Chapter 324: Chapter 325: Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkey

When Hua Manman first read this part of the plot, she hadn’t felt much of anything.

After all, as a reader, she felt no sense of belonging to the fictional Great Zhou Dynasty.

But now that she had lived in the Great Zhou Dynasty for some time and had people here she cared about, she suddenly felt that Xiao Hong truly deserved to die!

’I should even come up with a way to kill Xiao Hong off early,’ she thought. ’That would prevent the tragedy of the massacre of the people in the four cities.’

Of course, before she could play the hero, she first had to figure out how to get herself out of her current predicament.

The West Liang people present all stepped back in unison, clearing a path for the Young General.

Xiao Hong strode up to Hua Manman.

He looked down at her, his green eyes narrowing slightly with a dangerous glint.

"So you’re the woman who can bring Prince Zhao back from the dead?"

Unlike the other West Liang people, Xiao Hong spoke the official language of Great Zhou fluently, without a trace of an accent.

If she hadn’t seen his face with her own eyes, Hua Manman would have thought the speaker was a native of Great Zhou.

’I can’t believe stories about me have even reached Xiliang,’ Hua Manman thought.

She didn’t answer.

Her mouth was still gagged, so she couldn’t speak even if she wanted to.

Xiao Hong bent down and yanked the cloth gag from her mouth.

The moment her mouth was free, Hua Manman launched into a rapid-fire tirade.

"It’s all just blown-up rumors! I’m just an ordinary woman. Prince Zhao faked his own death to catch the person who secretly poisoned him. He deliberately made a big scene, then pretended to come back to life and pinned everything on me."

Xiao Hong clearly hadn’t expected such a reaction. He was stunned for a moment before speaking.

"Aren’t you Prince Zhao’s most beloved woman? Why are you telling us all this?"

Hua Manman pursed her lips and spoke with a look of disgust.

"Prince Zhao is a total pervert!

The only person he loves is himself. He’s completely incapable of loving anyone else.

His deep affection for me is all an act. The truth is, he doesn’t care about my feelings at all.

I never wanted to marry him from the very beginning. It was Princess Ningyang who used her power to force me to marry Prince Zhao.

I even threatened to kill myself to get out of it.

But it was useless. My father is greedy for power and wanted to get rich and climb the ranks through my marriage.

Even when I was on the brink of death, he still forced me to marry the Prince. My life is so bitter!"

The more she spoke, the more upset she became, until finally, tears began to fall.

Everyone present was stunned into silence by her words.

They had all assumed that after being captured, Princess Consort Zhao would be panicked and sobbing. They never expected her to open her mouth and start chattering nonstop, her words dripping with contempt for Prince Zhao.

Xiao Hong sneered. "You’re just saying all this to make us lower our guard, aren’t you?"

Hua Manman swore vehemently.

"I can swear to the heavens that I’m not lying! If you still don’t believe me, you can ask the carriage driver. He knows all about my family’s affairs."

The driver never expected to be caught in the crossfire.

Meeting the Young General’s gaze, the driver had no choice but to step forward and answer honestly.

"It’s true that she didn’t want to marry into the Prince Zhao Mansion before. She even threatened to kill herself, but it didn’t work."

Hua Manman immediately jumped in. "See? Listen to that! I’m telling the truth!"

The driver continued.

"But that was in the past. After she married into the Prince’s Mansion, she was greatly favored by Prince Zhao.

Prince Zhao often accompanied her on visits back to her family, and she would always return with armfuls of gifts.

Everyone said she was blessed to have married a good man who doted on her."

Hua Manman let out a long sigh and said bitterly.

"Like I said, that’s all just an illusion Prince Zhao deliberately created.

He wants outsiders to think he’s very fond of me so he can use his ’love’ for me as an excuse to stop accepting women that other people try to push on him."

Xiao Hong was confused. "Isn’t it a good thing for people to send him women? Why would he refuse?"

Hua Manman opened her mouth and dropped a bombshell.

"Because he’s gay! He’s not interested in women at all."

Everyone present was collectively shocked.

It took a long moment for even Xiao Hong to recover.

"How is that possible?"

Hua Manman shot back, "And why isn’t it possible?

If Prince Zhao isn’t gay, why doesn’t he have a single child to this day?

There are so many women in the rear courtyard of the Prince’s Mansion. If he’d just favored a few of them, it’s impossible that not one would have gotten pregnant, right?

But to this day, forget about having children, not a single woman in the rear courtyard has even gotten pregnant. If that’s not because he’s gay, then what is it?!"

She spoke with such conviction, as if it were the absolute truth.

The people present were actually starting to be swayed.

’Could it be that the world-famous Prince Zhao is really gay?’

Even Xiao Hong began to hesitate.

If what Hua Manman said was true, then kidnapping her was meaningless.

But Xiao Hong quickly composed himself. He couldn’t just believe this woman’s one-sided story.

Xiao Hong pointed at Hua Manman and said in a low voice.

"Take her inside."

He decided to keep the woman under control for now and send someone to Shangjing City to find out if Prince Zhao was searching for her everywhere.

If she was telling the truth, and Prince Zhao didn’t care about her at all, then even if she were captured, the Prince probably wouldn’t care if she lived or died, much less waste effort looking for her.

If not, she was lying.

A West Liang man came forward, pulled Hua Manman to her feet, and began dragging her toward the house.

Hua Manman hurriedly said, "Let go of me! I can walk on my own!"

Xiao Hong wanted to see if she was telling the truth, so he had his men untie her ropes.

Hua Manman rubbed the red marks on her slender wrists left by the ropes. Without needing anyone to urge her on, she started walking toward the house.

Xiao Hong watched her until she went inside.

Just as he was about to look away, Hua Manman suddenly turned around and asked him.

"Boss, which room is mine?"

Look at how at ease she was. It was as if she hadn’t been kidnapped, but was visiting a relative’s house.

Xiao Hong was silent for a moment before replying, "The second room on the left."

Hua Manman then asked with a grin.

"Can you give me my maid back? I’m used to having someone around to wait on me."

Xiao Hong hadn’t yet decided what to do with Si Yun and He Qiuwen, so he answered casually.

"Suit yourself."

’It’s a good idea to let the maid stay with Princess Consort Zhao anyway,’ he thought. ’If the Princess Consort gets out of line, we can kill the maid first to make an example of her. That’ll teach her to behave.’

So, Hua Manman trotted over to untie Si Yun’s ropes and pulled her toward the house.

He Qiuwen’s eyes widened as she watched them, wanting to remind them that she was still there.

But her mouth was gagged and she couldn’t make a sound, so she could only watch helplessly as they walked away.

Once inside, Hua Manman immediately shut the door.

Si Yun couldn’t wait to ask.

"Princess Consort, what’s going on? Who are those people outside? Why did they kidnap us and bring us here?"