Han Xi’er arrived looking utterly bewildered and shocked, but the moment she saw her mother’s state, she immediately erupted in fury. “Ziqing, you! What do you think you’re doing?”
This woman was quite the actress!
“Auntie, you can cry all you want later. Tell her what happened here,” Ziqing said coldly. Playing dumb with her? Han Xi’er was still too green for that!
Madam Han, already frightened out of her wits, blurted out, “I don’t know anything, I don’t know a single thing, ask Xi’er! Ask Xi’er, only Xi’er knows—it was Xi’er who took you there, I don’t know anything at all, I beg you, please let me go!”
The moment those words left her mouth, not just Han Xi’er but even the Prime Minister’s face darkened at once.
“Sister Xi, I only had three cups of tea with you and then I can’t recall anything after that. How is it that I woke up having supposedly stolen someone’s man, when you’re clearly the one who brought me in there?” Ziqing asked, her expression the picture of innocence, her tone perfectly polite.
“Yes, yes, yes, it was Xi’er who brought you in. Ziqing, hurry and let me go, I don’t know anything!” Madam Han immediately chimed in agreement. At her age, making such a spectacle of herself—she was nearly losing her mind.
Han Xi’er’s eyes flashed with malice again and again; she wanted nothing more than to kick her own mother aside, but she had to hold back. Han Ziqing was sharper than she’d expected—it seemed her caution toward this girl had been justified after all.
She hurriedly explained, “Ziqing, it seems you’ve misunderstood me. It’s true I brought you to the Splendor of the Nation, but it’s not what you think!”
“What do I think?” Ziqing shot back.
“You… no, no, it’s absolutely not what anyone might think. I believe you’d never steal someone’s man—this must all be a misunderstanding!” Han Xi’er had no choice but to backpedal.
Ziqing sneered inwardly. With such damning evidence—the marks on her body hadn’t even faded yet—this family really could twist black into white without missing a beat!
Still, if they were working this hard to prove her innocence, shouldn’t she be pleased?
“How could it be a misunderstanding?” Ziqing pressed further.
Han Xi’er drew a deep breath and explained earnestly, “The Splendor of the Nation belongs to our own household. I brought you along to help Father check the accounts, and while we were there for a bit, you said you wanted to take a short nap, so I specially arranged the top-floor room for you. Who could have known you’d… I’ve been busy since yesterday until just now, I truly don’t know what happened. Why don’t we call the manager in and ask him?”
“Sure,” Ziqing said flatly.
Before long, the manager of the Splendor of the Nation arrived, and the moment he did, he flung himself down at the Prime Minister’s feet, wailing and howling, “My lord, kill this worthless servant! It was my carelessness, I deserve to die! This servant didn’t know the Second Miss was in that room, this servant mistakenly thought… my lord, kill me, please!”
The Prime Minister’s hair stood on end with fury. He kicked the man viciously aside and barked, “Speak plainly, you wretched dog!”
“Last night every room in the establishment was full. Young Master Chen, son of the wealthy Chen family, absolutely insisted that this old servant free up a room. This old servant had no idea the Second Miss was in the top-floor room, so I let Young Master Chen go up there! This morning when the boy went to clean the room, he didn’t even recognize it was the Second Miss, so he just…”
The manager groveled on the ground like a dog, trembling with fear. Just then, a young man in blue robes suddenly rushed forward and knelt on one knee before the Prime Minister, looking every bit the picture of righteous conviction. “This humble commoner, Chen Xu, greets Prime Minister Han. This humble one deserves ten thousand deaths for having disgraced the Second Miss. This humble one dares to beg the Prime Minister to marry the Second Miss into the Chen family—this humble one swears to treat the Second Miss well for the rest of his life!”
Han Xi’er had certainly prepared multiple contingencies! She’d cleared her name completely and thoroughly—but even a fool, thinking it over for just a moment, could tell that the mastermind behind it all was none other than Han Xi’er herself!
First, there was no way on earth a concubine-born young lady like herself would go check the household accounts alongside a legitimate-born young lady like Han Xi’er. Second, even in these relatively open times, an unmarried young lady of good family would never simply fall asleep from exhaustion at a place like the Splendor of the Nation. Third, the Splendor of the Nation was no ordinary establishment—it only ever received imperial princes and the sons of officials ranked third grade or above. How could some minor wealthy young master possibly gain entry there?
And yet, this was exactly the outcome Ziqing had wanted. The love bites on her body were evidence the entire city had already witnessed—there was no washing that away no matter what. No matter how big a scene this became, she could hardly go and murder this entire family out of spite; if she did, it wouldn’t remain a private family matter but would become a case for the imperial court itself.
All she’d wanted was to drag Han Xi’er down with her, and that, she had accomplished.
As for this so-called truth, riddled with holes as it was—let the whole city chew it over at their leisure over tea and idle chatter. Even a fool could see through it; why should she bother exposing it herself?
“So that’s how it was… Xi’er, you… this whole matter comes down to your fault in the end. How could you be so careless! Have you no shame before your own sister?” the Prime Minister immediately scolded her, the very picture of fairness.
“How… how could this have happened?” Han Xi’er dropped to her knees at once, tears genuinely welling up, her voice choked with sobs. “Ziqing… hmm, hmm… Sister is so sorry to you! It’s Sister who’s wronged you—scold me, hit me if you must!”
Crying wasn’t enough for her—she actually crawled forward on her knees, threw her arms around Ziqing’s leg, and tilted her face up, tears streaming down. “Ziqing, Mother doesn’t know anything, please let her go. It’s all Sister’s fault—if you want to hit someone, if you want to curse someone, then come at Sister!”
Ziqing sneered coldly, shoved Madam Han aside, and said flatly, “Sure.”
With that, she raised her hand and swung a sharp, ringing slap!