♂?，，

  Chapter 12: The Cost of Living

  Chu Xue was lost in thought when she heard Bai Guo's voice outside: "Miss?"

  Chu Ke was startled back to her senses, took a deep breath and said: "What's wrong? Come in."

  Bai Guo smiled and walked in, today these maids were all beaming with joy. She held a floral note in her hand and said with a smile: "Miss, this is from Master to you."

  Chu Xue's face turned red, and she slightly furrowed her brow. Zhu Yi Chen had never written such a romantic letter to her before. Usually, he would just talk to her directly about anything that was on his mind. Sending flying letters, even between fiancés, could damage the woman's reputation if discovered by others. Even if someone saw the letter she wrote to him, there would be no evidence to prove it was hers since she didn't sign it.

  Today, however, such a letter arrived. Had something happened? She felt strange and quickly opened it to read. Bai Guo tactfully retreated outside.

  Chu Xue had only read a few words when her face changed drastically!

  My brother Xi Gong respectfully invites, Third Sister Shun An. The day before yesterday, he arrived but unfortunately did not have the good fortune to see his sister's face. He thinks of her day and night, unable to sleep, thinking of his sister like a madman. Today, he met an old acquaintance from your esteemed household, inquired about it, and learned that his surname is Che and his name is Gui. He has an old matter from past years that he wants to discuss with the people in the mansion, but my brother hastily stopped him. However, he found out that this matter is closely related to his sister. Thinking back and forth, he invites his sister to come to San Miao Street Hutong to discuss it seriously. He hopes his sister will gladly accept the invitation. My brother respectfully awaits. If she does not arrive by midnight, this person will go to the Zong Ren Fu government office to wait for an audience.

  Chu Kei's eyes widened as she finished reading, and Huo Ran suddenly stood up! Zhu Yi had already found out! He caught Che Gui! Chu Kei was a bit flustered, angrily kicking the stool with force, calming herself down, and hastily checking the time, it was already the end of Xu Shi! There was no time to think too much, she immediately called Bai Guo in and asked: "Who gave this flower letter?"

  Bai Guo saw that her complexion was not good, and the smile on her face was scared away in an instant. She hastily said: "It's a woman from the front courtyard who said it was a servant wearing a big red wedding dress who sent it over, and it was delivered to the gatehouse, saying that it must be given to the young lady... without letting anyone else know. The woman thought it was a letter from the young master, and fearing there might be something important to say, she had it sent in. I... I received it."

  "Get that old woman over here for me!" Chu Ke's slender eyebrows rose, and he shouted sternly!

  Bai Guo was frightened and hastily agreed, running out in a hurry. Before long, she had already called over the old woman who delivered messages.

  The old woman, upon hearing that the girl was furious, knew that something had gone wrong with the message and was so scared that her soul flew away. She dared to secretly transmit the message in the inner courtyard, if she were found out by the old lady, she would be beaten to death! If it weren't for the person saying it was the young master's letter and giving her a few silver coins as a reward, how could she have dared to transmit it? According to her thinking, even if the girl was still reserved, in more than ten days, she would marry the young master. At such a young age, wouldn't there be any passion? She was certain of this, which is why she dared to accept a few silver coins and deliver the letter.

  Now when the young lady heard this, she became very angry. The old woman was so frightened that as soon as she entered the courtyard, she 'thudded' and knelt down: "Young lady... what are your orders?"

  "Chu Ke walked out and stood at the door, sternly saying to her: "How dare you! You actually dared to privately transmit messages in the inner courtyard! Privately transmitting messages is already an unforgivable crime, and yet you still dare to say that it was sent by Master Er Ye. This is a slander against Master Er Ye's character! This letter was not written by Master Er Ye at all! It's clear that you've taken bribes from someone and are sending whatever nonsense to me. I think you're done for!"

  The old woman was so frightened by the severe scolding that she almost wet her pants, and repeatedly kowtowed: "Spare my life, miss! Spare my life! I dare not, I will never dare again!"

  Chu Ke asked the old woman in a stern voice: "What did the person who delivered the letter look like? Do you still remember?"

  The old woman knocked her head a few times and said in a flustered manner: "It's too dark..."

  "Perhaps those eyes have already been dazzled by silver!"

  That old woman didn't dare to speak up in her own defense, and could only keep kowtowing. Bai Guo, who was standing beside her, was also too scared to make a sound. The old woman handed the letter inside, having gone through it herself, and had no idea how the young lady would settle accounts with her!

  Chu Xue said to the old woman, "Now, if you confess your crime, I will let this matter drop. If not, I will take it to Madame and Old Madame..."

  The old woman knocked her head repeatedly: "I am willing to turn merit into crime! I am willing to turn merit into crime!"

  Chu Kei threw the flower letter in front of her and said, "Immediately send this flower letter to Master Er at the government hostel! It must be delivered within two hours! Otherwise, I won't forgive you lightly, go quickly!"

  The old woman didn't even have time to be stunned, and was again urged loudly by Third Sister: "Hurry up!"

  The old woman didn't have time for anything else! She immediately picked up the flower paper and repeatedly responded as she ran to the gate of the courtyard!

  Chu Ke looked at her with a gloomy face as she ran out of the yard, only then did he turn around and go back into the house.

  Zhu Yueti called herself in the past, what kind of heart is this? This is Sima Zhao's heart route, everyone knows! Even if she was a fool, she wouldn't go and throw herself into the net! But Zhu Yueti gave her very little time, she had no time or energy to carefully ponder, slowly deploy! She could only bring the flower letter to Zhu Yueting, ask him to think of a way, Zhu Yueting always had guards following him, after all stronger than herself!

  The letter has been sent out, what will Zhu Yi Zhen do? It's best to call the guards, but Zhu Yi Zhong will definitely have a backup plan. How can we stop Che Gui from entering the Imperial Palace...

  She was thinking quickly, when a terrible thought suddenly floated into her mind, frightening herself!

  He himself would never go after reading the letter, and Zhu Yingtai was not a fool, wouldn't he have thought of it?! So why did he write that letter?! Still thinking about her day and night, unable to sleep, missing his sister like crazy! If Zhu Yingtai saw this, wouldn't he immediately fly into a rage and rush to find him?!

  Chu Xue's face suddenly lost all its color, she thought of it, Zhu Yuxuan wrote that letter for a reason... maybe just to trick Zhu Yuxun into going! The time given was so tight, it was just to make herself not have time to think carefully!

  She panicked and immediately stood up, looking at the dark outside with tension, thinking that Zhu Yuxu had made such a big effort to deceive Zhu Yuxun, he would not let him go easily! Moreover, now that he knew about Che Gui, which means he knew about his brother's life experience, this deadly handle was in his hands, and he would definitely make good use of it to achieve his goal!

  Chu Xue now regrets and wants to vomit blood, why didn't she kill Che Gui earlier! Che Gui's family did such a thing, others might hide it, but they should have told their own husband! How could she not think of that at the time? She was too careless! And Che Gui acted so naturally, as if he didn't know any major secrets at all!

  This thing is useless now, Zhu Yuchen saw the letter and will definitely go over immediately. What to do now? Call someone? The guards in the mansion don't listen to me, they only listen to the old master and father. If I explain it to them, it'll take a while to make things clear!

  Zhu Yingtai's ultimate goal is still herself!

  ……

  Zhu Yuhuan endured until the beginning of Hai hour, which was also the time of the second watch. He could no longer delay taking action - because it was simply too cold. He had wanted to wait until midnight to make his move, but by then he would probably have frozen stiff himself, and his chances of success against several well-trained guards would be even smaller!

  He pulled out the dagger from his waist and stood up, first moving his hands and feet lightly, then approached the gate to look outside for a while. The courtyard he had just passed by was also dimly lit, with no signs of movement or noise.

  He quietly made his way along the wall to the west side of the house where the sleeping person was, and slipped inside. He didn't rush into action, but instead waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness within, making out the position of the person lying on the kang (a traditional Chinese bed platform). Only then did he creep forward, crouching low, before suddenly standing up right next to the person's head!

  That person was already fast asleep, but Zhu Yuhuan didn't dare to be careless. As he stood up, he reached out and covered the man's mouth with his hand, and a dagger deeply slashed across his neck!

  That person didn't even let out a groan, he just fell over and died.

  Zhu Yanhuan rushed out and walked to the east house, looking inside. His mother, Liu Suo, was tied up and sitting on the kang, with a large quilt behind her back and another one covering her body. Her feet were not bound, nor was her mouth gagged, but she couldn't move. She still had her eyes open, but her head was slightly lowered, her face pale and fearful, her expression dull and wooden.

  An old woman was lying on a footboard at the bedside, apparently already asleep, wrapped tightly in a quilt, snoring slightly.

  Another guard was still sitting in front of the stove, leaning against the cabinet beside the stove, dozing off with his eyes closed. A sword was placed next to him, and Zhu Yuhuan saw that the sword had a winding dragon pattern carved on it. Only imperial guards could use such swords!

  These people turned out to be royalty, then the people behind them, could they be...

  Although some things flashed through his mind, time did not allow him to think too much. He wanted to get rid of the two without startling the people in the backyard, so he had to be quick and careful! He absolutely could not make a sound! In fact, it would be easy to deal with just one guard, and that woman slept so soundly that she wouldn't wake up even if there was a big commotion. What he was worried about now was that his mother would see him and get startled and scream!

  Zhu Yuhuan hesitated at the door for a while, then walked quietly to the front of the room and pushed open the door very gently.

  Willow didn't notice at first, but when she felt something was off, she slowly lifted her head and suddenly found that the door had been pushed open, with someone standing in the doorway!

  She almost cried out in surprise! The person standing at the door stretched out his hand to cover his mouth, making a silencing gesture. Liu Luosu recognized him with one glance - it was Zhu Yuhuan! She stared at him in shock, but her heart immediately inclined towards believing he had come to rescue her! After all, back at the Qingyun Mountain Nunnery, this Fifth Master had seemed quite close to her daughter and future son-in-law!

  It is by.

  div

  baidu_clb_lt_id=519311

  Complete works txt download, full text free, e-book, remember 77 reading books