tallest building

Chapter 21 Miscalculation

Wen Mingqian and the others had just left the flower hall when they ran into Cui Baozhu.

"Miss Cui, have you seen the young master and the fourth young master of the palace?" Liu Cuiyi asked her.

“I did see them playing under the willow tree on the west side earlier, then I went for a stroll in the garden and haven’t seen them since,” Cui Baozhu shook her head. “What, can’t you find them?”

"The banquet is about to begin, please have a seat at the front, Second Miss!" Since everyone here is a guest, even though she knew that Cui Baozhu was hostile to her, Wen Mingqian still did her best to be a good host. However, she keenly noticed something unusual on Cui Baozhu's face and immediately changed the subject, "Of course, if Second Miss Cui is willing, she can also come with us to find her."

Cui Baozhu did not refuse and said, "The place is so big, I'll help you look for it! More people means more help."

She pretended to be a good person, but she couldn't help feeling smug inside.

It turns out she had conspired with the Song family to frame Wen Mingqian today.

While the maid was playing with the two children, a palace servant brought her tea. The tea contained a diuretic, so the maid needed to relieve herself soon after drinking it.

After the maid left, Cui Baozhu, who was hiding not far away, came over and deliberately provoked Feng Tianzhu and Gong Chang'an to quarrel so that she could make it easier to take action.

However, Gong Chang'an didn't fall for it and pulled Feng Tianzhu along to relieve himself, which made it difficult for Cui Baozhu to follow.

Fortunately, Feng Tianzhu returned by himself after a short while, but Gong Chang'an was nowhere to be seen.

Cui Baozhu was overjoyed. She had originally intended for Feng Tianzhu to be alone, so she coaxed him, saying, "I just saw the fourth young master of the Gong family go into that room over there. There must be something fun inside that he wants to play with by himself. Young master, did you see it? It's that unlocked room on the north side."

Feng Tianzhu nodded and walked straight over.

As Cui Baozhu watched him open the door and go inside, she quickly and quietly locked the door from the outside behind him.

After that, she left and gave a wink to the palace servants who were waiting for news.

She knew that the servant would then put a snake in the room.

When Feng Tianzhu is frightened, he will suffer from epilepsy. When people find him, they will see the young prince of the Feng family, who is loved by everyone, locked in the storeroom and having an epileptic seizure.

Given Wu's temperament, and given her existing dissatisfaction with Wen Mingqian, she was bound to make a huge scene.

In order to give the Feng family an explanation, the Gong family will definitely punish Wen Mingqian.

In this way, she would have done Song a great favor, and Song would surely be grateful to her.

Of course, she wasn't afraid of being implicated. First, Feng Tianzhu suffered from epilepsy and usually took two or three days to regain his senses.

And apart from him, no one knew that he was the one who led him here.

Secondly, even if Feng Tianzhu reveals his identity later, there's nothing to worry about.

Although he told him he saw Gong Chang'an enter the room, who could prove that he was the one who locked him in? After all, Feng Tianzhu didn't have eyes in the back of his head.

Moreover, Feng Tianzhu and Gong Chang'an are both children; how could they possibly explain such a complicated situation clearly?

Everyone knows that it was Gong Chang'an who was playing with Feng Tianzhu, and since Feng Tianzhu fell ill at the Gong family's house, the Gong family should naturally be responsible for it.

How could they easily drag me, a guest, into this?
Seeing people frantically searching for someone, Cui Baozhu also pretended to be anxious, looking around anxiously.

Finally, someone discovered the room: "Why isn't this room locked? It's locked from the outside."

"It can't be in here, can it?" Madam Wu rushed forward. "Open it quickly!"

The door opened, and sure enough, there was a child inside.

This startled everyone. The child was wearing a paper mask of Zhong Kui, and a dead snake with its head smashed was lying at his feet.

"My son, are you alright?!" Wu cried as she ran over and pulled the child into her arms. "You scared me to death! How did you end up here?"

“Young lady, you’ve made a mistake,” the child said with a smile, removing his mask. “I am Gong Chang’an.”

“You…” Wu stood there dumbfounded, and everyone else was also stunned.

Only Cui Baozhu looked at him as if she had seen a ghost: "What are you doing here?! Where is the young master?!"

“We swapped clothes,” Gong Chang’an looked at her, smiling like a little fox. “Didn’t Miss Cui tell me she saw him enter this room? How come I couldn’t find him?”

“I…” Cui Baozhu glanced around haphazardly and stammered as she explained, “I just told you that I saw someone over here, but they were far away… I couldn’t see them clearly.”

"Really? Then why didn't Miss Cui bring people here directly? Why did she make everyone search everywhere?" Gong Chang'an raised his handsome eyebrows, his face mischievous as if playing with a cat.

“I…how was I supposed to know you’d actually come here…I left right away…” Cui Baozhu blushed with embarrassment.

She never expected that the two children would have changed their clothes, and now, looking back, she realizes how careless she had been.

She assumed that Gong Chang'an was Feng Tianzhu because he was wearing Feng Tianzhu's clothes and a mask.

When I spoke to him, he just shook his head or nodded, without making a sound.

Is a seven-year-old child really that cunning?

Or is there an adult teaching him this?

"Where is our young master?" Madam Wu asked anxiously. "Why hasn't he appeared yet?"

"Don't worry, young mistress, I'll take you to find the young master." Gong Chang'an said as he walked out the door, calling out, "Young master! Come out! I admit defeat."

"Hahaha!" Laughter came from a large tree in the distance. "I'm here! You all couldn't find me, could you!"

It turned out that Gong Chang'an had seen through Cui Baozhu's plan. He excused himself to relieve himself and went to a distant place to make a bet with Feng Tianzhu. The two of them would hide separately and lure the adults to find them. Whoever was found first would win.

Feng Tianzhu readily agreed, and Gong Chang'an then had the two of them change their clothes and put on paper masks.

He had Feng Tianzhu climb the tree while he went to lure Cui Baozhu into a trap.

Feng Tianzhu remained hidden in the tree, its foliage so dense that he was virtually invisible unless one looked specifically. Moreover, people's gaze is typically level or downward; they rarely look up.

The crowd rushed over and helped him down from the tree.

"My little darling! Why did you climb up the tree? What if you fell and got hurt?" After the scare, Mrs. Wu hugged her son and couldn't help but shed tears.

"Hehe, today was so much fun!" Feng Tianzhu was overjoyed. "Gong Chang'an, let's become sworn brothers! What do you say?"

“That’s good, but it’s not too late to sort things out first,” Gong Chang’an said. “Your Highness, why don’t you tell me what you saw in the tree?”

Upon hearing Gong Chang'an's words, Cui Baozhu's face turned ashen.

She was able to argue with Gong Chang'an before because she was confident that there was no third person present, so she could say what she meant and what she meant by what she said.

As long as I deny it to the death, what can you do to me?
But she never expected that Feng Tianzhu was hiding in the tree, looking down from a high vantage point, and would surely have seen everything.

“I saw her lock the door,” Feng Tianzhu said, pointing to Cui Baozhu. “Then an old woman came and put a snake in.”

Has everyone gone out to play? The comment section is so quiet, is anyone reading this?


(End of this chapter)