Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 398 Drama

The surroundings were as quiet as midnight; the sounds of footsteps that had been heard earlier had now ceased.

Every word spoken by the people below was clearly heard!

"So this is the show you wanted me to watch."

Lu Jie turned and looked at Yan Liang.

Yan Liang strolled over and looked down at the scene: "My mother recently suffered a sudden misfortune. The person who was tied up is the real culprit that your daughter insisted on on the night of the incident."

"But she has been reluctant to admit her crimes. As the eldest son, he watched his birth mother suffer, yet he could not bring the real culprit to justice and avenge her death. This is the greatest act of filial impiety."

"Uncle Lu is the most resourceful and wise. Tonight, I would like to ask Uncle Lu to help me determine who the real culprit is."

Lu Jie's gaze immediately turned, gliding past the dark buildings on both sides before turning back down.

At the entrance of the alley outside the small building, a carriage from the Shen family stopped.

The West Market is inhabited by princes and nobles. Even though the power of the imperial family is not what it used to be, they still maintain their airs. The carriage should not get too close; it is best to be at the entrance of the alley only about ten feet away from the gate of the Yan residence.

Shen Qingzhou already had a good grasp of the surrounding terrain, so he first sent his guards to scout out the situation.

The guard returned and said, "The lights are mostly concentrated on the west side of the house, so the banquet should be held there. But strangely, there are many figures moving around in the shadows near a small building on the east side of the house."

“Those must be the guards Yan Liang brought,” Lu Jia said. “Have you found any trace of the officials from the Three Judicial Offices?”

"Nothing was found. Even in the area where carriages and sedan chairs are kept in the front yard, apart from Lord Lu's sedan chair, no other carriages or sedan chairs were found."

Lu Jia and Shen Qingzhou exchanged a glance: "Could it be that the three officials did not appear in front of Father?"

Shen Qingzhou said, "Go and investigate again, see if those three officials are at the small building on the east side that you discovered."

The guard said, "We must not approach that area. We have tested it several times, and if we get any closer, we are very likely to alert the enemy."

Shen Qingzhou remained silent and looked at Lu Jia.

Lu Jia pondered, "If the goal is to protect Father, then naturally we are not afraid of alerting him. But since Yan Liang has set this trap, even if he knows we are here, he may not necessarily abandon the plan."

"He hired government officials and did so in such secrecy, so I guess he's probably going to use Lu Ying's murder as a pretext."

She took the map that Shen Qingzhou had brought and looked at it, then thought for a moment: "The Changning Marquis's residence is just to the east of the house. If we ask the heir's wife of the Marquis's residence to do us a favor, she should be willing."

Shen Qingzhou looked at her with suspicion: "When did you become acquainted with the women of the Marquis of Changning's household?"

Lu Jia nodded: "The marriage between the Marquis of Changning's heir and his wife was arranged by the Third Princess. Just a few days after our wedding, the Third Princess brought her to visit the Grand Commandant's residence."

“A while ago, the Crown Prince’s wife and child got rubella and refused to take medicine. Later, I asked my mother for a folk remedy from Tanzhou and cured them by applying the medicine.”

Shen Qingzhou suddenly realized.

The Third Princess grew up by the side of the Dowager Consort and was the only one among the princesses to marry into the capital. She was most likely guided by the Dowager Consort to befriend Lu Jia.

But Lu Jia managed to maintain this relationship quietly, which shows what efforts she made when I wasn't looking.

"Let's go." Lu Jia suddenly pulled him up. "Since we're here, let's go and pay a visit." The carriage went to the Changning Marquis's residence.

Inside the Yan family's private residence, separated by only a wall, Yingzi trembled.

Yun Dou was usually mean-spirited, but now, harboring resentment, she was radiating ferocity and looked even more menacing.

Yingzi was afraid, but she couldn't leave, so she could only remain silent.

But Yun Dou clearly wouldn't allow her to avoid the issue. Seeing that she remained silent, she said sternly, "How can Madam Lu sleep soundly after treating her so cruelly?"
"The lady lived a glamorous life, always so strong-willed. Yet in the end, she died at the hands of her own daughter-in-law, and died such a tragic death!"
"Have you seen what she looked like when she died? A huge hole in her head, blood gushing out, her eyes bulging out of their sockets!"

Who was she glaring at? She was glaring at the murderer!

"She's glaring at the Lu family!"

Yingzi felt a chill run down her spine and couldn't help but retort, "You're talking nonsense! Our grandmother didn't kill anyone!"

"You weren't there. You were in the back room. How do you know she didn't kill anyone?"

Yingzi can't come back.

Yun Dou cursed, "That Lu woman was born to a lowly illegitimate child, even lower than us servants! What kind of things wouldn't she do? You could wash her clean a thousand times, but you still wouldn't be clean!"

"Shut up!" She could say whatever she wanted, but this kind of insult to Lu Ying was unacceptable to Ying Zi.

She straightened up, walked over, and slapped Yun Dou across the face. "How dare you disrespect our grandmother? If you talk nonsense again, I'll strangle you right now!"

Yun Dou looked up: "Come on, perfect timing. Let the young master's men catch you red-handed. After all, like master, like servant. If you didn't have something to hide, why would you kill me, right?"

"It's too late for you to kill him now. I've already submitted the evidence of the Lu family's murders to the eldest young master!"

Ying Zi was startled: "What do you mean?"

Yun Dou sneered: "If you don't want anyone to know, then don't do it in the first place. Did she think that with the help of the Shen family, she could do it cleanly and neatly without leaving any trace?"

Yingzi was truly shocked. No one knew that Lu Ying had received help from Young Master Shen to clean up the mess that night. How could Yundou know?
This is unreasonable!

"Did I tell you right?" Yun Dou said. "That night, Madam Lu secretly met with the Shen family. When she returned, Madam caught them red-handed, and they got into an argument."

"After being questioned by her wife, she harbored murderous intent, picked up the colorful porcelain plum vase beside her, and killed her wife in one fell swoop!"

Yingzi was so shocked that she took a step back!
"Madam died at the hands of Madam Lu!" Yun Dou emphasized. "To cover up her crime, she summoned the Shen family members who were lying in ambush. She tricked me, who was guarding you and Granny Li in the backyard, into the room, then caught a parrot from the garden, drew its blood, and sprinkled it on me to frame me!"

"Because Madam Lu hates me, she blames me for helping the eldest young mistress in the past, so she arrested me to take the blame!"

"Where was I when it happened? You, in the back room, know better than anyone! You also heard the arguing in the front room, we all heard it!"

"You can lie when others are around, but now it's just the two of us. Are you still going to try to deny it?"

"Is there any point in making excuses?!"
"You killed people and harmed the innocent, and you still dare to argue with me. Aren't you afraid of going to the hell of having your tongue pulled out?"

The curses were deafening, leaving Yingzi completely defenseless!
Everything she said was true. She had never witnessed it herself, yet she knew everything about Lu Ying's actions!
How could she know that Lu Ying had met with the Shen family that night?
How did she know so many details?
How could he know all this so clearly?!

Regardless of how the kidney bean connects all these things, the fact that it can be described so completely shows that it is definitely fearless!
The third princess mentioned it briefly in a scene after her marriage, which could be considered foreshadowing.