Too high to reach

Chapter 300 Hair Stands Up
"Who goes there?!" A guard leaped off his horse and stood in front of him.

I saw a boy who looked about four years old on the ground.

He was screaming in terror, "Your Majesty, save me! Please, Your Majesty, save my mother! My mother serves Your Majesty!"

The guard stepped forward, grabbed the little boy with one hand, threw him to the ground, and angrily shouted, "Where are your parents? Rushing towards the car like that, aren't you afraid of getting hit and killed?!"

The boy burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Mo Yi lifted the car curtain. She was sitting in the back car with Xiang Ye.

The car in front was occupied by Hongyan and Lvyi, carrying a load of goods.

The car came to a sudden stop, and the two people were flashed by the light.

"Your Majesty, a child stopped the carriage, saying his mother serves you," the guard reported.

"Serving me?" Mo Yi wondered. "Go ask what happened?" She glanced at the little one on the ground. "Don't scare him."

After a while, a guard returned with a man. "Your Highness, this is the head of the estate."

The head of the village immediately knelt down to pay his respects, "Your Majesty, this child's mother is named Chun Tao. She did indeed redeem herself from our village. She married Li Er from the neighboring village, and he did beat her frequently. Twice, she even ran to the village for help."

But she's no longer related to us, so there's nothing we can do about it. The little boy is too young to understand; he heard his mother used to serve the lady on the estate, and he's been pleading at the door ever since. This morning, your guard came and said you'd be arriving soon. He probably overheard us while we were cleaning up…”

Mo Yi thought for a moment, "Go and take a look, and call the village headman too. Also, find a doctor..."

Upon hearing this, the head of the village immediately agreed and went to do so.

Mo Yi entered the manor and found the surrounding environment quite nice. The courtyard was clean and tidy, and there was no strange smell inside the house.

"I started cleaning as soon as I received the letter, it's just a bit rushed. This is the lunch I prepared, take a look, and if you want anything else, just let me know." It was the village head's wife speaking, smiling and bustling about as she prepared the food.

Mo Yi took it and looked at it. "It was indeed a rushed trip. These... are fine, let's keep them like this."

"Hot water is ready, please have some tea and rest your feet first."

Mo Yi sat down and had just drunk a cup of hot tea when she heard a commotion outside. Hong Yan came in and said, "Your Highness, the head of the estate has brought that woman here."

The head servant outside reported, "Your Highness... Chun Tao is dying. She said she has something important to tell you. She's in a hurry to see you, so this servant carried her here."

Where is her husband?

"They've blocked the entrance to the manor."

"Okay, settle her in first. I'll go over after the doctor has finished his examination."

After a while, the head of the village came to invite them again.

When Mo Yi arrived, the doctor had just come out. "Doctor, how is she?"

The doctor shook his head. "The person is definitely not going to make it; they're just holding on. Oh, what a pity..."

Upon entering, they found the little boy kneeling before the bed. On the bed lay the woman, her face ashen and extremely thin. She was covered in blood, and her head was bandaged…

"Take him away and give him something to eat," Mo Yi ordered.

As soon as she spoke, the woman on the bed slightly opened her eyes. She hesitated for a long time...

"You, you are the Princess Consort of Qi?"

"Yes, that's me. You wanted to talk to me, did you?"

“Your Majesty…” Chun Tao said excitedly, “Please forgive me, I cannot rise to greet you.”

"No need for these formalities, just say what you have to say."

Chuntao turned her head with difficulty, looking at Hongyan and Xiangye...

"You two go and guard the door, don't let any outsiders near." Mo Yi didn't know what she was going to say, so she told everyone in the room to leave and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Your Highness, Chun Tao was originally a maid in the Prince Qi's mansion. Later, she married..." She spoke of her husband with a mixture of hatred and fear.

"Okay, you're safe here. Keep it brief."

"Before I begin, Chun Tao has a request for Your Majesty: please take my son away and sever ties with his father. Chun Tao is already dying, and if my son stays any longer, he'll probably be beaten to death by him." Mo Yi remained silent.

"Your Majesty..." Chun Tao suddenly perked up, her eyes shining. "I have a secret to tell you, and I'm afraid no one else knows it right now. I don't know how it will affect you, but it will definitely be useful to the Prince. I beg you to take him away so that he can live and repay you properly when he grows up."

“Okay, I promise you.” Mo Yi nodded. It wasn’t a difficult thing; she could just spend some money and break things off with that man.

Chun Tao nodded with relief: "Thank you, Your Highness. I will never forget your great kindness. I am a lowly maid in this household, and my parents were also born into the household, but they are both gone. I usually clean the rooms in Princess Zhou's courtyard, carry out chamber pots, and prepare hot water for Your Highness's bath. One day..."

She vaguely recalled the past, "The princess had just come out of the bath when, for some reason, she vomited, vomiting everywhere... The princess was very clean, and after she left, the servants cleaned up inside, wiping over and over again."

After a while, it must have been... the princess and her personal maid, Afang, forgot that Chuntao was in the bathroom.

Then, you hear the princess crying and asking Afang to think again about what was wrong that day.

Afang cried too: "This servant really didn't know! You and the princess were drinking inside, and we were all waiting in front. Then, when you came out, you were still a little drunk. Look, your makeup was faded, your hair was messy, and the buttons on your clothes were different from mine. But the princess's maid said that you were drunk and slept for a while... At the time, this servant didn't think anything was wrong."

The princess said, "That day, I didn't drink that much, but I was still a bit groggy. I have no recollection of how I got into the room to sleep. But... I felt... it was him... At the time, I thought I was dreaming. But when I came back that day, something felt wrong. But I wasn't sure... Ah Fang, something really happened that day. My period was four days late, and I just threw up... He must have violated me. The two of us just started crying..."

Mo Yi was so angry when she heard that her hair stood on end.

"Princess? Princess Yu'an?"

"It's her. She has a very good relationship with our Lady. When the Prince is not at home, they often visit each other. I heard that the Princess's dance is very good, and the Princess Consort also wants to set up a dance troupe, but Madam Feng did not agree."

"And then?" Mo Yi asked with difficulty.

"After crying for a while, the princess said: 'Go and prepare paper and pen for me. I want to write a letter to the prince. Also, go and buy me some arsenic. After I die, I want the prince to avenge me!' After saying this, she started sobbing again."

At that moment, I was so scared that I didn't dare to breathe or move. Because that side door sometimes made noise when it opened and closed, and I was afraid we'd be discovered.

Ah Fang said, "Your Highness, if you don't live, what will happen to the Princess? She's so young, and she's already lost her mother. What if she has a stepmother in the future? And the Prince is often away from home; how will she survive?"

The princess didn't speak, only wept bitterly. After a while, Afang suggested: "Why don't you pretend to be sick, invite a female doctor, and feign to come see me for treatment? Have her prescribe medicine, and then I'll switch places with the abortion specialist and have the abortion done. No matter what, you must wait for the prince to return."

The princess hesitated for a long time before finally nodding in agreement. Then, I heard her vomiting again. Afraid she would rush in and throw up again, I gritted my teeth, opened the small door, and thankfully there was no sound, so I ran away.

Afterwards, I was terrified, so I deliberately made a mistake and got the manager to send me here. Once I arrived at the estate, I was out of touch with the authorities.

However, after a few days, the head of the estate made us wear mourning clothes, saying that the princess had died of illness at the hot spring villa. The maid had also committed suicide for her mistress. When I found out, I was worried about being implicated, so I found someone nearby, paid money to redeem myself, and married them off. I never expected to encounter such a person…

Mo Yi was overwhelmed with shock. That man was... the Crown Prince!

Thinking back to the day Yu'an invited her to drink, the Crown Prince arrived...

I felt something was off at the time, so I instinctively pretended not to know...

My God… She was both angry and terrified. Princess Yu'an, that scoundrel!

And the Crown Prince... He's disgusting!

“There must be more than one maidservant around Princess Zhou. If they are talking in the bedroom, where are the others?”

Chun Tao took a breath: "There was no other noise inside the house. There were a few maids resting in the side rooms in the backyard. But I had only been in the backyard for a short while when a maid named A Ling hurriedly returned, looking very flustered."

She was also a first-class maidservant to the Princess. She came from the Zhou family, and her mother also lived in the Princess's courtyard. I once saw her mother getting quite close to someone serving Consort Feng. What happened after that, I don't know.”

"Did the princess say... who the man she suspects is?"

"The princess didn't mention her name, but... I had heard before... that the princess invited the princess and the others to dinner..."

Chuntao hesitated for a moment.

"At a time like this, what are you still afraid of?"

"Sometimes when the Princess returns from a banquet and is getting ready, she will talk about the banquet. She mentioned the Crown Prince several times. It must have been during a meal that the Crown Prince, the Ninth Prince, and their friends were also present. She also said that the Crown Prince was exceptionally talented in literature, especially his flute playing, which was unparalleled in the capital."

Mo Yi stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded...

I wrote this in a bit of a rush because I spent the whole morning looking for medicine, but I still decided to give the kitten the injection.

Excuse me……