The Evidence, the Female Physician Inspected the Injuries
"Aunt, I was talking about you. The maidservant said… she said that Consort Xuan’s private letters were hidden in the gift sent to you. Did you… discover them?" Yu Siyan cast a glance at Mo Xuetong and mumbled, as if she was afraid. She mentioned the private letters again. Those people were sure that they were private letters.
"Private letters? What?" Mdm Yu looked confused.
"They are letters that Consort Xuan wrote to King Chu in private. Aunt, did you find them in the gift box? I heard that you used to ask people to sort out every family’s gifts, and some packing boxes would be opened." Yu Siyan was secretly delighted, but she wore a puzzled look on her face. "Aunt, you will definitely prove that Consort Xuan is innocent, won’t you?"
"Siyan, what are you talking about? I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘Consort Xuan’s letters’? I have never seen them. I have asked people to open the gifts sent by every manor, but I’ve never seen Her Lady’s letter. Did you make a mistake? As for innocence, Siyan, is it something that a girl like you can talk about?"
Mdm Yu explained in a daze and then rebuked the girl with a sullen expression on her face.
"Aunt, I…"
When Yu Siyan wanted to say something more, Mdm Yu grew furious. She glared at her and scolded, "Shut up! How could an unmarried daughter get involved in this kind of thing?"
"Younger Sister, it’s not Siyan’s fault. It’s Her Lady’s business…" Mdm Chen was already very angry when she found that Mdm Yu did not speak according to their plan. When she heard Mdm Yu scolding her daughter, she got mad. Turning around, she glared at Mdm Yu and sneered, "Younger Sister, what’s the point of blaming Siyan?"
"Oh, it’s my business. Then what do you mean by Madam Yu and Miss Yu making it a reversal of the order of host and guest again and again? Auntie Qing, do you want Madam Qin to tell you again that those so-called private letters are false?" Mo Xuetong sat up straight. At this point, the whole thing was on the table.
Yu Sirong had forged the letters between her and Feng Yuxuan in King Chu’s Manor and intended to reveal it. Unexpectedly, she had lost her life first. Her trusted servant had sent the letters to Mdm Yu and wanted the latter to help her get revenge. However, Mdm Yu did not dare to take them over and asked Yu Feng to get them.
After that, Auntie Qing ganged up with Mo Yufeng, and the young man pulled Yu Feng into King Ning’s camp. The few of them discussed it together and tried to use this to frame Mo Xuetong for having an affair with Feng Yuxuan so as to get them into trouble. How could Emperor Zongwen allow Feng Yuxuan to cuckold his favorite son after such a thing happened? So he would definitely punish Feng Yuxuan severely.
After being rejected by the Emperor, Feng Yuxuan might end up being imprisoned for life and would no longer have anything to do with the throne. As for Mo Xuetong, there was a possibility that she would be put to death by having her body dismembered!
It was a method to kill two birds with one stone. Not only would they take revenge for Auntie Fang and Yu Sirong, but they also could get rid of King Ning’s biggest rival, Feng Yuxuan. It could be said that they would make a great contribution to King Ning. As long as King Ning ascended the throne in the future, it was almost certain that Yu Feng would be the newly favored official of the Emperor. As for the Yu family’s daughter, Yu Siyan, who had always been left without anybody to care for, she would also be valued by King Ning.
She would definitely become one of King Ning’s concubines!
How could the people of the Yu Manor not be excited about such a prospect? They even made a desperate bet. As long as they killed Mo Xuetong this time and defeated King Chu, the kingdom would be the Yu Manor’s place in the future. As such, Yu Siyan had also highly requested to join in on their action. She had caused so much trouble merely because she wanted to enter Mo Xuetong’s inner room.
Then she could "find" the robe in the inner room, as well as the private letters.
It was their plan, and they thought that they had planned in secrecy. In fact, they were already part of Mo Xuetong’s plot. She had even replaced the fake letters in Mdm Yu’s hands. If Mdm Yu insisted that the letters in her hands were Mo Xuetong’s private letters, it would only cause the entire Qin Manor to be involved in this matter with her.
However, since Qin Yufeng had tried to persuade Mdm Yu to withdraw from this matter, Mo Xuetong would offer
"My Lady, there is no letter like what the maidservant said in our manor, let alone any evidence. I have asked the servant to open everything sent by other manors, including the gifts, and these things were all opened in front of the people of our manor. There is no letter in the things sent by the Mo Manor. My Lady, this maidservant is lying!"
Having already learned what had happened from the few madams she was familiar with, Mdm Yu took several steps forward and stated seriously.
"I… I…" How did it come to this? How did the rest of the plan suddenly change? Honghua looked at Auntie Qing with a frightened look in her eyes and could not utter a complete sentence.
"You lowly maidservant, how dare you frame Her Lady!" Mo Ye could not bear to watch this any longer. At the sight of Mo Xuetong’s motion, she walked over and kicked Honghua viciously. "Didn’t you claim that Her Lady thought you were a sincere person? Why did you hold back the handle secretly? Is this what a sincere person should do? How could Her Lady give her letters to you, a third-class maidservant for safekeeping, instead of us? Is Her Lady stupid or is there something wrong with her?"
She had been holding back her anger just now. As she saw Auntie Qing, Mdm Chen, Yu Siyan, and the lowly maidservant stand out one by one and scold Consort Xuan openly or secretly, she was really pissed off. She would not suppress her emotion at this moment.
With one kick, Honghua rolled on the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood; her panicked face started to sweat. She looked at Auntie Qing with pleading eyes while wiping her mouth with blood. Even though she did not say anything, the fear in her eyes could not be hidden.
In the face of such a big change, Auntie Qing was so scared that her eyes widened and she almost could not stand. She glared at Mdm Yu as if she wanted to eat her alive. However, she reacted quickly and immediately pointed at the "evidence" on the ground and snarled, "B*tch, how dare you shift the blame to others now? How dare you hide these things? Is there anything else? Somebody…"
"Auntie Qing, you don’t have to investigate this matter. I will investigate it myself." Mo Xuetong smiled slightly. Auntie Qing was hinting to Honghua that she should persist in framing Mo Xuetong.
"Somebody, inspect Second Miss Yu’s injury!" Mo Xuetong ordered in a soft voice. Before anyone could react, a female physician from the palace came in from outside. Such a female physician could only be found in the palace. After all, the imperial physicians in the Imperial Institute of Medicine were all men, but the Emperor’s consorts could not be seen by other men even when they got sick.
Thus, it was normal to have female physicians in the palace. The female physician in front of everyone was the leader of the Female Physician Institute and had a good reputation in the palace. Everyone was a little confused as to why the female physician was here.
"Greetings, My Lady." The female physician came in and curtsied to Mo Xuetong in a manner that was neither humble nor pert when she saw her.
"This is Second Miss Yu!" Mo Xuetong pointed toward Yu Siyan, whose eyes were wide open in shock.
Wasn’t Consort Xuan supposed to make it clear to prove her innocence? Why did she talk about the several young ladies’ burns? This… this seemed to be backward!
"I… I don’t want to be inspected. I’m not sick!" Yu Siyan was so anxious that she subconsciously covered her leg with her hands. Her leg injury was there just now, and no one could see it as the hem of her dress had covered it.
The corners of Mo Xuetong’s lips twisted a little as she said leisurely, "Second Miss Yu, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean that you’re ill. I’m just asking the female physician to see if your injury is serious. She has brought some good medicine from the palace. Apply the medicine to your injury early, and it won’t leave a scar."
There was good medicine from the palace that could prevent scars. The other young ladies were immediately overjoyed. They all sat up straight and waited in surprise for the female physician to come over to treat their injuries.
"Mother, I don’t need it. I’ve applied the medicine, and it doesn’t hurt much anymore. Furthermore, my injury isn’t the worst. My Lady, please, just ask the female physician to treat the others’ injuries." Yu Siyan grabbed Mdm Chen, nearly sweating profusely. Then, she turned around and explained to Mo Xuetong.
Mo Xuetong only gave her a hint of a sneer on her lip corners, which froze Yu Siyan and made it difficult for her to breathe. She also saw a bloodthirsty sense in the sneer, making her tremble in her heart. She had a feeling that she had fallen into a trap, and she could not get rid of it for a while.
"Second Miss Yu, move your hand away." The female physician had already walked to Yu Siyan’s side and reached out to lift the dress covering her leg. After the medicine was applied to their injuries, these scalded young ladies all covered their injuries with their clothes as other people came in.
"No, I…" Yu Siyan was extremely anxious. While pressing her dress hard, she turned to Mo Xuetong and cried, "My Lady, I didn’t say anything bad about you. My Lady, I have nothing to do with the fact that you exchanged private letters with someone and hid a man’s robe. My Lady, how can you do this to me?"
The whole room was in an uproar and everyone in the room was shocked. No one understood what Yu Siyan meant. It seemed that she did not want the female physician to apply medicine to her injury. But why? Wasn’t it better to apply medicine as soon as possible after one was injured? Was there something fishy about Yu Siyan’s injury?
"Mo Ye, go and help the female physician. It seems that Second Miss Yu doesn’t intend to let her see her injury. The female physician has a lot of work to do at the palace, so she can’t stay here for a long time. We’d better let her inspect the injury quickly so that she can go back." As Mo Xuetong looked at Yu Siyan’s hands clutching the hem of her dress tightly, the smile on her face looked so cold that it almost froze.
Mdm Chen was also anxious and sweating profusely. She was so flustered that she lowered her body to help Yu Siyan cover the wound on her leg.
Mo Ye had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. As soon as she heard her mistress’s order, she immediately walked over and helped the female physician pull Yu Siyan’s hand. Two women tried to cover the wound while the other two tried to move their hands away. While they were fighting, the dress was torn back and forth. Everyone frowned while watching the scene.
In the end, Mo Ye lifted the dress. Everyone’s eyes spontaneously fell on Yu Siyan’s legs. Her exposed legs were clean, without even a trace of a red mark on them. There was only a faint red color on the ointment that was supposed to be applied to her wound. It did not seem to be a mark on her leg.
"Ah, didn’t she get scalded and blisters? There isn’t any burn!"
"There isn’t. She didn’t get scalded at all."
"Why did you pretend to be burnt? Is it fun?" There was no need for the female physician to say anything now. Everyone had seen it clearly. Yu Siyan was not burned at all. The reason why she covered it so tightly was that she was afraid of being discovered.
The female physician seriously took a little of the red color from Yu Siyan’s leg, placed it in under her nose, and sniffed. Then, she reached a conclusion and told Mo Xuetong, "My Lady, Second Miss Yu is not injured. There is no sign of a burn on her leg. The medicine is for a burn, so it would be a waste to apply this medicine. These red spots seem to have been applied on her leg!"
"Then please check on the injuries of the other young ladies!"
Mo Xuetong nodded at her and said politely.