Chapter 259 - The Truth (1)

Not hurried at all, Jian Xubai said in a calm and composed manner, “Aunt, since you want to make it clear, how can the juniors not listen to you?”

“What you said just implies that I instigated Madam Tu and Madam Liang to scheme against Jiang Muting with the internal strife of Marquis Boling’s mansion!” Daiguo Grand Princess kept sneering. “Then tell us why I dragged my nephew into this? There are only Mingfei and Zifu for the young generation of the Ji Family. After all, I’ve watched him grow up. Even if he is a bit badly reputed, why would I add fuel to the fire?”

Speaking of this, she glanced at Jiang Yin and the others with disdain, “The Jiang Family doesn’t want Mingfei to marry their daughter. How can I expect my birth daughter to look unhappy every time she comes back?”

What she said did make sense somehow. Although Princess Consort of Wei took away the position that was not for her at that time, her love rival suddenly became her cousin’s wife. Even if Daiguo Grand Princess asked Ji Mingfei and Jiang Muting to move out after getting married, they were relatives anyway. How could they not meet at every festival and the Spring Festival?

At that time, Princess Consort of Wei would feel uncomfortable anyway.

Fiddling with her nails that were newly dyed with the juice of balsam flowers, the Grand Princess sneered, “If it was done by me, why didn’t I choose a young man who was well-matched with Jiang Muting in terms of family background, talent and appearance? In that case, I wouldn’t need to bother my own family. Besides, at that time, it would be good enough that the Jiang Family would be willing to settle it behind doors if they found the young man okay; even if they insisted on seeking justice for their daughter, I could still pass the buck, right?”

“Aunt, what you said sounds reasonable,” Jian Xubai, still unhurried, said with his hands placed in his sleeves, “But it has been some time since Xuepei went back. He should have brought the people here. Why don’t we make the judgment after he comes?”

Hearing that, all the people present including Song Yixiao were startled!

Jiang Yin said in amazement, “Marquis Boling left just now only to investigate what happened today?”

The other people in the Jiang Family also had different looks. Actually, when they heard Daiguo Grand Princess mention stopping Yuan Xuepei and he still insisted on leaving on the excuse of his leg disability, they were quite disgruntled.

After all, the Jiang Family didn’t agree with Jiang Muting about marrying Yuan Xuepei, but Jiang Muting was clearly in deep love with Marquis Boling. She even confessed to him regardless of her face. Yuan Xuepei knew that but he still left while Jiang Muting fell into a trap. Of course, her family would feel angry!

Now that they heard that he left with an excuse simply to help Jiang Muting, the Jiang Family didn’t only feel surprised but also less disgruntled.

“I must see what evidence he can bring!” Daiguo Grand Princess snorted and tacitly agreed to wait for a while.

Unexpectedly, Jian Xubai responded, “Aunt, come on. If you were not confident that Xuepei could bring the evidence, how could you easily let him leave? After all, Miss Jiang was coaxed into leaving the banquet in the name of Xuepei, which caused trouble for her. Although we all know that if Xuepei wants to hurt Miss Jiang, he doesn’t need to do it at your birthday banquet. He can do it on ordinary occasions. However, even my wife was detained here to testify, let alone him.”

When Daiguo Grand Princess heard that, there was a sullen glint flashing across her arrogant face. She hedged and said coldly, “Even I have heard that Jiang Muting has feelings for Yuan Xuepei, which is also known to some people in Cuihua Mountain. Just as you said just now, Jiang Muting was missing in the middle of the banquet, which was quite attention-getting! If I forced Marquis Boling to stay, how could outsiders not make groundless accusations and ruin the reputation of the Jiang Family?”

She hummed, “In consideration of the Jiang Family’s reputation, I intended to ask Marquis Boling to confront secretly later. What’s wrong with that?”

“I was not thoughtful enough,” Jian Xubai smiled and somehow readily admitted his mistake. “Please forgive me for mistakenly blaming you!”

However, Daiguo Grand Princess was not happy to hear him admit his mistake, because what Jian Xubai said didn’t need to be testified. He said so mainly to arouse the Jiang Family’s suspicion.

The Jiang Family didn’t trust Daiguo Grand Princess very much, so even if Jian Xubai admitted blaming his aunt mistakenly, some of the Jiang Family must believe his suspicion.

It was conceivable that this kind of grudge would definitely not be a good thing for the Grand Princess.

If others framed her like this, Daiguo Grand Princess would certainly never let go. However, Jinguo Grand Princess was famous for spoiling her children, especially her youngest son, Jian Xubai. If Daiguo Grand Princess wanted to fall out with her sister, she couldn’t set against him with a good cause.

Therefore, as Jian Xubai apologized now, she couldn’t fly into a temper. She could only clench her cuffs with a purple face!

After a while, as expected, a servant came from outside, saying that Marquis Boling had returned with two people.

Of course, the three of them were all summoned into the warm chamber.

Yuan Xuepei led the two persons inside and curtsied. Then he just cut to the chase, “I heard that someone took my name to coax Miss Jiang into leaving the banquet today, about which I feel quite confused. Miss Jiang is a beautiful and intelligent lady. How could she be easily coaxed by a random message?”

“How stupid I was before!” Song Yixiao was embarrassed to hear that. Then she hastened to drink some tea to conceal her emotion and pondered, “No matter how muddle-headed Muting is, she knows clearly that Aunt Daiguo is not on good terms with Yuan Xuepei. How could it be that easy to coax her away in the name of Yuan Xuepei?”

Especially she saw with her own eyes that Jiang Muting said goodbye to Yuan Xuepei on the rockery. Given Yuan Xuepei’s distant attitude, how could it be possible that he suddenly sent someone to ask Jiang Muting out?

But since Jiang Muting was not stupid enough to follow along when she heard that the maid was sent by her sweetheart, what kind of excuse made her leave her own maid behind and then go alone?

Then Yuan Xuepei said in a composed tone, “Afterwards, I thought of that due to the appointment with Prince of Wei, Miss Jiang and I met on the rockery. Is it related to the fact that Miss Jiang was framed later?”

“I wonder how they are related?” Song Yixiao couldn’t help but ask when hearing this.

“Madam Song, you were there too. Do you remember it?” Yuan Xuepei glanced at her and said, “You went out to sober up and then accidentally got there. Prince of Wei and I were talking behind the rockery and Miss Jiang was up there.”

He paused and said, “But did you ever think of why Miss Jiang was up there alone?”

Song Yixiao was stunned and thought, “I did think of it! Yet, I made the mistake of putting myself in her position. I went there to appreciate the scenery, so when I saw her up there, I just naturally believed she went there for the same reason.”

Now that Yuan Xuepei asked this question, Jiang Muting certainly did not appear on the rockery for watching the scenery. After being reminded of that, Song Yixiao also figured out why easily–Jiang Muting stood at a high position probably in order to find her sweetheart more easily.

The person she looked for was of course Yuan Xuepei.

Yuan Xuepei admitted it frankly, “It should be in order to look for me that she got onto the rockery and looked afar. Meanwhile, I was brought to the rockery by Prince of Wei. Afterwards, Madam Song appeared in front of the rockery. Putting aside the ins and outs, among the four of us, Prince of Wei was the first one who had left, followed by me. In the end, Madam Song and Miss Jiang left together.”

“You mean, later on, someone told Muting that you had something to tell her but you couldn’t voice it out just because I was there?” Song Yixiao pondered and then said. “But even if Muting could be deceived with that saying, she could be made to stand outside the door at most. It shouldn’t be that easy to coax her into getting into the room where Cousin Mingfei rested.”

After all, for today’s birthday banquet, male guests and female guests were seated separately. The male guests’ seats were arranged in the front hall. Hence, the restrooms for them must be set near the banquet so that they could tidy themselves up and then return to the banquet quickly. Even if Jiang Muting was unfamiliar with the mansion, how could she not have doubts on the way after walking that far?

Yuan Xuepei slightly tapped the armrests of the wheelchair with his slender knuckles and then said indifferently, “There have been many guests at the banquet. Moreover, the maid that the Jiang Family assigns to her must be smart enough. If she couldn’t persuade Miss Jiang to go out with a few words, why would there be an opportunity to talk it through in detail?”

By saying that, he basically affirmed Song Yixiao’s speculation that Jiang Muting was really coaxed out for this reason at the time!

However, Yuan Xuepei didn’t elaborate on how Jiang Muting was coaxed into going outside and taken in. Then he looked at Jiang Yin. “I wonder how Miss Jiang described the ins and outs of the whole matter?”

Jiang Yin was really angry. After all, it was one thing that he himself admitted that his daughter had a crush on Yuan Xuepei but it was quite another that Yuan Xuepei pointed out that Jiang Muting climbed high and watched afar just in order to see him at the banquet. A grown girl couldn’t be kept at home. Worse still, she lost face on this kind of occasion. As her father, how he felt was conceivable!

Nevertheless, he really loved his daughter. At this point, he still didn’t scold Jiang Muting and instead, he said coldly, “According to her, when she heard that it was your business, she just walked with the direction as the maid mentioned without thinking much. Unexpectedly, after she got into the room, she heard the door was locked and wanted to cry for help. Then she saw that Master Mingfei was in the room and worried that it would be hard to explain, so she kept quiet.”

After saying that, Jiang Yin seemed to have thought of something and then frowned!

“That is not entirely true,” Yuan Xuepei said calmly. “At that time, Miss Jiang found that the door was locked and that Mr. Ji was in the room just when she entered the room. How could she keep quiet for fear that her reputation would be ruined? After all, if she kept quiet at that time, it would be a problem whether she could cry for help afterwards. Although I am not familiar with Miss Jiang, given her temperament, she can’t be a type of lady who would swallow insult and humiliation silently on that occasion!”

He squinted and said indifferently, “So given the fact that Miss Jiang didn’t call for help at the time, it seems that she has known that Mr. Ji wouldn’t do anything to her.”

Speaking of that, he looked at Ji Mingfei, who was still kneeling. However, Ji Mingfei was still composed, as if he didn’t hear that. He also stared at the nearby bricks calmly with an utterly bored look on his face.

At first, Jiang Yin was rather furious to hear that Yuan Xuepei suspected his daughter of lying. Then he realized the implied meaning and then became less angry, saying with a deep voice, “My daughter is indeed a bit staunch with moral integrity.”

“So Miss Jiang kept quiet sheerly because she knew that it was a trap and she volunteered to walk into it.” Yuan Xuepei let out a sigh and gestured for the two persons who came here with her to walk forward. “As to the details, you are the ones who found them out. You shall do the talking!”

The two persons looked at each other. Then the person on the left side said, “Just now, His Excellency hurried back to the side yard and ordered us to bring all the people in the side yard tied up for strict interrogation! By some means, some of them confessed that they were bribed into telling others that Miss Jiang once met with His Excellency before.”

Yuan Xuepei added lightly, “Since my sister got married, except for the Crown Prince and Xubai, no one else has ever come to meet me, so I live a quiet life in my place. When Miss Jiang went to meet me, I told the servants to keep it secret. I suppose that the Jiang Family certainly wouldn’t want to spread the word. In this case, Prince of Wei met me and reminded me of it, about which I couldn’t help feeling suspicious! Therefore, I had doubts when I was at the banquet. Afterward, I heard that something happened to Miss Jiang. Hence, the first thing I did was to hurry back to the side yard in case that the evidence would be eradicated!”

After explaining the reason why he left in a hurry, he raised his eyes to look up at Daiguo Grand Princess sitting in the seat of honor. “The disappointing servants in my side yard didn’t figure out who bought the news from them, but… Your Highness, you must have the sharp eyes to find it out?”

“Wait a minute!” Jiang Yin shouted with a purple face, “As you said, my daughter volunteered to be taken in. What do you actually mean?”

With glaring eyes, he stared at Yuan Xuepei as if he could directly eat the latter alive. It was understandable. From the beginning until now, all the people in the warm chamber believed that Jiang Muting was an innocent victim who was set up. Anyway, she had suffered wrong!

However, Yuan Xuepei just claimed that Jiang Muting had known it was a trap and still jumped into it. Wasn’t he questioning Jiang Muting’s conduct and even her reputation?

Had it not been for the presence of the Grand Princess, Jiang Yin could have rolled up his sleeves and killed this chap who talked carelessly!