Chapter 359
Chapter 359
Chapter 359 – Zhaoyi Tu’S Wrath
“Me?” Wei Yuewu blinked her clear eyes in confusion and pointed at herself, as if she hadn’t come to her senses.
Zhaoyi Tu’s gaze also fell on Wei Yuewu. When she saw Wei Yuewu’s befuddled expression, she turned to Wei Qiufu with a gloomy face.
“Your Grace, I think someone must have set me up on purpose. That’s why there were so many leaves near the patio. It was clearly clean before. If you don’t believe me, please ask my Sixth Younger Sister. I’m sure there are not so many withered branches and leaves at her place!” Wei Qiufu pointed at Wei Yuewu smugly and spoke fluently, thinking that she had found a way out.
“Sixth Younger Sister, tell Her Grace. Is it true?”
Although Wei Qiufu did not often open the back window, she knew that the cleaning maids came every day although it wasn’t as frequent as before. Hence, there wouldn’t be so many leaves there. Right now, she wanted to push the blame on someone else, so she dragged Wei Yuewu into this.
“Sixth Miss Wei, is your patio very clean?” Zhaoyi Tu asked Wei Yuewu with a cold face.
“I-I don’t think so…” Wei Yuewu thought for a moment and shook her head hesitantly. “There weren’t so many leaves before, but since the maids came less often to clean the place, the leaves might have accumulated. Behind our rooms are a few big trees. The leaves will fall, especially now.”
There was a small path behind their rooms, and the two sides of the path were filled with trees that were facing their patios. There were a few trees, which Wei Yuewu didn’t know their species and there were a lot of withered leaves at this moment. The leaves just happened to fall in the patio behind their rooms.
“If Your Grace don’t believe us, you can send someone to have a look.” Wei Yuewu looked confidently at Zhaoyi Tu and affirmed. She was not afraid if Zhaoyi Tu did send people to investigate the matter. Jin Ling had put some leaves in her courtyard after placing branches and leaves in Wei Qiufu’s patio.
This was to prevent Wei Qiufu from pushing the blame on her.
Zhaoyi Tu’s gaze fell on Wei Qiufu’s and Wei Yuewu’s faces. After carefully examining them, she urged the eunuch beside her, “You, go and check!”
The eunuch nodded and left.
The hall suddenly quieted down, and the atmosphere abruptly became heavy. Zhaoyi Tu, who was sitting on the high seat, looked at them with a gloomy face. She ignored them and gave orders to the palace maid beside her.
Not only Wei Qiufu, but Wei Yuewu also did not expect to see such a scene.
Zhaoyi Tu actually attached so much importance to this matter. It was just a small fire in Chu Xiu Palace where some ordinary aristocratic young ladies lived, but Zhaoyi Tu was so worked up about it as if she would not give up until she got to the bottom of it.
Moreover, there was no gentleness whatsoever on her usually gentle face right now.
Needless to say, the person who attached so much importance to these two rooms was none other than Zhaoyi Tu.
However, Wei Yuewu did not know why Zhaoyi Tu attached so much importance to these two identical rooms!
The eunuch came back quite quickly. Not long after, he came in to report. When he stated that there were dried branches and leaves in the patio behind Wei Yuewu’s room, Wei Qiufu’s expression changed slightly.
“Fourth Miss Wei, it was you who did not let the palace maids clean up the patio. In the end, the fallen leaves piled up in your patio and almost caused a big fire. You almost alarmed the Crown Prince. Now, you tried to push the blame on someone else. You are really smart and quick-brained!” Zhaoyi Tu raised her head and her cold eyes fell on Wei Qiufu.
“Your Grace… I-I really don’t know about this!” Seeing that the situation was taking a bad turn, Wei Qiufu hurriedly explained. At this time, all the reasons she could come up with were too unconvincing.
“You don’t know, but why did you take the initiative and ask the palace maids to clean it less frequently? Even if you are selected to enter the Crown Prince Mansion, you are not the person to call the shots in Chu Xiu Palace!” Zhaoyi Tu was very dismayed, reprimanding Wei Qiufu harshly.
Wei Qiufu almost couldn’t respond to such harsh words. Her face turned red and pale in embarrassment.
Indeed, even if she entered the Crown Prince Mansion, or to put it more clearly, even if she was the Crown Princess, she couldn’t interfere in the matters of the imperial harem. Although everyone knew that the Crown Prince was the future Emperor and the Crown Princess was the next Empress, the current Emperor and Empress were still alive. It was not up to the Crown Princess to decide the matters of the imperial harem.
Zhaoyi Tu’s reprimand was harsh, especially to Wei Qiufu since her goal was to enter the Crown Prince Mansion. Those words ruthlessly stabbed her in the chest. She was ashamed and annoyed, but there was nothing she could say.
Looking at Wei Yuewu’s calm face on the side, Wei Qiufu felt more and more ashamed. She bit her lips tightly, but she knew that she could not have any dispute with Zhaoyi Tu at this time.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. I-I didn’t think this through!”
Wei Qiufu had always known that she had to be humble when she was trapped in an inferior situation. This was also why she had been giving in to Wei Yan in the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang all these years.
“Yes, you didn’t think this through, and you almost disturbed Her Majesty. I even heard that you specially asked the Heiress-apparent of Prince Nan’an to arrange for you to stay there. Don’t you know that you are not allowed to pick the rooms in Chu Xiu Palace?” Zhaoyi Tu seemed to be really angry. Even if Wei Qiufu gave in, she still did not let her off the hook.
“Your Grace, my Eldest Sister suggested this matter to me. It has nothing to do with me!” When this matter was brought up, Wei Qiufu hurriedly explained and pointed to Wei Yuewu who was at the side. “Your Grace, my Sixth Younger Sister was also there. You can ask her. It was completely because of my Eldest Sister. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Nothing to do with you? Then why did you say the room you were first assigned was not good and insisted on moving to another room? After moving to another room, you kept complaining too. Fourth Miss Wei, you really are spoiled and pampered. You can’t get used to living in the Palace!” Zhaoyi Tu did not answer Wei Qiufu’s words. Instead, she sneered and rebuked.
Wei Qiufu was extremely bewildered. She fell to her knees with a thump and cried, “Your Grace, I-I didn’t mean that!”
All the most respected women in the country lived in the Palace. How could Wei Qiufu have the courage to look down on the imperial palace? Some might see that Wei Qiufu was spoiled and pampered, but some might say that she looked down on the imperial family. Wei Qiufu couldn’t withstand such a crime.
“Your Grace, that day, it was indeed…” Wei Yuewu raised her head and looked at Zhaoyi Tu.
“Sixth Miss Wei, you don’t have to say anymore. I already know about this matter!” Zhaoyi Tu interrupted Wei Yuewu in an ambiguous manner, not allowing Wei Yuewu to finish her words.
“Yes!” Wei Yuewu lowered her head and stopped talking, her gaze profound and thoughtful.
Zhaoyi Tu’s care for this matter had already exceeded Wei Yuewu’s imagination. It seemed that the significance of these two rooms to Zhaoyi Tu was completely different.
Zhaoyi Tu was aware of the fact that Wei Fengyao had requested them to change their rooms. However, the reason why she wanted to take advantage of it to attack Wei Qiufu was naturally because Wei Qiufu almost destroyed the room she cherished.
What kind of secrets were there in these two rooms that made the always calm and gentle Zhaoyi Tu so worked up? She even did not hesitate to call Wei Qiufu over to question and scold her without mercy.
“Fourth Miss Wei, you stopped the palace maids from cleaning the patio as frequently as they should, which caused the patio to catch fire and almost disturbed the Crown Princess. What do you think Her Majesty will deal with it if I report this to Her Majesty?” Zhaoyi Tu mouthed coldly.
“Please forgive me, Your Grace. I didn’t do it on purpose!” Wei Qiufu panicked and hurriedly kowtowed.
The Crown Prince was dragged into this matter. If the Empress knew about this, with Zhaoyi Tu adding oil to the fire, Wei Qiufu almost felt despair that the Empress would definitely deprive her of the chance of entering the Crown Prince Mansion.
Her many years of planning would finally come to nothing. Wei Qiufu refused to accept this fact. She was so anxious that she continuously kowtowed on the ground. She knocked the cold brick surface against her own fair and tender forehead until it became red and swollen.
“Please, Your Grace, please spare me! Please forgive me!”
“Your Grace, please forgive my Fourth Elder Sister. This happened because she was ignorant!” Wei Yuewu knelt down on the side.
Seeing that the two of them had admitted their guilt, Zhaoyi Tu looked a little relaxed and waved to the palace maids on both sides. Two palace maids came over and carefully helped the two of them up.
“For the sake of Sixth Miss Wei, I will spare you!” Although Zhaoyi Tu’s expression softened, it could still be seen that she was very unhappy.
“T-Thank you, Your Grace!” Wei Qiufu lowered her head and tears fell from her eyes, not expecting Zhaoyi Tu to forgive her so easily.
“Thank you, Your Grace!” On the other side, Wei Yuewu seemed to be much more gracious. After getting up, she also thanked Zhaoyi Tu.
“Fourth Miss Wei, Sixth Miss Wei, the place you live in is one of the best residences in Chu Xiu Palace. You can’t damage anything there, not even a single piece of leaf or tree. Also, it is close to the Crown Prince Mansion. It will be troublesome if something happens and alarms the Crown Prince. Thankfully, it was just a small fire this time. But who knows what will happen in the future?”
Zhaoyi Tu paused and said in a deep voice.
“Yes, Your Grace, I-I will not dare to make decisions on my own in the future!” Wei Qiufu looked as if she had escaped from harsh punishment. At this moment, she agreed to everything Zhaoyi Tu said.
Wei Yuewu, on the other hand, didn’t say a word. She looked down at the shoes under her skirt quietly.
Wei Yuewu was only a bystander from beginning to end, while Wei Qiufu was the defendant. She was very happy to see Zhaoyi Tu teaching Wei Qiufu a lesson.
“You don’t dare to make decisions on your own? Fourth Miss Wei, even if you enter the Crown Prince Mansion in the future, you must not be arrogant and cocky. In the Palace, except Her Majesty, no one else can do whatever they want. Or rather, even Her Majesty can’t do whatever she wants! ” Zhaoyi Tu scolded again.
Then, she turned around and said to the palace maids, who were beside her, “Go and record this matter down. In the report, state that it was because of Fourth Miss Wei’s negligence and provocation that Chu Xiu Palace almost caught fire and almost shocked the Crown Prince.”
Hearing this remark, Wei Qiufu looked at Zhaoyi Tu with a dumbfounded look and trembled in horror!
Record it down? Would this be a permanent record of her misdeed?