Fu Ling found a complete set of clothes and turned around to see Qin Wan standing dazed before the mirror.
“Young Miss, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Qin Wan snapped back to attention and hurriedly said, “No…” Before she could finish saying “yes,” she suddenly changed course, “Just a slight headache.”
She raised her hand to rub her temples. Fu Ling immediately walked over with concern, “The Old Madam is too heartless. Although Young Miss has awakened, falling into the lake will surely cause illness, yet she won’t even call for a physician…”
Qin Wan patted Fu Ling’s shoulder, “It’s fine, it’s just… I can’t remember some things clearly…” As she said this, Qin Wan had already made her decision – since she was here, she would stay.
Fu Ling became worried at once, “What? Did Young Miss hurt her head?”
Qin Wan sat on a low couch not far from the mirror while Fu Ling questioned her and helped remove her inner garments to change clothes.
As the inner garment came off, Fu Ling let out a cry, “Young Miss is injured! They must have been careless when rescuing Young Miss from the water. What if it leaves scars? Let me find some medicine…”
Fu Ling hurried off to find medicine while Qin Wan frowned at the wounds on her hands and arms.
A moment later, she lifted her skirt to find injuries on her knees, calves, and thighs.
Qin Wan narrowed her eyes – Fu Ling was wrong, these wounds weren’t from impacts.
The injuries on her arms and legs were thin lines, deeper at one end and shallower at the other. Having been soaked in water made them particularly obvious – these were friction burns. Looking further down, Qin Wan saw several faint bruises around her ankles.
Qin Wan compared them with her hand – indeed, these were grip marks from someone’s hands.
She examined the wounds on her body carefully again. Most of these wounds had split open quite wide, with redness and swelling around the edges. Though they had been in the water, traces of blood scabs that hadn’t been completely washed away were still visible.
Father had said that only wounds on living people would contract and split open like this.
These injuries must have been inflicted before this Ninth Young Miss died.
Thinking this, Qin Wan touched her throat. She had felt pain there when she first woke up but hadn’t paid attention to it. Now seeing the marks, she realized it was bruising from being forcefully strangled.
Then, Qin Wan felt her chest and abdomen – there was no sense of any foreign objects.
A cold light flashed in her eyes. She was almost certain that this Ninth Young Miss had been strangled to death first, then thrown into the lake to create the appearance of suicide. These friction burns were left when someone dragged her by the ankles.
Qin Wan’s scalp tingled. She had thought this Ninth Young Miss was merely unfavored in the household with a pitiful situation, but she hadn’t expected that someone in the Qin Manor wanted to kill her.
“Young Miss, I found it. Let me apply the medicine for you.”
Fu Ling ran over and knelt beside Qin Wan to apply the medicine. As she worked, she gritted her teeth, “To leave so many injuries on Young Miss’s body! They truly show no care for Young Miss at all!”
Qin Wan looked at Fu Ling, her eyes as deep as an abyss.
She wasn’t the Qin Manor’s Ninth Young Miss, but she had indeed become the Ninth Young Miss now. To establish herself here, she naturally needed to find the perpetrator who had acted so viciously. If the first attempt failed, what if the killer tried a second time?
Moreover, since she had taken over this Ninth Young Miss’s body, it was only right to avenge her!
Having made up her mind, Qin Wan turned to ask about other matters.
“How far is it from here to the capital?”
Fu Ling was startled, “Has Young Miss changed her mind? Young Miss previously said staying in Jin Zhou was better than being in the capital. You said you’d rather stay quietly in this small courtyard than deal with all the people and rules at the Loyal and Brave Marquis Manor in the capital.”
Fu Ling’s nose reddened as she continued, “Does Young Miss want to return to the capital? I also think we should go back. The capital is under the Emperor’s feet, so even if people in the manor are harsh, they won’t dare mistreat Young Miss too much. Besides, after Young Miss falls into the lake, I keep feeling this manor is unlucky and unsettled. But Young Miss, we need the First Branch to give the word before we can return.”
Having both nearly died this time, Fu Ling grew more emotional as she thought about it.
“Since Master and Madam passed away seven years ago, we’ve been tossed around like hot potatoes. We’ve been in Jin Zhou for four years, and the Old Madam and Master here have long grown impatient with us.”
“Elder Uncle… he…”
Since Qin Wan was from the Second Branch of the Qin family, calling him Elder Uncle would be correct.
Fu Ling let out a light snort at the mention, “Has Young Miss forgotten? Ever since the First Master inherited the title of Loyal and Brave Marquis, his eyes have been fixed solely on court politics. I heard First Master has entered the Ministry of Revenue, and besides, First Master focuses all his attention on the Third Young Miss, thinking only of arranging her marriage to some prince or heir. He hasn’t paid any attention to us for ages!”
Qin Wan’s eyes trembled violently, “What date is it today?”
“If I remember correctly, it should be the twenty-third of the seventh month.”
The twenty-third of the seventh month… her family’s incident happened on the nineteenth.
Qin Wan tightly gripped her sleeve. In early July, she had heard her father mention that Qin Shu, the Loyal and Brave Marquis, had taken charge of the Ministry of Revenue. As for the Third Young Miss of the Marquis Manor, known as the capital’s foremost talented lady, Qin Wan had heard of her even without leaving her house.
Her chest heaved several times violently. Qin Wan felt a burning sensation in her heart – this was still the Great Zhou Dynasty, and this Qin family was the same Qin family she knew. This was simply… this was simply a heaven-sent opportunity!
“Young Miss? What do you think?”
Qin Wan clenched her jaw tightly and took a long time to calm down. Her eyes were profound, yet her gaze seemed to drift toward nothing in particular. After a while, she spoke in a hoarse but determined voice, “I want to return to the capital.”
At the same time, Madam Lin was helping Madam Jiang return to the Buddha Hall. “Mother, this matter is too strange. Several people checked when she stopped breathing, and they said her pulse had stopped and she wasn’t breathing. Do you think it’s true?”
Madam Jiang’s murky eyes were dark, “Whether it’s true or false, this matter cannot spread. Remove the mourning hall and make sure the servants keep their mouths shut. My Qin Manor cannot become such a laughingstock. I don’t care if she’s some fox spirit or ghost – if she can survive the monks’ seven-day ritual array, I’ll treat it as if she just fell ill.”
Madam Lin was worried, “Should we inform the First Branch about this? After all, Qin Wan is Second Brother’s only daughter…”
Madam Jiang turned her eyes and shot Madam Lin a glare, “The First Branch? They don’t have the energy to care about her.”
Madam Lin was somewhat confused as she helped Madam Jiang sit down on a soft couch.
Madam Jiang narrowed her eyes and gestured toward an official document on the table, “This is a court gazette copied by the First Branch. The case of Imperial Consort Jin has been resolved. The capital’s turmoil has ended, but the situation has changed dramatically. Everyone is protecting themselves openly while secretly vying for power. The First Branch must choose sides – how would they have time to care about her?”
Madam Lin was slightly surprised, “It’s been resolved so quickly?”
Madam Jiang raised her chin, her gaze meaningful, “Prince Jin committed suicide in prison out of guilt, and no other suspects could be found, so Imperial Consort Jin’s death was naturally pinned on Prince Jin.” After a slight pause, Madam Jiang added coolly, “Besides, Shen Yi is dead.”
Madam Lin was startled, “Shen Yi? The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review? How did he die?”
Madam Jiang spoke calmly, “Since the incident began, he had been in charge of this unprecedented palace case in Great Zhou’s hundred-year history. He was also the one who insisted there were doubts about Prince Jin’s guilt. However, five days ago, the Deputy Minister of the Court of Judicial Review exposed that he deliberately tried to clear Prince Jin’s name and deceived the Emperor. When the matter was exposed and Shen Yi tried to escape with his family, they were all executed outside the Imperial City.”
Madam Lin’s eye corner trembled, “The whole family was killed…”
She frowned and sighed, “Shen Yi managed judicial matters for many years, and I heard he never had a single wrongful case. From local areas to the capital, his political achievements were outstanding, and he had high prestige among the common people. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have risen to the position of Minister of the Court of Judicial Review from his humble background. How could he suddenly do this for Prince Jin…”
Madam Jiang sat cross-legged and picked up her prayer beads, beginning to turn them, “How dare we comment on imperial and court matters? Besides, in the capital, someone naturally decides who lives and who dies.”
Madam Lin realized something and quickly lowered her head, saying nothing more.
Madam Jiang closed her eyes and recited two lines of scripture, then slowly instructed, “There’s no need to inform the First Branch about Qin Wan’s matter. Keep an eye on things, and also ask Imperial Physician Huang about what it means when the pulse stops and breathing ceases, and about the near-death state…”
Then Madam Jiang suddenly opened her eyes, “I keep feeling that girl has become different.”