Returning to the Manor

The prince's manor.

Song Chengyin's courtyard.

Qiao Shuyi walked in wearing a pomegranate-red, high-waisted ruqun. The red was dazzlingly bright.

Qiao Shuqin was keeping watch by the couch. Hearing her, she looked up, and when she saw the glaring red, the usual timidity vanished completely from her eyes, replaced by long-suppressed hatred.

"Qiao Shuyi! Was it you who made my mother gravely ill?!"

"And whatever else she may be, she's your elder. You learned she was gravely ill, yet you came dressed in such bright colors!"

Qiao Shuyi did not spare her so much as a glance. She passed Qiao Shuqin and went to Qiao Nanyu, who sat in the seat of honor with a gloomy expression, then gave him a graceful bow.

"Father, I was recuperating at the other residence. Why did you suddenly summon me back?"

Qiao Nanyu raised his eyes to her, his gaze heavy.

"What happened to Concubine Song's illness? Why is she ill?"

"Father, I've been in low spirits ever since what happened to Mother. I left the manor three days ago to recuperate at the other residence. How would I know how Concubine Song fell ill?"

Qiao Shuqin rushed forward.

"Qiao Shuyi, stop pretending! My mother has always been healthy. Someone definitely made her ill! You already thought my mother and I harmed yours-only you, only you had the motive and the ability to hurt her!"

Only then did Qiao Shuyi deign to glance at her.

"Elder sister, you need evidence to convict someone. Otherwise-it's slander."

Qiao Shuqin trembled all over with anger. She fell to her knees before Qiao Nanyu with a thud.

"Father, I'm begging you! You must give Mother justice! She served at your side for more than twenty years. Even if she rendered no great service, she still worked hard. How can she just... without anyone knowing why..."

Qiao Nanyu looked down at her, his brow furrowing even more deeply.

He turned to Qiao Shuyi and spoke in a grave voice.

"Shuyi, I'll ask you one more time. Was it you?"

Qiao Shuyi met his gaze, her expression composed.

"No."

Qiao Nanyu fell silent.

He had been run ragged lately. How could he have the mind to bother with the scheming and backstabbing among the women of the inner household?

The new emperor had been on the throne for only a year. Factions crowded the court, and powers on every side were stirring restlessly.

He had to make his move before the young emperor could consolidate power.

He had spent more than a decade building his power in Jinzhou. After marrying Liu Jinyu, he had gone even further, using the Liu Family's strength to expand his arsenal and train soldiers on a grand scale.

Within a year at most, he would raise an army.

Even if he could not conquer all of Great Zhang, he would carve out Jinzhou and become its emperor first.

Once he had secured his footing, he would plan his next moves at leisure, fighting his way to the capital step by step.

At such a critical juncture, how could he have time to spare for these women's petty affairs?

Besides-

He looked up at Qiao Shuyi.

He had divorced Liu Jinyu, so Qiao Shuyi was his treasure vault.

Even if she really had done something, he would have to tolerate it.

Besides, he had thought the matter over carefully afterward. There was something very fishy about Liu Jinyu's affair.

How could that vulgar woman have had the nerve to do such a thing?

Song Chengyin must have been pulling strings behind the scenes.

But with everyone watching at the time, how could he have asserted his authority before those subordinates and future allies if he had not divorced Liu Jinyu?

Now that Song Chengyin was gravely ill, she had only herself to blame.

He put aside his thoughts and looked at Qiao Shuqin kneeling on the ground, a trace of impatience in his voice.

"Shuqin, since you think there's more to your mother's illness, I'll give you five days to investigate. If you discover that your younger sister did it, I will punish her severely. If you cannot-then the matter ends here."

With that, he strode away without looking back.

Qiao Shuqin remained on her knees, her eyes full of disbelief.

Father had doted on Qiao Shuyi and indulged her since childhood. This was hardly the first time. How could she have dared hope he would take her side?

After a long while, she slowly rose and turned to look at Qiao Shuyi.

"Qiao Shuyi, I will find out the truth. Your mother was driven out of the manor, and you should be driven out too."

Qiao Shuyi shrugged.

"Then I'll await your good news, elder sister."

Three days later, Song Chengyin died of her illness.

When word came, Qiao Nanyu was inspecting the military camp outside the city. He merely sent a message back.

Official duties kept him away, and he could not return to the manor. Shuqin could make the funeral arrangements herself.

Thus, in the vast Prince of Jin'an's Manor, white mourning streamers were hung only in the courtyards of Song Chengyin and Qiao Shuqin.

The two courtyards, draped in plain white mourning cloth, stood in stark contrast to the bright flowers and green willows everywhere else.

Qiao Shuyi had not stepped outside these past few days, staying in her own Jinglan Garden.

Fortunately, with Zongzheng Heng keeping her company, she passed the time admiring flowers, drinking tea, composing poetry and painting, and did not find it dull.

Qiao Shuqin, however, was another story.

She was busy every day, running all over the manor with the token Qiao Nanyu had given her and assigning the household staff to investigate.

One moment she summoned a matron for questioning, the next she called a servant boy to confront him. She rushed in and out, her feet hardly touching the ground.

But she was a concubine-born daughter. What connections had she ever cultivated over the years? What benefit had she ever given any of the servants?

They agreed to her face, but once they turned away, how many actually took her words to heart?

In the Prince of Jin'an's Manor, the servants all kept their own accounts in their hearts.

The second young lady had a bad temper, but so what?

However unpleasant a master might be, a master was still a master.

To the servants, distinctions between legitimate and concubine-born, high and low, and all those rules and courtesies were empty things.

Only silver was real.

The silver rewarded for doing one task for the second young lady was worth a year of hard work.

And on top of that-

Under-currents had been surging through the manor these past two days, and the servants were gossiping among themselves.

Concubine Song's illness had come strangely, and she had died suddenly. Who didn't have some idea of what had happened?

A few days ago, some had still been muttering that with Madam Liu divorced, the second young lady would likely lose her standing.

But what about now?

Concubine Song was dead.

Even a fool could see which way the wind was blowing.

"Young lady."

Fuzhi lifted the curtain and entered, lowering her head to report, "The eldest young lady requests an audience."

Qiao Shuyi was reclining on the couch, letting Zongzheng Heng peel a lychee for her.

"Oh? Let her in."

She tilted her head and glanced at Zongzheng Heng.

"Zhigui, you can step out first."

Zongzheng Heng nodded, placed the peeled lychee on the dish before her, and rose to leave.

He lifted the curtain and stepped out, coming face-to-face with Qiao Shuqin as she approached.

Qiao Shuqin looked up at him.

Zongzheng Heng stepped aside and let her pass.

The curtain fell, separating the worlds inside and out.

Qiao Shuyi reclined on the couch, toying with a loose strand of black hair.

"What brings you to my Jinglan Garden today, elder sister?"

Without waiting for an invitation, Qiao Shuqin sat down directly opposite her.

"Qiao Shuyi, you knew all along that I wouldn't be able to find anything out, didn't you?"

Qiao Shuyi's expression was indifferent. "I thought you knew your own limits, elder sister."

Qiao Shuqin clenched her fists. "Qiao Shuyi, I hate you."

"I was supposed to be the manor's rightful legitimate eldest daughter. My mother was the principal wife who married in first, and I was the eldest daughter, born first. Because of your mother, because of you, I became a concubine-born daughter, stuck awkwardly in the middle in this manor, neither here nor there-"

"You stole everything from me."

"Elder sister, shouldn't you hate Father for his heartlessness in demoting his wife to a concubine back then? Or perhaps you should hate your mother for lacking the backing and the ability to hold on to her position as principal wife?"

"Why do you hate me, a younger sister born a whole year after you?"

Qiao Shuqin's breath caught.

She opened her mouth, but did not know how to refute her.

After a long moment, she squeezed out a sentence.

"But all these years, have you ever respected me? When have you ever treated me as your elder sister?"

"If you had been a good younger sister, we could have been close. But you!"

Qiao Shuyi sat up straight, her gaze growing colder.

"Close sisters?"

"Ever since I can remember, your mother has framed mine more than once. Poisoning her one day, setting her up the next, then presenting false evidence to Father the day after that. It's only because Father doted on my mother and indulged her that, no matter how much trouble your mother stirred up, she couldn't touch a hair on her head."

"Don't make yourself and your mother sound so innocent. Didn't you and Concubine Song fan the flames behind the scenes in the matter of my mother and Lord Zhou?"

Qiao Shuqin met her gaze, her eyes full of stubborn hatred.

"Your mother was shameless in the first place! That letter was perfectly clear, and she wrote it herself! She was the one who failed to uphold a wife's virtue!"

Qiao Shuyi did not get angry.

She leaned close to Qiao Shuqin's ear, her voice lowered almost to a whisper.

"Qiao Shuqin, when you insulted me, I merely punished you by making you kneel for a while or locking you up for a while, and left it at that. But you and Concubine Song hurt my mother, so of course you had to pay a painful price."

"There's no harm in telling you. I killed your mother. What can you do about it?"

Qiao Shuqin's pupils abruptly contracted.

"You... you..."

She instinctively raised her hand to slap her-

Qiao Shuyi was quick to react. She seized Qiao Shuqin's wrist and struck her with her other hand.

"Smack!"

The slap sent Qiao Shuqin tumbling to the floor.

Qiao Shuyi crouched down and looked at the woman on the floor, who was clutching her face, her eyes full of disbelief. She tilted her head and smiled innocently.

"Elder sister, my condolences. After all... the dead cannot come back to life."

With that, she stood and looked down at her.

"Watch your mouth from now on. Don't let me hear you insult my mother again. The price is more than you can afford to pay."