The speeding carriage quickly entered the Qinglong Gate of the Royal Palace. The imperial doctors, servants, and eunuchs waited outside the Jingchen Palace. But they were driven away by Liu Bao who had been guarding Sima Ray.
“What are you doing here? Go to the Imperial Hospital to find imperial doctor Zhao. Prince Ray’s body has always been under his care. He knows Prince Ray’s physical condition best.”
The maidservant outside was stunned and hurriedly turned towards the Imperial Hospital. Dr. Zhao was indeed the leader of the Imperial Hospital. He had been taking daily care of Sima Ray recently. However, Sima Ray declined so many doctors good at treating knife cuts, who waited outside the palace as the emperor ordered long before he arrived. In an emergency, many people may ignore this detail. A little maid in the dark kept it in her heart. When everything was in chaos, she turned and escaped into a deeper shadow.
It didn’t take long for an unassuming little bird to fly out of the vast palace. It flew all the way to the south and didn’t stop until it landed on a sycamore branch in a yard. From afar, it looked like a common sparrow. But a servant girl in the yard lifted her head. Her eyes rolled and took a handful of millet out of her pocket when no one was paying attention. She then drew the little sparrow down. The little servant girl grabbed the sparrow with backhand and quickly took a piece of cloth from the twig-like leg of the sparrow. The cloth was about the length of a human finger and was with dense writing, all of which came from the palace.
The yard gate was opened with a squeak. Qin Yunuan, who fatigued with the journey back from the shooting range, rushed into the yard door. The small servant girl Ting Xue greeted her immediately, still holding that piece of cloth out from the palace.
“Third Miss, Pearl wrote something.” Ting Xue tucked the cloth into the hands of the restless Qin Yunuan.
Pearl was a servant in the palace. Qin Yunuan met her a few months ago during the Flower Fairy Festival, and she was almost secretly killed by the incident. Qin Yunuan rescued her quietly and gave her a new identity. After all, she was involved in the affair by her own tactics. Pearl was unwilling when they tried to get her out of the palace. She even offered to notify Qin Yunuan of what happened in the palace with sparrow messengers.
It was at that time that Qin Yunuan knew Pearl could speak the language of birds, which is extremely rare. Qin Yunuan hadn’t valued her skills until today when this little bird brought the important news.
“Sure enough,” Qin Yunuan snorted coldly, “Sima Ray’s injury was indeed faked.” If the assassin was real, but Sima Ray’s injury wasn’t. Then it could only be explained in one way. That is, Sima Ray was unreliable. Maybe he teamed up with this assassin. Since the assassin was from the Grand Prince Wanyan Zun of North Di, then Sima Ray….
“Maner,” Qin Yunuan turned to order, “You need to go to Prince Ning’s Mansion with a message. General Leng should pay more attention to the practice of Sima Ray and North Di.” She said, handing the news after reading it to Maner, “Together with this, you take this to General Leng. It is more useful to put this thing with him than with me.”
Maner glanced at Qin Yunuan. Apparently she noticed the different ruddy and crimson complexion on Qin Yunuan’s face when she mentioned General Leng, but she didn’t point it out. After taking the message, she nodded and went out.
This was the first thing after Qin Yunuan returned. The highlight, which was also the reason why Qin Yunuan came back, was still behind.
“Third Miss, Third Miss, hurry up and get into the house. Madam’s nanny was negligent and let her run out. Now she was running madly to the Fuxi Courtyard.” Nurse Liao rushed into the yard from the outside. She instructed two little servant girls to lock up the courtyard door. She guarded the house against the insane Dou Qing’e like she was guarding against the mobsters.
Dou Qing’e was confined in the courtyard under Qin Zhi’s strict order. Now that the old princess of Prince Ning ’s Mansion suddenly arrived, Qin Zhi was busy with guests. A momentary lapse of attention made the crazy Dou Qing’e slip out.
Qin Yunuan smiled softly. Of course, Dou Qing’e would come to this yard. Without her, Dou Qing’e would still be the powerful Madam Qin. She would still be the virtuous Lady Dou in everyone’s mouths. Now her fame was gone, and so were her profits. Qin Yunuan destroyed them.
Furthermore, Qin Yunuan only added fuel to the flame in Dou’s madness. Nobody could be sure whether Dou was driven crazy or just to escape the upheaval ahead for the Dou Family.
Dou Qing’e knocked the courtyard door loudly, even with some unpleasant words. Dou was fearless under the domination of her madness. No matter how many people were outside persuading her to go back, she refused and even pushed away Qin Yunzhuang, who came forward to comfort her. She scolded, “Go away, all of you. I’m here to perform the Heavenly rule. There is a demon in the yard. I will destroy her for the God.”
Qin Yunuan had also been standing in the yard for a while. She pinched her fingers, counting the approximate time. Then she raised her hand to nurse Liao, “Open the door.”
Nurse Liao hesitated, “Third Miss, Madam is making a scene outside.”
“Hum, since she wants to act up, we should let her go.” Qin Yunuan looked very unimpressed. It was as if she hadn’t thought about how she would react when Dou Qing’e really broke in and fooled around in the yard.
Although nurse Liao did not understand Qin Yunuan, she also promised to open the door. She was terrified when she thought of how Madam, in her sudden madness this morning, splashed a pot of boiling water directly on a servant girl’s thigh. But fortunately, Ting Xue had already put away all the dangerous things in the yard. Besides, not to mention how many people outside were watching, those people in the Fuxi Courtyard could certainly take down a crazy person.
“Kuang”, the courtyard door that had a small slit was pushed open by Dou Qing’e. She stood in front of the door and was haggard like a frosted eggplant. She had been haunted by those ghosts and the strange remains of the dead in these nights. She went to the doctor and got a prescription, but her anxiety increased. Until today when she was confined soberly in her yard, she ordered Butler Ye secretly. He took the prescription she had taken for days to the pharmacy outside and saw what happened.
As a result, what seemed to be the prescription for peace of mind was obviously a dirty trick that would cause hallucinations and excessive anxiety. She knew who did it. There was only one person in the mansion of Grand Commandant who dared to do so and could do it — Qin Yunuan.
Didn’t she want to see herself crazy? She might as well show her. Using this madness, she wanted to get back what she had lost.
“Ah, ah, evil spirits, you are evil spirits. I will kill you for the Jade Emperor!” Dou Qing’e shouted in her mouth, rushing over like those warriors in the Royal City operas. Her hair was scattered, and her hands stretched forward like a hungry wolf in the prey.
She had just taken her first step when Dou Qing’e’s left leg suddenly bent as if it had been broken from the middle. She puffed on the knees. Fortunately, none of the people present were martial arts masters or their eyes were sharp enough to find that Leng Wu shot a pebble in the dark, hitting Dou Qing’e’s sinews and vessels on her left leg.
Dou Qing’e stared at Qin Yunuan ruthlessly and continued, “So many evil spirits. You are really a devil. I will take you down.” Then she stepped forward, ready to drag down Qin Yunuan in front of her eyes. Hardly had her fingers stretched out when her wrists were bent and got shot again. Dou Qing’e was lying on the ground in a very ugly posture, the pain spread with the blood. Not only her hands and legs, Dou Qing’e seemed to feel her body numb.
“What’s wrong with you, my mother?” Qin Yunuan slowly squatted, her eyes laid down at Dou Qing’e, who was about to crawl on the ground. Her eyebrows raised slightly, “What? Are you uncomfortable?” After her words, she stretched out her slim hand and slowly touched Dou Qing’e’s forehead in a cold sweat. She was speaking in a gentle rhythm, “You don’t seem to have any physical illness. Is it a mental one?”
This was a great provocation. Dou Qing’e’s last nerve was hit by Qin Yunuan’s words. Qin Yunzhuang tried to protect her immediately, but the long-term dieting kept her waist slim and she could no longer support the numb Dou Qing’e.
Qin Yunzhuang poured her anger on Qin Yunuan, “It’s all your fault, daughter of a concubine. Look what you had done to my mother!”
“My elder sister, you are saying strange words.” Qin Yunuan looked puzzled, “I didn’t even move, from the beginning to the end. How could I hurt my mother? Oh, yes, didn’t our mother say that there was evil in my yard? Maybe some vindictive ghosts came for my mother. What do you say? Grand sister?”
In fact, Dou Qing’e‘s current situation was unstable. Although she knew that something was wrong in the medication she had been taking for a long time, she cannot clear the effect of the medicine in a short period. Suddenly she straightened up after hearing the two words “vindictive ghosts”. Her numbness seemed to disappear in a second, and it was replaced by incomparable fear.
“I didn’t kill you, Concubine He. I didn’t kill you. And Concubine Yang, you drank the medicine yourself. It was none of my business. I just, I just passed the medicine. Ha-ha, none of my business,” Dou Qing’e mumbled. She was speaking loudly and then turned to whisper from time to time. Suddenly she glared at Qin Yunuan and rushed towards her, shouting, “Xiu Gu, Xiu Gu. I know it’s you. You betrayed me, you all betrayed me. I murdered people. I had gotten away from it, but you are all talking about everywhere. How could you tell Master? I am Madam Qin, the only Madam Qin, ha-ha-ha….”
Qin Yunuan didn’t escape this time. She even appeared to be so weak that she let Dou Qing’e pull her body until the hair bun was scattered and her clothes were torn open.
Dou Qing’e was still shouting frantically when a very cold voice rang in the air, “Dou, what are you doing?”
