After Lanqin finished her meal, she instructed Sihua to check on the Third Prince's situation and told Cui Niang to keep Yin Shi away from him. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince and his wife would be returning tomorrow, and the Third Prince seemed to have survived this ordeal; now he was just waiting for the Fourth Prince's return.
Si Hua agreed and left the house. Turning to walk into the courtyard, she saw Song Shi, who was wearing a black cloak, coming over.
"This servant greets Princess Song!" Si Hua quickly greeted her.
"Is the concubine here?" Madam Song asked with a smile.
"Master has just finished lunch and is standing in the room digesting his food," Si Hua said gently.
Song nodded and, supporting Qingping, led her to Lanqin's house. There, she saw icicles, dripping water and freezing into ice, hanging glisteningly in the gaps between the glazed green tiles.
Lanqin was standing in front of the window of the hexagonal bamboo house, looking at the snow on the outer wall. The layers of snowflakes were like a thick quilt.
"Sister is here." Lanqin naturally saw Madam Song. She saw her standing in the courtyard, the jade hairpin on her soft-winged head shining with a cool temperament in the gloomy sky, just like Madam Song's temperament, pure and elegant with a natural coldness.
Lanqin noticed that Song was looking at the eaves and became curious. She said to Nianxue inside the house, "Come on, let's see what Sister Song is looking at."
Nianxue quickly draped the snow fox cloak over Lanqin's shoulders, then took her hand and led her outside.
When Song saw Lanqin come out, she stood there smiling and looking at the icicle, saying only, "Be careful, the ground is very slippery."
Lanqin smiled and said, "What are you looking at, sister? You're so engrossed in it that it makes me curious."
Song curled her lips and said, "They're just those icicles hanging over there, sparkling and quite pretty."
Lanqin turned around and saw the icicles of all sizes under the eaves. It must have been so cold during the coldest days of winter that all the moisture had been frozen into ice.
Three hundred years ago, the Qing Dynasty was much colder than northern China in the 21st century. Lanqin was always afraid of the cold, so she had hardly dared to leave the house these past few days. She didn't even dare to bring her two young children out, leaving the wet nurse and maids to stay inside and take meticulous care of them. Lanqin was terrified at the thought that the Qing Dynasty didn't even have antibiotics, and that her children could easily die if they weren't healthy.
Song walked slowly to Lanqin's side and said softly, "Sister, right now, Yin is like an icicle on the eaves. You only need to shake it, and she will fall down and be smashed to pieces."
Lanqin's heart skipped a beat, and she glanced at Madam Song, saying, "Sister, do you think that the Third Prince's serious illness and even poisoning were all the work of Madam Yin?"
Madam Song chuckled and said, "Of course, someone used her to do all this. As for who it is, I know in my heart. Who else could it be but her? Madam Li is already gone, yet she's still so unwilling to give up, even wanting to harm her child. Alas..."
Lanqin felt a chill in her heart, naturally recalling the nightmare she had once had, in which Li said someone wanted to harm her children and begged her to save them.
“But even if we all know it was her, as long as there’s no evidence, and as long as someone does it for her, then naturally the master still won’t believe it. Sister should understand this better than Lanqin,” Lanqin said.
“What if Lady Yin can turn the tables on the Fujin? What if we can persuade Lady Yin?” Lady Song turned her head to look at Lanqin’s profile.
“Even if Lady Yin says she was instructed by the Fujin, do you think the Fourth Prince can convict the Fujin? Without direct evidence pointing to her, Lady Yin’s testimony alone is not convincing.” Lanqin longed to expose the Fujin to the Fourth Prince, but she lacked the most direct and compelling evidence.
"How can we just let her harm the prince's children with her own hands time and time again? This time it was the Third Prince, and who will it be next time? She's completely insane!" Madam Song said bitterly.
Seeing the usually gentle and kind Song Shi suddenly become so agitated, Lanqin asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you, sister? You know her true colors, and you've always been patient. Why are you so impatient today?"
A misty haze appeared in Madam Song's eyes. Seeing the Third Prince like this, I suddenly thought of my first child, who died after only half a month. At that time, I was just a princess, how could I have the status to raise a child? I was raised by her side. Now that I think about it, I know what happened.
Lanqin looked with pity at the sorrow in the eyes of a woman who had endured decades of stagnation and humiliation. Now that she had finally seen a glimmer of hope, she could no longer contain herself and wanted to vent her emotions.
“Sister, has Madam Yin’s maid confessed anything?” Madam Song grabbed Lanqin’s hand and said, “Sister, from the first moment I saw you, I knew you were the only one who could bring her down. Now this opportunity is right in front of you. Only by bringing her down can we truly rest easy and not worry about being framed at any time. We won’t have to worry about our child being taken away without anyone knowing.”
Lanqin felt a sharp pain in her arm as Song Shi unconsciously increased her strength. She tried to break free, but found that Song Shi was holding her very tightly. She said with a slight pain, "Sister, everything must be done in a proper way. Right now, we have only confirmed that the Third Prince has been poisoned, but we don't have a single clue as to where he was poisoned or when he was poisoned."
Song's expression darkened, and she said anxiously, "The Third Prince is only studying in the front courtyard and resting at Madam Yin's place. The front courtyard is the master's place; there's no way he would harm the Third Prince. It can only be Madam Yin."
Lanqin nodded and said, "Sister, come here, I want to show you something."
Song looked at Lanqin with suspicion, but was led into the house by her.
“Sister, look, this medicine pot was taken from the Third Prince’s place. Linghua, the maid who serves the Third Prince, said that the pot seems to have been tampered with,” Lanqin said. “Sister, take a look and see if you can find anything in this medicine pot.”
Song took the medicine jar and examined it several times. After a moment of contemplation, she suddenly lost her grip and dropped the jar to the ground with a loud thud.
Bang!
"Sister!!" Lanqin stared in astonishment, almost in disbelief, as the medicine jar slipped from Song's hand. She clearly saw that Song had done it on purpose; it was definitely not an accident.
"Sister, why did you break it?" Lanqin stared at Song Shi and asked. Everyone else in the room was also stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"Sister, this is the only clue I've found." Seeing that Song Shi didn't speak, Lan Qin had no choice but to stand up, walk to Song Shi's side, and bend down to pick up the broken pieces of tiles and porcelain.
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