Man’er recalled the scene she had witnessed earlier. “This servant doesn’t know. I only saw her head stuck in the washbasin, frozen by the water.”
The dear friend she had been laughing with just this morning, discussing what patterns to embroider on their handkerchiefs, was now a cold corpse.
She shivered uncontrollably.
“Let’s go to the Main Kitchen first,” Wen Rushuang decided resolutely.
Mo’er’s death and the incident in the Main Kitchen were both related to Yan Zhuxing.
So, she would go see her first.
She would see what madness had possessed her.
When they arrived at the Main Kitchen, Yan Zhuxing was warming herself by the fire.
Ever since her health was ruined in her past life, she had become exceptionally sensitive to the cold.
Even though her body could still be saved now, she still felt cold.
The weather was cold, but her heart was even colder.
Looking at the mother and daughter, Wen Rushuang and Yan Mingyue, standing shoulder to shoulder, the suppressed hatred in Yan Zhuxing’s body surged everywhere.
It seeped from her blood into the very seams of her bones.
She truly wanted to strangle this mother-daughter pair, just as she had strangled Mo’er.
But that wouldn’t be worth it.
Now that her hunger was sated, Yan Zhuxing’s mind was much clearer.
If she killed the mother and daughter just like that, she would surely be arrested and thrown in prison.
Wouldn’t that be letting those two beasts, Yan Mingxiu and Yan Mingyuan, off too easily?
“Xing’er, have you gone mad? What… what is all this?” Wen Rushuang stared at the devastated kitchen in utter disbelief.
Upon seeing her, Zhou Mama scrambled and crawled over.
Her hair bun was askew, with a few vegetable leaves clinging to it, and her face was a mess of tears and snot.
She wailed at the top of her lungs, “My lady, you must seek justice for us!”
She then recounted everything Yan Zhuxing had done since arriving at the kitchen.
The other servants, as if they had found their pillar of support, all chimed in with their complaints.
The same thought that had crossed Yan Mingyue’s mind now flashed through Wen Rushuang’s.
Has Yan Zhuxing gone mad?
How dare she?
“Xing’er, do you have anything to say for yourself?” Wen Rushuang put on the air of the Marquis’s Mansion’s matriarch, her face stern as she looked at Yan Zhuxing.
Yan Zhuxing was very calm. “I was hungry and wanted to eat, but these insolent servants wouldn’t let me. I am the Eldest Miss of the Marquis’s Mansion. Is there a problem with me punishing wicked servants? Mo… ther.”
For some reason, Wen Rushuang heard a trace of killing intent in that final word, “Mother.”
The person before her was dressed as she usually was and didn’t look any different.
But her eyes seemed like burial jades dug out from a coffin, steeped in the tomb’s chilling aura, sending an unprompted shiver down her spine.
“Then what about Mo’er? Mo’er did nothing wrong. Why did you have to kill her?” Seeing that her mother was at a loss for words, Yan Mingyue hurriedly brought this up, wanting to firmly establish Yan Zhuxing’s reputation as a murderer.
Yan Zhuxing said faintly, “I know you’ve always resented me for occupying your position as the Eldest Miss of the Yan family, but you can’t just accuse me of murder with baseless slander.”
Yan Mingyue was taken aback, not expecting her to change the subject.
She turned to Wen Rushuang, tears streaming down her face like pear blossoms in the rain. “Mother, I have never resented Elder Sister, much less slandered her. I just want to get justice for Mo’er.”
Seeing her own daughter shed tears, Wen Rushuang’s heart ached. She quickly patted the back of her hand to comfort her, then dismissed the servants to reprimand Yan Zhuxing alone.
“You occupied your younger sister’s position as a high-born young lady for over a decade. We finally managed to find her and bring her back, so what right do you have to be fierce with her?”
“While you were living in luxury in the Yan family, she was suffering endlessly outside. The person you’ve wronged most in your life is her.”
“To protect your reputation, we could only announce to the public that she is your twin sister, who was sent to Qingcheng Mountain to recuperate after birth due to poor health.”
“The Marquis’s Mansion has made so many concessions for you, and your sister has suffered so many grievances for you. How could you treat your sister like this?”
“Xing’er, apologize to your sister.”
Yan Zhuxing found it utterly laughable.
In her past life, she had been brainwashed by these words day after day, believing that she was the one who owed Yan Mingyue.
She had usurped Yan Mingyue’s position as a high-born young lady, she had caused her to suffer, so she ought to spend her life working like an ox and a horse to compensate Yan Mingyue.
The Marquis’s Mansion had kept her and allowed her to continue as the Eldest Miss; she should be eternally grateful to them.
But she was clearly the one who had been abducted and brought home by Wen Rushuang.
Everyone in the Marquis’s Mansion was lying to her.
Yan Zhuxing let out a cold laugh and said, word by word, “If I don’t apologize, are you going to send me to the authorities?”
She was rapidly planning her next steps.
In her past life, she had heard of the Metropolitan Governor, Pei Mingjing.
This man never formed cliques for personal gain and was famous for his impartiality, integrity, and kindness.
He gave no face to any of the powerful officials and nobles in the capital, always acting as he saw fit, judging cases strictly according to the law.
After all, he was the sole male heir of the Empress Dowager’s maternal family, and the Empress Dowager doted on him more than any imperial descendant.
With Pei Mingjing’s help, she could surely rip off the hypocritical masks of everyone in the Marquis’s Mansion and make them suffer a heavy fall.
And while she was at it, she could secure a protective talisman for herself.
“You think your wings have grown strong, is that it? Must you anger me, your mother, to death? How did I raise an unfilial daughter like you? If I had known earlier, I should have drowned you at birth.” It was the first time Yan Zhuxing had defied her, and Wen Rushuang trembled with rage.
“Well, you’re not dead, are you?” Having learned the truth as a ghost, Yan Zhuxing naturally no longer felt hurt by her words.
“You, you, you…” Wen Rushuang couldn’t take the shock and fainted on the spot from her words.
Yan Zhuxing found it hilarious.
So Wen Rushuang was this fragile.
She had said so many nasty things to her, yet she couldn’t even handle one sentence in return?
“Elder Sister, you’ve angered Mother to the point of fainting! You are gravely unfilial! When Father and our two elder brothers return, they will not spare you.” Yan Mingyue hadn’t expected Yan Zhuxing to be like a mad dog today, biting whoever she came across.
She wasn’t afraid at all.
Had she been possessed by a ghost?
“That’s right, I made her faint. If you have the guts, send me to the Metropolitan Governor to be imprisoned,” Yan Zhuxing deliberately provoked her.
Imprisonment?
Yan Mingyue was tempted.
If Yan Zhuxing were thrown into prison, her life would be utterly ruined. She could forget about ever making a comeback and would forever be trampled under her feet.
At this thought, Yan Mingyue gave a decisive order. “She beat a servant to death and disrespected her mother. Men, seize Yan Zhuxing and escort her to the Metropolitan Prefecture to get justice for Mo’er!”
As Yan Zhuxing was being escorted to the Metropolitan Prefecture, Prince Yong’an, Xie Yining, awoke with a start from a sharp pain.
He subconsciously clutched his heart.
He had dreamt of a battlefield where a volley of ten thousand arrows was fired.
A woman had shielded him, using her body as a shield to block those arrows.
But the final arrow was terrifyingly powerful, like a white rainbow piercing the sun, and it ran through both their hearts.
He only had time to say to her, “I’m sorry, my willfulness implicated you,” before he stopped breathing completely.
Feeling a sense of loss, he sat up in bed.
His personal guard, Tingyun, heard the movement outside and knocked on the door. “Your Highness, are you awake?”
“Yes,” Xie Yining nodded.
Tingyun said joyfully, “Good news from the Eastern Palace. The Crown Princess has given birth to a little commandery princess.”
“A little commandery princess?” Xie Yining froze.
In his dream, it seemed the Crown Princess, his sister-in-law, had indeed given birth to a little commandery princess. His Imperial Father had been very pleased and had bestowed upon her the name Lingyi.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Has Imperial Father given her a name?”
“He has. She is named Lingyi.”
The name was exactly the same as in his dream!
Xie Yining realized that it might not have been a dream, but something that had truly happened, and he had been lucky enough to be reborn.
He immediately summoned Tingyun and ordered, “Quickly send someone to the border to investigate the Huo Family Army. See if there are any female soldiers disguised as men in the ranks.”
Tingyun: ?
He didn’t understand, but he obeyed.
“Yes.”
Yan Zhuxing was escorted to the Metropolitan Prefecture by the Marquis’s Mansion’s steward and other servants.
Yan Mingyue was determined to humiliate Yan Zhuxing. Before they left, she gave the steward a hint, telling them not to be discreet and to freely spread the news that Yan Zhuxing had killed someone and angered her mother into fainting.
Along the way, the crowd buzzed with discussion.
“This Eldest Miss of the Marquis’s Mansion is truly unpresentable, not even half as good as the Second Miss.”
“I’d say she’s not even fit to carry the Second Miss’s shoes. That maid looks more like a master than she does.”
“First killing someone, then angering her mother to the point of fainting. How did the Marquis’s Mansion produce such a beast?”
Faced with their gossip, Yan Zhuxing’s expression remained unchanged, and she turned a deaf ear.
Upon arriving at the Metropolitan Prefecture, the steward, Lin Ping, fell to his knees with a thud and began to accuse Yan Zhuxing of her crimes with tears streaming down his face.
The Great Yu Legal Code stipulated that if a servant was guilty and the master killed them directly without a trial by the authorities, the punishment was one hundred strokes of the cane. If the servant was innocent and the master deliberately killed them, the punishment was one year of penal servitude.
After listening, Pei Mingjing looked at Yan Zhuxing.
“Eldest Miss Yan, do you have anything to say in your defense?”