Hearing the threat in his words, Su Mingyu curled her lips. "Fine, fine. You're always right. Anyway, I can never win an argument with you."
"However, I'm now sure that King Yu wasn't behind that incident. But then, who could it be?"
As she spoke, Su Mingyu walked behind Gu Ruobai and pushed him into the tea garden. "The person who wanted to dig it out must have had ulterior motives."
"You'd better not go to Sinan Pavilion for the time being. I'm worried that there are people lurking there. Last time, they only sent one person, but next time, we don't know how many there'll be," Gu Ruobai said seriously. One look at his solemn expression and you could tell he meant it.
Su Mingyu understood and scratched her nose. "Fine, I won't go. But I'm definitely going to catch this person."
Moreover, Concubine Ning's situation was also suspicious. From King Yu's reaction, he seemed unaware that Concubine Ning was pregnant. It was truly strange that Concubine Ning had hidden her pregnancy not only from the other concubines but also from her own son.
And what was going on with the grand councilor? Su Mingyu was eager to find out.
"After today's incident, Wu Yurou will probably be a bit more wary of you, right?" Gu Ruobai frowned. "She came to the capital just looking for a place to stay. Don't be too hard on her."
Su Mingyu felt a bit helpless. "Today's was just a warning. If she behaves herself, I won't do anything to her. She's just a young girl. I don't want to deal with her either."
Hearing Su Mingyu's mature words, Gu Ruobai squinted his eyes. "You're only eighteen. And you're calling others a young girl?"
Su Mingyu raised her eyebrows. "What? Are you feeling sorry for her again?"
Gu Ruobai quickly distanced himself. "I'm worried that you're overworked. You haven't had time to deal with Qingfeng's matter recently, let alone Xia Mian's."
Mentioning Xia Mian, Su Mingyu's eyes lit up. She leaned in front of Gu Ruobai and asked excitedly, "You got the person out?"
"What do you think?" Gu Ruobai looked at her with a half - smile. "Remember what you promised me."
"I know. Where is the person now?" Su Mingyu replied absent - mindedly, but inside, her heart was aching. She had really suffered a great loss to help Xia Mian.
Seeing her pained expression, Gu Ruobai couldn't help but laugh. He took out a key and handed it to Su Mingyu. "He's in the villa on the outskirts of the city."
Su Mingyu took the key and carefully put it in her bosom. "Serving you to change clothes for a month just for this key! I have to deduct my losses from Xia Mian's salary."
"Really going to deduct it?" Gu Ruobai asked knowingly, looking at Su Mingyu playfully.
Su Mingyu gritted her teeth and pouted resentfully. "Of course not."
But Su Mingyu didn't dwell on this. "Send someone Xia Mian has met to pick her up. Let's go to the yard first."
The yard on the outskirts of the city wasn't well - decorated. It even looked a bit dilapidated, but it was precisely such a yard that was perfect for hiding people.
Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai entered wearing masks. The guards inside and outside the yard saw Gu Ruobai's token and quickly made way.
In the middle of the yard, there was a huge cage. Inside the cage was a man with disheveled hair, a hollow look in his eyes, and injuries all over his body. He felt someone coming and slowly looked up.
After realizing they weren't people he knew, he lowered his head heavily. After a long while, he asked, "Who are you? How dare you intercept me on the official road to exile?"
Looking at Shi Minglong's miserable state, Su Mingyu thought of Shi Jian's cowardice and felt unexpectedly relieved.
"Who we are isn't important. What's important is that there's someone we want you to meet."
As Su Mingyu spoke, there came a few somewhat disorderly footsteps from the door.
"Master, you called me..." Xia Mian's words died on her lips as her face suddenly turned ugly.
She stared at Shi Minglong in the cage in disbelief. "This... this... this is Shi Minglong? Didn't he get exiled to the border?"
Su Mingyu shook her head. "He was supposed to, but we replaced him with another death row inmate."
"You..." Xia Mian was about to say that this was too dangerous, but then she understood that this was the opportunity Su Mingyu had mentioned.
Su Mingyu had taken such a big risk just to let her face this scoundrel. Xia Mian's eyes turned slightly red. "Master... I... I..."
Knowing what she was going to say, Su Mingyu waved her hand to stop her. Then she turned to Shi Minglong, pointed at Xia Mian behind her, and asked, "Do you still remember this person?"
Shi Minglong had been beaten badly in prison by those he had harmed. His eyelids were a bit swollen, so his vision was a bit blurry. He squinted hard and finally managed to see Xia Mian clearly.
The moment he saw Xia Mian, his heart skipped a beat. "Xia Mian? Weren't you redeemed?"
Hearing him call her name, Xia Mian trembled instinctively.
She stood there with red - rimmed eyes but didn't dare to step forward.
Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai watched from a distance. Neither of them intended to step forward to help.
Xia Mian hugged her arms as past memories flooded back. Those painful memories made her tremble like a sieve, but she didn't dare to take a step forward.
Shi Minglong had thought someone had rescued him to exact private revenge. But when he saw it was Xia Mian, he felt a bit less panicked.
He raised his eyebrows and whistled contemptuously at Xia Mian. "Judging from your reaction, you still remember my voice. It seems I trained you quite well back then. You're truly worthy of being the first woman I practiced on and who endured under my hands for so long."
If he hadn't spoken, it would have been better. But his words made Xia Mian's memories even more vivid.
The pain of each whip and each slap seemed as clear as if they had just happened.
Xia Mian's scattered gaze gradually focused. She struggled to lift her feet and finally took a step towards Shi Minglong.
Although she walked slowly, Su Mingyu couldn't help but feel a bit gratified when she saw this.
This proved that Xia Mian was gradually overcoming her fear. So Su Mingyu didn't urge her. Instead, she leaned on Gu Ruobai and watched intently.
Seeing that Xia Mian actually had the guts to walk towards him, the contempt in Shi Minglong's eyes deepened. "What? Haven't seen each other for just over a year, and you're going to rebel?"