Lin Chengyou glanced at Wu Qi and asked, “Why did she give gold to Madame Wang?”
Jiao’er replied, “Because Madame Wang helped with certain matters. The gold was her payment.”
“What matters did she help with?”
Jiao’er timidly began, “She helped arrange an assassination attempt—”
“Academy Director,” Wu Qi suddenly interrupted Jiao’er.
She hastily left her seat and bowed deeply to Director Liu: “Student has grown up under your watchful eyes, and you know my character best. I have always been straightforward since childhood – how could I do such a thing? Buying a maid is not difficult; this is a scheme targeting the Wu family. My elder sister just met with misfortune recently, and now it’s my turn. I implore the Director to uphold justice. Rather than being baselessly slandered, I would rather take my own life to prove my innocence!”
She appeared genuinely indignant, her voice trembling with emotion, truly appearing as someone suffering grave injustice.
Vice Director Liu’s heart softened, and she quickly helped Wu Qi up: “Dear child, don’t be hasty.”
Wu Qi wiped away her tears.
Vice Director Liu shared a close friendship with Madame Wu and had often looked after the Wu sisters at the academy. Tonight, since Madame Wu had stayed in the city to care for her soul-lost elder daughter, the Vice Director felt responsible. She tactfully addressed the Empress: “Your Majesty’s wisdom is needed. I know this child Qi well – she has always been honest and could never commit such a despicable act. Relying solely on a maid’s word seems insufficient as evidence.”
The Empress considered for a moment before asking, “You’er, besides this maid’s testimony, is there other evidence?”
Lin Chengyou watched Jiao’er kneeling at his feet. After this scene, she was visibly more disturbed than before, trembling as she knelt, not daring to utter a word. He glanced at Wu Qi before responding to the Empress: “Yes. Your nephew anticipated these two criminals would be exceptionally cunning tonight and dared not come unprepared.”
He then addressed Jiao’er: “Don’t worry, she won’t escape. As long as you reveal everything you know, I guarantee your safety. But if you hesitate, once she escapes tonight, you’ll be her first target.”
Jiao’er’s scalp tingled with fear: “Second Miss had Madame Wang deliver those two poetry drafts to Yining District. Madame Wang said she would find a way to get them to Young Master Lu.”
Lin Chengyou pressed: “Be specific – which two poetry drafts?”
“The ones Second Miss stole from Miss Du.”
“Did she give them to Madame Wang the same night they were stolen? Did your Second Miss know Young Master Lu before?”
Jiao’er shook her head: “No, she didn’t know him. This was Madame Wang’s idea.”
“Is your Second Miss close with Madame Wang?”
“Very close. They were introduced through Nun Jingchen of the Yuzhen Taoist Temple.”
The banquet erupted in chaos. Nun Jingchen was a notorious criminal wanted by the court for years, who had recently committed suicide after her schemes were exposed.
“You’re lying!” Wu Qi shouted, “Young Prince, I’ve heard you’re skilled at solving cases, typically clear as day, but how have you become so muddled tonight as to be led by a servant? Jiao’er has been bought off, everything she’s saying is just—”
Lin Chengyou raised his hand, signaling the yamen runners to separate Wu Qi from those around her. He also gestured for several skilled palace guards to watch for any attempts on Wu Qi’s life, then motioned for Jiao’er to continue.
Jiao’er wiped her sweat haphazardly and revealed everything she knew.
About five or six years ago, Wu Qi had heard by chance that wishes made at Yuzhen Taoist Temple came true. Since then, she frequently went there to burn incense, and when the temple flowers bloomed, she would sometimes invite companions for poetry gatherings.
Over time, she became familiar with Nun Jingchen. It started with tea and conversation but later evolved into learning strange martial arts from the nun.
This “porridge-selling” Madame Wang was introduced to Wu Qi by Nun Jingchen at that time. However, back then, Wang wasn’t selling porridge but called herself Madame Liu and ran a flatbread shop in the West Market.
Nun Jingchen told Wu Qi that since she was often away from Chang’an, Wu Qi could go directly to Madame Wang if she needed anything.
After Nun Jingchen’s recent downfall, Madame Liu feared court investigation, so she stopped selling flatbread, disguised herself, and began selling porridge in the streets.
From then on, Wu Qi could only meet with Madame Wang to discuss matters.
When Madame Wang learned that Wu Qi wanted to deal with Du Tinglan, she sent word asking Wu Qi to steal some of Du Tinglan’s items, saying she would handle the rest and guarantee to soil Du Tinglan’s reputation.
“So your Second Miss didn’t know these two poetry drafts would end up in Lu Zhao’an’s hands?”
Jiao’er replied: “Second Miss didn’t know him before. That day, after she stole Miss Du’s poetry drafts and had them delivered to Madame Wang, Madame Wang quickly, replied that everything was arranged, but with so many people around, mistakes could happen. To ensure success, she told Second Miss to make additional preparations and, if necessary, frame the Peng family’s daughter, making sure to leave no traces.”
Hearing this, Peng Huayue immediately fixed Wu Qi with an accusing stare, while Peng Jinxiu’s eyes filled with hatred.
“How do you know these letter details so clearly?” Lin Chengyou asked with interest. “Even if your Second Miss trusted you, Madame Wang wouldn’t be so careless. You were just delivering messages – you couldn’t know these details unless… you read their letters secretly.”
Jiao’er nervously twisted her fingers.
“Why read your mistress’s letters?” Lin Chengyou asked curiously. “Was it because you became frightened after learning about Wu Second Miss plotting against her sister? Understandable – though you knew your mistress wasn’t clean-handed, she had never harmed her own family before. After this incident, you realized your mistress’s heart was completely rotten, so whenever you delivered their messages afterward, you’d secretly read them first. You did this not wanting to die without knowing why – someone who could harm their sister wouldn’t hesitate to deal with a personal maid.”
Jiao’er’s shoulders suddenly trembled as she prostrated herself on the ground.
“This servant… was very afraid, but… but not just because of what happened to First Miss. Even earlier, after learning about Li Ying’er’s death at Guoguo Temple being connected to them, this servant became terrified.”
“Li Ying’er’s death?”
Jiao’er nodded. During that time, because First Miss Wu and Young Master Zheng had broken their engagement, Wu Qi had been depressed daily. Jiao’er had thought Second Miss was upset about her sister’s humiliation but later learned the household was discussing having First Miss Wu participate in the selection. Historically, there had never been a precedent for two sisters simultaneously participating in the Crown Prince consort selection – if First Miss participated, Second Miss Wu would lose her chance.
Shortly before the academy reopened, Wu Qi suddenly acted unusually. Instead of sending a message through buying porridge, she disguised herself and went to see Madame Wang personally. The matter was so urgent that before Jiao’er could walk away, they began speaking inside.
“Weren’t you just supposed to steal her soul? Why did someone end up dead?”
Jiao’er held her breath upon hearing these words from outside the window.
Madame Wang said: “Something unexpected happened. There was a well in the temple – normally, after having her soul stolen, Li Ying’er would just remain unconscious. But that day, somehow she wandered to the well in her dazed state and fell in. We never anticipated this.”
Wu Qi: “But I heard that because the girl’s death was suspicious, Chang’an County sent the body to the Ministry of Justice! Now that the Ministry is involved, aren’t you worried they’ll trace it back to us?”
Madame Wang replied: “The Ministry has been secretly investigating this matter. Why not take this chance to create a series of connected cases? We already have a scapegoat lined up – we might as well make the whole thing untraceable. If you back out now, this girl’s death will be for nothing. Don’t you want to be the Crown Prince’s consort? Think about your current situation. Your sister broke off her engagement, and your father had a huge fight with the Zheng family over it. I hear Miss Zheng is also participating in the selection, and your father is determined to suppress the Zheng family. Your sister surpasses you in both beauty and talent – given how much your parents dote on her, you won’t have a chance at becoming Crown Prince’s consort—”
Suddenly, seeming to hear a slight noise outside, Madame Wang barked: “Didn’t you send your maid away?”
She shot out a silver thread, sharp as a blade, which barely missed Jiao’er’s nose. Jiao’er broke out in a cold sweat and fled stumbling away.
Though she had escaped Madame Wang’s immediate attack, Jiao’er knew she would eventually be silenced. Second Miss only kept her alive temporarily because she couldn’t find another trustworthy maid so quickly.
That night, Jiao’er began having nightmares.
Despite her fear, she had only heard fragments during the day and didn’t realize this incident was just the beginning.
Not until Miss Wu Xiang’s incident did she understand what Madame Wang meant by a “series of connected cases.”
If they had directly harmed Wu Xiang, the Ministry of Justice would quickly understand the culprit’s motive and focus their investigation on those close to First Miss Wu, easily exposing Second Miss.
But with Li Ying’er’s soul-stealing case preceding this one, it was different. Li Ying’er and Wu Xiang had no connection – when they were successively attacked using the same method, everyone would assume the culprit’s motive was collecting souls, and Wu Xiang was simply unfortunate to be chosen.
“After understanding the whole matter, this servant was not only scared but also felt very guilty. First Miss had always treated us servants kindly when she was in the mansion. If this servant had warned First Miss earlier, perhaps she wouldn’t have met with such misfortune. Seeing First Miss in her current confused state these days, this servant feels very uneasy.”
“If you’re so conscientious, why didn’t you tell your master earlier? Why did you continue helping your mistress harm Miss Du?”
“Because—” Jiao’er suddenly looked up, “Because Second Miss threatened this servant, saying if I revealed anything, Madame Wang would immediately use the same method to harm my parents and younger brother. She also told me she had many future tasks needing my help – besides me, she couldn’t trust anyone else. That’s why last time, even knowing I was eavesdropping outside, she didn’t let Madame Wang harm me. As long as I helped her become Crown Prince’s consort, I would receive endless benefits in the future. Of course, this servant didn’t care about these benefits, but I feared for my family’s safety.”
Lin Chengyou smiled. If she had wanted to inform them, Madame Wang’s side might not have received word in time. After all this talk, wealth and glory were still most important. The position of Crown Prince’s consort was just one step away from becoming Empress – this maid knew exactly what that meant. Combined with Wu Qi’s sweet talk, she couldn’t help but daydream. Truly worthy of being Wu Second Miss’s loyal servant – even while knowing she had compromised her conscience, she still tried to disguise it with words.
“You’re spewing vicious lies!” Wu Qi laughed in fury. “Is this how the Ministry of Justice handles cases? Taking deranged ramblings as testimony?”
Lin Chengyou beckoned to those behind him, and the yamen runners brought forward the boxes found beside Madame Wang.
“When we caught Madame Wang this morning, she didn’t have time to return home and destroy the evidence. Our search yielded some interesting items. This letterbox was hidden in a secret compartment in her room. It contains no letters from anyone else – only your handwritten letters to her.”
Lin Chengyou took out a letter box from the trunk and, in front of Wu Qi, removed one letter and slowly unfolded it.
Wu Qi’s face changed color the instant she saw it.
Lin Chengyou looked at her knowingly: “I know Nun Jingchen must have taught you a method to make ink disappear. By tampering with the ink, the writing would vanish within half a day. You were confident because you thought your letters wouldn’t leave any evidence. But what you never expected was that while Nun Jingchen and Madame Wang were manipulating and using you, they were also guarding against you. They made additional modifications to the ink they gave you – it would fade briefly but reappear within a day. All of this was to retain fatal evidence to threaten you later. The writing here is crystal clear, and handwriting comparison proves it’s yours.”
“Can’t handwriting be forged?” Wu Qi said through gritted teeth. “They bought off Jiao’er, so they could easily forge my handwriting—”
Lin Chengyou: “Such stubborn denial. Fortunately, Madame Wang was smarter than I expected. She knew what kind of person you were and knew that once exposed, you would deny everything completely. So one time, she gave you a piece of deerskin, claiming it was for soul-stealing, and had you draw your sister’s birthmarks and moles on it. Your sister has a mole the size of a mung bean between her toes – something even your mother doesn’t know about, nor do your sister’s maids. But you learned about it from your sister and used that special ink to draw detailed diagrams of all eleven birthmarks and moles on your sister’s body on the deerskin, including the one between her toes.”
These words caused an uproar like a massive stone dropped in still water. Handwriting could be imitated, but only the closest family members would know such intimate details about someone’s body.
Director Liu was visibly shaken, her face full of shock.
“What you didn’t know was that the deerskin had been specially treated. While you were drawing your sister’s marks, you left palm prints on the fabric that were invisible at first but would appear later. Whether you drew it yourself can be verified by comparing the palm prints.”
Wu Qi stared at the deerskin in horror.
Lin Chengyou sneered: “Surprised? Nun Jingchen had her people prepare this safeguard against you early on. It’s not unexpected – the moment you decided to deal with ‘evil spirits,’ you should have been prepared to pay their price. They helped you scheme to become Crown Prince’s consort through great effort, not to be betrayed by you later. Only by having irrefutable evidence could they keep you, Wu Second Miss, firmly under control. For all your scheming, you couldn’t outmaneuver the devil.”
He ordered people to bring the deerskin over to compare Wu Qi’s palm prints.
Wu Qi’s expression changed several times before she suddenly shouted: “Stay back!”
“If you still won’t admit it, there’s more evidence here. Do I need to show everything?”
The banquet fell silent as everyone held their breath watching Wu Qi. Beyond Director Liu’s and others’ shocked gazes, her classmates’ looks were more complex – disgust, shock, but mostly pity.
Wu Qi’s chest heaved violently before she lowered her eyes in annoyance: “There’s no need. I admit it. I did it.”
Before she finished speaking, a jade-faced young gentleman suddenly emerged from behind the western pavilion. Whether from extreme grief or bitter disappointment, his usually dignified appearance now looked as if he’d been punched hard – stumbling, pale-faced, and forgetting to kneel before the Emperor and Empress when he approached.
It was Wu Yuanluo. He had been there all along but had believed it was just a misunderstanding until he heard Wu Qi confess with his ears.
“You did it?” Wu Yuanluo stared intently at Wu Qi. “Why?! First Miss is your sister!”
“Why?” Wu Qi suddenly raised her voice. “Because you all forced me! Do you know why I went to make wishes and burn incense at Yuzhen Taoist Temple when I was ten? Because you all favored my sister! I wished for you to like me more, to not only have eyes for her. If not for that, how could Nun Jingchen have used this to lead me astray?!”
Wu Yuanluo seemed choked, suddenly speechless.
“Don’t you know how biased you and our parents were?” Wu Qi laughed coldly. “It was agreed that I would participate in the Crown Prince consort selection, but what happened? As soon as my sister’s engagement was broken, you immediately wanted to find her an even better match. Father said my looks and learning weren’t as good as hers and went straight to the throne to request changing the candidate to her! Do you know how many years I prepared for this moment? You destroyed everything without even asking me. None of you felt any guilt about it, and even your sister thought it was natural. What am I in this family? Do you have any heart at all?”
“But you never said you wanted to be in the Crown Prince consort selection,” Wu Yuanluo’s voice was like it had been scraped with sandpaper. “You said more than once that you wanted to choose your husband. When Father said you should participate in the selection, I thought you were unwilling and strongly opposed it.”
“That’s because I was used to hiding my true thoughts,” Wu Qi’s eyes were full of mockery. “When Father was just a minor official in the Ministry of Personnel, Minister Zheng was already an influential figure in court. He appreciated Father’s talents and wanted to arrange a marriage between our families. The Zheng family is one of the most prestigious in Chang’an, countless officials wanted to marry into their family. Though my sister and I are only a year apart, Father didn’t even consider me for the match. Even though the sister and Young Master Zheng had conflicts in their early years, even though they could only formally engage this year, Father was willing to wait at any cost. From that moment, I understood – the best things were all reserved for the most beloved eldest daughter. As the second daughter, I could only take what was left over.”
She laughed bitterly.
“And you—” Wu Qi said through gritted teeth, “You remember all of sister’s preferences, even remembering to add sesame to her candy. But when did you ever care about your second sister’s matters? That year when I got lost in the Yuzhen Temple maze, the nun had gone out temporarily, and only a few nuns who didn’t understand the mechanisms were there. They feared for my safety and hurried to send word to our family. I only hoped you, brother, would come quickly to save me, because there was no maze in this world you couldn’t solve. As it got darker, I became more and more frightened, but I never saw my brother come. In the end, it was the Crown Prince who happened to pass by, heard someone was trapped in the temple, and came in to lead me out.”
At this point, Wu Qi couldn’t help but look toward the Crown Prince at the banquet. The Crown Prince seemed somewhat surprised and confused, clearly having forgotten this early experience.
Though Wu Qi’s gaze rested on the Crown Prince for just a moment, it revealed a complex mix of tender emotions.
Teng Yu’yi watched Wu Qi coldly, her heart gradually turning to ice.
So that was it.
She had countless times tried to guess the motives of the black-cloaked figure who harmed her in her previous life. Although she had recently guessed it was because the Crown Prince wanted to marry her, she hadn’t realized other complex emotions were involved.
Wu Qi’s obsession with marrying the Crown Prince wasn’t just about surpassing her sister – there was also a sense of possessiveness.
She remembered in her previous life when she and Deng Wu were summoned to Daming Palace for an audience, the Empress had only awarded eight bolts of silk each to Deng Weili and Wu Qi, but gave her the highly prized Karpura incense, known as the “king of medicines.”
Wu Qi’s murderous intent toward her must have taken root at that moment. After that, when the Crown Prince repeatedly inquired about her situation and declared he would marry her after her mourning period, these messages reaching Wu Qi’s ears transformed that buried murderous intent into actual action.
She remembered there were no such powerful evil forces in her previous life. Xiaoya had once said this might be related to the calamities brought by defying heaven’s will. At that time, the nun hadn’t been exposed, and Wu Qi had already colluded with her, so the black-cloaked figure that night was very likely sent by the nun at Wu Qi’s request.
These people all had their schemes, but their goal was unified: helping Wu Qi become Crown Prince’s consort.
As for Deng Weili, Father had said that while the Emperor intended to elevate officials who supported pacifying the barbarians, Minister Deng strongly opposed it. To suppress the anti-pacification faction at court, Deng Weili’s hopes of becoming Crown Prince’s consort were very slim.
This meant that as long as they eliminated her, Wu Qi would be the only remaining candidate for Crown Prince’s consort.
So their target was clear – they entered the mansion and immediately moved to kill her.
Whether in her previous life or this one, this Wu Qi was extremely vicious.
Killing her in the previous life, and harming her sister in this one.
Teng Yu’yi unconsciously clenched her palms. She hated it, she wanted to tear this devil before her to pieces.
She felt grieved, grieved that she had died unjustly at the hands of such a person. In her previous life, she was just an orphan – her mother died early, her father was gone, and because of this conspiracy, even her right to live on her own was taken away.
Wu Yuanluo clearly understood the emotions in his sister’s eyes and said through gritted teeth: “Why didn’t you tell your brother earlier?!”
“Would you have helped me if I told you?” Wu Qi sneered. “No, you would still have given the best to sister. No one in this world could help me. I could only rely on myself!”
Lin Chengyou coldly snorted: “So anyone who might hinder you from becoming Crown Prince’s consort, you had to eliminate one by one? That’s why you plotted against your sister, framed Miss Deng, schemed against Miss Du, and even plotted against Miss Teng at Mount Li?”
At this point, he unconsciously glanced at Teng Yu’yi, surprisingly finding her looking at Wu Qi with intense hatred, a hatred so deep as if a long-sought enemy had unexpectedly appeared before her. Yet there was also a sense of sorrow, like an unresolvable grief weighing on her heart. Lin Chengyou was stunned – such strong emotions couldn’t simply be because her sister was nearly harmed by this person—