When Qin Yunuan came fully clothed, there were already so many people outside Xinger’s house. It was no trifle that a person died in the courier, which was an institution set by the court. Everyone going in and out of it was recorded. The officer of the courier was addressed as Yizhang, who was a faint-hearted old man. Once he learned that someone had died here, he led people to surround the small side room closely. The moment he saw Qin Yunuan coming, he hurried to greet her.
“Madam, our courier has always been purely innocent. Now this thing happened! The body should never be left in the courier. She is your servant girl. You’d better deal with it quickly.”
“Officer Du, you’ve said that someone’s death is a big deal. Then let us figure it out anyway. If there is something harmful or forbidden in the courier, we can find it out for you in order to prevent trouble in the future.”
Qin Yunuan looked around the several people brought by the officer, who were all young and inexperienced. She smiled, “Now that you’ve brought so many people here, I’m sure that you want to urge us to solve this event as soon as possible so as to protect the courier’s reputation. However, have you ever heard one saying that walls have ears? Also, there are so many people and so many voices here. It’s hard to keep it a secret. Sir, please think twice before you take action.”
Officer Du thought for a while. Actually, he hadn’t made up his mind in the first place. Being timid and overcautious, he got the easy official position only because of the large donation from his family. He commanded people behind him severely, “All right! You should leave now. What’s more, don’t speak about what happened today. If I hear any rumor about it, I’ll make all of you feel sorry for it.”
His subordinates expressed their assent and left one after another, leaving a personal servant to follow Officer Du only.
Qin Yunuan didn’t refuse it. She asked Leng Wu who camouflaged as the coachman to open the door. The moment the wooden door was open, Qin Yunuan’s sensitive sense seemed to smell the unusual odor in the air, which was familiar, but she could not tell at once.
The little girl in the courier saw Xinger bleeding from her mouth, nostrils, eyes, and ears from the window. Now the whole picture of her death was even more terrifying. She leaned over the small wooden table on the bed with an unfinished embroidery shelf by her hand. On the white silk cloth, there was a half-finished Peony which was vivid and lifelike. However, there were bloodstains on the bed, Xinger’s sleeves, and the embroidery shelf. The blood around the star’s nose, mouth, and ears had already solidified, and the crimson, as well as her hand clutching the mattress tightly, showed how much she had suffered before she died.
The short, fat Officer Du was a little clumsy. As soon as he entered, he saw the Peony on the embroidery shelf. Seeming to have thought of something, he prepared to step forward to observe the embroidery shelf without any scruple.
“Don’t move,” Leng Changxi’s voice was cold, “If I were you, I wouldn’t move anything in the room at will, because every trace inside would be the evidence.”
“Evidence?” Officer Du looked at Xinger’s mort phase and covered his eyes loathly, “What evidence does it need? It can only prove that the girl took things too hard and committed suicide by taking poison. Just get the body out.”
It seemed that the muddled officer wanted to solve it as soon as possible.
“Who will bother to embroider before committing suicide?” Qin Yunuan tossed her head to look at the embroidery shelf. She remembered that although Imperial Concubine Lian got her title after the lotus, her favorite flower was Peony. On the day of her appearance, the hemline of her dress was embroidered with many red ponies. It could be concluded that the handkerchief Xinger was embroidering was for her sister.
Officer Du tossed his head to the other side, unable to refute.
The post-mortem examiner Officer Du asked soon came. People with no duty like Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi went out of the house. Qin Yunuan had been thinking of what odor was in the house. Suddenly, she came up with the answer.
“The servant girl is poisoned to death,” when the post-mortem examiner came out, he sorted out the filth extracted from Xinger’s mouth, “Judging from the death time, she was poisoned in the afternoon.”
The afternoon!
It occurred to Qin Yunuan that the odor in the room was exactly the fragrance of the soothing soup sent by Xinger in the afternoon.
Gosh. Elder Princess.
Qin Yunuan glanced at Leng Changxi, who had guessed the result from the post-mortem examiner’s words just now. The two people ran towards Elder Princess’s room in tandem. Being attracted by Xinger’s death, everybody ignored Elder Princess now.
Implementing light skills, Leng Changxi disappeared completely at once. When Qin Yunuan arrived, Elder Princess had already been in a coma on the bed. Different from Xinger, although Elder Princess had had more decoction, she remained a peaceful appearance without bleeding from parts of her body. However, no matter how Leng Changxi was calling her, she didn’t wake up.
Qin Yunuan stepped forward, felt her pulse and relieved a little, “She’s still got the pulse, but it’s very weak.”
“Jing Yuanchu!” Leng Changxi shouted the name with anger and hatred.
“It’s not the time to blame him,” Qin Yunuan’s brain was fast functioning. She remembered that when Xinger sent the medicine here, she had said that it was Lu Wuyi’s new prescription, “Changxi, take Lu Wuyi here from Thirteenth Prince’s Mansion. The prescription is the result of his research. Of course, he will have a solution.”
Leng Changxi was burning with anxiety. With no more words, he left through the window. Elder Princess was one of the most important women in his heart. He could not allow any accident to happen to his mother.
Seeing Leng Changxi leave in a hurry, Qin Yunuan nodded and said to Leng Wu, who had followed her here, “Leng Wu, follow him. Now that Jing Yuanchu asked Lu Wuyi to make this kind of poison, he must have thought that Changxi would come to take Lu Wuyi here. He will certainly double his guards. Go to help Changxi.”
How considerate Madam was! Bowing his fists, Leng Wu also left in haste after answering “Yes”.
Then Qin Yunuan said to the little servant girl behind her, “Go to take the silver pin in my room.” When Sun Miaoyang was in Qin Yunuan’s yard, Qin Yunuan didn’t waste the chance. She learned a little from him. Although she could not promise to make Elder Princess recover, she remembered several acupuncture points that could slow down the metabolism of a person. Therefore, she could slow down the speed of Elder Princess to absorb the poison.
At that time, it was all dark outside. Officer Du urged with great determination that Xinger’s body should be dealt with as soon as possible. The timid officer could never bear anything like a person dying in the courier, especially when the mort phase was so terrible.
When the little servant girl came to convey the message from Officer Du, Qin Yunuan was giving Elder Princess the last needle. She had never done it herself before. When Doctor Sun diagnosed and cured others, he would explain some main points of it to her. It was lucky that Qin Yunuan was talented and hard-working. Adding that she had practiced with bare hands many times, now she had got the feeling of doing it. Bean-sized beads of sweat are slowly pooling into a stream from Qin Yu’s forehead down her cheeks when the servant girl’s worried words repeated by her ears.
Qin Yunuan gave a deep sigh when she finished giving the last needle. She wiped the sweat on her forehead with her sleeves before said, “Then go to tell him that Xinger listened to Thirteenth Prince. If he dares to deal with her body at his own will, he is against His Highness directly. Also, say it in a loud voice so that everybody will know that Xinger had an extraordinary relationship with Thirteenth Prince, and that she had a kinship to Imperial Concubine Lian in the palace.”
The little servant girl was distracted. At the age of 13, she was too young to come up with the idea that Xinger, who had been extremely strict to her, had such a complicated background, “Madam, is that OK? This is slapping Thirteenth Prince on his face.”
“Or what?” Qin Yunuan smiled, “This is exactly what I want. Anyway, stir up trouble as much as you can do. But how much depends on you.” Qin Yunuan gave the servant girl a look of deep significance, which seemed to be an encouragement or a hint.
Suddenly, a muffled bang came from the beam. Qin Yunuan gave a slight glance upward. She knew that it was Leng Changxi coming back. After urging the servant girl to do things, she walked out of the house in a hurry. As she had expected, on the beam stood Leng Changxi and Lu Wuyi.
Leng Changxi looked tall and lithe with the shorts he was wearing. However, Lu Wuyi, who had been dragged all the way here with hands tied up, only wore a piece of clothes. It was obvious that he was dragged out when he was sleeping. He was so dejected. Seeing Qin Yunuan on the ground, he was about to say something when a man in black fell onto the beam steadily with a gust of wind. Sharp-eyed and a dagger in his hand, the man in black must be the guarding assassin of Thirteenth Prince’s Mansion. He must be strong and vigorous. At least, there were few people who could fall behind Leng Changxi only a little on light skills.
The tone of the man in black was rather proud. Raising his head, he said directly to Leng Changxi, “What a bold thief! Daring to take away a person from Thirteenth Prince’s Mansion! Stop resisting!”
“Can you stop me?” Leng Changxi glanced at the man in black in contempt.
The next moment, two men in black popped up. One was holding a machete, the other was using two swords. Both of them were masters in the prince’s mansion. Leng Changxi was sure to win when fighting with two people. However, the fight could be hard if he needed to beat three at the same time.
“Powerful as you are, you can never beat us! We are three brothers. Have you ever heard of Three Swords of West Xia?”
Three Swords of West Xia. Among them, the eldest brother used a long sword, the second brother used a dagger, and the third one used two swords. They knew each other well. Even without words, they could cooperate with each other perfectly. Qin Yunuan had heard about them when she entered West Xia. It never occurred to her that those legendary men could be taken in by Jing Yuanchu.
Just when Leng Changxi was hesitating, Leng Wu came from the back of the three men in black, moved to Leng Changxi, and fought together with him, “General, I’ve come to help you.”
Immediately Leng Changxi was confident. Looking at Lu Wuyi by his hand who was of no help, Leng Changxi kicked him off the beam with no mercy. He rolled all the way off the roof. Qin Yunuan ducked, and Lu Wuyi fell to her feet by coincidence.
“Nuan, let the ungrateful traitor save my mother. Leng Wu and I will be responsible for the outside.”
Qin Yunuan glanced at Lu Wuyi. The latter looked extremely painful. With a mere glance, it was clear that his leg was broken.
“Got a broken leg?” Qin Yunuan kneeled down and sneered to Lu Wuyi, “That’s all right. As long as your brain and mouth are useful, it will work.”
