On her wedding night, she went into exile with her pharmacy arsenal

Chapter 2254 Calculating Every Step

He walked up to Accountant Liu, looked down at him, and his eyes were full of determination.

Accountant Liu lay on the ground, staring at the approaching dagger, his eyes filled with fear and resentment. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he could only utter weak breaths. Finally, his head lolled to the side, and he became completely still.

Manager Qi only put away the dagger after confirming that Accountant Liu had died.

He didn't dare delay, quickly found a tattered burlap sack, wrapped Liu the accountant's body in it, and then carefully wiped the room clean to make sure there was no blood left.

After doing all this, he put on the straw hat he had prepared beforehand, pulled the brim down low to cover most of his face, then shouldered the sack and quietly slipped out through the small door in the backyard.

Outside was a quiet alley, and no one was passing by at that moment.

Manager Qi hurried along and soon reached the alley entrance, where a carriage that had been rented long ago was parked.

He threw the sack onto the carriage, climbed on, cracked his whip, and the carriage rumbled away from the alley, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Manager Qi sat in the carriage, feeling somewhat uneasy, but mostly relieved.

Unbeknownst to him, after his carriage left the alley, two figures silently followed, keeping a distance behind the carriage.

One group consisted of secret guards sent by Yan Ruyu, while the other group consisted of Miaoqin's subordinates.

They all received orders to secretly monitor Manager Qi's every move.

The carriage bumped along the way and soon left the city, arriving at a mass grave in the western suburbs.

The place is overgrown with weeds, and white bones are exposed in the wild. A cold wind blows, giving off a sinister and terrifying atmosphere.

Suppressing his discomfort, Manager Qi shouldered the sack, walked to a hillside, dug a shallow pit, buried Liu the accountant's body in it, and then filled the pit with weeds, leaving no trace.

After doing all this, he breathed a sigh of relief, dusted himself off, turned back to the carriage, and headed back to the city.

Back in town, Manager Qi had the carriage stop in a small alley not far from the shop, paid the fare, and walked back to the shop alone.

He was still wearing a straw hat, which he only took off after returning to his room, his face showing exhaustion.

Meanwhile, in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, Linlang strode into the courtyard, her face filled with barely suppressed joy, and said to Yan Ruyu, who was standing under the flowering tree, "Master, it's exactly as you said!"

Manager Qi had truly become suspicious of Accountant Liu, and had him killed so quickly. The body has already been buried in the mass grave in the western suburbs.

Yan Ruyu was gently stroking a fallen petal when she heard this. A faint smile appeared on her lips, and her eyes remained calm and undisturbed: "He knew nothing about Sun Qing impersonating him, let alone that Sun Qing had pretended to be poisoned before."

In addition, he had just escaped from the darkness and was already on guard.

The accountant's sudden delivery of medicine was, in his view, an attempt to poison him and silence him; naturally, he wouldn't sit idly by and wait to die.

"So what do we do next?" Linlang asked.

Yan Ruyu turned to look into the distance, her gaze deep: "Next, we'll have to see how Miaoqin reacts."

What interests me more is her—what methods she has, and how far she can take this game.

Meanwhile, in an elegant room at Miaoyinfang, where Miaoqin resides, Miaoqin is sitting in a chair, gently wiping her zither.

Her subordinate strode in, knelt on one knee, and reported, "Miss, Accountant Liu is dead. He was killed by Manager Qi, and his body has been buried in the mass grave in the western suburbs."

Miaoqin paused, a look of surprise and confusion on her face: "Manager Qi killed Accountant Liu? The two of them had always gotten along well, how could they suddenly turn against each other?"

The subordinate then reported, "Miss, there is one more thing."

We found out that Manager Qi went to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion today and left through the back gate. When he left, he whispered something to the maidservant beside the Zhennan Princess. It seemed like…

Miaoqin stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow.

"Go on."

"They seemed to get along very well, as if it wasn't the first time."

Upon hearing this, a cold glint flashed in Miaoqin's eyes.

The Prince of Zhennan's Mansion?

Manager Qi actually had secret dealings with the Prince of Zhennan's mansion?

How audacious!

but……

Miaoqin pondered for a moment, recalling what Mr. Mo had said: the Prince of Zhennan and his wife were extremely difficult to deal with, and they should be treated with caution and not be careless.

Could it be that this Manager Qi is also a fake, since Zhou Zhenghang killed the imposter shopkeeper at the fresh produce store?

"Go," Miaoqin ordered, "secretly investigate what has happened over there these past few days."

"Everything, big or small, must be reported to me."

"Yes, that Accountant Liu..."

Miaoqin pondered for a moment: "Let's bring the body back first, preserve it with the Cold Condensation Bead, and then investigate Manager Qi's matter."

"Yes."

Miaoqin looked out the window. To be honest, as a woman herself, she was not entirely convinced by Mr. Mo's many mentions of the Princess of Zhennan.

This trip to Youcheng was an opportunity she actively sought; she was determined to defeat, crush, and trample the Princess of Zhennan under her feet.

Miaoqin clapped her hands, and a maid came in.

"How is Zhou Zhenghang doing?"

“Miss, I was just about to report this to you. He has been imprisoned.”

Miaoqin thought she had misheard: "What?"

"That's right. For some reason, he got drunk and got into a fight with passersby on the street, injuring others. Someone reported it to the authorities, and he was taken to the yamen."

Miaoqin's face darkened: "Absurd!"

……

The air in the governor's prison was perpetually filled with a damp, musty smell, mixed with a faint rusty odor, making one's chest feel heavy.

The wooden bars of the cell gleamed with a somber light, and a few dim rays of sunlight pierced through the gaps, barely illuminating the condensed water stains on the ground.

Zhou Zhenghang leaned against a pile of straw in the corner, his robes still stained with wine, his hair slightly disheveled, but there was no trace of drunkenness in his eyes.

He appeared to be lazily squinting, but his fingers were unconsciously rubbing the straw. Fueled by alcohol, he caused a scene in the street, which led to the governor's mansion locking him up.

The prison is, after all, a place of government officials. Miaoqin has to consider her shady identity, so she can't just break in and kill someone. It's good that she can hide away for a few days and then slowly plan her escape route.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief and was thinking about how to deal with Miaoqin once things calmed down, he heard light footsteps outside the prison door.

The footsteps were neither hurried nor slow, but carried an inexplicable sense of oppression.

Zhou Zhenghang raised his eyelids and looked in the direction of the footsteps. He saw a woman dressed in an elegant dress walking slowly towards him, followed by a maid with a curved sword at her waist. It was none other than Yan Ruyu, the Princess Consort of Zhennan.

He froze abruptly, his relaxed body tensing instantly, and his fingers, which had been caressing the straw, stopped moving.

How could it be her?

How could Yan Ruyu know that he was imprisoned here?

And why did you come to see him specifically?

Countless questions swirled in Zhou Zhenghang's mind, and he suddenly felt uneasy. He forced a look of drunken confusion on his face and deliberately swayed as he stood up.

He cupped his hands in greeting to Yan Ruyu, his voice deliberately low and hoarse: "Your Highness, why...why are you here?"

Yan Ruyu stood outside the prison gate, her gaze sweeping over the wine stains on his body and his disheveled hair, a half-smile curving her lips.