Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter 83: Substitution

Following the old woman's words, Lu Yu went out to chase after her. The night was cold and quiet. He took down a city guard, changed into his clothes, and then left the city gate.

Once outside, he indeed saw a clear layer of tire tracks on the grass. Following the tracks, he quickly headed in that direction.

They had been chasing for a while, but still hadn't seen much of a person ahead. Undeterred, Lu Yu followed the tire tracks and headed in that direction.

He wasn't worried that the mark would disappear. It had rained a few days ago, and the weather hadn't been very good these past few days; although the sun was out, the temperature wasn't high. The grass was soft, and the wild grass was covered with dewdrops.

Once he spotted the figure over there, Lu Yu immediately quickened his pace, his only thought being to find Ji Meiqing as soon as possible. He even forgot that he had been running for quite some time.

There were only two men in the carriage. They were also startled when they saw Lu Yu and tried to draw their swords to kill him, but they were not as fast as him. He snatched the swords from their hands and held them to their necks.

"Stop the car and get out."

He only said those two sentences. Because he was worried about Ji Meiqing, he kicked the two men out as soon as the carriage stopped.

Lifting the carriage curtain, Lu Yu saw Ji Meiqing fast asleep. He was both amused and exasperated. He walked over to her and untied all the ropes binding her.

To avoid disturbing her, I deliberately moved much more gently.

"Drive back to Xiaohexi Village," he instructed the two men outside the car.

To save their lives, the two hurriedly got up and led the horses back. Inside the carriage, Lu Yu held Ji Meiqing in his arms, feeling inexplicably at ease.

She didn't wake up until morning. She had no recollection of what had happened the night before. She was just surprised to find herself at home.

"Good morning, Brother Lu." Her expression was normal, then she stretched lazily in the sunlight outside the door, her tone languid, "That was a really good night's sleep."

"Did you sleep well?" Lu Yu walked over, holding a cup of tea. Ji Meiqing noticed something strange when she saw that he had a smile on his face, but his eyes were bloodshot.

Did you not sleep well last night?

"Not bad, what are we going to do today?" Lu Yu asked in return.

Ji Meiqing thought about it carefully for a moment before smiling wryly, "I guess I have to deal with a troublesome matter."

She schemed against Qiu Jiaming last time, and now she's getting what's coming to her. Sure enough, she shouldn't have gone easy on him; she shouldn't have used laxatives last time.

"I'll go check on the progress. I saw our house last time, and it's almost finished. Why don't you go to the street and look at some furniture? A newly renovated house naturally needs some new furniture."

Lu Yu nodded slightly and agreed softly, "Okay."

Ji Meiqing turned around and put down her teacup. Suddenly remembering that she could still get the remaining money today, she turned back and saw the worried look on his face. She paused for a moment before asking blankly, "What's wrong? Is there anything else, Brother Lu?"

"It's nothing." He forced an unnatural smile at her. "You go ahead and do your work. I'll handle the rest."

“Okay…” Ji Meiqing hesitated for a moment, but didn’t think much of it. Her gaze returned to the window, this time with a deeper look.

I went to the greenhouse and saw that, sure enough, Qiu Jiaming's gaze towards me was different now, deep and ruthless.

Like a wolf eyeing its prey, Ji Meiqing was unfortunately not a good person either.

After making eye contact with him, Qiu Jiaming looked away.

"Do your jobs well, and if you do a good job, I'll treat you to a nice meal at the end of the month," she said loudly, clapping her hands.

The people around him excitedly raised their fists.

Seeing that they were full of energy again, Ji Meiqing looked around before returning home.

Before evening, the Qiu family suddenly barged in.

The leader was Qiu Shi. Upon seeing Ji Meiqing, she stretched out her fingernails and rushed towards her, saying, "You little bitch, you actually tried to kill us to silence us."

"Qiu, what nonsense are you spouting now!" Ji Meiqing's face darkened. "Have you lost your mind and forgotten to take your medicine?!"

"You filthy wretch! I told you you were like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken, bringing us two pieces of pork for no reason, but you'd actually poisoned it! My dog, Dahuang, only took one bite, and now he can't even stand up!"

As she spoke, she suddenly burst into tears, the cheap makeup on her face washing away with her tears, making her look incredibly pitiful. Ji Meiqing watched, and her interest grew.

"You're saying I drugged you?" Ji Meiqing retorted. "What evidence do you have?"

With deep sorrow, Mrs. Qiu listed out the evidence one by one.

"I sent the pork to you as an apology, but your whole family is blaming me. You're all family, so it's easy for you to slander me. I'm all alone. If I say I didn't have it, you definitely won't believe me, but if you say I did, you'll all believe me, right?" She covered her face, her voice changing color, and her shrugs gave her a rather desolate look.

Lu Yu came running at the sound of her voice. Seeing her like this, he immediately shielded her behind him and coldly questioned Qiu Shi, "What are you doing now?"

Qiu was not afraid of Lu Yu. She sneered and didn't waste any more words with him. She turned her face away and said, "You'll have to ask your Ji Meiqing about that. See what she's done!"

"What can she do?" Lu Yu was furious, but since they were all from the same village, he suppressed his temper and said coldly, "It's you who are making trouble for no reason. If you don't like her, then don't look at her. Mei Qing didn't do anything wrong, so why are you being so aggressive?"

"Are we being aggressive?"

Qiu sneered, looking at him with sarcasm. Ji Meiqing wiped away her tears and stepped forward to fan the flames, saying, "I kindly apologized to you, but you didn't accept it and came here to make a scene. Qiu, do you think I'm magnanimous, and that it's fun to smile at your cold backsides?"

"You were the one who drugged us to harm us, how can you say it's our fault? Are we just supposed to be drugged and die because we deserve it?" She kept pointing to her chest, her face contorted with rage, veins bulging on her forehead, and finally roared, "Ji Meiqing, you're so shameless!"

She wiped the spittle from her face and said sincerely, "You said I drugged you, but are you alright?"

"No, that's because we didn't eat much. My dog, Dahuang..."

"I won't say anything about your dog, but why didn't you all die after I poisoned you!"

She retorted coldly, leaving Qiu speechless and embarrassed. Someone behind her tugged at her sleeve, and Qiu snorted twice before leaving with the person.