Chapter 157: Chapter 81: Framing Him_3
Watching as even Bai Shouyi looked at her with increasing suspicion, Xia Rongrong felt both anger and urgency, as well as an extreme sense of injustice.
Her intuition told her that the person before her, Lu Tong, must have killed someone. This seemingly cold and fragile female doctor displayed a kind of cold indifference when alone in the dead of night, just like the night she poisoned that innocent rabbit—
Rabbit!
Xia Rongrong’s expression shook, ignoring everyone present, she urgently shouted, "I am not lying, it’s you who’s lying, you are not any kind of lifesaving doctor at all. I saw with my own eyes, you poisoned a rabbit, I remember it so clearly, that little rabbit had a ring of black fur around its eyes, so cute and lively, but you fed it poison in the kitchen—"
"Rabbit?"
Lu Tong looked at her puzzled, then quietly walked over to a corner of the courtyard.
There was a large bamboo basket in the corner, crammed with a pile of furballs. Lu Tong glanced at them, then reached in and lifted one up, holding it in her arms.
"Is it this one?"
Xia Rongrong was startled.
The rabbit had black fur around its eyes and lay docile and obedient in her arms. A swath of autumn light passed over the old wall—Shengjing’s chill was ten thousand li deep. The woman stood in the flickering lamp light, the autumn breeze lifting the hem of her plain silk dress, fragrant osmanthus in her hair like the moon in a snowy mountain lake, the cold lake’s moon, or the fairy in the moon.
She spoke calmly, smiling.
"Miss Xia, what nonsense are you talking about? Isn’t this rabbit just fine right here?"
Xia Rongrong’s face revealed shock, and she couldn’t help but take two steps back.
How could this be?
How could this be possible?
She clearly saw with her own eyes the rabbit bleeding from its seven orifices, dead. How could it possibly reappear here unscathed?
Yet Xia Rongrong saw clearly, this was indeed that rabbit. After Du Changqing brought the rabbit back, it was her and Xiang Cao who fed it. This black-eyed rabbit was the most interesting, and she liked it a lot, often holding and playing with it.
But after that night in the kitchen when she encountered Lu Tong poisoning the rabbit, Xia Rongrong, afraid, let Xiang Cao do the feeding.
She looked toward Xiang Cao, whose face was also a blank, clearly unaware of when this rabbit had appeared.
When had she put it in there?
Xia Rongrong looked up at Lu Tong, a chill seeping into her bones in an instant.
Had Lu Tong bought a rabbit that looked exactly the same? When had she started preparing this, could everything in the medical hall tonight have been within her control?
Shen Fengying had grown tired of this back-and-forth power play. Recognizing that nothing meaningful was likely to come from the night’s investigation, he felt both bored and embarrassed, which also led to irritation toward the informer Bai Shouyi.
Suppressing his dissatisfaction with Bai Shouyi, he walked over to Pei Yunmeng with some embarrassment.
"It seems that tonight was indeed a misunderstanding, it’s my fault for rashly conducting a search without fully investigating and delaying Lord Pei in his special trip to the medical hall to deliver orders, I truly feel ashamed..."
Pei Yunmeng smiled unconcernedly.
"No delay, there were no issues at the Palace Front Office tonight. Thanks to Lord Shen’s good fortune, tonight’s twists have indeed relieved some boredom. Besides, it’s not like it was entirely fruitless." He glanced at the woman standing in the courtyard, now hidden again within the shadows beneath the eaves, her emotions inscrutable.
Shen Fengying breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Marshal Pei wasn’t angry.
Yin Zheng smiled and came forward saying, "It is our fault for causing this series of misunderstandings. The lords are just being cautious and responsible for our safety; we apologize for the trouble. Here, please accept this." She slipped a purse into the hands of one of the Pawn Shop Soldiers, "It’s late, the tea shops on West Street are closed, take this and have some tea in the south of the city, consider it our token of gratitude."
Shen Fengying’s eyes lit up, unable to help but take another look at Yin Zheng, impressed that the maidservants in this medical hall were so understanding.
He gestured to his men, "Let’s go back." Just as they were about to leave, another Pawn Shop Soldier rushed in hurriedly from outside.
"Lord... Lord..."
"What now?"
"A body of an unidentified man has been found at the foot of Mount Wangchun."
"Eh?" Shen Fengying stopped in his tracks.
Truly strange happenings tonight. On a regular day, there would be nothing of note, with the barracks full of lazy rascals. But tonight, it had been peculiarly busy—had they all suddenly woken up, deciding to work diligently and show off?
He asked, "When did he die? Has the coroner seen it?"
"They’re on their way to Mount Wangchun now. The brothers who went sent back word; the man seemed to have stabbed his own throat with a stone, looking like suicide, but..."
"Spit it out, what else?"
The Pawn Shop Soldier glanced at Pei Yunmeng and hesitated.
Pei Yunmeng gave him a sidelong look, "What is it?"
The Pawn Shop Soldier gritted his teeth, "But on the body of the unidentified man, a purse was found, embroidered with the name of Duan Xiaoyan from the Imperial Guards."
The Imperial Guards?
Shen Fengying jumped, now what was this tied to the Imperial Guards?
"Ah," exclaimed a woman from behind, "it’s someone from the Imperial Guards?"
Pei Yunmeng’s smile faded quickly, and he looked coldly towards her.
Lu Tong stepped forward a few paces, past the dim light under the eaves, revealing her harmlessly beautiful visage.
"No wonder Marshal Pei was in such a hurry to take someone from the medical hall."
Moonlight fell on her, illuminating her face pale as snow. She looked up at him, her tone clearly surprised, but the smile on her lips was mocking and provoking.
"It turns out..."
"It’s a case of the thief crying ’stop the thief.’"