Chapter 492 Exposed

Chapter 492: Exposed

"Because our young lady passed away and couldn't be married off, the mistress forced me to take her place in the wedding, saying that if I just obediently followed her orders, I would become Zhong Xinyu, the only legitimate daughter of the Zhong family."

"But I grew up alongside the young lady, and she was like a sister to me. How could I possibly bring myself to impersonate her and take her place in marriage?"

"Before the young lady died, Xu and Master Zhong threatened me with her life, and I was forced to help them fool people by pretending to be her."

"Now that the young lady is dead, I no longer wish to live. I just hope Princess Ye and Prince Ye don't get fooled by people like them, and I hope everyone can see the true nature of Master Zhong and Madam Xu—people who would use even their own biological daughter. See how truly heartless they are."

Xu and Magistrate Zhong were both dumbfounded, especially Xu. She never imagined that Ming Xia, who was always so obedient and docile, would sell them out at a moment like this.

Shocked, she rushed right up to Ji Yuntang, waving her hands around, trying to explain.

"No, that's not it. Xin Yu isn't dead. Princess Ye, don't listen to her nonsense."

"The one who got into the bridal sedan today was Xin Yu herself. I have no idea how it ended up being Ming Xia."

Then she whipped around and pointed at Ming Xia with venom. "It's her—it has to be her! She was jealous that my daughter Xin Yu got to marry Prince Ye, so she deliberately pretended to be her and took her place."

Ming Xia let out a cold laugh and scoffed, "Madam Xu, you're still fooling yourself even now?"

"Whether the young lady is dead or not—just call the two servants who carried the coffin last night and ask them yourself. Then you'll know!"

Ming Xia then turned to Ji Yuntang. "I beg Princess Ye to summon the two servants who work for the eldest young master so they can face me directly."

"Approved!" Ji Yuntang raised an eyebrow and looked at Luo Sinian. "Prince Chen, would you be so kind as to send someone to the Zhong residence to fetch those two servants?"

Luo Sinian had been watching the show unfold and had already figured out Ji Yuntang's intentions.

The original promise to let Miss Zhong into the household, the lavish betrothal gifts—it was all just to make the Zhong family let their guard down, and then hit them with the heaviest blow.

Though Luo Sinian didn't know exactly what had happened behind the scenes, he knew that everything happening right now was definitely part of Ji Yuntang's plan.

He grunted in acknowledgment and sent two guards to the Zhong residence to fetch the men.

The two coffin-carrying servants were eventually caught and dragged back by Luo Sinian's men.

When they were grabbed, they looked totally confused—until they saw Ming Xia in her wedding dress—then they were scared out of their wits.

Today Ming Xia was marrying in Miss Zhong's place, but now she was showing her real face.

What did this mean?

It meant Princess Ye had already seen through Madam Xu's substitute bride scheme!

And the two of them had carried Miss Zhong's dead body out to dump it last night.

A bad feeling instantly hit them.

At that moment, Ming Xia walked up to them, her eyes locked on the two men as she demanded coldly, "Was it Madam Xu who told you two to carry the young lady's body out last night?"

The two men were scared out of their minds and immediately dropped to their knees, shaking their heads like crazy.

"We don't know anything! We're just lowly servants who look after the courtyard. We know nothing."

Deep down, they knew that telling the truth would offend Prince Ye's people, while lying would offend the Zhong family. Either way, they were screwed.

Ji Yuntang narrowed her eyes and looked down at them. "If you two don't tell the truth, this princess will kill you."

The moment she said that, Luo Sinian drew his sword, scaring the two men half to death.

They quickly spilled the beans. "We'll talk, we'll talk! Yesterday, the mistress really did have us put the young lady's body in a coffin and carry it out at night to secretly bury it!"

Ming Xia quickly asked, "Where did you bury her? In the Zhong family's ancestral plot?"

The two men shook their heads. "N-no... the eldest young master wouldn't let the young lady be buried in the ancestral plot. He told us to just find some random place to bury her."

"Since it was already dark and we wanted to save ourselves the hassle, we just dumped the coffin on some deserted mountain and ran back!"

Luo Sinian asked, "Which mountain was it?"

The servant stammered, "I... I don't remember. It was too dark, and I couldn't see a thing."

Xu was furious, secretly regretting she hadn't gotten rid of these two traitors earlier.

The surrounding onlookers began pointing and whispering about them.

"Heavens, could Miss Zhong really be dead? Magistrate Zhong and Madam Xu are this bold—having a maidservant impersonate Miss Zhong for the wedding? Isn't that blatant marriage fraud?"

"I think they were after Princess Ye's wealth. Before, they looked down on Prince Ye, but now that the Prince Ye household has recovered financially, they're scheming for the position of princess. And they even had the audacity to demand he take responsibility—who knows what ulterior motives they're hiding?"

"..."

The gossip from the crowd nearly drowned Xu and Magistrate Zhong, and they wished the ground would swallow them whole.

Ming Xia watched the scene and felt immense satisfaction in her heart.

She and the young lady had been bullied by Xu and Magistrate Zhong for so long. Now, finally, they could make them experience what it felt like to be drowned in spittle!

This was karma!

Ming Xia knew her task was complete, and what came next was Ji Yuntang's business.

With that thought, she knelt directly on the ground and declared loudly, "Agreeing to deceive people for Madam Xu and Master Zhong was this servant's fault. I know my sins are grave. Now I have no other requests—I only beg Princess Ye to grant me death, and I will atone for my crimes with my life."

"Very well, this princess will grant your wish." A faint glint flashed in Ji Yuntang's eyes. In a flash of movement, she was already before Ming Xia.

A silver hairpin was pulled from her hair, and the sound of flesh being pierced rang out. Ming Xia's chest was already stained crimson.

She stared wide-eyed at Ji Yuntang, then her body crumpled limply to the ground. Ji Yuntang withdrew her hand and glanced coldly at Ming Xia on the ground.

"This maidservant was audacious beyond measure—daring to impersonate Miss Zhong, deceiving the prince and this princess, and even harboring delusions of becoming the prince's concubine. She deserves death ten thousand times over. Killing her was letting her off easy!"

"Someone, take her body away. Don't let her die at the gates of Prince Ye's residence—it's bad luck!"

Chen Hu hurried forward and carried Ming Xia's body away.

Ji Yuntang then turned to face Magistrate Zhong, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"Magistrate Zhong, this princess truly underestimated your Zhong family. You'd even go so far as to swap brides. If this princess hadn't discovered this today and let that little maidservant through the door, wouldn't I have been trampled underfoot by a mere servant girl?"

"What exactly is your intention in doing this?"

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