Chapter 106 The law could not deliver justice for her…

Back at the manor, Yan Yi didn't have time to explain to Pei Jingyi before hurriedly pulling Shen Lingyue aside to talk.

They found an empty room at random, locked the door, and then Yan Yi spoke: "That girl is indeed a maid from Prince An's villa."

Shen Lingyue rubbed her hands together nervously and asked, "What else did you see? How did she die?"

Yan Yi frowned, a rare hint of anger on her face.

"She accidentally stumbled upon Prince An having an affair with another woman, which led to her being arrested and drugged. She managed to escape when her guards weren't looking, but the drug took effect when she reached the riverbank, causing her to fall into the water and die."

Just as the maid was pulled ashore, Yan Yi felt as if countless needles were piercing her mind, as if she had "possessed" the maid herself and experienced death again from her perspective at ten times the speed.

The deep-seated fear and despair were like a raging river that overwhelmed her, until she completely lost consciousness.

Shen Lingyue hugged Yan Yi with heartache, gently stroking her slightly trembling back, and said angrily, "This cheat is really unpredictable, why is it using an immersive first-person perspective?"

Would it be good if zero people wanted this kind of experience?

Yan Yi leaned against her chest and calmed down quietly for a while until the warmth from Xiao Yue Liang's body reached her.

Shen Lingyue finally had the mind to complain about Prince An: "No, is he out of his mind? Even if he takes a fancy to a woman, he can just bring her into the palace, why does he have to do this sneaky thing? And what if the maids see him? Aren't these Heavenly Dragons used to having servants serving them at all times?"

Prince An and Princess An have been missing their son terribly for so many years. Even Princess An herself has taken several concubines for him. She's not the kind of jealous woman who can't tolerate others, so why bother?

She snapped her fingers, then suddenly realized, "Could it be because the woman having an affair with Prince An is of unusual status and cannot be known, so he wants to silence the maid?"

Yan Yi nodded approvingly, her expression complex: "Do you still remember the Eighth Prince who was taken in and raised by Consort Gao in the timeline of the Hengwang Palace Coup?"

Shen Lingyue's eyes widened slightly: "Could it be..."

"That's right, the woman who had an affair with Prince An is Consort Wang, who has not yet entered the palace and will be the birth mother of the Eighth Prince in the future."

Shen Lingyue gasped, "My God, if that's the case, then Prince An has cuckolded the old emperor? And who exactly is the Eighth Prince's child?"

Yan Yi shook her head, "I don't know either. I only saw the woman's face from the perspective of a maid, and then I immediately recognized her as the future Consort Wang."

Shen Lingyue stroked her chin and muttered, "Maybe the Eighth Prince really is the old emperor's son. Otherwise, how come Prince An couldn't have a son after trying for so many years, but the woman he sent to the palace could give birth?"

"What if the timing of Consort Wang's pregnancy was very subtle?"

Yan Yi reminded her: "If Prince An firmly believes that Consort Wang is carrying his son and is wholeheartedly paving the way for him, first having Consort Gao adopt the Eighth Prince, and then finding a way to create a will for the Eighth Prince's ascension to the throne, wouldn't that make sense?"

Otherwise, judging from their limited interactions with Consort Gao, she certainly didn't seem like the kind of ambitious and power-hungry concubine. Why would she want to get involved in the power struggle?

"Perhaps it's because... Consort Gao and Prince An also have an unspeakable relationship?"

Shen Lingyue laughed at herself after she finished speaking, shaking her head repeatedly, "Did Prince An get some kind of Mary Sue male lead script? How come all the old emperor's concubines love him?"

For some reason, Shen Lingyue had an instinctive dislike for Prince An and was eager to tear off his hypocritical mask.

She looked at Yan Yi with pleading eyes: "What can we do now? Should we seek justice for this maid, or stop Consort Wang from entering the palace and prevent the old emperor from being cuckolded?"

If Consort Wang hadn't entered the palace, there would have been no Eighth Prince, no Noble Consort Gao holding the imperial edict, and no Prince Heng breaking into the palace at night... Doesn't this all make sense?

But the death of this maid... Shen Lingyue sighed.

Human life is worthless. What does it matter if a high and mighty prince kills a little maid?

"Ha ha ha ha!"

A familiar shout came from outside the window, startling Shen Lingyue. She pushed open the back window and yelled at Wei Bo'er, "Instead of comforting your wife, you're just here to scare me!"

Wait, is that a fox calling?

Shen Lingyue seemed to be deep in thought, then turned to Yan Yi and said, "Perhaps there is a way to prevent this maid from dying in vain."

Yan Yi thought for a moment, then quickly caught up with her train of thought and said softly, "The rise of Great Chu, Chen Sheng as king?"

Shen Lingyue chuckled, "I knew it! Yan Yan and I are truly on the same wavelength!"

"What kind of spiritual connection?"

Pei Jingyi and Pei Jinghuai walked over from the front, both of them carrying a chilling aura.

Yan Yi's eyes lit up, and she stepped forward to greet her: "Have you examined her body?"

Pei Jingyi nodded, then looked troubled: "I am not very proficient in the art of coroner's examination. I can only tell that she was poisoned before she died, and that she did not commit suicide by drowning as the steward said."

He inserted a silver needle into the woman's throat; the needle tip turned black. Furthermore, there were no traces of weeds or mud in the woman's mouth or nose, leading to the conclusion that she was either unconscious or dead when she fell into the water.

Pei Jinghuai bluntly exposed him, "Actually, he was too embarrassed to undress the girl, so that's all he could find."

Pei Jingyi gave him a cold look. "How dare you? Why don't you go and take off her clothes?"

Pei Jinghuai was startled and quickly denied it: "I don't know anything about autopsies, why would I take advantage of her?"

Besides, the only girl he's ever seen in his life is his wife...

Pei Jingyi cleared his throat and explained to Yan Yi with a serious expression: "If I were really a coroner, it would be fine. In order to find out the truth, it doesn't matter whether the corpse is male or female. But it would be inappropriate to take off the clothes to examine it rashly."

"Yes, I understand."

Yan Yi looked at the man who dared to perform an autopsy for her sake, her eyes shimmering with gentle tenderness. "Thank you for your trouble today, my husband."

Pei Jingyi seized the opportunity to grab her hand and asked softly, "What else do you want to do next? How about I have the steward find a thin coffin in a nearby village so she can be laid to rest as soon as possible?"

Yan Yi's expression turned solemn. After a moment of silence, she said, "What if she was poisoned on the orders of Prince An? Even if she was just a maid, does that mean she died in vain?"

Even though she had lived here for more than a year and gotten used to the life of being waited on hand and foot, Yan Yi still couldn't accept this world with its strict class system and where human life was as worthless as grass.

She knew that Xiaoyueliang was the same as her; they had always treated the maids and servants around them as servants who were paid a monthly salary, and it was an employment relationship, not a master-slave relationship.

At least she couldn't just stand by and watch an innocent little girl be killed so easily, like crushing an ant, simply because she stumbled upon the family's secrets.

Before she sold herself into slavery, she was a person.

Pei Jingyi looked at her seriously, "Do you want to report this to the authorities?"

He always knew that Yan Yi was different from other young ladies from wealthy families.

Si Xiang and Dian Cha had served in Jiu Si Yuan for so many years, yet they became devoted to Yan Yi not long after she married into the family. This cannot be simply summarized as "effective management of subordinates".

Because in her eyes they are real, living people, not objects to be beaten, scolded, bought, sold, or delivered at will.

Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if Yan Yi had had too difficult a time in the Zhou family and hadn't developed the haughty demeanor of a noble lady, which was why she could so easily interact with the maids and servants in the mansion as an equal.

He admitted he couldn't do that, but he also felt that she was good as she was.

What he wanted was not some rich and noble lady, but his A-Tan, who was pleasing to the eye in every way, as if God had tailored the perfect wife for him.

Give me one night.

Yan Yi's voice pulled him back to reality. She assured him, "I need to think about it carefully and I'll give you an answer tomorrow morning."

Pei Jingyi nodded without hesitation, "Whatever you want to do, Madam, I will obey you."

Yan Yi chuckled softly, then said to Pei Jinghuai, "Second brother, may I borrow A-Yue for one night?"

"……ah?"

Before Pei Jinghuai could react, Shen Lingyue had already rushed to Yan Yi's side, hugged her tightly, and laughed, "I'm willing, I'm willing! Don't even mention lending it to you, I'd give it to you!"

Pei Jingyi turned his head away in disgust.

There's no need for that; Jiusi Academy doesn't welcome you.

...

Late at night, the two secretly went to the empty room where the body was kept. As soon as they pushed open the door, a chilling aura rushed out.

Shen Lingyue shivered and asked Yan Yi tremblingly, "Why is it so cold in the room? Is it because her resentment hasn't dissipated...?"

Yan Yi took out a tinderbox and lit a candle, then calmly said, "Pei Jingyi had ice placed in the room. Don't scare yourself."

Shen Lingyue breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt that her current position was quite surreal.

She used to be a little girl who couldn't even look at a corpse, but now she dares to sneak into the morgue in the middle of the night, and later she'll be...

Are you scared?

Yan Yi held a candle in his hand and turned to look at her. The dim light of the candle cast an unpredictable glow on her face, making her seem somewhat ghostly.

She said to Shen Lingyue, "Just remember, we are here to do good deeds, and we will not let her die in vain."

Shen Lingyue looked ahead and saw the corpse covered with a white sheet, lying there quietly.

She took a deep breath and nodded seriously, "That's right, the one who should really be afraid is Prince An."

How can he kill someone and then act as if nothing happened, enjoying wealth and luxury?

Since the law could not give her justice, they decided to use their own methods to get it back for her.

Yan Yi walked to the long table, lifted the white cloth, and bowed slightly to her.

"I'm sorry."

...

"You mean you two brothers went fishing at the manor, but ended up catching a maid, or maybe a runaway slave from Prince An's villa?"

Emperor Qingxi looked at Pei Jingyi standing below with great interest. "And then? Is such a trivial matter worth you coming to the palace?"

"Your Majesty is wise; a mere maidservant is indeed nothing."

Pei Jingyi's face was solemn, and he said slowly, "It was my wife who was kind-hearted and could not bear to see that maid's body exposed in the wilderness, so she had someone bring her back to the manor and find an auspicious day to bury her and let her rest in peace."

"As it turned out, during the funeral procession, strange noises came from inside the coffin. When it was opened, the maid was bleeding from all seven orifices and spitting out golden pills."

Pei Jingyi took out something wrapped in a white handkerchief from his sleeve, placed it on the tray held by the little eunuch beside him, and bowed to Emperor Qingxi.

"There was a note hidden in the golden pill. After reading it, I dared not delay and immediately sent it to the palace."

Emperor Qingxi finally showed some interest and beckoned to the eunuch to bring the golden pill forward.

The thought that this thing was dug out of a dead person's mouth made him frown, and he said to the little eunuch, "Read it to me."

The eunuchs who served Emperor Qingxi were all literate and educated in the Imperial Academy.

The young eunuch broke the golden pill in half, carefully took out the note inside, unfolded it, and, after composing himself, read aloud: "The bluebird pecks at the dragon's crown, the white python devours Chang'an. The setting sun and the swallow return, the black armor cleaves the earth... Your Majesty, spare my life!"

As he read on, he realized something was wrong, and he knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for mercy.

Emperor Qingxi's face instantly turned cold and icy, his sharp gaze fixed intently on Pei Jingyi.

"How dare you!"

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Author's Note: [Let me see] There's a riddle hidden in the prophecy. Take a guess! The answer will be revealed tomorrow~

And Pei Da will be fine, don't worry! [Sprinkling flowers]