Pei Zhiyan refused vehemently, but it was his mother, Princess Nanyang, who pleaded with the emperor. Only after Emperor Chengqian personally intervened was Lin Yun allowed to marry into the Pei Mansion as a concubine.
She forced her way into the Pei Mansion.
Lin Yun knew this, so she had been looking for opportunities to get closer to Pei Zhiyan. She hoped that once they developed feelings for each other, her status would be elevated.
After all, she thought that since Pei Zhiyan was so determined not to marry, there would never be another woman for him besides her.
However, she never expected that the Du family would use the same method to send Du Lingxuan into the Pei Mansion.
Moreover, the process was even easier than her entry into the mansion.
It was as if once a bowl had a crack, water would pour in continuously.
Since Lin Yun entered the mansion, Pei Zhiyan had stopped returning home. At first, Lin Yun was heart - broken, but after Du Lingxuan came and Pei Zhiyan still didn't come back, she was actually a bit happy. At least it proved that Pei Zhiyan had no feelings for Du Lingxuan either.
As long as Pei Zhiyan didn't return, the two women wouldn't clash. But somehow, Pei Zhiyan took a mistress outside.
Lin Yun had intended to secretly get rid of her, but unexpectedly, Pei Zhiyan let her enter the mansion openly. Since Song Ruotang entered the mansion, Pei Zhiyan would return home every day, but he never visited the yards of the other two women.
Lin Yun was unwilling. She had known Pei Zhiyan for so many years and loved him for so long, yet in the end, she couldn't even catch a glance from him.
So she still disliked Song Ruotang.
Now that she had been poisoned by the food in Song Ruotang's room, Pei Zhiyan didn't suspect Song Ruotang at all. He even showed dissatisfaction with the veiled implications in Yan'er and Nanny Sun's words. It was obvious how much he favored Song Ruotang.
Lin Yun tightly grasped the brocade quilt. If it was really Song Ruotang who poisoned her, Pei Zhiyan, what would you do?
"Madam, bear with it. Just now I heard from the master that he will allocate silver to the pharmacy to find the best herbs to treat you..." Yan'er said lovingly as she wiped the sweat from Lin Yun's forehead with a handkerchief.
Lin Yun took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She just wanted to test Pei Zhiyan's bottom line. If she touched Song Ruotang, what would he do between her and Song Ruotang?
At the same time, Song Ruotang, who had returned to the yard with Pei Zhiyan, was also a bit confused. "Du Lingxuan dared to openly send me food. She definitely wouldn't put poison in it. So how on earth was Lin Yun poisoned?"
"You ate that pastry too?" Pei Zhiyan frowned and looked at her worriedly. Song Ruotang nodded. "Yes, it was awful. The peach crisp was too salty, and the mung bean cake was overly sweet."
Song Ruotang couldn't help but feel helpless when thinking about it. Du Lingxuan probably deliberately made the food so unpalatable to force her to eat it. Although there was no poison, it was still annoying.
She had drunk a lot of tea and soup at the restaurant during lunch, and her stomach was still rumbling.
Hearing her words, Pei Zhiyan's eyes flickered. The flavors of the two pastries were extreme. Why did Du Lingxuan do this?
Song Ruotang and Pei Zhiyan entered the room and sat down. Qingxing brought in hot tea and was about to pour it for them when Song Ruotang suddenly stopped her. "Qingxing, wait a moment."
Pei Zhiyan turned his head to look at her, but Song Ruotang said to Qingxing, "Who entertained the first madam at noon?"
Qingxing asked outside, and a maid came in behind her. She curtsied to Song Ruotang. "My lady, it was this servant who served the first madam."
"Tell me in detail what the first madam did after she came in." Song Ruotang said calmly.
The maid didn't dare to disobey and carefully recounted what had happened at noon.
"After the first madam entered the yard, she asked this servant where you were. After this servant told her, she was going to sit on the stone bench in the yard and wait for you. This servant saw that the sun was very strong, so she invited her into the room. After the first madam went in, she saw the pastries on the table. Presumably, she thought they were snacks sent by the kitchen, so she took one and ate it."
Hearing this, Song Ruotang slightly raised her eyebrows. "What did she eat?"
"The first madam ate the peach crisp." The maid answered truthfully. Song Ruotang nodded, and she continued, "The peach crisp was a bit unpalatable. The first madam wanted to spit it out at first, but since she was in your room, she didn't. She sat for a while, and since you still hadn't returned, she left."
Hearing this, Song Ruotang couldn't help but frown. Something was wrong. If Lin Yun had only eaten the peach crisp sent by Du Lingxuan, she definitely wouldn't have been poisoned because she had eaten it too.
Moreover, since Lin Yun thought the peach crisp was unpalatable, she surely wouldn't have eaten much. There was no possibility of the poison in the peach crisp accumulating to cause poisoning.
If she had poisoned herself...
Thinking of this possibility, Song Ruotang pursed her lips. Qianjiyin was a powerful poison. If Lin Yun had poisoned herself, she probably wouldn't have chosen such a powerful poison to suffer.
But where exactly went wrong?
While Song Ruotang was still deep in thought, Pei Zhiyan calmly said, "Mo Qing, go and investigate Lin Yun."
Song Ruotang turned to look at him, just as Pei Zhiyan was also looking at her. She knew that Pei Zhiyan probably also suspected that Lin Yun had poisoned herself.
Mo Qing took the order and left. Song Ruotang sighed. "I always feel that something is wrong. Du Lingxuan won't be so quiet."
Pei Zhiyan also found it strange, but since there were no clues yet, they could only verify their suspicions.
"Mo Qing is investigating secretly. I won't alarm Lin Yun until I find evidence." Pei Zhiyan reached out and put his arm around Song Ruotang, knowing what she was worried about.
If he suspected Lin Yun without cause and couldn't find any evidence, Lin Wei and Liu Qingman would surely not agree. After all, Lin Yun was still poisoned, but Pei Zhiyan's people were investigating her.
Song Ruotang nodded. The next day, after Pei Zhiyan went to work, Song Ruotang asked Qingxing, "Has there been any news from the people we sent?"
Qingxing shook her head. "There has been no news since they left yesterday."
Song Ruotang frowned slightly. There was also no movement from Du Lingxuan. What on earth was going on?
At this moment, Du Lingxuan was sitting in front of the dressing table, gently stroking her face with her hand. Her fingertips caressed her skin, then lightly swept across and stopped at an uneven place.
It was the scar left after Du Yanting slapped her when her face was still swollen and congested.
Although she had used the best scar - removing ointment, there were still faint white scars. When touched with a finger, it felt different from the smooth skin.
Du Lingxuan's eyes suddenly turned cold. She reached out and knocked over the bronze mirror. The crisp sound made the maids in the room tremble. They all lowered their heads and dared not speak.
At this moment, there were footsteps outside. Nanny Jiang walked in. Seeing the bronze mirror that had been knocked to the ground, she sighed. "My dear, what are you doing?"
She bent down to pick up the bronze mirror, but there was a smile on her face. Du Lingxuan turned to look at her and calmly asked, "How is it?"
"Our spy said that the master's guard has gone to investigate the Lin girl." Nanny Jiang seemed a bit happy. "Madam, it seems that this time, either the two of them will both be defeated, or one of them will fall."