“Yes.” After responding thus, the two men stood facing each other. The long-faced man made a palm-striking motion, and the other said: “Why are you hitting me for no reason?”

The long-faced man said nothing, only waved his hand again. The other man grabbed his wrist and said: “What’s wrong?”

The long-faced man glared at him fiercely and said: “Tell me honestly, can light bamboo leaves really cause miscarriage and premature birth?”

“Of course not, didn’t I explain this clearly to you last time?”

The long-faced man put on a hateful expression and said through gritted teeth: “Yes, you did tell me yesterday, but I never imagined that you had been deceiving me all along. Ding Yang, you lied to me!”

…

…

As their words continued, Xiuzhu and Ding Yang’s faces grew increasingly pale. These two men had repeated their earlier conversation word for word. Those two trees were quite a distance from where they had been standing – even if they had been hiding behind those trees from the beginning, it would have been impossible to hear their conversation so clearly. It was simply… simply like seeing ghosts!

“It’s simple. You just need to act as before, insisting that this matter was Yang Fei’s doing, and persuade the Princess Consort to execute Yang Fei!” After finishing this sentence, the man bowed to Yunyi and said: “After this sentence, the two Ladies appeared.”

“Very good.” Yunyi nodded with satisfaction, looking down at Xiuzhu who was filled with shock and horror: “What more do you have to say?”

While Xiuzhu was at a loss, Ding Yang suddenly interjected: “They were so far away, how could they possibly hear what Xiuzhu and I said, and so clearly? They’re obviously making it up, deliberately trying to harm us.”

Yunyi smiled slightly: “You’re quite right – being so far away, they indeed couldn’t hear clearly, so they used their eyes to see.”

“See?” Ding Yang recalled Yunyi’s earlier words and seemed to understand something: “They can read lips?”

Yunyi spread her cloud-like sleeves and said indifferently: “Correct. Although the best lip reading master in Chang’an City was invited by the Crown Prince to the Eastern Palace, he’s not the only one in Chang’an who knows lip reading.”

Ding Yang tried hard to recall what had just happened. When he and Xiuzhu were talking, no one had appeared, which meant these two lip reading masters had been hiding behind the trees even before they arrived. And Zhangsun Shi and Yunyi appearing here, all these things indicated…

A flash of insight struck Ding Yang’s mind, and he blurted out: “You already anticipated that Xiuzhu and I would come here?”

Yunyi said nothing, only turning her gaze to Zhangsun Shi. The latter took a deep breath and stared at the anxious and uneasy Xiuzhu: “Do you think I really fainted last night? No, I was pretending all along.”

“Ah?!” Xiuzhu cried out, staring at Zhangsun Shi in disbelief: “Miss, you… why did you do this?”

Zhangsun Shi said tearfully: “If not for this, how could I force you to meet Ding Yang, and how would I know who really killed my child? Xiuzhu, how could you do such a thing?”

“No, I’m not, I didn’t!” The more Xiuzhu wanted to explain clearly, the more incoherent she became, until she bit down hard on her tongue tip and used the sharp pain to regain some clarity, saying tearfully: “This servant never thought of harming the young prince. It was Ding Yang… he deceived this servant, saying light bamboo leaves would only disturb the fetal qi, not cause miscarriage. This servant fell for his trick!”

The lip reading masters had already explained the circumstances, but Zhangsun Shi still found it difficult to accept. She had regarded Xiuzhu as a sister, yet it was Xiuzhu who had single-handedly pushed her into the abyss of pain and nearly caused her to wrongfully kill an innocent person.

Jixiang sneered: “Your ability to cry thief while being the thief is truly impressive. If not for the Princess Consort’s keen investigation, plus having seen the handkerchief Ding Yang carried, my princess would have died at your hands!” Thinking of how she had pressured Zhangsun Shi to execute Yunyi these past two days filled her with rage.

Ding Yang asked in bewilderment: “Handkerchief? What handkerchief?”

Yunyi stared at him: “Do you remember several days ago, when you accidentally collided with Jixiang at the Eastern Palace?” After Ding Yang nodded, she continued: “At that time, you accidentally dropped a handkerchief. I saw the character ‘Xiu’ on that handkerchief, and later I saw the same character on Xiuzhu’s handkerchief. I determined that you and Xiuzhu must have some connection, so I had Ruyi secretly follow Xiuzhu. Sure enough, I saw you two meeting here, but unfortunately we were too far away to hear what you were saying.”

Ding Yang was enlightened while secretly annoyed at his own carelessness, but it was too late to say anything now: “So from that time on, you already knew that we were the ones who caused the Princess Consort’s miscarriage?”

“I wouldn’t say I was certain, only suspicious.” After a pause, Yunyi continued: “After Xiuzhu parted from you, she went to a medicine shop to inquire about light bamboo leaves. Although I didn’t understand what connection this heat-clearing and irritation-removing light bamboo leaf had with the Princess Consort’s miscarriage, since Xiuzhu specifically went to ask about it, there must be some relationship, so I secretly kept it in mind.”

Xiuzhu said dully: “Besides clearing heat and removing irritation, light bamboo leaves also have the effect of causing miscarriage. But that medicine shop owner had only superficial knowledge of light bamboo leaves, making me believe Ding Yang’s words and think that Miss’s premature birth had nothing to do with this, that it was Yang Fei who poisoned the pastries. That’s why I kept urging Miss to kill Yang Fei.”

“The medicine shop owner didn’t deceive you – light bamboo leaves indeed have no miscarriage-inducing effects.” Yunyi’s words astonished Xiuzhu greatly: “But last night that physician clearly said…”

Zhangsun Shi said coldly: “The fainting, the physician, writing the wrong prescription – all of this was a trap set by Yang Fei and me.”

“Fake… a trap…” Xiuzhu murmured, her eyes suddenly brightening as she said urgently: “Since light bamboo leaves have no miscarriage-inducing effects, then the young prince wasn’t killed by me?”

Jixiang rolled her eyes: “Are you going to say again that my princess poisoned the pastries?”

Though Xiuzhu said nothing, Jixiang could tell from her expression that she had guessed correctly. Feeling angry, she shook her head repeatedly. Just as she was about to speak, Yunyi raised her hand to stop her, then walked to the panicked Ding Yang and said slowly: “Xiuzhu doesn’t know, but you should be clear about it.”

“I… I don’t know anything.” Though Ding Yang desperately denied it, his expression had already betrayed everything. Yunyi glanced at Duan Zhihong standing behind them, who understood and came before Ding Yang. Before the latter could react, a steel blade crafted by skilled artisans was placed horizontally across his neck, ready to break skin and drink blood at any moment.

Ding Yang had never seen such a scene before and was so frightened that his whole body trembled as he said in panic: “Don’t… don’t kill me, please don’t kill me!”

Duan Zhihong said expressionlessly: “If you don’t want to die, then confess truthfully!”

Under his coercion, Ding Yang reluctantly said: “Ordinary light bamboo leaves indeed won’t cause miscarriage, but those over ten years old are another matter entirely.”

Yunyi frowned: “You’re saying that light bamboo leaf root stems that have grown for ten years can cause miscarriage? That is, the ones you gave to Xiuzhu?”