I Did Not Do It!

Second Madam was usually a gentle, soft-spoken woman who took very good care of her appearance in front of others. The very picture of a lovely, well-educated, high-born lady that Yu Fen She wished Xiao Yue would be.

She was not a person to raise a fist before attempting a talk. Everyone was shocked when she appeared in such a messy state and openly attacked Xiao Yue. They were even more shocked at the accusation she hurled at Xiao Yue's face.

Initially overcome by shock, Xiao Yue did not even think of defending herself. She let herself be slammed against the floor without the slightest resistance. Only after Second Madam was pulled away from her and struggled against the maids around her to attack her again, did she snap to her senses and shout, "I did not do anything!"

"Liar!" the Second Madam yelled at her at once.

She raised a trembling point finger at her.

"In this manor, who else planted all sorts of poisonous plants in their front yard? Do you think we don't know which plant you took? The medic is my witness! RELEASE ME!!!"

The maids did not dare to release the Second Madam, but they too were shaken to the ground. Poisonous plants? They did not know anything about it. They had even been helping with the gardening work. What had the Third Madam done??? Had she really poisoned someone???

A while later, a group of people was seen entering the Third Madam's manor in a hurry. There was the First Madam, the palace medic, and a bunch of maids and servants both from the First Madam's as well as Second Madam's manor. As soon as the First Madam caught sight of the Second Madam who was struggling to free herself, she yanked at the younger woman's arm.

"Second Sister, calm down!" First Madam snapped at the Second Madam, who immediately dropped to the floor, wailing to her heart's content. Her cries were sorrowful, tugging at everyone's heart. What really happened? They did not dare to imagine the worst. First Madam went down to hug the Second Madam and whispered some words of consolation into her ears.

"It's alright... Sister, it will be alright..."

The Second Madam cried and cried. She leaned against the First Madam and cried into her shoulder. Since the First Madam still needed to handle the issue, she then handed the Second Madam over to the latter's maids and said, "Bring your mistress back to the manor. After she calms down, give her some tea. This..."

The First Madam covertly handed over a tiny package of medicine into a maid's hand.

"Add this to her tea to help her sleep better."

The maid accepted the sleeping drug, nodded, and left with the others.

In the living room, only First Madam, the palace medic, Xiao Yue, and her attendants in the manor were left. After the ruckus just now, the manor seemed to be eerily quiet. Everyone was waiting to hear what the First Madam had to say. She did have something to say, but she did not intend to say it in public.

"Third Sister, we need to talk. Please dismiss your maids and servants."

First Madam sounded upset, but she still maintained her composure and manners. As the first wife, she could have ordered Xiao Yue's attendants to go out without Xiao Yue's permission, but she still took care to respect Xiao Yue's authority in her own house. Xiao Yue thus dismissed her people quietly. Yu Fen squeezed Xiao Yue's hand a little too hard. She was extremely worried but she too left with the others.

First Madam then took out a handkerchief that was folded in squares and opened it for Xiao Yue to see. Inside it was wrinkly, soaking-wet flowers. The deep purple color revealed to Xiao Yue that those were the missing flowers from her little garden. Those were the wolfsbane flowers!

"Chun Ya," she called out to her. "We found these flowers amongst the kitchen waste at Second Sister's manor. Judging from the condition of it, these flowers were boiled in a large pot of water which was then used to make congee for Second Madam to eat, day by day.

The medic has checked it and confirmed that the congee indeed contains poison from these flowers. The effect is not much for an adult, but Second Sister is still feeding Long Yan. Long Yan developed a fever immediately, and it has not gone down at all. When he started vomiting everything yesterday, we knew something was wrong so we decided to investigate."

Long Yan.

The newborn baby. Xiao Yue felt sick to the stomach.

First Madam put down the handkerchief with the boiled wolfsbane flowers on the table.

"Chun Ya, the medic is the expert here. We both know that you also possess some knowledge regarding plants and herbs. Can you explain yourself?"

Xiao Yue's heart beat fast from anxiety. The flowers were indeed stolen from her garden. Would First Madam even believe a word she said?

"Big Sister, I... I did not do it," Xiao Yue said weakly. "The flowers were indeed missing from my garden, but I... did not do anything to poison Second Sister and A-Yan..."

First Madam turned at the palace medic and said, "Please, Medic, your opinion."

The medic was an elderly man of short stature. He had been working in the palace for a while, even before the current king ascended the throne. He had witnessed a lot of palace politics, and a lot of incidents in the harem that were spurned by intense rivalry between the concubines. Although the intensity was much less outside of the palace, a rivalry between wives was always there. Murder by poisoning was not something new.

Since the first day he came to check up on baby Long Yan, he came to hear a lot of rumors regarding the Third Madam. She was currently the most favored wife of 'General Long Zhao Xue', so people were still very careful when mentioning her, but it was clear from day one that they did not appreciate the way she handled things. The medic did not hear about the details. He only knew that the Third Madam's actions were regarded as shameless and inconsiderate.

When baby Long Yan started to vomit, it was also these people who took the initiative to perform a complete check throughout the manor, to find anything that incriminated Third Madam. They had suspected her from day one. If baby Long Yan had been sick from continuous rain, these people would say that the Third Madam summoned the rain out of spite.

Since they had been searching very hard all over the manor, they found it. At that point, although no one saw with their own eyes that Xiao Yue sneaked into the Second Madam's manor or asked any maid to perform the dirty deed for her, they were already convinced that Xiao Yue did it, one way or another. When so many people were against one person, this person would not be able to escape punishment. She might be innocent, but it did not mean that she would be spared. This was simply how things worked out.

The medic cleared his throat and said, "Third Madam already confessed that the flowers were indeed from her garden. The person who took the flowers and conducted the poisoning remains unclear to this point."

The medic already opened his mouth to continue, but then he closed it again, afraid of saying too much.

"What is it, Medic? Please continue."

Encouraged by the First Madam, he thus continued, "Third Madam, I understand that you are quite knowledgeable regarding these plants. You must not have planted these plants by coincidence. Why did you even plant wolfsbane? Every part of it is toxic. What is your motivation?"

Blood rushed past Xiao Yue's eardrum. The medic's words resonated in her head over and over again. Xiao Yue could not answer. Of course, she knew that wolfsbane was toxic. She deliberately planted it. She had planned to poison Long Zhao Xue slowly whenever he came to visit her. Long Zhao Xue never did, so Xiao Yue abandoned the plan but not the plant. She continued nurturing it because... because it was her habit. Back in her homeland, her tribe used it to poison their blades and arrows...

"Chun Ya, why did you plant the wolfsbane?" the First Madam repeated the medic's question but she too received no answer.

Xiao Yue remained silent. What could she say? That she planned to poison Long Zhao Xue? The First Madam would report her to the palace and she would be executed come morning. Xiao Yue finally understood what Long Zhao Feng meant when he said those words.

"What are you rambling about? You should be thankful on your knees for my help just now."

Xiao Yue's knees turned weak so she involuntarily dropped on her knees and dropped on the floor. Truthfully, she should have been executed a long time ago. Sure, Long Zhao Feng only kept her around to unearth the real culprit but at least he let her live. Now that this incident was pinned on her, what else could she do?

Xiao Yue really never thought about poisoning Second Madam, let alone little Long Yan. It was just that at this point, she could not defend herself. It was she who planted the flowers voluntarily. The flowers were stolen from her garden. It was much easier to point fingers at Xiao Yue and condemn her as the culprit than fantasize about a real culprit inside the residence. Knowing this, Xiao Yue did not know what to say. She could only stare at the soaked wolfsbane on First Madam's handkerchief.

In her desperation, the only person who came to Xiao Yue's mind was Long Zhao Feng.

Long Zhao Feng... would he believe her if she said it wasn't her...?

It wasn't her. It really was not her...