My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 59

The other three in the room, upon hearing the knocking, instinctively put on their clothes and stepped out.

Lu An rushed ahead of the others and was about to lift the door latch when Lu Jiahe stopped him.

“Wait a moment. We don’t know who’s outside. How can we just open the door? If it’s the person who dug the tunnel, and the streets are empty at this hour, we won’t even have a chance to escape or call for help.”

Cheng Yi nodded upon hearing this, agreeing with what was said.

The knocking continued relentlessly. To avoid disturbing the neighbors, Cheng Yi stepped forward and called out to the door, “Who is it? Why are you coming to our house so late?”

The soldier knocking, recognizing his master’s voice, immediately stopped. “We are from the Princess’s residence. While patrolling earlier, we saw the benefactor who saved us outside the city, so we came specifically to check if they are here.”

Everyone inside frowned upon hearing this. Could there be someone else in the courtyard besides the four of them?

“You must be mistaken. There are only four of us in this house, and we’ve all just arrived in the capital recently. How could the person you’re looking for be here?”

Cheng Yi recalled the strange events that had occurred since arriving in the capital and grew increasingly frightened. She decided that once Lu Jiahe finished the exams, she would take everyone and flee the capital.

“No mistake, no mistake. Just now, our benefactor climbed over the wall and jumped into your courtyard. Probably, they didn’t recognize us and were afraid we’d cause trouble in our official uniforms, so they hid in your courtyard.”

Xue Wanning, who had been standing outside the door, grew impatient and stamped her feet. She pushed aside the soldier beside her, stepped forward, and knocked on the door, shouting, “Miss Cheng, it’s me, Wanning! I brought these people. It’s safe, nothing to worry about.”

The sudden knocking startled everyone inside.

Lu Jiahe frowned, staring at Cheng Yi’s back, wondering why Xue Wanning had brought soldiers to their house so late at night.

Could it be an attempt to forcibly take someone?

At this thought, Lu Jiahe’s heart raced. Memories of Xue Wanning’s unrequited longing for Cheng Yi flashed through her mind like a shadow play.

“No, we can’t open the door. She’s not a good person.” Lu Jiahe hurried forward and grabbed Cheng Yi’s arm, stopping her from lifting the latch.

Cheng Yi turned her head, puzzled. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Don’t let her in. She’s not a good person. She wants to take you away from me. She’s a black-hearted villain.”

“Ah?”

Cheng Yi was initially confused by Lu Jiahe’s words, but upon realizing the jealousy in them, she quickly put down the latch and wrapped her arms around Lu Jiahe’s neck.

“It’s alright, it won’t happen. She’s helped us many times. She must have come for a reason so late. If she really intended to harm us, she wouldn’t have waited until now.”

The two, lost in their affection, paid no attention to Guo’er and Lu An behind them, forgetting that the door’s soundproofing was not the best.

Guo’er and Lu An, seeing their masters’ actions, blushed and tactfully turned their backs.

Outside the door, Xue Wanning, having heard Lu Jiahe’s words, gritted her teeth in anger and pulled a long sword from a soldier’s scabbard.

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at the door, itching to kick it open and chop down that “disgusting scoundrel” who took liberties with her princess every day!

Xue Wanning stood at the door, panting heavily as she waited. After a long while, there was still no sign of anyone inside intending to open the door for her, so she raised her hand and knocked again.

Thump, thump, thump!

“Miss Cheng, are you still there? I promise we’ll leave as soon as we find the person.”

Cheng Yi, completely absorbed in her intimate moment with Lu Jiahe, had long forgotten that someone was still waiting outside.

Hearing the noise, she bashfully pushed Lu Jiahe away, turned around, and lifted the door bolt.

With a creak, the door swung open.

When Xue Wanning saw that the person opening the door was her princess, her expression immediately softened, and she looked at the other with gentle kindness.

“Miss Cheng, I’m terribly sorry to disturb you so late,” Xue Wanning said, bowing respectfully to her princess.

Cheng Yi had overheard the officers saying they were from the princess’s residence, and on her way to the capital, she had also heard that Xue Wanning was a royal noble. Putting two and two together, she was struck with shock. Could this person be the princess?!

Looking at the smiling girl outside the door, Cheng Yi couldn’t help but tremble at the thought of her identity.

“It’s fine. Since you’re here to look for someone, please come in,” she said, inviting the group inside. After giving them a few instructions, she pulled Lu Jiahe aside to whisper.

Xue Wanning had hoped to use this opportunity to reconnect with her mistress. The imperial physician had advised her to talk more about the past with the princess, to stimulate her memories, perhaps it would help restore them.

Seeing the two huddled together in the corner of the yard, whispering intimately, made her blood boil. If it weren’t for Li Damao claiming he’d heard her mistress’s voice, she wouldn’t have brought people here in the middle of the night to interrupt their “private moment.”

“Miss Cheng, it looks like you’ve just bathed, your hair is still wet. Why don’t we wait in the main hall? You shouldn’t be standing in the wind and catching a chill. Falling ill would be no good.”

Xue Wanning stepped forward, breaking the increasingly heated atmosphere between the two.

Hearing Xue Wanning’s voice, Lu Jiahe immediately cooled off. She shot a cold glare at the other before taking Cheng Yi’s hand and leading her toward the front hall.

Startled by the sudden move, Cheng Yi hesitated. Mindful of Xue Wanning’s status and the fact that Lu Jiahe was about to take the imperial examinations, she stopped her and gave Xue Wanning a polite, smiling nod.

Ah!

This was the first time since her mistress lost her memory that she had shown such gentleness toward her!

Moved to the point of tears, Xue Wanning no longer cared what Lu Jiahe might do. She stepped forward, snatched her princess from the other’s grasp, and walked arm in arm with her toward the front hall.

Unable to bear the pain of having his “wife” taken away, Lu Jiahe followed furiously behind them, lowering her head and glaring fiercely at Xue Wanning with seemingly menacing eyes.

After searching the residence for a while, the officers found Li Damao hiding behind the kitchen shelves, sneakily eating. Rolling their eyes, they brought the man, still munching on a roasted chicken leg, to the front hall for their mistress to see.

“Why is it you again?” Lu Jiahe exclaimed, her emotions flaring up the moment she saw it was the same man who had fallen into her house that night.

She felt that everything she had experienced these past few days was nothing but a trap set by Xue Wanning, all with the aim of snatching Cheng Yi away from her.

Sitting beside her for three hundred years, Cheng Yi, seeing that her usually gentle little chicken was genuinely angry, reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to sit down beside her. “I’m here, don’t be angry,” she whispered softly into Lu Jiahe’s ear, then narrowed her eyes and glared at Li Damao in front of them.

“Li Damao, why are you in my house?”

Her stern and icy tone sent chills down the spines of everyone from the princess’s residence who were present.

Oh no, is the princess angry?

It’s all Aunt Xue’s terrible idea!

Li Damao, trembling under his princess’s piercing gaze, shakily set down the roasted chicken leg in his hand, then bowed his head and cautiously replied, “I… I smelled the food from your house, and it was just too delicious, so I climbed over the wall to steal a bite.”

“Hmph!” Cheng Yi snorted coldly upon hearing this. Did these people really think she was a two-year-old child? How could she not see through it at this point?

“Guo’er, recite the household rules regarding trespassing to Li Damao,” Cheng Yi said, picking up a teacup, blowing on it to cool the tea, and then bringing it to Lu Jiahe’s lips.

With her mistress backing her up, Guo’er stepped forward with the authoritative air of a housekeeper and slowly recited the household rules to Li Damao.

“For first-time trespassers, considering it’s their first offense and they may not know better, they will be thrown out and forbidden from entering the Lu residence again. For repeat offenders, their hands will be cut off and their eyes gouged out, ensuring they never forget.”

Everyone from the princess’s residence was stunned upon hearing this punishment. Xue Wanning was so frightened that her jaw dropped, and she didn’t even bother to wipe the tea that dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

Seeing that no one spoke, Cheng Yi ordered Lu An to go to the kitchen and fetch the cleaver, she intended to carry out the punishment herself.

“T-this isn’t appropriate, Miss Cheng. I mean, I don’t think he came here intentionally. It’s probably just because your cooking is so incredibly fragrant and delicious,” Xue Wanning said, completely unprepared for things to escalate to this point. The moment she heard that Cheng Yi was actually sending someone to fetch the cleaver, she hurriedly stood up to intervene.

Cheng Yi turned her head and scrutinized the woman before her, who was suspected to be the current princess, and said coldly, “What do you mean by that, Miss Xue? Someone trespassed into my home, is it my fault now?”

Seeing the princess’s face grow even colder, Xue Wanning hastily tried to explain, “No, no, no, Miss Cheng, please don’t misunderstand.”

Xue Wanning was growing increasingly frantic. When she had come, she had confidently assured Li Damao that he would surely improve the princess’s impression of him. But now, not long after, the princess was about to chop off his hands and gouge out his eyes.

If word of this got out, how could she ever lead the covert guards and remain by the princess’s side in the future?

Li Damao knelt on the ground, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at the people before him.

“If the ruler demands the subject’s death, the subject has no choice but to die!”

He said only this before bowing his head and weeping alone.

Cheng Yi furrowed her brows upon hearing this. She had only intended to scare the man in front of her, to ensure he would never trespass into her home again.

Beside her, Xue Wanning grew even more anxious after hearing Li Damao’s words. She hadn’t expected Damao to come this time with such a resolute determination to face death.

“No! Damao, you mustn’t!” Xue Wanning slammed the table and stood up, then turned to her princess, pleading on Li Damao’s behalf.

“Miss Cheng, no matter what, Damo is my benefactor. I beg you, for my sake, please let him off just this once! I promise you, if you spare him this time, Damo will never trespass into the Lu residence again.”

Since Xue Wanning had spoken to this extent, Cheng Yi naturally followed the offered olive branch.

“Very well,” Cheng Yi agreed, looking at Xue Wanning. “However, I also have one request I hope you will agree to.”

“Please, speak. As long as it’s within my power, I won’t refuse.”