Today, Fifth Madam had arranged to play leaf cards with Madam Gao from two streets away. These past few days, somehow, while others were having bad luck, her luck was flourishing. She had won quite a bit of silver, making Fifth Madam, who originally wasn’t fond of this activity, become enthusiastic about it. Although she only won small amounts that Fifth Madam might not normally care about, she won with such good spirits, and could also listen to gossip from others’ mouths. As for whether the center of this gossip was her niece, she didn’t care.

“What could a second-class maid from the outer courtyard have to tell me?” Fifth Madam said, displeasedly.

Xueli immediately said, “Fifth Madam, this servant previously served in the inner courtyard! It was only recently that this servant was driven out for displeasing a master.”

Ren Yaoyu found her somewhat familiar and thought for a moment, “Ah, I remember now. Weren’t you serving by Fifth Sister’s side before? Xueli? Right, Mother, she used to be Fifth Sister’s head maid.”

Only then did Fifth Madam look at Xueli properly, but what could Ren Yaoqi’s maid have to say to her?

Ren Yaoyu was rather interested, “What do you want to tell my mother? Is it related to Fifth Sister?”

Xueli shook her head dejectedly, “Although this servant previously served Fifth Miss, because this servant was given to Fifth Miss by Concubine Fang, this servant never gained Fifth Miss’s favor. How could this servant know about Fifth Miss’s affairs?”

Hearing she was Concubine Fang’s person, Fifth Madam immediately frowned with some disgust and became even more impatient, “What are you all standing around for? Drive her away!”

But Xueli refused to leave, pleading, “Fifth Madam, this servant truly has urgent matters to tell you. This servant knows you’ve always had a compassionate heart. This servant only begs you to give this servant a way to live!”

Ren Yaoyu wasn’t interested in playing leaf cards, and was somewhat disgusted that the Gao family’s young ladies always liked to mention in front of her how they could eat many pastries without gaining weight, thinking she couldn’t understand they were mocking her for gaining weight, even from drinking water. So she was quite interested in Xueli’s words.

“Mother, it’s still early. What harm is there in listening to her? Perhaps she does have urgent matters.”

Fifth Madam thought this made sense, so she had the servants order to drive Xueli away step back. She beckoned Xueli to come forward, “What do you have to tell me?”

Xueli looked around and said in a low voice, “This matter is of great importance. Please have Fifth Madam dismiss those around us!”

Lin Shi was somewhat suspicious, but she wasn’t afraid of what tricks a little maid could play before her, so she had several small maids and servants step back farther, keeping only two head maids who served her personally.

Only then did Xueli say, “Fifth Madam, Ninth Miss, do you still remember the incident with Concubine Kang?”

As soon as these words were spoken, both Fifth Madam and Ren Yaoyu’s expressions changed. Ren Yaoyu would never forget the sight of Concubine Kang covered in blood lying on the ground, while Fifth Madam couldn’t bear to hear about this woman who had once tried to steal her husband.

Both mother and daughter thought Xueli was deliberately looking for trouble and were about to get angry. But Xueli seized the moment to say, “Fifth Madam, Ninth Miss, please calm your anger. This servant only wants to tell you that the Ninth Miss was framed back then! Concubine Kang’s fall wasn’t Ninth Miss’s fault!”

With these words, both Lin Shi and Ren Yaoyu were stunned.

Lin Shi reacted first, saying sternly, “What do you mean? Who framed my Yu’er?”

“Shh—” Xueli put her finger to her lips and looked around again, “Fifth Madam, don’t make a scene. This servant still wants to live.”

Lin Shi barely restrained herself from shouting, but her gaze was fixed intently on Xueli.

Xueli said, “Fifth Madam, listen to this servant. Back then, someone took advantage of you not being by Ninth Miss’s side to secretly drug Fifth Miss. This drug doesn’t cause much harm to the body, but it makes people easily agitated, prone to violence, and anger. Ninth Miss was given this drug for several consecutive days, which is why she had repeated conflicts with Concubine Kang, even accidentally pushing her and causing her to lose the child. Ninth Miss, think carefully—during that period, couldn’t you often control your temper? Sometimes you didn’t want to get angry. Also, you’d been taking medicine for quite some time. Wasn’t the medicine during that period somewhat different from usual?”

Lin Shi immediately looked at Ren Yaoyu.

Ren Yaoyu thought for a moment, “It seems so! When I pushed her that time, I… I didn’t even know what I was doing. And for a period, the medicine was more bitter than before. I thought Mother had told the kitchen to change to a new prescription for me. I mentioned it once, and later the medicine wasn’t bitter anymore, so I didn’t pay attention.”

Lin Shi was startled, “What new prescription! You’ve been taking this prescription for almost a year!” Looking at Xueli, she became furious again, “Who is harming us, mother and daughter? Who?”

Thinking of the suffering she endured during that period, Ren Yaoyu was also filled with hatred, “Tell us quickly! Who was it?”

Xueli was silent for a moment before saying, “Fifth Madam, Ninth Miss, this servant came to find you today also because this servant was forced to seek self-preservation. If this servant tells you the mastermind behind this matter, can Fifth Madam guarantee that this servant won’t be driven from the Ren family? And also… this servant is living very poorly now and needs… needs some silver.”

Ren Yaoyu said impatiently, “Just speak! I’ll see who dares drive you away! And there’s silver too!”

Xueli looked at Lin Shi.

Lin Shi nodded, “Just speak! I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens! Even if my words don’t count, there’s still our Fifth Master! He can’t watch his daughter be framed like this!”

Only then did Xueli breathe a sigh of relief, “With Fifth Madam and Ninth Miss’s words, this servant is reassured. The person who harmed you and Ninth Miss back then… was none other than Concubine Fang.”

Ren Yaoyu shrieked, “It was her? Why did she—” Ren Yaoyu wanted to ask why Concubine Fang would do this, but she immediately remembered when she had schemed to make Ren Yaoying fall into the latrine.

Lin Shi also remembered. Given Concubine Fang’s nature, knowing it was their mother and daughter who had harmed Ren Yaoying behind the scenes, she indeed wouldn’t let it go.

Sure enough, Xueli said, “Concubine Fang held a grudge about your harming Ninth Miss back then. Ninth Miss was so frightened at the time that she locked herself away for most of half a year, not daring to go out.”

Lin Shi was already somewhat convinced, but she still said, “Do you have any evidence? I can’t just listen to your one-sided story.”

Xueli took out a paper packet from her sleeve and handed it to Lin Shi.

Lin Shi took it and opened it to see that the packet contained some dried medicine dregs.

“This servant used to be Concubine Fang’s person, sent by Concubine Fang to monitor Fifth Miss. This servant accidentally discovered Sister-in-Law Niu sneakily adding something to a medicine pot when this servant went to find her once, which aroused this servant’s suspicion. Later, this servant saw this pot of medicine being sent to the Ninth Miss after being brewed. When Sister-in-Law Niu went to dispose of the medicine dregs, this servant secretly took some back. Later, this servant went out to find a traveling physician to identify these herbs and learned that the added herbs were harmful. Short-term use makes people easily enraged, and long-term use can cause loss of sanity. This servant was frightened and wanted to secretly warn Ninth Miss and Fifth Madam, but by then, Concubine Kang had already miscarried, and Sister-in-Law Niu stopped tampering with Ninth Miss’s medicine.”

“If you were Concubine Fang’s person, how did you end up in the outer courtyard?”

Hearing this, Xueli said with some resentment, “This servant and another maid named Qingmei were both sent to Fifth Miss by Concubine Fang when Third Madam wasn’t there. Concubine Fang had us report Fifth Miss’s every move to her. Previously, when Fifth Miss and Concubine Fang had a good relationship, there were no problems, but after Third Madam returned, Fifth Miss began to dislike this servant and Qingmei due to Nanny Zhou and Nanny Xu’s instigation. Qingmei was driven out first by Nanny Xu. After she left and lived poorly, she went to beg Concubine Fang, hoping she would help her for old times’ sake. But Concubine Fang feared that people would discover she had instructed Qingmei to spy on Fifth Miss, so she found a way to sell Qingmei off. This servant thought that sooner or later it would be this servant’s turn, and sure enough, this servant was also driven out of Ziwei Courtyard by Nanny Xu not long after. Although this servant is just a maid, this servant had always served before young ladies. Now, in the outer courtyard, those nannies always assign this servant rough and heavy work. Look at this servant’s hands.”

Xueli extended her hands for Lin Shi to see. Her originally well-proportioned, delicate hands were now so rough they could tear silk—truly a pitiful sight.

Seeing the expressions in Lin Shi and Ren Yaoyu’s eyes, Xueli felt that her cruelty was worthwhile. She continued, “This would be fine—it’s just suffering some hardship, and this servant could endure it. But the maids and servants in the outer courtyard, knowing this servant was driven from the inner courtyard by the masters, all mock this servant and try to extort silver from this servant! This servant heard that the outer courtyard is releasing another batch of maids, and thinking of Qingmei’s fate… this servant is truly afraid of being driven out! This servant only knows how to serve people and can’t do other work. This servant doesn’t know if there would be any way to live after leaving.” As Xueli spoke, she began to sob pitifully.

Lin Shi interrupted her, “You just mentioned Sister-in-Law Niu? Is she Concubine Fang’s person?”

Xueli nodded, then shook her head, “This servant isn’t clear whether Sister-in-Law Niu is Concubine Fang’s person, but her sister-in-law’s mother-in-law, Nanny Gui, has close relations with Concubine Fang. Nanny Gui has done many things for Concubine Fang. This servant only knew about Sister-in-Law Niu because of this connection.”

Ren Yaoyu said in surprise, “Nanny Gui? The steward Nanny Gui by Grandmother’s side?”

Xueli nodded affirmatively, “This servant and Qingmei saw Nanny Gui secretly meeting with Jinju from Concubine Fang’s side several times, avoiding others. This servant heard Jinju mention Nanny Gui.”

Xueli’s words were half true and half false, but Lin Shi now believed them completely.

Furious, she shouted to the servants in the distance, “Go arrest Sister-in-Law Niu immediately!” Then she instructed Ren Yaoyu, “Go have someone call your father back. If Old Madam doesn’t give us, mother and daughter, an explanation this time, nobody will have peace!”