Qing Luo and Han Yan were merely young Taoist novices who came down from Longhu Mountain. Although they followed at her side, ordinarily they were only used as maids, mostly staying within the inner quarters. The people who had seen them and knew they served at her side were limited. Most were people around her. And those who could know that Qing Luo and Han Yan had committed offenses and been sent back to Longhu Mountain by Zhou Weizhao, knew the specific timing, and could opportunely build bridges and fan flames to get Qing Luo and Han Yan to help—there were even fewer.
Qing Luo and Han Yan had even less ability to know that Vice Minister Wang was Han Zhengqing’s man, and thus find Vice Minister Wang to actively seek to betray her. Someone must have deliberately stirred things up in front of them, then instigated them to go. Even if they had been targeted by Vice Minister Wang, someone still had to tell Vice Minister Wang these two girls’ identities and inform Vice Minister Wang that they would return to Longhu Mountain together with the Feathered Forest Guard before Vice Minister Wang could have an opportunity to exploit.
Vice Minister Wang said in the Zhao Prison that these two girls had actively sought him out. Since he hadn’t actively sought them, someone must have had these two approach him. And who this person was, Song Chuyi was very interested to know.
Qing Luo and Han Yan exchanged glances, retreating two steps somewhat fearfully.
The fear in their eyes was far too obvious. Song Chuyi’s brows moved slightly, her beautiful eyes staring at them with calm composure: “At this point, if you don’t speak, I still won’t possibly spare you. Either way it’s death. If you speak, I might still leave you your lives. Why not speak?”
Between Qing Luo and Han Yan, the one who always made decisions was the more opinionated Qing Luo. Therefore Song Chuyi’s gaze settled on Qing Luo. But this time, the first to step forward was not Qing Luo. Han Yan gave a cold laugh with some mockery and opened her mouth: “We’ve followed Miss for more than just a day or two. What kind of person Miss is, don’t we know clearly? Miss is not someone who leaves people room. We’ve violated Miss’s taboos. Miss won’t spare us.”
Qing Ying’s anger rose, speaking in a rapid string of words: “What kind of person Miss is, why don’t you explain? Whether Miss leaves people room or not I’m not clear about, but I can see crystal clear that you two are ungrateful wolves. Constantly saying how Miss is this or that, I can’t see where Miss has wronged you at all. I only see you colluding with outsiders, turning your elbows outward to harm Miss!”
Han Yan was very indignant, her pretty face flushed red with anger, looking at Song Chuyi with resentment in her eyes: “If you leave people room, why did you have His Highness drive us away? We after all also served His Highness—”
Song Chuyi was somewhat impatient, lightly setting down the teacup in her hand: “I came not to hear your complaints. You’d best tell me exactly who provided you convenience, who connected you with Vice Minister Wang.”
Both Qing Luo and Han Yan remained silent.
Song Chuyi then laughed once.
This laugh was clearly as light as a feather, yet brushing across the heart it was like an ice cellar in deep winter, freezing people until they couldn’t help shivering.
“Won’t speak?” Song Chuyi slightly lowered her head, no longer looking at Qing Luo and Han Yan’s expressions: “Previously, Celestial Master’s wife entrusted me that if I had news of you, to spare your lives. Your parents miss you terribly and asked me to be absolutely merciful.”
Both Qing Luo and Han Yan were children of Celestial Master Zhang’s junior disciples on Longhu Mountain. Calculating the generations with Zhou Weizhao, they were even of the same generation. Precisely because their origins were also considered quite good, their ambitions grew even larger. When they discovered reality wasn’t as beautiful as their expectations, they became even more unwilling to accept it.
Song Chuyi looked at both their pale faces, her tone neither cold nor warm, extremely flat: “At the time I also felt there was nothing wrong with it. After all, what you did not only failed to bring me down, but also allowed me to follow the vine to find the melon and pull out many of Prince Gong’s moles—even big fish like the Heir of Marquis Guangping were hauled ashore. But now, I regret it.”
The four words “I regret it” shocked Qing Luo and Han Yan until their faces lost all color. Of course they knew Song Chuyi was someone who did what she said, and they knew Song Chuyi’s methods—making them wish for death rather than life was secondary. With Song Chuyi’s status, there were plenty of ways to make their parents suffer misfortune as well.
Song Chuyi had already stood up. Only then did the two of them belatedly know fear. Shocked with cold hands and feet, they lunged forward, clutching Qing Ying’s legs to block Song Chuyi, staring with both eyes at her: “My parents are innocent…”
Song Chuyi smiled gently: “If I had suffered misfortune because of this lone star of calamity matter, our entire Song family would have been implicated along with me. And my relatives are also innocent. When you betrayed me, you didn’t think of my relatives either.”
She stopped and looked down at them from above: “However, for the sake of Celestial Master’s wife, I’ll ask you one more time. Who connected you, who told you to go find Vice Minister Wang?”
Han Yan was somewhat tougher than Qing Luo, stiffening her body and refusing to speak. Instead, Qing Luo’s face paled first. She pressed her lips together, and after much deliberation, looked up at Song Chuyi: “If I tell the truth, can Miss let bygones be bygones?”
Qing Ying was somewhat annoyed, feeling that Qing Luo and Han Yan were extremely difficult. Having done wrong themselves, they had a whole basket of conditions to negotiate with people.
Before Song Chuyi could respond, Ziyun came in from outside. She first glanced at Qing Luo and Han Yan kneeling on the ground, then stepped forward and said to Song Chuyi: “Your Highness, a message came from the palace saying that the Empress has fallen ill.”
Before she left the palace today, she had gone to pay her respects to Empress Lu, and at that time everything had been fine. How could something happen as soon as she left the palace? Song Chuyi raised her eyebrows. Thinking that Prince Dongping and Prince Consort Ye Jingkuan had returned to the capital today, she understood somewhat. She nodded and was about to leave.
Only then did Qing Luo truly become afraid. She lunged forward trying to grab Song Chuyi, calling out “Miss” in a somewhat shrill voice.
Song Chuyi stopped, looking down at her: “Don’t negotiate conditions with me again. If you don’t speak, neither you nor your parents will have a good ending.”
She had once given Qing Luo and Han Yan many choices, and had once told them that if they followed her, they were her people. But these two seemed more like they wanted to use her as a stepping stone to get close to Zhou Weizhao, and then betrayed her from within—harming her would also bring misfortune to Zhou Weizhao who was to marry her, yet these two seemed completely oblivious to this. Talking about liking Zhou Weizhao, what they really liked most was themselves.
For such foolish people who only cared about themselves, Song Chuyi had no mood to negotiate conditions with them. She could turn back and have Lai Chenglong interrogate them, or have Changgui and others help—she could still get answers the same way.