CH 54

Chapter 54

(19.3)

The front courtyard of the residence was getting lively. In the main hall where guests were received, guests were arriving one after another. Several of her elder sisters who were already married were here today for a visit along with their husbands and their children.

Ming Zhu wasn’t very close with these elder sisters but looking at their dresses and complexions, they should be living a good life in their husband’s family.

The marriage of her elder concubine-born sisters couldn’t be considered neither good or bad. However, after they gave birth to a child, their mother-in-law treated them all quite well. Moreover their husband were honest and easy-going, didn’t have maidservants for the bedroom and never took any concubine.

These several sisters had some pity for her this younger concubine-born sister, who suffered the same predicament as they did inside the Ming residence, and brought her aside to have a talk in private, “Zhu Zhu, you and the crown prince …… it’s not a long-term solution after all.”

Ming Zhu lowered her head and replied in a sullen voice, “I know.”

Even if her elder concubine-born sisters nowadays were outsiders to the Ming family, they still felt pity for her regarding her previous engagement, if it didn’t fall through, now this younger concubine-born sister of theirs would be living a good life full of splendor and honor.

“You also need to plan for yourself as early as possible, you wouldn’t your own children in the future to……”

Be like her, living a life while having to constantly be careful of people’s moods all the time.

This younger sister of theirs was also quite very fond of children, but if she was too impulsive and gave birth to the crown prince’s child, then in the future if she wanted to marry again into a good family, it would be even more difficult than it already was right now.

Ming Zhu held her elder concubine-born sister’s hands, “I won’t have any, I’ve been drinking medicine.”

“This won’t do, you fell in the water when you were a child, drinking that kind of medicine is extremely bad for your body. Listen to your big sister’s advice, after doing it, you yourself ……”

Half-way through her sentence, her elder concubine-born sister finally understood what was going on. Most definitely, it was the prince that wasn’t allowing her to get pregnant.

Her elder concubine-born sister sighed, “Forget it, let’s not talk about that anymore, you haven’t met little Qige, right? He’s almost half a year old, you can go hold him later.”

“Alright.” Ming Zhu asked discreetly, “Sister, are you going back this evening?”

“We’re not going back.”

“That’s good then.”

“What’s good ?”

Ming Zhu shook her head, “Nothing.”

For this kind of lively day, the more people there were inside the residence the better it was. She knew that there were Zhao Zhi’s people around the Ming residence who were keeping watch on her. She needed a lot of people to have the chance to slip through unnoticed.

At dusk, Biying, following Ming Zhu’s order, went to the jewelry store in the west of the city to fetch the hairpin.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that people were busy eating and drinking in the front courtyard, Ming Zhu carried on her back the bundle bag she had prepared and quietly went to the back door.

Ah Rou held her hand, “Miss, the coachman has arrived, you quickly get on the carriage. Don’t take the land route, take a boat to go to Jiangnan.”

The little maid wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, “When you are settled, this slave will come find you.”

Ming Zhu wiped her small pale face with a handkerchief, “Don’t cry, we’ll see each other again in the future.”

“Hmm.”

The night was dark, it was so dim it was difficult to clearly see people’s figures.

After Ming Zhu got on the carriage, her heart started pounding very fast. She clenched her hands together and told the driver, “Drive faster, I want to get out of the city.”

“Don’t worry, miss, there are no horses in the capital that are able run faster than mine.”

Ming Zhu’s heart was beating very fast. She frowned, it seemed as if there was a heavy stone pressing on her heart. She wouldn’t be able to relax until she was out of the city.

When Biying came back with the hairpin and found out that the person was missing, it was already too late.

The jewelry in the chest had disappeared without a trace and several sets of clothes were also missing.

Biying’s face turned ghastly white, thinking inside her mind that something bad had happened.

She hurriedly went to the front courtyard to ask if anyone had seen miss Ming Zhu. The maidservants all shook their heads in bewilderment, they didn’t see her nor had any idea where she was.

Biying was as anxious as ants in a hot pot, she dragged Ah Rou, with a rarely-seen ruthless expression on her face, “Where is miss Ming Zhu?!”

Ah Rou was smart and a good actress: “Isn’t she in her room ?”

“She’s not there! I can’t find her anywhere!”

Ah Rou turned pale with fright, “How could that be?”

Biying stared into her eyes, “You really don’t know?”

Ah Rou’s eyes turned red, as if she was about to cry, “I really don’t know, I was called by an old maidservant this morning to help with the front courtyard matters, I really didn’t have any time to go see miss.”

She stomped her feet as tears streamed down her face, “Sister Biying, nothing happened to my miss, right?”

Biying chose to believe her for the time being and tossed Ah Rou’s hands away, “I’m afraid she has escaped on her own. She’s being foolish ah!”

Under the whole sky, there was no land that wasn’t imperial land.

No matter how far miss Ming Zhu escaped, did she really think she could escape from the palm of His Highness’s hand?