Chapter 069

Chapter 69: No Manners

An eager onlooker could not help asking: “Young Madam Du, then what?”

Madam Meng glanced toward the voice. The man had been too caught up in gossip and forgot that Duke Yong’s Manor was not something he could afford to provoke. Under Madam Meng’s glare, his excitement cooled at once.

Just then, Yu Zhi Yi spoke: “In time, Madam Zhang did win the duke’s favor. The duke is a man with his own mind, especially regarding his marriage. His voice carried great weight. He insisted on marrying Madam Zhang. Even when the old duke and the old duchess opposed it, they could do nothing.”

“Later, Madam Zhang did as she wished and entered Duke Yong’s Manor. The duke’s sister was happy for them.”

Duke Yong frowned and asked: “If she and my sister were such dear friends, how did my sister’s death end up tied to her?”

Though Yu Zhi Yi had only told the story of how Madam Meng met his sister, no one with sense would take it as random talk. Before she started, she had dangled a very tempting hook: did he want to know how his sister died?

“She is lying! Master, do not believe her!” Madam Meng cried in panic. “She is only a little girl!”

Yu Jiao Jiao frowned. She was happy to see Madam Meng lose face, but she absolutely did not want the person to pull Madam Meng down to be someone from the Yu clan. Not even Yu Zhi Yi, whom she disliked the most. Otherwise, she would not be able to stand firm in Duke Yong’s Manor.

She spoke in a show of anxiousness: “Sister, there must be a limit to making a scene. Chancellor Du is powerful, but that is not your excuse to say whatever you want. The Ministry of Justice closed the case back then. Do not talk nonsense just to grab attention.”

She dragged in Chancellor Du’s name. Though she did not say it out loud, she was guiding people to think that the source of Yu Zhi Yi’s information was Chancellor Du. Compared to accepting that Yu Zhi Yi had truly calculated all this, it was easier to believe Chancellor Du had learned something first and then leaked it to her.

Chancellor Du stood and said to the Emperor: “Your Majesty, although I am the chancellor, I was never so capable that I could discover the hidden secrets of Duke Yong’s household. More than twenty years ago, I was only a poor student and could not even enter the gates of Duke Yong’s Manor.”

Those who had begun to doubt because of Yu Jiao Jiao’s words felt as if their heads had been struck. They had let a young girl lead them by the nose. How shameful.

Duke Ding Guo frowned and said: “Minister Yu, the family teaching at Yu Manor is somewhat lacking.” Then he looked at Madam Meng and said: “I heard Madam Zhang values rules very much. From the look of things today, rumors are not to be trusted.”

It was a bright, open insult.

Yet Minister Yu and Madam Meng could not refute it. After all, Yu Jiao Jiao had been running about and speaking without leave during a palace banquet, which was indeed quite improper.

Madam Meng glared hard at Yu Jiao Jiao, and Minister Yu glared at Yu Zhi Yi. The five sons of the Yu clan and Madam Yu thought the same: if it were not for that unruly girl stealing the spotlight, Yu Jiao Jiao would never have felt the need to stand up and stop her, and would not have seemed so lacking in manners.

While this brief delay passed, the people sent to search the estate returned with new information.

“Speak,” the Emperor said coolly.

The officer in charge drew a painting scroll from behind his back.

Duke Yong trembled slightly. He stared at the scroll and could not look away.

The man opened it, and a picture of a young girl resting with a smile among peach trees appeared before them all. The girl’s skin was pale as snow, her eyes bright as water, and at the corner of her lips a soft, gentle smile. Peach petals fell like rain from the sky, as if a shower of blossoms. Bathed in petals, the girl looked like a peach blossom fairy coming down from the heavens. A tiny pink blossom ornament between her brows echoed the falling flowers, as if carrying some quiet magic.

“Sister…” Tears gathered in Duke Yong’s shining eyes.

“This is when she was seventeen,” he said. “I painted it for her. It was her last birthday gift before she left home. I poured a great deal of time and heart into it.”

His eyes were full of longing.

Yu Zhi Yi nodded and said: “Yes. You invested a great deal of effort and cost in this painting. If the painting had truly been delivered, even when your sister was isolated and helpless, she would have had a thin line of hope to survive. It is a pity…”

“What do you mean?” Duke Yong’s gaze sharpened as he looked at Yu Zhi Yi.

Unfazed, she said evenly: “This painting actually has two layers. Between them a slip from Hui Feng Bank is sewn in. You had deposited one million taels of silver in her name. It was the dowry you prepared for her in advance. With that much money, even if she did nothing, she could live out several lifetimes.”

“You planned to tell her the secret after she married. You knew that if you gave her such a gift openly beforehand, she would refuse it. If you waited until after the wedding, there was still a chance she would send it back, but it was much smaller than if you gave it on the spot.”

“Sadly, the painting was lost.”

Duke Yong sighed and said: “Yes. From childhood my sister was pampered. Though Mother taught her early how to run a household, she still kept a young person’s warmth and simplicity, and she was not skilled in handling money. She always felt that once she entered her husband’s home, with the dowry from our mother’s family and the husband’s family wealth, she would not need any extra money.”

“She did not understand men, and she did not understand the twists and turns of great households. I was afraid she would suffer.” He lowered his eyes and added, “Later, she did suffer.”

With that money, even if the thing he most feared had happened, even if his sister were bullied and her visible funds were cheated away, as long as she had the money at the bank, she could still have lived well.

He looked again at Yu Zhi Yi. The doubt and testing in his eyes were gone as he asked: “Girl, did you deduce all this?”

Yu Zhi Yi said: “Yes.”

“Good. Continue.”

Duke Yong no longer doubted her. Other than his most trusted aide, no one knew about that bank slip. Not even his parents. Even when Chancellor Du later held great power, he could not have unearthed such an old secret. On this point the duke was confident. Though he already knew the cause of his sister’s death and had punished that guilty family, since Yu Zhi Yi had said what she said, he would listen to see if there were other hidden truths.

After the bank slip matter came to light, Madam Meng fell completely silent, her face drained of color. Warned, Yu Jiao Jiao did not dare to speak again.

Yu Zhi Yi could finally continue smoothly.