CHAPTER 216: CHAPTER 216 CONFESSION

The servants’ faces were turned pale by the wind.

They looked at Su Jin with fear.

The smile they once thought warm and kind now made them feel a chill down their spines.

Princess Nanzhang had ordered them to secretly climb over the wall and investigate the back courtyard.

They carefully climbed over the wall filled with cacti and entered the bamboo house.

Just as they let out a sigh of relief, darkness fell over their eyes, and they lost consciousness.

When they woke up, they saw the Eldest Young Madam.

From the moment the Eldest Young Madam married into the Duke Zhen Country Mansion, whoever provoked her met with misfortune, and they had often talked about it behind her back.

Who would have thought!

Now it was their turn!

In just a short time, the servants had already imagined seventeen or eighteen tragic deaths for themselves.

Even Princess Shouning, who dared to provoke the Eldest Young Madam, was carried out of the Duke Zhen Country Mansion, let alone lowly servants like them.

Su Jin looked at their pale faces and smiled, "It seems you’ve anticipated your fate and mentally prepared yourselves."

The servants, "..."

The maids, "..."

"How do you want to die?" Xingxing asked very seriously.

"..."

"Not speaking?"

"If you don’t speak, then my lady will choose a most tragic way for you to die," Xingxing said.

"..."

The servants were so frightened they went weak at the knees.

They crawled up and kowtowed to Xie Jingchen, "Young Master, please save us!"

Xie Jingchen was powerless.

He had never seen anyone not bother with interrogation but directly ask how they wished to die.

"Who ordered you to enter the back courtyard?" Xie Jingchen asked sternly.

"Confess, and I’ll spare your lives."

The servants quickly glanced at Su Jin.

Clearly doubting whether the Young Master could overrule the Eldest Young Madam.

Su Jin glanced at them and said, "I don’t have the time to waste with you. If you don’t confess, just beat them to death directly."

With a slight look.

The maids and old women hurriedly went to fetch the boards and sticks.

Using the threats of a princess and the Empress Dowager, the effect was remarkable.

The servants never doubted that Su Jin was merely scaring them.

Several servants exchanged glances.

The desire to live made them betray Princess Nanzhang.

"It was the Commandery Princess who sent us to see if there were any suspicious places in the back courtyard," the servant confessed.

"What suspicious places?" Su Jin asked.

"..."

The cold stare made the servants shiver.

There were too many suspicious places in the back courtyard.

The Eldest Young Madam’s bamboo house was like an apothecary!

Although they knew the Eldest Young Madam used a unique secret recipe from Qingyun Mountain to help the Young Master take medicinal baths, there was no need to build an entire pharmacy in the backyard.

He wanted to speak, but the look in the Eldest Young Madam’s eyes seemed to say: If you utter a word, you’ll never live.

"None!"

"Not a single suspicious place!" The servant’s voice was loud and resolute.

Desperate to live!

Xingxing, "..."

"Then how did you faint?" Xingxing asked.

"When we were climbing through the window into the bamboo house, we accidentally stepped on some soybeans, tumbled forward, and hit our heads on the ground, knocking ourselves out," the servant replied.

Xingxing glanced at Su Jin.

If she hadn’t known that the Eldest Young Madam had placed a sedative in the bamboo house, she would have believed the servant’s righteous declaration.

"Keep an eye on them while we go to Qihao Hall," Su Jin said.

She lifted her foot and walked forward.

After a few steps, she instructed Xingxing, "Bring the invitation."

Xingxing ran back into the house, took out the gold-inlaid invitation, and obediently followed behind Su Jin and Xie Jingchen as they walked forward.

Qihao Hall, main hall.

Knowing Su Jin would not let the matter rest, Princess Nanzhang went to Qihao Hall as soon as she learned the servants had failed.

The Second Madam and the Third Madam knew there was a spectacle and didn’t leave.

A little maid ran in, saying, "The Eldest Young Madam is coming with her maids!"

"The Eldest Young Master is also coming with them!"

The eldest daughter sneaked into the back courtyard of Agarwood Pavilion and was pricked terribly by cacti, so for those several servants, the Eldest Young Madam would definitely not be soft-hearted.

No one knew if Princess Nanzhang would be able to save those three servants.

If she couldn’t, who would dare to help her scheme against the Eldest Young Madam in the future?

Princess Nanzhang sat there, her expression as usual, but her eyes were icy cold.

When Su Jin walked in, Princess Nanzhang was drinking tea, her expression unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

Su Jin had to admire her for being able to play dumb.

While Su Jin acted straightforwardly.

After paying her respects, she looked at her and said directly, "Mother, why are you so interested in the backyard of Agarwood Pavilion?"

Princess Nanzhang’s eyes darkened and she said, "Why does the Eldest Young Madam say such a thing?"

Su Jin curled her lips and said, "Today I returned to the mansion, and before I left I specially locked the backyard. When I came back, there were three servants in the bamboo house. The servants just confessed that it was mother who instructed them to break into the backyard."

Princess Nanzhang put down her teacup and said, "It was I who sent them into the backyard."

First, she dismissed it as nothing, then suddenly admitted it readily; who knows what she is up to.

"Why did mother do that?" Su Jin asked.

Princess Nanzhang glanced at Xie Jingchen and said, "Someone asked the second young master to borrow a military book, and that military book happened to be in the eldest young master’s hands. The courtyard gate was locked, and the maids couldn’t get in, so I sent the servants to climb over and take it."

Sent the servants to take it?

How casually she spoke.

Su Jin looked at Xie Jingchen and said, "What’s that saying again?"

"Taking without asking is considered stealing," Xie Jingchen said.

Princess Nanzhang’s face turned green.

She’s actually daring to say such a thing, living off looting like a bandit!

Yet, the words came from Xie Jingchen’s mouth.

He said it entirely appropriately.

The coordination between the two was seamless!

Xie Jinyu couldn’t stand it and glared, "Who stole from you?!"

"My mother had someone take a military book from my father!"

Su Jin looked at her and said, "The military book belongs to the elder master. If the second young master wants it, does mother have to send someone to take it? Can’t my husband keep it in his hands for a few more days?"

Xie Jinyu choked on her words.

"I’m curious, who does the second young master want to lend this military book to that it’s so urgent he couldn’t wait for my husband to return to the mansion? Perhaps there’s a life at stake?"

If it were a matter of life and death, it would be understandable, and Su Jin would have nothing to say.

Xie Jinyu still glared at her.

Su Jin had never seen such brazen shamelessness.

Doing wrong without admitting it, and even blaming her.

Su Jin said, "The way the eldest daughter is glaring at me, it seems like I am the one who did wrong."

"If the Duke Zhen Country Mansion believes that mother did nothing wrong, and I insist I’m not wrong, then we’ll have to find more people to hear their opinions."

"If everyone stands on mother’s side and I am proven wrong, I will apologize to mother."

A strong sense of threat filled the air.

The maids didn’t dare to breathe heavily.

This incident was obviously Princess Nanzhang’s fault.

The Eldest Young Madam wants Princess Nanzhang to apologize; otherwise, she would expose this matter.

For a noble and dignified official mother to send servants to sneak into the backyard while her son’s wife returns home...

Anyone who heard it would suspect it was to steal something.

Such a ruinous act——

It’s too disgraceful!