Chapter 011

Chapter 11: What Swagger Does She Have to Crush?

Yu Pan’er spoke up again, her eyes bright with eagerness as she asked: “Young madam, won’t you crush that woman’s swagger?”

Yu Zhi Yi lifted her gaze and looked at her. Yu Pan’er was a houseborn servant of Yu Manor, and she had some beauty. A houseborn servant was a child born to the household’s bondservants. In this era, a servant’s child was born a servant.

This girl was ambitious. Back in Yu Manor, she had tried to seduce Yu Clan’s eldest young master, Yu Meng Qin. That made Yu Jiao Jiao furious, and Yu Jiao Jiao, acting like a commander, sent her to clean the toilets and scrub chamber pots. When Yu Zhi Yi was about to be married, Yu Jiao Jiao fetched the girl back and persuaded Madam Yu to give her to Yu Zhi Yi as a dowry maid.

Besides Zi Yuan and Yu Pan’er, Yu Zhi Yi had two other dowry maids, both rough-use maids from Yu Manor who were not very clever. These too had been picked out for her by Yu Jiao Jiao. Yu Zhi Yi understood Yu Jiao Jiao’s little calculations, but she had been bound by the kindness of being raised and was too lazy to bother with such small schemes. What these people thought could not be hidden from her eyes anyway, so she did not worry about them causing her trouble.

In the last life, she had not wanted to raise a good “sister” for herself, so she had sent Yu Pan’er away early. The other two were dull, but loyal, so she kept them. Now, perhaps Yu Pan’er could be of some use.

She asked in return, calm and even: “What swagger does she have?”

Yu Pan’er’s eyes widened as she protested: “She left the manor on her own and did not report to you at all. She acts like you, the mistress, do not matter.”

Yu Zhi Yi chuckled as she waved the thought aside: “She is not a concubine, and she is not a servant. She does not need to report to me.”

Yu Pan’er wanted to argue more, but Yu Zhi Yi lifted a hand and ended it with a light tone: “Enough. Do not be bothered by these little things. From now on, you only need to keep an eye on what happens inside the manor. As for anything else, no matter how absurd it looks, do not join the crowd. We will live our own lives well.”

That night, Yu Zhi Yi suddenly opened her eyes. Her defense formation had been touched: [Someone has triggered it.]

She got up and dressed quickly. Zi Yuan came in and spoke in a low, quick voice: “Miss, someone tried to climb over the wall to leave the manor, but he slipped and fell. The noise brought the house guards. The chancellor and madam are on their way to question him in person.”

Yu Zhi Yi swept her black hair up at random, threw on a red gauze cloak, and went to the place where it happened. There, a short man in gray waiter’s clothes was kneeling on the ground. Chancellor Du and Madam Yao had both come out with their hair down, each wearing only a cloak.

Yu Zhi Yi stepped forward to greet them with respect: “Father, Mother.” Then she looked at the man on the ground.

Before she could ask a question, Madam Yao spoke first as she fussed over her: “The night dew is heavy. You should have worn more layers before coming out.” She pointed at the man and gave a quick summary: “He is just a thief who tried to steal from the manor. We have asked him already. It is nothing big. In a moment we will have him taken to the yamen.”

The man shrank when he heard the words taken to the yamen. He seemed frightened and begged for mercy again and again.

Yu Zhi Yi stared at him for a while, then spoke coldly as she cut through his act: “Stop pretending. You are laughing in your heart right now, aren’t you?”

The man’s voice stopped, and his face stiffened. Chancellor Du and Madam Yao, along with the house guards and servants nearby, all looked at her in confusion.

A heartbeat later the man found his voice and tried to keep up the act as he pleaded: “I do not understand what the young madam means. I am truly afraid and truly sorry.” To prove his regret, he crawled to Chancellor Du and wailed: “Master, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me just this once.”

Yu Zhi Yi cut off his wailing and turned to Chancellor Du with a pleasant smile as she asked lightly: “Father, your jade thumb ring is very unusual. Would you give it to me?”

Everyone was stunned. Was the young madam not thinking straight? What kind of moment was this, and she was asking for a gift? She had only been married into the family for four days. Their relationship was not close enough for her to ask for something so valuable.

Chancellor Du looked a little unhappy. Madam Yao, however, remembered what had happened with her own mother. Back then, she had first given Yu Zhi Yi one thousand taels of silver, and only then had Yu Zhi Yi warned her to go home to see her mother. Madam Yao coaxed gently as she turned to her husband: “Master, since Yi’er likes it, give it to her. It is only a thumb ring, after all.”

Chancellor Du went silent. The servants went silent as well. Madam, do you hear what you are saying?

Madam Yao knew exactly what she was saying. When Chancellor Du did not move, she even stepped forward to take the ring off his finger herself.

Chancellor Du caught her hand and muttered in defeat: “I will do it myself.”

Yu Zhi Yi took the ring and weighed it in her hand, her eyes curving with a satisfied smile as she praised it: “The jade is clear and warm to the touch, the water is rich. Good jade.”

Chancellor Du had no words. Of course it was good jade. He had bought it at an auction for eight thousand taels of silver.

Yu Zhi Yi seemed not to notice his face darkening. She slipped the thumb ring into the small pouch at her waist and had Zi Yuan dismiss the house guards and the other servants. Only then did she face the short man and speak evenly: “Your real name is Liu Er Gou. Five years ago you entered the Chancellor’s Manor and changed your name to Du Ping.”

She went on without hurry as she laid it all out: “Father and Mother are very kind to servants, except when a person makes a mistake. Three years ago you broke a paperweight and were punished by Father. He is generous and did not make you pay for it, but you held a grudge anyway. A few days ago, while you were on leave, you met a fellow villager. You complained to him, and he said he had a way to help you get revenge. You two agreed at once and settled on tonight’s plan.”

Madam Yao gasped and asked in shock: “What plan? He stole something from us. How could that end up being blamed on us?”

Beside the short man, a painting scroll lay quietly. It was Traveling Mount Huai by Qi Bai, a great landscape painter from the previous dynasty, and it was worth a fortune. No matter how she turned it in her mind, Madam Yao could not figure out how the victims of theft could be framed. Even Chancellor Du, who had seen many things, looked puzzled.

Yu Zhi Yi sighed and gave the real answer: “This painting is only a decoy. The real killing move is the thing he hid under the bottom of the drawer in Father’s desk in the study.”

Chancellor Du’s face changed, and he strode quickly to the study. Liu Er Gou tried to break free, but though Zi Yuan looked like a small, delicate girl, her strength was amazing. He could not move at all. Zi Yuan pinched the back of his collar and carried him like a chick to the door of the study.

By then Chancellor Du had reached his desk. There were two drawers underneath, both locked. The two small locks still hung properly in their places. He did not dare be careless. He unlocked them, pulled the drawer out, and lifted it to eye level. At once, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

A cloth bag had been nailed across the bottom of the drawer. A strip of pale paper was poking out. He did not yet know what was written on it, but even so, he turned pale. Something had appeared in his study that he had never seen before. It was obviously no good thing.

He forced down his shock, pulled out the paper from the cloth bag, and unfolded it. He almost fainted. It was a reply letter from the Great Luo Empire. The letter had only a few lines, but if it were discovered, it would be enough to destroy the entire Chancellor’s Manor and even drag his nine clans down with him: [If anyone finds this, we are finished.]