Chapter 132

Chapter 132: Two Karmic Lines

Thinking of this, heat rose in his chest.

Yu Zhi Yi acted as if she had not seen the filthy desire in his eyes, then she drew back her gaze and looked at Yu Meng Qin as she asked out of nowhere: “Four years ago, Eldest Young Master, did you go to Shang Yang County?”

Yu Meng Qin frowned and said: “What if I went, and what if I did not? What does it have to do with today?”

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head and said: “It has nothing to do with it.”

She spoke so calmly that Yu Meng Qin’s face turned even colder, as if this adopted sister was playing him.

Madam Yu looked sadder and asked in a trembling voice: “Yi’er, did you really hire people to beat them just to vent your anger?”

Yu Zhi Yi did not answer. Instead, she asked back: “You said I was venting anger, so you know what they did?”

Madam Yu choked and fell silent.

After a moment, she dodged the point and circled back, asking again in a low voice: “Were those men sent by you?”

She would not face the truth. Her protection of them was plain to see.

In her past life, Yu Zhi Yi would have been heartbroken. Now she only felt it was funny and said: “If I were really the kind of person who, after a few words, would have people beaten to vent my spite, then after you almost got me killed in the palace last time, would I not have hired killers to wipe out your whole family? Then we would not be standing here with so much trouble after.”

Madam Yu choked again.

Yu Meng Qin said coldly: “Because you struck last time, your suspicion is too great.”

Yu Zhi Yi said evenly: “But last time I could blame it on ghosts and spirits. That would have made it easier to escape guilt, right?”

Yu Meng Qin’s brows drew tight. For the first time, he seemed to notice how sharp his adopted sister’s tongue was.

With his jaw set hard, he suddenly barked: “Prove it!”

Yu Zhi Yi blinked and said: “What?”

He said with a hard face: “Prove you did not send those men, and we will believe you.”

Yu Zhi Yi almost laughed and did laugh as she said: “Why should I prove it?”

She looked around and saw that everyone, even the Prefect of Jing Prefecture, seemed to agree with Yu Meng Qin. They wanted her to prove her own innocence. When they heard her words, disapproval showed on every face. The yamen constables stared with doubt, as if if she did not prove herself, she really was the attacker.

She spoke clearly and steadily and said: “Solving the case is the work of Jing Prefecture. Even if I am a suspect right now, I can cooperate with your investigation. But unless you have evidence that I beat anyone or hired thugs, no one has the right to force me to prove myself, and no one has the right to limit my freedom.”

She turned to the Prefect of Jing Prefecture and said: “Lord Prefect, am I right?”

The prefect dabbed sweat from his brow and said hurriedly: “Right, right!” He felt that although this young lady looked gentle and easy to talk to, her clear eyes felt almost solid. With them on him, he could not say no. Besides, what Yu Zhi Yi said was true.

Yu Meng Qin’s jaw tightened to a sharp line, as if it could cut a neck. He spoke in an icy voice and said: “Do you not call yourself a master diviner? If you cast a hexagram, you would know who the culprit is. Would that not prove your innocence?”

Without waiting, he added harshly and said: “But you do not dare, because you are the one behind it.”

Yu Zhi Yi was speechless for a beat and thought, [What a joke.]

Yu Meng Qin pressed on and said: “Between being the culprit and being incompetent, you can only pick one.”

Yu Zhi Yi rolled her eyes and said: “I pick this one: I will wait for Jing Prefecture to solve the case.”

She lifted her chin a little and said: “If you are not satisfied, go strike the grievance drum. Maybe Your Majesty will hear your wrongs and break the rules to let me use fortune-telling to find your attacker.”

Yu Meng Qin’s eyes turned dark and he said: “And you still say you are not guilty?”

Yu Zhi Yi gave a short, sharp laugh and said with open scorn: “Yu Meng Qin, what do you think you are now? I am a fifth-rank official personally appointed by Your Majesty. I have not yet taken up my post at the Ministry of Justice, but my rank is real.”

She took a step forward and said: “And you, in what status are you ordering me? Are you my superior, or the Heavenly King himself?”

She did not stop and said: “Do not forget, that day in the palace, your whole family chose to cut ties with me to shove the blame onto me. Yu Manor raised me for seventeen years, and I took the blame you forced on me and saved the lives of seven masters of Yu Manor and one hundred twenty-eight servants.”

Her voice cooled and she said: “I am no longer of the Yu Clan and I owe you nothing. We are strangers now. As strangers, you have no right to point at me and order me around. Do you understand?”

She let the words hang and said: “Since this is your first offense after our severing of ties, I will not pursue it. But if there is a next time, then according to the Sheng Code: Official Statutes, when a commoner offends an official, the light punishment is twenty slaps, and the heavy punishment is one hundred strokes.”

Her airy voice carried weight. It struck Madam Yu and Yu Meng Qin like heavy hammers.

Madam Yu panicked and said in a rush: “Yi’er, we are a family. How can we fall out over a small misunderstanding…”

Yu Zhi Yi gave a short laugh and said: “Calling it a misunderstanding is a nice scapegoat. But this is not a ‘misunderstanding.’ I will not swallow false blame and be unable to seek justice. I told you: you get only one chance to offend your betters. If you make me unhappy again…”

Her firm stance scared Madam Yu.

Madam Yu was never a strong person. In the past, she could hold Yu Zhi Yi down only because Yu Zhi Yi cared about a bit of kindness and clung to a bit of warmth. Now that kindness was gone, and she no longer cared for that tiny scrap of family affection.

Mother and son of the Yu Clan slunk away, carrying the two injured men.

As they stepped out the door, a fresh, warm splat of bird droppings fell on Yu Meng Qin’s head. Yu Jian Ren stumbled and fell. His eye hit the stone lion at the gate. He was not blinded, but it swelled at once until he could not open it.

Everyone from Jing Prefecture stared, stunned. Steward Wu Shan, after a brief shock, let out a long breath and said with great satisfaction: “Serves them right!”

In a broken-down house, a boy of twelve or thirteen, sturdy-faced with big bright eyes, sat on a stool. But now those bright eyes were full of worry as he said: “Dad, did we make trouble for sister?”

The middle-aged man was about the same age as Minister Yu, though he looked a year or two older on the face. His build was much better than Minister Yu’s, solid and healthy, with no extra fat. In the early winter chill, he had his sleeves rolled up, showing strong arms. Hearing the boy’s question, his sword-straight brows pulled tight.

The boy bit down and said: “Or I can go confess. I cannot let sister suffer at the hands of the Yu Clan again!”

The man shook his head and said: “Wait until they trace the line to us. If the people from Jing Prefecture do find us, you leave the capital for a few days. Come back when things cool down.”

The boy opened his mouth, but the man spoke first and said: “I only beat someone. I did not kill anyone. At most I will be locked up for a year or two. During that time, you must protect sister.”

Seeing the boy still unwilling, the man smiled a little and said: “Even if you say you did it, they will not believe you.”

The boy was not weak and not short, but he was still only shoulder-high to a grown man. Saying he alone beat two people was too far-fetched. It would be more convincing if the man stepped forward.

The boy’s round eyes filled at once with tears. He nodded hard and said: “Dad, do not worry. I will.”

The man wiped his tears away, sighed long, and said: “We owe your sister too much.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s heart suddenly fluttered. She pressed her chest and took several deep breaths until the feeling faded. Sitting up straight, puzzled, she took out coins and cast a divination. The sign was unclear. It only showed that two more karmic lines had attached to her.