Yan Zhuxing kept her head down, brewing her emotions.
She finally waited until Pei Mingjing called her name.
She raised her head, her eyes red. “I did not kill anyone. On the contrary, they were the ones who wanted to kill me.”
“Nonsense! You are the eldest young lady of the Marquis’s Mansion. Who would dare kill you!” Lin Ping immediately denied.
Yan Zhuxing directly rolled up her sleeves.
Everyone present gasped in unison.
Those fair, slender arms were covered in purple and blue bruises.
“They wouldn’t dare kill me outright, but they made me wash clothes in the dead of winter, denied me food, and pinched and beat me. What difference is there between that and killing me?” Yan Zhuxing fell to her knees with a thud.
“I beg Your Excellency to seek justice for me.”
She was not favored in the Marquis’s Mansion, and the servants all bullied her. It wasn’t that she had never complained, but Wen Rushuang would only chide the servants perfunctorily, never punishing them in earnest.
Thus, those servants grew even more audacious, not treating her as a proper master at all.
Cursing her every other day and starving her were commonplace. Sometimes, when they were in a bad mood, they would even pinch and beat her.
Her arms and back were covered in injuries.
She did not cry out loud, only letting tears stream down her face in silence.
“I don’t understand. We are both Mother’s daughters, so why does my younger sister get to wear fine clothes and eat rich food, with a fox fur coat and silver-thread charcoal in the winter, while I live in a drafty courtyard, wearing an old cotton jacket that even the servants disdain? I merely voiced this question, and Mother fainted. Can that be blamed on me as well?”
“I can’t even eat my fill, so how could I kill someone? The servants beat and curse me, and I don’t even dare to talk back. How could I kill someone?”
Yan Zhuxing’s voice was not loud, but every sentence struck the hearts of the onlookers like a small, heavy hammer.
The faces of the Marquis’s Mansion’s servants all changed.
Pei Mingjing’s gaze fell upon her worn-out outer shirt. On a day so cold that one’s breath turned to frost, a young lady was dressed in even fewer layers than he was.
It seemed the sordid affairs of the Dingyuan Marquisate were even more numerous than he had imagined.
“Well, Her Ladyship did order for clothes to be made for you. You were the one who refused to wear them, insisting on giving them to the Second Young Lady,” Lin Ping stammered in his defense.
“You’re deliberately dressing so scantily to gain His Excellency’s sympathy!”
“If you say so,” Yan Zhuxing said, lowering her head once more.
In her past life, because she felt guilty toward Yan Mingyue, she had given all her new clothes to her.
She had always worn the clothes Yan Mingyue no longer wanted, and eventually, she could only pick up the servants’ cast-off garments.
In any case, she never left the Marquis’s Mansion, and whenever guests came to visit, Wen Rushuang would always have her claim illness and refuse to see them.
Consequently, many people did not know what the eldest young lady of the Dingyuan Marquisate looked like; they only knew that the Marquis’s Mansion had a second young lady as beautiful as a flower.
Standing on the high dais, Pei Mingjing could not see her face clearly, only her tears falling drop by drop onto the courtroom floor like pearls from a broken string.
The commoners who had previously insulted Yan Zhuxing now saw her miserable state and couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.
“How is the eldest young lady of the Marquis’s Mansion living a life worse than my Niu Niu? My Niu Niu at least gets a new set of clothes for the New Year. How is this young lady dressed like this?”
“Exactly. The Dingyuan Marquisate is too stingy. Even if the eldest young lady is dull and disliked, they should at least make sure she’s fed.”
Listening to the crowd’s discussion, Lin Ping’s face turned pale.
This was bad, very bad. He had completely botched this.
He had single-handedly thrown away all the Marquis’s Mansion’s prestige.
An image of the Marquis’s ashen face flashed before his eyes. His legs began to cramp, and on this freezing winter day, his back was soaked in a cold sweat.
“Where is the maid’s body?” Pei Mingjing did not skip this step just because Yan Zhuxing looked pitiful.
“It’s at the Marquis’s Mansion,” Lin Ping answered, trembling.
Pei Mingjing immediately ordered men to go to the Marquis’s Mansion to perform an autopsy.
When the coroner arrived at the Marquis’s Mansion, he found Mo’er’s entire head and neck frozen solid, putting him in a difficult position.
He could only check the rest of her body for any signs of injury.
After a full inspection, he found no external wounds, nor did there seem to be signs of a violent struggle before death.
He thought for a moment and said, “Carry the body back to the Metropolitan Prefecture. We will examine it in detail after the water in this basin has thawed.”
The servants of the Marquis’s Mansion did not want to do such a task as moving a dead body, but since the official had spoken, they had no choice but to comply, carrying the body out of the Marquis’s Mansion, basin and all.
But just as they reached the main street, a “thud” sounded from behind them.
The coroner turned his head to see a head rolling toward him.
The owner of the head was none other than Mo’er, who had been frozen into a block of ice.
Her body was still further back.
Everyone present was startled by the sight of the body separated from its head.
“What are you doing?” the leading bailiff berated them angrily.
The servant carrying the body hurriedly explained, “It was too slippery. We couldn’t get a good grip. Our hands trembled as we lifted it, and she fell to the ground.”
“That’s right, that’s right, that’s what happened,” the other man quickly chimed in.
The two of them were on the verge of tears. Would Mo’er come back to haunt them tonight?
They had actually caused her to not even have an intact corpse after death.
The coroner had no choice but to examine the wound where the head and neck had separated on the spot. Finding no other injuries, he frowned, ordered someone to prepare Mo’er’s body for burial, and then returned to the Metropolitan Prefecture to report his findings.
“That maid probably slipped while washing clothes, accidentally fell into the basin, and died of asphyxiation.”
Hearing this result, Yan Zhuxing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But she dared not show it.
Because Pei Mingjing was staring at her quietly, his gaze as sharp as a torch.
The sound of footsteps reached her ears.
Pei Mingjing approached her step by step, and Yan Zhuxing’s heart nearly leaped out of her throat.
The footsteps stopped. Yan Zhuxing could only see a pair of dark green official boots halt before her.
“True or false, one must see with one’s own eyes to know. This official will personally make a trip to the Dingyuan Marquis’s Mansion. Eldest Lady Yan, lead the way.”
Pei Mingjing’s calm voice sounded. Yan Zhuxing nodded and rose to her feet.
Unexpectedly, she stood up too quickly and felt a wave of dizziness, nearly stumbling to the ground. Fortunately, Pei Mingjing was quick-witted and sharp-eyed, steadying her with a hand.
Once she was stable, Pei Mingjing quickly released his hand.
Yan Zhuxing curtsied. “Thank you, Your Excellency.”
Pei Mingjing’s gaze fell on her slender wrist, and he nodded.
This hand was indeed very cold.
Beside them, Steward Lin Ping was already too frightened to speak.
Lord Pei was going to the Marquis’s Mansion. This matter had truly blown up!
He shot a look at his trusted subordinate, wanting him to hurry back and inform Her Ladyship, but unexpectedly, Pei Mingjing preempted him, ordering the rest of the people from the Marquis’s Mansion to stay behind.
He would only have Yan Zhuxing lead him to the Marquis’s Mansion.
As they walked out of the Metropolitan Prefecture, a maidservant ran over, holding a turquoise cloak.
“Heir, the cloak you asked for.”
Pei Mingjing gestured with his eyes in Yan Zhuxing’s direction.
The maidservant paused for a moment, then shook out the cloak and draped it over Yan Zhuxing.
The collar of the cloak was lined with fluffy white rabbit fur, which made Yan Zhuxing’s face appear even paler.
“This is my cousin’s cloak,” Pei Mingjing explained.
Yan Zhuxing touched the ruyi silk cord on the cloak and said softly, “Thank you, Your Excellency.”
Lord Pei was truly a good official.
He was afraid she would freeze to death, yet he was also mindful of her reputation, so he had specifically ordered a family member to send a woman’s cloak.
A warmth bloomed in her heart and spread through her limbs, making her feel like crying.
This was the first act of kindness she had received since being reborn.
She would remember it well.
After ordering his men to ride to the border with all speed, Tingyun returned to the princely manor and couldn’t help but recount what he had seen when passing by the Metropolitan Prefecture.
“Your Highness, I encountered a strange affair today.”
“Oh? What is it?” Xie Yining asked lazily.
“The Dingyuan Marquis is actually abusing his legitimate daughter. The Eldest Lady Yan is living a life worse than even the maids in our manor.” He recounted the public confrontation between Yan Zhuxing and the Marquis’s Mansion’s steward.
The matter had already spread throughout the capital, causing a great stir.
Xie Yining’s brow furrowed.
In his past life, it seemed no such thing had happened.
He was suddenly uncertain again.
Had he been dreaming, or was he truly reborn?
Or perhaps, his rebirth had caused many things to change.
He picked up a brush and wrote the three characters for “Dingyuan Marquis” on a piece of paper.
Putting down the brush, he made a decision. Tonight, he would personally go to the Dingyuan Marquis’s Mansion to investigate.