Lately, Xiao Wangye has been busy investigating the serial murder case. According to Lin Xiao, he took on the case because the Minister of Personnel, Zhou Tingyu, had helped him when he was young. Now, Zhou Tingyu's beloved daughter has passed away, and he is so grief-stricken that he has fallen ill. Xiao Wangye usually has many official duties to attend to, and now he spends even less time at the Prince's manor. He has handed over all the trivial matters in the manor to Yu Jian.
Yu Jian had been quiet for a while after the last incident. Now that Xiao Wangye is away from the manor all day, and she is in charge of the manor's affairs, how could she miss the opportunity to deal with Ye Qingcheng?
This was the day the manor distributed the monthly silver. Bi Xi discovered that Ye Qingcheng's monthly allowance this month was half of last month's. She immediately went to argue with Yu Jian. "Yu Jian, why has the Princess Consort's monthly allowance decreased this month? Did you calculate it wrong?"
Yu Jian rolled her eyes at her. "No, this is the Princess Consort's monthly allowance for this month."
"On what grounds are you reducing the Princess Consort's allowance?" Bi Xi's face turned red with anger.
"Bi Xi, don't talk nonsense. The Prince has handed over the management of the manor to me. Of course, I have to consider the Prince's interests in everything. The Princess Consort has everything in the manor and doesn't need so much money." Yu Jian said and walked away without looking at her.
When Ye Qingcheng returned from going out, Bi Xi told her about the incident. Ye Qingcheng was also very angry. She hadn't settled the score with Yu Jian for hitting Bi Xi last time, and now she dared to provoke her again.
Ye Qingcheng took Bi Xi to find Yu Jian. When they saw Yu Jian, she was reprimanding a young maidservant. Her arrogant demeanor made it seem as if she were the mistress of the manor.
"Yu Jian, why did you withhold my monthly allowance?" Ye Qingcheng didn't care what she was doing and asked her as she looked at her.
"Princess Consort, you are wrongly accusing this servant. This servant did not withhold your monthly allowance. It's just that the Prince told me to manage the manor's affairs, so I thought of saving some for the Prince and made adjustments to everyone's monthly allowance." Yu Jian did not even bow when she saw Ye Qingcheng, showing that she truly did not take the Princess Consort seriously.
The reason Yu Jian dared to be so bold was that, in her opinion, the Princess Consort was confined to the manor while the Prince entrusted her with managing the manor's affairs. This clearly indicated that the Princess Consort was not favored and the Prince did not trust her. She had thought the Prince might change his attitude towards the Princess Consort after leaving her room that day, but unexpectedly, the Prince remained the same. This made her even more dismissive of Ye Qingcheng.
"Yu Jian, how dare you be so bold as to not bow when you see me?" Ye Qingcheng asked coldly, as she didn't care about the money, but wanted to teach Yu Jian a lesson.
"This servant pays respects to the Princess Consort." Yu Jian finally made a perfunctory gesture.
"You keep saying you are managing the manor's affairs for the Prince, is this how you manage them? Your disrespect for hierarchy has set a terrible example for the subordinates. I'm afraid when the Prince returns, no one in the manor will know how to bow to him." Ye Qingcheng looked at Yu Jian with a half-smile.
"Princess Consort, this servant has been diligently managing the manor's affairs. Why do you wrong me like this? I just paid my respects to you." Hearing this, Yu Jian's face changed slightly. If this were to reach the Prince's ears, it would be disastrous.
"You still dare to say you didn't? Aren't you talking back to me? Bi Xi, according to the manor's rules, how should one be punished for talking back to a superior?" Ye Qingcheng was determined to teach Yu Jian a lesson today and avenge Bi Xi.
"Replying to the Princess Consort, according to the manor's rules, one should be slapped for talking back to a superior." Bi Xi glared at Yu Jian resentfully.
"Bi Xi, Yu Jian dared to talk back to me. Slap her soundly for me."
Bi Xi looked at Ye Qingcheng, unsure of what to do. Although she also hated Yu Jian, she had never hit anyone in her life.
Although Yu Jian had indeed secretly withheld Ye Qingcheng's monthly allowance, Ye Qingcheng was still the Princess Consort, and she could not openly disrespect Ye Qingcheng. Therefore, she knelt down. "Princess Consort, this servant knows her mistake. I beg you to spare me."
"Since you know your mistake, then slap yourself. I have always been kind to others, so I will punish you with twenty slaps. Bi Xi, count for Yu Jian."
"Princess Consort, I beg you to spare me." Yu Jian was truly a little frightened now. No matter how much she looked down on Ye Qingcheng, she was still the Princess Consort. In this manor, if the Princess Consort wanted to punish a servant, there was nothing she could do.
"Are you still not going to do it? Do you not take me, the Princess Consort, seriously?"
Finally, Ye Qingcheng watched Yu Jian slap herself twenty times before leaving with Bi Xi.
When Bi Xi returned to the courtyard, she smiled and said to Ye Qingcheng, "Princess Consort, watching Yu Jian slap herself twenty times was truly satisfying."
Then she looked at the monthly allowance and sighed. "Princess Consort, I'll give you this month's monthly allowance."
Ye Qingcheng was touched when she heard her say that. Bi Xi didn't have much herself, but she still wanted to give it to her.
"Don't worry, lack of money won't stop me. I will earn money with you."
Later, when Xiao Wangye returned to the manor, Lin Xiao told him what happened today. Xiao Wangye listened and said nothing. He simply disliked dealing with such trivial matters, which was why he handed them over to Yu Jian. As for Ye Qingcheng, he only wanted her to heal her leg. He didn't want to bother with her other affairs. The incident with the cook last time happened when Xiao Wangye was in a bad mood, and it was only then that he let Lin Xiao handle it; it wasn't that he wanted to stand up for Ye Qingcheng.
One day, Ye Qingcheng was chatting with Lin Xiao again, actually wanting him to tell her some gossip. Lin Xiao did not stay in the manor to monitor her at all times; he sometimes went out to handle business for Xiao Wangye.
"Lin Xiao, about the case you mentioned that the Prince is investigating, have they caught the killer?" Ye Qingcheng asked Lin Xiao to prepare a plate of melon seeds for her, planning to listen to stories while eating them.
"Replying to the Princess Consort, the killer has not been caught yet, and there are no clues about the killer at the moment."
"How did the killer commit the crime? Can you tell me about it?"
"Princess Consort, the earliest murder occurred in the west of the city. The victim was the daughter of a fisherman. She had gone out to buy some fish and shrimp for her father that day and then went home. In the afternoon, when the fisherman returned home, he found that his daughter had not returned, so he asked for help to find her. Finally, her body was found in a small grove."
"How did the killer kill the victim?" Ye Qingcheng asked urgently when she saw Lin Xiao pause, as she was listening with great interest.
"First, the victim was drugged with a迷药 and then strangled with a red thread. After that, the killer cut off the victim's right hand. The killer also wrote the character '秀' on the victim's face."
"Was the victim violated before her death?" Ye Qingcheng asked Lin Xiao. She asked this because, according to Lin Xiao, all the victims were women.