"Cousin Qu!" Ji Youran also saw the fence. Her face changed drastically and she looked at Qu Moying suspiciously. This was too much of a coincidence and she didn't feel like she had put in so much effort, but now was not the time to worry about this.
She took a step forward, and Qu Moying took a step back, looking somewhat alert: "My Lady Concubine, please allow me to leave. Yu Dong was frightened, and I'm afraid I can't accompany you for a while."
"Cousin Qu, this is just an accident. Please come with me. I will ask the imperial physician to treat your maid and see if she is injured. This pavilion has been in disrepair for a long time." Ji Youran was not willing to let Qu Moying go like this, so she hurriedly explained gently and looked at Yu Dong a few more times with concern.
This is extremely kind.
"Thank you, Concubine. I'll take Yudong to see it myself!" Qu Moying ignored her explanation. After bowing to Ji Youran, she took Yudong and carefully walked around Ji Youran from the other side. Looking at her alert look, it seemed as if Ji Youran would get angry again if she was not careful.
There were a lot of people watching outside. Ji Youran was angry and hateful, but he couldn't do anything to Qu Moying. He could only watch Qu Moying leave.
After Qu Moying left, the pilgrims looked at Ji Youran, whose face had darkened, and retreated quietly one by one. However, as they retreated, their voices became louder, and they were all talking about what had just happened. Needless to say, this concubine was too domineering.
Fortunately, the person who fell was a maid. If it was a delicate young lady, she would probably not be able to wait for others to pull her up and would have fallen into the water below.
Falling into the water from such a high place, even if she doesn't die, she probably won't recover. That girl has eye disease. She looks so weak with a veil on her eyes. Who knows what will happen to her if she falls down!
This is intentional to take someone's life...
This heart is extremely vicious!
Listening to the voices of the crowd going away, Ji Youran felt hateful and angry. She wanted to stop everyone and scold them, but she also knew that it was not convenient to really stop them at this time. She turned around and looked at the broken part of the fence. She didn't believe that she could throw a maid out with a light slap and break the fence.
Maybe Qu Moying had set it up here long ago.
Thinking of this, Ji Youran naturally had to go up and check. If it was different to cut it off with a sharp weapon or to break it with a bump, she had planned to do the same to Ji Hanyue before. If this Fourth Miss Qu also treated herself in the same way, then she was wrong.
Thinking so in her mind, she felt a little relieved. However, when she saw the broken mark, Ji Youran immediately panicked. It was not the sharp weapon that cut it first, but it was actually broken by a collision. This broken mark was completely different from the previous ones she had someone secretly cut.
His face changed immediately and his whole body went cold. How could this be true
She doesn't believe it!
"Empress Concubine, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince invites you over." A guard hurried over, entered the pavilion and bowed to Ji Youran.
"Your Highness?" Ji Youran widened his eyes, looked at the crack, and repeated the sentence in a stammering voice.
"Yes, please come over now." said the guard.
Ji Youran touched the crack with trembling fingers to confirm it once again.
"Empress Concubine, the prince is still waiting for you, please hurry up." The guard's voice sounded unhurried, but the meaning behind his words made Ji Youran's face turn pale with panic, and her fingers tightly clenched the handkerchief.
"Madam Concubine, please?" The guard took a step back and continued to urge.
Ji Youran took a deep breath, calmed himself, told himself not to panic, pointed at the crack, and said to the guard: "Go up and take a look, was this crack cut by a sharp weapon?"
She couldn't panic. Maybe she just couldn't see through it. Even if she knew something before, she couldn't really see through it. The guards should have a better vision.
"Yes!" The guard stepped forward and took a look before turning back to report, "Madam Concubine, this was not cut by a sharp weapon, it was really broken by a collision. The cracks are irregular and there are some rough spots that cannot be made by a sharp weapon."
"That's impossible!" Ji Youran retorted almost subconsciously.
"Madam Concubine, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still waiting for you!" The guard was not happy to hear that the concubine doubted his ability, but he still obeyed the Crown Prince's order and continued.
"Send someone over to take a look together." Ji Youran was not willing to leave like this now. It would be impossible to defend herself if she went over now. She must let people see from this that Qu Moying was plotting against her.
"My Lady Concubine, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been waiting for you for a long time. If you don't go back, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will probably be angry." The guard became impatient and his voice rose a few notches.
When the prince sent me out just now, his expression was cold and it was obvious that he was angry.
The concubine's previous affairs have just been cleared up, and now new things have come out. It would be strange if the prince was happy. This concubine seemed very smart before, but now she seems a little stupid. She knows that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just wants to accompany the Crown Princess at this moment, but she always finds something to do.
Ji Youran really wanted to stay and check again, but she also knew that she couldn't let the prince wait any longer at this time, so she could only turn around and walk towards the main hall with resentment.
Some people had already guessed her identity and were standing by the roadside watching the fun. Only when she came over did they stop talking and cautiously step aside.
The concubine in the Crown Prince's Mansion is not someone that ordinary passersby can talk about casually, especially since this concubine is so arrogant.
Qu Moying, who had already walked far away, stopped and looked over here, her lips curled up silently. This was what Ji Youran owed her, and now was the time for her to pay it back...
If I had known that Ji Youran had suffered a loss, I would not have given up...
"Did Concubine Ji go to question Fourth Miss Qu?" Pei Luoan's expression was still calm. His eyes fell on Ji Youran and he slowly inserted the incense in his hand into the incense burner.
"Your Highness, I... I just went to ask about what happened, worried that this was a misunderstanding." Ji Youran explained hurriedly. She had already thought of the corresponding words when she came here just now. At this moment, she was not as panicked as before. No matter how wrong Xiao was, she was still her biological mother. It was reasonable for her to want to ask about what happened.
"So you wanted to slap Fourth Miss Qu in the face, and even made the maid who blocked the slap for her almost fall off the high rock?" Pei Luoan looked at her with such a cold gaze that Ji Youran didn't dare to look at her and quickly lowered her head.
"This was an accident. I don't have much power."
"So, it was just that the little maid was careless and hit the fence a little too hard, so she broke it?" Pei Luoan said coldly.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty thinks it should be like this." Ji Youran felt uneasy, but had to continue speaking in this order.
"Should it be like this? I heard that you specially asked someone to check the fence and ask if someone broke it on purpose?" Pei Luoan asked without changing his expression.
"I... I am worried that someone is plotting against the Prince's Mansion and deliberately ruining its reputation. That's why the guards took a few more looks. I always feel that this is not a simple matter. Even if I slap her with all my strength, the maid can't break the fence. Do I have that much strength?"
Ji Youran explained that she still hadn’t figured out the matter and felt more and more that something was wrong.
No matter how you look at it, it's impossible for her to beat up a maid.
"So, do you think this was an accident, or someone deliberately set a trap?" Pei Luoan asked again.
Seeing that he hadn't lost his temper yet, although his expression was not good, at least he was not furious, Ji Youran breathed a sigh of relief and said boldly, "Your Highness, I don't know either. I always feel that this matter is not simple. Your Highness, think about it, who will benefit the most if something like this happens? If your reputation is bad, others will be the ones to benefit."
Ji Youran actually didn’t know how to explain it, so she could only shift the blame to someone else. No matter who the Crown Prince thought of, at least people would think that person was not her.
The prince felt that she was also the victim.
"When something happens, you just want to know who will benefit the most?" Pei Luoan suddenly laughed.
The smile came suddenly, and Ji Youran was frightened and felt inexplicably bad, but now that things had come to this, she had to continue her story. No matter who the Crown Prince suspected, it was better than suspecting himself.
"Your Highness, this is what I think. I wonder what Your Highness thinks." Ji Youran said softly.
"Is Liu Jingyu a possibility?" Pei Luoan asked.
"This... I dare not say." Ji Youran didn't dare to directly push the disaster onto Jingyu County Lord at this time, although she hoped that Pei Luoan would be so suspicious.
"If something happens to you, wouldn't Jingyu County Lord be the one who benefits the most? You should also know that I will marry Jingyu County Lord in the future." Pei Luoan's voice became more and more gentle, and his smile slowly faded, as if he was having a heart-to-heart talk with Ji Youran, "I'm sorry for you. At the beginning, I wanted to marry you wholeheartedly, but it's a pity that the Ling'an Marquis' Mansion is not working. Even if you ascend to the position of Crown Princess, you will not be able to sit firmly."
Ji Youran could no longer stand and knelt down with a plop. She hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I dare not!"
"You don't dare to think so, or you don't dare to do so?" Pei Luoan took Ji Youran's hand and pulled her up.
The pain in her wrist made Ji Youran's face turn even paler. Her whole body trembled involuntarily. She felt a chill rising from the bottom of her heart. The current prince was too abnormal. It seemed that he was not the prince she knew.
This tone, this way of speaking, were all different from what she had imagined.
"Your Highness..." Now she could only cry out mournfully, tears streaming down her face, looking extremely pitiful.
"You just told me that whoever benefits the most from the matter is likely to be the final architect. If County Lord Jingyu is suspected, is it you?" Pei Luoan asked, with a smile still on his face, but his eyes were cold. He raised his hand and pinched Ji Youran's chin, forcing Ji Youran to raise his head and stand on tiptoe with difficulty.
Moreover, a slap came down hard, and the hand on his chin loosened, and Ji Youran staggered and fell to the ground.
"And when you fell into the water, shouldn't I have checked the fence to see if there were any cuts from a sharp weapon?"
With just one sentence, Ji Youran's eyes shrank in shock, and he subconsciously clenched his fist...