Chapter 746 Drag Everyone into the Mire
“Hey, watch your mouth! How dare you say the incense of Third Miss smells weird? Do you mean there is something wrong with the incense bestowed by the palace?” Wang Yuxin scolded, scowling at her.
“Your lady is not feeling well at this time, so she must be confused. You go back to her!” Shao Yanru’s face became unhappy. Although her voice was still mild, everyone could hear the impatience in her tone clearly.
“Miss Wang, my lady just said there might be something wrong with the incense. Why are you so nervous? Even if it were true, it would have nothing to do with you. Miss Wang, you’re acting as if you were covering up something!” Yujie said, ignoring Wang Yuxin’s intimidation in her words.
After finishing speaking, she turned around and walked to the desk where the censer was placed.
Shao Yanru felt anxious and hurriedly stepped forward to stop her, but Yujie dodged her swiftly.
Yujie walked to the desk and opened the lid of the incense burner. After looking inside, she said in surprise, “Third Miss, you are using two incense sheets. No wonder the smell is so strong. It might be the intense fragrance that made Fifth Miss uncomfortable. The incense Fifth Miss uses is always light!”
Yujie put down the lid and pointed to the incense burner.
Wang Yuxin’s fingers trembled, her face full of panic.
“Two incense sheets?” Shao Caihuan looked at her servant girl.
The servant girl waved her hands in fright, “Miss, I didn’t use two incense sheets. I used only one as usual.”
The amount of incense allocated was not much. Because the ladies were basically out in the daytime, the incense was often burned at night. And its smell was fresh and natural. Many ladies burned it before they went to bed at night, including Shao Caihuan.
“Why are there two incense sheets in it?” Shao Caihuan also walked over and took a look into the incense burner. There were indeed two inside. It was clear that the two incense sheets did not align, and the one on the top was crooked, not placed properly.
The other people also stepped forward, and after a glance, they all looked at Shao Caihuan’s servant girl suspiciously.
Only the servant girl had touched this incense burner.
“Miss, it was not me! Please believe me…” The servant girl was so frightened that she knelt with a dull thud, waving her hands. Adding one more incense sheet was originally nothing serious, but if Fifth Miss felt uncomfortable because of it, it would become a big deal.
“If it was not you, who else could it be? You’re the only one who has touched the incense. Are you intending to harm Fifth Miss?” Yujie snapped. After speaking, she looked at Shao Caihuan. The suspicion in her eyes made Shao Caihuan’s heartbeat accelerate fiercely.
If her maid had really done this, Shao Caihuan could hardly absolve herself from the blame. She should have let Shao Wanru check it before she had left. At least this would allay part of her suspicion.
“Tell Me! What did you do?” Shao Caihuan asked, but her gaze swept across Shao Yanru when she banged heavily on the table. She was suspecting Shao Yanru.
If there must be one person here who wanted to harm Shao Wanru, it would be nobody but Shao Yanru.
“Miss, I didn’t… I really didn’t do anything…” The servant girl was panicked again, bursting into tears.
“Explain it clearly! Otherwise, I’m sure you can’t get out of the palace alive. If you had committed a crime in the palace, no one would be able to save you!” Shao Caihuan said with a gloomy face. She was really angry, and she realized that she might have fallen into a trap.
If Shao Wanru got sick because of her incense, then she must be held accountable for it.
“I… I didn’t… I remember clearly that I’ve only put one incense sheet into the burner. I really do!” The maid burst into tears. She did remember it clearly. There were only a few incense sheets in total, and they had been brought here a while before. She had never used two at a time. But it was she that had burned the incense, and no one else had touched the burner!
Thinking of this, the maid suddenly remembered something. She wiped the tears away from her face, pointed at a maid hidden behind Wang Yuxin, and exclaimed excitedly, “Miss, Miss Wang’s maid has also touched the incense burner!”
“When?” Shao Caihuan turned her head abruptly, looking at Wang Yuxin with cold eyes. Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and she felt a little uncomfortable in her neck that she had turned.
“When Miss Wang came in, I went to make tea for her. And when I came back, I saw Miss Wang’s maid standing next to the incense burner with the lid of the burner in her hand. Miss Wang hadn’t sat down, so she happened to have blocked your sight!” The maid angrily pointed at the maid hiding behind Wang Yuxin.
Originally, she had still wondered why Miss Wang had kept standing for so long after coming in. When she had seen her maid lift the lid of the incense burner, she had felt that both Miss Wang and her maid were impolite.
Now she suddenly realized that Miss Wang had played a dirty trick and wanted to make her the scapegoat.
“Miss Wang’s maid has touched the incense burner?” Shao Caihuan said with a gloomy face. She must find out the truth. If Shao Wanru was harmed seriously by the incense, Shao Caihuan couldn’t get away with it unless she was able to clear her name.
“I… I don’t know this. It’s impossible!” Suppressing her hatred, Wang Yuxin forced herself to say, “Maybe your maid made a mistake, and she is trying to shirk her responsibility!”
“Miss Wang, if something really happened to Shao Wanru, you can’t get away with it. You had a dispute with her in my place that day, and finally, you two parted with anger. This time, are you trying to seek revenge on her by some mean method?” Shao Caihuan was not stupid. It could even be said that she had always been smart.
The second branch of Duke Xing’s Mansion had always been aggressive, but they might not be as smart as the third branch. The third branch had managed to live well under the suppression of Madam of Duke Xing, so they must not be stupid. They had been hiding their wits, but now Shao Caihuan could not continue pretending to be a fool anymore.
She looked at the incense burner on the desk, took a deep breath, glanced over everyone present, and said, “It’s not just Miss Wang’s business. Big Sister, Miss Di, Miss Yu and I, none of us can get away with this. Don’t you know what kind of person Rui’an Great Elder Princess is? If Fifth Sister is harmed by the incense, I don’t know what Rui’an Great Elder Princess will do. But I’m afraid we will all get into serious trouble!”
Shao Caihuan dragged everyone into the mire at once.
Everyone would get in trouble. Not only none of them would be selected, but also they might lose their lives.
“It…it has nothing to do with us… Besides, even she is the Great Elder Princess, she must bring out the facts and reasons if she wants to punish us!” Miss Yu said in a panic, and she was the first to show timidity.
“Fifth Miss is the only granddaughter of the Great Elder Princess. If she wants to avenge Fifth Miss, she could scratch your faces or stab you. As long as you don’t die, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t blame her!”
Yujie sneered, helping Shao Caihuan increase the threat she had posed on them.
As Fifth Miss had expected, if Third Miss was forced to the corner, she would definitely drag everyone into the mire. Unless she found out the truth, no one would be able to leave!
The ladies present didn’t believe the Great Elder Princess would kill them, but even if she disfigured or hurt them, she wouldn’t be punished. The Great Elder Princess only needed to say that she was so angry that she accidentally injured them to exonerate herself.
It was inconvenient for others to enter the palace, but Rui’an Great Elder Princess could come and go at her free will.
As long as Shao Wanru had an accident, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would definitely come over. It was said that Rui’an Great Elder Princess loved her granddaughter very much and that she was extremely domineering and unkind.
Even Shao Yanru’s face turned pale now. She felt bad and murmured to herself that she shouldn’t have come today.
She knew that this matter had nothing to do with her and that it was impossible to find fault with her no matter how they investigated it. She was merely a looker-on today. Unexpectedly, though she had seen the fun, she had got herself entangled in the trouble.
Of course, she was not satisfied with the result.
Shao Yanru had always been careful. How could she allow others to get the goods on herself?
“Third Sister, this matter really has nothing to do with us. Since it is related to Miss Wang’s maid, let’s send this maid to the Nanny in charge. It is best if Fifth Sister is fine. If not, we will let the Nanny in charge interrogate this maid. All of us can attend as witnesses!”
Shao Yanru stood up and spoke with a straight face.
Yujie could see clearly that First Miss had stayed quiet for self-protection before. But now, she could not sit still anymore, so she stepped forward and spoke. Sure enough, First Miss’s words were “fair” as Fifth Miss had expected!
“Yes, that’s it.”
“This maid really looks suspicious. she has a very guilty look on her face. Miss Wang, you might have been deceived!”
“Where did this maid come from?” The others kept nodding, and their eyes were focused on the maid behind Wang Yuxin. The maid was trembling, looking at Wang Yuxin pleadingly.
Being watched at by so many people, Wang Yuxin was panicked, but she tried to look calm, saying, “What are you doing? Miss Fifth might be right now. Why do you panic? I brought this servant girl here from my home. She has always been very loyal. She couldn’t have done such a thing!”
Although she had spoken up for the maid, she still felt afraid in her heart. But she believed that it was not a big deal and that Rui’an Great Elder Princess would not kill her for this kind of thing. So, she got a little more relieved soon.
She just wanted Shao Wanru’s skin to blister. There were so many good medicines in the palace, and Shao Wanru would not have a scar left after using them. Wang Yuxin couldn’t understand why they were making such a fuss!
“Miss Wang, are you admitting that your maid didn’t deceive you?” Yujie said aggressively.
This was not what she was supposed to say as a maid. Maids shouldn’t interrupt when the ladies were talking. But now she was the representative of the victim, and she was not respectful to Miss Wang, so she blurted it out in the heat of the moment.
Wang Yuxin wanted to scold Yujie, but Shao Wanru not present. Looking at the other people present, she knew that they would not help her, because everyone wanted to shirk the responsibility. She was so angry but could only stomp her feet and say annoyedly, “Nonsense! Hurry back and take care of your young lady! Since you still have time to make trouble here, your lady should be fine!”
“Miss Wang, you better pray that my lady is okay!” Yujie said coldly, turning her head to Shao Caihuan. “Third Miss, the incense burner is yours, and the incense inside should also be yours. Please keep the incense in the censer well as evidence. When the time comes, if you can’t show your proof, I’m afraid others will frame you up!”