Chapter 61: CH 61

Chapter 61 Destroyed Façade

Wang Yanqing was not surprised to see that it was him. He was the only one who could sneak into the government office without anyone noticing, bypass the Imperial Guard sentry, and bring her out of Lu Heng’s courtyard.

Wang Yanqing endured the pain, tried her best to support her body, and sat up from the bed: “Marquis of Zhenyuan, what is the meaning of this?”

Fu Tingzhou felt a pain in his heart when he heard her distant address. He should have thought about it a long time ago, it wasn’t possible to fall from such a high cliff unscathed. Fortunately, she just hurt her head.

Unfortunately, after she injured her head, she fell into Lu Heng’s hands.

Fu Tingzhou sat down on the edge of the bed as usual and reached out to help her. Wang Yanqing immediately withdrew her arm, but the effect of the drug had not expired on her body. Her limbs were limp, she lost control of her body for a moment and almost fell down on the couch.

Fu Tingzhou paused when he saw that she was avoiding his movement, and finally clenched his fingers tightly, not forcing her anymore. Fu Tingzhou watched her sit up straight as soon as he moved in, staring at him vigilantly as if he was a villain who wanted to do something bad.

Fu Tingzhou was stung by such a gaze. He realized only today that being forgotten was more painful than being despised.

Fu Tingzhou suddenly remembered when Wang Yanqing first came to the Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion. At that time, she had just arrived in the capital from the border. She was withered and thin, with a timid look in her eyes, and she was cautious in everything she did. It took two years for her height and weight to return to the standard of a normal child, and her skin also returned to being fair under the rich clothes and fine food of the Marquis Mansion. When she put on the exquisite jacket and skirt, she looked like a real miss of the Marquis family.

And her outstanding eyebrows and eyes gradually attracted others people’s attention. The circle of nobles had been tied together since childhood, and when those high-school children came to the Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion to look for Fu Tingzhou, they couldn’t help but see Wang Yanqing. Someone joked about being Fu Tingzhou’s brother-in-law, but he laughed it off and didn’t care at all. He was certain in his heart that Wang Yanqing would not accept these approaches.

He was so confident in his control over Wang Yanqing, that he spent a lot of energy on martial arts, connections, and power, and rarely stopped for Wang Yanqing. Wang Yanqing had always been well-behaved, considerate, and predictable. She never caused him trouble, if he didn’t care, nothing would happen. Therefore, Fu Tingzhou ignored her more and more in that manner.

He was so conceited to think that he could have both a future and love. He broke their childhood agreement and married someone else. Fu Tingzhou thought that doing so might upset Wang Yanqing, she might have been sad or indifferent, and maybe the two of them would never be the same again. But they still had a lot of time, Fu Tingzhou would always find a way to make her change her mind.

Even in the worst case —— both hurting each other, him in a marriage with someone who had different dreams, he was prepared. It never occurred to him that she would forget him before they became disgusted with each other.

Forgetting, what a cruel punishment. There was no accusation, no quarrel, no alienation, just like that, she completely forgot her whole person, together with the memories related to him.

Was this retribution from God? He broke his promise and was conceited and arrogant, so God withdrew his gift and didn’t even give him a chance to make up for it. Obviously, the person he couldn’t lose the most was her.

Fu Tingzhou’s heart was full of dense pain. He stared into her eyes, and naturally saw the guarded hostility in her eyes. Fu Tingzhou felt like he was drowning, and it gradually became difficult to breathe.

He laughed at himself, wanted to reach out to touch her, but then firmly restrained his fingers: “Qing Qing, will you talk to me like this now?”

Wang Yanqing didn’t want to hear him go crazy, so she said: “Marquis of Zhenyuan, let me go back now and I will not blame you for what happened today. Second Brother will be back soon, once he finds out about this…”

“Qing Qing.” Fu Tingzhou couldn’t stand hearing her call another man “Second Brother”, he interrupted with a livid face, his eyes were so cold that they could freeze, “Haven’t you noticed, he’s lying to you.”

Wang Yanqing secretly rolled her eyes, tried to remain rational, and said to Fu Tingzhou: “Marquis of Zhenyuan, I don’t know why you have such a big prejudice against my Second Brother, but we grew up together, and our relationship is better than siblings. If you say that about him again, don’t blame me for being rude.”

Every word she said stabbed Fu Tingzhou’s heart like a blunt knife. Fu Tingzhou couldn’t bear it anymore, he held Wang Yanqing’s wrist coldly and pulled her to his side. Wang Yanqing frowned and struggled, but with a little force from Fu Tingzhou, she was completely suppressed.

Fu Tingzhou approached, stared hard into her eyes, and spoke word by word: “He is a shameless thief and liar, he made you fall off a cliff, stole someone else’s identity while you lost your memory, and tried to use you to control me. Qing Qing, why don’t you think about it, he is an Imperial Guard, and his father is also an Imperial Guard. Would their family adopt a child picked up from the battlefield?”

Wang Yanqing was firmly restrained by Fu Tingzhou. She tried to break out of Fu Tingzhou’s hand, but no matter how hard she tried, the strength in her wrist was like a copper wall to an iron wall, which could not be shaken at all. Wang Yanqing gritted her teeth, and said angrily: “You don’t want to slander my brother, let go!”

Fu Tingzhou originally planned to talk to her soundly today, calmly and step by step. It was best to let her think for herself, so as not to scare her. But seeing her staring at him with hatred and speaking for another man without thinking, the fire in Fu Tingzhou’s heart seemed to be detonated by something, and he couldn’t control his emotions at all, even the strength in his hand unconsciously increased: “Slander? Everyone knows who Lu Heng is. He is that sort of person and you still say I slander him?”

“Then what are you doing?” Wang Yanqing was not angry when she woke up and found that she was kidnapped, but she was surprisingly angry when she heard him using those words to describe Lu Heng. She stared at Fu Tingzhou hard, her eyes sparkling with anger: “You sneaked into a women’s changing room and kidnapped me with drugs. Is this the behavior of a gentleman?”

When Fu Tingzhou met her gaze, his heart ached. Why did things turn out like this? It was obvious that she was the last person he wanted to hurt. If it wasn’t for Lu Heng’s meddling, how could he have the heart to treat her like this?

Her wrist was slender and thin, it was full of bones, and he could easily circle her arm with one hand. In the past six months, she didn’t gain any weight at all and seemed to be even thinner. Fu Tingzhou felt pity in his heart and let go of her hand. Only then did he realize that he had lost control just now and had gripped her wrist until it bruised. Fu Tingzhou blamed himself and asked: “Does it hurt?”

Wang Yanqing drew back her hand angrily. It seemed like Fu Tingzhou was going to break her wrist just now. Of course, she was in great pain, but in front of Fu Tingzhou, she didn’t say a word.

Wang Yanqing’s muscles and bones were icy, her wrists were covered with a white pale. At this moment, there was a circle of bruises on her wrists, which looked extremely frightening. Fu Tingzhou felt more and more guilty, he sighed deeply and said: “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to see you this way.”

After Lu Heng left the palace, Fu Tingzhou secretly sent someone to follow him. Fu Tingzhou guessed correctly, Lu Heng really brought Wang Yanqing out. Fu Tingzhou didn’t know what Lu Heng was using Qing Qing for, but undoubtedly, this was his best chance.

When she was in the capital, Lu Heng kept Wang Yanqing sealed tight, and occasionally went out a few times with heavy guards around her. Fu Tingzhou couldn’t find an opportunity, so he could only wait for the opportunity on the road during the southern patrol. Today when Lu Heng went out alone, the prefect and the county magistrate took away most of the staff in the county government. Fu Tingzhou said in his heart that God was helping him, so he hastened to make his move.

No matter how closely guarded Lu Heng was, this was not his territory. Fu Tingzhou asked someone to disguise himself as a kitchen boy and sneak in to deliver meals to Wang Yanqing. Drugs were put in the food, and Wang Yanqing would sleep unconsciously after eating, and Fu Tingzhou’s people would bring Wang Yanqing out again, promising not to have her suffer at all. But for some reason, Wang Yanqing saw through their plot in advance, and the Fu Tingzhou’s men had no choice but to knock Wang Yanqing unconscious and take her away with violence.

Fu Tingzhou hadn’t figured out what was wrong with his plan so far. His people were so well disguised that even Fu Tingzhou couldn’t see the flaws. How did Wang Yanqing find out? Thinking of this, Fu Tingzhou asked: “How did you find out?”

Wang Yanqing snorted lightly but didn’t answer. The meal boy was putting on a good show, but he made a fatal mistake.

The boy took out a bowl of cassia seed and chrysanthemum soup from the food box. Today was hot, and chrysanthemum soup was refreshing and sweet, which was very popular with women. It was normal to have such a bowl of dessert for lunch. But the flaw was precisely here. Cassia seeds and chrysanthemums were cold things. Knowing that she got her period, Lu Heng would never ask the kitchen to deliver these dishes.

So, it didn’t matter how well they pretended, they lost from the start.

Wang Yanqing refused to speak and Fu Tingzhou did not force her either. He walked somewhere, took out a small wooden box, and handed it to Wang Yanqing.

When Wang Yanqing didn’t answer, he raised his hand and held it in front of Wang Yanqing with a look of determination like he would not give up until he reached his goal: “I know you were deceived by Lu Heng’s sweet words, and now you don’t believe anything I say. Since you think I wronged Lu Heng, why don’t you look inside.”

Wang Yanqing looked up at Fu Tingzhou. After a moment of stalemate, Wang Yanqing took the wooden box to see what tricks Fu Tingzhou was playing. She was thinking about how to open the box, when her fingers spontaneously grasped the five-ring combination lock, twisting out five Chinese characters one by one as if she had a sense of autonomy, and opened the wooden box with a click.

Wang Yanqing was shocked, what was going on? When she saw what was in the box, her eyes became more hesitant.

Fu Tingzhou had expected it long ago and said: “Inside is your household registration, name cards, and the family letters your father sent back from the battlefield. This is the last thing they left for you, why don’t you open it and have a look?”

Wang Yanqing didn’t want to believe it. How could her parents’ items appear in Fu Tingzhou’s hands? But her fingers seemed to move out of her control, and before she could think about it, she had already taken out the contents and unfolded them numbly.

The paper was old and yellowed, and the ink on it was faded. It looked like it was at least ten years old. Wang Yanqing scanned every word with critical eyes. She felt that it must be false, but her heart became colder and colder.

It was too casual, there were dirt and creases on the household registration, and there were typos in the family letters, it was not refined at all. But it was these small problems that constituted an impeccable fact.

This was most likely real.

The household registration stated the population and property of a family, and it was the identity certificate of the family, no one would misplace it. Why did her household registration appear in Fu Tingzhou’s hands? Ordinary people may have had theirs stolen by thieves accidentally, but would the Lu Mansion allow people to steal their household registrations?

Seeing her expression, Fu Tingzhou sat on the side of the bed again and looked at her deeply: “Qing Qing, haven’t you noticed, he is lying to you. Your identity and experience are true, but it was not the Lu family who brought you to the capital back then, but my grandfather, Fu Yue, the old Fu Marquis.”

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Fu Yue… Hearing this name, Wang Yanqing felt an indescribable sense of familiarity. She always felt that there was an important elder in her life. Lu Song was also an elder, but he seemed too young. Inexplicably, she felt that it should have been a prestigious man from the grandparents’ generation.

If it was Fu Yue, then it matched.

Wang Yanqing had cramps in her lower abdomen. She was so cold that her whole body hurt, her stomach convulsed, and even her head began to ache. Wang Yanqing pressed her pale fingers tightly on her lower abdomen and asked: “How can you prove that what you said is true?”

Fu Tingzhou never expected that one day, he would need to prove that he and Wang Yanqing grew up together. Fu Tingzhou regretted that his grandfather did not leave any evidence of their marriage contract before he left. There was only a verbal promise and a tacit understanding between the two parties. It was nothing when his grandfather was there, but after his grandfather left, Fu Tingzhou could not prove that Wang Yanqing was meant to be his fiancee.

Fu Tingzhou suppressed the absurd anger in his heart, and said to her as calmly as possible: “You came to the Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion when you were seven years old, and you were raised with me by our grandfather. It was almost dusk on the day you came, and there was a brilliant sunset in the sky. I asked what your name was, and you said your name was Wang Yanqing.”

Fu Tingzhou calmly stated what happened many years ago, stopping to think about it from time to time. Wang Yanqing kept staring into his eyes, the more she listened, the more her heart sank.

She could see no trace of him lying. How was this happening?

Fu Tingzhou thought that he knew Wang Yanqing well enough that he could persuade her even without a written contract. But when Fu Tingzhou really thought about it, he realized that his memory was blurred, and he couldn’t tell much about Wang Yanqing.

From the age of seven to seventeen, in ten years, he only remembered a few fragments, not as much as he knew about an official in court. Fu Tingzhou was terrified. He suddenly realized that Lu Heng was able to sneak in through this void, perhaps the problem was more his own.

The more Fu Tingzhou talked, the more uncomfortable he felt, and finally, he was almost suffocated. Wang Yanqing was also shocked in her heart.

This was really a horror story. Fu Tingzhou’s story was exactly the same as Lu Heng’s. It was not as detailed as Lu Heng’s, but the general idea was the same. Wang Yanqing could be sure that this was her real growth experience, but she could never have grown up in two families at the same time. Who was telling the truth?

Fu Tingzhou felt guilty in his heart. He resented Lu Heng, but to put it bluntly, Qing Qing forgot that he had something to do with what Lu heng did. Fu Tingzhou wanted to hold Wang Yanqing, but he was startled when he touched her hand: “What’s wrong with you, why are you so cold?”

Wang Yanqing withdrew her hand, hugged her knees tightly, and curled herself into a ball, slightly relieving the stabbing pain in her stomach. Wang Yanqing’s face was pale, there was no red to her lips, and she said coldly: “It’s none of your business.”

Fu Tingzhou clenched his fists hard and finally warned himself that if he couldn’t bear it, he would be making trouble. At times like this, it was best to not hurry. Fu Tingzhou suppressed his impulse and said: “Okay, if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll let it go, I won’t force you. Blame me for neglecting you too much before, causing you to be deceived by a traitor. But Qing Qing, you have to remember, I am the one who treats you sincerely, Lu Heng has been lying to you. On the first day of the twelfth month last year, I took you to the Xishan mountain to offer incense, and he laid an ambush along the way which caused you to fall off the cliff. He likely had an ambush set up at the bottom of the cliff, and immediately took you away. By the time I went to the bottom of the cliff to rescue you, it was already too late. I didn’t know that you had amnesia, and I have been looking for you for the past six months, but this villain, Lu Heng, was lying on both ends. He lied to me and said that you left the capital, and lied to you and said he was your brother. Instead, he called me a villain.”

What Fu Tingzhou and Lu Heng said was completely opposite. In Fu Tingzhou’s story, Lu Heng became the one who ambushed her. Wang Yanqing covered her forehead in pain, the back of her head felt like it was taking a beating, and the pain hurt so much that she couldn’t concentrate.

It was ridiculous that her two “brothers” said they neglected her so much that she lost her memory. Who was the real one? Could it be that she was not born to be taken seriously?

And Fu Tingzhou was still chattering, refusing to let her go: “He has been using you. Including this southern patrol, investigating the case should be a man’s business, but he involved you in it, causing you to be exhausted and suffering, but in the end, the credit is all his. If he was really the elder brother who watched you grow up, how could he have the heart to let you suffer like this? He doesn’t care about your body at all, he just wants to use you.”

Wang Yanqing buried her face in her knees, her body trembling slightly. Seeing that Wang Yanqing’s condition was really bad, Fu Tingzhou couldn’t bear to provoke her any longer and said: “Okay, I won’t talk anymore, you should rest first if you feel uncomfortable. You can slowly think about who is really good to you.”

This sentence seemed to remind Wang Yanqing, she suddenly raised her head and said: “You talked so much, but you can’t change the fact that you knocked me out and kidnapped me. Is this what you call being nice to me?”

Fu Tingzhou was speechless and said: “I’m sorry, the situation was urgent and I had no other choice. Now that you are out of Lu Heng’s clutches, I will never force you again. You can do whatever you want and use whatever you wish.”

“Okay.” Wang Yanqing responded immediately, and said, “I want to go out.”

Fu Tingzhou’s lips moved, and he subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Wang Yanqing was repulsed by him very much now, and if he pressed harder and harder, it would only be counterproductive. Fu Tingzhou resisted his urge and gritted his teeth: “Okay. But you are not in good condition now, where do you want to go, I will send someone to take you…”

“I’m fine.” Wang Yanqing refused him indifferently, and stood up with the help of the bed frame, “I can walk by myself.”

Fu Tingzhou had no choice but to watch her get up and walk out without looking back. Fu Tingzhou really didn’t stop her. After Wang Yanqing went out, she found that they were at an inn, and outside it was a commercial street, bustling with people, it was the busiest time of the day.

The crowd was shouting vigorously, and a little girl shook her mother’s hand asking for sweets. With a pale face, Wang Yanqing weakly avoided the crowd and went against the current, as if no matter how warm and lively the world was, it had nothing to do with her.

Fu Tingzhou stood in front of the window on the second floor and watched her leave. Standing behind Fu Tingzhou, a subordinate said worriedly: “Master, you just let the miss go?”

They managed to rescue Wang Yanqing from Lu Heng. Wouldn’t it be a waste of effort to let her go like this?

Fu Tingzhou stared at the slender and shallow figure, and slowly shook his head: “It is easy to get her back, but the difficult part is to get her heart back. If she is forcibly detained today, her heart will never be taken back. Let her figure it out for herself, she’s wise enough to know who’s real.”

Wang Yanqing wandered the streets in a daze, not knowing who she was or where she was for a long time. At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the sun was shining brightly, and the white flashes made people dizzy. A middle-aged woman passing by didn’t pay attention and bumped into Wang Yanqing hard. Wang Yanqing clutched her abdomen and squatted down slowly.

The woman backed away immediately, and shouted loudly: “I didn’t do anything, little girl, you are so young, why are you setting me up?”

Wang Yanqing hadn’t had a drop of water since this morning and had been tortured by her menstrual pain for a long time. Now she didn’t even have the strength to stand up. In the end, an old lady guarding the store by the side of the road couldn’t stand it and handed her a glass of brown sugar water. Wang Yanqing barely regained her strength and walked back to the county office.

Thankfully, Fu Tingzhou didn’t take her to another place, she was still in Qixian County.

She didn’t know that after she left, a group of guards who seemed to be coming from a wealthy family followed up after her and asked everyone she had contact with one by one. The old lady who delivered the brown sugar water spoke with a local accent and chattered: “That little girl, at one glance you could see that she got her period and was in severe pain. Why did you let her go out without eating when no one would know if she fainted outside alone…”

“What, does menstruation hurt like this? Of course, this kind of thing hurts everyone. Don’t ignore this just because you are young, if you leave the root of the disease to settle, you will not be able to have children in the future…”

The subordinates brought these words to Fu Tingzhou who was standing behind the crowd. Fu Tingzhou was astonished and surprised: “Menstrual pain?”

He knew that Wang Yanqing seemed uncomfortable during her periods, but this was a woman’s private matter, and there were differences between private and public matters, so he never asked about it. From his impressions, his mother and younger sister also complained about menstrual pains, and there seemed to be no other problems other than inconvenient movement. He felt that periods were something that every woman had to go through, just like men were prone to hyperactivity in the morning, it was a common physical phenomenon.

He didn’t know that she would be in such pain when she felt uncomfortable. Just now he was following far behind, seeing her squatting on the ground for a long time unable to stand up, he almost couldn’t help showing up.

Fu Tingzhou suddenly felt scared. Was it special only this time, or was it like this every time?

The subordinates saw Wang Yanqing enter the Qixian County government office with their own eyes, and reported to Fu Tingzhou when they came back: “Marquis, the miss has entered.”

“Hmm.” Fu Tingzhou responded lightly, “Go back to the palace.”

The subordinate hesitated: “But, the miss is still…”

“Three days are almost up.” Fu Tingzhou said in a flat and cool tone, “Tomorrow at the latest, Lu Heng will go back. What’s the rush? With her character, she won’t be at ease if she doesn’t ask for proof in person.”

The subordinates quietly looked at Fu Tingzhou. The marquis said that he didn’t care, but when he saw Miss Wang go straight back to the county government office, his face was still terribly gloomy. He obviously rescued her despite untold hardships, but pretended to let her go gracefully; he escorted her all the way, but he didn’t want her to know.

The subordinates really didn’t understand what the Marquis wanted to do.

|| Author’s Note:

Lu Heng: Is it so dangerous to investigate cases these days? I just went out and when I came back the house was burned down.

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