Chapter 626 Borrow the Officers from the Ministry of Justice
“Fifth Miss, don’t worry. You just need to tell me bluntly. I’ll only record it and won’t put you in a difficult situation. I mean to find out the truth for you!” Hearing no sound come from behind the screen, Wen Xichi said slowly.
His words couldn’t even convince himself. It was just an official statement. Regarding what Shao Wanru was going to be faced with, it actually had nothing to do with him. Wen Xichi had never considered himself a soft-hearted person. After discovering his cousin sister’s evil intention, he dealt with her swiftly and ruthlessly by making his second brother and her caught meeting in secret behind the fake hills and being intimate with each other. His parents were very angry now.
His mother suggested that his second brother should marry his cousin sister, but his father thought that such an ill-behaved girl was unqualified to be the legal wife and could only be a concubine!
His parents kept arguing about it and couldn’t make a decision, so they especially asked for his opinion. Although he didn’t express his opinion, he implied that his cousin sister kept giving him different things and even brought him some food and knitted items at night, and he wondered what she meant by doing that. After they heard his words, his mother’s face changed dramatically, while his father pounded the table and stood up.
Therefore, his cousin sister became his second brother’s concubine. Because his second brother had no legal wife at the moment, she was just a nominal concubine, which meant that in order to show respect for the future legal wife of his second brother, the two of them did not really consummate their marriage!
Only when the legal wife of his second brother married into the Wen’s Mansion, Gu Xishu could officially become his second brother’s concubine after formally greeting her.
After dealing with these things quickly, he felt extremely calm when Gu Xishu stared at him with tears, as if the person in front of him were not the cousin sister he had cared much about.
A cold-hearted person like him would naturally not show even the slightest bit of concern for others. Moreover, now he worked in the Ministry of Justice, so he couldn’t allow himself to be swayed by emotions.
However, the words supposed to be normal somehow made him feel increasingly uncomfortable and even guilty. Wen Xichi reached out to rub the s.p.a.ce between his eyebrows, and those incontinuous parts of his dream somehow flashed through his mind again.
Of course, the dream was not real and had not disturbed him for a long time. But he somehow had the dream more often. Could it be possible that he had been stressed out recently? The minister suggested that he should find out something as soon as possible and then report it to the Emperor.
“Fifth Miss…”
“Your Excellency…” The two of them almost spoke and then stopped at the same time.
“Fifth Miss, go ahead!”
“Your Excellency, go ahead!” The two of them fell silent for a moment and then spoke at the same time.
“Well, I’ll say it bluntly. I want to say that since you’ve made a thorough investigation, why bother to ask me? As a lady in the back yard, I could have offended no one outside the back yard. I survived, fortunately, otherwise, you may not be able to see me at this moment!”
She talked about how she escaped from death in a great catastrophe in a slightly sarcastic tone. This kind of indifference made Wen Xichi feel very uncomfortable as if his chest were pressed by something.
Managing to suppress this uncomfortable feeling, Wen Xichi quickly regained his senses and said, “Fifth Miss, can’t you offer any clues?”
“I really don’t have any clues. If I had known that someone intended to hurt me, I wouldn’t have come down the mountain at that time. Regarding what happened before, I can say that no lady would risk her reputation!” Shao Wanru said calmly with a hint of indifference.
Her words were very reasonable. A lady’s reputation was incomparably precious. Even if she made a slight mistake, she would be doomed eternally. No Miss from an aristocratic family dared to risk her reputation.
Thinking of what he had found out, Wen Xichi involuntarily sighed for the ill-fated Fifth Miss Shao and thought that she was actually a poor person!
“Since you know nothing about it, I’ll leave now!” Wen Xichi said decisively.
“Qu Le, walk Lord Wen out!” Shao Wanru was more decisive. She sounded weak but cold and decisive at the same time. It seemed that she wanted Wen Xichi to leave as soon as possible so that she didn’t even ask him to stay a little longer conventionally.
Wen Xichi remembered that when they met for the first time, she was joyful. Why did she become so indifferent to him now?
Although he had got up, he didn’t move and asked involuntarily, “Fifth Miss, have you noticed what is going on outside the door?”
As soon as he said this, Wen Xichi felt a little regretful. He didn’t want to intervene in it and just intended to watch the farce. Some time ago hearing that he was going to come up the mountain to ask Shao Wanru about something, Shao Yanru specially sent someone to ask him to allow the servants from Duke Xing’s Mansion, who were going to deliver some stuff to Shao Wanru, to join them in visiting the Huaguang Temple.
Considering that it was no big deal, Wen Xichi agreed. Unexpectedly, not only the old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion but also the two nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery, who claimed to bring Shao Wanru’s stuff down the mountain, came with them. Although it was a little strange for the nuns to visit the Huaguang Temple, it was no big deal.
So he brought them up the mountain. Except this, other things had nothing to do with him. He just intended to do Shao Yanru a favor.
However, he didn’t expect that he would be the one exposing his intention.
“Your Excellency, do you know what’s going on?” Shao Wanru was stunned for a moment and asked, not expecting that Wen Xichi would mention it. Since Wen Xichi began to talk with her, she knew that he tried to stay out of what was going on outside and suggested that it had nothing to do with him, so she didn’t ask about it.
Unexpectedly, he mentioned it when he was about to leave. It was really surprising.
Since he asked, Shao Wanru certainly would not let go of such an opportunity!
“Your Excellency, you must have been listening to them for a while. Have you got any clues?”
“What’s in the chest” Since Wen Xichi had asked about it, he decided to intervene in it directly. After thinking for a while, he found the key point and spoke.
“I’ve no idea!” Shao Wanru said lightly and asked him back, “What chest?”
She, who had just woken up, naturally did not know what caused a quarrel outside.
Wen Xichi fell silent for a moment and then said slowly, “It’s said that there is a chest. Your maid said it doesn’t belong to you, while the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery said it belongs to you because it was discovered in your silence room, so they quarreled about it!”
“My silence room?” Shao Wanru repeated in surprise.
“It’s indeed your silence room. I heard that you have meditated there.” Wen Xichi said in a deep voice.
“The silence room is not mine, but my Big Sister’s. When I went up the mountain, she happened to come down the mountain. Considering the good view and good location of the silence room, I specially borrowed it for meditation,” Shao Wanru thought for a while and said.
“Although it’s not yours at the beginning, you have stayed there for so long.” Wen Xichi said bluntly. From this point of view, it was most likely that the chest was left by Shao Wanru.
“Your Excellency, can I borrow the officers of the Ministry of Justice you brought here?” Shao Wanru thought for a moment and asked, “I heard that the officers of the Ministry of Justice all have a pair of sharp eyes!”
“Okay!” Wen Xichi said instantly. At this moment, his interest was aroused and he wondered how Shao Wanru was going to solve the problem.
“Qu Le, come in!” Shao Wanru said.
Qu Le answered and went in. Then there came a very low voice, but he could tell that it was Shao Wanru who was giving Qu Le instructions. Qu Le answered repeatedly and then walked out from inside.
“Your Excellency, please go out with Qu Le and bear witness!” Shao Wanru’s gentle voice came from inside. Although it sounded a little weak, it somehow aroused Wen Xichi’s interest. Now he really wanted to see how she was going to solve the problem.
Just now, he stood aside and witnessed the whole thing. Each of them claimed that they were right. The old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion intended to carry the chest into the courtyard, while the maid guarding the door did not allow them to do that and even managed to push the two old maids out of the door with her own strength.
The two nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery also repeatedly confirmed that the chest was discovered in the silence room, where the Fifth Miss Shao had spent most of her time during the more than two years in the Yuhui Nunnery, so they insisted that the chest could belong to no one else other than the Fifth Miss. However, the maid denied it and insisted that the chest didn’t belong to her master.
She said that there was some clutter piled up in the corner of the silence room. Because the silence room belonged to the First Miss, it was inappropriate for them to check the clutter so that none of them knew what was piled up there, not to mention the existence of the chest. There was one thing she was sure of, that was, the chest definitely didn’t belong to her master.
Therefore, they kept arguing about it. It was a complete mess. Wen Xichi thought that it would even be difficult for him to make a judgment.
Wen Xichi said goodbye and followed Qu Le out. When they came to the door of the courtyard, Shao Wanru’s maid was still standing at the door, as if intending to guard against the old maids with her own strength.
In front of so many people, the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery could only try to kindly persuade Shao Wanru’s maid to get out of the way, while unable to help the two old maids openly. After being stopped here for so long, the two old maids got so impatient and furious that they wanted to shout at Shao Wanru’s maid. Fortunately, the last bit of their senses made them only gnash their teeth and pretend to be reasonable.
The two officers from the Ministry of Justice, who followed Wen Xichi here, watched the fun with folded arms beside the courtyard. Before their superior gave an order, they would just stand aside and watch the fun.
Outside the door of the outer courtyard, there were plenty of people around pointing at the maids and nuns and talking about them. Most of the people, who had been watching for a long time, knew what was going on.
They had various opinions about it!
Qu Le came out, walked up to Yujie, and whispered a few words in her ear. Yujie turned around, looked at Wen Xichi, who was in the corridor, with doubts, and reluctantly nodded after a long while.
Qu Le walked over and said to the two officers, who were enjoying the farce, “Sir, Lord Wen asks you to do us a favor!”
The two of them, who were enjoying the farce, didn’t expect that they were going to be part of it. They looked up at Wen Xichi, who was in the corridor. Seeing him nod at them and knowing that he agreed to their intervention, they had no choice but to stand up straight, put down their arms, and said, “What do you want us to do? Name it.”
“Did you see the chest?” Qu Le asked with a smile.
The two officers from the Ministry of Justice nodded. As onlookers who had watched the whole thing, how could they not know the chest causing the trouble?
“Can you find anything unusual on the surface of the chest? I heard that the members of the Ministry of Justice are all very experienced. I wonder if you… can do it?” Qu Le smiled and said meaningfully.