"Why did you associate the old canal with the acrobatic troupe in the market and the dwarfs with small statures?"
Ji Lingchuan's question made Song Yihuan stunned for a moment.
She thought there was something wrong with her answer, but no matter how she thought about it, she felt that what she said was right.
"The entrance of the old canal is so narrow that a normal adult man simply can't get in. Naturally, only people with smaller statures can move around freely inside."
But Song Yihuan didn't know that during today's investigation, Ji Lingchuan was also looking for an old acquaintance from the past.
Among the remaining eight families besides the Prince Ning's Mansion, there happened to be the Marquis Ding'an's Mansion.
Four years had passed. That old acquaintance should be at least seventeen or eighteen years old by now. Among these eight families, the two sisters Song Nanxin and Song Yihuan were the closest in age.
He stared at Song Yihuan intently, wanting to lift the curtain to reveal her face and look into her clear black-and-white eyes.
Was it her?
Was she the one from that year?
"Is that all? There are so many people with small statures in the world. Why did you specifically think of the dwarfs in the acrobatic troupe in the market?"
His gaze was so oppressive that Song Yihuan felt uncomfortable. She turned her wrist and whispered, "My lord, you're hurting me."
Only then did Ji Lingchuan realize how hard he had been holding her. He loosened his grip and said, "My question just now has nothing to do with the case. I just want to know why you thought that way. Don't be afraid. Just answer truthfully."
Song Yihuan held her wrist and replied carefully, "Uncle Qi's noodle stall wasn't originally set up at the painting boat pier. It was in the market in the south of the city."
"I used to go to his stall to play and occasionally help him a little. I once saw the dwarfs in the acrobatic troupe perform a trick of lifting a cauldron."
"Later, Uncle Qi was summoned to build the canal. I would occasionally bring him some food. I also saw with my own eyes the officials and yamen runners from the Ministry of Works instructing the dwarfs in the acrobatic troupe to participate in the canal construction. When you mentioned this to me today, I remembered what I had seen in the past."
After she finished speaking, she felt that the atmosphere in the carriage suddenly became oppressive. Ji Lingchuan opposite was silent, as if lost in thought. And that silence made her inexplicably flustered.
After a long time, she heard Ji Lingchuan say, "You and Qi Lei have a good relationship. I wonder what the Marquis Ding'an would think if he knew that his daughter had recognized a commoner as her adoptive father outside."
His voice was hoarse and deep, hiding a meaning she didn't understand.
She lowered her eyelashes and clenched the sleeve of her robe, saying, "He won't know."
"Because Concubine Rou is dead?"
Song Yihuan looked up and said, "How does my lord know..."
"There are many pieces of furniture in Qi Lei's house specially made for women. He said that his wife had passed away long ago, and he took you as his adopted daughter. You call yourself Rouhuan. It's not difficult to deduce. I also heard the rumors about you at the Duke Jiang's Mansion that day."
For a moment, an embarrassed look appeared on Song Yihuan's face.
She couldn't help but be glad that she was still wearing the veil hat. The light veil on the hat covered her face, preventing him from seeing her expression at this moment.
Song Yihuan knew that with Ji Lingchuan's hearing, he must have heard something at the Duke Jiang's Mansion that day. Or perhaps, he had already known everything from her elder sister. After all, even the Princess Ning knew, so how could Ji Lingchuan not be clear?
Tightly clutching the sleeve of her robe, Song Yihuan straightened her back, not wanting to show any timidity in front of Ji Lingchuan. She said clearly word by word:
"My stepmother was by no means what they said. She was loyal to my grandmother and never had the thought of betraying her. She and Uncle Qi had already made a marriage contract and were just waiting to leave the marquis's mansion at the right age to marry Uncle Qi. She never had the thought of trying to curry favor with that man. On the contrary, that man saw that she was beautiful and, regardless of her resistance, forcibly defiled and humiliated her in front of my grandmother."
As she spoke, she choked with sobs.
"That man defiled my stepmother's innocence but then framed her for seducing him. No matter how she defended herself, no one believed her. Coupled with the fact that my grandmother's condition worsened and she fell into a coma, there was no one to testify for my stepmother. Instead, everything became my stepmother's fault. If my grandmother hadn't woken up in time and kept calling my stepmother's name, only allowing my stepmother to feed her medicine, my stepmother and I would probably have been thrown into the river to feed the fish long ago."
This was an extremely shocking and heart - wrenching past, hiding too much helplessness and powerlessness. It really shocked Ji Lingchuan.
"Did your stepmother tell you all this?" he asked.
Song Yihuan sneered with a tug at her lips and said, "My lord, are you going to say again that what my stepmother said alone doesn't count?"
Ji Lingchuan said hoarsely, "I don't mean that."
But Song Yihuan no longer had any hope for him: "My lord must think that my stepmother was just a maid, of low status, and maybe she made up lies to deceive me."
"But you don't know that I often saw her crying while holding the wedding veil she embroidered stitch by stitch. She could have been an ordinary couple with Uncle Qi, loving each other until old age. But in the end, she could only be trapped in a small courtyard forever, suffering from cold looks and hardships. My lord, what do you think my stepmother was after?"
Ji Lingchuan fell silent and said nothing, but his heart was filled with a dense, stabbing pain.
Song Yihuan could only see a faint outline of him through the curtain. She let out a soft sigh and said, "I'm not telling these things to get my lord's sympathy. I just don't want my stepmother to be wronged and not be at peace even in the afterlife. I also don't want people to misunderstand Uncle Qi and think that he offended the marquis's mansion."
"You've had a hard time."
Ji Lingchuan only said three words, but they suddenly made Song Yihuan's eyes moist.
Uncle Qi had also said this to her, but it was even more unbearable for her to hear it from Ji Lingchuan at this moment.
"Meeting my lord at Uncle Qi's place today was completely an accident. I didn't follow my lord on purpose. My lord can rest assured. Since my lord doesn't like to see me, after this case is solved, I'll try to reduce the number of times I appear in front of my lord. Maybe soon, I'll be able to take Xuan'er and leave the Prince Ning's Mansion. I won't bother my lord anymore."
Song Yihuan's voice had a slight nasal tone when she spoke. Ji Lingchuan could tell at once that she was extremely aggrieved.
He subconsciously wanted to tell her that she could stay in the Prince Ning's Mansion forever, but suddenly he realized what this sentence meant. He paused and said, "Where's the money bag?"
Song Yihuan was still feeling sad. Suddenly hearing him mention the money bag, she was a bit slow to react. "What?"
Ji Lingchuan said, "When we left Qi Lei's house just now, I left a bag of silver for him. That's the only money bag I have."
Song Yihuan was stunned there.
He had done a good deed, left the silver, and now that he had no money bag to use, he remembered her?