"CAIYU!"
Song Yinghuai's face darkened slightly as he sternly stopped her impertinence. "Show respect to the princess!"
Xu Buyue, the Princess of Nan'an, was the daughter of the Duke of Dingguo. Her status was so noble that even ordinary princesses couldn't match her glory.
How dare Caiyu be so bold?
"I don't blindly trust anyone. I only believe in evidence and a person's character," Song Yinghuai said calmly, his voice firm. "The Princess of Nan'an has always been upright and never tells lies. Qingqing is a mischievous girl who loves to play tricks. Moreover, now that Aunt Mei, who just woke up, has the same testimony as the princess, how can I believe Qingqing's one - sided story?"
"At least, let me see the evidence in Qingqing's favor first. Otherwise..."
As soon as Caiyu said those words, she knew she had overstepped.
But she was extremely disappointed.
Since they came up the mountain, everyone had been against her.
Not to mention Lü Baiwei and Aunt Mei.
Even the Princess of Nan'an, whom she once admired, had taken the opposite side.
Most importantly, Song Yinghuai, whom she thought she could rely on, had unhesitatingly chosen to believe outsiders rather than her.
The light in Caiyu's eyes gradually dimmed. Her stubbornness seemed to crumble under the blows from others.
Facing the cold - faced Song Yinghuai and with her back to Qingqing, she finally said slowly, "This servant knows her mistake."
Xu Buyue didn't mind Caiyu's previous "impertinence", but she still insisted, "Anyway, what I saw is true. I'm just stating the facts. I'm not targeting you or Miss Qingqing."
Even though Miss Qingqing had helped her come up with ideas and done her makeup beautifully during the day.
But pushing someone into the water and almost causing their death was a very serious matter.
She couldn't tolerate it.
Caiyu looked at Sheng Jiangli, who had been silent, and asked, "Does General Sheng also believe them?"
Sheng Jiangli was silent for a long time after being asked.
He knew that at this moment, he should say that he believed Caiyu. Since Shu'er was now isolated, he should unconditionally stand by her side.
However, he was troubled by the strange look that flashed across Qingqing's face just now.
That little girl. If she continued to stay by Caiyu's side, something bad might happen.
Qingqing looked at Sheng Jiangli. Her round eyes also turned dull. "Brother Sheng, don't you believe me?"
She knew that Sheng Jiangli had never trusted her.
Never.
But she still hoped that Sheng Jiangli could trust her just once.
The little girl's voice was a bit gloomy and cold, hiding all her deep - seated sadness, making it hard to tell her true emotions.
Sheng Jiangli suddenly looked up and said, "I also believe in evidence, but I believe in the evidence I find myself!"
"Your Highness, since we all choose to believe in evidence, shouldn't we first go to the crime scene to check it out?"
After saying that, he flew onto the big rock where the two had argued and fallen into the water. He squatted down and started to examine it.
Seeing this, Song Yinghuai took the torch from Han Fen's hand and also flew over to check together.
His cold eyes fell on the gap between a small protruding rock under the big rock. He said to Sheng Jiangli,
"Two feet below your feet, there's something in the rock crevice."
Sheng Jiangli squatted down and looked towards the water.
The rock crevice was submerged in the water. It was night, and only the lights from the distant temple and the starlight reflected on the water, creating sparkling waves. It was impossible to see anything before.
Fortunately, with the torch in Song Yinghuai's hand, this area was finally illuminated. They could barely see a strand of tricolor silk thread stuck in the submerged rock crevice.
Sheng Jiangli rolled up his sleeves and reached into the water to take out the silk thread. The two looked at it in the firelight and said in unison,
"It's the silk thread from Qingqing's hem!"
Song Yinghuai then pointed to the long moss - scraped mark on the edge of the rock and said, "This mark is also evidence."
Sheng Jiangli nodded. He and Song Yinghuai flew back to the others with the silk thread.
Sheng Jiangli bent down and lifted Qingqing's skirt. Sure enough, there was still a large patch of green moss on the side of her shoe that hadn't been washed off.
Caiyu's gaze also fell on Qingqing's shoe. She blurted out, "She was pulled into the water, so she scraped against the edge of the rock and left the moss mark. I knew she was innocent!"
Sheng Jiangli let out a grunt but didn't confirm Caiyu's claim of "innocence".
Song Yinghuai said, "Caiyu, there are only the scraping marks of Qingqing's feet on the big rock, but there are no scraping marks of Aunt Mei. Do you know what that means?"
Caiyu was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses. Her face suddenly changed.
This meant that Aunt Mei wasn't pulled into the water, nor did she accidentally fall in. She was pushed.
Because when being pushed, there would be a force that would make a person leave the shore and fall into the river, so there wouldn't be long scraping marks on the rock.
Sheng Jiangli showed the tricolor silk thread in his hand and compared it with Qingqing's hem. He said, "This was found in the rock crevice below the crime scene. The silk thread belongs to Qingqing, which is enough to prove that Qingqing was pulled into the water and scraped along the big rock all the way down, scraping against the rock and tearing the silk thread from her hem."
"It's confirmed that Qingqing was pulled into the water by Aunt Mei."
"It's also confirmed that Aunt Mei didn't fall into the water voluntarily."
Hearing this, Aunt Mei immediately straightened her back. "I've been saying that this little bitch pushed me into the water! Now the truth is finally out!"
"No!" Caiyu tightened her face and denied. "If Qingqing deliberately pushed Aunt Mei into the water, she must have been on guard. She would have quickly withdrawn her hand after pushing the person and wouldn't have been pulled into the water by Aunt Mei!"
"You're right," Song Yinghuai agreed. "So the truth is like this—"
"Aunt Mei and Qingqing had an argument. They both wanted to push each other into the water. Aunt Mei couldn't match Qingqing's agility and was first pushed into the water. Since they were pulling each other, Qingqing couldn't dodge either and then fell into the water."
"So what the princess saw, that Qingqing pushed someone into the water, is also true. It's just that the princess was far away and couldn't hear the sound. And since it was close to sunset and the vision was unclear, the princess didn't know the cause and effect of the incident. She could only see who made the first move to push someone into the water."
His cold eyes fell on Qingqing and Aunt Mei in turn. "By now, aren't you going to tell the truth?"
Song Yinghuai's gaze was like an ice - cold knife, making the two shiver all over.
Qingqing knelt down first. "Your Highness, everything you said is true. This servant did argue with Aunt Mei. I've also said the reason for the argument. It was because she slandered Sister Caiyu. This servant was so angry that I fought with her. I didn't lie about this..."
"But what I said just now, that Aunt Mei fell in by herself, was a lie. The truth is that when we were fighting, she couldn't beat me and was pushed into the water by me..."
"This servant wanted to avoid responsibility," Qingqing bit her lip and said. "This old servant and her master are so hateful. This servant didn't want to take responsibility for such people, so I lied."
This was indeed Qingqing's personality.
She hated evil and loved justice, was clear - cut in her likes and dislikes, and had a bit of a wild streak.
She would do anything to protect the people she loved, and she would also try to frame others to avoid responsibility.
Seeing that the truth was out, Aunt Mei was so scared that she knelt on the ground and rolled over:
"Your Highness, please spare my life. It's true. It was really because of the argument... This old servant was annoyed by this girl's sharp tongue. In a fit of anger, I lost my head and started to fight. I didn't expect her to be stronger than me, so..."
"Your Highness, please calm down!"
Aunt Mei wished she could kill Qingqing.
The truth was that she had been ordered by Lü Baiwei to find Qingqing. She wanted to use the argument between the two to create the illusion of someone falling into the water to delay Doctor Liu from seeing Lü Baiwei.
Who would have thought that this little bitch, who usually didn't like her, would actually try to take her life!
She was as venomous as a snake!
Song Yinghuai pondered for a moment and then made a decision that puzzled Caiyu and others:
"Both of you are at fault. You should each receive fifty strokes on the buttocks, but considering that Aunt Mei is old and weak and has just experienced a near - death situation..."
"Aunt Mei, go back to the meditation room to reflect. You will be dealt with by Concubine Lü."
He turned to look at Qingqing and said coldly, "You, you lie constantly, think you're smart, and are overly aggressive... You'll be whipped ten times and sent back down the mountain!"