Chapter 93 – Blurting Out: Who Went Into Whose Room
Yueya panicked. She had come out stealthily to take a look. She must not let anyone discover that her mistress was also in this courtyard when something happened.
They could also sneak out when there were many people here. However, if she was found out now, her mistress wouldn’t be able to sneak out later on.
Such was what Yueya was thinking about. She subconsciously fell back, wanting to dodge to the side.
Before she could take several steps away, she was grabbed by Shufei. “Yueya, what are you running for? I’m asking you where your mistress is. Your mistress left my mistress in the middle chamber. Where is she? What are you doing here sneaking around and hiding? Is anything wrong?”
Shufei had uttered her words in a rather high voice. She even vaguely expressed her concern for Wei Qiuju and stated clearly why Wei Yuewu was here.
Shufei’s shouts made Yueya really panicked. She was anxious to break free from Shufei’s hand and she whispered, “Let me go. Let me go.”
The large group of people over there seemed to have heard Shufei’s words. They were approaching here carrying lanterns and torches. Yueya struggled harder. Suddenly, the grip around her wrist loosened, and her body involuntarily fell back several steps and almost to the ground.
“Yueya, don’t run away. Why are you in such a hurry?” Shufei accurately grabbed her wrist again and asked her hurriedly. Her voice was even louder this time. Yueya indeed looked like she was eager to run away.
Yueya was so scared that she was numbed, standing there without response for a moment. She had almost fallen over, which immediately scared her out of wits. For a moment, she did not even utter an excuse to defend herself.
When she regained her senses, she found that the Madam Dowager was standing in front of her with a sullen face full of anger.
“Where is your mistress?” The Madam Dowager asked with a serious face. She had heard from a maid in Wei Qiuju’s courtyard that Wei Qiuju was missing, so she hurried over with Lady Li.
Originally, the Madam Dowager wouldn’t come even if something really happened to a concubine’s daughter. However, she heard that Wei Yuewu was also here. One of Lady Li’s old maidservants said that she had seen the two young ladies together with a man. That was why the Madam Dowager was alerted and decided to come to see with her own eyes.
She didn’t expect to see two maids pulling at each other when she got here. Furthermore, Wei Qiuju’s maid looked obviously furtive as if she was anxious to hide herself. Something was evidently wrong with this maid, however she looked at it. By contrast, Wei Yuewu’s maid looked normal, except that she seemed confused with the situation and kept asking and pulling at Wei Qiuju’s maid.
Of the two of them, Wei Qiuju’s maid was obviously suspicious.
“Speak. What happened?” The Madam Dowager asked with a cold voice, her face sullen and her brow knitted together.
“Grandmother, what’s going on?” Before the two maids could reply, a gentle voice came from the entrance of the courtyard. The Madam Dowager raised her head and saw Wei Yuewu standing at the entrance with a perplexed expression, as if she was confused why this large group of people had come here.
The Madam Dowager eyed Wei Yuewu up and down, and then walked in.
Lady Li’s face was slightly pale and the corners of her lips trembled a little. She looked at Wei Yuewu in shock and couldn’t move her feet for a moment. She didn’t understand why Wei Yuewu, who was supposed to be in Xie Qingzhao’s room at this time, appeared here in front of them safe and sound and with such a calm expression.
Then what about Xie Qingzhao…
If Wei Yuewu wasn’t with Xie Qingzhao, who was?
As she thought of the other possibility, Lady Li was instantly paralyzed. Her feet went soft and she almost fell. Fortunately, thanks to the quick help of an old maidservant beside her, she didn’t collapse on the spot.
The Madam Dowager had already walked into the courtyard with others. Her face was displeased. Just as she entered the gate, she heard a panicky clanging from the side wing, which sounded like a door was suddenly slammed.
“Who is inside?” The Madam Dowager asked in a deep voice, her burning eyes falling on the face of Yueya.
“I… I… I….” Yueya had wanted to give a message to her mistress, but she knew that with so many people here now, she wouldn’t be able to run away. At this moment, when she saw the Madam Dowager turning around with a question at her, she was so frightened that her teeth kept shivering, unable to give a full answer.
“Yuewu, why are you here?” The Madam Dowager ignored the stuttering Yueya and turned to ask Wei Yuewu.
“Fifth Elder Sister invited me to have a walk in the garden. When she brought me here, we both tripped up. Fifth Elder Sister helped me here to have a rest. I just checked my feet in that room. Luckily, it’s only a scratch.” Wei Yuewu smiled gently and pointed at the main chamber whose door was wide open.
There was light in that chamber. Things inside there could be seen clearly with one glance. Compared to the dark wing that had no light at all but only weird and suspicious sounds, that place looked much more normal.
Wei Yuewu’s words sounded very natural, but she ingeniously used the immediate situation at the time. The listeners felt that what she said was all true. Especially when they saw the faint blood stains on the brims of her dress, they were convinced of the authenticity of her words.
In other words, Wei Yuewu was here because of Wei Qiuju.
“Is your mistress inside there?” The Madam Dowager asked sternly again, her eyes fiercely staring at Yueya. She then waved her hand, and Nanny Hong led a few old maidservants into the wing room.
The rest of the crowd also focused their attention on the dark room. Only Wei Yuewu quietly retreated behind them to hide herself. She carefully moved away from the position close to the Madam Dowager and deliberately picked a corner in shadows.
Yueya couldn’t support herself any longer. She dropped onto her knees in front of the Madam Dowager and said, “Madam Dowager, my, my mistress’ feet also got hurt, so… she came here to take a rest.”
She was so anxious that her head was covered in sweat, and her heart was filled with a guilty conscience.
Once the Madam Dowager discovered her mistress in the wing room, it would be impossible for her mistress to sneak into the crowd. Besides, the weird clanging sound gave her an unspeakably ominous feeling. How could Yueya withstand all these? She had to kneel down.
Nanny Hong had reached the door with other servants by now. She was knocking on the door when it suddenly opened. The tall slim figure of Xie Qingzhao appeared at the door. His expression was filled with anger. Seeing the large group of people in front of him, he seemed to be frozen for a moment.
However, his sharp eyes still caught the Madam Dowager amidst the crowd like the moon surrounded by stars.
As for Wei Yuewu who was in the shadows, of course, Xie Qingzhao didn’t see her at all.
Xie Qingzhao angrily walked forward, as if he didn’t see the astonishment on everyone’s face. He walked to the Madam Dowager and bowed courteously to her. “Thank you for your hospitality, Madam Dowager, but I really can’t stand living here anymore. I’ll move out immediately. Please forgive me if I’ve disturbed you.”
The Madam Dowager’s expression softened when she saw this young Imperial Academician who had a promising future before him. There was even a faint smile on her face. She asked gently, “What are you talking about, Imperial Academician Xie? You are a guest to our mansion. Why do you want to leave so soon? You embarrassed me as your host. Has…has anything unpleasant happened?”
As the Madam Dowager spoke, she winked at Nanny Hong on her side. Nanny Hong understood her and quietly took two old maidservants through the half-open door and into the dark room.
Inside the room, Wei Qiuju was all ears to the sounds from outside. She was also panicked.
Shortly after Yueya had left, she heard the sound of someone entering the room. She didn’t care too much at first because she thought Yueya was back. However, after waiting for a while, she heard no sound at all. She then panicked but didn’t dare to move. Her entire body tensed up as she sat inside.
After a while, she suddenly heard the door clanging shut, which scared her into shivering. She covered her mouth with her hand in the darkness. She was afraid that she would let out a cry of alarm.
She paid her whole attention to what was going on in the room. She leaned to listen but again there was no sound. There seemed to be someone breathing in the darkness. She was more frightened and said in a low voice, “Yueya, is… is that you?”
There was no other sound outside than the sound of breathing, which was especially audible in the darkness. Then, she heard the door was suddenly opened and someone spoke, and the person who spoke sounded like the Madam Dowager. Wei Qiuju became even more panicked. She clasped the outer clothes she had taken off in her arms and sat on the bed trembling.
She realized something was wrong.
Wei Qiuju almost fainted when she saw Nanny Hong and a few maidservants appearing in front of her and staring coldly at her in disheveled clothes.
“Fifth Young Lady, why are you here?” Nanny Hong asked coldly on behalf of the Madam Dowager as she looked at Wei Qiuju.
She had seen Imperial Academician Xie walking out of the room angrily, as if the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang had provoked him. And now she saw the Fifth Young Lady sitting on the bed in such a state.
She remembered the Sixth Young Lady had said earlier that she was brought here by the Fifth Young Lady. All these clues indicated that the Fifth Young Lady wanted to meet Imperial Academician Xie in secret but she intended to frame the Sixth Young Lady as the one who committed adultery.
She thought further of the old maidservant sent over by the Sixth Young Lady. How would she not know, even if others didn’t, that the old maidservant was the supervisor of this courtyard? That woman had the key to the gate between the front and the rear courtyards. That woman had obviously sneaked into the Sixth Young Lady’s courtyard with some ill intention.
Nanny Hong hadn’t figured out what that old maidservant was up to at the time. But now, when she pondered over the clues as a whole, the situation was clear.
This was a scheme to frame the Sixth Young Lady!
“I… I… I sprained my ankle.” Wei Qiuju pitifully pointed at her foot.
However, Nanny Hong had already reached the conclusion that Fifth Young Lady not only tricked the young promising Imperial Academician here but also tried to slander the Sixth Young Lady. How could she believe those words? She coldly looked at the young lady without listening to her explanation. She left the two old maidservants to keep an eye on her, turned around and walked out of the room.
In the courtyard, the Madam Dowager was still smilingly asking Xie Qingzhao why he wanted to leave so suddenly. Xie Qingzhao looked helpless. He clenched his teeth and cupped his hands towards the Madam Dowager. “Madam Dowager, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your hospitality. But the young lady of the mansion is… really… really…”
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