For a moment every attendant present fell silent with dread, the atmosphere unbearably heavy.
Nanny Xiangyun could not stall any longer. She raised her head and carefully put on a flattering smile.
“Your Highness, Mingyue has served at Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s side for many years. This servant knows her character, she would never dare to lie. Besides, she has no reason to make up such a story. Perhaps those two really have already left. This servant begs Your Highness to show mercy, for the sake of Her Majesty’s fondness for her service.”
Xiao Jiuyi waited until she had finished speaking before saying, “Did this Prince tell you to speak?”
Nanny Xiangyun clamped her mouth firmly shut and looked toward Mingyue instead.
Xiao Jiuyi glanced sideways at her. “Wasn’t someone supposed to be beaten to death? Then let’s beat to death this servant whose mouth full of lies has soured my Imperial Grandmother’s mood.”
“Mercy, Your Highness, mercy, Your Highness, this servant has been wronged…”
Mingyue wailed in terror and begged for mercy, knocking her head against the ground with even greater force.
Nanny Xiangyun spun around at once and ordered the attendants behind her, “Are you all deaf? Gag her mouth this instant and beat her to death!”
“Nanny… Nanny, you can’t…” Mingyue thrashed wildly, but several attendants gagged her mouth and bound her.
A moment later the courtyard filled with the dull, heavy sound of the rod striking, blow following blow in quickening succession.
Meng Qianzi watched the scene without expression. Mingyue might not have been entirely innocent, but she was still just a pawn who had no choice in the matter.
She could see it, and so could Xiao Jiuyi and the Elder Princess.
But they could not touch the person behind it all, and could only beat the dog first.
No, perhaps this was Xiao Jiuyi’s formal signal, a declaration of war against the forces behind the Empress Dowager!
These waters ran far deeper than she had thought…
After today’s events, she could no longer stay uninvolved.
In the courtyard, the choked sobs from Mingyue’s throat grew gradually weaker, until they stopped altogether.
Meng Qianzi stepped back two paces and leaned against the wall, letting out a silent sigh. If a person did not want to be used as a pawn, then the only choice was to become the one who moved the pieces.
If someone else were the one moving the pieces, perhaps there would be fewer people wronged for nothing, the way her father had been.
Looking up, she noticed the woman in the corner was trembling all over like a sieve shaking chaff, half the flush faded from her face, her lips bitten bloody.
Meng Qianzi made a gesture for silence at her, mouthing without sound, “Don’t be afraid.”
Two lines of tears rolled from the woman’s eyes, and she nodded at her gratefully.
From outside came Xiao Jiuyi’s icy voice. “Take this corpse and get out.”
The sound of hurried, chaotic footsteps quickly faded into the distance. Meng Qianzi took two deep breaths, bracing herself to face questioning from the Elder Princess and the others.
But instead she heard him say, “Aunt, you and Uncle go ahead to Yongshou Palace. I’ll follow shortly.” His voice had grown considerably gentler.
The Elder Princess said nothing, only patted his hand, then turned to look at Jiang Yan, her beautiful eyes already glistening with tears, and reached her hand out to him.
Jiang Yan took her hand and wrapped it carefully, preciously, in his own, his heart flooded with the overwhelming relief of surviving a disaster, he had come within a hair’s breadth of never being able to touch her again.
Meng Qianzi watched the Elder Princess’s skirts sweep across the threshold, unfolding before her eyes like a peony blossoming slowly, and could not help the corners of her mouth lifting.
If not for her intervention, this perfectly matched couple would already be parted forever, one in this world and one in the next. It really was different from her past life now, and her father would surely be cleared of his wrongful charge too!
The door of the corner room was suddenly pushed open, and Qingzhou’s dagger, quick as lightning, came to rest against Meng Qianzi’s throat.
The woman in the corner let out a shriek.
Xiao Jiuyi walked in unhurried, and at the sight of him the woman clamped both hands over her own mouth at once, her eyes filled with terror.
Xiao Jiuyi looked at Meng Qianzi for a long moment. Seeing her expression unchanged, an anger rose in him for no clear reason, did she have any idea that if that dog of a servant, Xiangyun, had been just a little more thorough and searched the whole of Yufu Palace, she would have been the first one beaten to death?
He said, voice low with suppressed fury, “Give this Prince an explanation. Get one word wrong, and you die.”
Meng Qianzi had known he would ask how she knew of this, and had already prepared for it.
The lie, rehearsed countless times in her head, came out smoothly. “This subject stopped at an inn in Changzhou Prefecture on the way back to the capital, and happened to overhear people talking. One of them mentioned the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, and this subject listened closely at once.”
Seeing Xiao Jiuyi’s expression stay mild with no sign of anger, she continued with even more ease.
“One of them asked whether the item had been obtained. This subject at first thought they meant to offer some precious gift to the Empress Dowager, but then heard him say excitedly, ‘Excellent. No matter how much of a gentleman Jiang Yan is, he won’t be able to withstand the power of that drug, and besides, Miss Tian is such a captivating beauty, any man would find her impossible to resist, heh heh…'”
Xiao Jiuyi’s brows knit into a deep frown, and he shot Meng Qianzi a sharp glance.
Meng Qianzi shut her mouth, bracing for his next question, but instead he said sternly, “For an unmarried woman, you speak these words rather smoothly!”
Meng Qianzi: “…”
Xiao Jiuyi quickly returned to his cold, distant manner. “Go on.”
“Yes. This subject heard them discuss a few more words, choosing the location as Yufu Palace, and then left the rear courtyard.”
“The rear courtyard?”
“Yes, the rear courtyard. This subject had something on her mind and couldn’t sleep, and thinking of how hard the horse had worked on the journey, went to the stables in the rear courtyard in the middle of the night to feed it some restorative medicine. Those two probably never imagined that someone would overhear them from outside the stable wall in the middle of the night, either.”
The line of Xiao Jiuyi’s jaw went tight, and the words came out from between his clenched teeth. “What medicine?”
Meng Qianzi waved her hands quickly. “It’s not for you to eat… it’s… that kind…”
At the same time, she felt Qingzhou’s hand tremble slightly, the dagger’s edge was already touching her skin.
Xiao Jiuyi ground his back teeth. “Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?” The veins standing out on his neck showed he was holding back his fury with great effort.
Meng Qianzi pressed her lips together, and as she lowered her eyes a heavy shade of sorrow settled over her face.
“I don’t fear Your Highness’s blame, this subject’s heart was heavy with worry for her father and family, and truly had no intention of meddling in others’ affairs. But yesterday, when Your Highness said the condition this subject offered wasn’t enough, this subject suddenly remembered the relationship between Consort Jiang and yourself, and so…”
“And so you thought you’d use this matter to make this Prince owe you a debt of gratitude?”
Meng Qianzi said nothing, which was as good as an admission.
“This Prince has underestimated your nerve. What was the name of that inn?”
“The Sitong Inn.”
“What day did you stay there?”
“The thirteenth of the eighth month.”
“What did the two of them look like?”
“This subject only heard their voices and didn’t dare show herself, so she doesn’t know what they looked like.”
Meng Qianzi answered fluently, without the slightest fear of him checking her story, Changzhou Prefecture was a major trading hub with roads running in every direction, its traffic of travelers endless, and the Sitong Inn did brisk business besides. Who could possibly remember which guests they had served on which day?
Xiao Jiuyi suddenly turned and asked the woman, “Your surname is Tian?”
The woman shrank into herself and nodded timidly.
“What is the Left Censor-in-Chief, Tian Jichuan, to you?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, he is this subject’s father.”
Xiao Jiuyi rubbed the thumb ring on his thumb, standing there with no expression, seemingly lost in thought.
After a long while he finally instructed Qingzhou, “Escort the two of them out of the palace. No need to come back for me.”
With that, he turned to leave.
Panic rose in Meng Qianzi’s heart. “Your Highness…” He had not yet said whether he would agree to help her.
Xiao Jiuyi turned around at once, his face covered in a layer of frost.
Qingzhou tugged discreetly at the back of Meng Qianzi’s clothes, signaling her to be quiet.
But Meng Qianzi, fearless of death, pressed on anyway. “Your Highness, is this subject’s condition today satisfactory to you?”
Seeing the stubbornness and fear mixed on her face, Qingzhou felt an inexplicable urge to laugh, along with a grudging admiration for her nerve.