Chapter 382 – Bai Chunian
King Wen walked out from the hanging flower gate and said with a gloomy face, “Lord Meng, this is my king’s separate courtyard, there is no Bai Chunian. You must be mistaken.”
The king, who had been cheerful all along, had an aura all of a sudden.
Meng Zhimo said, “That’s right, the person who reported it is the one who said King Wen’s private courtyard.”
King Wen snorted coldly, “No matter who it is, you are not allowed to trespass on this king’s place. Come on, coax me out.”
The guards rushed up and shoved the people Meng Ruimo had brought with him.
Meng Ruimo said, “Then don’t blame me for not being polite. Take them all down.”
The word “all” included King Wen.
The two sides fought. There was a huge difference in numbers, and King Wen’s guards were overpowered by the Meng family’s guards in a few hits.
King Wen was also restrained and roared, “Daring madman, you dare to rebel. I’ll go to the palace tomorrow and sue His Majesty, asking Father to make a decision for this king and kill your entire family.”
Suddenly, there were louder sounds of killing coming from behind, and King Wen’s face turned pale all of a sudden.
Not long after, several people from Mengxiang dragged a man over. The man’s body had been slashed several times, and he was no longer able to resist.
Meng Xiang said, “Master Shizi, this person is presuming to escape through the back door.”
King Wen sneered, “You guys don’t think of him as Bai Chunian, do you? Hmph, he’s a writing head in a theater troupe, here to deliver words to this king and Qingqing.”
Meng Zhimo walked up and looked at him, and indeed, he was not the Bai Chunian in the portrait. But the figure was thin and small, no different from Bai Chunian’s.
He touched around the man’s face, gouged at his chin, and then tore it, the man cried out in pain, and a false mask was torn off.
Presented in front of the person, it was the Bai Chunian on the portrait.
King Wen seemed to be startled as well, “So this person brought a fake mask, this king did not know, he lied to this king.”
Secretly, as long as Bai Chunian didn’t let go, they couldn’t find the dark room, as usual, they couldn’t do anything about it.
Meng Zhimo sneered, “Arrest everyone inside and search.”
Except for a dozen or so of his inner circle, the word to the others was to go look for a young daughter-in-law from a relative’s family.
King Wen said angrily, “Why are you still searching when you’ve searched for the person you’re looking for.”
Meng Zhimo said, “I suspect he has accomplices.”
Not long after, Cai Yunqing and a few underlings from the other courtyard were escorted in.
Meng Lianshan said, “Everyone in the three courtyards is here.”
King Wen didn’t dare to make this place too conspicuous and brought not many people, all together there were only twenty-one.
Meng Ruimo had people escort King Wen and his guards into one room, and Caiyun Qing and the underlings into another.
King Wen cursed loudly, “You son of a bitch, how dare you treat this king like this, you’re revolting. This king is the emperor’s own son, if the emperor doesn’t turn toward this king he can still turn toward you, I pooh ……”
He was explicitly scolding Meng Ruimo, but was actually warning those people to keep their mouths shut. As long as Meng Ruimo couldn’t find the dark room, the Emperor would be able to give him a decision by tomorrow.
Meng Ruimo walked into the room where Cai Yunqing and a few subordinates were being held.
He asked in a deep voice, “Say, where is the woman who was captured by Bai Chunian in the morning hidden.”
Several underlings knelt down and kowtowed like garlic.
“My lord spare my life, the servants don’t know. Every time a woman is captured, we are locked into the house and can’t see anything.”
“Occasionally we could hear the women’s voices, their mouths were gagged and their voices were small. By the time the next day rolled around, we couldn’t even see the women’s shadows. Where those people went, I really don’t know.”
“My lord, it’s true, we don’t dare to lie.”
They looked terrified, and indeed didn’t look like they were lying.
Meng Zhimo’s eyes turned to Cai Yunqing again, anger bubbling in his gaze.
Cai Yunqing’s face was pale and her body shivered. Softly, she said, “I’m just like them, as long as there’s something that the king doesn’t want me to see, he’ll lock me up.”
Meng Zhimo didn’t believe her words and reached out to pinch her neck, gritting his teeth, “Speak, if you don’t I’ll break your neck.”
Cai Yunqing was pinched to the point where she almost closed her breath and shook her head with tears in her eyes, “My lord, it’s true, I really don’t know.”
She didn’t dare to say, she couldn’t stand King Wen’s torturing methods.
Meng Zhimo added, “If you tell the truth, it will be considered a meritorious report. Even if King Wen is found guilty, you will be sentenced lightly, or even not sentenced.”
Cai Yunqing still shook her head, “I really don’t know.”
It was said that a prince committing a crime was the same as a commoner, so how could it be. If he dared to betray the king, the king would not spare himself or his family ……
Liu came over and said, “Master go search the people, I’ll talk to her.”
House outside the house to look all over, the back garden dug three feet, but did not find a suspicious place.
Duke Cheng was a bit skeptical and said quietly to Meng Zhimo, “Is this a mistake? If girl moon is not here, even if we catch Bai Chunian, we are in big trouble.”
Meng Ruimo was undeterred and waved his hand, “Continue searching.”
At this time, Shui Ling ran over with Flower in her arms, “Master Shizi, Flower seems to have found something over there.”
Hua Hua opened her mouth to meow again.
Meng Zhimo led the men to follow to the firewood room in the left side yard.
Flower Flower got down, put one ear to the ground, and meowed catcalls.
It heard a sound underground, very, very small, and listened for a long time before hearing it.
Meng Zhimo couldn’t understand its cat language, but knew that his own cat was a cat spirit, especially with good ears. It was so, it should have heard something here.
Meng Ruimo led another search in the firewood room and still didn’t find the organ.
Duke Cheng said, “Dig underground.”
Meng Ruimo had someone bring Cai Yunqing.
Cai Yunqing was brought over by the grannies.
Meng Ruimo said, “We already know that there is a secret passage underneath this place. I’ll give you one more chance. If you tell us about it, you’ll be credited for reporting it. If you don’t, you’re an accessory. No, it’s the main culprit, and King Wen will put all the blame on you and Bai Chunian for all the crimes. With so many lives, it’s not even certain that you’ll be sentenced to death.”
Cai Yunqing went limp with fear and was held back by her in-laws.
Liu was filled with pity again and said, “Look at those injuries on your body, King Wen is a pervert. If you speak up at this time, it’s just the right time to get out of your misery. If you don’t say it, you are even more miserable than King Wen. I’m also a woman, looking at those injuries hurts my heart, so I’m just mentioning a few words to you. Don’t be silly, Meng Shizi is giving you a chance to redeem yourself, you need to grab it and absolve yourself of your sins.”
Cai Yunqing’s tears fell, “I’m not afraid to die, but I’m afraid of my family ……”
Meng Zhimo said, “Don’t worry about this, our Meng family hasn’t had anyone we couldn’t protect.”
Cai Yunqing pointed to the small door next door.
This room was a servant’s room and had been searched before.
The guards opened the door, and a foul odor emanated from inside.
Cai Yunqing was racked to the door, she pointed to a brick wall with some feces and urine pasted on it and said, “I only know the passageway is there, I don’t know how to open it. Don’t worry guys, the king came back late, that woman only took a few lashes before you guys arrived.”
Meng Zhimo breathed a huge sigh of relief, and Duke Cheng’s tears of excitement almost fell.
Next door to that wall was the firewood room.