Ning Yuxuan had said that he would investigate yesterday's matter, so everyone that had been on the stone bridge last night came to Feiyu Courtyard this morning.
Wen Wan's complexion had greatly improved. Marquis Moyu had probably successively coaxed her last night. However, when her gaze turned to Nie Sangyu, Ji Man felt that the female lead had changed. Wen Wen had originally been the fortunate female lead that had received everything without even having to ask for it, but she had interfered and taken away part of the female lead's halo. Wen Wan's heart was most likely feeling a sense of unfairness and staring to hate her.
Even if a woman was a Holy Mother, she would become angry when her fundamental interests were disturbed. Moreover, Wen Wan could be considered a somewhat careful person. Ji Man almost suspected that Ning Yuxuan was deliberately using her as a way to provoke Wen Wan, so that Wen Wan would learn to keep herself away from the other women and not be bullied by them.
Wen Wan started by saying, "I was walking in the front with the two honored concubines yesterday, so we naturally couldn't have turned around and pushed Qing-er. The people that were following behind the two honored concubines, go and stand in the same position you were in."
Ji Man pursed her lips and was the first person to walk to the center of the courtyard. At that time, Liu Hanyun was standing to her right and Mu Shuiqing was standing to her left. They were followed by Wen Wan's servant girl, Tanxiang, Qi Siling's servant girl, Songlan, and Qian Lianxue's servant girl, Dangzhu. Further behind them, it was Nie Sangyu's servant girl, Muxu, Mu Shuiqing's servant girl, Banxia, as well as Liu Hanyun's servant girl, Chunpi.
No matter how anyone looked at it, Nie Sangyu had been in the most suspicious position. She had been in the best position to push Mu Shuiqing into the water.
Wen Wan determinedly looked at them for a long time before she turned her head to look at Marquis Moyu and said, "We're all sisters. It wouldn't be good for your servant to make any guesses. My lord, please make the decision instead."
Ning Yuxuan glanced at Nie Sangyu before he pursed his lips and asked the servants in the back, "At that time, who moved? Or, did anyone feel someone next to herself move? All of you, close your eyes and point. No one is allowed to open her eyes. Otherwise, you'll be driven out of this household."
This was actually a pretty good method. It allowed the people that were afraid to speak to also act as witnesses. Ji Man silently praised him and also closed her eyes.
Ji Man heard the faint sound of sleeves being raised behind her. While she waited for Ning Yuxuan to order everyone to open their eyes, she whole-heartedly believed that she wouldn't be wrongly accused. However, when she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Ning Yuxuan was looking at her with an extremely harsh gaze.
"What?" Ji Man didn't understand. When she turned around to look, all of the servant girls were standing in place with their heads lowered.
"I can listen to your explanation." Marquis Moyu pursed his lips and said, "Why did you push Qing-er into the water?"
She pushed Mu Shuiqing into the water? Ji Man widened her eyes. She incredulously turned her head and glanced at the servant girls behind her. It was such a large group of people. It couldn't be that they had all pointed at her, right?
After being surprised for a short period of time, she calmed down again. There were five servant girls behind her. At least three of them had past enmity with her. Why had she thought that they would say the truth instead of harming her?
Ji Man smiled, turned around to look at Marquis Moyu, and said, "My lord, if you were this servant and stood in such a conspicuous spot, would you push Master Qing into the water? What's the benefit to me if she loses her child? First, I'm not the main wife. Second, I've never received any genuine feelings from you. Other than harming myself, what will I get by doing this?"
These words had the slight meaning of implicating Wen Wan. Marquis Moyu's expression immediately sunk and his peach blossom eyes were filled with fury. He coldly harrumphed, "Who doesn't know that you have a poisonous heart? Not only did you plot to murder my heir, now you're also trying to harm Wen Wan by placing the blame on her?"
Ji Man also sneered. "My lord, you're heart is already slanted to one side and you won't listen to anyone's explanation. Why are you bothering with asking Sangyu this question? Just directly lock me in the confinement courtyard."
"Audacious!" Ning Yuxuan was truly angered. His eyes were sharp enough to be swords that wanted to stab through her while she was still alive. "Nie Sangyu, are you relying on your identity as a member of Nie Clan to increasingly disregard other people? Right now, you're a concubine. And you dare to talk back to me like this?"
Ji Man was also overcome with anger. She was innocent and had been wrongly accused. Who wouldn't be angry? And yet, this scumbag had the insistent attitude of protecting the female lead and disregarding everyone else's opinion. It made her fume with rage.
The female lead's life was important. It couldn't be that the supporting female character's life was worth nothing!
Wen Wan hurriedly came forward to act as the mediator. "My lord, please calm down. Sangyu, be mindful and pay attention to propriety when you're speaking. Don't anger the marquis. If you're really confined again, your days won't be good."
Ji Man inwardly sneered, but she returned to showing an obedient expression on her face. There wouldn't be any good result to directly facing off with Marquis Moyu. The female lead had given her a way out. It would be a waste to not use it.
Ning Yuxuan didn't know why he was behaving this way. When Nie Sangyu had acted improperly and angered him in the past, he would never outwardly express his anger in this manner. At the most, he would show her a cold face and ignore her. But Nie Sangyu's current indifferent attitude of having nothing to lose always provoked his anger and made him want to choke her to death.
After he calmed himself down, he said, "You've always been narrow-minded and unable to tolerate other people. Right now, there are so many witnesses. Even if you want to argue, it'll be difficult for you to avoid being punished. You had the sinister intention of trying to murder my heir. In consideration for the fact that you've been part of this household for several years..."
"You also know that Sangyu has been in this household for several years?" A furious voice came from the courtyard's entrance. Everyone in the courtyard was startled. Wen Wan hurriedly turned her head and saw Ning Errong supporting old madame as they entered Feiyu Courtyard.
Everyone was shocked. They looked at the Marquis Moyu's cousin, who was beaming. In their minds, they hatefully thought, why did she have to bring old madame here at this point in time?
"Mother." Ning Yuxuan retracted part of his anger, saluted, and said, "Your son is currently questioning about the matter of Qing-er falling into the water yesterday."
"This is what you call questioning?" Old madame looked at him sternly and said, "I clearly only heard you convicting Sangyu. Sangyu, do you accept this?"
Ji Man felt that the original novel's vicious mother-in-law was truly too lovely. She almost wanted to cry in gratitude. She hurriedly responded to old madame's words by yelling out, "I don't!"
Her life had finally improved and they wanted to drive her back to her original state? No way!
Old madame glanced at Sangyu to indicate for her to keep calm and to not get excited. Then, she immediately asked, "Xuan-er, how were you questioning earlier? Show me."
Ning Yuxuan knew that his mother would protect Nie Sangyu no matter what. But, the facts couldn't be changed. Nie Sangyu had committed a crime. He didn't believe that anyone could invert right and wrong.
And so, he had the servant girls repeat their earlier actions and had everyone close their eyes.
Old madame didn't close her eyes and watched the five servant girls in the back with Marquis Moyu. However, this time, none of the five servant girls dared to point.
"So this is the method that Xuan-er used to question?" Old madame smiled, but her eyes severely looked at Ning Yuxuan.
Marquis Moyu pursed his lips and said, "It's probably because mother is too biased in favor of Sangyu, so they didn't dare to point."
"Oh?" Old madame chuckled. "Then Xuan-er, have you been biased enough in favor of Wen Wan?"
Stunned, Marquis Moyu lowered his eyes and stayed silent.
"My household's rules are strict and won't allow for the preposterous idea of having the servants decide their master's crime." Old madame's expression was upright as she said, "Can you ensure that these servant girls don't have selfish motives? Sangyu has been married to you for six years, before you even had your adulthood ceremony. It's one thing for you to be indifferent towards her. But now, you're going to convict her because of other people's slanderous words?"
By the side, Wen Wan's face turned red, then white as she listened to these words. Old madame's words made it sound like Sangyu was her daughter-in-law, while she continued to be an unacknowledged, wild woman. From the time that old madame entered this courtyard, she hadn't even glanced at her.
This wasn't a comfortable feeling to experience. She truly liked Ning Yuxuan, so she also wanted his mother to like her. But, why was it so difficult?
Marquis Moyu was silent for a long time before he finally said, "Mother, you're right to reprimand. But, Qing-er is pregnant with your grandchild. This matter can't be left unsettled."
"If you're going to investigate, then do it properly. This house is full of deceitful women. Who's words can you believe? How about asking Shuiqing, who she thought pushed her and what she wants done for this matter to be settled?"
Mu Shuqing was the person that had been the most harmed by this incident. Right now, it wasn't even known if she would be able overcome her cold. Ning Yuxuan felt that these words were reasonable. He straightforwardly entered Mu Shuiqing's room to ask for her opinion. In the passing, he could also say a few words to comfort her.
"At the time, Tanxiang was standing behind this servant." With reddened eyes, Mu Shuiqing said these words. Seeing Marquis Moyu's sunken expression, she hurriedly said, "However, this servant doesn't know who had pushed her. The only thing that this servant knows for sure, is that it wasn't older sister Sangyu."
It wasn't Nie Sangyu? Ning Yuxuan slightly raised his eyebrows. He had expected that Mu Shuiqing would allege that it was definitely Nie Sangyu. Instead, she had said words to exonerate her.
Why?
Hadn't Mu Shuiqing and Nie Sangyu's relationship always been bad? This was such a good opportunity. Why wasn't she taking the opportunity to bite her?
Although he was curious, he couldn't actually ask her this question. And since Mu Shuiqing had said these words, he could no longer blame Nie Sangyu even the slightest bit. As for her saying that the person behind her had been Tanxiang, he naturally didn't believe her. Tanxiang was Wen Wan's servant girl and had entered this household with her. She was as gentle as Wen Wan. How could it be possible that she would push Mu Shuiqing?
And so, this matter was resolved by leaving it unsettled. Marquis Moyu and old madame sent over many gifts to Feiyue Courtyard and even their treatment of Mu Shuiqing improved significantly. And so, Mu Shuiqing didn't ask for an in-depth investigation to be performed.
---
"How are you going to thank me?" Ning Errong mischievously smiled. She pulled Nie Sangyu as they walked on the path. "If it wasn't because I knew you were in trouble and went over to invite Old Madame, you would have definitely been punished today."
Errong looked really cute and Ji Man couldn't resist poking her forehead. She asked, "What do you want? How about I give you a box of cold cream?"
"You have that item?" Ning Errong gaped. "I heard about it as soon as I arrived in the capital. I had Baizhi wait in line for a long time, but I still wasn't able to buy a box."
Ji Man rubbed her nose. She really wanted to tell her that the person in front of her was a cold cream factory. Anyways, seeing that she also liked this type of item, Ji Man brought her to her room and generously gave her a box.
"I heard that a box this size cost fifty silver taels." Ning Errong was beaming as she held the box. Then, she lightly coughed twice and clearly started to kiss up to Nie Sangyu, "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll bring you over to my place to eat. It'll definitely be better than the food you're eating as a concubine."
Ji Man was amused into laughing by her behavior. She thought for a moment before saying, "I've been here for so long. The food that I miss the most is barbecue. If your place has the tools for it, how about having a barbecue tonight?"
Her most beautiful memories of modern times were barbecues and beers during hot summers.