Chapter 14: The Confrontation (Part One)

Yan Xi’s heart pounded wildly, her emotions stirred with every beat.

Before long, Tao Hong brought Xiao Liu inside.

The maid was obedient and attentive, listening carefully to the instructions.

Yan Xi got straight to the point. “Do you remember the bowl of lotus seed soup the matriarch sent me three days ago, on the third day of the eleventh lunar month?”

Xiao Liu answered seriously, “Yes, Miss, I remember.”

Yan Xi continued, “Which maid from Fu’an Hall delivered it?”

“Uh...” Xiao Liu hesitated, lowering her eyes and blinking as she tried to recall, then shook her head after a moment. “I don’t remember her name.”

The Lu household was vast, with countless servants. Especially for a third-tier maid like Xiao Liu, who had been here less than half a year, it was quite normal not to know all the other servants.

Yan Xi changed her approach. “What about her appearance? Do you have any impression?”

Xiao Liu shook her head again. “Not very clear, maybe just a vague impression...”

Yan Xi pressed on: “It’s alright if you can’t recall clearly, but think carefully. If I’m not mistaken, the matriarch has given me tonic soup four times recently. Am I right?”

Xiao Liu nodded repeatedly. “Miss is correct, four times.”

Yan Xi said, “Good. Now, do you remember if the same person brought all four times?”

Xiao Liu shook her head firmly. “The first three times were by the same person, but the last time wasn’t.”

Yan Xi paused slightly, her eyes slowly flickering with thought, just as she had suspected.

She nodded and dismissed Xiao Liu.

No sooner had the maid left than Qing Lian and Tao Hong quietly closed the door and approached together.

“Miss, what’s wrong? Why are you asking this?” they asked.

Yan Xi spoke frankly, “The more I think about that aphrodisiac matter, the more suspicious it seems.”

Both maids’ hearts sank slightly.

Tao Hong quickly interrupted, her voice sharp, “What do you mean? Wasn’t it that scoundrel Wang Qing’an? What’s suspicious about that?”

Yan Xi paused, then glanced at the two maids and said, “Suspicion number one: Even if Wang Qing’an had foul intentions, the plan would require a condition—he would have to get me out of the residence. Otherwise, even if he drugged me, what good would it do if I stayed inside the mansion? No matter how bold he is, would he dare enter my quarters? Especially at midday, with four maids outside. Even ignoring them, there are so many eyes around—would he be insane?”

The two maids were struck with sudden understanding.

Qing Lian’s face paled, trembling slightly. “Miss, that makes sense. Then?”

Tao Hong, stunned, echoed, “Yes, yes, then what?”

Yan Xi continued, “Suspicion number two: If Wang Qing’an wanted to drug me, it would require another condition—namely, that the matriarch’s soup must be delivered to me at a specific time. He is only the nephew of the second madam’s family, and within the Lu household, his status is even lower than mine. I have the two of you, my trusted maids, while he has no one. He’s merely a guest; can he just command the kitchen to prepare soup? And it was delivered just before noon, right before we were to leave. So if the drug was his doing, the second condition must also be met—that the matriarch happened to send me soup around noon that day. Then, he must have intercepted it on the way, tampered with it somehow, and slipped the drug inside...”

Both Qing Lian and Tao Hong shuddered.

Yan Xi resumed, “That day, the carriage we took was clearly switched out by Wang Qing’an beforehand. You two had hired a carriage half an hour early. Around noon, it took no more than fifteen minutes from drinking the soup to leaving the manor. Is he a master strategist? How could he be so sure the matriarch would send soup exactly at that time, have the chance to drug it, and also anticipate that we hadn’t drunk it yet, so he could swap our carriage in advance?”

“So many implausible coincidences had to align perfectly. The biggest mystery is: how did he know we were sneaking out at noon? Only the three of us knew. Even if he followed you two when you went to hire the carriage, he would have had only about thirty minutes to prepare...”

“When too many coincidences pile up, it stops feeling like coincidence...”

“Especially about A Tai... Although the aphrodisiac powder is a harmful forbidden substance and extremely valuable, the only way it could have ended up in our white bundle is if the authorities happened to be searching, and that villain, desperate to save himself, hid it in our carriage to avoid trouble. If that were true, the bag would have to be damaged. Since it wasn’t, it couldn’t have been done in panic. If it had been damaged, it would clearly be a desperate act, meaning the evidence isn’t conclusive and it’s obviously a setup.”

“Last time we visited A Tai in prison, he said it was his negligence that he didn’t check properly. The bag was intact, and the items were always in our white bundle. If it was truly hidden there by some villain to avoid trouble, he would have come to retrieve it afterward. After all, who would carry so much wealth just to harm an unrelated person?”

Qing Lian nearly burst into tears. “Miss, everything you say is reasonable. But then, who is it? What exactly happened? Who wants to harm you? Who wants to harm A Tai?”

Yan Xi paused, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears, her delicate brows knitting slightly as she looked away, momentarily lost in thought.

If not for that dream, she might never have suspected that person. But now...

The young lady said nothing more, instead instructing, “Go tell Xiao Liu to prepare. I will take her to identify someone.”

Tao Hong immediately agreed and hurried out.

Yan Xi’s body trembled slightly.

She was not accusing without cause—she would have him prove it beyond doubt.