She was certain Song Chuyi had reached some kind of agreement with Madam Fang. Otherwise, Madam Fang had no reason to make a move against her when she held leverage over Madam Fang and they both worked for Prince Duan.
How could she have forgotten this one point—Song Chuyi was also someone who knew the details of events from the dream in great detail? When she had previously sent people to Changsha, she very likely discovered Madam Fang’s existence, so she used her knowledge of Wei Yanzhao’s matter to threaten Madam Fang. Otherwise, this whole situation made no sense at all.
Hearing Song Chuning say this made Cuiguo somewhat panicked. She gathered her courage to ask, “But if even the pigeons can’t fly out, then won’t we…”
Won’t we just be waiting for death? From their return until now, Old Madam Song and the others hadn’t even shown their faces, and not a single person from the Li family had come to see them. When circumstances are stronger than people, and Song Chuning was now poisoned with no certainty of whether it could be cured—if they couldn’t contact Song Yi or Prince Duan, they really would just be waiting to die at the Song estate.
Song Chuning swept her gaze around everyone in the room. Both Cuiguo and Lüshan had somewhat panicked expressions on their faces. In comparison, those other plain-looking, inconspicuous servant women were all expressionless and much calmer.
Fortunately, Prince Duan had also sent these people, or else she might truly have reached the end of her rope.
“Tomorrow morning after all the pigeons are released, at least more than half of those nannies will definitely leave to report the news.” Song Chuning kept her voice extremely low. On such a bitterly cold winter day, even Cuiguo and the others standing close had difficulty hearing clearly. “Take advantage of that opportunity—Cuiguo and Lüshan, you two set a fire in the courtyard. Fortunately, we still have lamp oil in our luggage… The wind has been blowing fiercely lately, so the fire will definitely grow large very quickly.”
Hearing the words “set a fire,” Cuiguo was startled, instinctively recalling the incident years ago when Song Chuning had Nanny Yu set a fire to burn Song Yan. However, she had been by Song Chuning’s side for a long time after all. With a moment’s thought, she understood Song Chuning’s meaning—when a fire broke out, even if the Song family truly wanted Song Chuning dead, they couldn’t just openly watch her burn to death. After all, she was still nominally the Eighth Miss Song who was supposed to enter the palace for the study companion selection.
Lüshan also laughed with delight, then quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth and suppress her laughter. She looked at Song Chuning with admiration and gave a thumbs up. “Miss is truly amazing. Once everything is thrown into chaos like that, sneaking out won’t be so difficult.”
Song Chuning looked at the mottled shadows in front of the window, her eyes that had been covered by a thin mist brightening again. “Not only that. With the Changning Earl’s estate engulfed in towering flames and the Eighth Miss living inside nearly burned to death—such explosive news will also stir up quite a commotion in the capital. By that time, even if my eldest maternal aunt is unwilling, the Li family will have no choice but to send people to see me. And the attention of everyone in the capital will also be temporarily drawn to me.”
By then, when the matter became big enough, Prince Duan’s informants planted throughout the capital would always be able to receive some information.
Rumors and gossip would be difficult to quell for a while. At the very least, during this period she would still be safe—she wouldn’t die so quickly, nor would she die so silently and without a trace.
But even though everything was arranged and her life could temporarily be preserved, the fury in her heart hadn’t dissipated one bit—that stupid pig Song Chuyi had somehow, at some unknown time, become capable of such ruthlessness. Her very first move had been aimed at killing her outright.
She couldn’t swallow this grievance. One day, she would make Song Chuyi’s circumstances a hundred times worse than her own current predicament!
The Song Chuyi she was cursing in her heart wasn’t in such a foul mood. She tossed the letter in her hand into the charcoal brazier and watched it turn to ashes before revealing a slight smile.
Ziyun was somewhat worried about her. Although she knew Song Chuyi was more intelligent than ordinary people and always had her own ideas, Song Chuyi’s letter correspondence had indeed been a bit too frequent lately.
“Miss…” she called out tentatively, saying somewhat hesitantly, “When you contact that side, shouldn’t you inform Old Madam? After all, this isn’t some small matter…”
Ziyun had always been very good at knowing her place. She rarely interrupted when Song Chuyi was making decisions. This time she must have truly been worried to be so anxious.
Although she was Nanny Huang’s granddaughter, ever since coming to serve Song Chuyi, she had always stayed in her own position doing her own work, almost never going to Old Madam’s side to pass along information.
Song Chuyi smiled, the corners of her mouth curving as she looked at her, her complexion much better than Ziyun’s. “No need. This is my own matter—I can handle it.”
Since Ziyun couldn’t very well continue harping on this topic, she had no choice but to sigh resignedly and ask, “Then Miss should also be careful. After all, that Madam Fang isn’t any kind of good person either. Back then at the Imperial Awakening Temple, she was able to receive advance warning from the capital and escape to Fujian. Later she was even able to become the Eighth Miss’s teacher—this person is no simple character.”
Yes, if she were simple, she wouldn’t be eating from Prince Duan’s bowl while extending her elbow to bend toward Zhou Weizhao’s side.
When Zhou Weizhao sent a letter last month, he mentioned in it that Madam Fang had discovered Qing Zhuo and Han Feng, and had actually deliberately concealed this information from both Song Chuning and Prince Duan’s side.
If Madam Fang truly had Song Chuning’s best interests sincerely at heart, there was no reason she would discover Qing Zhuo and Han Feng yet not report to Prince Duan and Song Chuning. Unless she actually also wanted Song Chuning dead.
She knew Madam Fang’s vulnerabilities, so with a little guessing she could guess at Madam Fang’s thoughts—Song Chuning was a firecracker who could ignite and explode at any unknown time. Song Chuning also held leverage over Madam Fang. According to Song Chuning’s personality, if Madam Fang did even one thing that didn’t suit her wishes, she might make a move to destroy Wei Yanzhao.
And as a mother, Madam Fang absolutely couldn’t allow her son to constantly be in danger.
For this reason, she deliberately sold a flaw to Qing Zhuo and Han Feng, and through them contacted Zhou Weizhao.
Everything after that followed naturally. Madam Fang had already secretly poisoned Song Chuning’s food in advance while concealing it from Madam Qin Senior and Song Chuning—many of the people around Song Chuning were arranged by her, and she had leverage in Song Chuning’s hands, so gaining Song Chuning’s trust was very easy.
However, Ziyun’s worry wasn’t entirely without reason. Madam Fang was indeed someone with a rebellious streak. Because she was wary of Song Chuning knowing her secret, she deliberately turned around and cooperated with Zhou Weizhao instead. Who could guarantee that later she wouldn’t make a move against her as well because she too held this secret?
Moreover, although Madam Fang felt she had acted very secretly this time, Prince Duan’s side would definitely notice something to some degree… She really couldn’t be allowed to continue living either.