novelraw Chapter 358 - 326: So She Was This Impressive
Chapter 358 - 326: So She Was This Impressive
Seeing his son cry, Duke Su’s heart softened again, and he said, "Rest assured, Little Four. Father has already sent for Dean Wang from the Imperial Hospital. With him here, you are sure to recover fully."
The Duchess took out a handkerchief to wipe her son’s tears, telling him not to cry because dropping tears onto the wound would hurt even more.
Su Yaoqi suddenly closed his eyes, "All of you leave. I want to be alone for a while."
So much happened overnight; old wounds had not healed, and new ones were added. Moreover, it was disfiguring. For someone who had not experienced many setbacks, it was somewhat unbearable.
Duke Su wanted to say something, but the Duchess whispered, "My Lord, it’s better if you leave for now. Given how badly injured Little Four is, he might find it hard to accept for a while. Don’t agitate him further."
Duke Su sighed, called for Hao Yun and Su Yu, and the three of them left the room, leaving the Duchess inside to care for their son.
Standing outside on the promenade, Duke Su’s sharp gaze swept over Hao Yun and his wife, "Did neither of you see who started the fire?"
Hao Yun said, "Father-in-law, I understand your eagerness to find the real culprit. However, our place is too far from the main courtyard. Even if the culprit showed up, it would be the people in the main courtyard who should have seen it first."
Duke Su had not expected much from his answer anyway and was even more irritated hearing this. Just as he was about to dismiss them, Third Aunt hurried over with Sixth Miss Su Dai, her face full of urgency.
Seeing the Lord, Third Aunt’s eyes turned red instantly, pressing the handkerchief to her eyes. "I heard Fourth Young Master was burned. How serious are his injuries?"
Duke Su had always doted on this Third Aunt, and even though his heart was full of anger, his tone softened compared to when speaking to the Duchess, "We have already sent someone to the Imperial Hospital to fetch Dean Wang, so it shouldn’t be long."
"It’s serious enough to require the Dean?" Third Aunt was dumbfounded. "There are plenty of servants in Fourth Young Master’s courtyard. Even if it happened suddenly, with so many people together, they couldn’t even save a child in his teens?"
Earlier, his entire mind was on his son, and he hadn’t thought otherwise. Now, hearing Third Aunt’s words, Duke Su sniffed out a sense of conspiracy, maintained a stern face, and his temples were pounding, as he ordered Hao Yun, "Go and call all the maids, boys, and mothers from Little Four’s courtyard."
Hao Yun stood still, suggesting, "To avoid any mishaps, it’s better for you to send someone else, Father-in-law."
Duke Su glared at him, "What, I’ve lost authority over you?"
Hao Yun smiled faintly, "If the summoned servants are all related to tonight’s arson, it’s not that I can’t go; I just worry that running this errand might cause unnecessary misunderstandings. So, to avoid suspicion, it’s better to have others go."
"I’ll go!" Third Aunt volunteered boldly.
"You little brat, after this is over, I’ll settle accounts with you!" Duke Su gave Hao Yun a glare and let Third Aunt go.
Su Dai, uneasy about leaving her birth mother alone, turned and went along.
In a short while, only Duke Su, Hao Yun, and Su Yu were left on the promenade.
From the burning courtyard, the noise of servants putting out the fire kept coming, accentuating the silence here.
Seeing Third Aunt walking away, Hao Yun then looked at Duke Su, "If those servants have alibis, what do you plan to do, Father-in-law?"
Duke Su was still angry. He directly snapped, "At such a crucial moment, none of them were present, causing Little Four to be so severely injured; beating them to death would be too light!"
"I think they should not die; otherwise, it would fulfill the intentions of the mastermind,"
Su Yu, who hadn’t spoken, suddenly voiced her opinion.
"Don’t talk nonsense!" Hao Yun interrupted her, "Father-in-law is swamped with Little Four’s issue. Don’t create more trouble for him now."
Su Yu lowered her head, looking like a well-behaved person who had just been scolded, "My husband is right. I admit my mistake."
After speaking, the couple bid farewell and prepared to leave.
"Wait!" Duke Su suddenly stopped Su Yu, "Repeat what you just said."
Su Yu seemed a bit scared, stepping back half a step, her body shrinking slightly, then hesitantly looking toward Hao Yun, "Husband..."
Hao Yun nodded to her, "Since Father-in-law asked directly, just say what you know."
"But, but..."
"Don’t pretend to be ignorant in front of me!" The Lord’s patience was limited, "Speak quickly!"
Nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, not daring to look at Duke Su, Su Yu spoke in a low, hesitant voice, "I heard on the way here, before the incident, the servants in Fourth Young Master’s courtyard were already sent away. Clearly, the other party’s target from the beginning was Little Four."
Duke Su looked at her with a half-smile, "You’ve spoken well. Now, where’s the evidence?"
"I have no evidence. It’s all blind guesswork," Su Yu thought for a moment, then added, "After the incident, whoever first noticed the people in Little Four’s courtyard might be the true culprit. After all, only a familiar acquaintance of the servants there would be in such a hurry to silence them."
Duke Su, after listening, didn’t respond to Su Yu but his face grew increasingly grim.
Before he could say anything, a sharp scream erupted from beyond the moon gate at the end of the corridor.
"Something might have happened again," Hao Yun speculated, his side glance always noting Duke Su’s aged face.
With a furrowed brow, Duke Su strode swiftly toward the sound, finding Third Aunt collapsed outside the moon gate.
The Lord was unhappy, "I told you to take some people with you. What are you doing here?"
Su Dai, who caught up from behind, cried while explaining in fragments, "Father, something happened. The servants in Little Four’s courtyard... they are all, all dead."
At her words, Duke Su’s pupils contracted sharply.
At this moment, he couldn’t care less about who was a concubine and hurried there himself.
The damage to Su Yaoqi’s courtyard by the fire was severe, and firefighting continued. Su Yaoqi’s attendants were now corpses, sprawled haphazardly in the vacant neighboring courtyard.
Seeing this, Duke Su nearly lost his breath and told Hao Yun to go examine them.
Hao Yun crouched down to inspect each maidservant and servant’s wounds, then stood up to report to Duke Su, "Father-in-law, they were all killed by having their throats slit with a sharp weapon."
"Where is the murder weapon?"
"I haven’t found it yet."
In anger, Duke Su kicked over an empty wooden bucket nearby. The bucket rolled into the bushes, hitting some metallic object with a faint sound.
Narrowing his eyes, he stepped forward, kicked the bucket aside, and under Su Yu’s lantern light, he saw something in the bushes—a bloodstained hairpin, a plum blossom hairpin, with delicate "Qiang" characters on the light pink petals.
Third Aunt’s maiden name includes "Qiang." This plum blossom hairpin was a token of love given to her by Lord Su back in the day.
Holding the hairpin, Duke Su suddenly fell silent, his old eyes dim and inscrutable in the cool autumn night’s wind.
Hao Yun and Su Yu, seeing the plum blossom hairpin as well, exchanged glances, feeling secretly alarmed.
According to Hao Yun’s original plan, they intended to pin the whole incident on Third Aunt and Song Wei. However, on the way to see Su Yaoqi, Aunt Qiu appeared, advising them it was unrealistic to frame Song Wei. Instead, they should directly scapegoat Third Aunt and delay any confrontation with Lord Su until Third Aunt appeared; she would handle the rest.
At that moment, Aunt Qiu’s gaze was strikingly firm in the moonlight.
As if compelled by something, both Hao Yun and Su Yu nodded to Aunt Qiu without suspicion, obediently heading straight to the main courtyard.
The timing of Third Aunt’s appearance was calculated by Aunt Qiu, as were the words Hao Yun spoke to Duke Su, pre-arranged.
However, Hao Yun could never have imagined that Aunt Qiu could so swiftly point all evidence toward Third Aunt.
Reflecting on his usually gentle mother-in-law and recalling her strikingly different demeanor just earlier, Hao Yun felt deeply conflicted.
...
With Hao Yun fanning the flames earlier and Third Aunt’s plum blossom hairpin as solid evidence now, the identity of tonight’s culprit needed no further words.
Duke Su left the side courtyard furious, instructing Hao Yun to have Third Aunt tied up and sent directly to the Shuntian Prefecture Government.
Upon hearing this, Hao Yun knew the crisis he and Su Yu faced was fully averted.
Secretly smiling, he respectfully addressed Duke Su’s receding back, "As you command, Father-in-law."
After Duke Su left, Su Yu confusedly asked Hao Yun, "Didn’t he say earlier that he wanted to tear the culprit limb from limb? Why is he now sending her to the Shuntian Prefecture Government instead?"
Hao Yun looked at her speechlessly, "Can’t you tell? The Duke is giving her one last bit of dignity."
After all, she was a woman he had once cherished deeply. Having committed such a grave offense now, the Duke couldn’t forgive her, but out of many years of sentiment, he’s allowing her not to be too embarrassed.
Su Yu, clueless about the romances between men and women, could only sigh in reflection, "I never knew Mother could be so formidable."
She effortlessly crushed the head of the family’s favorite concubine; her methods were nothing if not impressive.