Chapter 55 Matter of Life and Death
The servant girl must be new to the mansion. When encountering such an incident, she even shouted out in front of their guest Sima Ray.
“Okay, I know.” Qin Yunuan seemed to be unexpectedly calm. She bent her knees and saluted to Sima Ray, “Excuse for my absence.” Then she followed the young girl out of the yard and straight for the backyard. Her pace was fast, but not panicked. That was because she had long antic.i.p.ated such a scene. The play continued constantly since Tong saw Tinghe putting something in those crab dumplings.
Bypa.s.sing a rockery, she saw crowds gathering close to the back door. Besides Qin Zhi, Qin Linfeng and Concubine Liu who arrived earlier, Dou Qing’e and Qin Yunzhuang came here as soon as they got the news. The banquet outside was nearing its end. Since only Concubine Chang was left to preside over the whole event, it might have ended earlier.
Temporarily, lots of torches were lit in the dim backyard. Under the light of the fire, the gloom on Qin Zhi’s face made him look inaccessible. Hiding in Concubine Liu’s arms, Qin Yuwan’s small face grew red in the orange flares. She was trying her best to be buried into Concubine Liu’s arms. It seemed that she wanted to hide herself as well as the five fingerprints visible on her cheek.
Shangguan Rang, who was referred to by the servants as “irritable”, was still half-drunk and supported by others. The Left Chancellor Shangguan Yuan stood in front of him, seemingly wanted to prevent others from seeing the troubled Shangguan Rang. He talked to Qin Zhi with his hands folded in a polite gesture.
“My son was discourteous today, philandering with Second Miss Qin. Please, my good colleague Qin, believe me. The Shangguan Family is never indifferent. I will not tarnish the reputation of the Second Miss. Both my son and the Second Miss have reached marriageable age. Within three months, betrothal presents would be sent to the mansion.” Shangguan Yuan kept a low profile in making this promise. His carefully educated son was secretly dating an unmarried girl in her backyard. Thankfully, the Grand Commandant was wise to agree to deal with the matter in private. If not, Qin Family’s reputation would also be harmed groundlessly.
Shangguan Rang didn’t seem to appreciate his father’s words, or he was too drunk to do so, “Dad, what did you say just now? Let me marry her?” Shangguan Rang pointed at Qin Yuwan with his body staggering. Disdain was written all over his face. “She was only one of those women outside who was desperate to crawl into our house, and you think I have philandered with her? She invited me in. I remember. I remember it clearly that a nanny led me in. I have witnesses.”
“B*stard! Shut up!” Shangguan Yuan’s face turned pale, “I just asked you who the leading nanny was, and you said that darkness blinded you. You are drunk.” After those words, he ordered the servants who came with her to carry Shangguan Rang back.
Qin Zhi’s face relaxed a little, but his horrifying eyes still fixed on Qin Yuwan, who curled herself up. Seeing Qin Yunuan came, he asked straightforward without any warm-up conversation, “Is there a servant girl called Tinghe in your courtyard?”
Qin Yunuan felt two playful eyes puffed up with pride looked straight at her. As she lifted her head, she met with Qin Linfeng’s narrowed eyes.
“Yes, Tinghe was indeed a secondary servant girl in my yard,” Qin Yunuan took a firm step forward, which was perceived as a joke in the eyes of Dou Qing’e and Qin Yunzhuang. Dou Qing’e was about to make a statement when Qin Zhi’s previous warning rang in her mind, “I should have sent you to the temple earlier, but my colleagues will come here today. You’d better remember what to say and what not to. If you make any trouble, I will send Yunzhuang and Linfeng to the temple as your company.”
It was acceptable for her to leave, but Yunzhuang and Linfeng are the apples of her eye. How could she let her children suffer together with her? Moreover, leaving more of her people in the Qin Family meant higher hope for her.
The hope happened to come to her today.
As soon as Qin Yunuan spoke, the look of Concubine Liu and others who were present turned hideously diabolic.
“Well, Tinghe was your servant. Did you know that the servant girl in your yard was dead?” Concubine Liu screeched, as if had been tempted to shift Qin Zhi’s attention from the humiliated Qin Yuwan to the wronged Qin Yunuan. But her trick failed. Qin Zhi was meticulous enough to see through Concubine Liu at first glance. He shocked Concubine Liu speechless by just staring at her.
“Dead?” the panic and shock on Qin Yunuan’s face were real. She half-covered her mouth, and her fingertips seemed to tremble constantly. “How could that be? Tinghe was alive this morning, and then I was busy going to the banquet. So I didn’t pay attention to where she went. Why all of a sudden…? Father, was the news true?”
Qin Zhi’s gloomy nasal sound seemed to be squeezed out of his nasal cavity, “The body is behind the backyard rockery. How could that be fake?”
Qin Yunuan was stunned for a second, and then she looked at the rugged rockery ahead of her on the right with distant eyes.
The truth of the matter was revealed instantly.
Qin Linfeng thought that Qin Yunuan would send Qin Baochuan out through the back door. So he secretly sent someone to guard at the back. While waiting for gains without pains, Qin Linfeng’s people didn’t meet with Qin Baochuan’s carriage, but they met with Shangguan Rang, who came to have a private meeting with Qin Yuwan. Shangguan Rang was a grand young master with spoiled-boy behaviors, so they had a conflict. In the chaos, they found Tinghe’s cold dead body behind the rockery.
In this way, the secret date of Shangguan Rang and Qin Yuwan became trivial compared to the death.
An unnatural death happened in the mansion of Grand Commandant, and it was a servant girl from his own mansion. If rumors get out, sudden and perplexing changes could shake this ancient and quiet house.
To avoid bad luck, only a few experienced family servants were inspecting the body and running to report from time to time. It seemed that Qin Zhi didn’t notify the local government and would like to deal with the matter in private. The first step to solve the matter in private was to begin searching inside the mansion. And Qin Yunuan, who was standing elegantly in front of Qin Zhi became the first suspect in this search.
“Tinghe was your servant girl, Third Miss. Don’t you have anything to say about her sudden death?” Qin Yunzhuang said behind her handkerchief. Her eyes dodged and fell on the rockery. These things remained to be a taboo for her, but this was an opportunity to step on Qin Yunuan and vent her mother’s anger.
Qin Yunuan was also straightforward and determined, “The death of Tinghe has nothing to do with me.”
“Why are you so confident, Third Miss?” Qin Yunzhuang shook her head dismissively, “I heard that Third Miss appointed people by favoritism. In the f.u.xi Courtyard, only long-time servants were valued. New servant girls are poorly treated. Maybe some insensible servant girls in the f.u.xi Courtyard bullied Tinghe under your encouragement, and then….”
“Are you joking, sister?” Qin Yunuan looked at Qin Yunzhuang with an indifferent att.i.tude, “The servants inspecting on Tinghe’s death said just now that there were bruises on the neck. She was most likely strangled to death. The fingerprints on bruises were broad, strong and possibly from a male. My servants are all girls.”
Qin Yunzhuang’s smile became even weirder, “Doesn’t nurse Liao, who works for you, have a son called Huang Dashi? He had a pretty good relationship with you.”
Qin Yunzhuang took a clever step. She drew the suspicion about the conflict between servants to Qin Yunuan within one sentence. If a servant girl had done this, Qin Yunuan would most likely have been accused of her ineffective discipline. But when it came to nurse Liao and Huang Dashi, most people would understand without thinking. Who, besides Qin Yunuan, could order nurse Liao and Huang Dashi in the f.u.xi Courtyard?
Concubine Liu spotted the situation and echoed, “Oh, in the end, this girl is working in the yard of Third Miss. She is Third Miss’s people. Third Miss, you are gaining popularity in the Royal City now. We concubines are not qualified to judge how you dispose of your servants.”
Qin Yunuan felt the icy winds blowing towards her, even Qin Zhi gazed deeper into her eyes. He hated it most when his status as the housemaster was challenged.
“Even though what Concubine Liu and Grand Miss said were reasonable, you have forgotten a key point,” Qin Yunuan tightened the grip in her heart, “Motivation. What is my motivation to harm Tinghe. It has been only a month since she came to my yard. Tinghe was loyal and dutiful in her job without making any trouble. Why should I bother myself with a servant? Why would I kill her inside the mansion? Wouldn’t that leave a dirty stain in the mansion of Grand Commandant?”
Finally, it came to the topic. A smile of success appeared on Qin Yunzhuang’s face. Her voice was sweet and lingering, but every word could hurt, “Sister Yunuan, what if there is? Chenyue, fetch me that contract Tinghe handed to me secretly in my yard yesterday.”
While everyone was confused, the servant girl Chenyue went immediately to the Caizhi Courtyard. When she returned, she was holding a yellow-colored envelope with its surface slightly bulging.
There was no signature on the envelope. But the insignificant cyan in the veins of the envelope paper suggested that the envelope was made of reeds unique in the regions south of the River.
Qin Yunzhuang’s eyebrows bent into a beautiful arc. Holding the envelope in her slender hand, she said, “Tinghe handed this to me secretly yesterday, saying that it was discovered while cleaning the room for Sister Yunuan. She didn’t know how serious the situation was, so she just let me decide whether to give it to my mother. Unfortunately, the only witness died for no reason before I could show it to my mother.”
“Witness?” Qin Yunuan raised her eyebrow and smiled gently, “Grand Miss, your usage of the words is strange. It seemed as if I had done something that shouldn’t be seen by others.”
“What do you say?” Qin Yunzhuang’s gaze at Qin Yunuan became gradually profound in meanings, “Third Miss, think about it carefully. If you admit in advance, maybe father can give you some mercy.”