The winter night was chilly, and the withered branches swayed wildly in the wind, making eerie, whistling sounds.
Cai Die wrapped her fox fur cloak tighter around herself, looked up at the high wall, and raised her hand holding the sachet covered in mud, gesturing as to how much strength it would take to throw it over the wall.
Just then, the small patch of sky she was looking at was suddenly illuminated by something. Cai Die was horrified. She watched as the beam of light instantly blossomed into a flower. She turned around abruptly and found Xiao Ke standing right behind her.
"You...you released it?" She was somewhat incredulous. Just today at Zhaoshuitang, Xiao Ke had been loyal to her master and had pleaded her case.
Xiao Ke cautiously took two steps back before speaking: "Cousin, the Second Madam and the Third Miss have been so good to you, you shouldn't harm them."
Hearing that irritating word "watch" again, Cai Die frowned in anger, but quickly realized that this was not the time to dwell on such things. Xiao Ke had just given the signal and had clearly betrayed her. Now she only hoped that no one would notice in the dead of night, so that she could simply deal with this maid and everything would be fine. She could even make up a reason to pin the poisoning of her second aunt and third sister on Xiao Ke.
With things having come to this point, Cai Die, without hesitation, lunged forward to strangle Xiao Ke! However, Xiao Ke was on guard. Seeing Cai Die rushing towards her, she immediately turned and ran towards the gate of Songhe Residence, shouting as she ran, "Help! Miss Cai Die has killed someone!"
Cai Die panicked, but it was too late to stop. She chased Xiao Ke to the courtyard gate and saw a group of people walking towards her. The maid carrying a lantern lit the way, and Cai Die saw that the people walking in front were Wei Zheng, Sun Lu Rong, and Wei Shu Wan, a family of three! Several servants and maids followed behind, approaching her in a grand procession.
Cai Die panicked and instinctively pulled the hand holding the sachet back into her sleeve and behind her back.
The group stopped in front of her, staring intently at her, but did not rush to speak.
At this moment, Xiao Ke ran to the other side and loudly reported, "Master, Madam, and Miss, this servant saw with her own eyes that Miss Cousin dug out the sachet from under the old lady's flower stand, and now the sachet is in Miss Cousin's hands!"
Sun Lurong gestured to the nanny beside her, who then walked up to Cai Die and said, "Miss, I apologize." She then reached out to take the things from Cai Die's hands.
Cai Die could bully a weak little maid, but she was powerless against a tall and strong old woman like this. Her hands were pried open and her sachet was easily snatched away.
The nanny presented the sachet to Sun Lurong and Wei Shuwan for inspection, and both mother and daughter were certain that it was indeed the problematic sachet. To prevent it from harming anyone again, Sun Lurong wrapped it in layers of handkerchiefs and kept it as evidence.
Wei Zheng remained silent, but was filled with deep sorrow.
With nowhere to vent her resentment, Cai Die glared angrily at Xiao Ke, pointed at her with her finger, and shouted fiercely, "You treacherous, lowly servant!"
Although Xiao Ke had succeeded, she was also quite frightened. At this moment, she was hiding beside Wei Shuwan, her legs trembling. Wei Shuwan chuckled, "Sister Cai Die, since you came to the Wei family, all your food, drink, and expenses have been paid by our second branch. Even the maid assigned to you is receiving a monthly salary from our second branch. If she were to conceal your malicious deeds just because she took care of you for a few days, that would be true betrayal and ingratitude."
Having been caught red-handed, Cai Die had nothing to say. This time, she had both witnesses and physical evidence, leaving her no room to deny it.
"What...what are you going to do with me?"
“Our second branch of the family has no family rules, so naturally we will wait until dawn to send you to the authorities and let the officials decide your fate,” Wei Shuwan said calmly.
But this approach clearly displeased Cai Die: "Send...send them to the authorities? I don't agree! I'm not going!"
"Sister, what you're saying is ridiculous. From notorious bandits to petty thieves, tell me, which one of them willingly gets handed over to the authorities? Whether you agree or not, you still have to go."
Cai Die glared angrily at Wei Shuwan, speechless for a moment. Then, suddenly remembering there was someone she could call for help, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Grandmother! Grandmother! Please come and save Cai Die—"
This didn't immediately summon Wei Wenshi, but it did summon Wei Ping. Wei Ping, wearing a cloak, came out and, seeing her daughter being bullied by a group of people in the dead of night, became anxious, exclaiming, "What are you doing?!"
While still annoyed, she stepped in front of Cai Die, protecting her behind her like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
During the standoff, Lady Wei Wen was also hurriedly helped out by her nanny.
"What's going on? What happened, Third Sister?" Wei Wenshi, with her keen eyes, immediately pinpointed the mastermind behind the matter.
Wei Shuwan originally planned to take Cai Die to Zhaoshui Hall first, interrogate her overnight, have her sign the confession, and then send her directly to the government office at dawn. She would then show her grandmother and Wei Ping her personal statement, so that they would have nothing to say. However, since Cai Die had alarmed her grandmother and Wei Ping, she had no choice but to first give them a general explanation of what had happened.
“Grandmother, today at Zhaoshui Hall, the young prince said he wanted to borrow the auxiliary dog. I deliberately said I would borrow it at dawn, but actually I wanted to make the person who poisoned the dog panic and come out in the middle of the night to move the sachet.”
Upon hearing this, Lady Wei understood what was going on and asked in a trembling voice, "The sachet, has it been found?"
Wei Shuwan nodded, took the sachet tightly wrapped in a cloth from her mother, unfolded it layer by layer, and showed it to Wei Wenshi.
"Grandmother, be careful, it's poisonous. You have to wrap it up again after you take one look at your granddaughter."
Lady Wei glanced at it and, sure enough, saw that the sachet was embroidered with hibiscus flowers—it was the very one Cai Die had given her. Once it could be proven that the sachet contained poison, Cai Die would have no way to deny it.
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