"Speak! Who are you and what do you want from me?" Li Xinyue shifted her thoughts away from Chu Junyi and eyed the visitor warily.
The visitor gave a sly smile, looked up at Li Xinyue, casually bowed, and handed over a letter. "Your Highness the Princess, do you still remember that your uncle is suffering in prison?"
Li Xinyue tightened her face and glanced down. The envelope was facing her with the back side up because the man had handed it carelessly without bothering about the front or back.
However, Li Xinyue judged from the wax seal on the envelope that the letter had been opened. "Humph, have you read it?"
The visitor was startled, but then said nonchalantly with a laugh, "I did this just for..."
"To make sure whether what he told you is true? Then I advise you not to believe a single word he says. Otherwise, you'll get into big trouble."
The visitor didn't believe her. "He's your uncle! Even if he's just an adopted uncle, Your Highness the Princess, he's the only relative you have in this world, isn't he?"
Li Xinyue raised her eyes and gave a knowing smile. "It seems he's told you quite a lot. So you want me to go and see him and then find a way to rescue them?"
The man gave a dry laugh, clearly meaning exactly that.
Li Xinyue also let out a dry laugh. "No way!" Then she lowered the carriage curtain and ordered the coachman to set off.
Thinking of the rewards promised to him by someone, for the sake of those rewards, the man chased after the carriage and shouted, "But he said that if you don't go, you'll never know the truth about the palace banquet ten years ago!
Concubine Fu died so miserably back then. Don't you, Your Highness the Princess, want to avenge Concubine Fu?"
Hearing this, Jing Bai stopped the carriage. He stared at the man gravely, then hesitated and looked at Li Xinyue.
Li Xinyue was so angry that she threw a teacup, which hit Jing Bai right on the back. "I don't know, but he does? He's just an official sent to a remote area. How many times has he entered the palace? How could he know about the affairs in the inner palace!
He's probably just trying to deceive me into going there to save his life! Tell him to die!
He should pay for his own mistakes. I'm powerless!"
After saying that, she gave Jing Bai a sidelong glance, blaming him for not seeing through such an obvious trick. "Why did you stop the carriage! Just drive over him!"
The letter - deliverer was so scared that he quickly stepped back. The letter was blocked by the carriage frame and fell to the ground.
The man thought to himself that he had heard that Princess Yuanyang had a bad temper, but he didn't know it was this bad. Just delivering a message almost cost him his life.
He decided not to deliver the message anymore. He didn't care what happened. He'd rather give up the rewards.
But at this moment, the carriage turned back and blocked his way.
He was stunned.
Li Xinyue lifted the carriage curtain and looked at him with a fake smile.
"Let me guess who you are.
The only people who can contact him are the jailers in the Supreme Court of Justice, and the only ones who can be bribed are the jailers in the Supreme Court of Justice."
"You, as a jailer in the Supreme Court of Justice, dare to deliver a message for a death - row prisoner! Clearly, you've accepted some shady rewards! Jing Bai, take him to Father Emperor and let Father Emperor decide his punishment!" Li Xinyue's face suddenly darkened, just like a sudden storm.
The jailer's legs went weak and he knelt down immediately.
"Princess, please spare my life, spare my life! I was just greedy for a moment. I was wrong! Princess, please spare my life. From now on, I'll be your servant and do whatever you tell me to do!"
"Use you?" This was the funniest joke Li Xinyue had heard in recent years. She propped her chin with one hand and tapped her cheek casually with her fingertips. "You're just a low - level jailer. What can you do for me? Why should I use you?
And! You, a low - level jailer, dare to look me in the eye. Who gave you the nerve!"
The jailer was speechless.
"Jing Bai!"
Jing Bai immediately jumped out of the carriage, captured the jailer, and escorted him into the palace.
The jailer was still struggling desperately and wailing for the princess to spare his life, but Jing Bai punched him unconscious, carried him on his shoulder, and took him into the palace.
Li Xinyue leaned in the carriage and waited.
But her memory slowly drifted back to the palace banquet ten years ago.
It was a very lively palace banquet. Many people had come.
But all those people were crowded into one room.
Her mother - concubine was lying under a man with her clothes in disarray. The man was frantically ravaging her mother - concubine.
Many people were watching.
"Mother - concubine!" With tears in her eyes, she rushed into the crowd with a stick, beat the man out of the room, and shouted, "Who do you think you are? How dare you bully my mother - concubine! Get out!"
"And all of you! Get out, get out!"
But those onlookers remained motionless.
She saw contempt for herself and shame for her mother - concubine in their eyes.
In a fit of anger, she really threw the stick out, hitting a lady.
"Yuer!"
Her mother - concubine rolled off the bed, clutching her chest with a few shreds of cloth, looking at her embarrassedly and painfully, and reaching out her hand to her.
"Mother - concubine!"
Li Xinyue rushed over and grabbed her mother - concubine's hand. She understood that kind of pain, just like someone about to perish in a swamp, desperately trying to grab something.
Unfortunately, she was useless and couldn't protect her mother - concubine.
That night, Father Emperor came and delivered an imperial edict. Then her mother - concubine left.
The palace servants pulled her back and didn't let her see her mother - concubine for the last time. She stood outside the room and listened. She heard her mother - concubine wailing, suffering, struggling, and calling out "Yuer" again and again until she took her last breath.
"Mother - concubine!"
When Li Xinyue broke free from the palace servants and rushed in, her mother - concubine's body had already been taken down from the beam by the eunuch and covered with a thin white mourning flag.
"Mother - concubine!" She had so many things to say, so much pain, but she couldn't say a word. She just murmured "mother - concubine" over and over again.
Since then, her mother - concubine was gone forever.
Coming back to her senses, Li Xinyue blinked restlessly. Her eyes were already bloodshot. She raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes and bit her finger unwillingly.
She had already sent those who had touched her mother - concubine and forced her mother - concubine to death to atone for their sins in front of her mother - concubine.
The only regret was that those were just small fry. The real mastermind behind the scenes was still missing.
Moreover, as time passed, it would only become more and more difficult to thoroughly investigate the matter.
It was all because she was too young back then and wasn't sensitive to the affairs in the inner palace. Her mother - concubine had never mentioned that she had a deep feud with any of the concubines, and she had never paid attention.
In addition, after her mother - concubine left, a new batch of palace servants had been replaced in the palace, and the truth had gradually become blurred.
This matter had become more and more difficult to investigate.
In fact, Li Xinyue had somewhat given up over the years. It wasn't until the appearance of this jailer that the matter was brought up again.
Maybe that man knew the truth.
Maybe he was the only clue for her to find out the real culprit.
Maybe she should go and see this adopted uncle.
They would be beheaded in a few days. Once the Fu family was exterminated, the clues would be completely cut off.
She was afraid that one day in the future, she would regret her choice today.
But she also deeply understood how much trouble this meeting would bring to herself.
Jing Bai came out of the palace and jumped onto the carriage.
Li Xinyue's struggling heart was in her throat. Suddenly, she made a decision. "Go to the Supreme Court of Justice."
Jing Bai was slightly stunned, and then his alarm bells rang. "They've committed a crime that deserves the execution of all nine generations of their family. Once Your Highness the Princess gets involved with them, you'll lose the Emperor's favor and everything you have now.
I was just too anxious and lost my composure just now. Your Highness, don't be like me!"
Li Xinyue paused for a moment. She hit her head painfully against the carriage wall. After a while, with tears in her eyes, she said, "Go back to the Princess Mansion."
Jing Bai let out a sigh of relief.