Bai Li’s Dream – Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Wrapping Up

After leaving the Duke of Ding’an’s Residence, Zhou Jingyun went to see Wei Shouqian, the head of the Imperial Academy, to ask him to convey his request for an audience with the Emperor.

Although it had just happened, the news of Zhang Ze stopping Zhou Jingyun on the Imperial Street had already spread.

Stroking his long beard, Wei Shouqian frowned. “Why is he targeting you again?” Then he reassured Zhou Jingyun, “Just tell His Majesty everything tomorrow. That petty Zhang Ze is best at shifting his allegiance based on who’s in power.”

Zhou Jingyun expressed his gratitude and declined invitations from other officials for banquets to welcome him back and wash away the dust of his journey. Everyone knew he had something on his mind and didn’t press him further, offering a few words of comfort as they watched him leave.

After making these rounds, Zhou Jingyun arrived home at dusk.

The Marquis of Dongyang, who had been on an outing to the mountains, had also returned and was waiting for him.

“What exactly happened?” the Marquis of Dongyang asked urgently.

Zhang Ze’s official document was concise, but to Zhou Jingyun, the person involved, it was clear at a glance. He sat down and glanced at the Marchioness of Dongyang.

“Xueliu stole a silk flower from Zhuang’s room, mistaking it for the Palace Flower given to Zhuang by Aunt. She deliberately damaged it. The Madam of Ding’an has a distant relative in the palace, Qin Sibin, who brought Xueliu before the Empress and accused Zhuang of being disrespectful and outrageous.”

In just a few words, both the Marchioness of Dongyang and the Marquis were stunned.

“Xueliu, she!”

“The Madam of Ding’an, she!”

The Marchioness of Dongyang stood up, a thousand words on her lips. Her face flushed red, then white, then red again. Finally, she slammed her hand on the table.

“How could they do this to me!” she cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. She patted her chest. “Where have I wronged them!”

The Marquis was even more furious, pacing back and forth. “I’ll sue them! I’ll sue them! The Duke of Ding’an’s family has harmed me so much!”

Zhou Jingyun didn’t try to comfort his parents. He simply continued, “After the silk flower was taken from our house, the palace also verified that the one Xueliu had was fake. The Empress was furious and ordered Zhang Ze to investigate. Xueliu committed suicide out of fear of punishment. I intercepted the case from Zhang Ze, so this matter ends as a case of an evil servant bullying her master.”

The Marquis of Dongyang sneered. “Why should it end there! I’m still going to sue them! The Duke of Ding’an’s family is going too far!”

Hearing the word “sue,” the Marchioness of Dongyang recalled how not long ago, Zhuang, standing in the hall, had also said she wanted to sue.

Yes, it was truly going too far. Back then, the Madam of Ding’an wanted to pin the crime of demonic possession on their family, they should have sued!

If they had sued then, they wouldn’t have let them push their luck, framing them again and again!

Tears streamed down the Marchioness of Dongyang’s face.

“If this matter blows up, it won’t look good for us either,” Zhou Jingyun said. “I’ve warned the Duke of Ding’an, telling them to stay away from us in the future. Now it’s closed as a case of an evil servant bullying her master, but we can always investigate the other master behind the evil servant.”

The Marquis of Dongyang sat down and slammed his hand on the table in frustration. “That old man got off easy!”

Zhou Jingyun stood up. “I’m going to see Zhuang. She must be frightened and uneasy.” He paused. “I know, Xueliu and the Duke of Ding’an’s family were targeting her. I’m the one who brought her into this house. She’s been subjected to resentment and framed, how innocent she is.”

He bowed deeply to the Marquis and Marchioness.

“She’s an orphan. Because of my request, she entered our home. I hope my parents will show her more tolerance and compassion.”

“Of course, I will treat her well,” the Marquis of Dongyang said.

The Marchioness of Dongyang remained silent, staring blankly.

Zhou Jingyun didn’t linger any longer and walked out. Just as he stepped out, he heard the Marquis of Dongyang losing his temper inside.

“It’s all your fault, nitpicking and finding fault, treating the people from the Duke of Ding’an’s family as relatives! Look at the kind of people you usually favor! Do they respect you? They’re after Jingyun! Once they can’t be relatives, they immediately become enemies, a pack of ungrateful wolves!”

Along with the scolding, the Marchioness of Dongyang’s muffled sobs could also be heard.

Zhou Jingyun quickened his pace and left. Standing outside the courtyard gate, he chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I guess I’m an ungrateful wolf too.”

He had deceived his parents, putting them in danger without their knowledge, yet he still wanted his mother to feel guilty and blame herself.

The young servant Feng’er was squatting in a corner, catching crickets. Seeing Zhou Jingyun come out, he hurriedly threw down the twig and walked over. Hearing these words, he asked in confusion, “Why is the Marquis’s Heir an ungrateful wolf?”

Zhou Jingyun smiled but didn’t answer, only saying, “Let’s go back.”

Feng’er dropped the question, his face beaming with a smile. “Sister Chunxiang has been watching here for a long time. I’ll signal her first.”

With that, he whistled.

Zhou Jingyun faintly heard the sound of hurried footsteps running away in the distance. He couldn’t help but chuckle. The maids around her were quite interesting.

But then he thought, this maid belonged to the Marquis of Dongyang’s Residence.

He could only say that after she arrived, the maids had all become different.

Zhou Jingyun silently led Feng’er back to the Marquis’s Heir’s courtyard. As soon as they saw the lights at the entrance, two little maids ran in, whispering, “He’s here, he’s here.” Then there was a flurry of footsteps in the courtyard. When he stepped inside, the maids were standing in the corridor, all bowing in unison.

The lanterns in the corridor were bright, and the lights inside were dazzling. Zhuang Li, surrounded by the maids, smiled gently.

“The Marquis’s Heir has returned,” she said.

Zhou Jingyun lowered his gaze, hummed in acknowledgment, and stepped onto the platform. The maids lifted the curtain, and the two walked in, one after the other.

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After a simple wash and change of clothes, and dismissing the maids, Zhou Jingyun and Zhuang Li sat at the desk, eating dinner while discussing the day’s events.

“Xueliu died on the spot. It should have been the palace people silencing her. Zhang Ze is a clever man. He saw at a glance that this was a private matter between the Duke of Ding’an’s family and us, so he did us a favor by stopping the case in my hands.”

“I’ve been to the Duke of Ding’an’s Residence and made it clear to them. They won’t dare to provoke us again, and I’ve asked them to leave the capital.”

“Even if I didn’t drive them away, they wouldn’t be able to stay in the capital. They’d have to avoid Zhang Ze and Qin Sibin in the palace.”

“As for my father and mother, I only mentioned that Xueliu deliberately made false accusations. They will feel apologetic towards you, and you’ll have less trouble in the future.”

Zhou Jingyun recounted his busy half-day.

Hearing this, Zhuang Li bowed in gratitude. “Thank you for your hard work, Marquis’s Heir.”

Zhou Jingyun smiled. “It was just running errands, not hard work.”

The palace had indeed confirmed that the silk flower Xueliu had taken was fake, confirming what she had said earlier about making the silk flower herself.

So this whole thing was a false alarm, and only the Duke of Ding’an’s family had brought trouble upon themselves.

No wonder she was so calm.

“The palace confirmed that the silk flower Xueliu had was fake?” Zhuang Li asked.

She seemed curious.

What was she curious about? Didn’t she already know it was fake? Did she think she could pass it off as real? Zhou Jingyun said, “They said it was identified by the person who made the flower. I guess there are some aspects that are difficult to imitate.”

Zhuang Li hummed in acknowledgment and smiled. “Then Xueliu was really unlucky.”

She had been tricked by more than just one person.

But it didn’t matter whether they were playing with the real or the fake, as long as her goal was achieved.

Perhaps seeing her lost in thought, Zhou Jingyun asked, “How are you doing at home?”

Was she feeling anxious or uneasy?

“I’m alright,” Zhuang Li said, smiling at him. “I wrote half a page of calligraphy.”

Was she so happy just because she wrote half a page of calligraphy?

Her eyes were full of smiles, showing that she was really happy.

She could actually write half a page of calligraphy while everyone else was anxious and uneasy.

He still felt that perhaps she had deliberately made a fake of the Empress’s silk flower, deliberately let Xueliu take it, and then…

Zhou Jingyun looked at the woman sitting opposite him. Under the lamplight, her skin was even fairer, not the frightened paleness of the Marchioness of Dongyang, but a translucent and elegant beauty like a magnolia flower.

Seeing him looking over, Zhuang Li smiled again and asked, “What do you want to ask me, Marquis’s Heir?”

Forget it, he had already asked before, and she said she didn’t do it on purpose. Asking again would make him seem like he didn’t trust her.

Besides, even if she did it on purpose, so what? Could someone not fight back after being wronged?

It’s just that she was a little bolder.

Well, if she wasn’t bold, she probably wouldn’t have dared to come back to the capital with him. Zhou Jingyun pursed his lips, smiled, and asked, “What have you been learning from Madam? Did she teach you the craft of drying and scenting flowers?”

He changed the subject.

Zhuang Li immediately replied, “Reading, writing, meditation, calming the mind, nourishing the body, incense making, stargazing, playing music…”

Zhou Jingyun couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, Master had jokingly said that Madam Zhuang was a jack of all trades, and she really was.

“But for drying and scenting flowers, I learned half from Madam, and the other half was passed down from my mother’s family.”

Mother? Wasn’t her mother… when she was born…

Zhuang Li said with a smile, “I didn’t get to learn it directly from my mother, but my second sister had already learned it at that time. Although she didn’t teach me, I learned by secretly watching her.”

One didn’t get to learn directly from their mother, the other learned by secretly watching, neither were pleasant memories.

Zhou Jingyun regretted a little that he had changed to an inappropriate topic.

To be continued