"Hao Empire," the man straightforwardly answered the question Peng Mingzhu posed.
"How do you know?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a raise of her brow.
"His accent," the man once again answered.
"Huh… You've heard a Hao accent before?" Peng Mingzhu questioned out of interest, not due to suspicions since she already knew that the man was not lying.
"My master, the person who previously owned the noodle shop, was a Hao citizen before immigrating here," the man told her.
"I suspect it's been years since you've heard a Hao accent, right?" Peng Mingzhu once again asked another question. "Either you have a good memory, just recently remembered, or have been in contact with one for a long time. However, if it is the third answer, you'd be a smart person, being able to keep secrets that are - from even your own wife."
When Peng Mingzhu spoke her last sentence, she stared at the woman who still had her eyes opened wide in shock. She knew that the old mother truly did not have an ounce of a clue as to the true identity of the physician they have been trusting the life of their son with, merely trusting in the skills and medicine the physician gave them.
"I'm not a smart person. I merely have good memories," the man stated as he stood up. "I know that what I have done is against the laws. Because my master was once a Hao and told me that there were many people who were good there, I thought that the man who was helping my son was truly helping us sincerely. If I had any knowledge that what I was feeding my son was opium, I would never have so blindly continued feeding my son and even believe in the words of that man."
"You're a good man," Peng Mingzhu remarked with a light smile. "There are rare who would so willingly admit their mistakes."
"I'd like it if the princes merely punish me. Please don't put the fault on my wife and my son," the man pleaded with a deep bow. "My son...it was me as a father who pushed him to die unknowingly."
Then staring at his wife, the man continued, "My wife is not guilty. From when we first fell in love till now, she has always been shielded and protected by me, she is much too innocent to commit any noticeable sins."
"You want to put all the guilt on yourself?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a frown as she stared at the woman who was crying beggingly on the ground and pulling the dirtied robes of the man.
Closing his eyes and releasing a tired sigh, the man answered, "I've been guilty of much more sins. I merely want to relinquish it now."
"I see," Peng Mingzhu responded with a nod. "I won't ask you what they are, nor will I force you. However, since you were not an active participator, your punishment will be to serve your jail time and work for the country. Once you finish serving your time, you will be released to see your wife again."
Hearing her words, the man finally rose up from his deep bow with a surprised expression on his face, "As you've said, you're guilty for much more sins, it's only that we haven't found them yet. When we do, perhaps you will never get out from this dark dungeon. Well, perhaps you might never get out again after entering it once."
Her final words, the man understood. He would be serving his time in jail for a long time, more than enough for the country to unfold each of his sins. She was not warning him, but merely telling him what was going to happen in the future.
"Darling…" the woman cried out while still kneeling on the ground.
Heaving a deep long sigh, the man kneeled along with her and told her with an endearing voice, "My dear wife...it's my fault. I have failed you as your husband. I didn't protect our child and I couldn't give you the life you were meant for."
Shaking her head from side to side as though to deny his every word, the woman continued pleading, "Darling, let me stay with you, alright? I can't live alone. I need you by my side. I won't hate you for our son. I'll carry the guilt with you. Alright? So, please. Don't leave me alone. Darling…"
For a long time, the woman continued shedding tears and hugging onto her husband, the man who was more than willing to plead guilty to every sin his family was currently carrying. Only when she had grown tired and the man knocked her out did the tears stop.
The man knew that the more he stared at her constant tears, the more soft-hearted he would grow. That was why he needed to stop her before he regretted his decision.
"I'm sorry," the man apologized. "You guys can leave now."
Ordering Luo Xing to carry the woman out, Peng Mingzhu led the group out of the prisons.
When they reached outside where the sun was starting to set and the sky was turning orange, Peng Mingzhu suddenly stopped.
"What's the matter?" Wei Kangnuan asked her.
However, Peng Mingzhu did not answer his question. Instead, she ignored it and walked towards the woman who was being carried by Luo Xing. Then, she started staring at the woman for a long time.
She stared at the woman for so long that Luo Xing felt the need to speak up, "Miss Wu?"
Ignoring another question posed for her, Peng Mingzhu instead asked aloud, "Does anyone have water?"
"I do," Mo Yuanjun who has stayed silent throughout the entire episode answered her question.
"Give it to me," Peng Mingzhu ordered.
"What do you plan to do with it?" Mo Yuanjun asked suspiciously. 'She's not planning to do anything weird, right?'
"Waking up," Peng Mingzhu gave a curt answer.
Finding her answer pretty normal, Mo Yuanjun took out his water canister and handed it to her.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Peng Mingzhu did something that shocked them.
Opening the water canister, she did not drink it or sprinkle some water on her face to wake herself up. Instead, the moment that she opened the canister, she splashed water onto the face of the woman in the arms of Luo Xing, wetting him along the way.
'Ah, whether I do right or wrong, I still get targeted,' Luo Xing commented in his mind, feeling sorry for himself.
"You can let her down now," Peng Mingzhu told Luo Xing.
"Huh? Miss Wu, are you sure?" Luo Xing asked. "She has yet to wake up."
"She's awake," Peng Mingzhu said. "Hey, lady, I suggest you stop faking now. I don't want to have to hit you to wake you up."
Hearing her threat, the woman immediately woke up and loosened herself from the hold of Luo Xing.
In a weak voice, the woman asked with a pale face, "How did you know that I was already awake?"
"So it's not only him who has another identity, but you do too, huh?" Peng Mingzhu remarked with a "tsk tsk."
"H-how do you know?" the woman once again asked, her face growing even more paler from fear.
"You two leave too many hints around," Peng Mingzhu answered her while crossing her arms. "Love, huh? How pathetic."
"You...H-how do you know this?" the woman asked again, wanting to know the answer as soon as possible. 'How could she know when even the princes couldn't guess it?'
"Why do I have to tell you?" Peng Mingzhu asked back with a tone of annoyance. "Ah, I'm so annoyed. I thought that everything would end easily, but you two bastards just had to complicate the matters didn't you? Are you guys asking for a beating?"
"W-what?" the woman continued to ask this phrase with wide eyes.
"Yeah, what are you talking about, Miss Wu?" Wei Li also asked Peng Mingzhu.
Wei Kangnuan on the other hand did not ask. He also noticed what Peng Mingzhu noticed, though noticeably much later compared to her. In fact, he was even thinking that she already knew from the very beginning that the case was opened.
"If you want to know badly, then ask your brother," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Li while looking at him with sharp eyes. "I've done my fair share of helping you guys already."
Since she already stopped the man from escaping and the woman from escaping, Peng Mingzhu felt that she already finished her job of helping them. For her, she felt that she already finished what she started. However, to the people staring at her weirdly right now, they were just wondering what she was going on about.
With that thought in her head, Peng Mingzhu did not want to answer any more questions nor ask any more questions. Deciding that she could finally relieve herself from the problems, Peng Mingzhu walked off with the intention to not come back to the palace until she was needed by the two old elders.
However, before she could even walk two steps away from the spot where she was standing, she was already stopped by someone.
"Wait," Wei Kangnuan told her, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking any farther.