Chapter 628 Make Concessions in Order to Gain Advantages, Leave Her No Chance to Defend Herself
“Are they made of… the Colorful Yarn?” One of the officers from the Ministry of Justice touched the collar and said uncertainly.
“Let me have a look!” The other officer from the Ministry of Justice took the clothes, and said hesitantly after pinching them carefully, “It seems to be true!”
Because the Colorful Yarn was precious, very few people had the opportunity to see and touch it.
“How about presenting them to Lord Wen?”
“Okay, I’m taking them there now!” After the two officers from the Ministry of Justice had a discussion, one of them took the clothes and went inside to find Wen Xichi, who was in the corridor. Wen Xichi took the clothes and pinched them carefully, and then nodded to indicate that it was the Colorful Yarn. After talking with Wen Xichi in a low voice for a while, the officer from the Ministry of Justice returned to the door of the courtyard.
He raised the collar of the clothes in his hand and said with certainty, “Part of the clothes are made of a piece of cloth named Colorful Yarn, which is not available to ordinary people. It used to be a tribute, and only some aristocratic families in the capital could get it from the imperial palace!”
Plenty of people had never seen the Colorful Yarn, but they had heard of it. Hearing that the two officers from the Ministry of Justice were so sure that the collar of the clothes was made of the Colorful Yarn, they looked at the two old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion in confusion. Could it be possible that Duke Xing’s Mansion set up such a trap in an attempt to ruin the Fifth Miss Shao’s reputation?
If these traces didn’t point to Duke Xing’s Mansion at the same time, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion!
A lock prevailing three years ago, the rust on the lock, and the Colorful Yarn which was only available to n.o.ble families, all of these indicated that there might be someone behind the scene pus.h.i.+ng it forward on purpose.
“It… could also be Great Elder Princess…” Noticing the bad situation, an old maid hesitated in explaining.
“Nanny, please watch your mouth. Rui’an Great Elder Princess is a senior member of the royal family. You can’t accuse her like that as an old maid. If you have no solid evidence, I’m afraid you will get killed even without knowing why!”
Yujie interrupted the old maid with a sneer.
Hearing her words, the old maid shut her mouth tightly and no longer dared to talk nonsense.
What Yujie said was true. If the old maid dared to accuse Great Elder Princess with no solid evidence, Great Elder Princess had the right to punish her. A humble old maid was not enough to make Old Madam go against Great Elder Princess.
“You delivered a chest up the mountain in such a big way and even brought the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery. The two of you could do this job, but you brought the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery, which was supposed to be eye-catching. What’s more, you came up the mountain with the officers from the Ministry of Justice. It’s impossible not to attract people’s attention!”
Yujie scared an old maid off by shouting at her, looked up at the crowd around her, and said in a sarcastic tone with a faint smile.
Connecting everything together, people found it impossible not to suspect Duke Xing’s Mansion!
Some people even recalled that Yujie had mentioned that the First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion seemed to be on bad terms with the Fifth Miss Shao, and thought of the rumor that the accident happening to the Fifth Miss before seemed to have something to do with the First Miss and be targeted at killing the Fifth Miss. Could it be possible that the First Miss intended to ruin the Fifth Miss’s reputation after the failure last time?
“No, it… it’s just a coincidence. The reason why we brought the nuns here is that we wanted them to testify that the chest was discovered in the Fifth Miss’s silence room for fear that the Fifth Miss might not know about it!” The other old maid hesitated in explaining.
“It’s just a chest. Could it be possible that you know that the stuff in the chest is harmful to reputation, so you deliberately brought the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery to bear witness and thus to make my master admit it?” Yujie asked with a sneer, took a few steps forward, and approached the old maid with cold eyes.
The old maid was scared, stepped back in a hurry, and looked towards the other old maid beside her. The other old maid compressed her lips in fear and did not dare to say anything. Seeing the old maid’s pleading eyes, the other old maid thought for a while and lowered her head. She, who had been threatened by Yujie a moment ago, did not dare to talk nonsense at this moment.
“How… how could we know it…” The old maid could only explain for herself.
“Since you don’t know it, why do you try to make my master admit that the chest belongs to her? We have never seen this chest before. Even if it was indeed discovered in the silence room, didn’t the First Miss leave anything there? We didn’t check the corners of the silence room. My master just borrowed the silence room, so it’s impossible for her to remove everything left by the First Miss as a guest!”
Yujie said without showing any mercy to the old maid.
The old maid became increasingly fl.u.s.tered with her head covered with sweat, no longer as aggressive and domineering as before, and felt a chill on her back.
“I… I…”
“My master told you to take the stuff back and said that sisters should be on friendly terms with each other. What happened before was an accident, and what happened just now was also an accident. Please tell the First Miss that my master now lives in the Huaguang Temple in seclusion and just wants to pray for the heir and infanta quietly.”
After going inside once, Qu Le became much gentler and no longer as aggressive as before when showing up in front of the crowd again. Despite her rage and reluctance, she seemed to intend to make concessions!
After that, Qu Le came over, bowed to the two officers from the Ministry of Justice, and said, “My master told me to express her grat.i.tude to you. Just forget about what happened today… and stop investigating into it!”
The last sentence could hardly be heard, but those who listened to her quietly still heard it saw that she was obviously aggrieved and angry but had to lower her head, and thought of what she had mentioned before. What had happened to the Fifth Miss Shao at the foot of the Yuhui Nunnery was an accident, and what happened here was also an accident. So no one should be blamed, and even the First Miss Shao, who had something to do with these accidents, shouldn’t be blamed!
It seemed that the First Miss Shao was not as kindhearted as she was said to be and might even be vicious. Although what was going on was not a big deal, it could be harmful to a lady’s reputation. Besides, if what had happened at the foot of the Yuhui Nunnery was not an accident, the person behind the scene should intend to kill the Fifth Miss Shao!
The connected incidents and the maid’s aggrieved tears made the onlookers think that the First Miss Shao of Duke Xing’s Mansion was really not a good person. Despite her good look, she couldn’t be considered good in conduct.
People began to talk about her in groups of three and four and dig up something happening a long time ago. Thinking of what made them consider the First Miss Shao talented and wise at that time, they found that she was actually scheming.
Hearing their discussion, the two old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion panicked with their faces turning pale and had no idea how to end it at the moment!
Since Shao Wanru suggested that they should stop investigating into it, the two officers from the Ministry of Justice threw the clothes back into the chest and pushed the chest in front of the two old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion naturally. After that, they retreated to the courtyard and stood behind Wen Xichi.
At this moment, the two old maids no longer dared to stir up any other trouble and ran away with the chest in disgrace. Glancing at the pilgrims who were talking around them, the nuns from the Yuhui Nunnery couldn’t bear to stay longer and followed the two old maids down the mountain.
With no fun to watch, the onlookers also left. But they kept talking about it even after leaving. It was different from what had happened at the foot of the Yuhui Nunnery. At that time, it was reasonable to consider it an accident. After all, there was no evidence to prove that Duke Xing’s Mansion had intervened in it.
The engagement of Duke Yong’s Mansion and Duke Xing’s Mansion in the s.h.i.+fting of responsibility could be considered caused by the fact that neither of them dared to take responsibility after the accident.
However, what happened today was really presented in front of plenty of people. Judging from the speechless look of the two old maids, they could tell that it must a trap someone set up for the Fifth Miss Shao.
Thinking of the Fifth Miss’s origin, they thought that the Fifth Miss, who had been set up by the First Miss repeatedly, was so poor. How could the First Miss deserve the reputation as the first beauty in the capital city with unparalleled talent and wisdom? Anyone, who married such an evil lady, would inevitably get a peaceless home.
There were plenty of onlookers with various opinions, and some of them made some ridiculous remarks. The pilgrims here were of all walks, unlike the pilgrims, most of whom were female, in the Yuhui Nunnery. As they talked about it, their words might become increasingly offensive…
Wen Xichi quietly watched the whole thing with a frown. Seeing that all the onlookers had left, he walked out with his hands clasped behind his back. In fact, he didn’t like this kind of scheming lady. No matter Shao Wanru was set up by Duke Xing’s Mansion or not, it was certain that Shao Wanru was very scheming.
It reminded him of his cousin sister and made him feel very uncomfortable.
Glancing at Wen Xichi’s face, his two subordinates didn’t dare to say a word and followed him to leave.
After everyone left, Yujie and Qu Le closed the door of the courtyard and went to the main room.
Shao Wanru stood by the window of the main room. The hanging curtain blocked the view of those outsides, but it enabled her to vaguely see the scene outside.
“Miss, they are all gone!” Qu Le smiled and said without the previous grievance and rage.
Shao Wanru slowly withdrew her gaze and said with a slight smile, “Yujie, go to ask the monks of the Huaguang Temple for a few scriptures later and tell them that I’m going to calm myself by copying scriptures.”
Incidents happened one after another. Even if Shao Yanru tried to hide behind the scenes all the time, she would drag her out. Shao Yanru had always been cunning. She obviously got involved in plenty of incidents, but the evidence always pointed to someone else. If the Ministry of Justice really investigated what happened just now, she was sure that the evidence would finally point to either Old Madam of Duke Xing or Madam of Duke Xing while Shao Yanru was definitely flawless!
However, what Qu Le said just now hit the spot. The most important thing was that Shao Wanru suggested them to stop investigating it. In this case, Shao Yanru could not prove that she was innocent even if she wanted to.
Now it was Shao Yanru’s turn to panic, and she was only afraid that Shao Yanru didn’t panic!
“Qu Le, close the door and decline visits. Tell the monks in the temple that I’m still recuperating and going to spend the rest of my time copying the scriptures and praying for my parents. I don’t have the mood to do anything else! Ask them to help me decline visits!”
It was impossible that the monks in the Huaguang Temple didn’t know that the old maids from Duke Xing’s Mansion had made such a big scene…