“This servant does not dare to speak rashly to the royal prince’s wife, but this servant saw with her own eyes that Ting He pricked the horse the Young Prince was riding.” Yu Yi had guessed this when she saw Ting He’s expression earlier.
Ting He saw the princess consort glaring at her and, afraid she might blame her for not being discreet enough, hurriedly explained: “This servant walked on the other side of the horse.”
How could Xun Qin possibly see me stab the horse with a needle?”
Yu Yi suddenly realized: “Oh, so Ting He deliberately walked on the other side of the horse to prevent this servant from seeing her stab the horse.”
Ting He anxiously said: “That’s not what I meant, Princess Consort. I’m saying that whether I stabbed the horse or not, Xun Qin wouldn’t have seen anything.”
Tong’s face darkened, and she coldly said: “Enough, stop arguing.” Ting He’s explanation only made things sound more suspicious.
Ting He lowered her head and fell silent.
Tong stared at Yu Yi for a moment: “Xun Qin and Ting He are each fined three months’ wages and will receive five strokes of the cane upon returning to the manor.”
Ting He’s face turned pale, and she knelt down to accept the punishment.
Yan Mingxu, who had been quietly listening, suddenly stepped forward, standing beside Yu Yi, and softly but firmly said: “Xun Qin did nothing wrong.”
Tong looked at Yan Mingxu in disbelief, then laughed: “Mingxu, protecting your own servant shows your kind heart, but you can’t say she didn’t make a mistake…”
Yan Mingxu reached out to help Yu Yi up. “Xun Qin, get up.” Then he told Tong: “Xun Qin did nothing wrong. Mother cannot punish her.”
This time, he said she cannot be punished.
Tong’s expression changed, and after a moment, she forced a stiff smile: “Mingxu is still young and doesn’t understand right from wrong.”
Let me decide how to punish the servants. Someone, take the young lord to rest.”
Yan Mingxu gritted his teeth: “Mingxu saw Ting He stab the horse.”
Tong paused: “Someone, tie up Ting He and take her away.”
Ting He trembled in fear, pleadingly looking at Tong, who gave her a subtle signal that somewhat reassured her. This was originally the princess consort’s order, and taking her away now was just for show in front of the young lord.
Seeing Ting He silently taken away, Tong thought the servant was quite sensible. She looked around and said: “The young lord has been frightened, so let’s not ride horses anymore. It’s best to return home.”
Accompanying Yan Mingxu back to the carriage, Yu Yi hadn’t even sat down when he choked out: “Mingxu lied.” Before finishing his sentence, large tears rolled down his face.
Yu Yi understood he was referring to his earlier claim of seeing Ting He stab the horse, and he felt guilty about lying.
She sat beside him, took his small hand, and looked into his eyes: “The young lord is a good child. This servant is very grateful for the lie you told today.”
Although she had a bulletproof system protecting her, even gun shots were no concern, she just needed to adjust the defense intensity appropriately. But once she left this time and space, Xun Qin would have no bulletproof system to protect her.
He needed to learn when to stand up for those around him and how to deal with those who might harm him.
Yan Mingxu nodded with a pouty mouth, crying hard.
Yu Yi held him in her arms, gently patting his back. “Lying to cover up one’s mistakes is wrong, but sometimes we must tell lies. When facing threats, if we don’t lie, we might be harmed by bad people, so we need to use lies to protect ourselves.”
Afterwards, she turned to the servants by the bed and said fiercely, “How are you serving the young lord? Why hasn’t he improved after taking medicine? If you don’t take good care of him, if the young lord doesn’t recover, see how I’ll deal with you!”
The servants were silent, lowering their heads and enduring Tong’s scolding. But most of them understood that if the young lord truly couldn’t recover, Tong would be happy. She had been in the mansion for four years and had never been officially recognized, naturally because of the young lord. Although the Marquis didn’t particularly like the young lord, the title would eventually be inherited by this eldest son. Not recognizing Tong was to prevent her from having any ambitious thoughts.
But if the young lord remained in this sickly state, even as the eldest son, he would be unable to inherit the title.
After Tong left, Yu Yi dismissed the servants to their respective tasks.
Yan Mingxu carefully opened his eyes a crack, secretly glancing around the room, seeing only Yu Yi and Miyin, then fully opened his eyes and sat up, asking softly, “Did I act well?”
Miyin exchanged a glance with Yu Yi and laughed, “It really looked convincing! Are you hungry, young lord? This servant will go to the small kitchen and make something delicious.”
Yan Mingxu nodded.
To make Yan Mingxu appear weak and unable to eat, they had been having the main kitchen send only light, easily digestible food, but they wouldn’t let Yan Mingxu eat these, only pretending to touch them. Usually, Yan Mingxu’s meals were prepared by her and Yu Yi taking turns in the small kitchen of Xinghe Yuan.
After Miyin left, Yu Yi began to recite the Three Character Classic to Yan Mingxu. He was very intelligent, able to almost perfectly recite the first few sentences after hearing them twice. After Yu Yi corrected him once, he could recite the entire passage.
Yu Yi listened to the sounds from Tong’s side.
Tinghe whispered, “This servant has no grievances.”
But, Marquise, I was extremely careful yesterday.
“I know. The young lord said that to protect his servant. But if we get serious, a horse examination would find the stab wound, and you were standing on that side of the horse. Among the three people, the young lord couldn’t have stabbed himself. Xunqin was leading the horse, and besides you, no one else could have done this.”
Tinghe’s voice became panicked: “Marquise, that, that…”
“Don’t panic. If you want to save your life, you must do as I say.” Tong then carefully instructed Tinghe to firmly claim that a concubine of the Marquis, Wen Yiniang, had bribed her to harm the young lord. She promised to protect her if she followed this story, ensuring a light beating and offering a large sum of silver as compensation.
Tinghe agreed.
Tong then called Wen Yiniang to Ruyi Yuan for a confrontation. Wen Yiniang naturally denied the accusations and argued strongly. But with the Marquis absent and the young lord too young, Tong was the decision-maker in the mansion. She quickly condemned Wen Yiniang, and when Wen Yiniang cried out in injustice, she had her gagged.
After servants dragged Wen Yiniang and Tinghe to be beaten, Tong instructed Chunrou to oversee the proceedings and prevent Tinghe from changing her story.
She then returned to her room, opened her jewelry box, lifted the hidden compartment, and took out a small scarlet bottle, pouring out some contents and wrapping them in paper to hide in her sleeve.
Chunrou returned, saying, “Wen Yiniang was beaten to death. Tinghe is still alive and hasn’t said anything, though she’s not conscious now.” Despite the lighter beating, Tinghe had passed out after enduring the punishment.
Tong took out the small paper package, saying, “Give this to her tonight.”
Chunrou was shocked: “This…?”
Tong replied, “Even if Tinghe keeps quiet, it’s not completely safe. The Marquis will return soon, and if he personally investigates, it would be troublesome.”
Chunrou was afraid but dared not refuse, and carefully stored the package.
Since Tinghe had passed out from the pain and was so severely injured that she couldn’t possibly escape, no one was guarding her.
