Everyone turned to look at the maid.
Su Xuening recognized the maid; she was the one who cleaned her courtyard, and it seemed she was a servant girl.
Xuanyuan Peng also gestured with his chin toward the maid: "Tell me, how do you determine this?"
Although nervous, the maid still answered politely, "I've done embroidery with Sister Baiqin before. Sister Baiqin's embroidery skills are superb. To distinguish her work from ours, she would embroider the character 'qin' into the pattern on the back of her embroidery. Sister Baiqin said that this embroidery technique is extremely advanced and only she knows it; no one else can learn it. Please check the back of that money pouch to see if you see Sister Baiqin's name. That will tell you if it's Sister Baiqin's money pouch."
The maid's words made Bai Qin's heart leap into her throat. She stared at the maid in shock, never expecting that her display of skill would completely cut off her lifeline.
Su Feiling was aware of Bai Qin's habit, and her expression immediately changed drastically.
Upon hearing what the maid said, Zong Jiu immediately turned the money pouch in his hand over and, sure enough, saw the character "琴" (qin, meaning zither) in the pattern on the back.
Jinlu also turned the embroidery pattern on the handkerchief over, and sure enough, the character "qin" was also mixed in with the pattern on the back.
"Your Majesty, look."
The two of them handed the words in their hands to Xuanyuan Peng.
Seeing the two identical characters in the pattern, Xuan Yuanpeng understood everything. He glared at Bai Qin with a stern face and said, "Tell me, who instructed you to buy tung oil, and who instructed you to burn down Jingxue Pavilion? Did you intend to murder Su Xuening?"
Faced with such irrefutable evidence, Bai Qin had no way to refute it.
She was filled with remorse. She shouldn't have said the purse wasn't hers. Now no one would believe her no matter what she said. But she was truly innocent. She really didn't buy tung oil, and the fire at Jingxue Pavilion had nothing to do with her.
Bai Qin looked to Su Feiling for help, but Su Feiling's eyes flashed with anger. Suddenly, she rushed out and slapped Bai Qin hard across the face: "You bitch, who gave you permission to do these things? How dare you hurt my older sister behind my back? You deserve to die!"
Bai Qin's head was ringing from Su Feiling's vicious slap, and she almost fainted.
Those around them, seeing what the master and servant had done, understood perfectly well what was going on.
Su Feiling is clearly sacrificing a pawn to save the king.
Zong Jiu was also startled by Su Feiling's sudden outburst, and glared at her angrily, shouting, "How dare you be so insolent before the Emperor!"
Su Feiling seemed to just realize what had happened and immediately knelt down before Xuan Yuanpeng: "Your Majesty, she is my personal maid. I had no idea that she had done such a wicked thing behind my back. I was just anxious and beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."
Xuanyuan Peng gave Su Feiling a meaningful look, then asked Bai Qin, "I'll ask you one more time, who instructed you to do these things?"
Su Feiling's slap had made Bai Qin understand what it meant. She knelt on the ground in despair and said, "No one ordered me to do this. Because the Third Prince is in love with the Eldest Miss, my Miss is secretly heartbroken every day. I burned down Jingxue Pavilion just to vent my anger for my Miss. My Miss did not order me to do this. I did it all by myself."
Upon hearing this, Su Feiling immediately looked at Bai Qin with anger and scolded her: "You, how could you do such a foolish thing? You not only put me in a bad position, but you also harmed my elder brother."
Bai Qin, quick-witted, immediately echoed Su Feiling's words, "Miss, I didn't mean it. I just wanted to scare you a little. I didn't expect it to cause such a big problem."
"Just trying to scare us?" Su Xuening sneered, unable to bear it any longer. "Everyone saw the raging fire. If the Emperor hadn't been here today and ordered the Imperial Guards and Shuntian Prefecture officials to put out the fire, the entire Jingxue Pavilion would have been burned to the ground. You call this just trying to scare us? If it weren't for the unexpected incident with Su Linyuan, which allowed me to leave Jingxue Pavilion early and take Yun'an to file a complaint with the Emperor, Yun'an and I would probably have had to go through another life-or-death ordeal."
Su Xuening knelt before Xuan Yuanpeng: "Your Majesty, the arsonist of Jingxue Pavilion has been found, and as for the fire at Lingxiao Pavilion, I do not believe the judgment given by Shuntian Prefecture."
Su Yun'an also knelt down: "Your Majesty, the servant who takes care of his subjects would never set fire to harm them. Your Majesty is a wise ruler. Please, Your Majesty, do justice for my brother and me."
Upon hearing Su Xuening and Su Yun'an bring up the Lingxiao Pavilion fire again, Su Renyi panicked and, forgetting his grief, hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the Shuntian Prefecture has already ascertained the truth about the Lingxiao Pavilion fire, Lord Cen..."
Su Renyi looked to Cen Jinfeng for help.
With things having developed this way, Cen Jinfeng had no choice but to make another decision.
Cen Jinfeng stepped forward and knelt before Xuan Yuanpeng: "Your Majesty, I was confused when I judged the case of the fire at Lingxiao Pavilion. There are many details that don't match up. It was my oversight. Please give me another chance. I want to re-examine this case."
Perhaps this is a chance given to him by God to set things right. If he doesn't seize this opportunity, he'll probably suffer from a guilty conscience for the rest of his life.
Su Renyi stared at Cen Jinfeng in disbelief, seemingly not expecting him to turn against him at the last minute.
Xuanyuan Peng frowned as he looked at Cen Jinfeng, who was filled with remorse, and said, "We'll talk about your matter later. I will personally handle this case, so there's no need for you to interfere anymore."
"Yes." Cen Jinfeng lowered his eyes and stepped aside, but did not dare to get up, and just remained kneeling.
Xuanyuan Peng ignored Cen Jinfeng and Su Renyi and looked at the man selling tung oil: "Didn't you say before that two people bought tung oil? When did the other person buy tung oil? Is it this woman?"
The man followed Xuan Yuanpeng's gaze to Bai Qin, and after a closer look, shook his head and said, "It's not her. Two or three days before her, someone else came to buy tung oil. It was also a woman. At that time, that woman was wearing a cloak and didn't cover her face. I recognize her face. It's not this woman. The day after she bought the tung oil, I heard that the Yong'an Marquis's mansion had caught fire."
Xuanyuan Peng suddenly narrowed his eyes: "Now that you've seen her face clearly, can you confirm if she's here?"
"Yes," the man replied, and immediately began to carefully examine the women present.
Green Lotus was flustered and pinched her thigh hard to make herself look less panicked.
Even more panicked than Green Lotus was another woman, who kept her head down as if she wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.
Little did she know that the more nervous she was, the more conspicuous she became.
The man immediately recognized the woman, pointed at her in the crowd, and excitedly shouted, "It's her! She's the one who asked me to buy the tung oil!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
