Chapter 70 - The First Step

Mo Junyang would never want to explain to Dong Shuang. He took a glance at Dong Shuang and gave an order, “Go and tell Zichao to bring the maidservant here.”

At this moment, Dong Shuang was full of respect for Mo Junyang. Needless to wait for Shi Qingxue’s order, she rushed to execute Mo Junyang’s command at once.

Shi Qingxue gaped out of astonishment. After a while, she said, “I’m seriously wondering whose servant she is now!”

Raising his eyebrows, Mo Junyang blamed her, “If it weren’t for her and Xia Mang feeling something fishy and informed me, today you…”

Thinking that Shi Qingxue could have been bullied by such a scumbag, Mo Junyang’s eyes became cold and chilly at once. He even thought that killing that guy within seconds was way too kind for him.

He should have shaved him into a homunculus!

Still, only the assailant was killed, the one behind the scenes was still alive. He had the luxury of time and energy to play with these people!

Shi Qingxue shrunk her neck, Mo Junyang suddenly appeared kind of scary to her at the present moment. Quickly, she pulled the end of Mo Junyang’s sleeves and whispered, “I didn’t know this would happen, I thought Baoning invited me personally to explain about the archery incident.”

“Explain what?” Mo Junyang kept back his coldness. His eyes turned to Shi Qingxue’s right hand and said, “I have yet to ask you, how did you injure your right hand?”

“Just… I accidentally scratched it,” Shi Qingxue hesitated. She explained it briefly and vaguely.

At that moment, Wei Zichao brought the maidservant who delivered the letter. Their conversation was interrupted.

Shi Qingxue heaved a sigh of relief. Yet, she frowned as soon as she saw the maidservant’s face, “You are Zhu!”

Zhu paused and admitted since she had been recognized, “Yes, Sixth Lady, I’m Zhu.”

“You are Third Lady’s servant, why were you with First Lady?”

Zhu explained with a smile, “The Third Lady injured my sister by accident, so she asked me to stay with the First Lady and serve her until my sister recovers and returns to the First Lady.”

This reason was perfectly logical, there was no mistake at all.

Shi Qingxue trusted Shi Baoning’s personality, but she did not believe Shi Baojin’s flattery servant at all. She yelled in a cold tone, “First Lady has never asked me to meet up under the locust tree, who asked you to set me up by using her name?”

Zhu appeared innocent. She denied, “Sixth Lady, you have accused me wrongly. I’ve been following and serving the First Lady ever since I came to the Peace Temple. I have never left her, how could I use the First Lady’s name to set you up?”

“Huh! You sent the letter to my doorstep, are you still denying it?”

Zhu acted even more innocently, “Letter? I have no idea! Moreover, there were so many people in the Sixth Lady’s courtyard. If they had seen me, they could have pointed me out. If that were the actual case, Third Lady would never go easy on me, without needing Sixth Lady to take action!”

Shi Qingxue knitted her brows tight, she certainly did not have the letter now. Plus, Qiu Lu was the only person who saw Zhu at that time. Otherwise, this brat wouldn’t have been so arrogant.

Seeing that Shi Qingxue stopped talking for quite some time, Zhu thought she had successfully intimidated her. She acted more pompously, “If you have nothing else to order, Sixth Lady, Zhu is heading back. After all, the First Lady needs me to take care of her.”

“Stop right there, have I asked you to stand up?” Mo Junyang shouted apathetically. That stopped Zhu who was about to leave.

Zhu was taken aback, but she calmed down immediately. She asked half-heartedly, “Anything else, Your Excellency?”

Being daring enough to disrespect the most favored lady in the House of Duke Shi, Zhu did not take this prince seriously.

Mo Junyang raised the corner of his lips and smirked in a cold manner, “Do you think you can leave here alive without saying a word?”

Zhu shivered after sensing the killing intention behind those words. After some time, she came back to her senses, “You must be joking, Your Excellency. I did nothing, you cannot blame me as you like!”

Mo Junyang showed a cold expression. He did not even bother to smile. He went straight forward, “If I really want to kill you, do I need to question what you did? I’m wondering, would the House of Duke Shi come after me if I chop you into pieces?”

After hearing that, Zhu’s knees weakened and fell onto the ground. She believed that Shi Qingxue couldn’t do anything to her without evidence. Nevertheless, she forgot that Mo Junyang was around here. He was someone extremely unpredictable.

His cold glaring eyes were clearly warning her that he was not joking just now! In this survival-of-the-fittest world, Mo Junyang could make her die in an ugly way with the slightest effort of his words or acts of anger. Plus, he was about to do that now.

“I, I…”

Mo Junyang leaned against the table and said casually, “If you think that it doesn’t look nice to die in pieces, how about I cut your limbs to become a homunculus?”

This punishment sounded scarier than the previous one. Not only Zhu, Shi Qingxue had a quiver when she heard that too.

She pulled Mo Junyang’s sleeves secretly. Using eye signals, she hinted, “If you keep talking about it, I will lose my sleep tonight too!”

Mo Junyang patted on Shi Qingxue’s hand to console her. Meanwhile, he was merciless towards Zhu, “Have you decided to explain to us?”

Zhu quivered, tears ran down her eyes endlessly. While her body was trembling, it was as if her lips were switched on. She admitted everything in a hurry, “I… All these were according to Third Lady’s order. She asked me to bring Sixth Lady to the locust tree this evening. I have no idea about the rest. I was just following her command, everything was Third Lady’s idea. Your Excellency, please be generous, have mercy on me!”

“Why was it First Lady’s handwriting on the letter?” Although Shi Qingxue seldom saw Shi Baoning’s writing, she could recognize her handwriting.

Zhu did not try to hide, “I had been following First Lady for a very long period, I usually served her closely while she was writing or painting, I purposely practiced to forge her handwriting, so…”

Shi Qingxue got it. On top of that, she was distracted by the news of Mo Junyang’s revival at that time. She did not look at it carefully, so it was reasonable that she had mistaken it.

Yet, out of sudden, Mo Junyang asked, “When did you start serving Shi Baoning?”

Zhu did not know why Mo Junyang wanted an exact time, but she answered honestly, “Last year, 24th of the twelfth month of the lunar month.”

It was only about half a month ago.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing Mo Junyang frown and ponder, Shi Qingxue couldn’t help but ask. She did not understand why Mo Junyang asked as well.

Mo Junyang shook his head and did not elaborate. He asked, “Where is the letter?”

“I burnt it after getting it back from Qiu Lu,” Zhu’s voice softened gradually as she spoke, feeling afraid that she would irritate this terrifying devil if she spoke too loudly.

Mo Junyang stopped questioning. He gave Wei Zichao an eye signal and instructed calmly, “Settle her.”

Zhu did not expect to be “settled” after admitting everything, she was so petrified that she almost lost her souls. She screamed in fear, “Your Excellency, I have told you everything. You cannot be so cruel, I…”

Wei Zichao shut her noisy mouth at once and knocked her out with a hand blow. He bowed at Shi Qingxue in embarrassment, “She’s too noisy, I’ll ‘settle’ her right now!”

Shi Qingxue gaped while seeing Wei Zichao carry the servant away casually. After some time, Shi Qingxue regained alertness and yelled, “Mo Junyang, what are you trying to do?”

Mo Junyang threw another question without answering, “According to Wei Zichao’s information just now, it was Shi Baojin who bribed Li Bie too. This time, there must be someone else who wanted to hurt you.”

Shi Qingxue was alert enough to notice the keyword in Mo Junyang’s statement, her expression changed, “Someone else? You think there is somebody else involved in this incident?”

Mo Junyang did not comment, “What are you going to do against Shi Baojin?”

“About this…” Shi Qingxue paused for a moment, feeling difficult. She was not going to let Shi Baojin go because of sisterly love, but Zhu alone could not be a piece of valid evidence. Furthermore, Zhu was Shi Baoning’s maidservant by name.

“We have lost the only letter, if I confronted Shi Baojin hastily, she would either push all the responsibilities and blames to Baoning, or even more likely, accuse me of defiling her. She wouldn’t admit a single thing.”

Previously, Shi Qingxue would not even hesitate since she was deeply convinced that Mo Shujun favored her the most. Even if she had no evidence at all, Mo Shujun would have trusted her. But now, she did not have such confidence.

Mo Junyang held Shi Qingxue’s left hand and brought her out of her negative emotions. He spoke lightly, “Since you have no idea what to do, leave this matter to me then!”

“Alright!” Shi Qingxue nodded and agreed without a second thought.

Yet, after a while, she asked curiously while blinking, “What are you going to do?”

Mo Junyang showed a cold smirk, “Since she likes to play tricks about fornication, I’m going to let her taste her own medicine.”

“Ah?” Shi Qingxue was startled for a second before she got what Mo Junyang planned to do.

Her tiny face turned pale. Under Mo Junyang’s sharp stare, she ended up saying nothing and nodded, “Okay.”

Mo Junyang loosened his tensed back. He showed his first sincere smile of this entire night, though it was not obvious, “You must have been tired today too, rest well! I’ll send you back to the capital tomorrow.”

Despite saying that, Mo Junyang sat still without the slightest intention to leave.

Shi Qingxue glared and thought to herself, was this guy planning to watch her even while she was sleeping?

She certainly could not fall asleep then!

Before Shi Qingxue could chase him away, Mo Junyang mumbled, “The House of Duke Shi is not safe enough, perhaps I should bring you back to the King Rui’s House.”

Perhaps it was because they had talked it over, or it could be due to the recent dangerous incident, Mo Junyang did not conceal his possessiveness towards Shi Qingxue anymore. He was straight forward and barefaced enough to bring chills and extreme fear to any ordinary man.

Shi Qingxue was not intimidated, but she was not used to it and felt awkward. She shook her head hurriedly and turned down Mo Junyang’s wild offer.

Seeing that he was stubborn and determined, she could only put up with it and said, “Okay, I’ll allow you to stay and rest here tonight, but where are you going to sleep at?”

If Mo Junyang’s answer was to sleep on her bed, she would kill him for sure!