Xiao Che gazed at her deeply, his mind filled with growing suspicions.
The Lin Shu before him was completely different from the vapid girl in his memory who only knew how to cry and be jealous.
Her eyes were too calm, so calm it was unsettling.
Although he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, his intuition told him there might indeed be more to this matter.
“Go, bring Bi Yue here,” he commanded the guards outside in a low voice.
Lin Wan’er’s nails dug quietly into her palms as a sense of unease crept into her heart.
Something was wrong.
Everything was slipping from her control.
How had this fool Lin Shu suddenly become so… sinister?
Soon, a young maid in a blue vest was brought in—it was Bi Yue.
The moment she entered the woodshed and saw the strange standoff, particularly the kneeling servant on the ground, her legs immediately turned to jelly.
“This… this humble servant greets the Young Master, the Eldest Miss, and the Second Miss.”
Lin Shu looked at her, this maid who had betrayed the original owner, without an ounce of pity. “Bi Yue, lift your head and look into my eyes.”
Bi Yue trembled all over, not daring to raise her head.
Lin Shu’s voice suddenly turned cold. “I said, lift your head!”
This time, she deliberately infused her words with that strange power.
Bi Yue stiffened like a puppet controlled by invisible strings, slowly and uncontrollably raising her head to meet Lin Shu’s dark, profound gaze.
“Now, say it again in front of the Young Master.”
“Where did you find that packet of poison? And how were you so certain that I had hidden it?”
Lin Shu’s tone was gentle, yet every word struck directly at Bi Yue’s heart.
“I… I…”
Bi Yue opened her mouth, fine beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead.
She wanted to repeat the story she had rehearsed with the Second Miss, but facing Lin Shu’s eyes, the fabricated lies seemed choked by an invisible hand, impossible to utter.
Her mind was in chaos; panic and guilt were infinitely amplified under the power of the Incantation.
Seeing this, Lin Wan’er inwardly panicked and hurriedly tried to interrupt, “Sister, why must you press Bi Yue like this? She’s just a young maid…”
“Silence!”
Lin Shu whirled around and snapped sharply.
The two words exploded like thunder.
Lin Wan’er’s voice cut off abruptly as if someone had grabbed her by the throat. Her face turned pale then flushed, and she truly couldn’t utter another word.
She clutched her mouth in terror, her eyes filled with horror.
What was happening?
Why couldn’t she speak?
Xiao Che’s gaze deepened further.
He clearly saw that Lin Wan’er’s reaction when Lin Shu silenced her was definitely not feigned.
It was an instinctive, irresistible silencing.
The atmosphere in the woodshed had become eerily tense.
Everyone’s attention returned to the trembling Bi Yue.
Lin Shu looked at her again, her voice softening, laced with persuasion.
“Tell the truth.”
“Say everything you know.”
“Once you speak, it will be alright.”
These simple words, as if imbued with magic, gradually shattered Bi Yue’s mental defenses.
“It… it was…”
Bi Yue’s eyes grew unfocused, her lips trembling as she finally began to speak.
“It was Second Miss! Second Miss gave this servant that packet of medicine, told me to… told me to hide it under Eldest Miss’s pillow when she wasn’t looking…”
“Second Miss said as long as we brought down Eldest Miss, she’d make me her first-rank maid and give me a hundred taels of silver…”
She poured out everything like beans from a bamboo tube, confessing the entire scheme.
The moment her words fell, the entire hall was stunned.
Lin Wan’er’s face instantly drained of all color.
She shook her head desperately, wanting to explain and refute, but only incoherent whimpers emerged from her throat.
Xiao Che’s expression darkened instantly, as if water could drip from it.
He whirled around to look at the delicate, innocent-looking girl behind him, his gaze sharp as a blade.
Though he favored Lin Wan’er’s gentle understanding and detested Lin Shu’s willful arrogance, he wasn’t a fool.
The servant’s strange kneeling.
Lin Wan’er’s sudden loss of voice.
Bi Yue’s confession.
Everything connected together, and the truth became glaringly obvious.
He had actually been played like a fiddle by a mere girl!
Overwhelming humiliation and the fury of being deceived made the air around Xiao Che freeze over, his voice dripping with icy coldness.
“Lin! Wan’er!”
Just then, a sharp, mechanical sound that didn’t belong to this world suddenly rang in Lin Shu’s mind.
[Warning! Warning!]
[Detected that key plot character “Lin Wan’er” is about to enter the “death/imprisonment” route, severely deviating from the original plot!]
[Plot Correction System activated!]
[Correcting…]
As the voice sounded, Lin Shu felt a stabbing pain in her head, as if pierced by countless steel needles.
She groaned softly, her face turning even paler than before.
Simultaneously, Lin Wan’er, who had been restrained by Lin Shu’s Incantation power, suddenly felt her throat loosen and she could speak again.
As if clutching her last lifeline, she desperately threw herself at Xiao Che’s feet, hugging his legs and wailing.
“No! Young Master! It wasn’t me! It was her! It was sister who used demonic arts to control Bi Yue! She framed me!”
“How could I harm Grandmother Xiao? She dotes on me so much… Young Master, you must believe me!”
She cried as if her heart were breaking, her acting skills rivaling an Oscar-winning actress.
And Bi Yue, who had just confessed, seemed to wake from a nightmare, suddenly coming to her senses.
Seeing the scene before her and realizing what she had said, she was terrified out of her wits, immediately kowtowing like pounding garlic.
“This servant was talking nonsense, just nonsense! It was Eldest Miss! Eldest Miss used demonic arts to force me, Young Master, please see clearly!”
The situation had reversed in an instant.
Lin Shu clutched her aching head, her heart turning cold.
Plot Correction System?
So what she had to fight against wasn’t just these villains, but the will of this world itself?
It wouldn’t allow the plot to deviate, wouldn’t allow a cannon fodder character like her to turn things around.
Whenever she tried to change her fate, this system would forcibly bend everything back to its original course.
A flicker of struggle passed through Xiao Che’s eyes.
Reason told him Lin Shu was innocent.
But Lin Wan’er’s weeping pleas and Bi Yue’s retraction made him waver in his recently formed judgment.
Especially that inexplicable, sinister aura around Lin Shu made him instinctively wary and repelled.
“Enough!” Xiao Che snapped irritably, shaking off Lin Wan’er’s hand. “Until I get to the bottom of this matter, both of you shall remain confined to your own courtyards, not permitted to step half a foot beyond your doors!”
“As for this maid…”
His gaze fell upon Bi Yue, revealing undisguised murderous intent.
“Regardless of who instigated this, the crime of insubordination and attempted murder of our grandmother is unforgivable. Take her away and beat her to death.”
“No—!”
Bi Yue let out a piercing shriek, but two guards immediately covered her mouth and swiftly dragged her out.