Aunt Liu never thought that the Second Lady would turn into such a state one day.
She was dressed in a dull brocade outer robe of last year's popular style. Her sunken eyes looked like dark holes, and there were clearly visible fine lines at the corners.
She didn't look like a woman in her thirties at all. People might even believe she was in her forties or fifties.
"Second Lady?"
Aunt Liu swallowed hard and tentatively called out. The next moment, those pitch - black eyes looked over.
"You're here?"
Her legs trembling slightly, Aunt Liu took an involuntary half - step back. Her rough hands grabbed her daughter, and only then did she gain a bit more courage.
"Second Lady, why, why have you become like this?"
"Don't worry about these things," a glint flashed in the black eyes. Concubine Wang's expression suddenly became eager. "Didn't you write to me and say that the dead girl was acting suspiciously on the estate? What exactly happened?"
Looking at Concubine Wang up close, Aunt Liu felt even more terrified. She could only tremble her lips and say, "This servant... this servant found that the Fourth Miss may know sorcery."
Afraid that her mistress wouldn't believe her, she quickly added, "This servant isn't talking nonsense. My daughter can testify."
As she spoke, Aunt Liu pushed her daughter beside her in front of Concubine Wang.
Suddenly pushed in front of Concubine Wang, Xiaohong was also very scared. If she could speak, she might have let out a scream.
Behind her, Aunt Liu was still explaining.
"My daughter Xiaohong was just like an ordinary person before. But suddenly one day, she couldn't speak anymore."
"Thankfully, she learned some characters when she was young. Only then did I know that before she became mute, she had met the Fourth Miss. At that time, the Fourth Miss said a sentence to my Xiaohong..."
At this point, Aunt Liu deliberately paused to create suspense. Concubine Wang naturally understood what she meant.
With a wave of her hand, a bag of silver was immediately thrown at Aunt Liu's feet.
"Can you talk now?"
"Yes, yes, of course!" Aunt Liu quickly picked up the silver and nodded her head like a famished chicken pecking at rice. "This servant will report everything truthfully."
"Xiaohong told this servant at that time that before she became mute, she heard the Fourth Miss say to her, 'From this moment on, both of you will never be able to speak again'."
"After that, Xiaohong could never speak again. For this, this servant has visited countless famous doctors and spent a fortune, but they were all helpless. My poor daughter!"
At the end of her words, Aunt Liu hugged Xiaohong and wailed, as if she were a truly heart - broken mother. But if one looked closely, they could find that there were no tears in her eyes.
"Shut up."
Another bag of silver was thrown at her feet. Aunt Liu, who had just been wailing, seemed to be pressed on the pause button. Immediately, she stopped howling and put on a fawning smile again.
"Shut up, shut up. This servant will shut up right away."
The room fell silent again. Leaning on her hand, Concubine Wang recalled all of Lu Yinxi's words and deeds since she returned to the mansion.
At this moment, all of Prime Minister Lu's previous actions made sense to her.
She just couldn't figure out why the master, who hated the little girl so much, suddenly changed his attitude and kept her in the mansion on the birthday banquet day. Later, he even protected her more often.
It must be that the prime minister was under her sorcery.
She had to tell the prime minister quickly!
"Later, you repeat what you just said in front of the master. Do you understand?"
The master?
Aunt Liu's hand that was protecting the silver froze involuntarily. She nervously licked her lips.
Actually, the so - called sorcery of the Fourth Miss was just a lie she made up for the silver. If the Fourth Miss really knew sorcery, how could she have lived such a miserable life in the past ten - odd years?
But now, the Second Lady actually wanted to tell this matter to the master? If they found out that she was lying, wouldn't she be doomed?
"Madam, madam," Aunt Liu carefully tugged at the hem of Concubine Wang's sleeve and pondered, "We have no evidence. It's better to think this over carefully."
"What are you afraid of? Isn't your daughter a witness?"
Hongrui found that the Fourth Miss had been very well - behaved these days.
She originally thought that after the Fourth Miss knew that the Third Miss was the one who framed her at the Spring Banquet, she would rush in front of her and teach her a lesson. However, it didn't happen.
Since then, she had become extremely well - behaved. Every day, after accompanying Lady Lu to read the "Diamond Sutra", she would come back to learn female handicrafts. Although she didn't embroider very well, she was making progress every day.
"Fourth Miss, what's going on?"
Seeing her mistress burying her head in embroidery, Hongrui couldn't help but whisper to Hongmei.
"What, aren't you used to it that the Fourth Miss doesn't insist on going out?"
"Is that what I meant?"
Hongrui glanced in Lu Yinxi's direction again. "I just feel a bit uneasy. I always feel that something is going to happen."
Just as she finished speaking, a little maid ran in from outside.
"Fourth Miss, the master asks you to go to the main hall." After thinking for a while, she added, "Nanny Zhou said that the master also called Concubine Wang."
Gently pinching the needle, Lu Yinxi calmly put down her tools, straightened her clothes, and said calmly, "Got it. I'll go there right away."
The young girl's courtyard was relatively remote. When she arrived at the study, Concubine Wang was already there, accompanied by two familiar faces.
Aunt Liu and her daughter Xiaohong.
"Greetings to Father. I wonder why Father called daughter here?"
"Xier, come here first,"
Calling his daughter to his side, Prime Minister Lu then looked at Concubine Wang and the others with a gloomy face.
"Concubine Wang, you said this matter concerns Xier's life. Now that Xier is here, you can speak."
Although she had Aunt Liu as a witness, Concubine Wang had long been out of favor. So she couldn't even see Lu Wenhan. In the past few days, she hadn't even stepped out of the courtyard gate.
In the end, she could only use Lu Yinxi as a shield and tell a lie that it concerned her life.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Concubine Wang let out a long breath. With a smile on her lips, she threw a smug look at the young girl.
"Prime Minister, this concubine suspects that the current Fourth Miss is not the real Fourth Miss!"
As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a thunderbolt out of the blue, or a bomb exploding in the crowd, catching everyone off guard.
Lu Yinxi's expression tightened. Her eyes stared straight at Concubine Wang on the ground, and her brows frowned slightly inadvertently.
Why did Concubine Wang know that she wasn't the original person?
The two people who shouldn't have been here immediately became the young girl's suspects. But after a little thought, she dispelled this idea.
The fact that she wasn't the original owner was only known to herself. She had never mentioned it to others. How could Aunt Liu and Xiaohong know?
She had to extract some information from their mouths.
Pressing her lips together, Lu Yinxi was thinking about how to start when someone beat her to it.
"Nonsense!"
It was Prime Minister Lu.
He immediately pulled his youngest daughter behind him, looking on guard. He also loudly called for the servants.
"Come here. Drag this nonsense - talking shrew back and lock her up. I never want to see her again!"
"Yes!"
"Master, believe this concubine!" Struggling free from the servants' hold like a madwoman, Concubine Wang crawled to Prime Minister Lu's feet in a few steps, her words in a panic.
"Master, this concubine has evidence. This person is a monster. She is not the Fourth Miss at all."
Prime Minister Lu didn't want to listen anymore. He kicked her away, his anger overflowing. "Why aren't you dragging her away yet!"
"Wait."