Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 1064 - 1062_1

Chapter 1064: Chapter 1062_1

Soon, the two maids who had passed on the messages and the kitchen staff involved in procurement were brought before Shangguan Xuanyi and Jingrui by Yang Liu.

As for Xiao’er, she was ordered by Shangguan Xuanyi to lie in bed and not to interfere with anything. If she dared to get out of bed, he would seal her acupoints and immobilize her for the next six months.

Well, Xiao’er admitted that she had failed to protect her child, done something wrong. So naturally she had to accept the punishment. She decided not to argue with him and just complied!

Jingrui originally wanted to carry Zhu Yan back to his own courtyard to rest, but Zhu Yan insisted on hearing firsthand what these servants had to say in order to learn from the experience.

Besides, for them to properly investigate the matter, they could not proceed without her on site.

They could manage the situation by just putting up a screen.

Jingrui, after some thought, agreed. Indeed, having the two individuals involved present would aid in the questioning.

So, Zhu Yan and Xiao’er lay behind a screen, eavesdropping on the proceedings, much like an Emperor behind a veil - listening to the matters of state.

The maid who told Xiao’er and Zhu Yan about the fall, kneeled on the ground, trembling in fear, "Replying to Prince Rui, I had just finished washing the stone pathway in the garden and returned to the room when someone told me that the young lady had been bumped into by a child and was feeling abdominal pain. They told me to quickly find Princess Rui. I did indeed see a lady berate a young boy at that time and everyone around the Young Lady asking her if she was hurt, so I presumed it to be true and ran to find Princess Rui right away."

"So, you didn’t actually see the child bump into the Young Mistress?" Jingrui addressed Zhu Yan as Young Mistress in the presence of their servants.

"No, but everyone around the young lady was asking if she was alright, so I assumed that it must have happened as they said." This maid was from the Zhu Mansion, hence was accustomed to calling Zhu Yan as Young Lady.

"I indeed was nearly bumped into by that naughty child then, but Yun’er quickly pulled me away." Zhu Yan, too, recalling the situation felt scared.

There were two children squabbling over something then and ended up running about without any consideration for the setting. Their mother couldn’t control them either.

"To which family does the child belong?" Shangguan Xuanyi asked.

Zhu Yan named an official, which Shangguan Xuanyi made note of, to look into later.

Shangguan Xuanyi’s gaze turned to the maid who informed Zhu Yan about the fall of Du Yijin and others. Under Shangguan Xuanyi’s intense glare, the maid felt as though she was being tortured. Terrified, her voice faltered as she spoke, "Replying to Prince Rui, this... this slave was told by someone else that the Princess and the Crown Princess had a fall, and was asked to urgently inform the Young Mistress to fetch the Imperial Doctor. I was in such a haste and did not think much, so I went to inform the Young Mistress immediately."

"Who told you that the Princess and others had a fall?" Shangguan Xuanyi inquired coldly.

"It was an old lady. She doesn’t belong to our mansion."

"From which mansion is she?"

Hearing this, the maid hung her head even lower. She was filled with regret for not having thought it through before running off to inform others, "Many servants from other mansions were present today, I have no idea to which mansion that old lady belonged."

Xiao’er could tell that the two maids were not lying. The person who was setting them up was very cunning. They probably knew we wouldn’t easily trust information from other servants and hence used the maids from the Zhu Mansion and Marquis Shengping’s Mansion to pass on the information, the maids from the Marquis Shengping’s Mansion had taken the "Loyalty Powder", so their loyalty was beyond question.

Although they didn’t know who the servant was, there were people at the door who received and recorded all visitors. A thorough investigation would surely lead to her!

"Why did the kitchen need to buy more eggs today?" Zhu Yan asked, remembering this detail from behind the screen.

"I don’t know from where a wild cat jumped into the kitchen, knocked over the basket of eggs, scattering broken eggs all over the floor, even snatched away a fish. Hence, I had to send people to buy more eggs." Some dishes required the use of egg whites, and the pastries also needed eggs. These items needed to be prepared early in the morning and the eggs were usually prepared a day ahead. However, he had not anticipated them being knocked over, thus had to arrange for more to be bought.

Jingrui looked towards the kitchen staff involved in the procurement, "When you brought back the eggs, didn’t you place them properly? Did you not notice they were dropping all the way?"

Because the eggs dropped along the trail and caused the Princess to slip, the procurement officer was frightened to death. He shakily said, "The eggs were well placed in the basket. I have been transporting them like this every day for years and there had never been a problem. I don’t understand how today, the basket tipped over causing the eggs to roll out from the carriage, one by one."

He genuinely didn’t know what had happened. He was just guiding the horse from the front. The road was smooth, how would he know the basket carrying the eggs would tip over?

"Did you notice anyone approaching the carriage?" Jingrui asked again.

The procurement officer shook his head, "I was concentrating on guiding the horse; I didn’t pay attention to anything happening at the back of the carriage."

Because of the celebrations today, there were more people in the mansion than usual. He had to concentrate on guiding the horse to prevent anyone from suddenly running out and getting hurt. He was so busy looking ahead, how could he also keep an eye on the back of the carriage?

Well, questioning him was pointless. Jingrui waved his hand, allowing him to leave.

After listening to the conversation between several people, Xiao’er thought to herself: The person who set this trap was really meticulous in their planning. If it weren’t for the pill she had taken beforehand, her child could have been lost today!

The setup was layered. They first made a wild cat knock over the eggs in the kitchen which forced the procurement officer to go buy more eggs. Then, someone pushed over the basket with eggs in the carriage, scattering the eggs bought all over the road, forcing the servants to clean the road with water. Following that, someone spilled some essential oil at the bends in the road, not ordinary essential oil but the kind produced in Xiao’er’s space workshop, which sold for several hundred taels per bottle! This essential oil had a unique feature, its scent was exactly identical to natural flowers!

Coincidentally, there was a bush of blooming roses near the bend where they spilled the essential oil, hence, Xiao’er didn’t notice anything amiss. Although she had suspected something was amiss when she saw the wet road, after all, there had to be something unusual going on due to her experience with abnormal scenarios.

Furthermore, the same person had spilled more essential oil outside Xiao’er’s courtyard as a backup, and then separately informed Xiao’er and Zhu Yan. The timing was so well-planned, it was impossible to guard against.

Xiao’er thought to herself: The person who is framing me has indeed invested a heavy sum. She wondered how many bottles of essential oil they had used. Either way, it must have cost them thousands of taels of silver!

After questioning several servants, Jingrui administered fifteen floggings on each of them as punishment.

Shangguan Xuanyi remained silent as the manner in which the servants were to be punished was up to Jingrui. He did feel that the punishment was too lenient though.