Chapter 98 True and False Daughter
The princess ordered the lady-in-waiting: "Go and interrogate them."
The female official took the order and left.
When Shen Qingtan heard the words "Jinyiwei", his heart was in his throat.
The Southern Pacification Division was responsible for the laws and military discipline of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while the Northern Pacification Division was specifically responsible for cases designated by the emperor. When handling cases, it could arrest, interrogate, and execute people on its own without going through the other three judicial divisions.
Their people are omnipresent, and they can arrest not only ordinary officials but even royal relatives.
She originally thought that the princess would send him to the Dali Temple...
Shen Qingtan was thankful that Zhao Yi had told her the royal secrets yesterday, so she wasn't completely in the dark. If the princess came to question her later, she would be able to act accordingly.
"Tan'er?" the eldest princess called out.
Shen Qingtan came back to his senses and looked at the eldest princess blankly.
Seeing that she looked distracted, the princess said in a gentle voice, "I heard your relatives call you Tan'er, so I will do the same and call you Tan'er, okay?"
Shen Qingtan was startled and looked up at the eldest princess. She had long black hair tied into a high bun, long eyebrows reaching her temples, and a pair of sharp phoenix eyes. She was wearing a green gown embroidered with gold cloud and phoenix patterns. She looked dignified, solemn, and noble.
Even though the eldest princess's expression was much softer and she even showed a hint of intimacy, in her opinion, she still exuded an innate majesty, making it difficult for her to feel close to her.
Shen Qingtan was very confused about the eldest princess's attitude towards her. After all, the officials' wives in the capital all said that the eldest princess was difficult to approach. If someone could catch the eldest princess's eye, it would be a great honor.
However, ever since the eldest princess established her residence, no one has been able to befriend her, let alone her getting close to any of the younger generations.
She said calmly, "Your Highness, you are my elder. Calling me Tan'er will make me feel closer."
The princess smiled and said, "Come and sit next to me."
"yes."
Shen Qingtan walked slowly and calmly to the eldest princess and sat on the stool next to the main seat.
The eldest princess looked at Shen Qingtan carefully. She was outstanding in appearance, demeanor and manners, and her temperament was gentle and graceful. She felt very comfortable looking at her.
"I've heard before that your embroidery is excellent, and you're one of the best among the famous ladies in the capital. I saw it yesterday at the Yongyi Marquis's mansion, and I think your reputation is well-deserved."
The princess asked curiously, "Why did you embroider a peacock? According to the thinking of you younger generations, if you embroider something for your elders, you will embroider things like blessings, longevity, cranes, pine trees, and cypress trees."
Shen Qingtan vaguely heard a hint of depression in the eldest princess's words, as if these insights were all her personal experiences.
She had a wonderful feeling in her heart, as if the eldest princess suddenly felt much closer to her. There was no longer that sense of superior distance. She was just like an ordinary elder chatting with the younger generation.
She couldn't help but purse her lips and smiled, "I originally prepared a painting of a hundred blessings and a hundred longevity."
"Oh?" the princess asked again, "Then why did you change?"
Shen Qingtan was silent for a moment before she said, "I've heard the saying 'wherever a peacock lands, that family will prosper.' I think my aunt would prefer the peacock painting's meaning to the longevity painting."
However, the eldest princess realized from Shen Qingtan's momentary silence that the birthday gift was not as simple as she said.
After all, when Shen Qingtan was delivering birthday gifts yesterday, someone deliberately snatched the gift she had prepared and displayed it in public.
The officials' wives present had been taught manners by their nannies since they were young, so how could they do such a disrespectful thing?
It was clearly done on purpose, to embarrass her.
Otherwise, when one is her own sister and the other is her own aunt, no matter how dissatisfied they were when they saw the "pheasant" embroidery, they should have concealed it in front of the guests first and then investigated it thoroughly afterwards.
Instead of accusing and interrogating her in front of the guests, those aggressive words clearly showed that they wanted to accuse her of disrespecting elders.
The eldest princess grew up in the deep palace and had seen all kinds of tricks. After such analysis, she knew that the birthday gift originally prepared by Shen Qingtan had been swapped. She also noticed it herself and took advantage of the situation to prepare a peacock embroidery that looked the same as a pheasant, but actually had a hidden secret.
"You are a clever and skillful little girl. That embroidery is very much to my liking." The eldest princess put aside her thoughts and looked at me with a hint of pity. "I specially invited you here today because I want you to embroider a piece for me."
Shen Qingtan asked, "What kind of embroidery would your Highness like?"
"Embroider a scroll of scriptures." The eldest princess said, "Embroider a scroll of the Medicine Buddha Sutra."
Shen Qingtan was stunned, and all kinds of thoughts suddenly surged in his mind.
The eldest princess looked very healthy. Although she was over fifty years old, she looked only in her early forties and did not look sick.
She had no children and no one was sick in the palace, so why did she embroider a piece of the Medicine Buddha Sutra?
The only person Shen Qingtan thought of was Zhao Yi, who was deeply favored by Emperor Jing'an.
Could it be that the eldest princess is also doing this for Zhao Yi?
If this is the case, it would explain why the eldest princess treats her so kindly.
I just don’t know how much sincerity is contained in this intimacy.
At this time, a female official came in from outside, came to the eldest princess, and whispered in her ear: "Your Highness, that troupe owner has kidnapped many children under the guise of a troupe. He specifically trains these children to become female roles in operas to earn money. If the children are temperamental and unruly, the troupe owner will either punish them and kill them, or beat them to a pulp and throw them away."
The princess was filled with rage: "What a bastard! He has done so many cruel and vicious things. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, he should be cut into pieces!"
"Your Highness, calm down." The court lady patted the princess' back to calm her down, then handed her the two booklets in her hands and continued, "The troupe owner explained that someone bribed his troupe to perform a play called "True and Fake Thousand Gold" at the Yongyi Marquis's residence. Later, someone else offered twice as much money to bribe his troupe to perform another play... which is the play you heard at the Yongyi Marquis's residence."
After a pause, she glanced at Shen Qingtan and continued, "The first person who bribed the troupe owner didn't try to hide it, and the Jinyiwei quickly found out it was Madam Zhao San from the Duke's Mansion. As for the second one, she hid it quite deeply, and we are still investigating."
The eldest princess opened the first booklet with a cold face, and it was indeed the story of the true and false daughter.
After reading the whole story, she vaguely guessed that the fake daughter in the script referred to Shen Qingtan, and the real daughter referred to Shen Mingzhu.
Marquis Cheng'en is not stupid. If his own daughter was maliciously switched and now his biological daughter is found, why would he continue to raise the thief's daughter?
Perhaps Shen Mingzhu was jealous of her eldest sister who was better than her in every way, so she deliberately wrote this play to ruin Shen Qingtan's reputation.
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