The housekeeper came in with a brazier, followed by a little girl, lit two lamps, and the room suddenly became bright.

Xia Xue'er's eyes stared at the purple flames dancing in the brazier thoughtfully, and after a while, she looked away and asked, "I have always had a question in my heart, I wonder if my aunt can solve it for me?" ”

"If the third lady has anything you want to ask, just ask."

"Why did you choose the night of your birthday party?"

Aunt Li was stunned for a moment when she heard this, and then asked rhetorically: "Is the third lady convinced that I did it?" ”

Xia Xue'er chuckled in her heart, but she still said without changing her face: "Since it wasn't you who did it, you have to give evidence, right?" ”

"Evidence?" Aunt Li smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "If I have evidence, why stay here." ”

She felt uneasy when Mama Gui came to hear Yuxuan that night, and when she went, she saw that Mrs. Xia and her two sons were there, and they were all stern, and even Mrs. Xia looked at her with anger burning in her eyes, and even the atmosphere in the whole room was extremely depressing and tense, and she felt that a catastrophe was coming.

Then she learned that Xia Xue'er was poisoned that night, and her nephew was the only outsider who had come to Tingyuxuan before the poison, and she had repeatedly come to Tingyuxuanzhong for the purpose of listening to Yuxuan, so she naturally became the biggest suspect, and she was a suspect who couldn't argue.

Xia Xue'er looked at Aunt Li with a wry smile, and the doubts in her heart deepened.

She originally felt that this matter was not necessarily Aunt Li's doing, but all kinds of evidence pointed to Aunt Li, and how she was poisoned has not been investigated, so she has to believe it.

"I remember the first time my aunt came to listen to Yuxuanzhong for her nephew to look for me, I asked my aunt where she seemed to know about choosing a son-in-law, and my aunt didn't answer me clearly at that time, and now I'm asking again, I wonder if my aunt will tell the truth?"

"It's not a secret that can't be said, the sisters just talked about it when they chatted, but at that time, my nephew took the high school entrance examination, so I wrote it down, but I didn't want to bury today's disaster."

"The chat also had a beginning, but remember who brought it up first?"

"This ...... I really don't remember it. ”

Aunt Li's body was weak, and her breath was a little disordered after she had just said a few words, fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead, and her pale face became even more haggard.

"Ahem... Ahem... cough cough cough ......"

Aunt Li coughed badly, Xiaoqin hurriedly stepped forward, lifted the kettle and poured a glass of water and handed it to her, and said while smoothing her out: "Madame, drink some water to moisten your throat, and take a break." ”

Xia Xue'er reached out and touched the tea bottle, a coolness seeped into the back of her hand, and then asked, "Why don't you pour some hot water?" ”

As soon as Aunt Li was about to speak, Xiaoqin hurriedly knelt down, pulled the corner of Xia Xue'er's skirt and cried with tears in her eyes: "Since entering this Buddhist hall, my wife has never drunk a sip of hot water, how can my body stand it in this winter!" Even if my wife is sick, they have been dragging not to invite a doctor, and every time my wife sends me to ask, they also say that they forgot to ask about it, and they will invite it tomorrow, but I haven't seen the shadow of the doctor for so many days! ”

Xia Xue'er turned her head to look at Cuizhu, who nodded, and came in half an hour later with a pot of hot tea and a teapot for boiling water.

"The house is busy, the Buddhist hall is far away, occasionally there will be times when you can't take care of it, if you don't send hot water, you can use this teapot to boil it yourself."

Xiaoqin only got up after hearing this, but Aunt Li, who took this qiē into her eyes, was surprised.

Cuizhu poured Aunt Li a new cup of hot tea, and also poured a cup for Miss. In order to dispel the suspicion in Aunt Li's heart, Xia Xue'er picked up the cup and carefully avoided the gap and took a sip. Then he looked at Aunt Li, as if to say: Don't worry, it's not poisonous.

Aunt Li smiled, and then raised her glass and drank the hot tea in her cup.

Then he asked, "Don't you hate me?" ”

"Hate you?" Xia Xue'er chuckled and said, "What did you do to me, that you want me to hate you?" ”

Aunt Li smiled at first, then looked at Xia Xue'er's eyes seriously and said, "I didn't give the poison." ”

Seeing this, Xia Xue'er was slightly stunned, and then said with a smile: "But how can I believe you, you have a motive, don't you?" ”

"The water spilled by the married daughter", Aunt Li sighed at first, and then said with a helpless smile: "You were born with a golden key, and you can't understand the hardships of a small family like ours." ”

Xia Xue'er didn't speak, just listened quietly to Aunt Li.

"Before marrying into the Xia Mansion, my father was just a small local official, although I was the daughter of the family, but my mother left early, and I had a stepmother and a stepfather, and everything was given priority to them, and I was not as good as a sister. After marrying your father, relying on the power of the Xia family, my father was able to display his ambitions, not only transferred to the capital, but also promoted to the state of the superintendent of the country, although the official rank is not very high, but compared to before, it is already heaven and earth.

The daughter of a national eunuch is not an identity background that can help you gain a firm foothold in this summer mansion, so I have always been well-behaved, and I have survived so many years by relying on your mother's protection. I am only grateful to you, to your mother, and to the Xia family, and the Xia family is also the foundation of my life.

When Zong Yang came to the capital before, he also brought a letter from his brother, my brother and I are siblings, and he often helped me when I was bullied when I was young, so I came to you to talk about the marriage.

You are the only daughter of the Xia family, as long as you marry Zong Yang, Zong Yang will be able to make great achievements and have a great career, and my mother's family can also shine on the lintel because of this, and I can also live harder. ”

Xia Xue'er looked at the expression on Aunt Li's face, listened to her banging calculations, and didn't feel angry, only sad, sad for her, sad for this era.

Dongmei couldn't help it, listening to her words was all about her mother's family and herself, and she didn't take into account the wishes of the young lady at all. Anger burned, and the exit asked, "Aren't you ashamed to calculate my young lady like this?!" ”

Aunt Li looked at Dongmei, then at Xia Xue'er, and said, "I know that I am very selfish in doing this, but what can I do, what can I do?" Without a solid background, even if you are talented, it is difficult to be appreciated and reused, my father has already suffered this kind of torture, I can't let my nephew suffer this kind of torture! ”

Dongmei was even more angry when she heard this, and rushed forward to point at Aunt Li and roared, "So you poisoned my young lady?" Have you thought a little bit about Miss's feelings? Why are you so despicable and shameless! ”

"I didn't!" Aunt Li stood up in the face of Dongmei's accusation, tears flowed down her cheeks, and she said hoarsely: "I admit that I have selfish intentions, but I didn't poison it!" ”

Dongmei is about to explode! But she was a slave, and the other party was a master, so she couldn't go up and hit her twice, nor kick her twice, so she simply couldn't see it out of sight and ran out of the room.

Xia Xue'er turned her head to look at Dongmei's departing back with a worried face, and Cuizhu hurriedly chased after her.

"You also said that the water spilled by the married daughter, so what does the matter of the Li family have to do with you? You would rather ruin your life for that illusory honor. ”

Aunt Li didn't speak, just slipped into her seat in a daze.

Xia Xue'er only felt sympathy for her, and she couldn't bear it, so she stood up and said, "That's it for today, you can rest." ”

Then without waiting for Aunt Li to speak, she turned around and left

"Wait", when Xia Xue'er was about to go out the door, Aunt Li stopped her, and then asked, "Qiaohui...... How is she? ”

Xia Xue'er felt a little relieved in her heart, no matter what, she could still think of her daughter, and she would worry about whether it would affect her, which showed that she was not hopelessly bent on fame and fortune.

"Don't worry, this matter will not be angry with her, no matter how you say it, she is also my sister, the fourth lady of Xia Mansion!"

Aunt Li smiled reassuringly after hearing this, and there were tears on her face.

And after Xia Xue'er went out, she saw that the housekeeper was still waiting at the door, so she stood up and asked, "Are you the housekeeper here?" ”

The grandmother stepped forward, nodded and replied, "Miss Hui, it's the slave." ”

"How many rooms are there in the temple?"

"Back to the third young lady, in addition to the main hall enshrined in front, there are a total of eight wings."

"What kind of useful house does Aunt Li live in now?"

"Because this room is in the corner, the sun doesn't shine, and the clutter is damp and moldy, so it has been idle in the past."

"Oh? In that case, how did Aunt Li move in? ”

Mama thought that the third lady thought that she had done a good job, and there was a trace of luck in her heart. After all, it is said that the people who live in this house were punished because they offended Mrs. Xia, and she can hear the movement inside clearly.

So he straightened up and said with a straight face: "The slave maid thinks that she is a person who has committed a great sin and deserves to suffer something. ”

Xia Xue'er glanced at the housekeeper's grandmother, and asked without changing her face: "Did my mother say that she would deduct her use?" ”

"This ...... Madame didn't mention it. ”

"From now on, Aunt Li will be moved to live in the backyard wing, and the food and clothing will be in accordance with the rules."

Mama was in a difficult situation, and she couldn't figure out what these three young ladies meant.

She didn't say anything after hearing about the water before, and she didn't seem to intend to care about it, so she thought she was acquiescing in her own trouble. But now suddenly it is said that let me move to the backyard to live, the backyard environment is beautiful, although the decoration of each wing room is not gorgeous, but it is also simple and comfortable, it was originally prepared for the guests who pray for blessings and chanting, this is for a sinner to live, isn't that a broken rule!

"Third Miss, I'm afraid this is ......"

Xia Xue'er looked at her with a puzzled look, so she squinted at her and asked, "What?" Is it inconvenient? ”

The housekeeper hurriedly nodded and said, "It's convenient and convenient, and the slave and maid will do it." ”

"By the way, I forgot to remind you", Xia Xue'er walked a few steps, suddenly turned around again, looked at the housekeeper and said: "Although the person inside has made mistakes, he is always the master, if outsiders know that the master in my dignified Xia Mansion has no charcoal, and he has to face the cold wind, and a housekeeper can afford to use silver frost charcoal, wouldn't it make people laugh at my Xia Mansion is not distinguished from inferiority, and the slave is above the master?" ”

When the housekeeper heard this, she fell to her knees with a thud, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

And Xia Xue'er didn't plan to dig deeper, and went back with the two girls.

Although Aunt Li did not go out to see each other, she heard a qiē clearly in the house, and the desperate heart of the fake rekindled hope. Although Xia Xue'er hated him in her heart, she didn't insist that she did the poisoning, and just after she said what she had just said, Xia Xue'er still stood up for her.

She really didn't misunderstand this young lady.

Cuizhu saw that her young lady was absent-minded all the way, so she asked, "What doubts does the young lady have in her heart?" ”

"Huh?"

Xia Xue'er turned her head to look at her suspiciously after hearing Cuizhu's words.

"If the young lady has no doubts in her heart, according to the slave maid, this trip is not indispensable."

Xia Xue'er stopped in front of a Taihu Lake stone, looked at the thousands of holes on the stone, and slowly said: "Before this, I almost decided that the poisoning was done by Aunt Li and her nephew, and when I came to the Buddha Hall, I was only puzzled that she dared to sacrifice her future glory and wealth just for the honor of her mother's shadow, but just when I saw her appearance, it didn't look like she was lying, and now it seems that the truth is not as simple as we think." ”

Cuizhu already felt that something was wrong with this matter, but now that she heard what Xia Xue'er said, she felt even more wrong, but she couldn't tell what was wrong.

"Who will be behind the young lady's suspicions?"

Xia Xue'er turned her head to stare into Cuizhu's eyes and asked, "Could it be her?" ”

"Aunt Bai?" Cuizhu frowned, and then said with a solemn face: "It's not completely impossible, it's just that after all, I only met her once that day, and then she didn't come to listen to Yuxuan, and we don't have any evidence to prove that she did it." ”

Xia Xue'er frowned and said thoughtfully: "All the evidence at present points to Aunt Li, and she also has a motive for poisoning. ”

Dongmei looked at Miss and Cuizhu with solemn expressions, as if they had encountered some big problem. She didn't understand, hadn't the poisoning already been investigated, and the culprit had already been punished, could it be that just a few cries from Aunt Li could prove that she didn't do it? What are you still struggling with?

So he interjected: "Oh, Miss was cranky, her body is just right, let's go back and rest!" ”

Xia Xue'er looked at Dongmei's open-minded face, and her mood came and went quickly, and she smiled slightly and said, "Okay, go back, it just so happens that I'm hungry too." ”