“Master!” Bu Xiu helped Xun Mama walk slowly. Upon entering and seeing the scene, he rushed in frightened and grabbed Ji Bozai’s arm. “Master, please stop!”
“You’re pleading for her too?” Ji Bozai was furious, his gaze sharp towards everyone.
Bu Xiu was startled and quickly knelt: “This servant doesn’t know what Miss Ming did wrong, but if it weren’t for her earlier, this servant and Xun Mama would have died.”
He then kowtowed three times loudly.
The pressure on her neck eased. Mingyi slid to the ground, sitting and gasping for air, then began coughing violently.
“What do you mean by that?” Ji Bozai asked, still angry.
Mingyi sat with her back to him, coughing into her sleeve, unable or unwilling to answer.
Bu Xiu hurriedly explained: “When the fire started, this servant was brewing medicine, and Xun Mama was watching over your lunch. The kitchen was already hot, and with the fire, we didn’t notice at first. By the time we realized the fire was outside, it was almost too late to escape.”
“Xun Mama’s leg was broken by a falling beam, and this servant was exhausted. If Miss Ming hadn’t arrived in time, the falling beam at the door would have killed us both!”
Ji Bozai listened, then turned to Mingyi: “Weren’t you at the Situ residence? How did you happen to return just in time?”
“I left in a hurry and forgot something, so I came back to get it,” Mingyi said coldly.
“What thing?”
“Some embroidery as gifts for my family.”
A clever choice, as the embroidery would have been completely burned, leaving no evidence.
Ji Bozai sneered, turning her body towards him and gripping her chin: “All the coincidences in the world seem to fall on you. Just as you left, the mansion caught fire. Just as these two were in danger, you came to their rescue. Just as you and Twenty-seven went to the Green Tile Courtyard, it became a place of arson.”
“Before you, no one but me had ever left the Green Tile Courtyard alive. Tell me, how am I supposed to believe you’re not the arsonist?”
Mingyi sighed: “Master, the simplest point is—what benefit would I gain from burning down your residence?”
He paused, his gaze darkening: “What other benefit could there be but to take my life?”
If he hadn’t dreamed of something happening at the Green Tile Courtyard and woken up with a racing heart wanting to check, she might have succeeded today.
“Your life is valuable to Muxing City and other cities,” she lowered her eyes. “But to me, only my own life is most precious.”
She wouldn’t engage in a losing business.
Ji Bozai laughed coldly. She always had so many excuses to exonerate herself. But this time, he wouldn’t believe her again, nor would he soften. He couldn’t sleep next to someone who constantly wanted to kill him, no matter how beautiful and charming.
“Send her to the Situ residence,” he waved his hand. “Since Situ, Ling said he’d give you a place to stay, you can stay there. No need to return.”
“Master?” Xun Mama called out in surprise.
Ji Bozai raised his hand: “I’ve spared her life out of respect for the Grand Duke.”
Mingyi nodded and stood up: “Thank you for your care these days, Master. Please let me take Twenty-seven with me.”
“Take him with you? If you reveal what you’ve seen and heard in my mansion to others, wouldn’t I face another fire?” he said mockingly. “Seeing how much you care for him, I’ll keep him by my side. As long as you keep quiet, I’ll ensure his safety.”
Mingyi’s phoenix eyes narrowed, finally showing some anger: “If I wanted to say anything to others, would you still be sitting here safely?”
The case of Prince Guangping’s death alone would be enough to send him to the Court of Judgment.
“If you say anything to others, he wouldn’t be living peacefully in the side courtyard either,” Ji Bozai waved his hand. “I don’t like to bargain with people.”
Mingyi gritted her teeth.
She should have stabbed him in the forehead three times to see if he’d still have the strength to sit here and speak to her so coldly.
“Then I’ll take my leave,” she turned to leave.
“No need to see me out,” he said without looking up.
Bu Xiu and Xun Mama watched anxiously, but as servants, they couldn’t say much about their master’s affairs. They could only murmur: “Miss Ming saved many servants today.”
“Yes, acting like a good person in front of you, yet trying to kill me,” Ji Bozai said, his lips pale. “What a good girl indeed.”
Bu Xiu dared not say anything more.
At this critical moment, with Ji Bozai’s assassination attempt, suspicion immediately fell on the envoys from the Upper Three Cities. Moreover, Bo Yuankui had trespassed into the inner courtyard and injured the Grand Duke, causing public outrage in Muxing City.
“Should the Lower Three Cities be bullied like this? They’re beating and killing people, and targeting Muxing’s most powerful fighters.”
“They’re probably afraid of losing, like the Ming family. The best way not to lose to us is to prevent us from competing at all.”
“Despicable! Shameless!”
“Get out of Muxing City!”
When Shen Tianlin arrived at the Situ residence, the protective barrier was almost pierced by the rotten vegetables thrown from the streets.
He entered and sat down, brushing himself off while muttering: “What a mess.”
Situ Ling elegantly poured him a cup of tea, smiling: “Mr. Dan owes you a set of clothes.”
Taking the tea, Shen Tianlin was puzzled: “What does this have to do with him?”
“Yesterday, when Sister Ming returned to Ji’s mansion, she told me to check on her if she hadn’t returned in half an hour. I did as she said. Guess what? I happened to run into Mr. Dan’s beast carriage.”
There were many spectators on the street that day, making the road very narrow. Situ Ling’s carriage had squeezed for nearly half an hour before reaching the entrance of Twenty-nine Street. From afar, they saw Dan Er’s beast carriage leaving from the teahouse at the end of the street.
At that distance, unless he had been there before the fire started, the beast carriage couldn’t have passed through in such a short time.
“In this world, only the culprit would wait at the crime scene in advance,” Situ Ling said seriously.
Shen Tianlin couldn’t understand: “My Chaoyang City lost the top position this year because of the sudden incident and no one to replace Ming Xian’s position. Moreover, among the Upper Three Cities, there’s not only Ji Bozai but also Bo Yuankui. Why would Dan Er go to such lengths to assassinate?”
“Who knows? But given the current evidence, he is indeed the most suspicious,” Situ Ling sighed. “The matter between Bo Yuankui and the Grand Duke is still unresolved, and now another incident has occurred. Muxing is truly having an unlucky year.”
Shen Tianlin didn’t care about Muxing’s fortune. He came here only to see Mingyi.
“Where is she?” he asked.
Situ Ling pointed to the back courtyard: “She burned her hand. She’s just applied medicine and has been sleeping for two hours.”
“Ji Bozai is a bastard. Such a big incident at his mansion, and he just drives Mingyi out? People might think she started the fire,” Shen Tianlin was furious. “I don’t know what she sees in him.”
“Indeed,” Situ Ling sighed. “Ji Bozai is scheming and ruthless, unlike me—naive, lovable, pure, and honest.”
Shen Tianlin:?
At just fifteen or sixteen, you dared to trick away my kaleidoscope at the welcoming banquet, and you have the nerve to call yourself naive and pure?