Chapter 233: Meeting the Benefactor Again

Donglin Emperor was made dizzy by the clamor, his face darkened, and the attending eunuch behind him, after reading the mood, shouted in a piercing voice: "Silence!"

Everyone gradually quieted down.

Donglin Emperor asked: "Ye Qingran, is what you said really true?"

Ye Qingran nodded: "Whether Meng Yao is dead or alive, let her come out so everyone can see—then we'll know."

This statement acknowledged the fact that Meng Yao was alive.

Donglin Emperor's eyes flickered.

Zhao Yan swallowed, the rouge on her lips couldn't hide her pallid complexion.

She seemed hysterical, shouting sharply: "Ye Qingran, you're talking nonsense! Meng Yao is dead, she's already dead! How could she possibly come back to life?!"

This...

Gazes filled with surprise fell on Zhao Yan, her hair disheveled, appearing mad.

Her hysteria made people suspect that if Meng Yao were dead, she must be involved...

Ye Qingran glanced at Zhao Yan, then looked away, and called out toward the Yuhua Yuan gate: "Xing Er, bring the person in."

Each word of that sentence struck the hearts of the Meng father and daughter.

Meng Yao, are you really not dead?

All eyes gathered at the Yuhua Yuan gate, everyone watching.

Soon after, a figure emerged from the dimming lights...

It was Han Xing.

Seeing her slender figure, everyone could tell she wasn't the pregnant Meng Yao.

Behind Han Xing, a corner of her robe was visible; just seeing that, Meng Qian's pupils shrank to a point.

She remembered that on the day her sister disappeared, she was wearing exactly this outfit!

That figure stepped out from the shadows, big belly, her face sixty percent similar to Meng Qian's—who else could it be but Meng Yao?!

"Sister?!"

Meng Qian's reaction was the most intense; upon seeing that face, she involuntarily cried out and rushed forward.

After fully confirming that the person before her was warm and alive, she instantly burst into tears, embracing Meng Yao and sobbing uncontrollably.

Meng Yuan, being far steadier, stood still without moving, yet his tall frame trembled slightly, clearly visible.

Having confirmed his daughter was still alive, he closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

As if a great weight had been lifted.

As long as she's alive, that's good!

Everyone's shock was beyond words.

From just now accepting the fact of Meng Yao's death to seeing her now alive and vibrant before them, it made people wonder if one could truly return from death.

Donglin Emperor also couldn't help but stand up, feeling it most extraordinary.

Among everyone, the ones least wishing to see this scene were Ye Huanhuan and Zhao Yan.

For them, seeing the living Meng Yao now was no different from seeing a ghost!

Zhao Yan's astonishment nearly overflowed; her body trembled violently, unable to support herself she collapsed to the ground, shaking her head, muttering: "Impossible, this is impossible! You're already dead! I saw you burned to death with my own eyes..."

Hearing Zhao Yan's voice, Meng Yao released the weeping Meng Qian, her gaze toward Zhao Yan icy as frost, her beautiful face fair as snow.

"What's impossible? Could I not still be alive? Zhao Yan, if not for this incident, I would never have known you harbor a serpent's heart! All these years I've treated you well—you don't even feel gratitude, yet you tried to kill me; if not for the benefactor's rescue, I would have been dead with child!"

These words were the coldest, hardest ever spoken by this gentle daughter of a military family.

Feeling that icy aura emanating from her and seeing the desolation in her eyes from disappointment, everyone finally believed the true culprit was Zhao Yan!

Zhao Yan sat on the ground, head raised, shaking it continually; her hair bun had come loose, her disheveled hair making her look especially disheveled.

No matter what, she could not accept that the person burned to death right before her eyes could come back to life.

Meng Qian wiped tears from her eyes with her sleeve, her gaze blood-red: "Zhao Yan, my sister has treated you like a sister for years—is this how you repay her? She's pregnant, about to give birth—how could you lay a hand on her?!"

Her heart was filled with hatred for Zhao Yan, and more so with relief—relief that her sister's fate was not to die, that she had been saved and her life was safe!

She turned her gaze, and when looking at Ye Qingran again, the complexity in her eyes made her quickly avert her stare.

She didn't know how to face Ye Qingran.

After the truth came out and those grudges vanished, she began to doubt whether her understanding of the past twenty years might also be as mistaken as her earlier suspicion of her.

Ye Qingran, just what kind of person are you?

Donglin Emperor couldn't wait to ask: "Meng Yao, just what happened?"

Meng Yao then bowed to Donglin Emperor and the empress, pondered briefly, and recounted her ordeal.

The rough outline is: Zhao Yan invited Meng Yao to a tea house private room to catch up, used a drug to knock her out, had someone disguise as her, and on the way back to the manor she was seized. Since the Meng Yao in the carriage wasn't the real one, the abduction was much easier.

After Zhao Yan had Meng Yao unconscious, she took her to a villa in the East Suburb, intending to destroy the corpse and erase traces, but at the brink of death someone secretly rescued her and had one of Zhao Yan's underlings disguise as her. Thus she escaped with her life.

Hearing Meng Yao personally admit that someone had saved her and that another person had been substituted for her, Zhao Yan and Ye Huanhuan were utterly desperate.

Who exactly knew their plan?

At this point, Donglin Emperor also asked: "Who saved you?"

Meng Yao hastily grabbed Han Xing's hand beside her, overflowing with gratitude: "Your Majesty, it is this Miss Han Xing who saved me!"

Meng Yuan and Meng Qian looked at Han Xing, their hearts filled with boundless gratitude.

They had even resolved to give everything to fulfill Han Xing's every wish!

His Majesty looked at Han Xing, seeing her lovely appearance and excellent bearing, resembling a lady from some family, and asked: "Which family's miss are you?"

Han Xing bowed, her expression neither humble nor arrogant: "Your Majesty, Han Xing is not a miss of any household; I am the maid of my lady."

Upon hearing this, everyone was astonished.

Han Xing's bearing was so fine that they all subconsciously assumed she was a young lady from a prominent family.

Of course, some people recognized Han Xing, but not many.

Meng Yao was also stunned.

She only knew that Han Xing had saved her, and also thought Han Xing was a lady from a wealthy family; she never expected that she was merely a maid!

Whose maid is so unlike a maid?

The Donglin Emperor, with interest, asked: "Then whose maid are you?"

Han Xing smiled, bowed to Ye Qingran, and said, "My master is the Dingyuan Marquis's daughter, Ye Qingran!"

The Dingyuan Marquis's daughter, Ye Qingran?

Gazes swept over to Ye Qingran with a 'shua shua shua' sound.

At this moment, the Dingyuan Marquis's daughter stood in the center of the crowd.

The Mid-Autumn moon was bright and clear, like a jade disc.

Bathed in moonlight, her visage was like that of an immortal, her bearing elegant and unmatched.

She seemed like a fairy from the cold palace, ethereal and transcendent.

Everyone's heartstrings were involuntarily plucked.

They seemed to only then realize that the Dingyuan Marquis's mansion's daughter, labeled a waste, aside from not mentioning her strength, in other aspects was not inferior to her astonishingly talented mother, and even surpassed her!

As for Meng Yao's lifesaver Han Xing, being her maid seemed entirely natural.

The Donglin Emperor stared blankly for a while, then threw his head back and laughed heartily, "So it's Ye Qingran's maid, no wonder!" He still recalled that back when Yun Sui Feng was alive, her personal maid was also a stunning beauty, not yielding to any man.

In this regard, mother and daughter are astonishingly similar!

When Meng Yao, with a look of surprise, glanced toward Ye Qingran, she unintentionally saw Leng Yue behind her and was stunned again.

This person, isn't she the one who saved her life that day at Qingshan Lake?