Black Lotus Concubine's Case-solving Notes

The dim veil of darkness descended, the curtain of night fell quietly, the night wind blew gently, everything was silent, but in the Prime Minister's Mansion, there were red lights, as bright as day.

A few days ago, a eunuch sent a message saying that Princess Pingchang would come to her husband's house for a dinner today.

This is great news for the Prime Minister's Office!

You have to know that since the eldest son of the family married the princess, he moved to the princess's mansion and could not come back all year round. Now the eldest son is coming back, and he is bringing a princess with him. How dare the servants in the Xie Mansion neglect him? For this dinner, the servants were in high spirits and were busy running around like they were fighting a war.

At 2 o'clock in the evening, almost all the family members of the Xie family had arrived, and the main seat was vacated waiting for the prince consort and the princess to take their seats.

The old lady, Mrs. She, was wearing a maroon fur coat today, with a string of Buddhist beads hanging from her hand. She sat in the secondary seat with a compassionate face. On her left and right sat her three sons, Prime Minister Xie Qian, head of the third branch of the family Xie Li, and head of the fourth branch Xie Hui.

The young masters in the mansion sat at the lower seats. The third young master was not among them as he was out on business. The first seat below was the sixth young master, Xie Siyan, and below that was a ten-year-old boy, the youngest master in the mansion, the twelfth young master, Xie Zhengchu.

The third son and the sixth son are both born to the Meng family. They are siblings of the fifth daughter Xie Yunyao from the same father and mother. There are no male offspring in the third room, so Xie Zhengchu is the darling of the fourth room.

The lady sitting at the head of the women's seat was naturally Mrs. Meng, and on her left and right sat Mrs. Jiang from the third house and Mrs. Tan from the fourth house. Unlike Mrs. Jiang who was gentle and considerate, Mrs. Tan was impatient and aggressive, and she was the most ruthless in her words. The ladies in the mansion sat at the bottom. The fifth lady, Xie Yunyao, the legitimate daughter of the eldest house, was at the bottom, and next to her was Xie Shubai, who was adopted by Mrs. Meng's family and was the fourth lady in the mansion.

Although Xie Shubai has the title of a legitimate daughter, her status is naturally not as good as Xie Yunyao's, so she sits below Xie Yunyao.

On the left and right were the legitimate daughters of the third and fourth rooms, the tenth lady Xie Changrong and the eighth lady Xie Xiyi. Below them were the concubines of the rooms, the ninth lady Xie Lanzhao of the eldest room, the seventh lady Xie Yunxian of the third room, and the eleventh lady Xie Jiayin of the fourth room.

There are several concubines in the mansion, but they are not allowed to attend such occasions.

"Why hasn't Tenth Sister come yet?" Eighth Sister Xie Xiyi looked at the empty seat next to her and asked Xie Yunxian, "Seventh Sister, don't you two sisters usually stick together every day? Why are you the only one who came today?"

"We were supposed to come together," compared to the lively and outgoing Xie Changrong, Xie Yunxian, the concubine's daughter, was more like the third wife Jiang, and even spoke in a gentle manner. She continued, "But before leaving, Tenth Sister said that her clothes were dirty and she had to change into another one, so she asked me to accompany mother here first."

Xie Yunxian did not lie, but subconsciously pulled his wrists into his long sleeves to hide the fresh scars on his fair wrists.

"Little Nine hasn't come yet," Xie Xiyi turned his head to the empty seat on the right and said, "Little Nine, she's just arrived at the mansion, isn't she lost for words?"

Xie Xiyi's personality is like her mother Tan, but she is not as aggressive. She is a genuine warm-hearted person, and she also sympathizes with Xie Lanzhao from the bottom of her heart.

"Madame Liu." Xie Xiyi called out.

Nanny Liu, who had been staring outside the house with a heavy heart, was startled when she heard the words and almost knocked over the dishes next to her.

Stupid servant! When you get old, you really can't keep anything in your heart! Meng glared at Madam Liu fiercely.

Madam Liu became even more panicked, her palms and backs of her hands were sweaty, but she still forced a smile at Xie Xiyi: "Does the Eighth Miss have any instructions?"

On weekdays, Madam Liu relied on the support of the Meng family to bully others. Xie Xiyi had been dissatisfied with her for a long time. He frowned and asked, "Madam Liu, where is the Ninth Miss? Why didn't you come for a long time? The eldest aunt pointed you to her, but how come you came to the table earlier than the master?"

Madam Liu laughed dryly and said, "I originally wanted to accompany Miss Nine, but Miss Nine was sensible and said that today was a banquet for the princess and the rules and etiquette had to be followed carefully and not be sloppy at all, so she sent me here to help."

"We can't just leave the Master alone..."

"That's enough." Xie Xiyi wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Meng, "The most important thing now is to find the ninth girl and the tenth girl! One or two of them will make me worry!"

On the surface, Meng said this to Xie Xiyi, but her eyes were coldly looking in the direction of the third room. Jiang, the third room's wife, turned pale, but she didn't dare to say anything in retort. She just turned to Chunmei and said, "Go, look for the tenth lady."

Chunmei responded and just went out, she heard the sound of jingling jewelry and saw a young girl walking towards her from the end of the yard. Everyone looked over.

The bright moonlight outside the house and the candlelight of the stone candles complemented each other, illuminating the woman's graceful figure. The woman walked in a proper manner, wearing a stone-blue long skirt embroidered with gold thread. The style seemed ordinary at first glance, but when she walked, the blue lotus embroidered with gold and silver threads on the bottom of the skirt moved with her steps, gorgeous and vivid, as if it were a living thing!

There are really lotus flowers blooming at every step, with all kinds of charm.

A sneer appeared on Meng's lips.

Xie Yunyao frowned. She had deliberately worn her most gorgeous clothes today, hoping to show off in front of the princess. However, the clothes she had carefully prepared looked so shabby and dull in comparison with the lotus dress in front of her.

Xie Shubai, who was standing aside, had a calm expression on her face, but underneath this calmness there was a hint of coldness that was not easily noticed.

The remaining concubines looked at each other, and Xie Xiyi also looked at the woman with scrutiny and curiosity in his eyes.

"It looks like the Ninth Miss is here!" Matron Liu shouted at the top of her voice, as if she was afraid that others couldn't see her.

The prime minister turned his head and took a look, his face turned pale at one glance.

Xie Xiyi glanced at Madam Liu and frowned upon hearing this. At this moment, the woman was already very close, only one step away from entering the hall, and her face gradually became clearer.

"Nine...ah? Tenth Miss?!"

Matron Liu, who had stepped forward to greet her, felt as if struck by lightning when she saw Xie Changrong's charming face. Her legs felt as if they were filled with lead and she couldn't move at all.

Meng was also stunned. How could it be the girl from the third room?

Although Xie Shubai didn't look panicked, her fingers holding the teacup turned slightly pale, and she didn't understand what was going on.

How come Xie Lanzhao disappeared, and the person wearing this clothes became Xie Changrong?

Nanny Liu finally came to her senses and quickly looked behind her, but it was dark outside and there was no trace of Xie Lanzhao. She couldn't help but mutter, "Why is it the Tenth Miss? Where is the Ninth Miss..."

Xie Changrong was originally very excited, just waiting to enter the house to receive praise. In order to match this skirt, she specially found lotus jewelry to match it, and even went to an embroidery shop temporarily to ask the best embroiderer in Beijing to embroider lotus flowers on her shoes. However, when she saw the different looks from the elders, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Is he afraid that she will steal the limelight from Princess Pyeongchang?

In fact, Xie Changrong had such concerns before, but she was not as good-looking as her two elder sisters in the first wife's house. In terms of status, not only the first wife but also the fourth wife were superior to her. If she did not take a risky move, how could Princess Pingchang's eyes fall on her?

As long as she could get the attention of the little princess, the most favored by the emperor, she would have a way to curry favor with him. Even if it backfired in the end, she would just be scolded by her father and uncle. Anyway, she still had her mother to protect her.

Thinking of this, Xie Changrong was no longer afraid and raised her eyebrows at Aunt Liu: "What do you mean by why it's me? If it's not me, then who else could it be?"

Xie Xiyi finally remembered what was wrong. She stood up and looked at Aunt Liu with a half-smile: "Mammy, why do you seem so surprised? I felt something was wrong just now. It was so dark outside that no one could see the face of the tenth sister clearly, but you were so sure that it was the ninth girl! Obviously, the ninth sister and the tenth sister were not here, and the two people's figures were not similar, but Mammy could tell everyone so accurately, it's like..."

She deliberately stretched out her voice and said, "It's as if she was sure that the person wearing this dress must be Ninth Girl!"

"This, this, this..." Nanny Liu stammered and was unable to speak.

"Enough." Meng was afraid that the stupid servant Liu Ma would reveal everything when she got nervous, so she scolded her harshly.

Since the mistress of the first house had spoken, Xie Xiyi had no choice but to give up.

Seeing that the one who should come didn't come, and the one who shouldn't come came to die! Meng was so angry that she trembled. Although she didn't know why the dress fell into the hands of the third room, she was sure that it must be the sign of the despicable concubine maid who hadn't come yet!

Seeing that the princess was about to come in, it was no use pursuing these issues now.

Meng glared at Xie Changrong with disgust. If her third brother's wife's family was not still of some use to her, she would have completely ignored Xie Changrong's life or death!

Seeing that the prime minister, who usually kept his emotions under control, was now showing a hint of annoyance, Meng knew that she could not delay any longer.

"Someone come! Take the Tenth Miss away!" Meng shouted, and a servant came up, grabbed Xie Changrong and dragged her to the backyard.

"Aunt? Why?!" Xie Changrong's eyes widened, she had no idea what was going on. Seeing that she was about to be dragged away, she could only shout for help: "Father! Mother!"

But it was too late.

There was a clear laugh outside the door, followed by a fragrant breeze, and the eunuch accompanying him shouted in a shrill voice: "Princess Pingchang is here!"

Princess Pyeongchang is here?

Why didn't you come earlier or later? Everyone was stunned, and Xie Changrong found the right opportunity to break free from the restraints and quickly ran towards the door!

Meng's heart sank suddenly. It was over.