Chapter 938: Whats it to you? (1/2)

After grabbing Mu Linger by the hair, Uncle Cheng pushed her harshly to the ground. She never expected the black-robed man to raise his hand against a woman. Now she began to feel afraid and turned to flee.

“Damned girl, you can’t tell good from bad!” Uncle Cheng dashed over and grabbed her by the arm. Scared, she screamed and squeezed her eyes shut, struggling for her life. But soon enough, she heard another icy voice cry out.

“Let go!”

At the same time, a large, warm hand pressed against her shoulder. She looked up and saw none other than the younger masked man.

“This damned girl was leaving a message for help!” Uncle Cheng fumed. He was angry because Mu Linger had written “the Myriad Merchant Hall traitor” on the cloth strip. He detested such a name because he’d never planned to betray anyone in the start. This path was forced onto him. Now he was going to Ning Cheng, so he couldn’t count as a backstabber!

Manager Jin lowered his eyes to Mu Linger and asked, “How many messages did you leave behind? Tell the truth!”

“Just this one! Only this one here!” Mu Linger’s eyes were filled with tears as she grew pitiful. For some reason, she sensed that the younger man wouldn’t cause her too many difficulties.

“Let her go and clean up our things. We’ll leave immediately,” Manager Jin told Uncle Cheng.

Uncle Cheng only snorted. “You can’t believe that damned girl’s words. If we don’t interrogate her properly, she’ll never tell the truth! Who knows how many messages she’s left behind on this trip!”

“I didn’t! I only left one here! I’ll never do it again, please, let me go! I really won’t dare,” Mu Linger pled as she struggled to break free of the older man’s grasp. But no matter how she fought, she couldn’t get loose. His hand on her wrist hurt!

Uncle Cheng looked icily at Manager Jin and spat, “Don’t get involved. I have my ways to make her tell the truth!”

But Manager Jin only grew more adamant. “She’s mine. If there’s anyone who’ll question her, it’s me!”

“You!” Uncle Cheng sputtered.

But when he saw the determination in Manager Jin’s eyes, he ended up relenting. They were still making their escape and both of them were men on the same boat, so he didn’t want to have a falling out with him here. Compared to Ning Jing, Mu Linger really was more valuable. If Ning Cheng could see the counter they’d brought him, he’d be pleased as well. Uncle Cheng harshly cast Mu Linger aside and went to deal with the bloody message she’d left behind. Once he was far away, Mu Linger immediately removed the hand from her shoulder.

“Respected sir, I really did only leave a message here. I won’t dare try again next time, just let me go.”

Manager Jin glanced at her bruised wrist before his line of sight trailed down to the signs of blood on her dress. He grew alarmed. “You...your child…”

Mu Linger glanced down and saw the marks of blood before she realized she was supposed to be faking a pregnancy. After all that shoving, her womb should have been affected by now! She immediately put on a show of panic and met gazes with Manager Jin before dropping her head and slowly lifting her dress. Manager Jin had never run into this situation before and had no idea what she was doing. As soon as Mu Linger lifted her dress, he stared at her nervously, not even realizing this was a breach of etiquette. But by the time the dress reached her shins, he sighed in relief. It looked like she’d only scraped her knees, which were now bleeding.

Mu Linger stole a peek at Manager Jin before she feigned joy and sighed. “Thank goodness, thank goodness!”

She’d never gotten pregnant before, so she had no idea how it felt. Using her own imagination, she clutched her flat stomach and said hoarsely, “Child, mother is sorry! Sobsob...you’ll definitely be alright. Be stronger than your mother!”

After the false alarm, Manager Jin grew incensed again. “If there’s nothing wrong, then get back onto the carriage! Hand over all of your hidden cloth strips!” He was no fool, so he wanted to know if Mu Linger had hidden any strips in other places. Once they got them the pieces and matched them up to the torn parts of their clothing, they could see if any were missing--or left elsewhere, perhaps.

Besides their handkerchiefs, the only thing these women could use were their dress hems. It’d be easy enough to match the ripped pieces. Mu Linger grit her teeth and nodded pathetically. She had hardly left when Manager Jin turned away first. Actually, she’d wanted to thank the man because her woman’s instinct told her that the younger man was taking rather good care of them. Manager Jin was already far away when he saw Mu Linger dragging her feet and limping along. He hesitated before doubled back.

“Sir, you…” Before Mu Linger could finish, Manager Jin had picked her up bridal style and headed for the carriage. Just as they were about to reach it, he suddenly changed directions and set her down below a tree.

Could it be he regrets it and wants to question me? Mu Linger began to fret. But Manager Jin simply leaned her against the tree trunk and asked coldly, “Do you have medicine?”

“What kind of medicine?” Mu Linger was still reeling.

Manager Jin’s eyes flashed unhappily before he ignored her to lean close. Mu Linger instinctively pushed him away. “What are you doing?”

Manager Jin sprawled on the ground as his gentle gaze grew angry again. Instead of speaking, he rose and approached Mu Linger again.

“What are you doing? Move aside!”

“Don’t touch me! Get lost!”