her, his attitude was as bad as ever: "Master Hou asked you to go to the Lotus Pavilion."
Liu Qinghuan already had a bad premonition in her heart, but she still asked calmly, "What's the matter?"
Nian Tang said impatiently: "You will know when you go."
Liu Qinghuan lowered her eyes and stood up from her seat. Chitao Qingzhi followed her, but was stopped by Nian Tang: "You two don't need to follow."
Chi Tao and Qing Zhi looked at each other with some doubts, but said yes respectfully.
The bad premonition in Liu Qinghuan's heart was even stronger. Speaking of it, it seemed that her right eyelid had been twitching since she woke up.
On the way to the Lotus Pavilion, Nian Tang seemed to be escorting a prisoner. No matter what Liu Qinghuan said to her, she kept silent as if she hadn't heard it.
On the lotus pavilion, Xue Mu concentrated on making tea, while Peng Peng and Nuo Yan stood beside him, just like the scene when Liu Qinghuan came here for the first time.
She rolled her eyes, stepped forward and smiled slightly at Xue Mu: "Master Hou."
Xue Mu looked up at her, and said softly, "Qingqing, your dowry maid has been found."
Liu Qinghuan's chest was suffocated. Although Hong'er was a little clever, but she was facing Xue Mu, and she would definitely not be able to resist his interrogation.
However, her identity being exposed was also what she expected, but it came earlier than she expected.
After she was stunned for a moment, a trace of surprise appeared on her face: "Really? What happened to her, is she injured?"
Before Xue Mu could speak this time, Nian Tang couldn't help but said: "You liar, do you still want to continue to deceive Lord Hou!"
Pengpeng also opened his mouth in disbelief: "I didn't expect Wu Lala to be Du Juan, Shan Shan Mani."
Only Nuo Yan just looked at her without saying anything.
Xue Mu put out the fire in the charcoal stove, and with a puff, several puffs of thick smoke rushed up: "Can you tell me what's going on?"
Liu Qinghuan pursed her lips, and let out a breath: "The third lady of the servant's mansion wants to escape marriage, and I just help her get rid of the golden cicada's shell."
Xue Mu's eyes moved slightly, and Nian Tang asked in a sharp voice: "It's ridiculous! She escaped marriage? Why should she!"
How could Lord Hou be unworthy of her? She was blind to fall in love with Tang Zibo!
Liu Qinghuan glanced at Nian Tang, but did not answer the question. Xue Mu looked at her quietly, and asked again: "Do you know where she went?"
"I don't know."
"What's your purpose in sneaking into the Hou Mansion?"
"Just asking for money."
Xue Mu paused and did not speak again. Nian Tang was so angry that he went forward and grabbed her arm, and said viciously: "I will arrest you, a liar, and go to the court right now!"
Liu Qinghuan's eyes changed, and she shook off Niantang's hand: "Yes, I'm a liar, but do you think I'm born to like to lie!"
The mournful and shrill voice gradually dissipated in the occasional breeze.
Nian Tang was taken aback by her, and the other three also looked at her silently.
Liu Qinghuan sniffed, and the tip of her nose seemed to be a little red: "I was abandoned by my parents in a small mountain village when I was born, and the people who adopted me changed like lanterns. It is completely different from the prosperity of Chang'an. You must not imagine how impoverished there is. The villagers can’t even afford to raise their own children, let alone raise me as a foreigner. The children in the village don’t like me either, and bullying me is the most interesting game in their eyes.”
Speaking of this, she glanced at Xue Mu, her eyes were full of water: "Master Hou, do you still remember that you told me that cuckoo chicks will drive other chicks out of the nest? To them, I am like this exist, and I will take away their hope of survival."
Xue Mu's eyes seemed to flicker, Peng Peng was already so moved, even Nian Tang faintly sympathized with her.
Liu Qinghuan blinked, and there seemed to be a few drops of water on the curled eyelashes: "I know, I have to leave there, otherwise I will die. I want to go to Chang'an, but where is Chang'an? The journey is too far away, I don't even know who the emperor is. But I still left, I stole dry food from several families, and fled the village overnight. I traveled day and night, eating dry food only once a day, but I still only lasted for two months , then reached the limit. Just when I was at the end of my life, I met a group of refugees. I heard that they went to Chang’an to take refuge in the flood that year. I was so happy at the time, I felt that God was guiding me.”
When she said this, her mood suddenly sank down: "But when I followed the victims into Chang'an, I realized that I was too naive. Chang'an City is indeed as prosperous and beautiful as I imagined, but what is waiting for me is still endless. Hungry. The relief food from the government was not enough to eat, and I didn’t have any skills, so I couldn’t survive in Chang’an. Until I tricked a small vendor’s owner and got two steamed buns from him.” She looked up, The light in his eyes was so dazzling that people couldn't keep their eyes open, "Cheating is the only way for me to survive."
If you don't lie, you will be deceived, and if you don't lie, you will be hungry. To her, lying is as natural as living.
"Wooooow, Ulala, you are so pitiful." Pengpeng was moved to tears, and Nian Tang was also touched, thinking of her former self. Xue Mu and Nuo Yan sat and stood without speaking.
Liu Qinghuan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, looked at Xue Mu and said, "Although I lied to Lord Hou, it was only for money, and I didn't have any intention of harming Lord Hou. I also hope that Lord Hou can let me live."
Peng Peng and Nian Tang also turned their heads to look at Xue Mu. Xue Mu stared at Liu Qinghuan for a moment, then said, "Until you find the real Liu Qinghuan, you continue to stay in the Hou Mansion as her."
No one expected that Xue Mu's decision would be like this, even Liu Qinghuan was stunned for a while, she thought that she could take this opportunity to leave the Hou Mansion.
After Xue Mu finished speaking, he told the other three people: "This matter must not be disclosed to the outside world, especially A Niang, it must be kept secret."
"Yes." The three agreed in unison.
Liu Qinghuan thanked Xue Mu grandly for not killing her, and was escorted back to the main room by Nian Tang—it's just that along the way, her attitude towards herself has improved a lot.
Liu Qinghuan hooked the corners of her mouth indiscriminately.
On the Lotus Pavilion, Peng Peng has also returned to the barracks, only Xue Mu and Nuo Yan are still in the pavilion. Nuo Yan glanced at Xue Mu, and finally couldn't help asking: "Master Hou, why did you let her go when you knew she was lying to you again?"
Xue Mu took a sip from a celadon tea bowl, the tea was already slightly cold. He put down the teacup in his hand, smiled and said, "This story is pretty good, isn't it?"
Outside the main room, Nian Tang watched Liu Qinghuan walk into the house, and followed Xue Mu's instructions to stay outside the courtyard. Liu Qinghuan also ignored it, turned around and closed the door. She wiped away the dried tears on her face, and the corners of her mouth curled up uncontrollably.
Today's story was fabricated by her based on Nian Tang's life experience, but it was more twists and turns and soul-stirring.
Although there is no fear of life for the time being, and he has won Nian Tang's favor, it is still not a long-term solution. She still had to find a way to leave the Hou Mansion as soon as possible.
While she was thinking hard, there were two knocks on the door.
She stepped forward and opened the door, and saw Xue Mu standing outside. After being stunned for a while, she smiled and asked as usual: "What else is there for Master Hou?"
Xue Mudao: "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about when you plan to hand over the pair of "Magnolia Spring" in your hand."