Chapter 244
Chapter 244
With Old Madam Shen’s permission, Ji Hanyi rose and went to the veranda in the outer courtyard. She sat in a round-backed chair brought by a maid and quietly gave Rongchun several instructions. Once Rongchun left, she summoned the steward, ordered him to bring a list of everyone employed in the kitchen, and had him read the names aloud. As each name was called, that person stepped forward so Ji Hanyi could identify them.
Ji Hanyi had possessed an excellent memory since childhood. After hearing the list once, she could match nearly every name to a face.
She swept an unhurried gaze over the crowd and asked, “None of you will admit it?”
Every servant hunched their shoulders. Not one dared speak.
Ji Hanyi nodded, her voice as calm as a lake in early spring. “Very well. I will not force you.”
“I have sent my maid to fetch a tea set of mine. It is tribute porcelain from the previous dynasty, and its greatest marvel is that it can distinguish loyalty from treachery.”
“If someone with a guilty conscience drinks from it, an ink stain will appear at the bottom of the cup.”
As soon as she finished, the assembled servants exchanged bewildered looks before turning toward Ji Hanyi.
She wore an exquisite pale-pink dress that made her look young and amiable. Yet her upright, graceful bearing and the undercurrent beneath her tranquil expression kept them from underestimating the young Second Madam.
Ji Hanyi glanced over the crowd, then quietly accepted the register from the steward. Her eyes swept across the servants from time to time, and her fingers tapped the list with seeming absentmindedness. The gestures left everyone below trembling with apprehension until Rongchun arrived with the tea set.
Inside, Old Madam Shen frowned after hearing what Ji Hanyi had said. “What sort of method is this? It is pure child’s play.”
Nanny Lin murmured beside her, “But when I looked outside just now, Second Madam appeared so composed and assured that it truly seemed she could tell.”
Old Madam Shen sneered. “Then I shall see how she carries on with this farce.”
By then, Ji Hanyi had entered the main hall while everyone else remained waiting outside. Rongchun called the servants one by one, and each entered alone to drink the tea.
The first person soon came in, her face visibly tense. She carefully raised the cup, took a sip, then peered at the bottom. There was no ink. The steward promptly dismissed her, and she ran out beaming. “It really is true! The cup can tell whether I am lying.”
“Anyone who has not lied can rest easy.”
At her words, some of the others relaxed, while a few grew even more anxious.
Ji Hanyi stood in the shadows by the window and took in every expression.
Seven or eight people entered in succession, each emerging jubilant.
When Matron Sun’s turn came, she took the tea from a maid with an uncertain expression. Too distracted even to drink properly, she swallowed a hasty mouthful and immediately looked into the cup. Her face changed. She dropped to her knees and began begging for mercy.
Seated before her, Ji Hanyi regarded her coolly. Without wasting a word, she asked bluntly, “Where did you hear it, and who told you?”
The question conveyed absolute certainty. Ji Hanyi had already decided Matron Sun was involved and would not even entertain a denial. With every avenue of argument cut off, Matron Sun became convinced that Ji Hanyi knew everything.
Sure enough, the moment Ji Hanyi spoke, Matron Sun’s heart turned cold. She confessed at once, saying that she had heard it from another kitchen cook, Matron Wang, and knew nothing beyond that. In a single breath, she implicated Matron Wang.
In truth, it was not only Matron Wang. Nearly half the kitchen had discussed the matter. The story had passed from person to person until many had heard it; none simply dared admit it.
That was much as Ji Hanyi had expected. The kitchen staff worked in close quarters. Once one person heard a piece of gossip, it quickly passed to the next, and very few would remain ignorant. They would be easy to test.
When she had claimed that the cup could expose lies, she had watched every face in the courtyard. Those who relaxed naturally had nothing to fear. Those who tensed had undoubtedly heard the rumors.
She had deliberately chosen a calm-looking servant to enter first. To make the ruse more convincing, she instructed the woman what to say upon leaving.
Ji Hanyi had Rongchun prepare two cups. She first sent in those she was certain knew nothing, building the illusion and making everyone waiting outside increasingly nervous. All the while, she remained in the shadows and observed them.
Who felt uncertain and who whispered with another guilty party soon became perfectly clear.
After Matron Sun confessed, Ji Hanyi did not press her further or concern herself with whom the matron still protected. She only wanted to discover where the rumor had begun.
It had plainly been aimed at her.
Before long, the servants implicated one after another were brought in. Soon a small cluster knelt before Ji Hanyi.
When Old Madam Shen learned that Ji Hanyi had truly identified the gossips, surprise flashed across her face. She hurried out from the inner chamber, curious to see what Ji Hanyi would do next.
The moment she entered, however, she saw Ji Hanyi seated at the place of honor in the outer hall, holding a teacup leisurely in one hand. Wealth and refinement graced her every detail, and her poised bearing carried authority. Though she looked young and gentle, she had somehow cowed everyone kneeling below.
Facing the hardened matrons from the kitchen, the young daughter-in-law wore a grave expression that promised no leniency. Nearly all those matrons bullied the weak and feared the strong: show softness, and they would push harder. Ji Hanyi, however, possessed a commanding presence of her own.
As Old Madam Shen watched, the anger that had first consumed her gradually faded for reasons she could not quite explain.
When Ji Hanyi saw her emerge, she immediately rose and helped her to the principal seat. In a low voice, she summarized what had happened and explained what she intended to do.
Old Madam Shen realized that Ji Hanyi handled every detail thoughtfully. She was no less capable than Madam Bai. Her youth and reserved nature merely gave the impression that she lacked agility and social finesse.
The old madam nodded. “Do as you see fit.”
With those words, she placed the entire matter in Ji Hanyi’s hands. The matrons and maids kneeling below grew even more deferential.
Ji Hanyi did not conduct an elaborate interrogation. She simply asked each person where she had heard the story. Every rumor had to have a source. When the questioning was complete, they traced it back to Lianxin, a scullery maid.
Ji Hanyi sent the others outside to wait and kept Lianxin alone in the room.
With no one else present, Lianxin went pale and trembled violently. Weeping, she hurriedly poured out everything she knew.
Lianxin had once served in Concubine Luo’s courtyard. After making a mistake, she had been sent to the kitchen, but she remained close to another of Concubine Luo’s maids, Baihe. It was from Baihe that she had privately heard the story.
Baihe said that when she accompanied Concubine Luo to deliver something to Ji Hanyi’s courtyard, she had seen bloodstained clothing. Concubine Luo then declared in the courtyard that Ji Hanyi must have been abducted by mounted bandits and would surely be cast aside by the Marquis.
Baihe later repeated those words to Lianxin in private. Lianxin could never keep her mouth shut and told other maids she knew in the kitchen. That was how the rumor spread.
At this, Ji Hanyi recalled Rongchun saying that Concubine Luo had indeed visited on the day she returned.
But Ji Hanyi barely knew the woman. Concubine Luo remained within the inner household, so how could she have immediately spoken of mounted bandits-and openly in the courtyard at that? There had to be more to the matter.
Before Ji Hanyi could finish considering it, Old Madam Shen ordered coldly, “Go to Hexiang Court at once and bring Concubine Luo and that loose-tongued Baihe here.”
At the command, the steward immediately went to fetch them.
Old Madam Shen then glared at Lianxin kneeling on the floor. “What a lawless wretch! Instead of reporting a matter concerning your master, you dared gossip about her.”
In a merciless voice, she ordered someone to drag Lianxin away and cut out her tongue.
Lianxin immediately began shrieking and begging for mercy, her cries pitiful.
Ji Hanyi leaned closer to Old Madam Shen and stopped her. “Let us keep Lianxin here for now. We will need her to answer questions and confront the others. Her account may yet prove one-sided.”
Old Madam Shen paused, decided Ji Hanyi was right, and called the servants back.
Concubine Luo had yet to arrive when a maid came in to announce Madam Bai.
Madam Bai entered the outer hall, looked at the maids kneeling in the courtyard and then at Lianxin inside, and asked in surprise, “What happened?”
Turning to Old Madam Shen, she explained, “I sent someone to the kitchen just now to order a nourishing soup for our sister-in-law. The maid returned saying no one was there because they had all been summoned here. I feared something had happened, so I hurried over to see.”
Old Madam Shen glanced at her without speaking. After a pause, she said, “We are questioning several maids who have been wagging their tongues.”
Then she rebuked her. “What sort of household have you been managing? Did you not know what the servants have been saying these past two days?”
Madam Bai immediately put on an aggrieved expression and apologized. “Mother knows that I have also been ill these past two days, while our sister-in-law needed to recuperate. I temporarily left the household affairs to Concubine Luo. I truly heard no rumors, nor did Concubine Luo report any to me.”
She stepped closer and began massaging Old Madam Shen’s shoulders, bending as she soothed her in a gentle voice. “Please do not be angry, Old Madam. I failed to discipline the servants. I will deal with them properly afterward.”
“Anger is harmful to your health. Why injure yourself over a few servants? Leave everything to me.”
With only a few words, Madam Bai dispelled all Old Madam Shen’s dissatisfaction. The old madam’s expression improved considerably, and she said coldly, “Changying has spoiled that Concubine Luo until she has forgotten all propriety. What business does a concubine have managing a household? What could she possibly manage well?”
“What does she think she is? A mere plaything meant to serve a man, yet she dares rave in the courtyard and snap at her masters!”
Madam Bai listened with increasing deference, offering nothing but soothing counsel. Then she murmured, “The Second Master became a Palace Graduate and entered the Hanlin Academy only this year. Concubine Luo is his birth mother, after all. I did not dare restrain her too harshly for fear of creating resentment and estranging the Second Master from the household.”
Ji Hanyi listened to the exchange and glanced at Madam Bai. Her face showed worry and helplessness, yet her words hardly sounded intended to soothe.
Old Madam Shen gave a cold snort. “Does she imagine Changying owes his success to her? He owes it to the Shen Family! A concubine did not raise him to what he is today.”
Madam Bai was murmuring her agreement when Concubine Luo hurried in. Panic and fear colored her face. At the sight of the scene in the courtyard, she immediately knelt in the center and paid her respects to those above, every movement betraying her alarm.
Ji Hanyi closely studied her expression. Concubine Luo was indeed deeply uneasy, as if she knew something.
Old Madam Shen cast Concubine Luo a cold glance but did not bother addressing her. Instead, she spoke directly to Baihe, who knelt beside her. “Tell us. What did you hear in the courtyard, and what did you say to Lianxin?”