The Xie family’s gazes turned toward Xie Yingyue.
“The day before yesterday, I met Jiang Tan’er, and she seemed a bit strange at the time,” Xie Yingyue sighed softly, her voice gentle as she recounted. “She first apologized to me, saying she had acted too impulsively before. I remembered Father’s instructions not to cause trouble outside, so I forgave Jiang Tan’er and started chatting with her. But now, looking back…”
“Jiang Tan’er seemed very interested in our family’s affairs. She asked me about Madam’s early years.”
“She especially brought up the child who passed away, asking about the age. Oh, right, she also mentioned that she had seen Elder Brother’s pouch before and thought it looked quite special, as if it were quite old. She asked who made it. At the time, I didn’t think much of it and answered all her questions,” Xie Yingyue added.
After finishing, Xie Yingyue also felt somewhat nervous.
“Does this mean… Jiang Tan’er and that Songyin already knew the details about our family’s lost child?” Madam Meng exclaimed in alarm. “They came prepared!?”
“I told you, they definitely had ill intentions!” Xie Jiyan also spoke with great seriousness.
Xie Yingyue felt guilty. “What I said at the poetry gathering did make it seem like Jiang Tan’er’s poem was plagiarized or borrowed. It’s understandable that she was angry, so when she apologized to me, I was relieved and answered all her questions without hesitation. Besides, Jiang Tan’er is acquainted with the Seventh Prince. I was afraid of offending him, so I didn’t hold back… Today, when Songyin came to scheme against our family, it was all my fault.”
“My pouch is already lost,” Xie Jiling said, his voice heavy.
It was the only keepsake left by his birth mother.
Before their hometown was struck by disaster, his parents lived a peaceful life. His mother would embroider, make clothes, and stitch shoes. Her embroidery skills were average, but the patterns she created were unique. She could embroider common flowers and plants, with a wild charm amidst the seeming disorder. All the clothes in their household were made by her.
After His Majesty ascended the throne, he issued an edict to search for people. When officials found their family, he and his father were filled with fear and dared not delay. They hurriedly set off for the capital, and naturally, none of their old belongings were preserved.
Only that pouch, kept close to his body, survived. He never expected it to suddenly disappear.
Thinking back carefully, on the day he lost the pouch, he had accidentally bumped into Jiang Tan’er…
“What exactly do they want? Elder Brother, I know I was wrong, but they’ve already poisoned me and made me lose face. Isn’t that enough? Do they have to keep harping on a single mistake?” Xie Yingyue was truly resentful.
At the banquet that day during the poetry session, she genuinely felt something was off about Jiang Tan’er’s poems!
As it was the beginning of summer, everyone felt spring had passed too quickly, so they suggested composing a poem with spring as the theme.
Jiang Tan’er first recited one: “Good rain knows its season, arriving with spring. It slips into the night with the wind, moistening things silently and unseen.” It was quite fitting, and everyone applauded. Then, facing the garden full of peonies, she recited another: “Jade-like makeup adorns a tall tree, ten thousand strands of green silk hang down. Who cut these delicate leaves so fine? The spring breeze of February, like scissors divine…”
That day was a flower-viewing banquet, with no lake or willow trees in sight…
Although the impromptu poem didn’t quite match the scene, it was remarkable how quickly she composed it, so everyone let it pass.
It was mainly later on, when Jiang Tan’er said that using spring scenery as the theme was really boring, so she changed the topic herself. Staring at the fruit wine everyone was drinking, she composed a poem: “Fine wine of grapes in cups of jade at night, / To drink to pipa songs we are sped. / Don’t laugh if we lie drunk on the battleground! / How many warriors ever came back safe and sound?”
She found it somewhat hard to accept.
Shouldn’t composing poetry require immersing oneself in the scene? How could a person change so drastically in an instant?
Moreover, later she added two more lines: “In boundless desert lonely smokes rise straight; / Over endless river the sun sinks round.” and “Lonely fowl fly together with sunset clouds; / The autumn river shares the hue with boundless sky.”
That Miss Jiang was only sixteen, born in the countryside, her hometown a small village at the foot of the city—she probably couldn’t even dream of the desert in her sleep…
Reading those poems, she thought they were good, but also felt incomplete, and the style didn’t seem like it came from the same person…
Unable to hold back, she spoke up: “These lines are extremely well done, but the styles are so different, as if not from the same person. I wonder if Miss Jiang had prepared them earlier? Did someone help polish them?”
Really, that was all she said.
People like them didn’t go out to banquets every day. Knowing there was a banquet, it was completely reasonable to prepare some poems in advance to showcase one’s talent. Even if one wasn’t skilled in this area, asking someone to compose a poem wasn’t unacceptable.
She truly didn’t think this sentence would offend anyone!
Jiang Tan’er was furious and immediately retorted: “Is it because Miss Xie herself is incompetent that she assumes all women in the world are like her—nothing but jealous, empty-headed fools?”
That’s how the argument started.
Remembering the grievances of that day, Xie Yingyue felt upset.
She didn’t go out often, attending only three to five banquets a year, and she had worked hard to present herself, earning some reputation for being dignified and talented. But now… those reputations were gone, and even her chastity was ruined!
Many people saw her in the tavern, flushed, shoulders exposed, acting frivolously as she loosened her clothes. From now on, there was no need to think about any good marriage prospects.
Her younger brother, seeing her in tears, impulsively drew his sword.
Who would have thought that Jiang Tan’er’s maid would be so persistent, even moving into their home!
What should she do!
“Elder brother, really, can’t we just drive her out? I feel so uneasy,” Xie Yingyue said anxiously.
“I always feel something isn’t right. If it were just about these matters, she wouldn’t need to come to our home to endure disdain,” Xie Jiling said, looking at his family’s panicked state. “Just avoid her for now. This woman knows how to use poison and likely has some underhanded methods. Don’t have direct contact with her.”
“Have the servants keep a close watch. Anything she touches must be carefully inspected. Have the family physician check your pulse daily without fail. Endure for a few days, and once Old Imperial Uncle gives his instructions, we’ll send her away,” Xie Jiling added.
But…
Going to such lengths just to enter the mansion and poison them?
Even if the whole family were poisoned to death, what good would it do Jiang Tan’er and Songyin? The Xie family still held a noble title. If they all died quietly, the Emperor wouldn’t ignore it.
If they really wanted revenge, feigning illness and having Old Imperial Uncle take action would be the best choice.
The claim that “Songyin is a daughter of the Xie family” even sounded more plausible than coming here to poison them.
While the Xie family worried endlessly, Songyin calmly made many requests to the Xie mansion’s steward.
She was going to live in the Xie household for a long time, so she needed to make herself comfortable. Fortunately, the Xie family didn’t want to leak any information that might harm Xie Jiyan, so the servants were very respectful toward her, the newly arrived “young lady,” saving her a lot of trouble.
[Ding! Obtained deviation points: 5 points. Source: Xie family cannon fodder.] The system’s voice sounded again.
Songyin’s lips twitched slightly.
Today, the Xie family had been humiliated, and such an important turning point had changed, yet she was only given five points. It was clear that the Xie family hadn’t had much impact on Jiang Tan’er—the Xie family was insignificant.
Moreover, the Xie family still believed she and Jiang Tan’er were in cahoots. The fate of the Xie family as cannon fodder, humiliated by Jiang Tan’er, had not yet changed.
“I remember I have the ability to detect anomalies. How do I use it?”