An Accidental Rebirth: The Surrogate Bride - Chapter 138

“The bandit breaking into the execution ground… the one behind the poisoning of Prince Mu… the culprit of Prince Rui…” Nangong Du repeated the accusation with sarcasm and anger. These charges were enough to wipe a family and all its relatives off the world! He rarely showed his sympathy, but to ensure the safety of the Yus, he made an exception to take them with him. He did not expect that his opponent would have taken advantage of this opportunity to turn Yu Xiaohu into a wanted criminal! If people wanted to pick on others, they could always find a reason easily!

He wondered what Zixiu would react when he woke up and heard the news. The day before, Liu Zixiu had naively assumed that the Yu family would survive!  In addition to Yu Xiaohu, the rest of the Yu family included an old man, a child, and a woman. If Nangong Du could find a safe place to settle them, he would not be willing to take them with him. Without his protection, there was no way that the Yus were still alive! Those killers would not let go of the Yus only because they were not their main target! Poor Yu Xiaohu! He had saved someone who was regarded as an eyesore by others, so it was no wonder he got himself into trouble!

Of course, Nangong Du had never associated the poisoning incident, the rescue of the condemned criminals from the execution ground, and Prince Rui, who had been executed five years ago, with the dangerous situation he was being hunted down. However, the apparent conspiracy theory in the wanted posters tied it all together and confirmed what he had been incredulous for years. This was an obvious fact! Yu Xiaohu was just an honest country boy. If he could stay calm after he had committed such a monstrous crime, as if nothing had happened, he must be really cunning and good at covering up!

The mastermind behind the poisoning of Prince Mu! Humph! Yu Xiaohu did not even know that Prince Mu was just in front of him!

Therefore, instead of being astonished by his opponent’s plot, Nangong Du was more astonished by the one who was behind all this. But actually, he shouldn’t have been shocked, because five years ago, Xianxian had warned him before her death! He was no longer the naive and stupid little prince five years ago. He was well aware of the apparent harmony and the hidden intrigue between the royal families, and had been fighting against those people. The secret battle had already begun long ago!

Who had the authority to order governments at all levels to arrest a bandit?  Who would try to kill a prince at all costs? The answer was obvious!

The midwife, who was already in her eighties, had never been so swift and she even hurried to her home in a panic without the help of her crane! It proved that in a critical moment, the instinct to survive could let a person unleash amazing energy! She got away on the pretext that someone in the neighboring village had come to her in the early morning and asked her to assist a pregnant woman in difficult labor before she was suddenly brought here forcibly! It was true that she had once assisted a woman who was having a difficult birth, but that was years ago! Actually, she was in such a hurry because she was about to go to the temple and pray for the Buddha’s blessing. It was said that people who see a man pregnant were likely to die a violent death！

As she stumbled through the thick snow, the noise around her was muffled by the creak under her feet. Besides, she was old and was losing her hearing. Therefore, she did not sense someone was approaching until she felt a weight on her shoulder. Shivering, she was so frightened that she almost fell to the ground.

“Lord Ghost, please spare me! I didn’t mean to offend you! I’m coming back home to burn joss sticks right now! Namo Amita Buddha!” Thinking that she must have met a super ghost that would appear even during the day, she kept on begging for mercy, covering her head with her hands.

After listening to her “worship” for a moment, the “ghost” said in a harsh tone, “My wife has not recovered yet. Please come with me to check again!”

“Huh?” Hearing a human’s voice, the old midwife noticed that the hand on her shoulder was kind of warm, so she relieved a little. However, when she heard this guy addressed that pregnant man as his wife, she couldn’t help but grow tense again! It seemed she had really met a ghost!

“Sir, I can do nothing to help. You’d better get someone else!” She shivered even more violently, but she still had no guts to turn around to face the man. “My lord, I’m old and even I want to help, I can do nothing!” she said, almost bursting into tears.

Disregarding her entreaties, that man stopped talking, picked her up, and then left.

The old midwife was sure that her feet did not touch the ground. That man was walking at an incredible speed and she did not even hear the sound of stepping on the snow! In horror, she couldn’t help but look down. Sure enough, that man’s feet did not touch the ground either!

She was so shocked that she suddenly felt the cold air coming to her chest like thousands of arrows. She could not suppress her fear anymore and started struggling desperately.

“Wait! What are you doing here?” A loud voice suddenly rang in the tense atmosphere.

As if seeing the Bodhisattva, the old midwife breathed a sigh of relief. She was familiar with the voice. It was the county patrolman who was speaking. A squad of seven or eight patrolmen had been patrolling in the village recently. These young men were all the children born with her assistance!

As expected, a squad of patrolmen walked over one by one from behind a pile of snow at the corner.

With them as her backing, the midwife thought for granted that they could defeat the “ghost”, so she plucked up and was about to shout for help. However, before she could utter a word, the “ghost” responded to the patrolman’s question.

In contrast to his sternness, he spoke in a flattering way this time, “Bro, my master’s wife is showing signs of miscarriage, and I’m here to ask the midwife for help!”

“Your master’s wife?” Those patrolmen approached and sized up the young man in an ordinary servant’s attire. A few days ago, the government ordered to hunt down the escaped criminals, so they were instantly attracted by the stranger who appeared in their district, without noticing the terrified look on the old midwife’s face.

Obviously, the servant was very experienced. Instead of showing a hint of panic, he continued with a smile, “My master is a businessman from Muzhou. Recently, he accompanied his pregnant wife to go back to her hometown to attend a funeral. On their way back to Muzhou, his wife showed signs of miscarriage. My master once heard, when he passed by before, that you had a very experienced midwife here, so he asked me to get this old lady!”

“Oh?” The head of the patrolmen nodded. He then shifted his gaze to the midwife, who was indeed very famous in the nearby villages. “Granny, is that so?”

Though the old lady’s hearing was poor, she heard clearly what the servant had said. She couldn’t help but think that she had thought of the young man a ghost because of her deafness and failing eyesight! After all, the young man seemed to be quite normal, and he was not lying. He really came to her to prevent someone from a miscarriage! “Yes!” she replied with a nod. However, she felt even more nervous when she heard that the young man’s master had just come back from a funeral. Could it be that his wife was possessed by a ghost during the funeral?

“Bro, my master’s wife is very sick, so I have to go with this old lady right away. I hope I didn’t interfere with your patrols!” With that, he pulled the midwife and was about to leave.

The patrolmen were not so merciless. Seeing that he was really anxious, they stopped interrogating. What’s more, they were going into the village on a routine patrol!

So, each side went its own way.

After walking a few meters, someone suddenly muttered, “Why is there only one row of footprints?”

Feeling something wrong, the patrolmen looked back at once. But the young man and the midwife were already gone!