Chapter 7 Act on Plans: Who Is the Female Guard?

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Seeing Yan Huaijing agreed to her proposal, Wei Yuewu felt relieved. His few words excited her nerves and got her palms slightly sweaty.

"Well done!" Yan Huaijing suddenly wore a seemingly pleased expression on his face and said meaningfully. "Hope you can do better in the future!"

If she should do better in her next steps, she would have a chance to go with him. Otherwise...

Wei Yuewu clearly understood the implied threat in his second sentence.

There was nothing right or wrong. Her value to him was the only criterion for Yan Huaijing to decide whether he should lend her a helping hand or not!

The door of the inn was wide open. Mo Huating was sitting on a chair in the middle. Beside him sat an official surnamed Wang. As the local magistrate, he was invited here by Mo Huating. Several guards from the mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan were standing near him, but somehow they did not order other common people to leave.

At the moment, the inn was crowded with people inside and outside. Everyone was whispering and gossiping with one another. It turned out that they were all talking about the murder of the daughter of Marquis Hua Yang, who passed by the place last night.

Magistrate Wang stood there trembling with fear. He felt very upset as he wiped his sweat with his handkerchief.

How could he not be filled with shock and dread after the first daughter from a aristocratic family was murdered within his jurisdiction? What's worse, the case involved not only Marquis Hua Yang, who was a most important official, but also Marquis Jing Yuan, who became an upstart in the court recently. As a low-ranking official with no influential connections whatsoever, he could not possibly afford to offend either of them.

"Magistrate Wang, do you want me to report this crime committed by roving bandits in person to the court?"

Mo Huating said coldly as he looked at the sweating magistrate.

Everyone instantly looked at Magistrate Wang.

"No, absolutely not necessary, Your Lordship. I will report the incident to the court immediately. There were cases of bandits before. I have no idea where these bandits came from. Perhaps they had already been following the victim in places long before entering my jurisdiction. This is quite an injustice to me."

The magistrate immediately realized what Mo Huating wanted after being reminded by his question. He hurriedly tried to clear himself as he made bows to Mo Huating.

Speaking of the matter, he himself felt confused too. This place under his jurisdiction had long enjoyed peace and cases of such nature actually had never occurred before. How come such a serious incident happened? Where did the so-called bandits come from? And why did they choose such a weak girl, the first daughter of Marquis Hua Yang, as their victim? How bitter was the feud between them so that they killed all those who accompanied her?

Of course he dared not ask Marquis Jing Yuan these questions.

Mo Huating tightly knitted his brows and showed a sad expression, "If I had come earlier, Miss Wei would not have been killed. Now I have lost her forever, but I will set up a memorial tablet for her in my house, and she is still my first wife!"

"It's so kind and righteous of Your Lordship to do that! If Miss Wei knew that Your Lordship did these things for her, she would be totally gratified in the other world."

This time Magistrate Wang responded quickly and flattered Mo Huating right away.

Echoing Magistrate Wang's flattery, all the onlookers nodded in agreement and remarked, "This young lady was indeed so unlucky that she missed such an excellent husband."

"If this Sixth Miss Wei were not dead, it would be a blessing accumulated over several generations for her to marry such a husband!"

Mo Huating was an expert in manipulating people. He knew that it was really suspicious for him to show up here at such a time. Now seeing the public were convinced of his words, he was very complacent but did not show his feelings on the surface. He assumed a grave expression and said, "Please spare me your praise, Magistrate Wang. I only hope you can catch the murderers so that I can avenge Sixth Miss Wei. The family of Marquis Jing Yuan will offer a grand reward to you!"

After those words, he stood up and made a deep bow to the magistrate. His status was much higher than that of a local magistrate, but he showed such great respect to Magistrate Wang for the sake of Miss Wei. Seeing this, several onlookers who had had been suspicious of him could not help but believe him. Their views were quickly changed in favor of Mo Huating.

Mo Huating was really skilled at calculation as Wei Yuewu expected. Having watched for a while, Wei Yuewu sneered and spoke aloud to Mo Huating who was enjoying his show, "Are you Marquis Jing Yuan?"

The crowd looked in the direction where the voice came from.

Wei Yuewu's guard led the way in front of her and, as the crowd moved aside to make space for them, she walked in.

Mo Huating was also surprised. He turned around and looked at the girl who was walking slowly towards him.

The girl had long bangs that almost covered her eyes. Her thickly-powered face looked unnaturally white and was not easy for people to recognize. Her thin figure made her clothes look a bit too loose and she looked dreadful and gloomy.

"Yes, I am!" Mo Huating frowned and replied with displeasure. He was sure he had never seen the girl.

"Are you sure that Sixth Miss Wei was dead?" Wei Yuewu looked up and down at Mo Huating and asked him. Her eyes flashed with coldness.

In Wei Yuewu's mind, the words of the stewardess who had come to pick her up and take her back to the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang suddenly sounded. She remembered the woman saying, "Sixth Miss, how lucky you are to have a fiancé like Marquis Jing Yuan. A young man as promising as him is thought to be the best future husband by all girls from respectful families in the capital. But he is so deeply in love with you that he declared that he would have no one but you to be his wife. And he insisted on bringing you back to the capital in person when he heard you were returning."

He did come, but the purpose was not to pick her up but to kill her. So many were killed, and so much blood was shed that large stretches of snow were tainted red....

Wei Yuewu took a deep breath and suppressed the hatred in her eyes. She glanced across the crowd. Mo Huating had allowed these people in on purpose; then let him bear the consequences!

Mo Huating sized up Wei Yuewu. Finding she was just a plain-looking girl, he retorted impatiently: "Who are you? What does it have to do with you?"

"It has nothing to do with me, but it has something to do with her."

By now Wei Yuewu had come near Mo Huating and she pointed to the right side behind him. Mo Huating looked back subconsciously to find there was only an ordinary guard behind him. He became alert at once. He saw out of the corner of his eyes to the left, and found that a slender hand was stretching towards him.

As a military officer, he was quick to respond. He reached out his hand to block Wei Yuewu's hand without looking back.

But another person moved even faster!

A bodyguard in a pure black robe quickly pulled the two hands in opposite directions and stood in front of Mo Huating, just in time to fend off Mo Huating's hand.

A guard of Yan Huaijing?

The moment Mo Huating was stunned, the guard who was standing at the right side behind him let out a scream like a woman.