Chapter 481 Impersonation

Ji Yuntang glanced at him. "Who said your Third Brother agreed?"

"If I, the Princess, hadn't said that, how would they have taken Miss Zhong back with them?"

Luo Sinian didn't quite understand, and Ji Yuntang didn't bother to explain.

She simply said, "Guard Ye Wang Fu well in my absence. I have important business to take care of outside."

With that, Ji Yuntang returned to Ye Wang Fu and left through the back door.

Meanwhile, the Zhong family's carriage skirted the busy streets and made its way down a sparsely populated road.

Suddenly, a group of scar-faced, bandit-looking men leaped down from the trees, wielding knives as they charged toward them.

The horses were startled, rearing and neighing shrilly before bolting forward with Magistrate Zhong's carriage, careening wildly ahead.

"Ahhh, help!"

Madam Xu shrieked in terror. She lost her balance, banged her head on the carriage frame, and passed out.

The servants carrying the sedan chair behind them, seeing the commotion, ditched the palanquin and bolted without a second thought.

Pei Zhiyi, dressed in black with a black cloth covering her face, clicked her tongue. "What cowards. They just left your young lady behind and ran?"

With that, she glanced at the men disguised as bandits beside her. "Good haul today, brothers—we've snatched ourselves a pretty little bride. Haul her off!"

"Yes, boss."

The men hoisted the bridal sedan and hightailed it out of there, while Zhong Xinyu inside was so scared she was about to cry.

"Who are you people? Where are you taking me?"

Pei Zhiyi twirled a dagger in her hand, her voice full of roguish mischief. "You'll find out when we get there!"

Hearing that, Zhong Xinyu immediately panicked!

"N-No... I can't go with you. I still have something very important to do. Please, just let me go!"

Pei Zhiyi assumed she was just terrified and ignored her.

Soon, they carried the sedan into a thick forest.

Ji Yuntang stood with her back to the group, wrapped in a billowing black cloak that hid her figure and face.

The moment Pei Zhiyi spotted her, she rushed over. She started to say one word, then caught herself and quickly corrected it.

"Tang... uh, Chief, we've brought the girl back!"

Ji Yuntang was speechless.

She'd told her to play a bandit for the ambush, but she hadn't told her to get this into character!

Pei Zhiyi was really getting into character!

Ji Yuntang signaled Pei Zhiyi to have the others back off. She turned just in time to see Zhong Xinyu step out of the sedan, slip, and hit the ground hard.

But the girl ignored the pain, scrambling up to run.

Pei Zhiyi moved to chase her, but Ji Yuntang was quicker—a blur of motion as she appeared right behind Zhong Xinyu.

Ji Yuntang grabbed her shoulder, her voice low and deliberate. "Miss Zhong, we just saw each other not long ago."

Zhong Xinyu thought the voice sounded vaguely familiar. She turned her head—and who else was standing there but Ji Yuntang?

"Pr... Princess Ye..."

Zhong Xinyu's legs gave out. If Ji Yuntang hadn't been holding her, she would have dropped to her knees.

"You seem pretty scared of me?" Ji Yuntang narrowed her eyes.

"N-No... I'm not..." Zhong Xinyu stammered, too scared to lift her head.

To confirm her suspicions, Ji Yuntang seized her wrist and felt her pulse.

The longer she took her pulse, the colder her eyes became.

After a moment, she let go and said with absolute certainty, "You're not Miss Zhong at all. Who are you, really?"

Pei Zhiyi was taken aback. She moved closer and whispered, "But I already asked Prince Chen earlier—he said Miss Zhong looks just like this!"

The two exchanged a look, both their eyes widening at the same time.

"Could it be... a human skin mask?"

Ji Yuntang's gaze locked onto Zhong Xinyu's face. She reached out to touch it, but Zhong Xinyu stumbled back two steps.

"I am Miss Zhong! What do you people even want?"

Ji Yuntang said coldly, "That's what I should be asking you."

"Miss Zhong has a mental illness, but you're perfectly sane. What's your game in impersonating her?"

Pei Zhiyi, being the impatient type, cut in, "Tangtang, stop wasting time with her! Just rip that human skin mask off her face and be done with it!"

"You don't need to get your hands dirty with this—I'll do it."

She stepped forward, grabbed Zhong Xinyu, and ran her fingers along the edge of her face.

Sure enough, she felt a slight bump.

Pei Zhiyi grabbed it and yanked. With a cry of pain from Zhong Xinyu, a human skin mask peeled off in her hand.

Underneath the mask was a face—pretty and delicate, but nowhere near as stunning as the one before.

Pei Zhiyi flew into a fury. She whipped out her dagger and pressed it against the girl's throat.

"Who are you, and why are you impersonating Miss Zhong?"

The girl fell to her knees in terror. "Princess Ye, please spare me! Miss Pei, please spare me! I'm Ming Xia, Miss Zhong's personal maid, raised alongside her since we were kids."

"This wasn't my idea to impersonate my young miss—it was the madam's orders. I didn't dare disobey."

Ji Yuntang asked, surprised, "Then where's your young miss?"

At that, Ming Xia's tears started streaming down her face. "My miss... she's really sick. She's dying!"

Pei Zhiyi sheathed her dagger and helped her to her feet.

"What happened? Tell us all about it."

Ming Xia then said, "Although my young lady is the family's legitimate daughter, she is not the biological daughter of Madam Xu. Her mother passed away from illness when she was seven, and Madam Xu was promoted by the master from a concubine to the head wife."

"Ever since Madam Xu took over managing the household, my young lady's life in the mansion has been very difficult. Because Madam Xu has two sons of her own, she has always picked on my young lady, trying to get her hands on the dowry her mother left her."

"I often urged my young lady to tell the master about it, so that he would know of Madam Xu's deeds and protect her a bit."

"But my young lady is too soft-hearted. She always says to just bear it a little longer, and once she marries Young Master He and no longer lives in the Zhong residence, she won't pose a threat to Madam Xu's two sons, and the targeting will stop!"

"Originally, she and Young Master He had already reached the stage of proposing marriage, but Madam Xu thought the betrothal gifts he offered were too little and told him to go back and prepare one hundred thousand taels of silver before returning. If he couldn't raise it, she would betroth my young lady to someone else."

"Young Master He lives alone and makes a living by fishing and selling fish. One hundred thousand taels is an astronomical figure for him, but in order to marry my young lady, he still agreed. He goes out fishing before dawn every day, just to save enough silver to marry her."

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