Chapter 240: The Murderer Is Qiao Jinniang

Second Madam had no idle time since she came to Luoyang.

Not long after she returned to her yard, her cousin came to visit her. After all, most of her relatives were in Luoyang.

Her cousin came with the same thought as Mrs. Fu. She wanted to marry her daughter into the East Palace with the help of the Qiao family.

She was afraid that someone would preempt the chance.

Second Madam was very troubled, but she didn’t forget to send a letter to the East Palace, telling Qiao Jinniang to be careful of those local noble women in Luoyang.

Reading Second Madam’s letter, Qiao Jinniang chuckled and tore the letter to shreds.

Hongling comforted Qiao Jinniang. “Your Highness, don’t be too angry. It’s just human nature. When they all learn that you don’t allow His Royal Highness to accept any concubines, they will stop.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “I’m not angry. I just feel sorry for Second Aunt. She finally came to Luoyang and had the chance to visit her family she had been missing, but they just wanted to gain some benefits from her.”

As for those women in Luoyang, Qiao Jinniang was not worried at all.

After all, if these women annoyed her, weren’t there still some vacancies in Prince Huai’s harem?

…

Second Madam finally sent the people of her natal family away, when some noises came from the door again. She went to open the door helplessly, only to see Qiao Lu, who was wearing mourning clothes.

Second Madam was startled. “Lu’er, why are you wearing mourning clothes?”

“Second Aunt, where is my father? Eldest Sister was killed by some bandits in the South. I heard that Grandmother and my mother were in Chang’an, so I didn’t dare to go back to Chang’an to let them know this sad news. The Qin family’s ancestral tomb is in Luoyang, so her corpse has just been shipped to Luoyang.”

Mrs. Qiao didn’t like Qiao Ruoyun very much. She always felt that Qiao Ruoyun was too weak and self-abased to be the eldest daughter of Duke Anyuan, but after all, she watched this girl grow up. Now hearing this news, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“Your father is inside. Should we report this news to the imperial palace?”

“Yeah.” Qiao Lu nodded.

Prince Huai and his party came back from the disaster relief, and no one was injured. It was supposed to be good news, but then the news came that the eldest daughter of Duke Anyuan, the wife of Qin Shu, had died.

Hearing this news, everyone went to the Duke Qin Mansion to offer condolences.

After all, she was supposed to be the next Duchess Qin, and more importantly, she was the eldest daughter of Duke Anyuan.

So almost all the officials and nobles went to the Duke Qin Mansion to express their condolences.

In the Duke Qin Mansion, they didn’t even prepare a mourning hall. Only after the guests came did they help build a mourning hall.

Qin Miaomiao looked at the charred body in the coffin in disbelief. To her skinny brother, she couldn’t stop shaking her head.

“Sister-in-law couldn’t even bear to kill an ant. Everyone says that she has no temper at all. She has no feud with anyone. How could she be killed!

“Third Miss, please don’t be too sad!”

Mrs. Qin even fainted. After she woke up, she cried bitterly. “My poor daughter-in-law, why is your fate so miserable? How could you leave us at such a young age?”

After saying that, Mrs. Qin kept hitting Qin Shu. “She followed you to the South, but why did she come back like this? How can I explain it to my in-laws!”

…

In the Tong family.

Tong Yingying begged Mrs. Zhou. “Aunt, I really can’t get the tens of thousands of taels of silver. Please spare me for the sake of our blood connection!”

Prince Su had lost interest in her, so Tong Yingying set her eyes on Qingming Academy in Luoyang.

Zhou Shihui was from Qingming Academy and had always been respected by the literati in Chang’an. If she became the first female student admitted to Qingming Academy, Prince Su would definitely treat her differently.

Mrs. Zhou took a sip of tea and said, “It’s not impossible to exempt you from your debt.”

Tong Yingying hurriedly kowtowed. “Aunt, what do you need me to do?”

Mrs. Zhou put down the tea cup and said, “The eldest daughter of Duke Anyuan is really a poor person. She didn’t mean to occupy the position of Qiao Jinniang. It was the fault of Duke Anyuan’s concubine.

“But who would have thought that Qiao Jinniang played magnanimous on the surface but in fact, when Qiao Ruoyun was in the South, she sent someone to the South and took Qiao Ruoyun’s life!”

“But she is the Crown Princess, and there is no solid evidence, so no one dares to tell the truth. Yingying, I want you to seek justice for Qiao Ruoyun.”

Tong Yingying felt curious and said, “Aunt, Cousin Sisi is Consort Huai, and Fourth Miss Qin is the concubine of Prince Huai. Even if Qin Miaomiao marries Cousin Siming in the future, Fourth Miss Qin is already pregnant. The Zhou family and the Qin family will be enemies in the future.”

Mrs. Zhou said, “We’ll talk about it later. Now I just want to seek justice for my daughter. My daughter saved Lu Chen’s life, but this ingrate bit the hand that fed him and almost drove my daughter to death.

“It’s all because of the Duke Wu Mansion’s sacrifice that the Queen can be the Queen, and Lu Chen can be the Crown Prince.

“Now, for the sake of Qiao Jinniang, he even ignored my daughter’s life. No matter what will happen between the Zhou family and the Qin family in the future, now both of us want Prince Huai to be the next emperor!”

Tong Yingying thought about it, and what her aunt said seemed to make sense.

…

In the Duke Qin Mansion, after the mourning hall was set up, more and more people came to offer condolences unsolicited, and the Qin family made a lot of mistakes in etiquette.

“The Crown Princess arrives.”

Someone reported loudly at the gate.

Everyone saluted.

When Qiao Jinniang entered, she saw everyone of the Qin family crying bitterly. Qin Shu was much thinner than when she saw him last time. From his swollen eyes to his scruffy beard, he looked really like a broken man.

Even Qiao Jinniang couldn’t help but wonder if she had wronged Qin Shu.

Perhaps Qin Shu was not the murderer?

Qiao Jinniang didn’t say a word, which made the Qin family feel more terrified than being scolded by her.

“Young Madam is such a good person, but died mysteriously in the South. There is only one person who hates Young Madam this much! But for God’s sake, it was not Young Madam’s fault back then!

“She was a victim too. Some people pretend to be a good sister on the surface, but in fact, she murdered her! Even if she doesn’t want Young Madam to occupy her position as the eldest daughter of the Duke, why didn’t she speak it out earlier?”

A familiar voice appeared in the crowd.

Everyone looked back and saw that it was Tong Yingying. Tong Lei was no longer an official, but the Qin family still let Tong Yingying come in?

Tong Yingying walked up to the corpse and said, “I was good friends with Young Madam before she died. I really can’t bear to see her die so miserably. Crown Princess, how can you, the murderer, have the face to stand in front of the corpse of Young Madam?”

Qiao Jinniang said in a cold voice, “Tong Yingying, I have tolerated you many times because I don’t want to bother with an idiot, but now it seems that you are not only an idiot, but also a lunatic!”

Tong Yingying said, “Since you dare to kill, I would dare to expose you. Even if you kill me, my name will be kept in the history books forever. Sacrificing for justice is the Tong family’s precept!”

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