Chapter 176

Chapter 176 Prince Jing glanced at her coldly. "Throw her into the dungeon first!" Jing Wu saluted. "Yes!" With that, he took Ping'an away. Concubine An, who was still waiting in the courtyard for Ping'an's return, suddenly heard the news and felt as if the sky had collapsed. She hastily gripped her maid's hand, trembling all over. "W-Will the Prince be angry?" Concubine An was so frightened her voice carried a sob: "The Prince has always detested me and Rui'er. If this gets entangled with other matters, what will become of me and Rui'er for the rest of our lives?" Shunxin, the maid attending Concubine An, felt a chill run through her heart upon hearing these words. Ever since Concubine An gave birth to the Fourth Young Master and incurred Prince Jing's disgust, her days had grown increasingly difficult. Now the entire household relied solely on Ping'an to manage things. It was Ping'an who had poured her heart and soul into gradually raising the Fourth Young Master well. Now that Ping'an had been framed and fallen into trouble, Concubine An was only worried about herself and the Fourth Young Master, without asking a single question about Ping'an. Ping'an had been absolutely loyal to Concubine An. How could Concubine An's reaction not chill the hearts of maids like Shunxin? After Concubine An had fretted for a long while, Shunxin quietly reminded her: "Mistress, the most urgent matter now is to rescue Sister Ping'an." Concubine An seemed to suddenly realize this and quickly nodded. "You're right! Save Ping'an first!" "She's been locked in the dungeon by the Prince—she's bound to suffer a great deal..." But after agreeing, fear welled up in Concubine An's heart. Having to go plead with Prince Jing... The very thought of that scene made her shrink back. Concubine An asked in a small voice: "Ping'an has been dragged into the matter of harming the Fifth Young Master, enraging the Prince... If we want to save Ping'an, we'll have to beg the Prince." "But the Prince already detests me. What if seeing me makes him even angrier... What do we do then?" Shunxin gritted her teeth, furious. "Even if he gets angry, you still have to go!" Shunxin could only hate that she hadn't spent more silver back then to find a way into Chunsan Courtyard or Songya Courtyard as a second-rank maid. Having run into such a mistress, she could only sigh at her misfortune, yet still had to exhaust herself coaxing and advising her. Shunxin explained to Concubine An: "Ping'an is your trusted maid. If she's falsely accused of harming the Fourth Young Master, can you possibly escape involvement?" "If the suspicion isn't cleared, Sister Ping'an will be the criminal, and you'll become the mastermind!" Hearing these words, Concubine An lost all composure and said dazedly: "B-But I never told Ping'an to harm the Fifth Young Master!" Shunxin looked at Concubine An in shock. "Mistress, are you doubting Sister Ping'an too?!" Concubine An: "Of course I trust Ping'an. But the people the Prince sent said the evidence is conclusive... I don't know, I truly don't know." It was November, and the room was warmed by burning charcoal, yet Shunxin felt nothing but ice in her heart. Her mistress's words showed she was only thinking of herself, with not a trace of consideration for Ping'an. Shunxin suppressed her disgust and offered Concubine An advice. She told her to go plead with the Prince, or to confess everything she knew to him truthfully, one by one. Whether she knew something or not, she had to show Prince Jing where she stood. If she could steel herself, she should kneel and beg—she had to fight for at least a chance for Ping'an. After all, protecting Ping'an meant protecting herself! But Concubine An agreed readily enough—yet when it came time to actually act, she couldn't even take a step out of the courtyard gate, hiding in her room trembling with fear. It nearly drove Shunxin to death with rage. While Concubine An's courtyard was in utter chaos, Wan Linlang's Xiuyue Pavilion was shrouded in dead silence. Upon returning to her courtyard, she dismissed all the servants, keeping only Suici and Suiyu. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Suici felt her heart pounding wildly, nearly leaping out of her chest. Wan Linlang raised her hand and swept the cheap teacups off the table. A loud crash rang out, frightening Suici's face as pale as paper. Without a word, she dropped to her knees. "Mistress, spare me! Mistress, spare me!" "This servant is truly innocent—Yuezhi was spouting nonsense..." Gazing at Wan Linlang's gloomy face, Suici trembled all over and babbled incoherently: "This servant was wrong, this servant truly knows she was wrong." "This servant shouldn't have hidden the affair with Zhao Wu!" "And the matter of Yuezhi threatening this servant..." "Enough!" Wan Linlang's face showed not a trace of anger, only a calm as still as water. But it was precisely that calm that terrified Suici, who served her closely. She knew her mistress best. Although Wan Linlang had just spoken up for her in Chunsan Courtyard, in truth she was already wishing Suici dead! Suici knew that Sui Jin, who had previously served at her mistress's side, had fallen inexplicably ill simply for displeasing her. Later, she was transferred to guard the winter snow courtyard, and her illness suddenly cured itself. Her mistress, who came from a family of physicians, was vicious and ruthless in her methods, unpredictable in temperament—how could one not fear her? Wan Linlang gazed at Suici with heavy eyes, and only after a long while spat out one word: "Fool!" The moment she spoke, both Suici and Suiyu involuntarily shuddered. Wan Linlang sneered coldly: "Hiding so many things from me, fine." "If you had the skill, you should have hidden them well! But instead you let someone seize leverage and frame you, dragging me down with you—stupid and incompetent!" "You know full well you're incompetent and weak, unable to even keep Yuezhi in check, yet you didn't confess a single word to me—you're utterly stupid to the extreme!" "If it weren't for your foolish blundering, how could I have been put in such a passive position today?!" "Truly a blundering fool who brings nothing but harm!" If she weren't merely a concubine, and it weren't inconvenient to frequently change her personal maidservants, she would have long since replaced that fool Suici! She shouldn't have let a moment of soft-heartedness keep her on until now! Now that Suici had stirred up trouble, under the watchful eyes of everyone, she found it difficult to deal with this maidservant. Not only that, but she also had to follow Prince Jing's instructions—prepare a dowry for her and happily marry the girl off. For a moment, Concubine Wan felt a stifled pressure in her chest, and a bloody taste surged in her throat. Even when she was falsely accused at Spring Mountain Courtyard today, she hadn't felt this furious and depressed. Suici dared not argue, only kneeling on the ground, knocking her head repeatedly in admission of guilt. Wan Linlang swept her a disgusted glance. "Enough. Get out and kneel in the outer room!" "Don't linger here and offend my sight!" "Yes!" Suici, as if granted a pardon, scrambled on her knees and hurried out to kneel in the outer room. It was now the eleventh month. Though a charcoal brazier burned in the outer room, it was far colder than the inner chamber. People passing back and forth lifted the curtain, letting gusts of cold wind pour in, making Suici, kneeling on the ground, shiver violently. Even the wounds from kneeling on the porcelain shards just now had gone numb, no longer feeling any pain. After Wan Linlang drove Suici out, Suiyu, quick-witted, stepped forward to present a cup of tea. "Mistress, have a sip of tea to moisten your throat, and you can scold Suici at your leisure."