Seeing that Green Bead didn't beg her master and really turned to leave, Bai Xia was so scared that her legs almost went soft. If her master punished Green Bead with a cane or demoted her to do manual labor in the outer courtyard, it would be more merciful than driving her out of Jun Wang's residence. Today, Green Bead stepped out of Jun Wang's residence. She was afraid that tomorrow, there would be another corpse in the mass grave.
"Jun Wang Fei." Bai Xia knelt down again. She wanted to beg for mercy but didn't know what to say. Beg her master to let Green Bead go? But her master didn't beat or scold her. She even directly let Green Bead out of the residence. Beg her master to let Green Bead stay, but which female master could tolerate having a maidservant who loved the male master?
Her lips trembled slightly. After a while, she said, "Master is merciful."
Hua Xi Wan stared at her. After a while, she looked away and said, "If any of you have someone you like, remember to tell me. We are master and servant after all. I won't let you get married unjustly."
"Master, we are loyal to you. If we go back on our words, we will …" Zi Shan, Bai Xia, and Red Tassel were so scared that their legs went soft. They couldn't wait to confess their feelings as long as their master could believe them.
"Okay." Hua Xi Wan looked past them and fell on the courtyard that was illuminated by the sun. "Get up and do what you need to do." After that, she pointed to the second-rank maidservant who had just talked about Green Bead's behavior. "From today onwards, you will fill the vacancy of Green Bead. Change your name. You will be called Orange Autumn."
"This servant thanks Jun Wang Fei for the name." Although Orange Autumn was happy, she didn't mess up when she went forward to salute. After she saluted Hua Xi Wan, she saluted Bai Xia and the others and silently retreated to the side.
Hua Xi Wan didn't care what they thought. She immediately leaned against the soft couch and closed her eyes to rest.
"Bah! You blind and vile wench. How can you stay in this exquisite room? Get out of here, don't dirty our eyes. "A rough nanny pointed at the crows on the branches and scolded her. Two old women beside her also cheered.
Green Bead slung her bag over her shoulder as she listened to these indirect insults. She only felt wronged and sad. She raised her head to look at the crows cawing on the branches and felt an inexplicable sadness in her heart.
She had served her master for so many years. Even if she didn't make any contributions, she still worked hard. But now, she had ended up like this. Wouldn't such a cold-hearted woman be harming Jun Wang Ye if she stayed by Jun Wang Ye's side?
Suddenly, she saw a group of people appear in the corridor in the distance. The man walking in front was dressed in white with a feathered fan and a jade crown. Who else could it be other than Jun Wang Ye? She suddenly felt a surge of courage that she had never had before and ran in that direction.
"Jun Wang …"
Before she could finish her words, someone covered her mouth and then another person pressed her to the ground. She smelled the smell of soil and wanted to turn around to see who dared to grab her. In the end, her face was pressed to the ground and the soil got into her mouth and nose.
"Shameless lowly servant, you dare to run around in Jun Wang's residence and shout. You should look in the mirror and see what kind of virtue you have. You dare to have such improper thoughts. Do you still think you are Jun Wang Fei's personal servant?" A sturdy nanny pulled her hair and slapped her face twice. "Our Jun Wang's residence doesn't have such a shameless person. Get out of here!"
Several nannies who were watching the scene came forward and pushed Green Bead out. It was unknown whether it was intentional or not, but the tightly tied package was torn open. The clothes, jewelry, and money inside were scattered on the ground. Green Bead wanted to pick them up, but her hand was stepped on by several nannies and her clothes were dragged away by one of the nannies.
"You betrayed your master and still want to take away the things that were rewarded by your master. We are rough nannies who haven't studied and can't read, but we know what loyalty is." The nannies who were dragging her out scolded. "You dare to do this just because Jun Wang Fei's temperament is gentle!"
Green Bead was stunned. She didn't recover until the nannies pushed Jun Wang Fei out of the small door. Why did she throw a tantrum at her master? Was she really relying on the fact that her master treated them well?
The small door closed in front of her with a bang. She was in a sorry state. She didn't have the glory she had when she was serving Jun Wang Fei. Looking at the pedestrians coming and going in the alley, she suddenly felt fear and regret. The world was so big, where should she go?
Not long after, a mule cart passed by. There was no one at the small door of the backyard.
"Jun Wang Ye, the matter has been taken care of." A middle-aged man wearing a blue gown bowed in front of Yan Jinqiu. "The body has been cleaned."
"Hmm." Yan Jinqiu looked expressionlessly at the middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance. "Are you sure that someone saw when you took action?"
"Yes." The middle-aged man lowered his head and said, "The witnesses were the purchasing stewards of Prince Sheng's and Xu Wang's residences. Someone has already reported it to the authorities."
Yan Jinqiu nodded silently and waved his hand to dismiss him. Then, he turned to look at Mutong who was standing in the corner. "You don't have to hide this matter from Jun Wang Fei. However, you have to wait until the case is over before mentioning it."
Mutong was puzzled at first. Then, he understood Jun Wang Ye's intention. If Jun Wang Ye knew about the matter as soon as it came out, wouldn't that make Jun Wang Fei suspect that they cared a lot about Green Bead? If he told Junw.a.n.g Fei after the fact, it would make Junw.a.n.g Fei feel that Junw.a.n.g Ye did not care about Lu Zhu, but was very respectful to Junw.a.n.g Fei. When he learned of the matter, he immediately told Junw.a.n.g Fei.
Yan Jinqiu was most satisfied with Mutong's few qualities. He had a brain, didn't speak much, did things steadily, and was perceptive. He felt comfortable using this kind of person and was reassured.
Recently, another small matter had occurred in the capital. That was, a maidservant of Prince Xian's residence had been raped and killed by several ruffians not long after she had been chased out of the residence because of her dirty hands. If the stewards of Xu Wang's and Prince Sheng's residences hadn't coincidentally encountered the ruffians and caught them to report to the authorities, this maidservant would have lost her life in vain. The final result of the trial was somewhat shocking because these ruffians turned out to be manservants of the Crown Prince's residence.
Ruffians raped and killed a woman on the roadside. Although the nature of this kind of case was vile, if it didn't involve the Crown Prince and Prince Xian, it wouldn't have caused an uproar in the capital.
Everyone in the capital knew that the people of the Crown Prince's residence were unscrupulous. However, it was a bit too bold to rape and kill a woman in broad daylight. No one knew who suddenly mentioned that the murder of Master Zhang was related to the Crown Prince, but it provoked many scholars to write letters to suppress the Crown Prince's behavior of preying on the common people. There were even some extremists who thought that the Crown Prince was cruel and didn't have the ability to be the Crown Prince. If the future Emperor of Dazhao was such a person, wouldn't the common people fall into an abyss of suffering?
In any case, the Zhang family was a scholarly family. Although they didn't have real power, they were quite famous and were highly respected by scholars. When this matter was made public, scholars all over the world stood up. Rumors about the Crown Prince's absurd behavior quickly spread throughout Dazhao. It seemed that if the Emperor didn't punish the Crown Prince, these scholars would continue to make trouble.
As the ruler of Dazhao, the Qilong Emperor was so angry when he heard the radical remarks of these scholars that he called the Crown Prince into the palace and scolded him. However, the matter had escalated to this point. It was no longer a matter of scolding the Crown Prince.
In the end, the rape and murder case ended with the execution of several manservants of the Crown Prince's residence. The Crown Prince also wrote a letter of repentance. On the surface, it was an apology, but in fact, he pushed all the blame to these manservants. The biggest mistake he made was that he was not strict enough with his subordinates.
As for the murder of Young Master Zhang, in the end, several bandits who came from nowhere were arrested outside the capital. Afterward, they confessed that they saw Young Master Zhang's decent clothes and wanted to kidnap him and rob him. Who knew that Young Master Zhang's words were so impulsive that it made them so angry that they killed him.
After the conclusion of the case, no matter how many people believed it, the matter gradually calmed down after the Emperor bestowed the title of second-rank marquis to the Zhang Family's old man and had a fatherless and motherless child from a branch of the Zhang Family be adopted by the two elders. However, the image of the Crown Prince in the hearts of the people of the Great Zhao Dynasty plummeted.
No one thought that a small case of rape and murder of a maidservant would cause such a big conflict. Not many people cared about her name. Later on, it became more and more intense. When it spread to places far away from the capital, it became that the Crown Prince had raped and killed a maidservant in a Jun Wang's residence.
The people of Dazhao didn't know how many Wang Ye and Jun Wang's were in the remote areas, but they only knew one Crown Prince. In these rumors, the Crown Prince's image was fierce, ugly, and of low moral character. He preyed on the people.
Therefore, no matter how the Emperor helped the Crown Prince cover up, the Crown Prince's reputation was already bad in the hearts of the people. Even the Emperor became an incapable ruler who couldn't distinguish right from wrong.
When the news of Green Bead's murder spread to the rear court, it was already after the identities of the ruffians had been identified.
Hua Xi Wan listened to Mutong's full account of what had happened. She silently stared at Mutong for a long time before saying, "I know."
Such a light sentence, in Mutong's ears, didn't feel good. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but Jun Wang Fei seemed to know something. But when he raised his head to look at Jun Wang Fei, he only saw her calm face. It was as if the missing Green Bead was a stranger and not her personal maidservant.
"You can leave," Hua Xi Wan glanced lightly at Mutong who was still standing in front of her, "Go back and tell Jun Wang Ye that I haven't been feeling well these days. Please ask him to rest elsewhere."
Mutong bowed deeply, "This small one will leave."
The room gradually quieted down. Hua Xi Wan walked to the window and stood still. After a long silence, she said, "Although Green Bead doesn't have parents, she has a cousin who works in Prince Sheng's mansion. I heard that she even married a steward in the mansion. Ask someone to bring 30 taels of silver to express my condolences."
Bai Xia was shocked. Why had she never heard Green Bead mention it?
Hua Xi Wan seemed to have noticed that Bai Xia's expression was not right. She lowered her eyelids and said, "She probably recognized this cousin after I married into Jun Wang's mansion."
Back then, Green Bead's hometown was hit by a disaster. Her parents had died, and she was sold to Prince Xian's mansion. Because she was beautiful and clever, Hua Xi Wan had been serving in her courtyard when she was almost ten years old. Later, she was promoted to a first-class maid. She had been serving there for six to seven years. She didn't expect that she would end up like this.
After hearing that Green Bead had been in contact with people from Prince Sheng's mansion after her master married into Jun Wang's mansion, Bai Xia couldn't help but think of many other things. The more she thought, the more scared she became. Fortunately, her master was still fine, otherwise …
Zi Shan and Red Tassel also reacted. They didn't expect Green Bead to be so bold as to collaborate with people from other manors. If Jun Wang Ye found out and became suspicious of their master, wouldn't they be pushing their master into a fire pit?
"No wonder her behavior has been strange recently. She even took the initiative to switch with me to keep watch." Zi Shan couldn't help but think about Green Bead's behavior these days. Then, she remembered that Green Bead had taken the initiative to keep watch for her several times. The more she thought about it, the more upset she felt. She was angry and felt pity for Green Bead. If Green Bead didn't have any other intentions, she wouldn't have ended up like this.
Her master had discovered her behavior long ago, but due to their many years of friendship, she didn't expose her. Instead, she hoped that Green Bead would repent. Who knew that she would become more and more daring and even have thoughts that she shouldn't have …
The senior maids who originally thought that their master's methods were too vicious now felt that their master was extremely benevolent to Green Bead. It was Green Bead who didn't care about her own fortune and ended up ruining her own life.
If Green Bead was still her master's personal maid, who in the entire mansion wouldn't respect her? Who wouldn't give her some face? How would she have met those manservants from the Crown Prince's mansion and died in such an undignified manner?
The author has something to say: En, bento box number one has been sent out =. =.
Thank you GaIn, QW, and the two great hand grenades = 3 =.
Thank you TongTong for the four hand grenades = 3 =.
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