Chapter 7 Confiscation of Property
She quickly looked at Danying, asking her for help with her eyes.
Who would have thought that Danying was not at all flustered, and said slowly and calmly: "Sun Ren disrespected the Queen and persecuted the Secretary. The Master has removed him from his position as the head eunuch. There is no need to call him eunuch."
The maid nodded in sudden realization, "So this eunuch has committed a grave crime. No wonder he is kneeling in front of our palace gate."
Danying added, "Since he has fainted from the heat, go get a bucket of cold water from the well to cool him down."
The palace maid agreed to go, and Danying took Wu Wenxiu's hand and walked to the palace gate.
The two men stood in the shadow under the eaves and looked into the sunlight, only to see Sun Ren fainted on the ground, his face flushed and his body convulsing slightly. No matter how the young eunuch shouted, he could not wake up.
Soon, the palace maid brought a bucket of ice-cold well water and poured it on Sun Ren's head. With a splash, Sun Ren trembled all over and immediately opened his eyes.
When he saw Wu Wenxiu, he immediately knelt down before her and apologized to her while crying. His words were so sincere that anyone who heard them would be moved.
But Danying remained unmoved, looking at him coldly, "Sun Ren, someone has reported you for murdering eunuchs and palace maids, and for extorting money under the pretext of charcoal tributes and ice tributes. Your crimes are truly grave. Today, in compliance with the Queen's decree, I hand you over to Wu Shishu for disposal."
She looked at Wu Wenxiu and said, "Please give me your instructions, Secretary."
Wu Wenxiu was a little surprised. It turned out that Danying had investigated Sun Ren's crimes thoroughly. No wonder she dared to say that she wanted to confiscate this person's property.
In that case, she doesn't have to worry anymore.
Seeing Sun Ren crying bitterly, Wu Wenxiu found it ridiculous. After thinking for a moment, she said in a deep voice, "Sun Ren, your crime is extremely heinous and you should be sentenced to death. However, I am sparing you out of consideration for the Queen's mercy."
When Sun Ren heard this, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that women are soft-hearted. They easily forgave him once he admitted his mistake. She was really too soft-hearted.
As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. As long as he is still alive, the day of revenge will come sooner or later. Wu Wenxiu, just wait!
Wu Wenxiu continued, "The penalty is twenty strokes of the cane in court, and all the embezzled property will be confiscated."
Danying smiled slightly and raised her hand. "Did you hear everything? Drag Sun Ren away for execution, and don't pollute the land in front of our palace. Let Yuzhao take the people to check the property."
The palace maid beside her looked at her hand movements, responded respectfully, and clapped her hands. Then four eunuchs came forward, held up the arms of Sun Ren and his godson, and quickly dragged them away.
Sun Ren burst into tears, kicking his legs and howling, "Miss Wu, Sir Wu... I finally realized my mistake... Please forgive me!"
Wu Wenxiu looked at him with a reserved smile on her face, feeling a secret joy in her heart. Is this what it feels like to exercise power? His life and death depend entirely on her thoughts. How wonderful!
After waiting for a while, shrill screams were heard in the distance, each one weaker than the last, and finally fell into silence.
The eunuch came over and replied, "Please forgive me, Master Shishu. We were too heavy-handed. Sun Ren died before the twenty strokes of the cane were complete."
Wu Wenxiu was startled. Before she could say anything, Danying held her down. She sighed softly, "Ah, it's not your fault. It's just that his life was too fragile and he couldn't bear it. Give him a proper burial."
The scorching sun was still hanging in the blue sky, burning the earth, but Wu Wenxiu only felt a hint of coolness rising from the soles of his feet.
How could these eunuchs have the audacity to beat Sun Ren to death without anyone's orders? Danying must have given them the order to beat them to death in a way that she couldn't detect.
Thinking of this, the smile on Wu Wenxiu's face faded.
However, Danying's action did not harm her, so she didn't want to care about it.
At least now, they are in the same boat, and it makes no difference who ordered the killing of Sun Ren.
After dealing with Sun Ren, Wu Wenxiu said goodbye and left.
She walked quickly along the wall back to the slave camp. At first, her gait was very straight, but when she could no longer see any palace servants walking around, she could no longer suppress the smile on her face, and she burst into laughter and ran forward.
When he arrived at his residence and opened the door, he shouted excitedly, "Mother, mother, the queen has summoned me!"
In the room, Wu Yihan, upon hearing the sound, immediately threw the embroidery needlework rack into the bamboo basket, and then stuffed the bamboo basket under the bed.
Just as she put it away, Wu Wenxiu came into the house and said, "Mother, look, this is the golden token the Queen gave me. She also appointed me as the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. We can go back to the capital soon!"
Only then did Wu Yixian hear what she said. Seeing her daughter's high spirits, she felt both joy and pride. Tears welled up in her eyes as she repeated, "Great, that's great! I knew my daughter was so talented and would be appreciated by someone of great talent sooner or later."
Wu Wenxiu told Wu Yixian what happened that day. When Wu Yixian heard that her hand was injured, she was very worried and quickly took out some medicine and bandaged her wound.
Wu Wenxiu felt a pang of sadness when he saw her wrinkled face full of sorrow, but when he thought that she would take her mother away from here tomorrow and that all the hardships would be rewarded, he became happy again.
That night, the mother and daughter squeezed into the narrow bed and slept, with smiles on their faces, and they had no dreams all night.
————
The next day, Danying and a blue-clothed palace maid with a heroic appearance came to see Wu Wenxiu.
Wu Yihan went out and left the three of them to talk in the room.
Wu Wenxiu closed the door and turned around to see Danying looking at her with a smile. "Sister Wenxiu, Yuzhao and I admire your talent very much. If you don't mind, how about the three of us become sworn sisters?"
As she spoke, she took out a turquoise jade ring. "This jade is called Yuntianbi. Yuzhao and I each have one. This third one is for you as a token of our sworn brotherhood."
Wu Wenxiu was slightly surprised, and countless thoughts flashed through her mind. Did they truly admire her, or were they trying to win her over for their own benefit?
As a lowly criminal slave, she had witnessed too much malice. Even though she knew that Danying was not such a person, she couldn't help but think too much.
After some thought and hesitation, he politely declined, "Sister, I am deeply grateful for your kindness, but this jade ring is too precious and I cannot accept it."
Danying frowned slightly, her face full of disappointment, and she sighed heavily, "I understand. My sister is now a secretary, and her future is limitless. It is not something a mere palace maid like me can reach. I have overstepped my bounds."
Wu Wenxiu hurriedly defended herself, "I didn't think so."
Danying snorted, "Then why don't you accept it? In the end, you still look down on us."
"...Okay, I'll accept it." Wu Wenxiu was defeated by Danying's eloquence and could no longer argue. He had no choice but to give in and took the jade ring and wore it around his waist.
However, what she didn't notice was that the moment she lowered her head to adjust her accessories, Danying immediately turned her head and smiled triumphantly at Yuzhao, with a cunning gleam in her clear eyes.
When Wu Wenxiu raised his head, Dan Ying's expression had returned to normal and it was difficult to see any clues.
Afterwards, the three of them talked about their ages and found that Danying was the oldest, Wu Wenxiu was the second oldest, and Yuzhao was the youngest.
Danying took Wu Wenxiu's hand and said with a smile, "Then in private, I will call you Second Sister. By the way, Second Sister, I came to see you about something else. It's about that eunuch Sun Ren - Yuzhao."
Yuzhao took out a list and said, "This is the list of all the valuables I found when I went to Sun Ren's residence yesterday."
Wu Wenxiu took it and looked at it. He was shocked. There was actually 65,000 taels of silver. "The slave agency doesn't have much money. Where did he get so much money from?"
"He's trying to exploit you. He even embezzled the summer clothes given to the palace maids every year. This amount isn't much," Danying said, her voice suddenly lowering. "Second sister, the queen asked you to decide what to do with Sun Ren. What do you think about the amount of money we should report?"
Wu Wenxiu's heart trembled. It turned out that he was waiting for her here.
But she had already accepted the jade and owed Danying a favor, so it was too late to save herself now.
She lowered her eyes and said softly, "I don't understand this either. Big sister, you decide."
Danying smiled.
She copied another list, and with a wave of her hand, the more than 60,000 taels of silver became 50,000 taels, and the extra 15,000 taels were divided equally among the three of them, with each taking 5,000 taels.
In order to shut up her subordinates, Danying took out another 500 taels from her share and planned to distribute it to other sisters in the palace, including Yuzhao.
Wu Wenxiu thought that all this money was squeezed out by Sun Ren from the palace maids in the slave house, so he took out another thousand taels and distributed them to the palace maids in the slave house, and then he felt relieved.
After everything was settled, Wu Wenxiu went to the Queen's Palace with Dan Ying to report.
Fortunately, Queen Chi was focused on returning to the capital and did not suspect them. She just ordered Danying to arrange some people in the palace to handle the matter before leaving and not to leave any traces.
Coming out of the Queen's Palace, Wu Wenxiu's clothes were soaked through. With lingering fear, he said, "I hope I won't have to do something like this again in the future."
Danying just laughed when she heard it, "Good sister, there are many people who want to do this kind of lucrative job, but you are pushing it away. Do you really think that the master doesn't know what we have done, and she just turned a blind eye? As long as the job is done, these are nothing, what are you afraid of——"
At this point, she paused, and under Wu Wenxiu's puzzled gaze, she leaned close to her ear and said meaningfully: "I'm not afraid of your greed, I'm only afraid of your uselessness."
Wu Wenxiu hurriedly stepped back, raised his hand and gently pinched his hot earlobe, lowered his brows and thought, is this Danying's way of dealing with things?
Try your best to become someone useful to the Queen, so that even if you have the shortcoming of being greedy for money, you will not become a discarded pawn.
No one is perfect. When she stands in the position she wants to be in, even if it is just a small mistake, she may be attacked by everyone.
For a woman, especially one who comes from a sinner family like her, people will always find reasons to slander her.
Therefore, instead of walking on thin ice all day long, worrying about being caught and striving for perfection in everything, it is better to be bolder, face your ambitions calmly, and maximize your own advantages.
Otherwise, even if she has done nothing wrong, she will be ruthlessly abandoned because she has lost her usefulness.
"Okay, go back and pack up quickly. We'll go back to the capital early tomorrow morning." Dan Ying stood up, patted her shoulder and said with a smile.
Wu Wenxiu finally came to her senses. The capital... that bustling and prosperous city, the place that she had been dreaming about, could she finally go back?
She looked up and cast her eyes towards the distant north.
Under the azure sky, the black female eagle circled for a long time, patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
————
The next morning, everything was ready. Chi Lu, along with Zhao Mingyue, Zhao Chun, princes and ministers, left the Nanyang Palace. The emperor's body was escorted back to the capital by the royal guards.
Zhao Mingyue and Chun Yingqiushi were sitting in the carriage. She hadn't slept well in the past two days, and there was a layer of dark circles under her eyes.
The emperor's death made her panic-stricken, and the speculation that Queen Chi had really murdered her father made her even more terrified.
And Chi Qi's almost coercive words, "You won't not help your mother, right?", made her realize that the situation had changed and she had to make a choice.
Should you choose the legitimate prince or the powerful queen?
When she began to think about this question, Chi Li's gentle yet cold smile appeared before her eyes and could not be shaken off.
This person gave her a feeling of both coldness and warmth.
When they rode side by side on the hunting ground, she felt an unprecedented sense of freedom and exhilaration.
If only... if only Chi Lan was really her mother...
As soon as this thought came to mind, Zhao Mingyue was shocked and couldn't even believe it herself.
That is Queen Chi, who is known for her viciousness and cruelty!
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