Chapter 45: Severing One's Own Arm

  Cut off one's own arm

  Kobayashi is sitting in his house when disaster falls from the sky.

  Heaven and earth are just, although she wanted to poison Yin Ruofei to death, the soup she sent over was all carefully made. Not to mention poisoning, even if it's a food material that's not fresh and would cause stomach upset after drinking, she didn't dare use it.

  Murdering the eldest son or openly poisoning him is something that only a despicable person would do.

  But Cai Xiu rushed back in a fluster and stuttered out what had happened. When Xiaolin heard it, she was completely stunned on the spot. Could it be that the poison from yesterday had taken effect ahead of time? But how did it just so happen to occur after drinking the sweet soup she had sent over?

  If it wasn't for Cai Xiu reminding her, she would still be in a state of shock and wouldn't have thought to go take a look.

  Even so, she was still a step late and was blocked outside the gate of the mansion. With a determined heart to rush in, but it was the long-following servant of Yin Haicheng who came back with medicine that stopped her, only saying that the young master did not allow anyone to enter.

  Anxiously waiting for Yin Haicheng to come out, a sentence that had been brewing for a long time, "Master Hou" hadn't even left her lips when Yin Haicheng had already stormed off, without even giving her a glance.

  Kobayashi's heart sank, was this what sealed her fate?

  The two of them looked at each other, and suddenly realized that coming here might have made the young master even more suspicious. However, it was too late to return to the pavilion now, and they became flustered.

  Before the two of them could come up with a plan, Yin Haicheng had already assembled his servants and ordered all the maids to gather in the central courtyard.

  Marquis Hou gave the order, whoever dares not to listen. Yin Haicheng was also furious, previously the old lady's matter had already been suspicious, it was unknown where the incense ash came from and mixed into the old lady's food, only heard Mr. Han say that the old lady's affair was coincidental, unfortunately unable to withstand this incense ash, as if poisoned, but if really treated as poisoning, it would not be appropriate, so secretly investigated.

  Unexpectedly, someone has reached out to his son again, and this kind of reckless poisoning is simply daring. Yin Haicheng gritted his teeth in his heart, determined to catch the thief!

  Everyone was gathered together, except for the old lady's Fushou Institute and Yin Ruofei's Jianyuan. Except for Xiaoling's servant's nervousness, everyone else didn't understand what was going on.

  Yin Haicheng sat in the main hall, several young ladies and concubines from various rooms were all summoned out and given seats. They looked around uneasily, unsure what was going on. The boys were led by Jin Yuan to one side, being watched over in a nearby room.

  In charge of the search was Yin Haicheng's trusted aide, who only listened to Master Hou and wouldn't take orders from anyone else, being completely impartial.

  The hall was quiet, and everyone didn't dare to breathe loudly.

  Yin Ruofei's courtyard was at the intersection of the inner and outer courtyards, where she could hear the slightest movement, listening to Zi Yun say that a team of imperial guards were patrolling outside.

  Yin Ruofei closed her eyes and listened to Zi Yun's conversation, thinking about her next move.

  The search of the front yard and several young masters' houses was soon completed, but this is not the key point. Yin Haicheng also knew that such means were mostly used by women, so the search of the back house was the most important thing.

  Borrowed Mrs. Zhang and Mrs. Gu from the old lady, and invited a military doctor who was good at treating poison to the barracks, personally bringing some clever and reliable wives, urging the big girls in each yard to lead the way, and searching one by one.

  "Report to His Lordship, something was found in the Hongyuan." A personal guard presented a small cloth package.

  "What is it?"

  "It's Lei Gong Teng powder." Qian Wei Xue said. "Song Daifu said it has great toxicity, enough to cause death. This medicine can cure illness, but it shouldn't be ground into powder for use."

  "Alright, go ahead." Yin Haicheng waved his hand and put the small package aside, saying nothing more.

  Everyone present heard clearly, and Jiang's family immediately collapsed from the chair, kneeling on the ground crying with a trembling body, "Lord Hou, it's unjust..."

  Although I don't know why they were detained here, with such a commotion, something big must have happened. And at this moment, searching from her courtyard and finding some powder and great poison, it simply scared Jiang's soul out of her body.

  Yin Haicheng didn't say a word, just waved his hand, and several maids beside him quickly helped Jiang up, still sitting in her seat, but shaking all over.

  Not just Jiang, others also started to feel uneasy.

  Back house private matters, who doesn't have some tricks up their sleeve, this search is likely to...

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, one after another, the imperial guards came to report, about the small people tied up with needles, various unclear purposes, even Song Daifu couldn't determine what kind of medicine water and pills they were. What made Yin Haicheng furious was that the medicine water found in Xiao Lin's cabinet was identical to the sweet soup that poisoned Yin Ruofei.

  Mr. Song was the one in charge of identifying poison, so he had naturally been informed beforehand. He had also identified the bowl of soup. Now that the poison had been found, it was only natural that he would personally bring it over.

  "What else do you have to say!" Yin Haicheng's face turned iron-blue with rage as he glared at Xiaoling.

  Kobayashi was almost frightened to death. She is currently the most aware of this matter, in other words, she was originally the real culprit who poisoned Yin Ruofei, but didn't know how it became her poisoning him instead.

  "Master Hou, Master Hou..." Xiaolin was also beyond caring about her dignity at this point and could only cry with tears streaming down her face in front of the other concubines, "How would I dare harm the eldest son, how would I dare...?"

  "So how do you explain it."

  "I don't know, ah." Xiaolin knelt down and crawled to Yin Haicheng's face, hugging his thigh. "Master Hou, Master Hou, this must be someone trying to frame me. If I were to poison him, could I still so brazenly send the soup over?"

  Yin Haicheng was taken aback, and after some thought, he turned his mind around, "That soup was sent by your people, could it be someone else's trick?"

  “……this……” Mrs. Kobayashi was also confused at this time, she didn't finish drinking the soup for fear of something going wrong, but from start to finish someone had been staring at her. Mrs. Kobayashi's heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help but turn around to glance at Ayashiro who was kneeling beside her.

  Cai Xiu shuddered and didn't know why Xiao Lin looked at her with such a cold and gloomy gaze.

  "Get up." Yin Haicheng's face turned even uglier, with his personal guards and Song Dafu by his side, where could Xiao Linshi afford to say more words that would lose the Hou Mansion's face. He hastily ordered someone to send Song Dafu away and closed the large gate to start cleaning up.

  Cai Xiu responded with a sound and quickly helped Lin up, but Lin didn't look at Cai Xiu again. Cai Xiu also lowered her head, not knowing what to think. The once most tacit master and servant had indeed drifted apart.

  "Go down, all of you." Yin Ruofei instructed weakly. Zi Lingzi Yun was a bit worried, but Yin Ruofei insisted, so the two could only withdraw and close the door, thinking that they would come back to take care of their young master after he fell asleep.

  Watching the girls leave, Yin Ruofei's tired face cleared up, looked around and called out softly.

  "If I didn't know you were pretending, I would have thought you were really poisoned." Gong Jiu jumped down from the beam and praised in a low voice.

  "Brother Gong, how is it outside?" Yin Ruofei sighed in his heart. If he had also seen through everything in his previous life and known to pretend, he might not have ended up like this.

  Jiǔ recounted the events, his kung fu was much higher than those of the imperial guards. Even if he was staring at them from a tree or a beam, not even half a person noticed.

  "It's still Gong Da Ge who thought it through." Yin Ruofei didn't expect that Gong Jiu would even help him with the follow-up, throwing that small porcelain bottle into Xiao Lin Shi's house. "However, even so, I'm afraid it won't be enough to bring down Xiao Lin Shi."

  "Yes." Gong Jiu also knew that this move might not necessarily make Yin Haicheng believe it, unless someone came out to correct him.

  But even so, Yin Ruofei was still quite happy. She couldn't kill her, but she had to make her feel sick, see if she dared to stretch out her claws again, and if she did, she would dare to chop them off.

  But things developed beyond Yin Ruofei's expectations.

  It wasn't just the Xiao Lin's residence that was searched and yielded results; apart from Chen Niang and Sun Niang, almost everyone else didn't escape.

  Yin Haicheng's face was no longer just ugly, but Xiao Lin's heart had relaxed, and she bowed her head to Yin Haicheng, "Your Lordship, this concubine did not manage the harem well, allowing this demon to infiltrate, this concubine deserves to die ten thousand times..."

  Others were already nervous, and some really didn't know that their own courtyard was hiding dirt. At this time, they were all made pale by Xiaolin's words, and the handkerchiefs in their hands were tightly clenched. They thought to themselves: after escaping this disaster, they must thoroughly clean up the people around them.

  The poison was found, and Yin Haicheng immediately had people interrogate Liyuan's maidservants one by one. However, the incense ash that poisoned the old lady last time was not found, leaving a feeling of emptiness in his heart.

  The poison affair was originally arranged by Yin Ruofei, and the lower officials naturally couldn't find out anything useful. It's just that since the medicine came from Luyu, Xiaoling would inevitably be blamed.

  All those who produced a mess of things were severely punished, copying scriptures, reciting nun's precepts, and locked in the ancestral hall...

  The servants in the Marquis's mansion were as silent as cicadas in winter. All those who had behaved improperly before were sold out.

  Liyuan's situation is particularly severe, and from top to bottom, everyone's hands were cut off by Yin Haicheng's big knife. Almost all of them were replaced. Meanwhile, Xiaolin cried and complained about her own dereliction of duty, while hinting that someone around her was framing her.

  When Yin Haicheng asked who would harm her, Xiao Lin hesitated for a moment before spitting out Cai Xiu's name.

  Cai Xiu had been standing at the door all along. Upon hearing this, her legs suddenly went weak. "Lord Hou, it's a miscarriage of justice..."

  Jin Yuan stood at the door watching this commotion, Yin Ruofei was also supported by Zi Ling and Zi Yun to arrive at Liyuan, the two brothers pleaded with Yin Haicheng.

  Jin Yuan is sincerely seeking love, while Yin Ruofei is just pretending to be loyal and honest in front of Yin Haicheng, knowing that he can't kill Xiao Linshi.

  Yin Haicheng stared at Lin Shi, "I don't care if you're telling the truth or lying, since this has happened, there's no way to let it go. However, you will still give birth to my children and raise them, and no one can correct this matter, so I'll spare your life."

  Jin Yuan let out a huge sigh of relief. As long as he was alive, nothing else mattered.

  Yin Ruofei lowered her head and pouted, knowing it would be like this all along.

  "How is Feier's body?"

  "Dad, don't worry, it's all right now, thanks to big brother's decisive action."

  "Take care of yourself for a few more days." Yin Haicheng felt very guilty towards his son.

  "Yes, Father can rest assured, it won't affect the reputation of the Marquis's household." Yin Ruofei was referring to the upcoming wedding in a few days. If it were postponed, people might start speculating, and by then, this matter would probably be impossible to hide.

  "Feier has grown up." Yin Haicheng nodded heavily in his heart. He turned his head to look at Xiaolin, "Since you can't even manage the small Lili Garden well, how can you manage this big Hou Mansion? You prepare the account book and hand it over to the new mistress when she arrives!"