"Sir, the carriage from the Princess's Mansion is coming."
Soon, Suningan was the first to get off the carriage.
When Qi Lianli saw Su Ning'an coming with half a mask on, he was surprised for a moment. Why was he wearing a mask?
"Master Qi?"
Su Xingyi saw Qi Lianli staring at Su Ning'an and couldn't help but call out softly.
"Master Su, please come in quickly, I have arranged for someone to go to the backyard to invite Song Linyuan."
Xiao Lingyu continued walking, "It would be more convenient to discuss things directly in the backyard."
"This way, please."
The closer he got to the backyard, the heavier Su Ning'an's steps became.
That guy Song Linyuan will see his true face today...
"The courtyard in front is where Mr. Linyuan is staying."
Following Qi Lianli's voice, Su Ning'an saw four yamen runners guarding the gate. He quickly reached out and pulled Xiao Lingyu to a stop. "Father, Mother, I won't go in yet. I'll wait outside the courtyard. I'll go in when you need me."
Qi Lianli was even more confused. Why did he feel that Young Master An didn't dare to go in?
Xiao Lingyu nodded and said, "Then you should stay outside the courtyard and wait for mother to call you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the gate in front of him creaked open, and Su Ning'an quickly dodged behind a tree trunk nearby.
Song Linyuan only saw a shadow flash by and didn't pay much attention to it. He bowed to Xiao Lingyu and others.
"Greetings to the Princess, the Prince, and Mr. Qi."
"Okay, let's go in and talk."
Qi Lianli was the last one to enter the yard. Before entering, he glanced at Su Ningan who was hiding behind a tree trunk.
If he didn't know that Linyuan Junshi only had one daughter, he would have suspected that Young Master An was his son.
"All of you retreat!"
Qi Lianli shouted loudly outside, and all the yamen runners guarding inside and outside the courtyard retreated.
After the bailiff left, Su Ning'an stepped back from behind the tree trunk, moved himself to the gate of the courtyard, gently opened a crack in the door and looked inside.
Song Linyuan stood sideways in the warm pavilion, the winter sun covering half of his body, as if there was a halo over him.
The little eyebrows under the mask frowned in disgust. No wonder my mother fell in love with this guy back then. He is really a hypocritical guy with only superficial appearance.
It seems that we can't judge people by appearance alone.
"Princess, if you have anything to ask me, please feel free to ask me. I will tell you everything I know."
Xiao Lingyu looked around but didn't see any trace of Song Hua. Since he was an unimportant person, he didn't pay much attention to him. "You said you would tell me everything you know and not hide anything, right?"
"Yes! Princess, please feel free to ask any questions."
"I've arranged for people to secretly gather evidence regarding the rumors about Baili Qingluan a few days ago. The investigation has been somewhat difficult, and we haven't found the rumored dungeon in the Zhenbei General's Mansion..."
Xiao Lingyu paused, glanced at Song Linyuan's calm expression, and continued:
"The servants at the Zhenbei General's Mansion all said that Princess Xirong has been staying at Jinxiu Garden to recuperate since she suffered injuries during childbirth. She was so generous as to give you a concubine to serve you. Even your daughter is being taken care of by Madam Yu..."
Hearing this, Song Linyuan frowned slightly.
He knew that his father had ordered the demolition of the dungeon in the middle of the lake on the day Baili Qingluan left, but he didn't know that all the servants in the mansion had agreed to this. He thought it was her mother's doing.
The servant who had witnessed Qingluan being detained in the dungeon in the middle of the lake probably couldn't speak anymore.
"...your servants all say that although the Third Wife is the Princess of Xirong, she doesn't have the airs of a princess. She's tolerant and generous, and she's clear about rewards and punishments. She never scolds or mistreats her servants. They've admired Baili Qingluan immensely for years, but they never imagined that this was all a deception she'd created to steal military secrets. They all hate her to the core and even sneer at her. She even abandoned her own child. She's cold-blooded, heartless, and vicious... These statements, it seems, are just rumors..."
"Princess!" Qi Lianli suddenly interrupted Xiao Lingyu excitedly, "I've always said that the rumors can't be true. How could the Song family, with their generations of loyalty, treat the Princess of Xirong so harshly? The Xirong royal family must have spread such rumors just to justify their actions..."
Seeing Qi Lianli looking at Song Linyuan with eyes as passionate as a fan looking at his idol, Xiao Lingyu couldn't help but sneer in his heart.
Later, Mr. Linyuan will be pulled down from the altar and his character will collapse. Lord Qi, please don’t cry!
Su Xingyi looked at Qi Lianli's admiration for Song Linyuan and frowned in disdain.
How did Lord Qi, who doesn't look very bright, become the governor of a county?
Qi Lianli noticed the gazes of the two people, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly shut his mouth.
Xiao Lingyu turned around and looked at Song Linyuan, "I came here today just to ask you, is Baili Qingluan really a cold-blooded, heartless, and vicious person who doesn't even care about his own children?"
Su Ning'an stared at Song Linyuan. If he dared to slander his mother again, he would blow his head off!
"Qingluan is not a malicious person. It's just that the Western Rong invaded not long after Qingluan left. These words are just a resentment from the servants. They are not to be taken seriously."
Song Linyuan's eyes flashed with the image of Baili Qingluan lying in the dungeon with her feet tied, looking extremely weak, and his face showed a look of heartache and guilt.
"Qingluan is kind, simple-minded, gentle and generous to others. She loves me wholeheartedly and has traveled thousands of miles to Beiyi to marry me. It is I who have wronged her and promoted her to be a co-wife. I was the one who betrayed her first."
Xiao Lingyu looked at his guilty expression, a sneer appeared at the corner of his lips. Now that he realized his mistake, it was too late.
"They say a mother is strong. How could there be a mother in this world who doesn't love her own children? Although my children are not my biological children, I love them very much and pamper them as if they were my own. I really can't understand how Baili Qingluan wouldn't love the children she carried for ten months. If my husband's family treats me badly in the future, I will not only divorce him, but also take the children with me."
Su Xingyi was shocked. His wife took the child and left without him. The scene was scary to think about!
He must be good to Xiaoyu and cannot let this happen!
"As your daughter's biological mother, Baili Qingluan should have taken the child with her even if she had to leave the Song family and return to Xirong. She actually doesn't want the child. I think this is totally unreasonable."
"Princess," Qi Lianli interrupted inappropriately, "There are also parents who don't love their children. There are many parents who sell their children. Baili Qingluan came here as a spy. For her grand ambitions for the Xirong royal family, it makes perfect sense for her to give birth to a child she doesn't love in order to confuse the Song family."
"Master Qi, do you firmly believe in the official document issued by the court?"
"Didn't you just say that the Song family doesn't have the dungeon where Baili Qingluan is imprisoned as rumored? Now that everything has been verified, Baili Qingluan is a spy."
"Ha..." Xiao Lingyu pursed his lips and chuckled softly. "I can't find anything at the Song Mansion, but I've found some clues outside the Song Mansion. My people found notes from the Xirong Darong Bank in an underground bank. The other party exchanged them for 10,000 taels of silver. We tracked down the notes and discovered that Zhang, the accountant of the Fuyun Restaurant in the capital, suddenly had tens of thousands of taels of silver and bought a house worth several thousand taels in the suburbs of Beijing... Song Linyuan, can you guess who this accountant Zhang's mother is?"
Song Linyuan suddenly felt something was wrong. There were so many servants in the mansion, how could he know?
"Song doesn't know, please tell me clearly, Princess."
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