Chapter 13：The Instigator

"I have no enmity with you. You tried to drug me, so I had to run away. Since you were trying to harm me, why shouldn't I knock you out to save my own life? Besides, although I knocked you out, I was worried that the ground was cold, so I carried you to the bed. Who knew that a drunkard would come in?" Pan Yueqing casually waved her hand and looked at Qi Simeng and Yao Zhen, the Earl of Pingnan, with an innocent expression. "I'm not a frequent visitor to the Pingnan Bo's Mansion. How would I know what each room is used for..."

"It must be you who lured Young Master Liu here!" Changcao said in a panic.

"I didn't even know that Young Master Liu was coming today. Moreover, when you were having an affair here, His Highness the First Prince, Miss Li, and I were in the Old Madam's courtyard, listening to His Highness tell interesting stories about the battlefield." Pan Yueqing gave Changcao a disdainful look. As she raised her hand, the double bracelets on her moon - like wrist jingled. "You have no evidence that I harmed you, but I have evidence that you drugged me."

"I'd like to ask you, you said the Old Madam wanted to see me, but why did you take me to this secluded place and drug me?" Pan Yueqing's smile faded. Her slender fingers on her left hand were holding a teacup. Before anyone could react, she placed the teacup in front of Pan Yingqian's cat.

Driven by its instinctive curiosity, the cat licked the remaining liquid in the teacup. In just three breaths, the cat closed its eyes as if it were dozing off. Except for the rising and falling of its belly indicating that it was still alive, it didn't respond at all no matter how they tried to rouse it.

Seeing this, everyone was convinced that what Pan Yueqing said was true. Jiang Liu pointed at Changcao angrily and scolded, "You'd better explain why you drugged her first!" Immediately, everyone started talking. Pan Yingqian, who had originally wanted to embarrass Pan Yueqing, felt so ashamed that she couldn't lift her head.

Pan Yueqing met Pan Yingqian's eyes, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Big sister, look, the drug in this teacup is so powerful that it can knock out an ox. If I hadn't learned a little bit of medical knowledge from a rural doctor while I was recuperating, I'm afraid I would have been as muddled as this cat."

Pan Yingqian kicked Changcao fiercely. "You lowly servant! You brought trouble on yourself and竟敢slander my sister!"

"Big sister, don't be like this," Pan Yueqing said, though she didn't really stop her. She watched as Pan Yingqian actually kicked Changcao several times before reaching out to stop Pan Yingqian's hand. She pulled Pan Yingqian two steps away as if trying to mediate, then turned her gaze to Liu Yang, who had been silent all this time, and smiled. "Perhaps Young Master Liu has been deeply in love with this sister for a long time. We shouldn't deny their feelings just because this is a shameful matter."

"Pan Yueqing, don't talk nonsense!" Liu Yang couldn't stand it anymore. He raised his eyes, his face red with anger, and pointed at Pan Yueqing. "As a young lady, how can you be so unruly as to say such things! How could I, a proper scholar, have an affair with a maid?"

"Then did you seduce Young Master Liu?" Pan Yueqing wasn't annoyed by Liu Yang's words. Instead, she tilted her head and said to Changcao, who had received several hard kicks from Pan Yingqian.

Upon hearing this, Changcao didn't care about anything anymore. She crawled a few steps to Pan Yingqian's feet, hugged her legs, and pointed at Pan Yueqing with a crazy expression. "Madam, I really have no feelings for Young Master Liu, and I don't dare to have any... I was truly knocked unconscious, and when I woke up, Young Master Liu was already... already on top of me." She lowered her voice as she said this shamefully, and then raised her voice again, pointing at Pan Yueqing with a crazy look.

"There's something wrong with what you said. Let's assume that I knocked this maid out. But what would be the benefit for me? There are so many maids in the Pingnan Bo's Mansion. Why would I specifically knock out someone I don't even know?" Pan Yueqing stood upright, the smile on her lips looking confident and composed, without the slightest sign of backing down. "Everyone here knows that I, Yueqing, am the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Except for attending banquets, I usually stay at home. Even if I really had a feud with this maid, as the sister of Madam Pingnan, do I really need to use such a despicable method to punish a servant?"

"She was trying to harm me and even called the servants. Fortunately, I met His Highness the First Prince when I was calling for help. Otherwise, I might have been wrongly accused today!" Pan Yueqing said as she met Pan Yingqian's gaze, her smile filled with mockery.

"I can testify to this," Qi Simeng said, his hands behind his back as he looked around at the men and women in the courtyard. His expression was serious. "I heard Miss Pan's cry for help and rushed there with Miss Li. At that time, there were indeed servants chasing Miss Pan. So after I knocked those servants out, I tied them up in the stable. I originally planned to tell Brother Yao after the tea party was over, but I didn't expect there to be so much commotion."

As soon as Qi Simeng finished speaking, Li Shuran saw from a distance that four servants were carrying a palanquin, accompanied by a group of thirteen or fourteen maids. The leading maid cleared her throat and announced in the courtyard, "The Old Madam is here."

An old woman wearing a forehead ornament with a pattern of a grey squirrel and longevity symbols stepped down from the palanquin. She was smiling, and it was the Old Madam Yao of the Pingnan Bo's Mansion. Her maid Zaoyun clapped her hands and signaled to bring the people forward. Several servants knelt on the ground, trembling, with bruised faces and not daring to say a word.

"Mother." Pan Yingqian stepped forward to greet Madam Zhou and reached out to support her mother - in - law. But unexpectedly, Old Madam Yao avoided her hand and instead looked at Pan Yueqing kindly and smiled. "Did the maid in my courtyard pretend to be me and invite you to harm you?"

Pan Yueqing's smile remained. She knew that Old Madam Yao was going to take this opportunity to regain the power of managing the household. She smiled and said, "I trust you, Madam."

Old Madam Yao nodded in satisfaction. She glanced at Yao Zhen standing beside her, then glared at Pan Yingqian and shook her head. "I'm really sorry to have made you young people laugh. I haven't managed the backyard for a long time, and there are always some maids who hope to take power. Please go to the drawing room and take a rest for a while. After I deal with this ignorant maid, I'll invite you to have some tea."

The chief maid Zaoyun then began to ask everyone except Pan Yingqian and her husband, Pan Yueqing, Li Shuran, and Qi Simeng to leave.

"Changcao, you're blatantly slandering the Old Madam. Aren't you afraid of retribution?!" Zaoyun stepped forward and grabbed Changcao's chin, squeezing it so hard that her bones creaked. Her anger was directed straight at Changcao. "The Old Madam has been kind to you!"

Before Changcao could react, Zaoyun dislocated her chin first. Then she looked coldly at Liu Yang, who was trembling and couldn't say a word, and bowed to Old Madam Yao. "Madam, this lowly servant is both unfaithful and immoral. In my opinion, just for the crime of immorality, she deserves to be beaten to death!"

"No, she doesn't deserve to die." Pan Yueqing suddenly spoke up, successfully drawing everyone's attention in the room to herself. She shook her head. "The person who sent her is the real culprit."