“Did something happen here? What a mess! Does it have something to do with me? I heard someone calling me from afar!” Mo Xuetong, who stood outside the crowd with a gentle smile on her face, looked at the fl.u.s.tered crowd in front of her and waved the fan in her hand leisurely.
“Consort Xuan!”
“It’s Consort Xuan…”
“How could it be Consort Xuan?”
The crowd gasped. The Sixth Princess, who was in the middle of the crowd, looked at Mo Xuetong in shock as an obscure light flashed in her eyes. She was a little fl.u.s.tered, but then the fl.u.s.ter was hidden behind her joyful smile.
“Eighth sister-in-law, it’s really you! We thought that…” She came over excitedly and deliberately paused.
“You thought that I was missing, Sixth Princess?” Mo Xuetong looked into the Sixth Princess’s eyes. There was a hint of contempt in her pure and beautiful eyes that the Sixth Princess could tell. The Sixth Princess had seen it, but Mo Xuetong did not panic at all. “Many thanks for your concern, Sixth Princess. I hurried over when I heard that something happened to Consort Yan. I did not expect that you care most about me. How is Consort Yan?”
Her words were gentle, without a trace of anger. Her beautiful eyes were shining, and the faint smile on her lip corners looked comfortable, but the Sixth Princess felt cold. It was a sense of coldness coming out of her heart.
Everyone knew that the Sixth Princess and King Yan had been close recently. However, something had happened to You Yue’e now, and she might not even be able to keep the child in her belly. The Sixth Princess, who should have stayed by You Yue’e’s side and comforted her, was making a fuss with a bunch of madams outside. She did not care if there was someone taking care of You Yue’e inside or if she felt sad.
Was the Sixth Princess really as close to King Yan’s Manor as the rumors said? Or did she have ulterior motives today…
Mo Xuetong’s words undoubtedly caused the “banquet” that the Sixth Princess had carefully prepared to fall all over her body. It could be said that Mo Xuetong’s appearance had turned her last shred of hope into dust. Mo Xuetong was not in the room. Why wasn’t Mo Xuetong in the room? How could Mo Xuetong not be in the room?
“Princess Caifeng, I’m really sorry. When I came out just now, I talked with my second cousin and felt a little better. Then I went out for a walk with her. I thought it was not a big deal, so I didn’t ask anyone to go back to tell you. I didn’t expect that everyone thought I was missing. I’m really sorry.”
Mo Xuetong explained to Princess Caifeng with a smile, as if she did not see the Sixth Princess’s gloomy face.
“Consort Xuan, you’re too polite. It’s good that you’re fine.” Princess Caifeng took a deep breath and smiled bitterly. She was a little relieved and did not dare to be angry with Mo Xuetong. Fortunately, there was no big scandal. She only hoped to send these people away so that she could clean up her manor.
“Marquise Mingguo, I wonder what you were talking about me in a loud voice just now. I heard that you were talking very lively earlier.” Princess Caifeng had a good manner and Mo Xuetong naturally smiled. However, she did not intend to let Ling Mingyan off the hook.
When she was outside just now, she had heard it clearly that Ling Mingyan had repeatedly said that she had eloped with someone. Even though the Sixth Princess who had tried to stir up trouble, according to Ling Mingyan’s tone, she was definitely determined to accuse her of having an affair with someone else. Mo Xuetong believed that she would not take the initiative to frame someone. However, if someone wanted to use her as a stepping stone, she would fight back.
“I…” Ling Mingyan was speechless due to her question. She had spoken so happily earlier because she wanted to divert everyone’s attention to Mo Xuetong. When she saw Mo Xuetong and Luo Mingzhu approaching together, she did not know what to say. However, Ling Mingyan was not someone who could be defeated directly.
Then he straightened his neck and said with a red face, “I didn’t say that. It was that man who said that a man had run in.”
“A man came to the inner courtyard?” Luo Mingzhu interjected. She had always been at odds with Ling Mingyan and had long been furious when she heard that. When she heard that Ling Mingyan had even pushed all the blame to someone else, she got mad. “Ling Mingyan, since you have said it, don’t you have the ability to admit that. A man came to the inner courtyard? Even if a man came here, wouldn’t he go to another room?”
“There are no other rooms here. Other than the two rooms that Consort Xuan and Consort Yan rest in, the rest of the rooms have been thoroughly searched. There are no other rooms that haven’t been searched! Luo Mingzhu, don’t push all the blame onto me. Everyone said it earlier, and I wasn’t the only one.”
As nothing went right, Ling Mingyan was very angry. When Luo Mingzhu pointed at her nose and scolded her, how could she be unwilling to admit it? She immediately spoke without thinking. Her eyes were red and she seemed to burn with anger. However, she was glaring at the Sixth Princess who was standing beside Mo Xuetong. She was not a fool and knew that she had fallen into someone else’s trap. The one was most likely to be the Sixth Princess.
However, she could not find any evidence. Her enemy was right in front of her, but she could not speak up against her. Ling Mingyan gritted her teeth in hatred. She really did not have an excuse now. Otherwise, she would have rushed up and scratched the Six Princess’s face. This b*tch had done such a despicable thing in order to marry You Yuecheng.
“Feng Xuehe, b*tch, don’t let me get any evidence. Otherwise, I won’t spare you.”
“Princess Caifeng, then what happened to Consort Yan? I heard that the physician in the manor has come.” Mo Xuetong stopped Luo Mingzhu and Ling Mingyan from arguing with each other. Ling Mingyan was going to argue with anyone who contradicted her. She did not want to become the Sixth Princess’s shield.
When You Yue’e’s matter was brought up, Princess Caifeng’s heart skipped a beat. “Sixth Princess, how are you going to explain what happened to Consort Yan? Consort Yan started feeling bad after she took your medicine?”
Finally, nothing happened to Consort Xuan. Then, the focus of the matter today was Consort Yan. It was said that none of the prince’s legal wives in the Qin Kingdom had given birth to a child yet. This meant that if the child in Consort Yan’s belly was a boy, he would be an important person. Princess Caifeng was not willing to take the blame for someone else.
She had tried to please the Sixth Princess, but it didn’t mean that she would take the fall for her.
At this moment, Princess Caifeng hated the person who schemed against others at her banquet. If this person was the Sixth Princess, she would not like her at all.
“I really didn’t do that. How could I give Third sister-in-law the medicine that is not good for the child? Although she’s my palace maid, who knows if she was bribed to drug Third sister-in-law. Think about it, why should I drug Third sister-in-law’s unborn baby?” At this point, the Sixth Princess also knew that she had been set up by Hu Qianyue. Like Ling Mingyan, she couldn’t find any evidence to prove that Hu Qianyue had set her up.
However, she knew that everyone had seen clearly when the palace maid had given the medicine to You Yue’e. She could not deny it even though she wanted to. As such, she put all the blame on the palace maid. So she pointed at the palace maid and said angrily, “Tell me, why did you poison Consort Yan? Aren’t you afraid of retribution for harming such an innocent child?”
The palace maid knelt on the ground with a plop, shivering, but she couldn’t explain at all!
Retribution? What was the retribution?
The Flower Hall in the Sixth Princess’s palace was the retribution. One could neither live nor die in the hall. Many a night there were cries of the people who died tragically there. Every time she walked past the Flower Hall, she felt very creepy. The few palace maids close to the Sixth Princess knew that it was like a h.e.l.l. They did not dare to and could not betray the Sixth Princess.
“Your Highness, I don’t dare. It’s not that I want to do this. Your Highness, save me. I didn’t want to hurt Consort Yan. It’s… it’s…”
“Sixth Princess, your maidservant is really bold. She dared to hurt a n.o.ble prince’s wife. How could she dare to drug Consort Yan in front of so many people and shift the blame onto you, regardless of her life? This… is really hard to believe,” Hu Qianyue said in a low voice with suspicion on her face.
When she realized that everyone was looking at her, her face flushed and she moved to hide behind Princess Caifeng.
“What? Sixth Princess, how dare you harm King Yan’s child?” Ling Mingyan understood now. She had wanted to get something on the Sixth Princess. Unfortunately, the Sixth Princess was too slippery and she could not catch her. Just now, the Sixth Princess hid in the crowd and did not show up, as if it had nothing to do with her.
After she heard their conversation, she realized that the Sixth Princess had done those things. She was unwilling to let her off the hook. She took a few steps forward and was about to pull the Sixth Princess. “Let’s go and tell Consort Yan. A little palace maid by your side dared to do something like that. There are so many bold people around you, Sixth Princess. If she dares to plot against the royal child today, then will she dare to do something even worse in the future?”
Ling Mingyan had decided to confront the Sixth Princess, so she didn’t treat her as a princess at this time. When the Fifth Princess hadn’t married into another country, Ling Mingyan had seen the Fifth Princess pushing the Sixth Princess around. She had been looking down on her from the bottom of her heart. At this time, she was so angry that she even ignored other things.
“Stop.” d.u.c.h.ess Ding grabbed her hand and pulled her hard to the side. Ling Mingyan was caught off guard and almost lost her balance. She stumbled before she saw her mother standing beside her angrily. Her mother was glaring at her, without the love she had in the past. It was because Ling Mingyan had gone too far today. She had offended both Consort Xuan and the Sixth Princess. And it seemed that she was going to drag the Sixth Princess in in front of everyone.
Not only was it inappropriate, but it was also an insult to the royal family. No matter how powerful Ding General Manor was, they could not compare with the royal family!
“Mother!” Ling Mingyan shouted as she didn’t know why.
“Get back. Princess Caifeng will deal with it,” d.u.c.h.ess Ding said in a bitter voice. She really hated her daughter for not being able to live up to her expectations. If she had known that her daughter was so stupid, she should have married her into a small family. She might even be able to live safely for a lifetime under the influence of Ding General Manor.
“Princess Caifeng, there are so many doubts about what happened today. As you’re the hostess, please investigate this matter clearly and give Sixth Princess justice.” d.u.c.h.ess Ding did not look at Ling Mingyan. Instead, she spoke politely and sincerely to Princess Caifeng.
It was normal for Princess Caifeng to investigate as the incident had happened here. However, it involved Consort Yan and the Sixth Princess, which gave Princess Caifeng a headache. Furthermore, she had grown suspicious of the Sixth Princess. No matter how she looked at it, the matter regarding Consort Yan had something to do with the Sixth Princess. The Sixth Princess had said earlier that she did not know about it, but now, she was putting the blame on the palace maid. It seemed more like that she was trying to hide it.
The Sixth Princess of the Qin Kingdom did not seem to be as gentle and gracious as the rumors said! Princess Caifeng’s brows furrowed tightly. Even if she wanted to make concessions to avoid trouble, she would not be able to do so.
Today there was bound to be a trap, and some people walked into it by accident. It was just on blast from the past after another.
“There’s someone! There’s someone here. Hurry up and catch him!”
