“Huh. How dare you to mention that He had never been pregnant.” Qin Zhi felt chilly at the thought of the musk dug out from the lotus pond last night. If there hadn’t been those evil things, maybe his Lian could have even given him a son. A daughter would also be great. A daughter who looked like Lian must be cute and touching.
“Master,” Dou Qing’e shouted heartbreakingly, “Now you think that Cui’e is dead, and you could wrong me since there is no evidence of death? Six years ago Cui’e had just come serving by my side. Who knows which master she obeyed to before? Or someone did this deliberately, using the girl next to me to harm Sister He as well as slander me.”
Now that Cui’e was dead with the regret that she failed to speak out at the end of her life, Dou Qing’e made her words fall with tears, her emotions seemed to be out of control. But in fact, she spoke in a very organized manner, which meant she had been well prepared. Qin Yunuan snorted coldly in her heart. Virtue is one foot tall, the devil ten. Dou Qing’e was using smarter strategies.
Qin Zhi’s light blue gown rustled in the wind. There were too many doubts in front of him. The white, lotus-embroidered dress was the same one worn by Lian, but he couldn’t see any clue in the sandalwood box. He didn’t sleep all night. Hearing about the Furong Courtyard’s incident this morning, he came eagerly for evidence. Now, the only promising clue was also interrupted. No, there was still a person….
That barefoot biddy of the Zhao Family!
At the same moment, someone reported at the corner gate that Biddy Zhao had been found. She was waiting in the porter’s lodge.
Qin Zhi’s eyes brightened, “Bring her in.”
Dou Qing’e’s face suddenly turned pale. She had sent someone last night….
“Master, of all those outlanders who came to the suburbs of the Royal City, how can you ensure that this Biddy Zhao is the true one after so many years?” Undoubtedly, Dou Qing’e trusted in the ability of her people. They are top masters in the Dou Family and had never done anything wrong. The real Biddy Zhao must have died, but now this…. Dou Qing’e stared at Qin Yunuan with a look of inquiry and inspection. She remembered that she also learned afterward about boss Yuan. It’s most likely that she made another slinking exchange.
“Mother, what you said was strange,” A smile appeared on the corner of Qin Yunuan’s lips. “Why did you say that she was a fake before even seeing her? Could it be said that you know where the real one was hiding? Oops, that’s wrong and even stranger. If the person my father was trying to find was hidden by mother, why didn’t you give her out?”
“Bastard!” Dou Qing’e couldn’t help herself and spat the words at her. “Is this the right talking manner of you, from a younger generation to me? I am just worried that someone might have bad intentions, advancing secretly by an unknown path and trying to blind the master.”
Qin Yunuan gave her a slight curtsey, “It turned out that our purpose was the same. We both want my father to know the truth about what happened that year. I made an indiscreet remark.”
This girl! She had become more bitter in speech.
After a while, an old lady about sixty was brought into the yard. She was wearing a pair of half-old embroidered shoes on her small bound feet like two three-inch golden lotuses. She stood in a gray skirt and on her upper body, she wore the clothes of the poor. Her body bent into an arch, and the hair on her temples was already white.
It was difficult for Biddy Zhao’s bound feet to walk. The porter tried and found a bamboo carriage to bring her in. Unexpectedly, as soon as she was brought into the yard, Biddy Zhao rolled down from the bamboo carriage and stumbled to Qin Zhi’s feet. She started yelling with a hoarse voice, “Master, master. I am guilty. I am guilty.”
“Grandma Zhao, get up and talk.” Qin Yunuan went up to help the old Biddy Zhao while glancing at Dou Qing’e. The shock on her face was self-evident when Dou Qing’e saw Biddy Zhao. Although six years had passed and Biddy Zhao had aged, but she recognized that the crying old woman was that Biddy Zhao.
Dou Qing’e squeezed her handkerchief tightly. Her chest was heaving with emotion. How could it be? Did her men make a mistake? No! She couldn’t let Biddy Zhao betray her! When necessary, she could let this old lady die with no clear reason like Cui’e.
“Grandma Zhao, you shouted that you were guilty as soon as you came in, why was that?” Qin Yunuan helped Biddy Zhao onto a Zen chair that Qin Zhi’s people brought in.
“It’s enmity and sin, enmity and sin,” Biddy Zhao was trembling. She stretched out a dead wood-like finger, pointed at the lotus pond in the distance, and took a deep breath. Her eyes were dim and unclear, as if she had been invited the ghosts before the magical practice. “Six years ago, I was here and I told a fortune wrong, which led to unsuccessful things and repeated bad omens in the past six years. This is God’s punishment for me.”
Six years ago, due to the strange death of Mrs. He Lian, Dou Qing’e invited Biddy Zhao especially to do divination in the Furong Courtyard. The conclusion was that there was a baby boy born in the direction of the North Star whose fate conflicted with Concubine He’s. His Yang was too powerful to Concubine He in her sickness, and that was the reason for her death. The scratch on He’s face before her death was because of her struggle.
The direction of the North Star was to the north of the Furong courtyard. Only the Fuxi courtyard was in the north of the Furong Courtyard. Qin Yunuan’s birth mother Yang had just given birth to Qin Baochuan. All signs seemed to suggest that Qin Baochuan’s birth was the reason for Concubine He’s sudden death.
“Grandma Zhao, you mean that…?” Qin Yunuan asked. She was slightly puzzled.
Biddy Zhao narrowed her eyes mysteriously, calculating with her fingertips back and forth. Suddenly she opened her eyes and said, “The second master of the Qin Family was born on March 27th of the Bing Zi year. It was the day that the seven stars gathered and appeared to be an ascending hexagram. It had the signs of Yu curving out the dragon’s gate to dredge the source of water. Water flowed east into the sea and people were in peace. It was a sign of good fortune. As for that concubine, she would suffer many setbacks during her life. And there was a demon star in her life. Her death was man-made. But this demon star was not Second Master, but a woman.”
Dou Qing’e narrowed her eyes slowly, “You old woman, on that day you had given an absolute assurance that Sister He was killed by a baby boy born in the direction of the North Star. But now you said that the whole thing was artificial. How could I believe your self-directed play that changed over and over again?”
Qin Zhi ignored Dou Qing’s sharp voice completely, “Woman? Huh, sure enough….” He implied Biddy Zhao to continue. Biddy Zhao paused and looked at Qin Yunuan, who was calm with closed eyes. She shook her head subtly, and Biddy Zhao sighed, “God’s design must not be revealed to mortal ears. I have said too much.”
“Make an exception for me then and fulfill my wish, how about that?” Qin Zhi appeared to be very eager.
Qin Yunuan lifted her eyes and looked at Dou Qing’e, who had already raised her hand to the ears. Her gold hairpin inlaid with eight kinds of treasure gemstone reflected a bunch of glorious brilliance under the sun’s rays with the shivering taste of scarlet blood. As much as Qin Yunuan was willing to take off the hypocritical mask of Dou Qing’e, Cui’e death reminded her that everything needed to be discussed in the long run. In her previous life and before, she had only confronted Dou Qing’e. But after this incident, she would be facing the whole unfathomable Dou Family. She couldn’t take this risk casually. Moreover, her purpose was achieved.
“Master, I can’t tell it even if you kill me.” The repeated words of Biddy Zhao sounded like an off-key rhythm sang by a Guqin with broken strings in Qin Zhi’s ears. It made him so annoyed. Biddy Zhao just said that the devil was a woman but then refused to explain, which made him very impatient. In his heart, Qin Zhi was almost certain of the incident. Unfortunately, he lacked evidence.
“You old lady, full of gibberish. Xiu Gu, slap her in the face,” Dou Qing’e’s eyes turned red. She pulled Xiu Gu to the front and pushed her to Biddy Zhao. Xiu Gu hesitated. After all, this was in front of the master.
“Dou, you are getting more and more daring!” Qin Zhi’s tone was not emotional at all, “Cui’e was your servant girl. No matter what happened, you can’t escape the punishment as the Madam of the Qin Family. I will prepare a carriage tomorrow and you will go to the Guo’an Temple for recuperation. I will declare to the public that you are in bad health and need to rest. I will find a new manager for the counting house.”
The arrest in disguise made Dou Qing’e tremble in her heart, “Master, I was responsible for my servant girl’s fault. But if you accused me of putting her up to this, all those people who knew were dead. You shouldn’t criticize me without any reason.”
“Huh,” Qin Zhi snorted coldly, “When did I say that you were behind the incident? Why are you anxious? Now there are too many family issues. We haven’t gone over the old tales before something new came up. The rest is not only a time that you reflect upon your mistakes, but also good for you.”
How could Dou Qing’e not be anxious? She had such domineering influence in the Qin Family and was known as an artful person in the past. Now she had suffered losses many times and gone through self-examination while praying to Buddha for once. The house arrest period was indefinite this time, also Qin Zhi shifted her accountant in the counting house. She looked askance at Qin Yunuan, her fiery and resentful eyes flashing with fire.
Qin Zhi decided to change Yesan, who had been managing the counting house ever since. It was an unexpected gain.
Back in the yard, Qin Baochuan was up, taking a cold shower alone. Seeing Qin Yunuan returned, he stopped scooping water and gave his sister a salute. Qin Yunuan smiled and simply reminded him to add clothes in time after the shower.
“Second Master is growing up more thoughtful,” nurse Liao and Maner greeted Qin Yunuan into the house. As the weather warmed up, there was no charcoal fire in the house, but a cup of hot tea was necessary for Qin Yunuan, who had worked all night.
