Facing the complaint and criticism of Qin Yunuan, Qin Zhi felt so angry. He stood up straightly, ignoring the courtesy. He contradicted, “You are such an impious daughter. How dare you talk nonsense in front of the emperor and empress!”
“Each word I said is true. It is not nonsense.” Qin Yunuan said in a determined voice without any fear of power, “Father, you have been ignored Baochuan and me for many years. You made Baochuan and I live like servants for a dozen years. It was you who pampered Dou Qing’e to poison my mother. It was you who let officials in the Imperial College refuse the request of Leng Changxi, which caused that Baochuan would not attend the selection examination in autumn, in case that Baochuan would get in a higher position. Father, you dare to deny all of those? All I said have witnesses.”
“Bullshit!” Qin Zhi started to curse Qin Yunuan unscrupulously, “I know your witnesses. They are the nannies and nurses around you so that they will stand with you. It is the big wedding day of Yunzhuang today. You keep going against me, so do you want me to die now?”
And then, Qin Zhi bowed his fists and said to the emperor with bitter hatred, “I did not teach my daughter well, and she is not well-behaved. Emperor, please punish me.”
Emperor Zhaoxuan was not silent in his heart. He was observing, and then he raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the words of Qin Zhi. He said suddenly, “I just want to know if the words of Infanta Ping are true or not.”
“Emperor, all of these are the acting of my impious daughter,” Qin Zhi started to pretend to be sad with tears, “It is the big wedding day of my daughter today. I feel so honored to let my daughter marry the Third Prince. But to my surprise, my son died tragically; There is an impious daughter of Qin Family. I feel I am not qualified to hold the post of the Grand Commandant, which is a good example for other officials. Emperor, please withdraw the title of this position. I will resign and never get involved in politics.”
Qin Zhi said he would resign just after Qin Yunuan said she would quit the title of Infanta Ping. Obviously, he was going against Qin Yunuan. It was a gambling game, which could cause the emperor in a dilemma.
But it seemed that Qin Zhi reached his aim.
Emperor started to persuade patiently, “Why do you say that, Grand Commandant Qin. I have dispatched people to investigate the inexplicable death of your young master carefully. And I have invited the most experienced coroner to help the investigation. They will give you a clear result.”
Talking about the death of Qin Linfeng, Qin Zhi could not help but shudder. Although Qin Zhi felt so disappointed about the behavior of Qin Linfeng, and even he felt a little bit disagreeable about his son born of his legal wife, Qin Linfeng was the kin child of Qin Zhi. When someone reported that the corpse of Qin Linfeng was found in the lotus pond, all the hopes and expectations were gone suddenly. The only son born of the legal wife of Qin Family was gone.
At this moment, the coroner at the gate came in, following the eunuch. He was about fifty years old with a grey mustache. His eyes showed some indifference and coldness, possibly due to checking many dead bodies.
“Emperor, I have checked the corpse of the young master of Qin Family entirely. The face was destroyed completely. It was maybe caused by the hit on the stones on the bottom of the lotus pond. Although there was much lotus water dripping down from the mouth and nose of the young master, I found that the fatal injury was the hit on the back neck. He was dead due to the breaking of his cervical vertebra by the big strike.”
And then the coroner stepped aside without a word.
Emperor Zhaoxuan cleared his throat and looked at Qin Zhi and Qin Yunuan. Suddenly he ordered, “Take in those eunuchs and imperial maidservants on duty at the lotus pond on that day.”
After a while, some middle-aged imperial maidservants and young eunuchs were taken in. Each of them was so frightened. Qin Yunuan felt unfamiliar with them. At least she did not meet them on her way to the lotus pond.
She squinted slightly but did not feel panic. She knew that somebody wound hurt her, but she would not let the person make it easy, or she would not come to this wedding feast casually.
“You guys,” Empress Chen said forwardly after she saw the emperor was a little bit tired, “Tell us all what you have seen on your duty. If there were fake words, each of you would be sent to Yeting Palace to do coolie for your whole lives.”
The leader middle-aged imperial maidservant felt shuddered, and then knelt, “I am an imperial maidservant on duty at the lotus pond, and I am in charge of trimming the bush and cleaning the corridor. Today when I was cleaning the corridor, I heard some noises at times. I dared not to come closer as a menial maidservant. But the noise was louder, and then I heard the words such as ‘malicious woman’, ‘dead’, and ‘kill her’. I felt so scared. Finally, I heard the sound of falling into the water and the noise of the footsteps of someone. And then I raised my head. To my surprise, I saw… I saw….”
“Don’t be scared. Go on.” Empress Chen said in a seemingly encouraging voice.
“I dare not. The person will kill me. I dare not.” The imperial maidservant started to kowtow to Empress Chen.
“I am here. Nobody dares to kill you.” Emperor Zhaoxuan seemed to notice something weird.
“It’s… it’s the Third Young Madam from Prince Ning’s Mansion.” The imperial maidservant glanced at Qin Yunuan. She withdrew her eyes when she saw the freezing eyes of Qin Yunuan, “I remembered that a maidservant in purple stood beside the Third Young Madam, who looked prompt and highly skilled.”
The maidservant in purple was Leng Shuang. She was always fond of the purple dress. Everybody knew it.
Qin Zhi heard the words and then got excitedly. He glared at Qin Yunuan angrily, “You are such an impious daughter. Now, what else do you want to say?”
“What else do I want to say?” Qin Yunuan looked at Qin Zhi coldly and started to pay attention to the imperial maidservant who tried to frame her obviously. She raised her head and request, “Emperor, if you don’t mind, I want to ask some questions to those imperial maidservants in front of us.”
Emperor Zhaoxuan nodded, which showed his permission.
Qin Yunuan walked around the imperial maidservant with slower steps. Her observing eyes looked a little bit frightening.
“Show me your unfolded hands.” Qin Yunuan said.
The imperial maidservant dared not to violate the order. She unfolded her hands up and showed them to Qin Yunuan.
“Certainly. This first question. You have said that you are in charge of trimming the bush and cleaning in the lotus pond. You need to use a scissor and whisk broom, which must cause the cocoon on your hands. But your palms are very clean and white. Why are the cocoons on your fingertips?”
The imperial maidservant shuddered, but then said very confidently, “Previously, I always did the job of stitching in the Clothes Department. I was transferred to the lotus pond recently.”
“OK, it works. Another question. Since you just come to the lotus pond shortly, why do you know my identity and even know the maidservant near me? Was it so weird for a newcomer who was just transferred into the front palace to recognize the people from Prince Ning’s Mansion?” And then, Qin Yunuan sneered and waited for her answer.
“Um…” The imperial maidservant started to feel troubled, frowning and thinking about the answer.
“And the third question,” Qin Yunuan continued, “You said you are trimming the bush when you saw me. What kind of plant were you trimming? Tell me its name, features, taboos and special items?”
Now the imperial maidservant was utterly blank.
“You are the imperial maidservant and responsible for trimming plants at the lotus pond. How come you don’t know the common sense?” After a few simple questions asked by Qin Yunuan, the less experienced imperial maidservant felt so panic.
“I, I don’t know. What I said was true. I felt so frightened and forgot many things. Third Young Madam, you forced me to answer those questions. I feel so scared.” The maidservant was blurring the focus.
Qin Zhi stood out immediately, “Don’t quibble. I regretted to cultivate you, such an impious daughter. I educated you to be so elegant and cultivated, and let you marry into Prince Ning’s Mansion. And now, this is what you pay back to our family?”
“Father, I can’t understand what you mean. Firstly, it was my mother who taught me how to write and how to be a well-mannered girl, which had nothing to do with you. Secondly, I am not quibbling. And why do you make sure that it was I who killed the brother? Are you happy to see the families hurt each other?”
“Impious daughter, I will beat you to death to revenge for your brother.” Qin Zhi shouted with bloody eyes. He was about to step forward but stopped by Leng Shuang, who was protecting Qin Yunuan all the time.
“Step aside. You are only a maidservant. How dare you intervene in the issue of Qin Family.” Qin Zhi tried to suppress arrogant Leng Shuang by his less-existing prestige.
But the moment Qin Zhi was about to push Leng Shuang aside, another more powerful big hand suddenly appeared in front of Qin Zhi. The man wore a black mask with clear and gloomy eyes like the water extracted by an iceberg. He expressed a kind of overwhelming pressure.
“My father in law, you are too inurbane in front of the emperor and those officials.” Leng Changxi said to his father in law in an indifferent voice. Now in his eyes, Qin Zhi was not his elder in the imperial court. He even respected more Meng Hua from the Meng Army who was at a stalemate with the Leng Army.
Meng Hua was his fair rival, but the man in front of him was just a beast in the human face.
“Emperor, the case of the 18-people’s corruption from the Imperial College and the registrar has been done. Those suspects have been sent in prison and were waiting for your proposal.” Leng Changxi glanced at Qin Zhi and felt his subtle shudder. Right, most of the registrars and educators were the followers of Qin Zhi. The investigation was targeting Qin Zhi.
“Besides, I checked the corpse of the Grand Young Master just now. I can make sure that the corpse is fake.”
