After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

It really is Cheng Dong! Their younger brother is still alive!

Both Bai Wanqing and Bai Furong were already in tears, especially Bai Wanqing, who held onto Bai Chengdong's hand tightly, as if afraid he would disappear again.

"That's great! My brother is really alive!"

"I'll go and have my aunt send someone to tell Father and Mother right away!"

Bai Furong ran out of the courtyard, laughing and crying at the same time. Wu Huan looked at Wu Shuang's helpless yet happy expression and was genuinely happy for him.

"Um... there are still many things to take care of outside, I'll go help!" Wu Huan said, quickly leaving the room, giving the siblings a chance to talk alone.

Bai Wanqing's gaze fell on Bai Chengdong's face, a face that felt both familiar and strange to her!
What is familiar is the siblings' identical eyebrows and features; what is unfamiliar is that beneath that fleshy mask lies a face as withered and emaciated as dry grass.

If Bai Wanqing hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would never have imagined that the chubby little brother in her memory would turn out like this.

Bai Chengdong thought his appearance had frightened Bai Wanqing, so he turned his head silently to the other side.

Bai Wanqing covered her mouth with her hand, feeling sorry for Cheng Dong. She really wanted to ask him where he had been all these years and whether he had suffered a lot.

But seeing Bai Chengdong's dark, lifeless eyes, Bai Wanqing swallowed all her words.

Bai Wanqing turned around, picked up a pastry from the table, and this time she smiled and brought the pastry to Bai Chengdong's mouth: "Chengdong, this is a pastry that Fengniang has just researched. Try it, it's delicious."

Bai Chengdong's body remained stiff; he was too nervous to turn around.

Xueqiao's voice echoed in his mind again and again, "Wushuang, look at you, your eyes are so dark, your complexion is not good, your body seems to be severely depleted!"

"If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep you here any longer."

Bai Chengdong closed his eyes in despair, wishing he could end this nightmare immediately.

But Xueqiao didn't let him off the hook. She looked Bai Chengdong up and down with disdain, then took out a dog-skin mask from her sleeve and pressed it hard onto Bai Chengdong's face.

Bai Chengdong tried to resist, but Xueqiao poisoned him. He felt a sudden, intense burning sensation on his face, and then blood trickled from under his mask.

"That's more like it!" Xue Qiao clapped her hands in satisfaction as she saw that the mask was now completely on Bai Chengdong's face.

"From now on, you'll serve me with this face. I'll have someone teach you how to maintain it!"

"Also, you must remember, never reveal your true colors."

Xueqiao laughed twice, then curled her lips in a mocking smile, "Because your grotesque appearance will scare people!"

That scared me. That scared me.
Bai Chengdong quickly turned around, ignoring the pastries in Bai Wanqing's hand, and looked around, searching for the mask that Bai Wanqing had torn off.

"Chengdong, what are you looking for?" Bai Wanqing asked, noticing Bai Chengdong's fearful expression.

Bai Chengdong noticed Bai Wanqing's gaze and was so frightened that he immediately covered his face with both hands.

"My face is scary! A mask! Give me a mask!"

“Bai Chengdong, that mask isn’t yours!” Bai Wanqing said softly.

Bai Chengdong ignored everything else; all he wanted was to cover his terrifying face as quickly as possible.
Bai Wanqing knew that Bai Chengdong's current state was definitely related to his past experiences, but if he were to put the mask back on, he would never become Bai Chengdong again.

Bai Wanqing cried, and she slowly handed the mask to Bai Chengdong.
Bai Chengdong smiled when he saw the mask, but then looked up and saw the tears on Bai Wanqing's face. His outstretched hand froze in mid-air.

In the end, Bai Chengdong withdrew his outstretched hand.

Bai Wanqing burst into laughter through her tears, "I knew it! How could the men of our Bai family care about what others say!"

Bai Chengdong lowered his head and whispered, "Sis, I've embarrassed you!"

Bai Wanqing smiled and shook her head, "No!"

"Cheng Dong, you've never embarrassed me!"

"Sister, there are some things you don't know!"

"I know!"

"You know?" Bai Chengdong's heart clenched.

Bai Wanqing nodded emphatically and said, "Yes! I know!"

"My Cheng Dong is still that qualified younger brother who holds a slingshot and shouts that he will protect his sister!"

"If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would already be in the underworld by now!"

Bai Chengdong knew what Bai Wanqing was talking about, and a glimmer of light flashed in his originally dark eyes.

Bai Chengdong suddenly raised his head, smiled and said coquettishly, "In that case, sister, I want to eat osmanthus cake!"

The sun rises just in time, and the morning dew falls gently.

Bai Wanqing stayed in Bai Chengdong's room all night, and only came out when Bai Chengdong was fast asleep.

Wu Huan, worried about Wu Shuang, also stood in the courtyard all night.

Upon seeing Bai Wanqing emerge, he quickly stepped forward and asked, "Wushuang... oh no, is Cheng Dong alright?"

Bai Wanqing nodded slightly, "It's nothing, I'm sorry to have worried Young Master Wuhuan!"

Wu Huan chuckled and scratched his head, saying, "I'm not worried at all! I'm not worried about him at all!"

Bai Wanqing knew Wu Huan had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, so she just smiled at him. Wu Huan felt a little embarrassed by her gaze, and he deliberately yawned, casually saying, "Madam Lin, I know what kind of person you are."

"Since you accepted Wushuang yesterday, I knew you wouldn't mind his past, right?"

Bai Wanqing neither answered nor nodded.

Seeing this, Wu Huan's expression changed. "Madam Lin, I was not joking with you."

"Perhaps in your eyes, you have simply found a relative who has been dead for many years!"

"But in Wushuang's heart, you are his hope for life."

"Either you don't give him any hope and let him drift along like this, or if you give him hope, don't extinguish that hope."

"May he suffer eternal damnation!"

After Wu Huan finished speaking, his eyes flickered slightly. He stared at Bai Wanqing nervously, as if trying to see through her thoughts.

Bai Wanqing gently raised her lips, "Cheng Dong is my younger brother! No matter what!"

Wu Huan could tell that Bai Wanqing was sincere and there was no falsehood in her words. He got the answer he wanted and couldn't help but laugh.

"I knew it!" Wu Huan suddenly turned around, her back to Bai Wanqing. "Treat him well!"

"I know!"

After saying that, Wu Huan slowly walked away, his shadow stretching long in the morning sun.

Upon hearing that the Peerless Young Master was Bai Wanqing's younger brother, everyone was happy for Wanqing.

Especially Cheng Susu, who had been with Lin Feiyun and Lord Cheng all night settling the soldiers and civilians, finally had some free time and came to congratulate Bai Wanqing.

"Wanqing, congratulations!"

"This is fantastic news!"

Bai Wanqing nodded with a smile, feeling a lot of emotions. "Yes! If Mother were alive, she would surely feel at ease knowing that my brother is not dead."

At this point, Bai Wanqing thought of Lord Cheng.

Previously, when she was targeted by the Prince of Huaizhou in Huaizhou City, Bai Wanqing discussed with Cheng Susu and had her sneak into Beifeng City overnight.

At that time, the Prince of Huai was preoccupied with raising an army in rebellion and would certainly not have paid attention to Cheng Susu's movements.

Once the army moves, the guards of Beifeng City will surely relax their vigilance. With the people of Linjia Village joining her in the prison break, the chances of success are quite high. "Susu, how is Lord Cheng? Has Prince Huai made things difficult for him?"

Cheng Susu knew that Bai Wanqing should be able to deal with other matters now, so she told Bai Wanqing about the situation in Beifeng City.

"Wanqing, it turns out that my father came to Beifeng City to investigate the Prince of Huai's rebellion."

"Unexpectedly, my father fell into the trap set by the Prince of Huai and was placed under house arrest by him."

"A high-ranking imperial envoy has been out of the public eye for over a month!"

"The imperial court should have paid more attention to this!"

"Unexpectedly, the Prince of Huai was able to control everything in the court, and my father's affair was simply covered up."

"If it weren't for this, the Prince of Huai would have truly rebelled."

"I'm afraid that even if my father finds evidence of his treason, he will turn black into white."

Bai Wanqing nodded slightly; she had never questioned the Prince of Huai's ability in the slightest.

Perhaps more than twenty years ago, the Prince of Huai had already been involved in the Lin family's affairs.

"Then why did Cui Jingcheng go with you to Beifeng City to rescue people?" Bai Wanqing had not told Cui Jingcheng about faking her death.

She didn't even tell Cui Jingcheng about the fact that she had found a stand-in to replace Lin Yunche.

He thought she had fallen into his trap.
But this time, it was he who blocked Zhuang Er's sword for her.
Bai Wanqing was confused; she couldn't see the Cui family clearly.
When Cui Jingcheng was mentioned, Cheng Susu also looked puzzled. "To be honest, I can't figure out Cui Jingcheng either."

"However, without him, we would all have perished in the rescue in Northwind City!"

“At that time, we had only infiltrated Northwind City not long before, and we were looking for the place where my father and Uncle Lin were being held.”

"However, to our surprise, martial law was in effect everywhere in Northwind City, making it harder than climbing to heaven to find any information!"

"Just when we were at our wits' end, someone secretly sent us a message."

"We were so surprised and disbelieving when we received the news."

"So, when it was late at night and the moon was dark and the wind was high, Uncle Lin and I went to investigate first."

Guess what?

Cheng Susu pretended to be mysterious and continued with great interest: "The information that person sent was incredibly accurate. He even knew the guards' routines at the place where people were being held."

"Not only that, we also saw my father and Uncle Lin in the two cells marked in the message."

"Therefore, Uncle Lin and I immediately understood and decided to break into the prison when the Prince of Huai sent out his troops!"

After speaking, Cheng Susu paused for a moment, then looked at Bai Wanqing with shining eyes.

Bai Wanqing frowned slightly. "Such precise information being delivered to you, isn't this a trap?"

Upon hearing Bai Wanqing's words, Cheng Susu slapped her thigh and said with heartache, "Wanqing, you really are something else. We have indeed fallen for your trap."

"It turns out that we were targeted by the Prince of Huai as soon as we entered Beifeng City."

"However, the Prince of Huai in Beifeng City has always considered himself benevolent and righteous. If he wants to arrest us, he needs a pretext, so he offered us this pretext voluntarily."

"And that's how we crashed into it!"

Thinking about this, Cheng Susu still felt a little scared and couldn't help but shiver.

"After we had made preparations for the prison break, the Prince of Huai secretly released false information about a rebellion."

"They tricked me and Uncle Lin into a trap!"

"That night, we watched as a group of soldiers left from the back mountain of Northwind City before we led our men to sneak into Guan Ren's house to wait for the right moment to make our move."

"But just as we were about to make our move, Uncle Lin noticed something was wrong with the people in the house!"

“My father and Uncle Lin have already been transferred away, and what awaits us are well-trained experts.”

"We were quickly surrounded by these experts."

"He was also imprisoned."

Cheng Susu felt somewhat ashamed as she spoke. She had been extremely careful, but the Prince of Huai was truly cunning, having schemed against them to this extent.

Bai Wanqing slightly raised her eyelids, her face showing shock, "Susu, then wouldn't you all be wiped out?"

Cheng Susu sighed helplessly, "That's right! The entire army was wiped out!"

"Otherwise, we wouldn't have made you wait for three days before coming to rescue us!"

"So it was Young Master Cui who saved you?" Bai Wanqing already had a guess in her mind.

Cheng Susu nodded, "Yes! After we were arrested, we all felt that all was lost."

"Wanqing, you have no idea what the Prince of Huai looked like back then. It was as if he had already successfully rebelled and really become the emperor."

"But that's for the best, because that's why he stopped paying attention to us."

"He only said that he would deal with us after he had completed his great undertaking."

"After that, just as you guessed, the Prince of Huai launched a rebellion, and Cui Jingcheng took the opportunity to rescue us all."

"When he learned that you were trapped in Huaizhou City, he came with us."

After speaking in one breath, Cheng Susu felt thirsty, picked up her teacup and drank it all in one gulp. "So you said you can't see through Young Master Cui! I can't see through him either!"

"But in any case, he helped us, so we can consider him an ally for now!"

Bai Wanqing agreed, and she would definitely ask Cui Jingcheng about it when she saw him later.

Say Cao Cao Cao Cao is here!

Just then, Cui Jingcheng returned with Lin Feiyun and the others after arranging the defenses.

Upon seeing Bai Wanqing, Cui Jingcheng instinctively took a step back.

Lin Feiyun and Cui were both present at the time and knew about the misunderstanding between Cui Jingcheng and Bai Wanqing.

“Wanqing, it was Jingcheng who saved us!” Cui said first.

Lin Feiyun and Lord Cheng, who was standing next to him, both nodded in agreement. "If it weren't for Young Master Cui's intervention back then, we would probably still be trapped in Beifeng City and unable to return!"

Cheng Susu knew that Bai Wanqing already knew the whole story, so she didn't interrupt and just waited to watch the show. However, she was glared at by Lord Cheng and had no choice but to turn her head away.

Didn't you all just say what needed to be said? Wanqing knows what to do.

Bai Wanqing greeted Lin Feiyun and the other elders. Lin Feiyun and Lord Cheng knew that Bai Wanqing had something to say to Cui Jingcheng, so they rubbed their temples and said, "We've been busy all night, and our old bones are about to fall apart!"

"We won't compete with you young people anymore, let's go back and rest first."

"That will help us handle the tasks ahead!"

Bai Wanqing smiled and agreed, watching the elders leave.

Only Bai Wanqing, Cheng Susu, and Cui Jingcheng remained in the room.

Cheng Susu felt the atmosphere was tense and wanted to run away, but before she could speak, she saw Cui Jingcheng's pleading look.

After all, he was the benefactor who saved her life, so Cheng Susu had no choice but to shamelessly stay, which would satisfy her curiosity.

How could Cui Jingcheng, a mere young marquis of the Zhaonan Marquisate, be so afraid of Wanqing? (End of Chapter)