dognovel Chapter 169 Meng Wanran's Death
Chapter 169 Meng Wanran's Death
The old woman knelt on the ground in disbelief. She murmured to herself, her voice thin but full of despair: "She...she really left me?"
Fu Rongxuan said: "Please be patient. Life and death are determined by fate. I hope you can let it go soon. I have made arrangements. Someone will escort you away from here tomorrow to a quiet place so that you can spend the rest of your life in peace."
"My lord, my lord, please tell me! Who is the murderer of my daughter?"
In fact, she had a premonition, but she just didn't want to believe it.
Meng Wanran felt guilty and was afraid that Fu Rongxuan would tell the truth. She was locked up with the old woman. If the old woman knew all her secrets, she was afraid that there would be no peace in this long night.
"Sir..." Meng Wanran interrupted their conversation.
Fu Rongxuan did not look sideways. His voice was steady and penetrating, as if it could reach the most secret corners of people's hearts: "The truth will come out, and you will soon know the true identity of the real culprit behind the scenes."
Soon, a slight sound of footsteps broke the silence of the cell, and a mysterious man in a cloak walked in quietly.
The man slowly squatted down and silently opened the lid of the basket. In an instant, an enticing aroma filled the entire small space. It was a roasted chicken.
"Meng Wanran, have you ever thought that I would come to see you?"
Meng Wanran only felt that the voice was familiar, and the woman's figure gradually became clear in the interweaving of light and shadow. That face, those eyebrows and eyes, were all Jiang Nianwei who was deeply imprinted in her memory.
Meng Wanran's pupils suddenly dilated, full of disbelief and astonishment, "It's you? Jiang Nianwei, why are you here?"
She should have been exiled in Yazhou, living a hard life without enough food to eat and enduring all kinds of torture. Why did she appear here?
She did not look down and out at all. On the contrary, she was wearing expensive-looking clothes, her face was rosy and her eyes were sparkling. There was no trace of the misery and haggardness of exile.
The sudden contrast made Meng Wanran's heart full of mixed feelings and she found it difficult to calm down.
Jiang Nianwei leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Are you surprised to see me? If I tell you that everything you've experienced was my doing, would you be even more surprised?"
Meng Wanran's pupils shrank when she heard this. Disbelief raged in her eyes. Her lips trembled as she murmured to herself, "No, this is impossible... You, how could you have such power? You are just..."
Jiang Nianwei just smiled slightly: "You guessed wrong, I have this ability. I have already set up this chess game, and every piece and every move is for my use. What I want is to witness your fall from the clouds to the dust with my own eyes. Now, you are in prison, how does it feel?"
Her words were like a sharp blade, cutting through Meng Wanran's already fragile heart.
"I want to find the prince! I still have the secrets of the Eastern Palace in my hands, and he won't give up on me easily."
Meng Wanran began to shake the cell door frantically.
A calm but cruel voice responded to her: "What can hide secrets better than a dead body? What you should worry about is whether he will send someone to kill you to silence you."
"I am the mother of his child. He won't treat me like this. We still have friendship between us..."
"Oh, you have already experienced the ruthlessness of the royal family, haven't you?"
Meng Wanran sat there in a daze, not saying a word.
Jiang Nianwei took out the roast chicken and called the old woman over, "Auntie, would you like to try it?"
The old woman shook her head slowly, her voice hoarse and heavy: "My heart is filled with the pain of losing my daughter, and I have no appetite."
But she had already discovered some clues from the conversation just now. The woman who was in prison with her must not be an ordinary person.
Jiang Nianwei took a chicken drumstick expressionlessly and stuffed it into her hand. She said in a light tone, "Your enemy is right in front of you. She was the one who ordered her men to kill your daughter."
The old woman's hands were shaking. "What, it's her?"
"Yes, so you know who the enemy is."
Meng Wanran was so angry that she stood up and said, "Jiang Nianwei, you are going too far. I, Meng Wanran, have never done anything to offend you. Why do you have to kill me? I have already left Qin Ziqian. Besides, is it my fault that Qin Ziqian likes me?"
Now that Jiang Nianwei has returned to the capital, I wonder how Qin Ziqian is doing now.
She couldn't help but murmur to herself: "If Qin Ziqian saw me like this, he would surely feel distressed, right?"
Jiang Nianwei sneered: "You are talking about Qin Ziqian, he must have turned into ashes a long time ago."
"What did you say?"
"If you still miss him, why don't you just follow his footsteps and meet him in the Eighteen Levels of Hell together?"
"You are talking nonsense. You can go back to the capital, but how can Ziqian? You killed him! You are such a vicious woman!"
"It's all his own fault. He can't blame anyone else."
Meng Wanran sat on the wet ground, motionless, with a huge fear in her heart.
She screamed madly: "I want to go back, I don't belong to this world, I want to go back!"
Jiang Nianwei understood what she meant, "You can't go back."
She placed the basket in front of the old woman, "Auntie, this is for you. This is your last night here. You can get your revenge."
Jiang Nianwei took one last look at Meng Wanran, the woman who had harmed her so miserably in her previous life and pushed her into an endless abyss. If she died easily, it would be too easy for her.
She turned and left the cell, leaving Meng Wanran behind her, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Jiang Nianwei, come back to me! Come back to me quickly!"
But Jiang Nianwei never looked back. She only had greater goals in her heart and deeper hatred that had yet to be avenged.
The family's blood feud was like a flame in the dark night, constantly burning her heart and reminding her not to stop.
Meng Wanran was imprisoned alone in a dark cell. Only the cold stone walls responded to her faint calls. The sky had no mercy and the earth was silent.
Despair enveloped her like a tide, and the news of Qin Ziqian's death was like a bolt from the blue, causing huge waves in her heart once again.
Just when she was completely hopeless, a subtle and heavy sound came from behind her, breaking the silence, and a silver needle was taken out from the bottom. This was what Jiang Nianwei told her before she left.
"It's you...it's you. It's you who ended my daughter's life with your own hands. I swear to take back this blood debt!"
Meng Wanran turned around and said, "It was clearly her who wanted to pretend to be the daughter of the Marquis's Mansion. What does this have to do with me? You also said that she wanted to get something that didn't belong to her. She deserved it."
The old woman was so angry that her whole body was shaking. Without hesitation, she took the silver needle and stabbed Meng Wanran.
……
Everything happened just as Jiang Nianwei had expected. Baili He was indeed worried about Meng Wanran being locked up in the cell.
She knew a lot of my secrets, and if they were revealed during interrogation, I would be implicated.
Wen Daidai fanned the flames: "Your Highness, if you are worried, why don't you just cut the grass and root it out to prevent future troubles?"
A gloomy look flashed across Baili He's brows, and he said in a deep voice: "Although she is imprisoned, my father's suspicion has quietly shrouded me. If I act rashly at this time, I will be trapped."
"Your Highness, Dai Dai has a plan in mind that may help you resolve your worries..."
Meng Wanran originally thought that the old woman was old while she was young, but she didn't expect that once the thought of revenge came into her mind, it would unleash unlimited potential.
That night, she was tortured by the old woman until she was nearly dead, but the wound left by the silver needle was very small and no one cared.
"Why don't you just kill me?"
The old woman was silent. Before leaving yesterday, the woman reminded her that she could torture her, but she must not kill her at this moment, otherwise she would be convicted.
"You will have other consequences."
Early in the morning, Fu Rongxuan let the old woman out.
Since Meng Wanran has already pleaded guilty and signed his name, he still needs to be brought to court for interrogation, and there is a high probability that he will be sentenced to death in the autumn.
In this uncertain morning, her sight pierced through the blurry curtain of tears and unexpectedly caught sight of Bailih's figure, like a drowning person grabbing a piece of illusory driftwood.
"Your Highness...save me, save me."
A complex emotion flashed across Baili He's eyes, but it eventually turned into a cold expression. "Wan Ran, now that things have come to this, you know that you have violated the laws of heaven and human ethics. Even if I have the will, I am powerless to change the situation."
Meng really only had one last chip left. "Your Highness, I still have a trump card in my hand that is enough to move you. I know your secrets very well. As long as you are willing to lend a hand, I am willing to guarantee with my life that those secrets will forever sleep in the long river of time."
Bailihe's face suddenly turned cold. She really said such words.
"Wan Ran, don't blame me for not giving you a chance. You are the one who disappointed me so much."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
She did nothing wrong. People are supposed to be selfish, but she didn't use the right method. If she were given another chance and allowed to hold the decisive bargaining chip again, she would swear not to act rashly again. She would use more meticulous planning to defeat Wen Daidai and Jiang Nianwei one by one and become the real winner.
Bailihe ignored her and just whispered to the accompanying guards, "Let someone arrange the action!"
When Meng Wanran was led out of the dark cell door slowly by the sound of heavy shackles, her heart was as firm as a rock. She vowed to expose the prince's misdeeds at the last moment of her life. Even if it cost her own life, she would not let the mastermind behind the scenes rest in peace and vowed to drag him into the abyss with her.
It's a pity that she didn't wait until she said that.
When she was escorted out, people from all over the city threw rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at her.
Meng Wanran gritted her teeth, her anger and unwillingness intertwined into a web. She wanted to open her mouth and make public the secrets buried deep in her heart.
The death row prisoner who was escorted out with her broke free from the crowd, picked up a dagger and stabbed her in the abdomen several times.
The past was like smoke, and scenes flashed through Meng Wanran's chaotic mind like a revolving lantern. Those memories of glory and gloom, love and hate, all turned into nothingness at this moment.
She had never expected that the final chapter of her life would end in such a tragic and ironic way. Amidst the noise and chaos all around her, her heart had returned to a dead silence.
Her body tilted weakly and finally fell heavily on a piece of dirty rotten vegetable leaves, as if it was fate's final mockery of her.
The blood slowly spread out beneath her body like a blooming red lotus, dyeing everything around her red, including her eyes, which contained a sense of unwillingness.
"I won't...I won't give in. I won't lose."
There was chaos all around, and Meng Wanran died on the spot due to severe injuries and excessive blood loss.
Baili He, who was not far away, watched this scene silently. "Don't blame me for being ruthless. People always have to think about their own interests. You have deceived me for so long. Even if you don't die now, you will die in the future. This arrangement can save you from the misery of having your head and body separated. Don't worry, I will find a way to bury you properly."
With the death of Meng Wanran, Hu Lianxue was finally recognized back into the Marquis' Mansion and became a real daughter of the Marquis' Mansion.
The old lady finally got her wish and welcomed back her real granddaughter, and the entire An Ning Marquis Mansion was filled with joy.
For a time, the mansion was crowded with people, and an endless stream of dignitaries and nobles came to propose marriage.
But Hu Lianxue politely declined all of them. She had already promised Fu Rongxuan and she had to fulfill her promise.
Leng Shiyun followed her lead. If her daughter didn't want to, she didn't want to force her.
It was not until the son of Duke Fu came to propose marriage that Leng Shiyun discovered that her daughter's mood had changed when he looked at her, a solemn man.
"Lianxue, what do you think of this Master Fu?"
Hu Lian nodded with a complicated look in her eyes, then ran back to her yard.
Leng Shiyun finally realized that her daughter didn't want to get married, but she just hadn't met the right person.
She definitely had feelings for this Lord Fu, and after their horoscopes matched, they got engaged legitimately.
Originally, Fu Rongxuan had persuaded his parents that he wanted to marry an ordinary woman. Now that Hu Lianxue had returned to her ancestral home, he did not expect that she was actually the daughter of a marquisate.
But no matter who she is, she is the one he loves.
Although Hu Lianxue agreed to the marriage, she was still afraid. She finally found an opportunity and told Jiang Nianwei about it.
"Miss Jiang, my engagement with Master Fu has been finalized. This should be a happy thing, but... but he has never touched upon my past, nor does he know about it. I am worried that if one day the shadows of the past are revealed, he will become resentful of me because of it."
After saying this, a hint of melancholy appeared in Hu Lianxue's eyes.
Hearing this, Jiang Nianwei gently stroked her back and comforted her with warm words: "Lianxue, those past events were not what you wanted, nor were they something you could control. It was not your fault. Don't take all the responsibility on yourself. Someone who truly loves you won't care about all this. If Master Fu truly loves you, he will tolerate everything about you."
Although Jiang Nianwei said this, she was still unsure in her heart. She believed in Fu Rongxuan's character, but most men in this dynasty had feudal ideas, and she didn't know what Fu Rongxuan would think.