Chapter 167 - I Have Unique Questioning Skills!

It was already dark, but the princess mansion was bright as day. The bright lamps radiated a layer of bloody red light. The servants who were called to the courtyard lowered their heads in fear of making any noise.

Yang Yingxue leaned against Xia Jingqiu, and her eyes were filled with unease. “Mother, why did cousin suddenly invite us over? Is it because she knew what we said during the day?”

Xia Jingqiu was also extremely nervous. Shen Ninghua could easily handle the matters in the Imperial Court. Therefore, she must be able to place her own mansion under her tight control without missing anything. “Yingxue, don’t think nonsense. We didn’t say anything bad about her birth mother or her during the day. It shouldn’t be because of this matter. Let’s just be calm and take a wait-and-see approach. Don’t be frightened by your own foolish ideas.”

“Yes, I know, mother.” Yang Yingxue bit her lips as she felt the serious atmosphere in her surroundings. The last bit of jealousy in her heart dissipated, leaving only deep fear.

As soon as they entered the room, they were shocked to see Shen Ninghua sitting on the soft couch with a pale face. Xia Jingqiu hurriedly stepped forward and asked, “Ninghua, what happened to you? Weren’t you still fine this morning?”

Shen Ninghua waved her hand to Bai Ruo who was wiping sweat for her and said straightforwardly, “Aunt, I was set up. I almost lost my life. I need you to think about what happened these two days. Did anyone do something abnormal or say something unusual?”

When she was swept by Shen Ninghua’s cold gaze, Yang Yingxue felt her heart trembled uncontrollably. Shen Ninghua wanted to know if anyone said something unusual…Was it because she knew something? Thinking about it, she grabbed Xia Jingqiu’s arm in panic.

Xia Jingqiu glared at her as a signal for her to calm down. Receiving the signal, Yang Yingxue stopped her panic.

Shen Ninghua kept their expressions in her eyes, but she did not say anything. She turned around and instructed Qing Que and Hong Ling, “You two, go and open the door.”

The tightly shut door was pushed open, and the servants standing outside hurriedly knelt down and greeted, “Greetings, Your Highness.”

Shen Ninghua did not say anything. She only looked at the servants kneeling on the ground. She was sitting in the middle of the room, and the servants were kneeling on the ground outside the room, so she could see the expressions of all the servants with a single glance.

Since she didn’t say anything, the servants didn’t dare to move. Gradually, someone couldn’t hold on. However, they tried their best to maintain their postures and didn’t dare to shake.

Silence slowly pervaded the air. Just as everyone felt that the pressure in their surroundings was so great that it was difficult for them to breathe, Shen Ninghua finally said coldly, “I was set up today and almost lost my life.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the servants were immediately shocked.

Shen Ninghua’s voice became colder and colder. “You are servants of my Princess Zhaohua’s Mansion. You should know very well that if I died an unknown death, all of you would be buried alive with me. No one can survive!”

Shen Ninghua stood up. Step by step, she walked out of the room and stood on the stairs. Her back was straight and didn’t bend at all. “You’ve served me for a long time. I think you know my rules. As long as you do your jobs honestly, you will be duly rewarded. However, I will definitely show no mercy to those who act in a slick way or betray the mansion!”

Everyone quietly listened to Shen Ninghua’s words with different expressions on their faces.

Shen Ninghua’s sharp gaze swept across everyone’s face. The anger in her eyes was like a bolt of lightning cutting through the night sky, making people not dare to look straight at her.

“I thought that after so many lessons, you should know the rules. However, I didn’t expect that someone would still dare to do something against me! Normally, it’s not a big case even if I had all of you clubbed to death!”

“We don’t dare. Your Highness, please scrutinize!” Many servants were frightened to the point that their faces turned pale. They had seen many servants who were clubbed to death. The cruel scene made them unable to sleep well for a few days. Many people abandoned improper thoughts for fear that they would end up like that.

Shen Ninghua looked down at them condescendingly. “I hate people most who betray their masters. As my servant, if you can’t even be loyal to me, I might as well directly club all of you to death and then enter the Palace to ask His Majesty for some additional servants!”

“Your Highness, please spare our lives!” Everyone was indignant and wished to drag out the troublemaker and beat him or her to death, so as to save their own life.

“Spare your lives? Some of you had plotted against my life, yet you still dared to beg me to spare your lives?” Shen Ninghua suddenly turned around. The icy cold aura around her body made people’s hearts go cold. “I can tell you clearly that the persons who plotted against me were definitely not from only one side. The jade pendant that Shen Linghan gave me can be considered as a trigger. There are definitely people who did other things for the jade pendant to work. Think carefully to recall if anyone had strange actions or abnormal expressions recently. If you can think of such persons, I will let you go. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

The sound of orderly footsteps came from the door. A group of guards in armor and holding clubs ran in and surrounded the servants who were kneeling on the ground. The black clubs were raised high above their heads, as if they would smash down in the next moment.

Shen Ninghua glanced around and said, “These are the personal guards His Majesty granted me after I became a princess. I didn’t expect that their first task would be punishing you. Think carefully. Before you can think of the one who plotted against me, no one can leave this courtyard.” After that, she turned around and sat on the soft couch in the room, waiting for the servants in the courtyard to confess.

The courtyard was completely silent. Everyone was racking their brains to recall who had behaved abnormally recently. They wished they could have two more heads, so that they could clearly remember what had happened these days.

Bi Zhu cooked the medicine according to Chen Yun’s prescription and carefully brought it to Shen Ninghua. “Miss, the medicine is ready.”

Shen Ninghua carefully distinguished the medicinal ingredients in the bowl. After confirming that there was nothing wrong, she picked up the bowl and drank the medicine all in one gulp. Thinking back to the previous schemes, she was also quite afraid. The scheme this time was too exquisite and it almost killed her in a dream.

She Ninghua did become suspicious when Shen Linghan gave her the jade pendant, but after checking the jade pendant many times, she didn’t find anything unusual, so she got rid of her suspicion and often played with it in her hands.

However, she did not expect that her temporary relaxation and carelessness would make her absorb the medicinal usher of Dream Soul into her body. Dream Soul was an extremely strange medicine. The medicinal usher was the sinister blood energy applied on the jade pendant. Other triggering factors were extremely uncertain. It could be a pot of flowers or a type of grass. Since the triggers varied a lot and she had seen a lot of things in the past few days, if she investigated bit by bit, it would take an infinite period of time. So she simply started from other aspects.

These servants knew and interacted with a large number of people. It could be said that their network of connections could span the entire Princess Mansion. Starting with them was the simplest method.

After she finished drinking the medicine, she placed the bowl on the tray and coldly looked at the servants. “What, no one has thought of anything yet? It seems that none of you wants to leave this courtyard alive…”

“No, Your Highness. I remembered that it was Ruixi Courtyard’s maid Chun Xiang. She was in charge of cleaning the front yard, but she went to the backyard yesterday and stayed in the backyard for an hour.”

Shen Ninghua lowered her eyes. “Oh? I didn’t expect there would be such a thing.”

“No, Your Highness. I went to the backyard for some reason. I went there to look for Nurse Wang. I asked Nurse Wang to buy some incense for me some time ago, and I happened to go and get it that day.”

Shen Ninghua’s expression changed. “Incense? As I know, there is a rule in the mansion that maids are not allowed to use any incense without permission, right?”

“I…I…” The maid named Chun Xiang immediately panicked. She just fell in love with a man and wanted to make herself beautiful under someone else’s encouragement. She didn’t expect that she had sowed the seed of a fatal disaster for herself. “Your Highness, please spare my life. Your Highness, please spare my life.”

Before Shen Ninghua gave any instruction, Qing Que had already brought people to search the courtyard where Chun Xiang lived and brought over the unused incense.

Shen Ninghua pinched a piece and sniffed it. She immediately frowned. A murderous look flashed in her eyes, “Buying some incense…Why didn’t you take a good look at it and see how you can afford this kind of top-quality incense worth at least a hundred taels of gold? You are in charge of cleaning the ground in my courtyard, and you must know the rules better than others. Who tricked you into buying incense recently?”

“I…I was encouraged by my coworker Xiang Lan. She said that using incense can make me more attractive. I lost my head and bought the incense. Please spare my life.”

Shen Ninghua saw one of the servants kneeling behind quickly had a pale face. She immediately understood. “It seems that you have a sweetheart. For the sake of him, you actually ignored my rules. Alright, I won’t split up you two lovebirds, so I’ll let you be together. Someone, drag them both down and club them to death!”

“Yes!” The guards abruptly hammered the clubs in their hands, making a thud on the ground that shook the heart of everyone.

“Your Highness, please spare me…”

This Chun Xiang had been bribed by the Xiao family before, but seeing that she hadn’t made a move, Shen Ninghua thought she might be of some use and therefore let her stay. She didn’t expect that she would actually be set up by this maid.

Everything was going well recently, and she let off her guard a little. It seemed that to live well in this world, she still needed to be 120% on guard.

“Drag that Xiang Lan down as well. The maid who identified Chun Xiang can leave now.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness!

Seeing that tipping off someone else could really save their own life, the voices below immediately grew louder.

Everyone kept saying, and the information they provided became more and more detailed. Based on what they said, Shen Ninghua would even know who spent how much time changing their clothes or clearing their bowels.

Chen Yun, who was hiding behind the screen, secretly admired Shen Ninghua for her unparalleled skills of maneuvering people’s hearts.

Chu Junyi curled his lips, and his heart was filled with pride. Chen Yun did not know, but he did know how Shen Ninghua was able to control the situation so well. When arranging these servants, Shen Ninghua spent a lot of effort investigating everyone’s background and temperament so that the servants in a courtyard would definitely supervise each other and compete with each other. It was absolutely impossible for them to gang up. This was the reason why she could easily get a clear understanding of the events that happened in the past few days.

Shen Ninghua looked at the records in her hand and her eyes shone coldly. “I really didn’t expect that my small princess mansion would actually house so many talented persons!” She picked up a red-inked writing brush and drew circles around the names one by one.

“Pull down all these people whose names have been circled by me and lock them up. The rest of you can go back.”