First Blood
Yan Rong sat with her back to Qin Yousi, but her shoulders were still trembling slightly, and it seemed that she was quite frightened.
Qin Yousi stood up and stepped forward, saying, "I know a little bit about medicine. Madam, do you need me to take a look at you?"
Mrs. Gu was about to agree, but Yan Rong interrupted her abruptly, "Who are you?"
Mrs. Gu, as the hostess, quickly introduced: "This is the girl from the Sang family in Yangcheng, Sang Liuniang."
Then he whispered, "It's the home of the Third Aunt of the Duke of Ji's Mansion..."
Yan Rong slammed her bare hands on the table and said coldly, "Madam Gu, be careful with your words! There's no such thing as the Duke of Ji's Mansion!"
Mrs. Gu lost face, but she couldn't refute it, so she had to hold her anger.
Qin Yousi smiled and said, "The Crown Prince's wife seems to be in good spirits, so I think she's fine."
Yan Rong then looked at her again and gradually regained her senses that had been frightened away.
It turns out that she is not back...
"It's you, Sister Youzhi. I haven't seen you for a few years. You are very different from when you were little."
Qin Yousi deliberately said, "Since returning to the capital, everyone who knows my second sister says that I look a lot like her. You have the best relationship with my second sister, don't you think? Did I scare you just now? I thought you would be happy."
Yan Rong couldn't bear it, and with a pale face, she forced a smile and said, "How could I be scared? I thought I was dizzy and saw things wrong."
The Ye family's Flower Festival Banquet was originally a Hongmen Banquet prepared by Mrs. Gu for Ye Jiashu, but now it is completely out of control, which makes Mrs. Gu secretly annoyed.
This Sang Youzhi was able to get along well with both the Princess of Pingtung and the wife of the Marquis of Xichang, which made it difficult for Madam Gu to offend him, so she had to give up for the time being.
The ladies in the wealthy families were the best at whitewashing the truth, and they quickly put the incident behind them and started discussing the flowers that Mrs. Gu had carefully cultivated.
Qin Yousi was attending a banquet today, and it was an accident that she met Yan Rong. She did not deliberately confront Yan Rong again. After sitting for a while, she took Liu Ying to the front yard to find Ye Jiashu.
Ye Jiashu was worried that something might go wrong at the banquet, so he had been waiting in the mansion. Seeing the two of them coming, he asked with concern, "Is everything okay? Did the Gu family give you any trouble?"
Although Liu Ying had met him several times, they were not very familiar with each other, so she turned away and did not answer him.
Qin Yousi said, "Mrs. Gu didn't expect that we knew each other. We caught her off guard. We're fine for now."
She pulled Liu Ying's hand and said, "Since he found Qilang, he has felt guilty towards the princess. Taking advantage of today's opportunity, he has something to say to the princess."
Seeing that Liu Ying had no intention of leaving, Qin Yousi withdrew: "I'll go out for a walk first."
All the guests who came to the banquet were female, so there were not many people in the front yard, and the servants of the Ye Mansion were busy in the back yard. Qin Yousi took the opportunity to walk quickly to the west yard of the Ye Mansion.
The old man of the Ye family, the former Minister of Justice, lives in the west courtyard.
He is now old and confused, unable to walk on his own. He is either lying in bed or in a bamboo chair in the courtyard, and his mind is not always clear.
There were only two servants serving in the yard, one old and one young. Seeing that it was a nice spring day, the old servant carried Master Ye to the yard to bask in the sun. After settling him down, he urged the young servant to go to the kitchen to get medicine.
"We have guests at the mansion today. Go to the kitchen and keep an eye on them. Don't let them forget the master's medicine."
As soon as the servant arrived, he heard the bookshelf behind the west yard fall down.
"Oh, these are all the master's treasures. How could they fall down without any wind or rain?" The old servant hurried to the back to clean up, and at this time, Qin Yousi walked up to Master Ye in a dignified manner.
Looking at the old man who couldn't even open his eyes, Qin Yousi said coldly: "Minister Ye, the Qin family is here to look for you."
Perhaps the word "Qin" stimulated Ye Shangshu, and he gradually opened his eyes, looking at Qin Yousi with turbid eyes, and his emotions gradually became agitated.
"Yes, Grandpa Ye, I'm Qin Er, I'm back."
The old man's lips were trembling, and his hands were shaking, as if he wanted to say something.
"Grandpa Ye, you and my grandfather have been friends for forty years, and my father respects you as an uncle, but how could you treat them like this? The treason case, the poisoning of the imperial heir case, the Imperial Hospital dereliction of duty case, which one of them was not an unjust case you personally adjudicated? When you used the seal of the Ministry of Justice to stamp a document full of lies, did you feel any resentment? Have you ever considered helping the Qin family find the truth?"
"You didn't, did you? You retired safely from your position as Shangshu, and your son successfully inherited your legacy. This was a benefit the dog emperor promised you. You were also an accomplice, right?"
"Si girl..." The old man finally uttered a hoarse voice, just smiled and said: "This is fate, this is the fate of your Qin family."
Seeing that he showed no remorse, Qin Yousi's heart was suddenly filled with hatred: "Fate? What kind of fate would allow you to indiscriminately kill the five members of my Qin family?"
As she spoke, she took out a handkerchief and a packet of medicine powder from her bosom and slowly poured the medicine on the handkerchief.
"My grandfather came to you, seriously ill, but you refused to see him. My grandmother knelt in front of the Ministry of Justice, crying out for justice, but you ordered her to be dragged out into the streets and humiliated... We were imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, with no one to question us, no one to care about us. You refused to investigate, to judge, or to defend us. Eight hundred lives were lost, Minister Ye! Do you ever feel the slightest bit of guilt or insecurity?"
Minister Ye shook his head with difficulty and said, "The emperor's order is hard to disobey..."
"I know you will say that, but... that's not a reason for me not to kill you..."
Qin Yousi walked behind the recliner and covered Ye Shangshu's mouth and nose with a handkerchief in his thin hands.
"If you want an explanation, go down and beg for forgiveness from the Qin family's deceased souls!"
Minister Ye whimpered and struggled, but Qin Yousi's frail body seemed to burst out with immense strength, and the elderly man under his command was unable to move at all.
The person in the chair gradually stopped breathing. Under the warm spring sun, Minister Ye passed away in pain.
Qin Yousi's hands and feet were a little stiff, and she staggered back two steps.
She smiled bitterly. These evil people had no regrets until their death.
Looking at the gray hair fluttering in the wind, she did not feel the pleasure of killing her enemy.
She calmly placed the handkerchief on Minister Ye's knees and left the west courtyard without looking back.
Soon, the old servant discovered that Minister Ye had passed away, and immediately informed the front and back courtyards, and the Flower Festival Banquet came to an abrupt end.
When Ye Zhenglun rushed back after receiving the news, he was almost fainted from anger.
He repeatedly reminded his father to use the best medicine to prolong his life and not to neglect his care, otherwise he would have to mourn for three years!
Now is the most critical moment in his official career. If he leaves the government for three years, who knows whether he can be successfully employed later!
"How did you take care of him? He was in good spirits yesterday, but he passed away today just like that?"
Gu knew that the matter was serious and that any proper explanation would inevitably lead to blame.
She held the handkerchief she found on Ye Shangshu's knees and said timidly, "This was found on my father. It's not from our family..."
This handkerchief is made of the finest silk, pale blue with golden bamboo leaves embroidered on it, and is used by the men in the Xichang Marquis Mansion!
Ye Zhenglun was shocked and asked, "Where did you find it?"
"Just put it on Father's knee!"
Ye Zhenglun fell into the chair.
This was done intentionally by the Xichang Marquisate!
Gu asked anxiously, "Master, how have we offended the Marquis of Xichang? How dare he attack the Master openly..."
Although the Ye family and the Xichang Hou Duan family have not joined forces, they shared the emperor's worries in the Qin family incident. He thought that the two families had a certain tacit understanding and would not interfere with each other, but he did not expect them to be so arrogant!
Ye Zhenglun pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "I recently took over a case involving a former subordinate of the Marquis of Xichang who committed a serious crime. The evidence is irrefutable, and I can't protect him. I think this incident displeased the Marquis of Xichang, leading him to attack my father, forcing me to return home to observe mourning!"
Gu said, "What should we do? How about we ask Prince Bao for help?"
Ye Zhenglun sat there for a moment, his head drooping. He pounded his fist and said, "No! The Duan family dared to keep the handkerchief because they knew it couldn't serve as irrefutable evidence and that we couldn't bring ourselves to sue the Marquis of Xichang! He's trying to warn me. If I confront him openly, I'm afraid something else will happen! Besides, my father is dead, and no matter what, I have to observe three years of mourning. We can only endure this matter and wait for a chance to avenge my father's murder in the future!"
After leaving the Ye family, Qin Yousi was not in a good mood. He felt neither the joy of revenge nor the satisfaction of being relieved.
She should be happy, but she doesn't know what the problem is.
After returning to Yu's house, she said she was too tired from going out and locked herself in the room to rest.
But before she had slept for a while, Yu Huan knocked on the door and said, "Miss, someone from Bailu Terrace is looking for you."
Qin Yousi's eyelids twitched. Could it be that the conspiracy was traced back to her so soon?
In order to avoid Baili Hongyuan's control, she even dug out her engagement and moved out. Why is Baili Hongyuan, the lingering ghost, still staring at her?
It was Xin Chen who came to Yu's house. He said, "The governor asked the young lady to go to Qingshan Lane. If you don't go, he will have to come to Yu's house to find you personally."
The meeting was held in Qingshan Lane instead of Bailutai Yamen, which made Qin Yousi feel relieved.
In Qingshan Lane, Baili Hongyuan sat beside the tea table, looking at the green smoke curling from the incense burner, as if thinking about something.
Xin Chen worked quickly and brought the person over in just a moment.
Looking at the spiritless and weak girl in front of him, Baili Hongyuan secretly asked, "Have you been tired today?"
Qin Yousi pretended not to understand and said, "Of course I'm tired of entertaining guests. I don't know what's so beautiful about those potted flowers."
Baili Hongyuan sneered and said, "I thought you were smart, but don't try to fool me with this. You just arrived at the Ye Mansion today, and Old Minister Ye died. I don't believe it's such a coincidence."
Qin Yousi said with a stern face, "Then I want to ask you, sir, you have been searching for the descendants of the Qin family for the past few years. Is it for the sake of relief or for the sake of control? The Qin family has been wronged, you must know. Since I have been fed blood by my second sister for ten years, I should find out the truth and avenge my relatives who died unjustly!"
As soon as the word "revenge" came out, Baili Hongyuan clenched his hands.
Baili Hongyuan sneered softly, "How do you plan to take revenge? The Qin family's crimes were personally determined by the Emperor. Do you want to kill everyone involved?"
Qin Yousi simply said coldly, "Treason case, poisoning of the heir to the throne case, and Imperial Hospital dereliction of duty case. Everyone involved in these three cases will be punished!"
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