Chapter: 112 out of 513 – The culprit can’t be found (1)
Refusing to stop loving a person that didn’t love you back was like a moth that was flying into fire. Even as it its wings were crumbling, it still struggled to fly closer to the center of the fire. How regretful and pitiful.
When Ji Man regained her consciences, she felt as if Nie Sangyu’s body had recently been burned by fire. Not only did she feel uncomfortable, it felt as if her body was burning up.
After a struggle to open her eyes, she saw Ning Errong’s happy face looking at her.
“Sangyu, are you awake?”
The room seemed very dim. Errong was the only other person in the room.
Seeing Nie Sangyu opening and closing her mouth, Errong hurriedly brought over a cup of water and poured it down her throat without any gentleness.
Errong was also a person that had never taken care of someone else before. And so, she wasn’t aware that she had moderate her strength. Ji Man ended up coughing for a long time to clear her throat. With her eyes half-opened and her head somewhat foggy, she asked, “Who saved me?”
Ning Errong looked at her with a solemn expression. “My older brother saved you. Sangyu, what happened last night? Why did you fall into the river? If it wasn’t for my older brother, you would have definitely lost your life!”
Ji Man did her best to recollect last night’s memories. She had gone outside for fresh air because she was having trouble falling asleep. Then, she had seen the crown prince on the other side. After that, she had been forced to jump into the river by those two shadowy figures.
The crown prince? Her body tensed. Ji Man suddenly remembered the lingering peaceful lute music played by the crown prince. Even though she had shouted, no one had woken up on either of the two boats. Last night had felt like a nightmare. Fortunately, she woke up and was still alive.
Who wanted to harm her? Ji Man couldn’t figure it out. If it was the crown prince, wasn’t he afraid that by allowing her to live, she would tell Marquis Moyu what he had done and cause hostility between them?
Someone lightly knocked on the door and she heard Jinse’s voice from outside, “Madam, you weren’t in your room. The marquis is looking for you.”
Ji Man returned to her senses. Her entire body still felt weak and her forehead was slightly feverish. Her complexion probably looked deathly pale. She looked at Ning Errong. Ning Errong gave her a reassuring look, then she turned around and opened the door.
“Sangyu got sick. She came over here to sleep last night and ended up catching a cold.” Ning Errong expressionlessly looked at Jinse, who was still standing outside. “Why is my cousin looking for her so early in the morning? Isn’t it enough that you’re serving him?”
Jinse felt somewhat embarrassed. She glanced inside the room, then left after bowing.
In a bad mood, Errong rolled her eyes, closed the doors, and returned to the bedside. As she stretched her hand out to pick up the bowl of medicine, she said, “It’s strange. Everyone was deeply asleep last night. I called Baizi several times, but I couldn’t wake her up, so my older brother personally prepared this medicine. Here, you should drink this. It’ll help with your cold.”
—
There were no traces left in the rooms. Everyone didn’t wake up until noon, but no one felt there was anything strange about last night.
—
Shortly after, Marqus Moyu came to Ning Errong’s room. Seeing Nie Sangyu’s sickly face, he lightly said, “You should properly rest.”
Ji Man looked at his eyes and asked, “My lord, did you hear anything strange last night?”
Ning Yuxuan quietly looked at her. His eyes were as deep as the river. “I didn’t. I slept very well.”
Ji Man nodded. Seeing Marquis Moyu turning around and leaving, she finally figured things out.
The most likely probability was that the crown prince had wanted to silently get rid of her and hadn’t thought of the possibility that he might fail. However, even if she guessed that the crown prince was behind this, she didn’t have any evidence that would prove he was guilty. She was a member of Nie Clan and Marquis Moyu didn’t wholeheartedly believe her. And so, there was no use in telling Ning Yuxan what happened last night.
It seemed that it would be quite difficult if she wanted to continue living. Ji Man let out a wry laugh. After drinking the bowl of medicine, she peacefully lied down and went to sleep
—
Other than Nie Qingyun, Ning Mingjie didn’t tell anyone else about the matter of Nie Sangyu falling into the water.
There was no one on this boat that would have a reason to dislike Nie Sangyu. Her magnanimous and proper conduct during this entire journey had completely shattered people’s previous impression of her. In addition, she hadn’t complained about anything. When there was hard work to do, she was willing to do it. And so, everyone’s impression of her had significantly improved.
However, Ning Mingjie felt there was only two people that truly wished her well: Errong and Nie Qingyun.
As for Ning Yuxuan, he felt it was already surprising that his cousin hadn’t gotten rid of her.
When Nie Qingyun found out about this matter, he was silent for a while. His following action was to go look for Marquis Moyu.
Ning Mingjie hastily stopped by saying, “Talking to him won’t be helpful.”
With a faint smile as he held up a broken piece of jade, he said, “Someone had secretly burned sleeping incense in everyone’s room last night. But, someone had also placed the antidote in my room and Nie Sangyu’s room. I truly admire that person’s careful efforts, but I don’t know who that person was. Although that person had casually used jade to strike my door, this one had only found this one piece.”
For a person to throw jade at a door, the person was probably in a rush and also wasn’t concerned about money. Nie Qingyun took the jade from Ning Mingjie’s hand. It was an ordinary piece of jade. And, since it was shattered, he couldn’t tell the original decorative design. Everyone on this boat was from rich families and would be able to afford breaking a piece of jade.
Nie Qingyun frowned while thinking. “Could it have been Yuxuan?”
Ning Mingjie paused. As he stroked the jade, he said, “It probably wasn’t him. If it was him, why would he act so superfluously?”
That was true. If Ning Yuxuan knew that someone wanted to harm Sangyu, he could just directly save her. Why would he leave it someone else? Nie Qingyun shook his head and sighed. Sangyu had suffered so badly and couldn’t let the marquis settle this injustice for her. She must be feeling so badly right now. He should hurry and go see her.