Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 118 Exposed
The question was rather strange. Some of the people surrounding the carriage didn't quite understand and raised their eyebrows in confusion. However, Huang Yu, who was sitting in the carriage, felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, with cold sweat pouring down his back. The maid with eyebrows sitting next to him seemed to have noticed something was wrong and carefully climbed onto Huang Yu's arm.

"My lord, what's wrong?"

Huang Yu disgustedly shook off her hand, inwardly lamenting that he hadn't brought a few skilled guards this time; it was also his fault for being so careless. These two helpless maids were fine for warming the bed, but if something serious happened, they wouldn't even be as good as him.

The beautiful maid, who had been quite favored lately, was suddenly treated this way by Huang Yu, and her eyes reddened. However, she was also a perceptive person, and seeing that the situation was not right, she did not dare to say a word, but instead cautiously curled up in the corner of the carriage. Jiu Que, who was standing below, felt that he had waited long enough. Seeing that the other party still refused to move, he simply waved his hand, and Wei Yuan was about to step forward.

At that moment, Huang Yu finally stopped pretending and slowly crawled out of the carriage, standing on the carriage shaft. However, he still refused to get down and looked down at Ying Jiu Que.

"When did you find out?"

He felt he had done enough, not giving himself away at all, and even maintaining his usual impatient attitude. He was also quite certain he had never seen this woman before, so this must be the first time she had met him. Why was she so sure she had noticed something amiss?

Jiu Que shrugged.

Could she say that she never intended for the people who came to the mining town to check the accounts to leave? Besides, the other party's behavior was indeed somewhat unusual.

"Manager Huang, although I haven't seen you before, judging from your appearance, you seem to be performing the same way as before. However, I don't think Liang Heng would send a careless person to manage the mine. After all, this is his golden goose, and he can't be too careful. The managers of the eight mines are fixed unless there are special circumstances. How could someone as smart as you not notice that the manager who came today is different from the usual ones? But you didn't say a word about it. I suppose you started to have doubts from the moment you entered this path."

Wei Yuan, in particular, was tall and, aside from resembling Yang Hui, far more imposing than the other seven stewards. Although Huang Yu was quite cautious, his gaze lingered on Wei Yuan for a few seconds—just a few seconds—enough for Jiu Que, who had been watching him intently, to notice something amiss.

After all, this situation is a certain death for both sides, so no amount of caution is too much.

Now that he'd been discovered, Huang Yu stopped pretending. He'd definitely sensed something was wrong the moment he saw the people who came to greet him. The people who came to greet him were certainly being cautious enough, but none of them greeted him upon seeing him. One of them, not being very good at disguising himself, subconsciously looked towards the tallest man in the crowd, the manager, and only greeted him after hearing him greet him.

Of course, more importantly, Huang Yu has had a special ability since childhood: he can remember people he has only met once. He has met all these managers before, but he can't remember when they changed their faces.

Even if these people deliberately made their faces and bodies dirty, a person's bone structure and facial features wouldn't change in a short time. Therefore, he noticed the anomaly immediately. However, he always concealed his presence when checking the accounts, though not entirely cautious, he never brought many guards. After all, he needed to prevent the gold mine's location from being discovered. Originally, Huang Yu planned to leave first, then rush back to report to Lord Liang that he had ordered a large force to kill everyone in the mine. But unexpectedly, at the same time he noticed the anomaly, the group that had already taken control of the mine also noticed it.

Moreover, she was an unremarkable-looking woman.

Jiu Que had no time for playing games with Huang Yu. He nodded to Wei Yuan, who immediately grabbed the man's clothes and ripped them off. Huang Yu, a scholar who was weak and powerless, had no chance to resist and collapsed to the ground. His clean clothes stained the ground, and the previously composed man let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"My clothes! My clothes! How dare you make me stand in this filthy dust! You're dead, I'm telling you, you're dead! If I don't return by dusk today, Lord Liang will definitely send people to investigate! Do you think you can hide?!"

The yellow croaker frantically patted the dust off himself, but the dust stuck to his hands, causing him to scream in agony once more. The high-pitched screams of those around him were so loud they hurt their ears.

They didn't quite understand why someone would scream so desperately just because they were covered in dust; it wasn't like they'd dismembered him. These miners, who didn't get covered in layers of grime every day? If they were all like yellow croakers, they'd have screamed themselves hoarse long ago. Jiu Que, unable to bear the man's incessant, chicken-like screams any longer, simply picked him up, gagged him, and took him away.

As the other party said, if Huang Yu could not return to the capital by sunset, Liang Heng would definitely become suspicious. Although they had taken control of the mine, it was impossible for them to settle those unarmed miners in just one day.

However, this time Huang Yu didn't come alone; he brought two beautiful maids with him, which gave him room to maneuver.

Leaving aside how Huang Yu struggled, at sunset, Huang Yu's familiar blue carriage swayed and drove into the city gate. The gatekeepers all recognized Huang Yu as Lord Liang's confidant, and they nodded and bowed as they watched the carriage leave, without even thinking of going up to investigate.

"Boss, didn't the higher-ups order us to strictly check people entering and leaving the city during this period? Should we skip checking that carriage just now?"

"Look at you, so clueless. Do you know whose carriage that was? It belonged to Lord Huang! Lord Huang is highly regarded by Lord Liang, do you dare offend him? And don't tell anyone else. He's incredibly petty. If you accidentally offend him, who knows how many ways he'll torment you. We're no match for this kind of scholar. So it's better to avoid trouble and just focus on guarding our city gates. Besides, even if his little carriage was harboring criminals, how many could it possibly hold? Do you know how many soldiers are stationed in our prefecture? Tens of thousands. So stop worrying about it and just close the gates and go back."

(End of this chapter)