Miss Ji?

Qiu Shu thought she had misheard. Pointing at Ji Yunshu’s room, she asked: “The Miss Ji you mentioned—is it her?”

The maid knocked her head to the ground, saying: “Yes, it’s that Miss Ji. Last night Little Guozi ran out, and this servant searched for a long time. In the end, I saw that Miss Ji holding Little Guozi coming out of her room. At that time she even fed Little Guozi something to eat. It must have been… her.”

Her voice grew smaller and smaller, to the point she didn’t even dare continue!

On one hand, the little maid urgently needed to clear herself of responsibility out of fear. On the other hand, she was afraid of wrongly accusing someone. These two feelings intertwined, leaving her not knowing what to do.

Hearing this, Qiu Shu’s face, covered in powder and rouge, revealed a fierce expression!

The ball of fire in her heart seemed about to burst out of her body.

When others heard these words, they all began quietly discussing among themselves.

“I really didn’t expect it would be her. So vicious.”

“Exactly. The first day I saw her, I felt she was a ruthless character. I just didn’t expect she would do such a thing.”

“Also, she and Sister Qiu Shu never got along in the first place. They’ve been quarreling nonstop these past few days in the manor. I think it must have been that venomous woman who poisoned Little Guozi to death to get revenge on Sister Qiu Shu.”

“It must be so. How can a person’s heart be so malicious? Even if she’s angry inside, she shouldn’t take it out on a cat.”

“Exactly, and it’s just a beast! If she really wanted revenge, she should have the ability to make a move against Sister Qiu Shu!” After the red-clothed woman finished speaking, she covered her mouth and laughed. These words sounded like she was defending Qiu Shu’s honor, but actually contained other meanings. In her heart, she probably couldn’t wait for the poisoned person to be Qiu Shu.

Hearing these words, others turned their heads and laughed once.

On the surface they were sisters, but in truth everyone harbored ulterior motives!

Not many people truly cared about Qiu Shu—everything was driven by self-interest.

The sharp-eared Qiu Shu heard the red-clothed woman’s words. She withdrew her fierce gaze from Ji Yunshu’s door, swept her eyes across everyone, then stepped forward two paces, grabbed the red-clothed woman’s clothing, and delivered a slap.

The sound was especially loud!

It directly sent the woman reeling to one side, her body heavily crashing into the door before falling down.

“Miss?” The red-clothed woman’s maid quickly stepped forward to help her up, tears in her eyes.

The women in the room turned pale with fear, very frightened, afraid that fire would turn toward them.

Qiu Shu looked down at the woman she had knocked to the ground, saying: “You actually dared call my Little Guozi a beast? What bear’s heart and leopard’s gall did you eat? Do you believe I’ll cut out your tongue right now?”

Eh!

This was her style.

The red-clothed woman prostrated herself on the ground, her face bearing the handprint. She covered her face, quietly sobbing, her gaze carrying a trace of timidity, like a beaten kitten not daring to make a sound.

However, her little maid felt sorry for her young lady. Moreover, she really couldn’t stand it anymore, so she said: “Miss Qiu, you can’t treat my young lady like this. My young lady didn’t do anything wrong. Even my young lady’s father has never hit her. How can you strike her?”

Everyone gasped!

Unbelievable.

A mere little maid actually dared talk back to Qiu Shu?

The red-clothed woman was even more frightened. She grabbed her maid and rebuked: “Shut up! Who told you to talk nonsense?”

“Miss, this servant just feels it’s unjust for you.”

“Shut up!”

Master and servant pulled at each other.

The fire in Qiu Shu’s heart was completely ignited by that little maid. She said: “A lowly slave actually dares to criticize this young lady. You simply don’t want to live.”

“This servant just feels it’s unjust for my young lady!”

“Lowly slave!”

The maid blocked in front, raising her head and saying: “If you want to hit someone, just hit me. But you cannot touch my young lady.”

“Get lost!” Qiu Shu lifted her long skirt and kicked. “This young lady has no time to deal with you now. I’ll deal with you later.”

With that, Qiu Shu took the already-dead Little Guozi from the table and strode directly out the door, walking toward Ji Yunshu’s room…

Those young ladies also followed one after another. Two young ladies did stay behind to help the red-clothed woman up from the ground, comforting her as they did: “Yu’er, don’t take it to heart. Sister Qiu Shu is just like this.”

“That’s right. We can’t stoop to her level. After all… she is the Empress’s biological younger sister.”

“We just blame ourselves for not having good backgrounds.”

Everyone had their own grievances—they just didn’t speak of them.

The red-clothed woman was called Lu Yu. She was just an ordinary official’s daughter who usually followed Qiu Shu around, hoping to cling to that big tree to secure a good future for her father and a good husband for herself. But now it seemed everything would come to nothing. Qiu Shu would probably unite all the young ladies in the capital to ostracize her. When that time came, her situation would probably be a living hell.

Thinking of this, she felt fearful and began scolding her maid: “Why did you have to speak up? Wasn’t I miserable enough already?”

The maid also felt wronged. She had been defending her young lady’s honor, but now her good intentions had turned into wasted effort—wrong no matter what.

“Miss, this servant truly felt sorry for you.”

“But you shouldn’t speak without restraint.”

“This servant…” The maid lowered her head hard.

A nearby young lady persuaded: “Alright, Yu’er, you should go back to your room and rest for a while.”

Yu’er didn’t want to continue staying here either, lest Qiu Shu return and make her the scapegoat. She quickly pulled her maid away.

At this moment, Qiu Shu rushed to Ji Yunshu’s door and raised her hand to bang on it: “Bang, bang, bang!”

Because she had been so tired yesterday, Ji Yunshu had just gotten up when the banging on the door outside woke her considerably. She couldn’t imagine who would be so impatient so early. Then she heard Qiu Shu’s voice from outside: “Open the door!”

No way—did that woman feel uncomfortable all over if she didn’t cause trouble for a day?

Truly making a scene every single day!

Even more difficult to deal with than Ji Muqing back in the day.

Ji Yunshu sighed and went to open the door. The door had barely opened a crack when it was forcefully pushed open by a force from outside. Fortunately, she dodged in time—otherwise, being struck by the doorframe, she would have been injured for sure.

Qiu Shu stood before her holding Little Guozi, her face full of killing intent. The appearance of a refined young lady was completely gone—nothing in her heart but a belly full of fury.

Ji Yunshu furrowed her brows. She hadn’t yet reacted, not knowing where the other’s fury was coming from so early in the morning. But when she saw the limp black cat in Qiu Shu’s arms, and with all the young ladies gathered around, each one pointing and quietly discussing, she roughly guessed and realized the seriousness of the matter. It seemed this affair would be troublesome enough.

Thinking of this, she only felt her brain throbbing with pain, her whole person uncomfortable.

“Miss Qiu, what is this about?”

“You still have the face to ask me?”

“I don’t quite understand!”

Qiu Shu thrust the black cat in her hands toward her face, her expression dark as she interrogated: “How is your heart so malicious? Why did you poison my Little Guozi to death? It never offended you. Why did you do this? How is this different from murder? If you’re angry, you should come directly at me. Why did you have to kill my Little Guozi? Do you know that it was bestowed upon me by the Empress? By killing it, you’re opposing the Empress. I’m going to tell my sister and have her order you killed…”

She rattled off a whole string of accusations!

Ji Yunshu finally understood. She looked sympathetically at the already-dead black cat and said: “Miss Qiu, I’m very sorry about your cat. But when you make such accusations, I hope you can produce evidence rather than making baseless claims and wrongly accusing people!”

“Wrongly accusing you? Let me ask you—did you or did you not take Little Guozi into your room last night?”

“Yes, it did indeed enter my room. But that doesn’t mean I poisoned it.”

“You still dare to make excuses!” Qiu Shu pulled over her maid. “You tell her what you saw last night.”

The maid glanced at Ji Yunshu, then lowered her head, saying: “Last night… I saw Miss Ji holding Little Guozi coming out of her room. Little Guozi had pastry crumbs on its mouth.”

Ji Yunshu picked up the thread: “What I gave Little Guozi to eat was just ordinary osmanthus cake.”

Qiu Shu snorted: “Who knows whether you added poison to it?”

“Then what does Miss Qiu think my purpose would be in poisoning a cat?”

“You’re jealous of me and harbor resentment! But you don’t dare make a move against me, so you took it out on my cat and poisoned it to death.” Qiu Shu spoke with righteous indignation.