“What? Can’t I come and witness how brilliant and mighty you are, capable of kicking several of these insignificant nobodies aside with a single kick?”
“Uh—”
Listening to the slightly raised tone, Lin Qingge’s scalp couldn’t help but prickle.
Not daring to look at Leng Ningyue’s beautiful eyes, which seemed to be coated with a layer of frost, Lin Qingge nudged Yan Tinghao with her toe, lowering her voice to ask:
“What’s going on? Why is Madam here?”
“Oh, it’s like this.
Didn’t you have hemorrhoids, my lord?
This subordinate sent word to Changzhou Academy to inform Madam.
Madam seemed to have arranged her affairs and rushed back without delay.
This subordinate met Madam on the way to Yipin Pavilion.
Right, if it weren’t for Madam, this subordinate wouldn’t have found this place so quickly.
So, my lord, you and Madam truly share a deep marital love, a spiritual connection, and perfect tacit understanding!”
“Brother, didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t tell anyone about my hemorrhoid condition?”
“But my lord, Madam is not an outsider; she is your wife!”
Hearing Yan Tinghao’s matter-of-fact tone, Lin Qingge held her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
How could she have forgotten that this simple-minded Yan would even tell Murong Bai, let alone her nominal wife?
Moreover, with Yan saying this, Lin Qingge, who belatedly remembered that her period had arrived, felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.
Whether it was a genuine cramp or a slight strain from earlier, she wasn’t sure.
In any case, Lin Qingge was not feeling well at all at the moment.
Seeing her pale face, the previously gloomy Leng Ningyue walked over quickly.
“Go back to the manor with me.”
With these brief four words, Leng Ningyue pulled Lin Qingge away without further ado.
…
Yan Tinghao, left behind to clean up the mess, suddenly had an epiphany.
No wonder Coroner Murong had returned to the morgue citing an urgent matter.
It turned out Coroner Murong had anticipated this situation and didn’t want to be left behind to clean up the mess.
Yan Tinghao, whose intelligence had rarely taken the high ground, first untied and woke up Sister Zheng, then resignedly loaded the tightly bound criminal onto the cart.
On the other side.
Leng Ningyue had procured a horse from somewhere, but there was only one horse, and Yan Tinghao couldn’t possibly ride with Leng Ningyue.
So, had Yan Tinghao run all the way behind the horse’s rear?
A slender hand reaching out in front of her pulled Lin Qingge’s drifting thoughts back.
She placed her hand on it and mounted the horse.
Although Leng Ningyue had an imposing aura, her height was actually shorter than Lin Qingge’s, and her build was more petite.
Therefore, the pose of a little bird nestling in the male lead’s arms as depicted in novels was impossible.
The relatively ‘tall’ Lin Qingge could only sit behind Leng Ningyue, with her arms around her waist. Being weak and listless, she rested her head on Leng Ningyue’s neck.
From afar, it looked as if Lin Qingge was holding Leng Ningyue in her embrace.
Perhaps considering Lin Qingge’s poor physical condition, the horse did not run at a particularly fast speed.
After the journey.
The two returned to the yamen under the envious gazes of the Changzhou populace.
Leng Ningyue asked Xiao Cao to bring the prepared hot water into the room.
Since brown sugar was unavailable, Leng Ningyue brewed a bowl of sugar water, then brought a hot water bottle and unceremoniously placed it into Lin Qingge’s embrace.
“No, the weather is still quite warm; it’s not necessary to this extent, is it?”
With a twitch of her mouth, Lin Qingge was about to put down the burning hot water bottle when she looked up and met Leng Ningyue’s cold, emotionless gaze.
As if feeling she wasn’t holding it securely enough, Lin Qingge quickly tucked the hot water bottle further into her embrace, saying with conviction:
“The weather has turned cold recently, so cold that I’m sweating; a hot water bottle is just right, just right.”
Looking at the person with a plastered-on smile and an obviously ingratiating demeanor, Leng Ningyue sighed with great helplessness:
“Serves you right. May you suffer excruciating pain.
Having arrived during your period, you wouldn’t rest in the yamen and instead went out to handle a case. But you even dared to pursue the criminal alone.
Do you think you are the most capable person in the world?”
By the end, Leng Ningyue’s raised eyebrows were tinged with anger.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Lin Qingge knelt on the bed and sincerely apologized:
“Sister Ningyue, I know I was wrong.
But I really had no choice. I couldn’t just stand by and watch the criminal commit another crime right before my eyes, could I?”
“Are you asking me to watch you die before my eyes?
Fortunately, you used sleeping powder.
Otherwise, given the vast difference in strength between you and the criminal, you might have been brutally killed by the butcher’s knife before Constable Yan could even arrive!
And after you died, the criminal would still continue to kill.
What’s the difference between this and walking to your own death?”
“How can it be called walking to my death?
There was indeed danger, but when faced with such a situation, if everyone turned a blind eye and only concerned themselves with their own affairs, it would not only embolden the criminal’s arrogance but also how despairing and helpless the involved parties would feel.
Virtue does not stand alone; it is bound to attract neighbors.
Stepping forward for the safety of others and charging into danger for the peace of the nation is a noble quality ingrained in the hearts of all Great Xia citizens.
Moreover, protecting the safety of the people of Changzhou County is my duty.
Therefore, both ethically and logically, I could not stand idly by.”
“Noble quality? Do you think everyone is as absent-minded as you are?”
Facing her wife’s merciless jab, Lin Qingge humbly nodded:
“Sister Ningyue, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been so reckless and adventurous.
Although the process was a bit perilous, the outcome is still good. Aren’t I safe and sound?”
Listening to the other party’s annoying tone, which seemed to imply ‘I’ll do it again next time,’ Leng Ningyue rubbed her throbbing forehead.
After a long while, she sighed deeply and murmured almost to herself:
“Forget it, it’s all my fault.”
???
Lin Qingge, whose hearing was exceptionally sharp, heard Leng Ningyue’s words and couldn’t help but have a large question mark appear above her head.
Although she did owe Leng Ningyue her life, Leng Ningyue’s act of impersonating the county magistrate’s wife had also been of help to her.
But what was the reason for the latter’s tone, which was three parts exasperated and seven parts helpless?
Lin Qingge didn’t think too much about it. Under Leng Ningyue’s meticulous ‘care,’ she began to live a completely idle life, staying indoors, not venturing out. She even pushed the case files and announcements for the dismemberment case to Hua Jinrong to write.
During this period, the butcher’s wife came to the yamen to cause a scene once, stating that their Old Fang was honest and dull, and although he was skilled at slaughtering pigs, he was absolutely incapable of murder.
Yan Tinghao recounted the subsequently pieced-together truth to the wife of the criminal, Fang Wei.
It turned out that Fang Wei had been introverted and timid since childhood, but his family had been in the business of slaughtering pigs and selling meat for generations.
Perhaps due to the heavy karma of slaughtering, the Fang family’s lineage had become increasingly sparse, with Fang Wei being the only male descendant in this generation.
Thus, the responsibility of being a butcher naturally fell upon Fang Wei’s shoulders.