Chapter 124

Chapter 124 Dantao snatched the item from Chunxing's hands. She first picked up the handkerchief to examine it, spat in disdain, then crumpled it and threw it at Chunxing's face. "Black-hearted thing!" "You've served our mistress for so long, yet you can't even recognize her embroidery?" "If you're going to frame someone, at least be smart about it. Where did you dig up this filthy thing, and you dare claim it's my mistress's?!" With that, Dantao presented the letter with both hands and bowed to Prince Jing. "Your Highness, this girl harbors malicious intent. I'm afraid she'll only tell the truth after a proper interrogation." The Princess Consort had originally wanted to have the handkerchief brought up for inspection. But upon hearing Dantao's words, she immediately changed her mind. "Nanny, go take a look and see if that handkerchief is Concubine Xie's handiwork." As a concubine or Concubine Consort, one was also expected to show proper filial respect to the Princess Consort by personally making things for her. Xie Run had always been proper and meticulous in these matters. So many people in the Green Pine Courtyard knew that Concubine Xie's needlework... was truly beyond redemption. Nanny Li only needed one glance at the handkerchief to immediately refute it. "Your Highness, Princess Consort, this handkerchief's embroidery is exquisite. There's no way it could be Concubine Xie's work!" Nanny Li cursed inwardly at Chunxing and whoever was behind her for being fools. If you're going to frame someone, at least find something halfway convincing. Chunxing immediately cried out in protest: "This is what Second Miss gave to Young Master Fang!" "It's just that Second Miss's own needlework was poor, so she bought a handkerchief from outside and passed it off as her own embroidery to give to Young Master Fang." "Even Young Master Fang believes this handkerchief was embroidered by Second Miss herself. If you don't believe me... if you don't believe me, you can summon Young Master Fang to confront me!" Dantao let out a cold laugh. "Since this was something my mistress gave to Young Master Fang, how did it end up in the hands of a maid who was already sold off?" Chunxing's throat caught, and half of her carefully rehearsed words slipped away. "I... I..." She stammered for a long while, unable to think of how to cover it up. Dantao continued, "You keep insisting that my mistress and Young Master Fang have a secret affair, yet she didn't even embroider the handkerchief she gave him herself... Does that even sound believable to your own ears?" There was a custom of using personally embroidered handkerchiefs as tokens of love. But if the token of love wasn't embroidered by the giver but bought from outside, it sounded utterly ridiculous. Then who was the pledge of love with? The person who gave the handkerchief, or the embroiderer who stitched it? Both Prince Jing and the Princess Consort felt it was impossible for Xie Run to do something so foolish. Chunxing was so anxious she was about to cry, and could only say, "Even if the handkerchief is fake, the letter must be real, right?" "Just look at the contents of the letter, and you'll know whether Second Miss has been carrying on with Young Master Fang!" Dantao refused to yield an inch, pressing forward step by step. "It either is or it isn't!" "What do you mean, 'even if the handkerchief is fake'?" "If I said you were committing adultery with a servant boy in the mansion, and you swore up and down it wasn't true, then I casually said 'even if it's fake'—would you accept that?" "Does that sound like something a person would say?!" If Chunxing weren't in good health, she might have vomited blood from sheer rage right then. The Princess Consort smiled. "Dantao usually seems so steady and composed. I never knew she could be so eloquent in debate." Prince Jing remarked from the side, coolly, "Like mistress, like maid." The Princess Consort glanced at Dantao upon hearing this, and thinking of how Xie Run usually carried herself, felt a slight stir in her heart. Arguments aside, Dantao still didn't dare delay Prince Jing from reading the letter. Her heart was also uneasy. After all, she hadn't been the one serving by Xie Run's side back then, and didn't know what had actually happened. Her mistress was so confident, but what if there was some unforeseen mishap? Just as Dantao was worrying, Prince Jing's brows furrowed as he read. "What is all this?" Chunxing thought she saw a glimmer of hope and immediately raised her head. "Your Highness, didn't I tell you?" "Second Miss clearly had a past relationship with Young Master Fang. Not only that, but throughout her time in the Prince's residence, they've been exchanging letters all along." "What's written in that letter is surely proof of their illicit affair!" Prince Jing set down the letter, his gaze cold and piercing as he looked at Chunxing. "Are you so eager to see your Second Miss dead?" Chunxing shrank back under Prince Jing's stare and lowered her head. But there was a hint of secret delight in her eyes. For Prince Jing to say such a thing meant he truly harbored suspicion toward Second Miss. Chunxing defended herself, "It's not that I wish to spread this matter around!" "It's just that back then, I was wholeheartedly relaying messages between my mistress and Young Master Fang. Who would have thought that when it came to light, my mistress emerged unscathed, but the Xie family sold me off to a farming household, where I was beaten and scolded at every turn." "I only wanted to beg Second Miss to remember our past bond and save my life..." The Princess Consort had also seen the contents of the letter, and her smile was deeply amused, half-smiling as she said, "What you did—does that look like someone begging to have their life saved?" "From where I stand, it looks like you're dead set on bringing disaster upon Concubine Xie." Chunxing wailed with clumsy acting: "I beg Your Highness and Princess Consort to see the truth. Everything I've said is the truth..." "How can words of truth come from the mouth of one with a twisted heart?" Prince Jing tossed the letter aside carelessly, scattering it across the table. He said indifferently, "Jing Wu, first find out how she made her way from Chen Commandery to the capital. Then take my token and deliver her to the authorities." He paused, then added, "Don't let her open her mouth and ruin the Prince's residence's reputation." With that, he left with Eunuch Shian. Chunxing was baffled. Seeing two sword-bearing men approaching her, clearly intending to seize her, she was instantly terrified. "What do you think you're doing?!" "I'm not lying—Second Miss really did have an illicit affair with Young Master Fang..." The Princess Consort raised her teacup, took a slow sip, and only then asked, "You can't read, can you?" Chunxing stood frozen in place: "I... I can't..." "This letter contains nothing but inquiries about poetry and verse. If you intend to use this to slander Concubine Xie of illicit conduct... I'm afraid it won't do." Truly foolish to the extreme. She didn't even know what was written in the letter, yet she dared to assert with such conviction that Xie Run had improper relations with another. She truly didn't value her own life. The person behind this girl was equally stupid—they hadn't even thought to verify the information beforehand. They devised this scheme with not a shred of thoroughness, yet its malice was plain to see. Chunxing's eyes flew wide open as she stared at the Princess Consort in disbelief. "How is that possible..." She had clearly seen Second Miss poring over those letters day after day. Sometimes giggling to herself, sometimes wallowing in self-pity—it was clearly the manner of a maiden in love. She had even asked Second Miss what was written in the letters back then. Second Miss had dodged the question with a shy, blushing face. Who could have known there wasn't a single hint of romance in them—just inquiries about poetry and verse?! But before she could finish, two guards stepped forward, covered her mouth, and dragged her away.