The prince is hard to serve

The appearance of Xu Ziqi was naturally expected by Mu Ziling, not to mention that this play, without Xu Ziqi, would not be good enough, so after she sat down, Mu Ziling put down his teacup, looked at her and called mother , the attitude is the same as usual, but the tone is more perfunctory.

"Ling'er, I'm sorry, mother." Xu Ziqi turned his head and looked at Mu Ziling seriously, his face was full of apology: "Will you blame mother?"

Tilting his head, Mu Ziling pretended to be puzzled: "Mother, what did you do to be sorry for me?" Of course he could hear that Xu Ziqi's words were implying that Madam Xue was the one who wanted to harm him. And she didn't know it herself.

Xu Ziqi choked for a moment and couldn't speak for a moment, before saying after a while: "Naturally, Mother never did it, but this Madam Xue is always my wet nurse, if she does something wrong, it's because I didn't discipline her properly. , I should naturally apologize to you too."

After a pause, she whispered, "Will you forgive me as a mother?"

Shaking his head lightly, Mu Ziling said slowly, "Mother, where did you hear that Madam Xue did something wrong to me? If what Wang Qi said is true, then I should be the one who told Madam Xue Compensation is not right."

Hearing this, Xu Ziqi's expression changed. Knowing that these words should not be said, she became a little impatient. She lowered her eyes to think for a while, then raised her head, she cast her eyes on Mu Ziling again, and said softly: "Ling'er said What's more, it's my mother who is in a hurry..."

She had something to say at first, but Mu Jiyan had already looked at her several times, and his brows were wrinkled, with a puzzled look on his face. Her heart trembled, and she knew that she should not continue to say more, otherwise she would be burned.

Seeing Xu Ziqi sitting down quietly with downcast eyes, Mu Jiyan withdrew his gaze from her, turned to glance at Xue Momo, and asked, "Then what Wang Qi said is the truth?"

Madam Xue trembled subconsciously, "Yes... the old slave did bully him."

Mu Jiyan pursed his lips, then turned his head, looked at A Lin who was standing beside Mu Ziling, and asked, "A Lin, you were the first to see the two of them, did you hear them say What words?"

When his name was called, Ah Lin immediately stood up. He didn't dare to be unruly with Mu Jiyan, so he bent down and repeated what he heard at that time verbatim.He deliberately read it several times in his heart at that time, so he wrote it down.

"Master, that's what Wang Qi said at that time."

Mu Jiyan nodded and waved his hand to signal him to back down. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked sharply, "Wang Qi, you little servant, where did you get 500 taels of silver?"

Although the treatment in the Prime Minister's Mansion is not bad, the monthly salary of an ordinary servant girl is only two taels of silver, and even the manager of the mansion is only paid 20 taels of silver a month. Undoubtedly, 500 taels Silver is not a small amount of money for any servant.

Wang Qi's complexion changed, and his mind was spinning quickly. He didn't expect that Ah Lin actually listened to these words completely.

Forced to calm down, Wang Qi hurriedly shouted for grievances. At this time, the heart that had been let go just now lifted up again: "Master, the slave didn't say 500 taels. The slave said five taels of silver. Ah Lin heard it wrong!"

"Nonsense!" Ah Lin's face puffed up, he took a step forward, and said loudly, "You're talking about 500 taels, and I'm not deaf."

"A Lin, don't talk too much." Seeing that A Lin was about to roll up his sleeves and rush forward to beat Wang Qi, Mu Ziling called him in a very flat tone, but as soon as A Lin heard this, he immediately came back and stood obediently. good.

Mu Jiyan didn't blame Ah Lin, but stared at Wang Qi intently, with no expression on his face, and his eyes were extremely sharp.

Wang Qi knelt with his head down, feeling that Mu Jiyan's majesty was overwhelming him, and his body wanted to tremble uncontrollably.

For a while, the atmosphere in the main hall was a little silent.

At this time, Mu Yan, the manager who just left, hurried back. He came to Mu Jiyan, bowed respectfully and said: "Master, I have gone to the gambling house to find out as you requested. Wang Qi has indeed been gambling for half a month. However, the people in the gambling shop said that he would lose every bet, and in the past half a month, he has lost a total of 500 taels of silver, which are all recorded in this account." Produce an account book and present it to Mu Jiyan.

"I also went to Xunfang Building to inquire. On the night of the third day of April, Wang Qi did go there, but he went there after the fifth watch. According to the girl who received him, Wang Qi was full of travel and dust at that time. There is still a large amount of silver taels in her pocket, she remembers it very clearly."

"En." With a sound, Mu Jiyan signaled Mu Yan to step aside for the time being.

After briefly flipping through the account book and seeing the numbers recorded on it, Mu Jiyan slammed the table and couldn't hide the anger in his heart anymore: "Wang Qi, what else do you have to say?"

"Slave..." Wang Qi opened his mouth to speak, but found that no matter how he argued, he couldn't explain the origin of the 500 taels, so he was sweating profusely. If he hadn't been tied up, he would have jumped up at this time.

Looking at him with a sullen face, the anger between Mu Jiyan's brows has not dissipated, which made his whole body even more majestic, making Wang Qi tremble, and his face completely lost all color.

After being quiet for a while, Mu Jiyan spoke again: "Mu Yan, tell him, according to the rules of the mansion, how should this matter be resolved?"

Although he was asking Mu Yan, Mu Jiyan's gaze first glanced over Xu Ziqi who was sitting next to him, and then landed on Xue Nanny who had been kneeling on the ground so quietly, thoughtfully.

The 500 taels in Wang Qi's hand cannot be conjured out of thin air, unless someone gave it to him... and the person who gave him the 500 taels is the mastermind behind this matter.

This Wang Qi is greedy for life and afraid of death, he acts like a villain, he only needs to threaten his life, and he will definitely confess to the mastermind.

Mu Yan has followed Mu Jiyan for many years, so he is naturally very familiar with him. Hearing this, he thought for a moment and replied: "According to the rules of the mansion, anyone who vainly attempts to murder the master should be killed with a stick."

After Mu Yan's words fell, Wang Qi was so frightened that his whole body went limp in an instant. He turned his head and stared fiercely at Madam Xue who was kneeling beside him. To die, he has to drag his back no matter what!

Before Mu Jiyan could respond to his words, he confessed the whole incident, not daring to hide any more: "All this was done by the slaves under the orders of Mother Xue. She knows that the Eldest Young Master has a The habit is that after dinner, she would go back to her room to burn incense and read books, so on the third day of April, she gave the poison to the servant early, and asked the servant to put the medicine into the incense burner... That night, the eldest son went out Afterwards, she gave the servant 500 taels of silver, and then asked the servant to leave the capital overnight."

"I know I'm wrong. It's because I was deceived by lard that I dared to make such a heinous mistake. I beg my master to enlighten me and spare my life—" Wang Qi put his forehead on the ground after speaking in one breath. , the whole person knelt down on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably because of fear.

"Nurse Xue, do you have anything else to say?" Mu Jiyan asked with an extremely cold tone.

At this moment, Madam Xue raised her head. Her face was pale, her eyes were dull, and her expression was extremely decadent. The wrinkles on her face became more and more obvious, as if she had aged ten years in an instant.

"Old slave..." Licking her dry lips, Mammy Xue opened her cloudy eyes and just said a few words, but was suddenly interrupted by Xu Ziqi.

"Nurse Xue, I think you are my wet nurse, and you do your best to serve me, so it's fine for you to bully the servants on weekdays. I turn a blind eye and don't care about you. Unexpectedly, your heart is so vicious. , actually poisoned Ling'er to death, let me ask you, can you plead guilty?!"

Xu Ziqi looked at her coldly, covered his hand with a handkerchief, made a motion quietly, and glanced at Xue Er who was standing blankly on her right side intentionally or unintentionally, the threat in his eyes was beyond words.

Madam Xue grew up watching Xu Ziqi grow up, and has served her personally for so many years, so she naturally understands how cruel her heart is and how vicious her methods are.

Finally, she turned her head to look at Xue Er who was being dragged away for a while, until she disappeared, Xue Nanny reluctantly looked away, then smiled miserably, kowtowed heavily, and said in a hoarse voice: "The old slave pleaded guilty. "

At this time, Madam Xue was completely hopeless, and knew that she would not be able to escape a death sentence, but she was not reconciled. She had worked for Xu Ziqi for so many years, but in the end, the other party did not save her, but took advantage of her only grandson Blackmailing her, forcing her to confess her sins and die... She hates, she resents.

Since she was doomed to die, she had to do something before she died. How could she make the person who killed her feel better?

Thinking about this, when she raised her head again, Madam Xue said: "This matter is indeed done by the old servant alone. It is because the old servant hates the eldest son in his heart that he made this big mistake." She did it on purpose, Deliberately confessed without waiting for someone to press him.

The reason for doing this is naturally to reduce Xu Ziqi's defenses, and let Xu Ziqi get carried away and show his feet. She believes that with the wisdom of the eldest son and the master, they will not fail to see the changes in Xu Ziqi.

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, Xu Ziqi relaxed and asked sharply, "Why do you hate Ling'er?"

Although Xu Ziqi asked this question, she let go of her clenched hands hidden in her robe, and she was greatly relieved when she heard that Madam Xue had taken all the responsibility for the crime.

Nanny Xue knelt on the ground, with her head bowed, a cold smile appeared on her wrinkled face, she was really fooled... Ha, she will always be watching from below, watching the day when Xu Ziqi gets retribution!

Turning her head to look at Mu Ziling, Mammy Xue said slowly: "Three years ago, the Eldest Young Master taught this old slave severely because of a maid, and since then, this old slave has always held grudges in his heart, and one month ago... , Eldest Young Master actually taught this old slave a lesson again, making this old slave feel ashamed, so this old slave felt so resentful that he couldn't suppress his anger for a while..."

"Absurd! It's only natural for a master to teach a slave a lesson, but you've always held a grudge. Mother Xue, although you are my nurse, I can't forgive you for committing such a heinous crime." Xu Ziqi turned his face and looked at Mu Ji Yan's face was full of apology and guilt, and when he blinked, he even shed tears: "It's my poor discipline that caused Ling'er to go through this catastrophe, husband, please punish me." After saying these words, she covered her face.

Looking at the lovely and pitiful Xu Ziqi in front of him, Mu Jiyan not only did not loosen his brows, but frowned even tighter. He turned his head to look at Xue Xue, who was kneeling on the ground, and when he looked at Xu Ziqi again, a flash of light flashed across his eyes. What... He discovered that he never seemed to really understand his successor wife.

After taking a sip of tea, Mu Ziling blinked, and a sneer erupted in his heart. Although he had expected that his stepmother would not plead guilty so easily, he would definitely find a scapegoat, but he didn't expect that she would always The wet nurse who had served her closely for more than thirty years pushed her out, she was really ruthless.

However, it's not that he didn't gain anything at all up to this point... Looking up at his father, Mu Ziling showed a faint smile on his face.

——The sudden change made Xu Ziqi panic, and he messed up his hands and feet. The words just now have exposed too many flaws, and at this moment, his father has already aroused suspicion.

And here, his original goal has been achieved. He never thought that Xu Ziqi's true face that has been hidden for so many years can be revealed by relying on this incident alone.