Cao Jinyu looked utterly bewildered, and her words seemed sincere.
Song Yihuan instinctively tightened her palms and held her breath. She asked cautiously, "On the day of Princess Xiuling's birthday banquet, were you there too, Miss Cao?"
Cao Jinyu nodded.
"Could you tell me what happened that day?"
Delighted to have made a new friend, Cao Jinyu readily shared with Song Yihuan what had happened at the birthday banquet.
As the daughter of a fifth - rank imperial physician, Cao Jinyu was naturally on the guest list for Princess Xiuling's birthday banquet. She said that the banquet had been calm. Everyone had accompanied the princess to enjoy the flowers and compose poems. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and no one had fallen into the water.
"Miss Song, did you remember wrongly?" Cao Jinyu asked innocently.
Song Yihuan took a deep breath and replied calmly, "I must have remembered wrongly."
It had now been proven that her elder sister's supposed fall into the water was false. But what about the matter of her not being able to conceive? What was going on there? Was it related to Changyue Nunnery?
She probed further, "In March this year, there was a Buddhist ceremony at Changyue Nunnery. Did you go, Miss Cao?"
Cao Jinyu shook her head blankly and said she hadn't been.
Song Yihuan said to Cao Jinyu, "Thank you for answering my questions, Miss Cao."
At that moment, the two young masters who had fallen into the water were carried into the garden by the servants of the Duke of Jiang's Mansion. The people who had gathered by the lake also turned around and walked back.
The incident had alarmed the Duke of Jiang and his old lady. They returned to the garden with their servants. Seeing the two rescued young masters soaking wet, their arms bent backward in a twisted position, and their faces pale from choking on water.
The Duke of Jiang's Mansion was furious that such an accident had occurred during the old lady's birthday banquet. They shouted that they would investigate thoroughly and find the culprit who had injured the two young masters to give them justice.
At this time, a tall and imposing figure appeared in the garden.
Ji Lingchuan strode in from outside. His brows were frosted with coldness, and his upturned phoenix eyes were filled with icy killing intent.
The onlookers instinctively took two steps back, their faces showing fear of the man. Even Cao Jinyu trembled in fear and hid behind Song Yihuan.
Song Yihuan protected Cao Jinyu behind her and looked at the enraged Ji Lingchuan in slight surprise.
What had gotten into him?
She wondered if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Ji Lingchuan had glanced in her direction.
But when she looked intently, Ji Lingchuan had already walked up to the Duke of Jiang, leaving only his broad and reliable back to her.
"Your Grace, there's no need to look. It was me," Ji Lingchuan said coldly, looking at the two dripping - wet young masters.
As soon as Ji Lingchuan said this, there was an uproar.
It was Ji Lingchuan who had thrown them into the water? Why?
Song Nanxin was especially shocked. She had noticed earlier that Ji Lingchuan was not at the flowing - water banquet. Thinking that as the heir of the Prince of Ningqin, there were many people eager to curry favor with him, she hadn't paid much attention. She never expected that during the time he was away, he would do such a thing.
The two young masters who had been thrown into the water had been shouting about taking revenge, but when they heard Ji Lingchuan's words, they immediately lost their bravado.
The one surnamed Wang asked tremblingly, "W - where did we offend Your Highness?"
Ji Lingchuan still remembered their conversation earlier. He stepped forward and kicked the man on the shoulder, pinning him to the ground.
The man's arm was already broken, and being pressed to the ground like this, he let out a pained wail.
"Do you still ask why? Hmm?" Ji Lingchuan looked down at the two men on the ground, his eyes filled with icy killing intent.
The pain made the young master surnamed Wang shiver. He finally remembered their conversation before they fell into the water.
It was because of that concubine - born daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an's Mansion!
The garden of the Duke of Jiang's Mansion was now crowded with people. The guests who had come to the banquet were all trembling as they watched the murderous Ji Lingchuan in front of them.
Undoubtedly, if Ji Lingchuan had a sword in his hand and this wasn't the birthday banquet of the old lady of the Duke of Jiang's Mansion, the heads of those two men would have already been off.
Remembering what they had said before falling into the water from Ji Lingchuan's fierce gaze, the young master surnamed Wang immediately reacted and looked in Song Yihuan's direction.
"It's, it's because of the Miss Song of the Marquis of Ding'an's Mansion…"
Realizing that he was about to name Miss Song Si of the Marquis of Ding'an's Mansion, Ji Lingchuan's face darkened. He stepped on the man's dislocated joint and deliberately ground it.
"Ah! Your Highness, I was wrong. I really know I was wrong!"
The intense pain made the man let out a shrill wail. His body trembled like an electric shock, and he was in excruciating pain.
No one had expected Ji Lingchuan to be so ruthless. There was a dead silence all around, and no one dared to even breathe loudly.
Not far away, Song Yihuan stood there, stunned, looking at Ji Lingchuan's back in disbelief.
She had been curiously observing the situation over there, so when the young master surnamed Wang looked at her, their eyes met.
Song Yihuan was very intelligent. Combining Ji Lingchuan's actions and the strange behavior of the young master surnamed Wang, she guessed that the two men had their arms broken and were thrown into the water by Ji Lingchuan because of her.
Seeing that the young master surnamed Wang had fainted from the pain, Ji Lingchuan turned to look at the other man.
The other man had already been too scared to make a sound. When he met Ji Lingchuan's cold gaze, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed in apology.
"Your Highness, spare my life. I, I know I was wrong. I'll never dare again!" he pleaded with Ji Lingchuan.
Learning from the young master Wang's lesson, he didn't dare to say the reason. He believed that if he dared to reveal their conversation in public, Ji Lingchuan would really kill him.
"Did I discipline you wrongly?" Ji Lingchuan asked coldly from above.
The man said, "Your Highness is right to discipline us. It was our own ignorance, and we deserved it. I swear I'll never speak rudely again."
Ji Lingchuan said, "Today's incident is a lesson for you two. If I find out that you still harbor such thoughts, this stone will be your fate."
With that, he threw the object in his palm to the side. A stone as big as an adult man's head not far away shattered with a "bang".
The man was so frightened that his face turned ashen, and he couldn't say a word.
The onlookers were confused, not knowing what exactly they were referring to. They only vaguely guessed from Ji Lingchuan's words that these two men must have said something disrespectful to the Prince of Ningqin's Mansion, which was why they had been punished by Ji Lingchuan.
Seeing that Ji Lingchuan finally let the two men go, the servants of the Duke of Jiang's Mansion quickly helped them up and took them out of the garden. After this incident, they probably didn't have the face to stay in the Duke of Jiang's Mansion anymore.
Although the Duke of Jiang and his old lady were actually a bit unhappy that such an incident had occurred in their mansion, but who could they blame when the person involved was Ji Lingchuan?
Now that the matter was clear, the crowd dispersed. The Duke of Jiang invited Ji Lingchuan to the attic in the back to have tea, presumably to ask about what had just happened, but Ji Lingchuan declined.
When he turned around, Ji Lingchuan quietly glanced at Song Yihuan sitting in the pavilion in the distance. Seeing her looking blank and unaware of what had happened, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Although he hadn't sorted out his feelings for her yet, instinctively, he didn't want such filthy words to reach her ears.
Such embarrassing words were better left for him to hear.