slave like jade

Chapter 162 No Resentment No Enmity

Knowing from Mu Ling's mouth about the evil star and the rumors about her from the outside world, Yu Ruyan's heart was cold, but she didn't show any sadness on her face. After listening silently, she raised her head to look at the worried Mu Lingzhiqian. He smiled and said: "Okay, I understand, Your Highness can go back to the palace to watch the crown prince's seal ceremony, this time - really can't make any mistakes!"

Just at this time, the eunuch next to King Liang came to Bieyuan to announce Mu Lingzhi's entry into the palace in person, presumably the movement at Jing Zhaoyin's gate just now had alarmed King Liang.

Mu Lingzhi was really worried about Yu Ruyan, and wanted to stay by her side and guard her personally, but Yu Ruyan urged him to leave, saying: "Your Highness has defied His Majesty once, if you refuse to enter the palace again, I'm afraid It will really anger your father."

Thinking of what happened in the morning, Mu Lingzhi knew that it was time for him to go into the palace and explain to his father, lest his father really get angry, and she might be the one who got involved again.

He sighed helplessly, and told her to rest well, not to think about what happened last night, and said: "I will watch you sleep before entering the palace."

In order to prevent him from worrying about himself, Yu Ruyan closed her eyes and lay down as she said, Mu Lingzhi helped her cover the quilt, and really stayed by her bedside until she fell asleep before letting go of her heart and following the eunuch into the palace up.

As soon as he left, Yu Ruyan, who was clearly asleep on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes, rolled over and sat up.

Brother An was ordered by Mu Lingzhi to keep an eye on her all the time. When he suddenly saw her wake up, he was startled and worried, "What's wrong with the princess? But what's wrong? Do you want to call Dr. Wu? Your Highness I specially ordered him to stay in the other garden during this period of time, in case of emergencies..."

"Brother An, did you ask someone to bury Dongcao..." Thinking of Dongcao's tragic death, Yu Ruyan felt so painful that she couldn't breathe. With so many things in her heart, how could she sleep?

But she also knew that now Mu Lingzhi was besieged on all sides and was more tired than her, so she didn't want to make him worry anymore, so she could only pretend to be asleep so that he could enter the palace with peace of mind.

When mentioning Dongcao, Brother An also had tears in his eyes, crying: "Princess, the copper coin has gone to Jingzhaoyin to collect people, but... But they said that Dongcao is a suspect in arson, and her body will continue to be kept in Jingzhaoyin for investigation." case……"

"Arson suspect?" Yu Ruyan looked at Brother An with a surprised face, and Brother An cried and said, "Yes, I heard from Jing Zhaoyin's official that when Dongcao's body was found, there was someone with kerosene beside her." Jars, with Huo Yizi on her body, said she was arson suspect!"

Yu Ruyan looked at Brother An in shock, shaking her head involuntarily, her mind was in a fog.Brother An was also full of confusion, and couldn't help but said again: "Princess, not only that, but the officials of Jing Zhaoyin found you in the carriage that you were riding out of the mansion at the back door of Qinxiang Building. A few cans of kerosene, and those prostitutes who escaped from the fire all said in unison that they saw you set the fire in Qinxianglou with their own eyes..."

While talking, Brother An worriedly looked at Yu Ruyan's description. Of course, she didn't believe that Qin Xianglou's fire was really set by her master, so Brother An worried that she would not be able to bear these slanders and traps. .

However, after listening to what she said, Yu Ruyan gradually calmed down from the shock at the beginning, and at the end she heard that someone saw her setting fire in the Qinxiang Building with her own eyes, Yu Ruyan suddenly smiled, The confusion in my heart suddenly became clear.

She closed her eyes and carefully sorted out all the possibilities that could be thought of in her mind, and suddenly everything became clear, but there was one thing she couldn't figure out.

Opening her eyes abruptly, Yu Ruyan stared blankly at the blood on her wrist, and fell into deep thought——

If she guessed correctly, the servant woman in the Fortune Inn yesterday was the highly skilled medical doctor Mrs. Yiqing brought back by Mu Ziyue——

Because when the maid passed by Yu Ruyan, she smelled a special smell on her body!

Now that I think about it carefully, the scent is very strange, it seems that she has never smelled it before, but there is a hidden scent in it, which is the special scent of plant ash contained in the incense sticks that monks often come into contact with. !

Therefore, nine out of ten that maidservant is Mrs. Yiqing!

And it is easier to explain the "self" who set fire in the prostitute's mouth——

Just ask, in this world, if you want to find someone who looks like her and pretends to be her to harm others, who else can be besides Yu Mingzhu?

In fact, even without these clues, Yu Ruyan can still guess who is planning to frame Qin Xianglou to frame her, because, in this world, besides Yu Mingzhu and Mu Ziyue, who else would be so thoughtful and frenzied as to murder dozens of people? Take a life to frame yourself!
She got up and put on her coat and walked slowly to the window, looking at the bleak late autumn scene outside the window, her heart was icy cold!
Many people and events flashed through her mind one by one, she cleaned them up one by one, and put everyone in the event in the position she expected, and the event seemed to be clear before her eyes——

Ever since she brought Dongcao out of the house, she has been followed by Yu Mingzhu and Mu Ziyue. Dongcao took the post she wrote to Qin Xianglou to meet Qiu's mother. Perhaps Dongcao was poisoned the moment she left the house. As for her later The Huoyou and Huo Yizi around him were nothing more than obvious scapegoats.

Then Mu Ziyue's master, Mrs. Yiqing, disguised herself as a servant and entered the house to bring her tea, and stabbed her unconscious with silver needles.

During the period when she was in a coma, Yu Mingzhu pretended to be herself and went to set fire to the Qinxiang Building. With seven similar looks, if she dressed up deliberately and didn't look carefully, no one would be able to tell the difference.

Therefore, everything in Qin Xianglou was committed by Yu Mingzhu and his gang, and then blamed on her.

But from the beginning to the end, she couldn't figure out one thing——

If everything about Qin Xianglou was that they wanted to put her to death, why didn't they just take their own lives when they were not in the inn?
Also, what did they do to cut that bloody hole on their wrist?
Thinking too much, her brain couldn't help but hurt again, Yu Ruyan told Brother An to let the kitchen cook something for herself, after a while the kitchen served a table of delicate meals, Yu Ruyan finished eating with her head buried, turned around and crawled Went to bed to rest.

Brother An was very happy to see her like this, and couldn't help but said: "When His Royal Highness left, he was still worried that the princess would be so sad that he couldn't eat or sleep. If His Highness knew that the princess was so obedient, I don't know how happy he would be." Woolen cloth!"

Yu Ruyan gave a helpless and bitter smile, her expression turned serious in an instant, and she said: "Brother An, from now on we have a tough fight, if I don't eat and rest well, I won't have the strength to fight against the enemy, so , don’t worry about me, you are tired these days, go and have a good rest!”

Seeing her serious words, Brother An couldn't help tensing up all the nerves in his body. He looked at her blankly, although he had many doubts in his heart, he retreated quietly, and went to sleep on the soft couch outside.

Both the master and the servant stayed up all day and night, and both were greatly frightened. Brother An fell asleep after touching the pillow, while Yu Ruyan kept thinking about the last question that she didn't understand, but in the end I couldn't resist the tiredness, so I fell asleep...

When she woke up, it was already dark, and there was a "swoosh" of rain outside, Mu Lingzhi still didn't come back as usual, Yu Ruyan sat in the dining room alone, listening to the sound of rain while eating dinner.

Copper money hurried back from the palace, completely soaked, with water dripping from the clothes, stood in front of Yu Ruyan wet, and told her with a guilty face that Mu Lingzhi was busy in the palace and would not be able to come back at night Yes, let her sleep first.

Yu Ruyan felt a pain in her heart, stared blankly at the heavy rain outside, and said sadly: "Bongqian, it must be raining heavily outside!"

The copper coin looked at her because she didn't know, and shivered from the cold, and said with a sneer: "Yes, it rained hard and fast today..."

"Bring a few more sets of clothes for Your Highness to change for him, so that he doesn't get sick!" Yu Ruyan's voice was cool, and she told An Ge at the side: "Go to Doctor Wu and ask for some. Medicines for cold and dampness, and medicines for reducing swelling and wounds. Prepare a copy for the copper coins."

Brother An looked at her in astonishment, and said with a confused face: "Why did the princess bring these to Your Highness?"

Yu Ruyan stared at the copper coin with a cold gaze, the copper coin was already at a loss for what to do with embarrassment, seeing Yu Ruyan looking at him, she said dully: "Princess... how did the concubine know?"

"You came back in a carriage, but you were completely drenched. It was raining today, and the altar could not be constructed, but His Highness stayed in the palace and couldn't come back because I...was punished by His Majesty. When you came in just now, The knees are obviously stiff, and it must be because of kneeling in the rain with His Highness for too long--am I right?"

After listening to her words, Brother An realized that his body was weird when he was standing, and he stepped forward to help him check his knees, but his hands barely touched his trouser legs, and the copper coins could not help but feel a slight pain He made a sound, blushed and dodged his body, and said in a low voice: "Don't read it, the princess is right. But, your highness is not being punished, but... but pleading for the princess, please give him time to let him investigate The real murderer was revealed, and the princess was innocent. But His Majesty didn't want to see him, so He knelt outside His Majesty's bedroom, but fortunately, the Empress Empress stepped forward and made His Majesty stand up and enter the palace..."

Hearing this, Yu Ruyan's whole body trembled, her face was pale, her eyes were dark, she was stunned for a long time before she said: "Your Majesty...does Your Majesty even refuse to give me a chance to judge my injustice?"

There was a coldness in her heart, and she thought sadly, she is also a princess of a country after all, and she is the future princess of Mu Lingzhi, but King Liang doesn't trust her at all, or, because of the evil star, King Liang has already treated her very well. It's murderous!
Tong Qian didn't dare to tell her about the shock of the court officials today, let alone tell her about Mu Ling's resolute confrontation with all the ministers, but whispered: "The evidence presented by the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple... Not good for the princess, and the confessions of the survivors of Qin Xianglou, His Majesty believes that the evidence is convincing and there is no need to re-trial..."

The following words can’t be said for copper coins, but he doesn’t talk about Yu Ruyan, but he also understands what a sad situation he is in now...

Her heart was full of ice and snow, she sighed heavily and said to the copper coin: "You go back and report, but don't tell His Highness that I already know about the affairs in the palace, just say that everything is fine with me in Bieyuan. I - indeed, is fine! Those medicines... just say that you asked Dr. Wu yourself, don't say that it was my order."

The copper coin responded respectfully, and hurried back to the palace.

"Also, tell Your Highness, let him help me buy three days, and within three days, I must find out the real culprit!"

Copper Coin was shocked when he heard the words, and looked at her in disbelief, and when he saw her solemn expression, he quickly responded respectfully.

As soon as he left, Yu Ruyan asked Brother An to recruit the hidden guards, and ordered: "Go find a surviving prostitute from Qin Xianglou and bring them back quietly!"

The dark guard had to order down, and after a while, he brought back a girl who was so frightened that she was trembling all over. She knelt in front of Yu Ruyan in fear and panic. He dared to raise his head, curled up and knelt on the ground, and kept begging for mercy: "Princess, please forgive me, I didn't tell anyone about what happened last night, and I didn't tell the official that it was the concubine, yes... yes Hong'er and the others speak freely, it's none of my family's business..."

"What's your name?"

Yu Ruyan spoke calmly, sipping tea lightly.

"My family... my family's name is Yao'er!"

Yu Ruyan waved her hand to ask An Ge to help Yao'er up, gave her a stool to sit on, and said, "Miss Yao'er, I invite you to come here today, I want to ask you for a favor."

"Ah..." Hearing this, Yao'er looked up at Yu Ruyan in disbelief, and said in a daze, "What does the princess want me to do for you?"

"Ms. Yaoer, please tell me what happened before and after the fire in Qinxiang Building yesterday, and don't miss a single word!"

Yu Ruyan's tone was easy-going, and she looked at her indifferently.Hearing this, Yao'er was astonished, and couldn't help looking at Yu Ruyan suspiciously, thinking, didn't you yourself be present yesterday?You were the one who started the fire, so why are you asking me the other way around?

But she is indeed a smart girl, and she suddenly thought of something, so she assured her with a serious face: "Princess, my family didn't know about what happened yesterday. If someone comes to ask my family, my family will tell him that my family didn't see the princess." set fire."

Hearing this, Yu Ruyan was not happy, her brows were almost inaudibly frowned, her voice became cold, and she said word by word: "I said before, I want you to tell the whole story about what happened in your building yesterday, It’s not about listening to your useless words.”

Brother An understood Yu Ruyan's meaning, stepped forward and said to the girl Yao'er with a long face: "Do you really think that the fire was set by my princess? Let me tell you the truth, my princess would never do such a heartless act." What happened, she was just framed by someone. I want you to tell me now because I want to sort out the clues to solve the case. If you explain it in detail and help solve the case, our princess will reward you a lot."

Dazed, Yaoer understood after a while, quickly knelt down again, and said firmly: "Princess, if you really didn't do this, please find out the real culprit, and give justice to my dead sisters, slave family I am willing even if I don’t want a reward.”

After that, he cleared his throat and talked about what happened yesterday in detail.

"It was almost before dinner. Except for a few red cards who were eating alone in the room, the slave family and other sisters in the building were eating in the lobby. At that time, you... oh, no, yes, the real murderer brought someone in , roll call to see Mother Qiu."

"At that time, the light in the lobby was dim, she rushed in aggressively with people, drove us back to the room, and then asked Mother Qiu to hand over the deeds of prostitution of those girls last time, and if she didn't, she would set fire to the building."

"Mother Qiu was also scared at the time, and agreed to go upstairs to get the deed of sale, but she seemed to regret it when she returned. She refused to hand over the deed of sale, and even quarreled with the girl. In everyone's room, I couldn't hear what the two of them said, but I felt that Qiu's mother's tone was unusually angry, as if she said "I have no hatred or enmity with you" and was beaten, and then a fire broke out downstairs... "

Hearing this, Yu Ruyan's eyes lit up, but she didn't make a sound, signaling Yao'er to continue talking.

"... Seeing the fire, the sisters in the building ran down desperately, but the front door was blocked by that man and the back door was locked. We were so anxious that the man ordered people to set the building on fire. , before leaving, he said cruelly, offending my third concubine is the end."

"Although in the end we smashed open the windows and escaped, there were still many girls trapped in the building and burned to death..."

After talking about it, Yao'er was already in tears. The people who were burned to death were all sisters who struggled hard together in Qin Xianglou to earn a living. Son is still very sad.

Yu Ruyan's heart was icy cold, her hands clutched the teacup tightly, her heart was bleeding with hatred——

It was so vicious, in order to deal with her alone, the girl on the first floor was locked in the building and burned to death!

That is to say, only the more people die, the greater the public anger will be, and the entire Liang Liang will be alarmed, and it will be spread to the ears of the King and Queen of Liang, and then Mu Lingzhi will not be able to protect himself, and will completely put himself in the wrong place. There is no chance of turning over after death.

Holding up the tea bowl with trembling hands and taking a sip of tea, Yu Ruyan suddenly thought of something. She felt chills in her heart and said in a trembling voice: "Is that oval-faced girl named Shuang'er in your building okay? She can escape from the fire this time." Out?"

Speaking of Shuang'er, Yao'er was stunned for a moment, and although what Yu Ruyan said next was already in Yu Ruyan's expectation, it still gave her a pause and froze her whole body.

Yaoer told her that the girl named Shuanger happened to be redeemed by her family and left Qinxiang Building the day before yesterday. It is said that she left Dongdu to live elsewhere and lost contact with the girls in the building. I have a good relationship with her, but I don't know where she left the building?

Brother An thought of the letter he handed to Yu Ruyan, and his heart became clear. Thinking that Yu Ruyan fell into someone else's trap because of that distress letter, he blamed himself so much that he knelt down with a 'plop'. In front of Yu Ruyan, she blamed herself and cried, "Princess, it's all the servant's fault. It was the servant who believed in someone else's words and passed the letter to the princess... Without that letter, the princess would not be where she is today. This appearance...and killed Dongcao, it's all my fault..."

"Get up, don't cry!" Yu Ruyan was also sad and angry, but Brother An can't be blamed for this matter. Those who wanted her to die tried everything to kill her, even if they didn't succeed this time, There will be another frame-up, and there will be one time to avoid it.

She asked An Ge to take a stack of silver bills and give them to Yaoer, saying: "I know that all your hard-earned belongings have been burned. You can take the money and do some small business or rent a yard to live. , if you have any leftovers, please help your sisters who are in need."

Staring blankly at the stack of banknotes in her hand, Yao'er was shocked, she looked up at Yu Ruyan in disbelief, and said gratefully: "Princess, my family didn't do you any favors, it's not worth your reward." Bank notes..."

"It's worth it." Yu Ruyan smiled at her, and the next second her expression was complete, and she said coldly: "I will definitely bring the real culprit to justice, return the world, return your sister, and return the truth." I am fair to myself."

After Yao'er left, Yu Ruyan sat at the table and frowned, thinking about something. When Brother An saw it, he asked worriedly: "Princess, is Yao'er's words really useful? Or did the princess accept it to make her feel at ease?" Did you pay those silver taels to comfort me?"

"No, her words really helped me." Yu Ruyan got up and walked to the desk, spread out the rice paper, and wrote three names on it: Yu Mingzhu, Mu Ziyue, and Yiqing.

She pointed to the three people on the paper and said: "Actually, I knew from the very beginning that these three people were working together to harm me. Yiqing was the one who stabbed me with silver needles. She can cure Mu Ziyue's scarlet head." , presumably the medical skills are really good, so the method of sealing the acupoints with silver needles is not difficult for her."

"And the 'I' that everyone saw in the Qinxiang Building is Yu Mingzhu's disguise. In the whole world, except her, no one can pretend to be me without being discovered."

"And I think Mu Ziyue came up with this whole conspiracy, because Mu Ziyang heard the sentence I threatened Qiu's mother to 'burn the building' in Qinxianglou, so they borrowed this sentence." Let’s play with words, burn Qin Xianglou and then blame me, so that I don’t even have a chance to redress my grievances.”

Hearing Yu Ruyan's clear and clear analysis, Brother An happily said: "Princess is really smart, she immediately figured out the whole story. Now that we know that they did it, let's go to the palace and tell His Highness to report to Liang. Wang, arrest these poisonous women, avenge Dongcao, the dead guards and the girl from Qin Xianglou, and cut them into pieces..."

"Where's the evidence?" Yu Ruyan's soft words completely stopped An Ge.

The people in Qinxiang Building saw with their own eyes that it was 'she' who came to make trouble in the building, and even heard with their own ears that 'she' was going to set fire to the building. It was also 'she' who lit the fire in front of everyone, and the girl beside her She also died in the fire, with evidence of the murder on her body, and the evidence left in her carriage, so now all the testimony points to her, even though she knows who the real murderer is, but there is no evidence to refute it, No one would believe it.

One moment there was joy on his face, but the next moment he was dejected and sad. Brother An was so angry that he couldn't speak, but looked at Yu Ruyan anxiously, and said angrily: "Princess, I really can't find you. Show evidence to refute them? Then why did you ask His Highness to ask for only three days? Three days passed in the blink of an eye. If the time comes...

"Do you know that Mother Qiu survived this accident?" Interrupting Brother An's words, when Yu Ruyan asked this sentence, her whole body was extremely nervous and couldn't help trembling.

"I heard that all the people who died this time were prostitutes, but I didn't hear that she died in the fire..."

"Huh!" Hearing this, Yu Ruyan let out a heavy breath, feeling that she was alive again, and she immediately ordered: "Notify all the hidden guards in the mansion, and find the surviving mother Qiu at all costs!"

Brother An looked at her stupidly, and asked, "What do you want her for?"

Yu Ruyan smiled satisfied, and curled her lips and said: "If I guessed correctly, the reason why Qiu's mother quarreled with Yu Mingzhu later and regretted that she refused to hand over the contract of sale must be because she recognized that Yu Mingzhu was not the same person as me. That's why she said the phrase 'I have no grievances or enmities with you'."

"So now, only by finding Mother Qiu and asking her to come forward and identify Yu Mingzhu as the real culprit who set the fire that night, can the truth of this matter come to light and save me!"

(End of this chapter)