The ambiguous atmosphere continues to rise. Love always makes women dizzy. Princess Zhao Jing narrowed her eyes, enjoying the joy at the moment.
Early in the next morning, Qin Yunuan got the news after she just sent Leng Changxi out the mansion.
“Fourth Miss swallowed gold and committed suicide in the darkroom?” Qin Yunuan stood still for a second and looked at Ting Xue, who sent her the message. Ting Xue nodded calmly, “That’s right. Grand Young Madam went to visit her at midnight. But she didn’t expect to see the cold body of Fourth Miss. The post-mortem examiner found a gold hairpin in her throat.”
“What about West Xia?” Qin Yunuan asked as she walked back, pinning her hair up.
“The emperor had chosen Infanta Zhaojing to complete the imperial matrimony for peace with West Xia. Princess Jing hurried into the palace this morning and was angry when she went out. She didn’t get a satisfying answer.”
Qin Yunuan stopped her pace, “It was killing two birds with one stone.” She turned around and said to Ting Xue, “Believe it or not, Prince Ning’s Mansion must have let out the news that Fourth Miss was killed by a sudden illness, her servant girl Chun’er was loyal and died after her. Hearing the death of Fourth Miss, Qin Yuwan was burdened by her inward feelings, and that led to the abortion.”
Ting Xue widened her eyes and nodded, “That would Old Madam had ordered us to say. Third Young Madam, you are awesomely accurate.”
Qin Yunuan shook her head, “It wasn’t me who was awesome. I stood in the shoes of whoever wanted Fourth Miss dead. There was always a purpose for killing. My guess was that killer wanted a prime culprit for everything firstly. Second, he or she wanted Infanta Zhaojing sent to West Xia.”
“Didn’t Fourth Miss kill herself with gold?” Ting Xue couldn’t quite follow.
“Silly girl.” Qin Yunuan chortled, “Gold? Have you seen Fourth Miss dressed in gold after such a long time?”
Ting Xue realized suddenly, “Yeah, Fourth Miss looked down upon gold. She wore only jade hairpin.”
At this time, Maner, whom Qin Yunuan sent to inquire about the news a few days ago, came in her direction. She whispered to Qin Yunuan’s report, “I have found out that the human skin masks Fourth Miss wore were bought by a coachman from outside. Fourth Miss did a favor for the coachman before, so he was willing to do those things.”
“Where is the coachman?” Qin Yunuan frowned. She wouldn’t give up as long as there was a clue left.
Maner shook her head, “Dead. That’s why I couldn’t follow up and look into the place where Fourth Miss bought her potion.”
Seeing Qin Yunuan brows suddenly knitted, Maner knelt and confessed his mistake, “It’s my fault. I was late. The people who worked with this coachman said that he just came back from the suburbs of the Royal City with his goods yesterday. Unexpectedly, the horse suddenly went crazy on the road, and he rolled down the ravine with his car. He was rescued but died before being carried into the mansion.”
“It’s alright,” Qin Yunuan quickly helped Maner up, “Someone intended to kill him. It doesn’t matter how early you go. I’m afraid you would be in danger if you went earlier. As for Fourth Miss, her funeral would be in two days. Although I didn’t get along very well with her, I still grieve for her death. I can only pray for her. I only pray that she will not be reborn in a wealthy family in her next life. I pray that she will marry a good man, and you can burn more paper money for her.”
Qin Yunuan watched the people in the distance moving out the books in the Library of Prince Ning’s Mansion and bathing them under the sun. The sunshine was pleasant today, and winter was the driest season, making it perfect to dry up those books. Qin Yunuan thought alone as she watched. Her rival was quick enough to destroy all the possible clues at once.
It was certain that the suspect in the Royal Palace must have a helper in Prince Ning’s Mansion, and this helper should also be a big shot. But it seemed impossible for two people who are so eye-catching to meet in person or even to send people around to contact each other. How exactly was their message delivered?
As she wondered, the servant responsible for drying books on the other side of the pond suddenly reprimanded to a young man, “Please be careful, these scriptures were rewarded by the Palace. Look, now they are eaten by insects like this, and the words are gone. Does every one of you eat without paying?”
Maner supported Qin Yunuan and said, “Third Young Madam, we should go. The one in charge is Mr. Qiao. He was famous for his evil words and could be harsh when he calls names.”
Qin Yunuan showed no signs of leaving. Her eyes focused on the scattered scripture book.
“Let’s go and see.”
Bypassing the small pond, manager Qiao didn’t realize that Qin Yunuan was already standing behind him and cursed fiercely at the guilty servant. The boy looked aggrieved, and his only explanation was that “Other books are fine. I don’t know why those who came from the Royal Palace are eaten by worms.”
“Oh, now you dare to talk back, so you’re saying that you frown upon the things in the Royal Palace, don’t you?” Qiao cursed back, raising his arms to hit him, but the raised arm was suddenly caught by a more powerful hand. As soon as manager Qiao turned his head, he found that Third Young Madam of Prince Ning’s Mansion was standing behind him.
“Leng Shuang, enough. He was after all the manager. Save some face for him, will you?” Qin Yunuan smiled gently at manager Qiao. Mr. Qiao turned obedient at a second. He came over with a shameless face, flattering, “What’s your order, Third Young Madam?”
Qin Yunuan walked towards the pile of scriptures. If she looked carefully, she could find that almost every scripture had several pages of paper eaten by insects. One word would fall exactly in each wormhole, which was not a pleasant view.
Manager Qiao thought that Third Young Madam was going to blame him for his inefficiency, so he pushed the young servant out, “Third Young Madam, this servant didn’t take care of the scriptures, and that led to the incident. I must teach them, it’s for sure.”
“Enough.” Qin Yunuan didn’t have the energy to cope with manager Qiao, “I heard the strength you devoted to scolding the servant just then. Now that the books are like this, I would like to borrow them for a while. I would return them in half a month.”
“This…” Manager Qiao laughed, “If you are into scriptures, Third Young Madam, I could ask the purchasing manager to buy some new ones for you.”
“There’s no need.” Qin Yunuan turned and ordered Maner and Ting Xue, “Take the scriptures back.”
Maner and Ting Xue bent their knees and took the order. Holding one pile of scriptures, they followed Qin Yunuan back to the courtyard.
The light in Qin Yunuan’s room was on until very late that night. When Leng Changxi came back, Qin Yunuan was lying on the desk. Her thin body was covered with only one woolen blanket. Except for one candlestick to be extinguished, her desk was full of scriptures and Chinese characters laid out one by one. Qin Yunuan was looking them up, trying to compare the missing words in the scriptures. If she was right, the secret would be in these few words that seemed to be worm-eaten.
It was as Qin Yunuan expected. The words she made out were relevant to the recent incidents that had happened in Prince Ning’s Mansion.
But she couldn’t figure out the meaning of the missing characters in the newest scripture.
The four characters were “Zi”, “Qiu”, “Jing”, “Huai”. Leng Changxi stared at the four letters for a long while and swapped the order. Suddenly his eyes turned to cold, he hurriedly called Leng Wu in the room and asked, “Leng Wu, do you know who else in Qi was awarded a title with the character ‘Jing’, except for Infanta Zhaojing?”
Leng Wu said after thinking for a while,” The former emperor had a Thirteenth Princess, and she was called Princess Chengjing. But she was lost in the rebellion and didn’t return.”
“That would be it.” Leng Changxi blew out the candle and carried Qin Yunuan to the bed carefully. Then he turned around to Leng Wu, who stood outside the door, “Go with me to the palace, now.” After he finished, Leng Changxi reluctantly turned again and kissed Qin Yunuan’s forehead. He spoke with an apologetic tone, “I’m sorry, Nuan, I always made you take risks before and let you face so many anxieties. At this time, sleep well. I’ll be back early in the morning.”
Qin Yunuan woke at noon the next day. She found that for the first time, she could sleep for so long. Maner was holding a copper basin and smiled at Qin Yunuan, who still seemed sleepy, “The soothing fragrance Third Young Master ordered me to light was effective. Third Young Madam, you had a long sleep.”
Soothing fragrance? Leng Changxi used soothing fragrance on her? Before Qin Yunuan could think about it, she wiped her face with the veil to make herself sober. Then she asked, “Where is Third Young Master?”
Maner was combing Qin Yunuan’s hair, “He hurried into the palace last night and hasn’t returned yet.”
“I’ll be back early in the morning.”
For some reason, the words echoed Qin Yunuan’s ears. In a daze, she remembered someone telling her these words.
Too bad!
Qin Yunuan’s heart tightened its grip. She quickly got dressed and sat down in front of the desk. The letters after Leng Changxi’s swapping last night were “Jing”, “Huai”, “Qiu” and “Zi”.
“Qiu” meant the Seventh Prince Sima Qiu. As for “Jing”, it would most likely be Infanta Zhaojing. They were going to frame that Infanta Zhaojing had an affair with the Seventh Prince Sima Qiu.
As soon as she figured everything out, Ting Xue came in and reported breathlessly, “Third Young Madam, something went wrong in the palace. The Seventh Prince was held up for some reason. The emperor also flushed into a rage.”
Sima Qiu was indeed framed. But Changxi…
Qin Yunuan found out the few letters left in the holes of this scripture, selected the missing words, and put them together. When she saw these four words, her heart was as desolate as the autumn wind swept away.
The four words made out a sentence–“Welcome join the scheme”.
