The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 31: There's a twist in the story.
Ouyang Lei signaled his two companions to continue their stakeout, while he quietly descended from the roof and headed straight for the shop owner's wife, Zhong's, house.

When they reached the windowsill, Ouyang Lei wet his fingers and poked a hole in the window paper. Inside, he saw Zhong Shi sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of a man in his thirties.

"Where have you been all this time? Why are you only coming now? I was so scared..."

"I was afraid that if others found out about our affair, it would be bad for you, so I went into hiding for a while." After gently comforting Mrs. Zhong, the man added, "How is our child? Is he causing you any trouble?"

"Xiao Hao is very good, very well-behaved." Madam Zhong wiped away her tears, pulled the man to sit on the edge of the bed, and looked at the sleeping child.

The baby was only a few months old, and was fair-skinned and chubby.

The man looked at his sleeping child with affection.

"Brother Xiang, I don't want to stay here anymore. Please take my son and me away from here." Zhong looked at the man called Xiang expectantly.

“Okay.” A Xiang nodded without hesitation. “Actually, I haven’t been in Hongshi Town for a while. One reason is to avoid trouble, and the other is to find a place to go. I heard that Baiyun Town is a good place. It’s not close to here, and no one there knows us. If we go there to live, we won’t have to be afraid of other people’s stares anymore. We can be together openly with the child.”

"Really, Brother Xiang?" Zhong was so happy that she shed tears.

“It’s true, Xiao Cui.” A Xiang hugged her.

Zhong said, "Then we will sell this inn tomorrow."

"Okay," Ah Xiang replied, lowering his head to kiss Zhong Shi.

Seeing this, Ouyang Lei outside quickly broke open the door and rushed inside.

If we don't rush in now, we'll witness something indescribable.

At the same time, the two companions on the roof also jumped down and entered the Zhong family's house together.

Upon seeing the three people who suddenly barged in, Zhong turned pale with fright and tightly gripped A-Xiang's hand.

Ah Xiang shielded her behind him and demanded of the three men, "Who are you?"

With mixed feelings, Ouyang Lei took out a token and said, "The three of us are officials from the Dali Temple. We have been ordered to come here to investigate the real culprit who killed Guo Yong."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zhong was so frightened that she almost fainted.

Ah Xiang managed to remain calm and said coldly, "I think you're all imposters. The real culprit who killed Guo Yong has already been arrested and sentenced to be executed in the autumn. Why would there be any need for further investigation?"

“That soldier who returned home was not the real culprit at all, but a scapegoat. The real murderer is you, A-Xiang!” Ouyang Lei said coldly.

Ah Xiang forced himself to remain calm and said, "You're making baseless accusations. What evidence do you have?"

“Not only did you have an affair with Zhong, but this child is also the offspring of the two of you.” Ouyang Lei pointed to the child who was still fast asleep on the bed and said, “Guo Yong must have caught you two in the act and found out that the child was not his own. In order to silence him, you killed him and framed the soldier who was returning home.”

Upon hearing this, both Ah Xiang and Zhong Shi's expressions changed, especially Zhong Shi, whose face was covered in tears, her lips trembling as she said, "No, it's not like that..."

"Why don't you tell us the truth?" Ouyang Lei shouted.

Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, A Xiang gritted his teeth and suddenly knelt down. "I will take full responsibility for my actions. I did kill Guo Yong, but this matter has nothing to do with Xiao Cui!"

Seeing that he had confessed, Ouyang Lei said to his two companions behind him, "Take him back first and await further instructions."

Just as her two companions were about to step forward, Zhong suddenly charged at them like a madwoman, screaming, "None of you can take him away! You can only take him if I die!"

All three of them were startled by her madness.

The two companions instinctively tried to kick Zhong away, but unexpectedly, A Xiang suddenly stood up and blocked Zhong's way, so the two companions kicked him instead.

Ah Xiang instantly fell to the ground.

"Brother Xiang—"

Zhong's piercing screams woke up the sleeping children in bed. One child burst into tears.

Mrs. Zhong looked at her son, then at Ah Xiang, her eyes reddening as she began to cry.

In an instant, the room was in complete chaos.

Ouyang Lei immediately felt a headache coming on and said in a deep voice, "Alright, Zhong Shi, quickly comfort the child."

Ah Xiang also said that he was fine and asked Zhong to hold the child. Zhong hurriedly picked up the child.

The child stopped crying instantly in the mother's arms.

Ouyang Lei glanced at the three of them, pondered for a moment, then dragged over a chair and sat down.

"If you have any grievances, you may report them to this official, and this official will handle them accordingly."

Upon hearing this, Zhong seemed to have found her anchor. She shoved the child into A Xiang's arms, knelt down, and began to undress.

Ouyang Lei and his two companions twitched their brows and quickly stopped them, "No! Seducing an official of the imperial court is an even more serious crime..."

Madam Zhong gave a bitter smile. "You three are overthinking this. I just wanted you to see my injuries." With that, she ripped open her nightgown, revealing the ugly, crisscrossing scars on her body to the three men.

There wasn't a single patch of intact skin on Zhong's body.

There were whip marks, burns, and knife wounds. In the most severe cases, the wounds were even sunken in, as if the skin and flesh had been gouged out.

The three were so shocked they were speechless. "What is this...?"

Zhong said sadly, "These were all done by Guo Yong..."

"What?" the three exclaimed in surprise.

Suddenly, Mrs. Zhong became hysterical, "Guo Yong is a devil! He's not human at all. He always acts honest and kind, but it's all an act."

Why do you think he married several wives before but never had a child? It's because he was impotent. His older sisters might have been tortured to death by him..."

Ouyang Lei frowned as he listened. "But I heard that you were originally going to be sold to a brothel by your brother and sister-in-law. It was Guo Yong who took pity on you and bought you. You married him because you wanted to repay his kindness."

"Yes, he did save me, but I already had A Xiang in my heart. I originally planned to save up some money and pay Guo Yong back, but Guo Yong drugged my drink. When I woke up the next day, I found myself sleeping in the same bed with him. I thought I had lost my virginity, and Guo Yong kept saying he would take responsibility for me."

Unable to face A Xiang, I married Guo Yong.

Guo Yong publicly claimed that I was grateful and married him to repay his kindness, and everyone praised me for my conscience. But they didn't know that I had to endure Guo Yong's torment every night.

He whipped me, burned me with fire... torturing me to the point of wishing I were dead, but he never touched my face, so outsiders always saw that I was perfectly fine.

That night, the soldiers returning home passed through Hongshi Town and stayed there. Guo Yong and Guo Yong hit it off immediately and drank quite a bit of wine that night.

But once we got back inside, Guo Yong tormented me even more, taking his anger out on me.

I was beaten so badly that I was covered in wounds and filled with hatred, so I stole a soldier's dagger while he was asleep and killed him.

"I killed Guo Yong! He deserved to die!"

Finally, Mr. Zhong roared.

Ouyang Lei and the other two were stunned.

Unexpectedly, the story took a turn, and the murderer turned out to be the seemingly frail Zhong.

Thank you all for your support! I've seen all the votes you cast, thank you!
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(End of this chapter)