Chapter 608 The Uprooted Gra.s.s
Yujie relaxed down when she found that only the clothes around Shao Wanru’s legs and arms were torn apart and that ointment had been applied to her wounds. She guessed that it was Prince Chen who treated Shao Wanru’s wounds, but because of the etiquette between men and women, he didn’t help Shao Wanru change clothes. Yujie now was full of admiration for Prince Chen and felt happy for Shao Wanru.
She, of course, knew that Shao Wanru and Prince Chen had been engaged under the order of Empress Dowager. Though Prince Chen had gone too far this time, it was because he was worried about Shao Wanru.
After figuring out this, Yujie let out a sigh of relief. She took out a piece of cloth from the wardrobe and carefully helped Shao Wanru change it.
This yard was prepared by Great Elder Princess for Shao Wanru, and it had been prepared for three years and was full of Shao Wanru’s clothes, all of which were prepared by the princess as well. These clothes were in a large quant.i.ty and were very beautiful.
Yujie knew what Shao Wanru preferred. She selected a piece of plain and comfortable cloth for Shao Wanru and helped her take off the torn one and put on the new one. Yet, Shao Wanru didn’t wake up, which showed how tired she was before. Yujie’s movement became even gentler.
In fact, she had wounds on her body as well. She had grown up in the Jingxin Monastery since she was a child, and she usually followed Mingqiu Nun to collect medicinal herbs. As a result, she had been scratched many times. Back when she was hung on the tree branch with Shao Wanru, she didn’t get many scratches, and her wounds were not as deep as Shao Wanru’s.
Thinking that Shao Wanru was always pampered and had never gotten injured like this, Yujie felt heartbroken. She knew that both Young Lady Qin and Young Lady Shao were evil women, and she expected to see how they would fight each other this time…
It was destined to be an unusual night. The officials of the Ministry of Justice had taken charge of the case regarding what had happened beneath Yuhui Nunnery.
As it was dark now, it was impossible to investigate the matter even though they wanted to. Therefore, several officials of the Ministry of Justice stayed there, but they didn’t survey the spot. Many people who had witnessed the accident all said that it happened because the road was slippery and led to the foot of the mountain. When the coachman was distracted, the accident would happen. Though it was an accident, they only had themselves to blame.
As for what that servant girl said, it was not true for she had gone mad.
Few people would believe that it was true.
It was right then that Rui’an Great Elder Princess came over. She didn’t come before when she let some people come to pick Shao Wanru up. However, at this moment, she came with a lot of people and looked angry. Seeing her, the people in the tea house all stopped talking.
Seeing that it was the carriage of Great Elder Princess, the officials of the Ministry of Justice immediately had some people to receive her. The princess looked out of the carriage and saw that it was Qiu Yu.
“What brings you here, Your Highness?” Qiu Yu bowed toward the princess and asked cautiously.
After meeting Shao Wanru in select, he requested to guard the place at night so as to know the latest progress of the case at once.
“Mr. Qiu, I want to take a look at the mountain road. Why would my granddaughter’s carriage roll down the mountain? I heard that some people have gone downhill before, but they were fine!” Sitting high in the carriage, the princess looked at Qiu Yu coldly. As Qiu Yu was Duke Liyang’s youngest son, the princess certainly had seen him before.
“Your Highness, it’s too late now, I suggest you don’t go there. If something happens, I can’t take the responsibility,” Qiu Yu said with a bitter smile.
“I don’t need you to take any responsibility. I’ll take the responsibility myself. I just want to know whom Zhuozhuo had provoked. This person hated her so much that he even came up with such an evil scheme,” the princess said in a cold tone and got out of the carriage with the help of her old maid. She looked at Qiu Yu grimly with her hands behind her back.
Qiu Yu’s forehead was covered in a cold sweat, but he was too anxious to wipe it. “Your Highness, maybe it was just an accident, and no one wanted it to happen. It was hard to make it clear now since it was an accident. Fifth Miss shouldn’t have gone downhill hurriedly at this time. How could…”
“So are you saying that Zhuozhuo was courting death herself, and this had nothing to do with others?” Great Elder Princess smiled coldly, and her chilling gaze fell on Qiu Yu in an imposing manner.
“Your Highness, I didn’t mean this. I can’t give you an answer until the Ministry of Justice investigates the matter thoroughly tomorrow,” Qiu Yu replied unwillingly. Though he was frightened, he had to tell the truth at the moment.
“Can’t investigate it thoroughly until tomorrow? No, it’s too late. I must investigate it right now! I want to know whether it is the young lady of the Qin’s Mansion or the young lady of the Shao’s Mansion that wanted to hurt Zhuozhuo. Or did they plot it together?” the princess said in a cold tone and walked to the entrance of the road with her back straight.
A bunch of servant girls and old maids followed her.
Seeing this, Qiu Yu knew it was impossible for him to stop the princess. He could only wave his hands, signaling the people of the Ministry of Justice to follow the princess to go uphill.
He couldn’t let the princess talk nonsense. As a matter of fact, he had someone investigate the matter as well, but found nothing, so naturally, he didn’t think there was anything fishy.
Thus, he was not anxious now. No matter how overbearing the princess was, Duke Xing’s Mansion was powerful as well and wouldn’t let the princess talk nonsense. As for Qin’s Mansion, Qiu Yu didn’t think about it.
Seeing that they went up the mountain, some onlookers followed them for fun.
The people who came with the princess put many lanterns around the place, lighting the place as bright as day. Some maids went forward and found obvious tracks left by wheels. Judging from the tracks, the carriage ran off the road directly without any obstacle, and there were no other tracks.
Some careful maids of the princess’s mansion checked the spot, and half an hour later, they came back to report to the princess, shaking their heads, because they found nothing suspicious. There was only one rut leading down the mountain. The carriage must have sped up where the rut became deeper, and this was the main reason which caused the carriage to fall off the cliff.
This had nothing to do with others.
Qiu Yu let out a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that the princess would make trouble out of nothing. Without any high official there, he feared that he couldn’t deal with this imperious princess. Now, the princess had nothing to investigate further and found nothing suspicious, so she couldn’t make any trouble even if she wanted.
However, before Qiu Yu could rest his heart completely, he saw a maid run to the princess hurriedly with a blade of gra.s.s in hand. “Your Highness, why would these gra.s.ses be uprooted? Even if they were crushed by the wheel, they shouldn’t be uprooted.”
The princess took the gra.s.s with a grim look. She looked at it with a frown, and the people around her also looked at the gra.s.s in the light.
It was a normal blade of gra.s.s, which was not special and looked the same as other gra.s.ses. There was mud on the gra.s.s and rut on the mud, which indicated that the carriage had run over the gra.s.s.
The root of the gra.s.s was not short, and some of its leaves were crushed. However, its rootstock was complete.
“Yeah, the wheel must have run over it very fast, and it’s possible for the leaves to be crushed, but how could it be uprooted? It doesn’t make sense,” someone who had taken several careful looks at the gra.s.s chimed in.
“The gra.s.s could be broken off and crushed, but it couldn’t be uprooted!” someone said in a certain tone.
These people were travelers and were experienced. On hearing their words, many people nodded with agreement and found the gra.s.s to be suspicious.
“Your Highness, I’ve found such a blade of gra.s.s as well. It’s not crushed but uprooted,” another maid picked up a blade of gra.s.s and said.
During the following time, several stalks of gra.s.s in the same condition were picked up. The ruts on them showed that they had been run over by a wheel, and only several leaves of them were broken, yet they were all uprooted.
This was abnormal. Qiu Yu became anxious again. If the carriage hadn’t slipped down normally, Duke Xing’s Mansion would possibly be involved. Qiu Yu had promised Miss Shao that she wouldn’t be involved, but judging from the current situation, it would be hard for him to explain to Miss Shao.
Taking two steps forward, Qiu Yu came up to the princess and said with a smile, “Your Highness, it’s just several stalks of gra.s.s. It’s nothing special. Maybe this kind of gra.s.s is soft and easy to uproot. When the wheel ran over, these shallowly-rooted gra.s.ses were uprooted.”
The princess squinted at Qiu Yu and said, “Since this case has been recorded by the Ministry of Justice, it means it’s not a small case. My granddaughter almost lost her life. Even if the case is reported to His Majesty, I believe he will bring me justice and won’t try to put me off with such a ridiculous excuse like you did.”
“Your Highness, this case hasn’t been settled…” Qiu Yu argued, and his face blushed.
“Enough! I don’t want to argue with you. I need to go back to take care of my granddaughter. She hasn’t woken up yet. As for these stalks of gra.s.s, I’ll hand them to the Ministry of Justice.” The princess had some people collect the gra.s.ses that were found and turned to the tea house with a bunch of people.
Her carriage was waiting for her outside the tea house.
After pa.s.sing the tea house with this group of people, the princess got into the carriage, which made a turn and ran away, leaving a bored man and the people of the Ministry of Justice behind.
“Your Honor, what should we do now?” a man of the Ministry of Justice came over and asked Qiu Yu, who was in a daze.
“Let someone guard the place and don’t let anyone go in or out.” Qiu Yu collected his thoughts and bit his teeth before saying. Before the matter was investigated clearly, the spot shouldn’t be touched.
However, the one who had touched the spot was Rui’an Great Elder Princess, and she did it under his nose, so he didn’t think he had neglected his duty…
It was a speechless night, and the next day, the news turned the capital upside and down.
The news caused a stir because there was a well-known rumor that Fifth Miss Shao was a scourge. No one had expected that this miss had an accident so soon. This matter was a.s.sociated with the well-known rumor, which even caused the Emperor to intervene. This time, this miss almost lost her life just because of going downhill.
People suspected that maybe someone really had framed Fifth Miss Shao.
The servants of Rui’an Great Elder Princess went to the Ministry of Justice early in the morning and even beat the big drum at the door of the Ministry of Justice. They came with the princess’s message and several stalks of gra.s.s found under the rut.
The main official of the ministry was disturbed by this matter as soon as he arrived. However, they couldn’t do anything but to survey the spot again in a hurry since the other party was the princess. They took back two stalks of gra.s.s from the cliff.
Since then, these strange stalks of gra.s.s caught people’s attention, but no one knew what was strange about these gra.s.ses. The case was in a deadlock.
However, the following day, someone suddenly came to the Ministry of Justice…