Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved

Chapter 143: Chapter 143 They are still pretending there
 

Murong Man’s expression changed dramatically, and she said incredulously, “What are you talking about, eldest son? What real elder sister? Are you talking about Ah Jiu? What trouble has Ah Jiu caused today?”

She had already realized something was amiss. Murong Jiu and Jun Yuyan were both here, and the eyes of General Fu and his sons were also very cold.

Given their previous affection for Fu Baozhu, they should have been the first to take Fu Baozhu away for protection, instead of letting her be surrounded and watched like this.

So, she quickly dragged Murong Jiu into the matter and continued without waiting for others to speak:

“My sister, Ah Jiu, may be a bit spoiled, but fortunately, the Prince dotes on her. If there is something unpleasant, please be more tolerant.”

After finishing, she waved at Murong Jiu, “Ninth Sister, it’s been a while since we last met. The commotion here is none of our concern. Since we’ve run into each other today, why don’t you come back to the Marquis Mansion with me, and we can have a heart-to-heart talk as sisters? You know, I will soon be married, and after that, it won’t be easy for us sisters to meet.”

Murong Jiu looked at Murong Man’s performance with a smile that was not quite a smile and only after she had finished speaking, she smiled and said:

“That’s right, you should indeed have a heart-to-heart talk with Fu Baozhu. Once she’s married off to the Western Regions, it will be hard for you sisters to even see each other.”

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Murong Man, the Marquis, and the Marchioness changed simultaneously.

Marquis Yongning said sternly, “Murong Jiu! What nonsense are you spouting! Fu Baozhu is General Fu’s daughter, you are our daughter, have you lost your mind spouting nonsense here!”

Lady Wang also said, “You really are crazy! How could we have given birth to something as mad as you! A court physician mentioned you had brain issues when you were little. We’ve treated you so many times and still couldn’t cure you!”

Lady Wang’s words were indeed clever, directly labeling Murong Jiu as mentally unstable, making her words unreliable, and leaving an impression of her with mental issues for others in the future.

“Lady Wang, you’re so eager to slander Ah Jiu, do you really treat her as your biological daughter?”

Jun Yuyan, in a protective stance, held Murong Jiu in his arms and looked coldly at Lady Wang as he spoke.

“Of course, she is our biological daughter! I gave birth to her prematurely, nearly losing my life. It was also a monk who said she had a bad fate, cursing her parents, which is why we raised her in the countryside.”

Lady Wang tried to explain publicly why they had treated Murong Jiu poorly over the years. She couldn’t let others doubt what Murong Jiu said, nor could she let anyone know that Fu Baozhu was actually her biological daughter.

On the way here, Manman had told her that Baozhu’s marriage to the Western Regions was a great thing. In the future, the Western Regions could support the Second Prince by providing troops and through Baozhu, making the Western Regions an ally of the Second Prince!

At this moment, Murong Jiu let out a scoff.

The people around also burst into laughter.

“Still playing the part here! Lady Wang herself is the most malicious, claiming Princess Consort Ling curses her own parents and neglecting her in the countryside, and now even trying to tarnish her reputation!”

“Exactly! We’ve seen malicious people, but none worse than Lady Wang—it’s utterly nauseating!”

“If we hadn’t known the truth beforehand, we could have been fooled by Lady Wang’s act. Just imagine how much Princess Consort Ling has suffered over the years!”

“Like mother, like daughter, Fu Baozhu is truly not good stuff, getting involved with men even before her engagement, letting everyone see her naked.”

“It seems Murong Man also knew the truth a long time ago, yet here she’s pretending and putting on an act, such a person is unfit to be a Princess Consort!”

These words made Murong Man’s heart skip erratically, and a tremendous panic arose within her.

How could this be? How had Fu Baozhu’s identity suddenly become known to everyone?

What went wrong?

This wasn’t supposed to happen!

“You rabble are all farting!”

Lady Wang was furious and wanted to tear these people’s faces apart.

“It’s killing me with laughter, Lady Wang, why don’t you open your eyes wide and look carefully. Do you recognize this old midwife?”

Someone pointed at the midwife.

Lady Wang wore a veil cap and simply didn’t recognize her, let alone the fact that the old woman had aged too much over the sixteen years.

But upon closer inspection, she still recognized her, after all, the events of that year were too memorable.

Lady Wang instantly reacted as if she had seen a ghost, “You, you weren’t supposed to be dead?”

“The Marchioness must be disappointed, this humble woman has a strong life, and didn’t turn into a water ghost.”

Although the old woman feared Lady Wang inside, she still mustered the courage to speak up.

Murong Man quickly grabbed Lady Wang’s hand and squeezed it hard, feigning curiosity, she asked, “Mother, who is she?”

Lady Wang recovered and hurriedly said, “She is the midwife from the General’s wife’s side, and she also helped deliver me. Your sister Ah Jiu was delivered by her. I wanted to give her some silver back then, but when I sent someone to look for her, I found out that her whole family had capsized in the canal and thought they were all dead.”

“So that’s it. It seems she might have some misunderstanding with mother.”

The crowd quietly watched the mother and daughter act out their scene.

Everyone was no fool to be deceived by their few words.

At this moment, someone intentionally said:

“Look, Murong Man and Fu Baozhu look so alike, no wonder they are blood sisters.”

This was indeed true.

Fu Baozhu liked to wear red dresses, very ostentatious, while Murong Man always preferred to wear light-colored clothing, like a white lotus standing alone from the world.

But she was about to marry into the Second Prince’s Mansion and for the sake of festivity, she specially prepared many red clothes. Today, she wore a water-red thin skirt.

The two standing together, actually resembled each other somewhat.

No one had noticed this before because their styles were too different.

Now, the more they looked, the more alike they seemed.

Murong Man panicked, “I really don’t know who brainwashed or deceived you all, this is absurd!”

She grew afraid, fearing the exposure of Fu Baozhu’s identity could affect her and the Second Prince’s marriage.

Fu Baozhu’s hands and feet trembled, she cried out, “She was brought here by Prince Ling and Princess Consort Ling! Princess Consort Ling is jealous of me, she wants to ruin me! She is a venomous woman! Na Kesi, they all want to hurt me, please take me and leave!”

She now only wanted to escape, as more and more people gathered, those sarcastic and disgusted looks made her feel uncomfortable all over, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.

But Na Kesi’s expression was extremely dark.

He had “clicked” with Fu Baozhu previously because he was interested in her identity.

Or rather, even if Fu Baozhu had not “encountered” him, he would have found a way to win her affection, which was a plan made before coming to Great Yan.

But no matter how meticulously the plan was prepared, he never expected, Fu Baozhu was not General Fu’s biological daughter.

It was Princess Consort Ling!

He truly shot himself in the foot this time.

Na Kesi thought several times about sneaking away when no one was watching, to then think of a strategy, but he was tightly guarded by Prince Ling’s Mansion guards, completely unable to break through the human wall.

Jun Yuyan, holding Murong Jiu’s waist, coldly and mockingly said:

“Why doesn’t Prince Na Kesi speak? Just now you said that you were not interested in Fu Baozhu for her identity, but for her as a person. Continue to petition the Emperor. Maybe the Emperor will grant you marriage in consideration of your deep and affectionate relationship.”